Crow Canyon Gardens/Cataract Falls/Gina in SFO

Crow Canyon Gardens are within walking distance to our home.
I hoped to find gardens there like the ones at Heathers Farms in Walnut Creek but there are actually just small community garden plots here. And there is more behind the gardens. Here you can access the Crow Creek and its surrounding greenery. You could nearly forget you are still in the busy town.

I feel someone is watching us and then I see the big birds in the tree above us. I guess they are vultures. They are so close and, considering their size, they make me feel a bit uncomfortable.
They are not happy with our presence either and soon they take off.

The weather is still not stable yet. Sunshine changes with rainy and stormy days so you never know how the weather will be the next day.

I was planning a more challenging hike in the Santa Cruz Mountains for this Saturday.
I think Rob was relieved to hear my friends may join me. But the weather forecast was so bad we decided to cancel.

But Rob and Maarten would go for their Saturday ‘daddy’ hike rain or shine. And despite the heavy rain in the early morning we get plenty of sunshine later that day.

So while the ‘boys’ are enjoying the redwoods near Oakland I take the risk of possible rain and head to Marin again. This time to check out Cataract Falls.
We’ve been here before and it was very crowded then. This is an extremely popular trail. So it's best to come early in the morning to be sure to get a spot because of the very limited parking.
It looks like the bad forecast scared off most of the outdoor fans. I don’t meet any other cars all the way to Alpine Lake and there is also nobody at the trailhead!

Later I meet a few people when I’m returning down again. I’m delighted to enjoy all the beauty in complete solitude.
At first I have to think of the weather forecast and my waterproofs I forgot at home. But here also the sky clears up soon.
After the rainy days the falls are well filled and I find some new pools we had missed the last time. Maybe because especially the pools were occupied by picnicking crowds then.

Some claim this shaded and wooded canyon with its falls when the sun comes through the dense trees to have a Hawaii-like atmosphere. I can’t judge that but anyhow it is really beautiful here.

However there is a little disappointment that day.
The battery in my camera is low so I can’t take any pictures of the last part of the falls.
A good reason to come back again!

~~~

Despite living so close to ‘the city’ we visit San Francisco very rarely. Mostly only when there is a particular reason to do so, like having visitors or visiting someone.

This Sunday we meet there with my cousin from New York. It is already six (?) years ago when Gina visited us in Holland. Her business trip to San Francisco this week is a great opportunity to meet her and her boyfriend Ryan. Yet Maarten is behaving pretty weird. He is trying to get Gina’s attention all the time and I’m not sure if she appreciates his way of ‘flirting’ with her.

Well, I believe we should visit ‘the city’ more often. Considering his behavior today, Maarten has turned out to be a real country boy and his social development may use a bit of the ‘city’s culture’ as well.

'Taricha Granulosa'

My trip to snowy Sunol ends in the morning traffic to San Jose.
Maarten is at school and this morning is so lovely I don’t want to give that up too quickly. Comforting myself that Sunol is in the clouds anyway I go back to Las Trampas and climb the Rocky Ridge which I’ve already planned to do last Friday. The streams are all full again and bubble cheerful around the trail. It is silly but I have to think how Maarten would enjoy playing with the water.
Although we already walked here before there was never any water in this small stream bed.

Now there is even a small waterfall along the Elderberry trail.
This is the nice side of hiking after so many rainy days. Less pleasant however are the drenched muddy paths. It is so slippery, I guess I’m very lucky not to fall straight into the mud. At last I decide to take a grassy but very steep cow path directly to the ridge.

The view of Mount Diablo is always nice and today the top is even sprinkled with snow.

The bay and the San Francisco skyline are good visible but unfortunately my camera is not that advanced to capture how beautiful the views from the ridge really are.

I have to go back since I don’t want to be late to pick up Maarten.

I almost step on this little guy ( I know I would feel horrible if I did). I can’t identify him but he seems very friendly and continues slow over the muddy path.
(I learn later that day that he belongs to the newt
family and if he feels threatened he would secrete a very toxic substance from his rough skin.)

Radishes - 'Grateful Mom' - Lukášek’s Birthday

I know it’s only January. But I found my old paper box with seeds in the garage lately and considering the temperature never drops bellow zero Celsius in this area I’ve decided it is warm enough to sow some radishes. Though I’m not sure the seedlings will ever come out because Maarten turned out to be an ‘eager’ gardener. He uses his rake everyday to loosen the soil in the container...


Saturday Rob and Maarten head to the nearby Lafayette Reservoir for a father and son outing. And...I become a ‘grateful mom’ for half a day!

They both return thrilled about their outdoor trip with a group hiking dad’s and children.

I guess it was a very exciting hike since Maarten is full of impressions and he keeps talking about their adventures at the lake...

...a lot of fun, but also pretty tiring as we notice around dinnertime...


On Sunday we celebrate Lukášek’s 10th birthday in the San Francisco ZOO.

I expect Maarten to be difficult today as he is still tired from Saturday’s hike. But he behaves quite well except for when we have to leave the ZOO.

It’s a good-sized gathering of Czechs and ‘Czech-alike’s’. We meet some newcomers and make new friends. We have a lot of fun together even though the weather is not very cooperative today. The ZOO is actually right next to the ocean so the freezing cold wind chills the party.

But being optimistic and even sharing the clothes, we are able to cope with that and we still get some pleasant sunshine around lunchtime.

Seganti!

There was not a very promising start of this weekend...
Friday morning Maarten locked us up (me and him) in the garage when I went to grab some potatoes for the soup. This is a Maartens game/joke since a few weeks already.
GRRRRRR! Usually I carry my keys all the time to avoid situation like this. But not this Friday morning :-( There was no way out so we had to stay there for at least two hours because Rob went out to do some shopping...

Since we had to say goodbye to Oma Suze and Aunt Lia last Tuesday the house was ready for another family visit.
Even now it’s still hard to believe but this weekend we enjoyed the company of (only a small) part of my extensive American family. After 13 years!
Uncle Jim and a friend Boz came from their ski vacations at the Lake Tahoe.
And Uncle Harry and Aunt Lynn drove all the 500 miles (804,5 km) from their home in Chula Vista!
We had a wonderful time together sitting at the porch looking at old family pictures, talking about our ancestors and of course a lot of laughing. Maarten was so excited and he did his best to ‘participate’ in all our discussions. First name he learned was ‘Boz’. He kept following Boz the whole weekend with ‘Hi Boz!’. He also tried to keep up with the laugh of his uncles Jim and Harry and he did pretty well.
His very favorite was Aunt Lynn. He followed her everywhere even in the morning he couldn’t wait when she’ll wake up.
I was a little bit concerned about Maarten because he had a cold since Friday. Fortunately he was cheerful not complaining about anything. We could even have dinner out in Dublin and he loved it.
Also on Saturday after Maartens afternoon nap we went by BART (the Bay Area metro) to San Francisco. We took the cable car to the China town to have dinner at a favorite Bozes restaurant (Great Eastern at Jackson St.). It really was delicious!
The Chinese dragons and music in the streets were great. Maarten carried by Uncle Jim all the time was having so much fun in the night SF streets.
Sunday was the day to say good bye. The house felt pretty quiet and empty when they were gone. Maarten is still asking and looking for them. He already misses them and he is not the only one. Let’s hope we all get together soon again.

PS: Sunday afternoon: splashing in the ‘Frog pool’ makes the warmth more pleasant (around 76 F/25 C this weekend)