The one, the only . . .

And only once in my lifetime. Unless someone else is treating, in which case let me say right now: I'm available.



Eager anticipation


Hungry and excited . . .


Fat and happy . . .


Drunk and expounding . . .




The next morning we walked off the food and drink with a mushroom foraging trip in Angwin, above St. Helena.



Even Tom eventually got in on it. Since it involved poking things with sticks and all.








Matt and an amanita




The russelas were out in force


What is this monster?





From the sublime to the ridiculous. We finished the weekend at Pizzeria Tra Vigne. How did we manage to eat again?

Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt

More fun than you can shake a stack of cryptic clues at, guaranteed.



Could it be that Tom was impatient? Nah, not Tom.


Studying the rules


Is it a bad sign that we were confused by the rules?




Solving clues


Fortifying ourselves for the road


and we're off!






Aha!







Grasshopper, when you can see the answer in this whacky mural . . .




Well, these were just begging to be mocked, weren't they?


In the end, team Asphalt Pigsty finished 23 out of 92 teams in the Regular Division, with 15 out of 18 clues (no one got all 18). Not bad for a team that lost half its members to exhaustion, and had to illegally cross the parade route. Next year: world domination.

Desert Museum

I'm waaay behind on posts. In order, here they come . . .

We went to Tucson at the end of January with Tom and Tristan for the gem show (or that was the excuse for all of us but Tom). My mom took us, and Pattie and Michael, on a private tour of the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.





The raptor free flight demonstration was a real highlight of the trip.

Harris hawks









Barn owl






Big horn sheep


Some cool agave pics




Me and my girl


Tom and a saguaro