Vacation 1999
These are the pictures we took while on vacation in the summer of 1999. We
drove up to San Francisco on the inland route. After several days there, we continued headed inland and then
turned north up to the little town of Happy Camp, just south of the Oregon
border. There we visited Byron and Ida, along with buddy Brian (Brian, Byron and
I were compatriots at ADB Industries). We spent several days there, hobnobbing
with nature and enjoying some relaxation, and then drove home to the Santa
Clarita Valley during a ten hour sprint.
These photos were taken with a Minolta Dimage V digital camera. The quality
of the pictures is nowhere near that which you'll see from the Mavica (my current
digital camera). The colors are not as true, and the sharpness isn't quite what
I would have liked, but the vacation was a blast and these pictures reflect many
happy memories.
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We entered San Francisco over the Bay Bridge after a five hour drive from
Santa Clarita. Well, it was five hours from our front door to the hotel. I guess getting
to the bridge took four and a half hours or so. Hmmm, guess we were going pretty fast... |
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A shot looking down from Lombard Street (the crookedest street in the
world). We stayed on Lombard not far from here (a few blocks)...our block wasn't as pretty
as this though. |
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A shot of Lombard from the bottom looking up. Lots of tourists at the
bottom snapping pictures. Almost hit one while turning the corner (just kidding -- it
wasn't that close). |
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The Palace of Fine Arts. A magnificent structure, it now houses the
Exploratorium--a neat place to take kids. They have lots of hands-on science exhibits that
encourage people to touch and experiment with the exhibit. More pictures of the insides
follows... |
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Inside the Exploratorium, Michelle finds some science exhibit to poke her
fingers into. |
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Tyler wasn't far behind... |
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Michelle puzzling over photosynthysis. |
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Tyler and I getting confused inside the Kalidescope exhibit. Yikes! |
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Michelle and Tyler insisted on lunch, but when presented with the menu
didn't seem so excited. Michelle ended up stealing some of my chips, and Tyler settled for
a hotdog. I think I caught Michelle with a mouthful of her drink. |
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The kids playing an "oldies" guessing game with an exhibit that
featured songs from the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, etc. I beat them at this one, but just
barely. |
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Michelle experimenting with airflow... |
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...and then with a musical computer. |
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Tyler showing an early proclivity for things automotive (oh, no --
groan!). |
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Michelle just finished up with me on a communications game. We did quite
well, showing that a father and daughter can learn to speak clearly to each other...the
key is effective listening and feedback (grin). |
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Tyler and I rest our weary feet. |
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Michelle rests her feet while Tyler snaps the picture. |
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Another shot of the exterior... |
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...and again. |
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Back at our hotel room, Tyler contemplates the famous San Francisco
skyline. |
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The kids are happy to be getting breakfast on the way to Happy Camp. We
stopped at a Denny's about an hour outside SF. The kids are always cheerful when they know
they'll be fed. |
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Once we arrived at Happy Camp, Ida gave us a tour of the water source and
the cabin. This shot is on the front porch of their cabin (Ida's and Byron's...Brian was
their guest). |
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Another shot during the same day. Byron and Brian were nowhere to be
found, but the rest of us had a good time without them (teaches them right!) Actually,
Brian and Byron had taken the once-a-week, all-day shopping trip (a six hour round trip
commute -- Ugh!) and didn't get home till after 7pm. |
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The boys get ready to fell some timber. Brian (left), Byron (center) and
Tyler. |
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Byron just whacked a good one. All in all, I think he cut down about six
trees or so. |
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Byron and Brian are looking for toilet paper...oh, no, this is a
different picture. Here they seem to be wrestling with a smart-alec
chainsaw that's clamped it's teeth into a nearby tree (that saw was hungry).
Thank goodness there's so many trees in the forest, otherwise these two
wouldn't have had anything to do. |
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A view of the Klamath River. We rafted down while others in our party used
kayaks. We spent about five hours on the trip. Lots of fun, I took more pictures with film
during the excitement. |
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Ida, Byron, Michelle, Brian and Tyler. This shot was taken at the front
porch of the cabin. |
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Ida snapped this one while I snuck in on the right. |
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Just the kids and I. |
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The big guys all pose for a quick shot. Everything looks peaceful and
normal, but wait... |
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...or maybe I should say, "butt weight". What's this?! Brian
has gone wild and scares the tar out of Byron and me. Note that my look of
shock isn't very sincere (more like ready to laugh). That's probably
because Brian seems to be aiming his armament at Byron. |
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Back home after a ten hour drive home--whew! The kids mug it up for my
last shot with the digital camera. |
