redwood national and state parks

This might be a record for me: three weekends in a row in different national parks! 

Liam had two days off for fall break, and Max and Henry jumped at the chance to take a couple days off themselves, so we decided a trip was in order. I asked for ideas for where to go, and only Max really had a strong opinion, which was that he wanted to hike in the forest and see some really big trees. Mike wholeheartedly endorsed that plan, so we set our sights on Redwood.

This was mayyyyybe slightly too ambitious for a long weekend. Here's how our travel looked: Liam got a ride home from Purdue on Friday morning, then once we got off work Friday, we drove to Chicagoland and stayed in a hotel. We caught an early flight from Midway to Oakland (4 hours), got our rental car, and then still had 5 hours of driving ahead of us just to get to Eureka, on the southern end of the park. The boys were good sports about it, but this was not their favorite kind of vacation.

They perked up on the first day once we reached Avenue of the Giants. We caught our first glimpses of the big trees and were appropriately wowed. It was late in the afternoon by this time, so we didn't spend a ton of time there, but the boys had a blast climbing on downed trees and even heading down a hillside to meander along the banks of a river. (I stayed up top because my foot cannot be trusted on those inclines.) 

We really only had one full day in the park, so we tried to make the most of it. The boys really love doing challenging hikes with Mike whenever possible, so this time I made reservations for them to hike the Tall Trees Trail. This trail is by permit only, and it's about 40 minutes from the main road through the park. The first 20 minutes of that drive is windy, narrow paved roads, but then there's a locked gate (they email you the code to unlock the gate; it all feels very dramatic) followed by a windy, extremely narrow, not at all nerve-racking dirt road for the final 20 minutes. All in all, it was about a 90-minute drive from our hotel. I dropped them off, then figured I had about three hours on my own before they would be ready to pick me up. What I didn't plan on was that I would have to spend basically half of that time just getting to and from the main road. UGH. I ended up driving to a coastal overlook, but it was so foggy that I couldn't actually see anything, so I came back down and checked out one of the visitor centers, then headed back to the trailhead, where Mike and the boys were waiting.

I don't have any firsthand knowledge of their hike, but they all seemed like they really enjoyed it. They were full of stories about their adventure all the way back to the main road. After that, we tried to go on a shorter hike together to a small waterfall, but we got halfway down the trail only to discover that the second half was really steep inclines, so I ended up turning back while they went ahead to finish the trail. Somewhere along the way, some shoving happened, with the result that Henry fell down and broke his phone on both the front and back sides. He was uninjured, but Max is going to have to buy him a new phone. Good thing he works so many hours at Culver's!

Monday morning we got up and started the long drive back to Oakland. We returned to Avenue of the Giants, and this time we were able to hike together and go to the visitor center (which was closed by the time we got there that first day). We spent most of the morning exploring in the rain, with the boys, undeterred by the previous day's phone mishap, climbing and running and jumping and waving sticks around. They climbed up the roots of one particularly big downed tree, and I have a little video of Liam saying "It would be funny to try to slide down this branch to get to the bottom" ... right before Henry slipped and accidentally slid all the way down. Whoops. He got a little bruised, but he doesn't seem to have any splinters or other lasting damage. That's what he gets for wearing crocs to a tree-climbing party.

We were planning to stop at Muir Woods once we got back to the Bay Area, but the boys had a different idea, so we went with their plan, which was to see the Golden Gate Bridge. So now we can cross that landmark off our list too. I'm glad we did that, because we ended up driving over both the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge, as well as all over downtown San Francisco, on our way back to Oakland. It really is very hilly! Mike and I definitely want to come back just to explore San Francisco some more.

 

cuyahoga valley national park

My cousin Connell got married Friday night at the Cleveland Zoo. It was a really fun ceremony. I can't recreate the moment, but Kent officiated and asked if any of the creatures of the land, air, or sea had any reason why the bride and groom should not be joined in matrimony. You'll have to trust me that it was funny. I turned to Janis and said that I wished I could go back in time and change my wedding venue to a zoo just so he could make that joke! The venue was beautiful, and I had a good night catching up with various family members. (Because of the Friday wedding, Mike had to work, so I was solo on this trip.) No pictures because I was busy just living in the moment, but everything was lovely.

It was a late night, but I had to get up Saturday morning because I made big plans with myself. I brought my bike along on this trip, and yes, before you ask, I did keep it in my hotel room like some kind of weirdo. Also yes, lots of people gave me funny looks as I was wheeling it down the halls and onto the elevator. It was worth the weird looks and the early morning, though, because I headed to part of Cuyahoga Valley National Park that we (mostly) hadn't explored before: the Towpath Trail. It was a super foggy morning, which added to the spooky season vibes and was perfect for the end of September.

The parts of the trail I rode were mostly not paved, which I'm not used to, but it was a nice change. I saw plenty of deer and birds along the way. Best of all, I managed not to get lost, even though there were a bunch of side paths and intersections. It really was a great ride, and now I want to take my bike everywhere we go just so I can find something to explore by wheel. And one of these days I'm coming back so I can do a long ride in one direction and take the old-timey train back. Whee! 

yosemite national park

Well, friends, we've made it to 20 years of being married. Two decades of choosing each other every single day–and being happy to do it over and over again. We went to a national park for our honeymoon (Rocky Mountain NP), so it only seems right that we picked the big daddy of national parks to celebrate this momentous milestone. 

Over the years, we've been to a lot of national parks, and in the process, we've seen almost all of the ones that are easy to get to. Well, easier to get to–none of them are conveniently located right next to major airports! So now every park we visit involves an added layer of logistical challenges to get there. In this case, we drove to Chicago, got a flight to Oakland, then rented a car and drove about four hours to Fish Camp, CA, where we stayed at the unnecessarily fancy Tenaya Lodge. 

Our first day at Yosemite was just about perfect. We got there early enough to find a parking space in Yosemite Valley, then we rented bikes for the day. We spent the whole day riding around the valley, which was an incredible way to see everything without the hassle of driving or taking a shuttle from place to place. We brought along a picnic lunch, which we enjoyed at Mirror Lake (we had to park the bikes and hike up to the lake, which was also fun). Usually by this time of year, Mirror Lake is completely dried up (making it Mirror Meadow) but last year there was a record amount of snowfall, plus a lot of rain this year, so there was still lake to be seen. Also because of this, the waterfalls around the park were still flowing. We got so lucky!

For our second day, we drove across the northern alpine sections of the park and out the east side. It was a long drive, but absolutely gorgeous, with plenty of rock formations and mountain lakes to keep our attention. And once we exited the park on the east side, we headed to Mono Lake, a hypersalinated body of water with really interesting rock (salt) formations. We hiked the trail down to the lake and spent plenty of time just being amazed that this exists in the world. Truly there aren't enough superlatives.

Our last morning was a doozy! We drove to the Mariposa Grove visitors center, then took the shuttle up to the grove itself. The plan was for me to hike the shorter .3-mile trail to get a feel for the grove, while Mike did the more challenging 2-mile hike that goes to all the major groves, but we had done quite a bit of walking the first two days and I was still feeling pretty strong, so I decided to accompany him on the longer hike. It turned out to be right at the limit of what I could handle because there were a lot of steep inclines and uneven terrain, but I ended up managing it without injury. After the year I've had trying to get my foot healed after surgery, I'll never take a 2-mile hike for granted again! Anyway, the Mariposa Grove is home to giant sequoias, and they really are incredibly impressive. Mike was so happy to go on this hike!

After we finished our hike and took the shuttle back down, it was time to head back to Oakland. We got to our hotel for the night and basically collapsed. We got some food from the sports bar in the hotel, but we were definitely not up for anything else by then. It was a very busy few days, but pretty much a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary.

henry at fourteen

Over the summer, Liam and Max both told me in separate conversations that all of the sudden, Henry "got funny." What they meant, of course, is that he's caught up to them enough in maturity level and sophistication that they're all basically on the same level now and can really appreciate each other. I mean, we all know that our Henry has been hilarious all along! But now it's like a switch has flipped, and they would all rather spend time with each other than separately. They're truly friends, which makes my heart so so happy. (And as a side note because someday Adult Henry will read this: Feels pretty great to have your older brothers quoting your jokes and funny sayings with their friends, doesn't it?)

Liam and Max aren't entirely wrong, though: Henry has changed a lot this year. He's grown a ton and can look Mike in the eye (and is almost as tall as Max now!). And after a few years of preferring to just hang out at home playing video games in the basement (I truly blame the pandemic for this), he has once again embraced social events. Now he's eager to go to school dances, concerts in the park, the Blueberry Festival ... basically anywhere he can hang out with his friends. He also dipped his toe for the first time into the waters of boy+girl interactions ... but that's not my story to tell, so I'll just note it here for posterity and move on. 

Henry has always been a hard worker, and he spent his summer helping with Mike's plants at home plus spending a day every week at my mom's house entertaining my nephew Jack and niece Elsie (both of whom adore him). He's always willing to lend a hand, and sometimes I think we don't express our appreciation enough, but it's there. And listen, any 13-year-old who is willing to spend a whole day every single week with his grandmother, his 7-year-old cousin, and his baby cousin is a Good Kid in my book. 

Henry wanted (and got!) a pretty low-key birthday weekend. On Friday, my parents took him to Bonefish Grill for dinner, where he enjoyed the many "Bang Bang" menu options on offer (and came home with leftover Bang Bang Shrimp tacos!). On Saturday, he was very excited to open his gift from Barb and Kevin, who sent frozen deep-dish pizzas from Lou Malnati's. He made the pepperoni one for dinner, and grudgingly shared the tiniest sliver with me but ate the rest all by himself. On Sunday, he came with me and Max to take Liam out to lunch, then the brothers all hung out in Liam's apartment for a little while, and when we got home, Mike made (at Henry's request) pasta forticus, his favorite special occasion meal. In between, he built Legos and played late-night video games online with Liam. It's easy to see why we could label this Henry's Perfect Weekend, right?

The truth is that sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) I have to remind myself that Henry is still a kid. He fits in perfectly with the older boys, and he's so mature and responsible, but he also knows how to have fun. It really is a house filled with laughter, and a lot of that is because of Henry's quips and his quick wit. 

Happy birthday, Henry! We love you, and we are so looking forward to another year of laughing with you.

bike the drive 2023

This year, we managed a feat that had thus far eluded us: All five of us completed Bike the Drive together! Over the years, Mike has done BTD six times now, and I've done it five times. This was Liam's third time (he rode with me and Mike in 2016, and with Mike and Max in 2017), Max's second (he rode with Mike and Max in 2017), and Henry's first time. 

Funny thing: As you may have noticed, I've been riding my bike all summer long over various trails across the state, working my way up to BTD. Mike and the boys, in contrast, felt no particular need to do any training. I think Mike and Liam each rode once with me (a 10-mile ride), and Henry rode twice with me (the longest being 12 miles). Max hadn't ridden a bike since last year when we rode that trail in Alaska. They all said they didn't need any practice, and for the most part, they were right. But guess what? I wasn't the first person to get tired! Or even the second. So there are some real benefits to preparation too.

We started and ended at the Museum of Science and Industry this year, and that was great because it was so much easier to get in and out of the city, and the parking garage was right by the race start. We got there as the sun was coming up, and as soon as they let us onto Lake Shore Drive, the boys started riding ahead of us, not wanting to be held back by us slow old-timers (for the record, I am the only slow old-timer; Mike could have gone much faster, but he opted to ride with me instead). Funny enough, by the time they reached the rest area at Hollywood Ave. at the north end of Lake Shore Drive, they were only about half a mile ahead of us. The rest area marked the halfway point, and I asked them how they were feeling after the first 15 miles. All three of them said they were fine, it was fairly easy, they had no difficulty.

And then things took a turn.

As we headed back south, the boys again increased their speed and started riding ahead of us. But around mile 20, Max suddenly came up from behind me. 

"How'd you get back there?" I asked.

"Henry's out of gas and had to stop, and Liam didn't notice and went ahead, but I noticed and stopped with him. Can he ride with you now?"

I looked, and a clearly overheated Henry was right behind us. He had no water bottle, so I passed him mine, but I guess he doesn't have much practice drinking and riding at the same time, because as soon as he tried, he dropped my water bottle, which was then lost forever in the steady stream of riders behind us. (He offered to go back and get it, but no way was I letting him fight against traffic for a water bottle. That really could have been a disaster.)

So on we rode, to the river, where I had asked everyone to stop and take a picture. I could tell that Henry was super tired by then, so we took a long break and I got my picture (though it was really crowded so we weren't on the actual bridge). We started off again, with Liam and Max in the lead. I pulled into traffic and thought Mike and Henry were right behind me, but I guess they got delayed because I didn't see them again until the end. I caught up with Liam in Grant Park (about mile 23) and he told me his goose was cooked and he was ready to be finished, then we got separated again, and I rode the rest of the way by myself.

The final few miles were really hot and windy, definitely not my favorite riding conditions (especially with no water). Liam and Max ended up making it back to the museum about a half a mile ahead of me, and Mike and Henry were a couple miles behind, having stopped for rest breaks a couple times along the way. We got some water and snacks from the rest area, and the boys plopped themselves on the grass in an absolute portrait of exhaustion. 

Once we had a minute to catch our breath and Mike picked up all our event shirts for us (they're really nice this year!), we headed back to the parking garage and loaded up. A stop in Valpo for lunch, then back home by early afternoon. 

At lunch, I asked the boys what they thought, and the consensus was that they were glad we all got to do it together, but none of them wants to do it again next year. That could have been the soreness/chafing talking, but I don't think so. And I suppose it doesn't really matter. I'm just incredibly grateful that we could all do it together this year. I'm so proud of them for sticking it out for the whole 30 miles! And listen, I'm proud of myself, too. At the start of this year, I literally COULD NOT WALK. And now it's barely September, and while I can't walk long distances, I think I've proven that I can ride them. And that's more fun anyway!