First trip to the desert

Four years ago my friends Denise and Steve hosted French Odrey at their house, and I hosted Denise, French Odrey and Dutch Karlijn at our beach apartment for a night.  Odrey is doing an internship in LA and I made it a point to see her before her short US stint was up again.  

I picked up French Odrey and her intern friend Korean Kim and took them to Pizza Port in Carlsbad.  Kim was amazed by the concept of fried macaroni and cheese, and seemed more than happy to eat the last one. They loved the vibe at Pizza Port (probably because it is so different than the LA vibe).   

Our main event for the following day was to take them on their first trip to the desert.  It was 101 degrees Fahrenheit (or 38 degrees Celsius- whatever that means) at noon when we hiked the three mile Borrego Palm Canyon Trail.  We drank plenty of water but Odrey and I both had a headache after the hike.  

Fred read on a trail marker to look for bighorn sheep, and what did I find on the horizon...?

It is super exciting to see large mammals in their natural environment doing whatever it is that bighorn sheep do best.  

We reached the palm oasis.  It was impressive to see and hear how much water was flowing on such a hot day in the middle of the desert.  

But the most exciting thing that happened on our hike was on the way back.  We ran across an entire herd of  bighorn sheep!  This Peninsular bighorn sheep is one of 335 that remain in the United States.  Out of those 335, 215 spend time at Anza Borego Desert State Park.  

Right after this picture was taken Kim's life flashed before her eyes and I was really happy to have met her, that was until the sheep changed course, of course.  It ran and jumped onto the rock right in front of her and then decided to go up hill.

When we were more than half way done with our hike Odrey's Nikes quit on her.  It seemed as though they could not take the heat.  The soles on both of her shoes literally separated from the rest of the shoe.  It was Fred's idea to wear her socks outside of her shoes so she could get what was possible out of her bunk shoes.  

On the way to drop our guests off at the Oceanside train station I just had to take them to Baltimore Snow.  It is amazing and they totally agree.

Even though French Odrey and Korean Kim experienced faulty shoes and territorial sheep today was a really special trip to the desert.  

We already miss Kim and Odrey!

Devoted to being Mexican

Marla and I usually make tamales around Christmas time, but due to our Japan trip it did not work out this year.  A year cannot go by without making our delicious tamales so we set a tamale making date.  It takes just about all day, but it is well worth the work.

This year our tamale fillings were:

1- Mom's recipe (chicken, cheese, olives, and corn)

2- Mediterranean (green stuffed olives and black olives, roasted red peppers, red onions, spinach, feta and mozzarella cheese)

3- Mexican (nopales*, jalapenos, corn, Mexican cheese, black beans, and onions)

cactus*

Just like my mom taught us, Elle is learning the tamale making process.

This is an uncooked Mediterranean tamale.

The girl's artwork on the sliding glass door matched the Mexican theme.  

We made almost one hundred tamales.  They freeze well and will be yummy, quick dinners and lunches.

My dad, Derrick, and Hilary joined us for dinner.  I think we had enough...

What?!  Dinner and a show?!  How awesome!  

It seems like I am the only one who is impressed with my attempt to hula hoop and do Skip-it at the same time. Believe me, this is no easy task.

Thanks for the great day, Marla!  Until next year.  I mean, see you in the car.  

Easter Sunday Brunch

This Easter is the eleven year anniversary of Ruth Ann Braun's death.  Due to the eleven year repeat of the calendar, the days line up exactly.  She died on Sat., March 30, 2002, the day before Easter, and her death anniversary was this Sat., the day before Easter.  As life continues without those that we once loved, the past memories mix with new memories and reach a state of equilibrium.  She will not be forgotten but we will have a happy Easter, full of family, fun and good food (the three 'f's).  

Cheers, Marla.

My favorite, Deniches (Denise's quiche recipe).  I made one with kid friendly veggies (asparagus, corn, and carrots), and the other was a spicy asian Deniche.  

EVERYBODY (even vegetarians although they won't admit it) loves bacon.  

Happy Easter from the Brauns and Heltons!  

395 south

After an absolutely lovely time with Steve and Denise (who are THE BEST hosts) we said our goodbyes after a hearty breakfast and embarked on the 10 hour drive south.  

10 hours is too long to drive without a few stops, and there are so many choices on the 395 it is hard to decide what to do.  

We first stretched our legs at Mono Lake.  

Mono Lake is a terminal lake, meaning streams flow in but there is no outlet.  The salts from the eroded rocks build up in the lake as water evaporates and the salt is left behind.  

Unfortunately, in 1941, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power decided to take the water that flows into the lake changing the entire ecosystem as the water became twice as salty because the water level was halved.  

Luckily many organisms are resilient and are able to adapt when humans make changes that suit only our needs.

A few hours later we found ourselves at Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery.  Although there are only tours in the summer the grounds are open for walking around year round.

The hatchery was built in 1916 to "match the mountains and last forever" (Fish and Game Commissioner Connell).  It looks like something that would be found in the Netherlands.  

The hatchery supplies about 8 million golden trout eggs to hatcheries around the state.  Golden trout is a subspecies of rainbow trout that is native to California, which is why it is our state fish.  The Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery is the sole source of golden trout eggs in the state.

If it were the season for spawning this area would be full of water and trout. 

This is a perfect place to escape the 395 drive for a bit and have a picnic.  You just have to share it with the 60,000+ visitors that have the same plan as you.  

History and Virginia City

Our morning (and Denise's birthday) began with a VIP tour of the South Lake Tahoe museum, the museum was closed to everyone but us.  If you look at the picture with the gloves you will see why.

In the museum we learned about the history of the area, from indigenous people to logging to gambling.  

We continued on to Virginia City, Nevada, an old mining town.  In the 1800s Virginia City was the most important city between San Francisco and Denver, and made millionaires out of poor miners.   

Mark Twain worked as journalist for the Territorial Enterprise, whose goal was to pique the citizens of Virginia City's interest about their local news.  Mark Twain will elaborate, "to find a petrified man, or break a stranger's leg, or cave an imaginary mine, or discover some dead Indians in a Gold Hill tunnel, or massacre a family at Dutch Nick's, were feats and calamities that we never hesitated about devising when the public needed matters of thrilling interest for breakfast.  The seemingly tranquil Enterprise office was a ghastly factory of slaughter, mutilation and general destruction in those days".    

Saint Mary's in the Mountains is a beautiful church, inside and out.  It was built in 1868, burned in a devastating fire in 1875, and then rebuilt in 1876.  

The small museum located below the church is way too full of things to looks at; newspaper articles, art, church paraphernalia, historical documents, and docents who will not stop teaching you about their city until you walk backwards towards the door, nodding and smiling, feeling behind you for the door handle and a pause in a sentence to sprint outside.  

Freedom.  

The Storey County Courthouse was built in 1876, and continues to serve its original function to this day.    

It wouldn't be a trip to old city without exploring the local cemetery, or at least this is what Denise and I thought as the men waited in the car.  This cemetery was found to be very disorganized, and not very well maintained (although they are trying to restore it).  Many of the tombstones have been erased by years of exposure to the elements. 

This one caught our eye, it is not too often you see a tombstone that says 'murdered' on it.  Denise later discovered that the man was killed by a local, who was later tried and hung.

Fred and I did not realize that a day in Nevada would not be complete without going to the Nugget for an Awful Awful (a huge hamburger that comes on top of an inedible amount of french fries).   We are learning...

I got the fried calamari sandwich, and we were all happy with our choices.  And oh-so-full afterwards.

A night at the Haerrs would not be complete without a game of Scrabble.  

Denise won.

And with all of this I will say HAPPY 51st BIRTHDAY DENISE!! 

  (Pretty suspicious winning on your birthday.  It is almost like we let you win...)