Michigan Family Reunion

Last weekend was my annual family reunion in Frasier, Michigan. I hadn't been in three years but heard this year was going to be the best turn out in awhile. Coming from a pretty small family the 30 or so that were able to make it this year made it one of the most attended in several years. I left Friday afternoon, had a layover in Chicago and got in around Midnight where I met up with my mom, my brother Mike and his girlfriend Danielle. Mom dropped the "kids" off at the hotel where we stayed for the next two nights.




The next morning we headed over to Nana's where we met up with Nana, Uncle Bob and David and my mom. They were performing damage control as Nana's brand new refrigerator wasn't working, the food was spoiling and we were 30 minutes from needing to leave to head toward the reunion. Unfortunately, they were still waiting for the replacement fridge to show up. We decided to split up. The girls would head to the reunion while the guys would hang back and take care of the broken fridge situation.




The reunion, as before, was great fun. I so rarely get to see family and most of the time feel pretty disconnected from everyone back in Michigan. It's nice, even if just for a few hours, to see everyone and be together as a family. The day was spent catching up, eating, drinking and playing games like bocce ball and a really fun yard lasso golf game, which I recommend for any outdoor party where there are people of all ages and athletic abilities.




That night Mom, Mike, Danielle, Uncle Bob, David and I sat around Nana's kitchen table, ate pizza and told ghost stories. When it got late we decided to call it a night and said goodbye to UB & D as they would be leaving early.

The next morning Mike, Danielle and I said goodbye to Nana and with Mom went into Detroit to walk around and push our faces against the gates where the Tigers were playing the Royals. The proximity to the game was too much for Mike to bare so he went and bought four cheap seat tickets and we entered the park. We never did bother finding our seats. Instead we watched a little of the game from the isles and spent the rest of the time shopping at the pro shop and eating ball park franks. In the 8th inning we left to avoid the crowds so I could make my way to the airport.



Although my trip was short it was well worth it and I can't wait to see everyone again next year.

Torrey Pines State Reserve

Don't judge me, I don't do hair and makeup at 6am.

I went hiking through the trails at Torrey Pines State Reserve last weekend with my coworkers Pat, Marleen and Veronica at 6am on Saturday morning. This lighter hike is a lot easier then the one we did at Cowles Mountain a couple of weeks ago and is really more of a brisk walk with stairs thrown in now and again to make you pay attention. Paying attention isn't as easy as it sounds either due to the stunning views that constantly pull your eyes away from the trail below.

This hike starts adjacent to the beach. You start up a paved road that leads up to the cliffs above the beach at Torrey Pines and off that road are a number of trail heads, some that head down to the beach, some that run in a loop bringing you back to the main road and others that terminate abruptly at a dead end. We explored several and as you can see by the photos offered amazing scenery.


Me, Pat and Marleen at the big dead tree.


The view from the top of the bluffs.


Stairs lead down to an outlook.


View toward La Jolla from the lookout.


Veronica leads the charge while I hang back for a photo-op.


A stairway through the rock leads to the beach below.

We didn't see any live animals this time aside from a few birds and a large pelican. We ended our hike by taking a beach entrance trail and walking back to the car by the water. We did find something wet, slimy and definitely dead that had washed up. Not sure what it was. I guess some kind of large jellyfish. It had distinctively thick tentacles which lead me to believe it could have been an octopus. No suction cups though and it was completely clear in color. If anyone knows what it is, let me know.


Creepy dead thing.

After hiking I met up with Jeff and we went back to La Jolla Cove for another day of snorkeling. We saw many of the same fish as last time but while the visibility was lower there were a few extra surprises. We got to check the Calico Bass off our list of fish to identify. The coolest thing that I missed, hands down, was a harbor seal swimming under the snorkelers. Evidently it was about 5' to 10' below Jeff as he was swimming and I was off exploring other things and totally missed it. Maybe I'll have better luck next time. For now, I reel with envy.

Bodies...the Exhibition

Bodies...the Exhibition, originally uploaded by minicloud.

I saw Bodies... The Exhibition this weekend and loved it. I highly recommend going if it's in a city near you. The tickets were a little expensive at $26.50 each, plus $6 for the audio wands. The extra wand info wasn't bad but not necessary to get a fulfilling experience. The exhibit galleries were simple; made up of both painted gyp divider walls and temporary curtain walls. Full figures depicting various systems of the body are posed on simple platforms and left out open. Visitors are trusted not to touch the artifacts themselves. Smaller organs and parts are displayed in simple cases with white backgrounds and basic black text labels. There is virtually no flare to the galleries aside from the occasional painted wall or artist's rendering projected on large surfaces. The bodies themselves and the accompanying text were so interesting that not much else was really necessary to make it a successful traveling show.

They said the visit usually takes 90 minutes but I was there a full 2 hours, which flew by as I was completely enveloped in the subject matter. The only complaints I had about the exhibit itself is that most of the text was quite small, both in the labels and on the fun facts hanging around the galleries and lighting could have been improved on the backsides of the full figures. They are placed so you can walk around them and view them from all sides but really only one side was illuminated in most cases. There were actual doctors walking around answering questions too, which was great because folks had a lot of questions. I would have liked to see another doctor or two there as I had several questions that came up when no doctor was in the gallery I was in. Still, the ones that were there were great, very knowledgeable and seemed genuinely happy to be there and excited about the show.

I learned so much about the human body I don't even know where to begin. Most surprisingly for me was how quickly young fetuses actually look like tiny humans. I was surprised to see a fetus as small as a pea with it's tiny head, arms and legs. Those who are sensitive to this sort of subject matter can bypass this gallery and stick with the adults, which surprisingly felt more like a biology lesson then I had expected. Going in I thought I wouldn't be able to get over the fact that these human displays were once real live people but after entering I found myself so fascinated that I was halfway through the entire exhibition before it crossed my mind again. The most visually impressive exhibit was of the circulatory system with dozens of liquid filled cases holding just the arteries of the body. You can see one example in the photo above.

Definitely take the opportunity to visit Bodies if you have a chance. It's around only for a limited time and I guarantee you'll learn something you didn't know before.

La Jolla Cove & Cowles Mountain

Garabaldi, originally uploaded by bphall.

I had a busy weekend of fun and adventure. Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30 am to hike Cowles Mountain (pronounced Coals)with Veronica and Marleen, my coworkers and Marleen's boyfriend Terrance. Even though it was ungodly early, I'm really glad I did it. The trail gets packed quickly if you get a late start and the temperature can get hot quickly this time of year. Fortunately, the temperature was perfect and while there were plenty of others already on their way down the mountain, the trail was by no means crowded. It was perfect. I'm told the view is incredible and offers a 360 degree panoramic of San Diego and even a view into Tijuana but on this particular morning we climbed directly into and above the clouds as you can see by the photos. It was possibly even more beautiful then a city view would have been. It was actually kind of refreshing to walk through the mist of the clouds, especially because it's the closest thing I've seen to rain since I've been here. I have to say, it's hard getting used to such a dry climate. I've been here about six weeks and haven't seen so much as a drop of rain. WEIRD.

The mountain is home to plenty of wildlife including Rattle Snakes and Mountain Lions but fortunately for me I saw neither. I did however see a few rabbits and a Stink Beetle of the Eliodes species.















Sunday Jeff and I went to La Jolla Cove to get in some late afternoon snorkeling. It's said to be the best dive and snorkeling site in the area. We figured if we showed up at 4pm we could avoid the crowds... we were wrong. The surge was stronger than we expected the water drops off quickly which was a little disconcerting at first. We quickly found our sea legs though and were paddling along the surface with the dozens of other marine life enthusiasts. The visibility was decent at about 10' or more and the fish were a plenty. We saw tons of fish including Garibaldi by the dozens, a Bluebanded Goby and lots of another blue fish that I wasn't able to identify. You could hear the ferocious clicking of what we think were lobsters hiding under the grass too. Evidently there are a lot of fish that frequent the waters there and throughout the year it's not uncommon to see sharks, wrays, sea lions, harbor seals, scorpionfish and lots of other creatures. We both had a great time and want to go back again early in the morning before the crowds have had the chance to stir up the sand.