Year: 2020

Mesa Verde, Bisti, Albuquerque, and Taos

Puebloan Country We are now in Puebloan country. Leaving Durango, we snake up the highway to the top of Mesa Verde. From the road leading up to it, this place emphatically punches the clear blue sky. As I drive up, I wonder how there would be enough water to sustain…

Aspen, Crested Butte, and Durango

Leadville to Aspen Riding a train through the Rockies has been a much talked about highlight for this trip. Earlier in the summer, Vacation Bible School’s Rocky Railway theme song “Your Power Will Pull Us Through” echoed in our household. The opportunity was perfect to end our summer with a…

Denver, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Avon

Traveling during the pandemic Plans might have to be cancelled, and with the pandemic surge over the summer, I started a list of each hotel’s latest date to cancel without paying for the first night. We stood ready to cancel this trip. Then five days before our departure, we decided…

Santa Monica

We had been locked down for too long. Going stir-crazy, we book a hotel in Santa Monica and head there to spend time at the beach. This is sort of a test trip for our upcoming vacation in Colorado and New Mexico. The wagon proved to be handy, since it…

Camping by Big Bear Lake

After baking a sourdough boule for our lunch picnic, we drive up to Big Bear Lake’s Serrano Campground. We have several goals in mind: get the kids outdoors, escape the valley heat, and see Jupiter and Saturn while they are near opposition. The 130 mm reflector telescope had just arrived,…

Comet NEOWISE

Here’s the comet taken from our rooftop, overlooking Loma Linda University Medical Center’s new towers.

Spring and Summer Garden

It’s a sunny February. We’ve been talking about a vegetable and cut flower garden. Starting with seeds and peat starter trays, Daphney and I plant for our spring and vegetable garden. Soon, we watch our work pay off: Asian greens, cilantro, chives, basil, beets, dill, sage, poppies, nasturtiums, marigolds, and…

Visiting Sequoia National Park

Last time we were up this way, an early winter storm thwarted our visit to the giant sequoia trees. The road was open up just beyond Sequoia National Park’s Foothill Visitor Center. This time, it’s the novel coronavirus that nearly caused this trip to be cancelled. We had originally scheduled…

Building a Playhouse

Two days after California’s statewide shelter-in-place order, I embark on a coronavirus home project. Little did I know that Lowe’s and Home Depot would see surges in their sales; everyone is doing the same thing. Earlier, Yan and I had perused many designs and plans. We settled on a design…

Cottonwood Campground in Joshua Tree National Park

Our original plan was to leave early Saturday morning, early enough to secure a campsite at one of the first-come-first-served campgrounds in Joshua Tree. Because of coronavirus, the park had decided to remove reservations for all campgrounds. Having debated about camping at Black Rock, we decided to go deeper into…

Daphney’s Fourth Birthday

Daphney gets an extended celebration of her fourth birthday, with events spanning the entire week and both weekends. The coronavirus shelter-at-home order gives us plenty of excuses to make this birthday extra memorable. We surprise her with the special gift book, Fables of Ancient China, compiled just for her. And…

Fables of Ancient China

Another project during the coronavirus shelter-in-place order is creating a storybook as a gift to Daphney on her fourth birthday. Years ago, I bought a book of 100 Chinese Fables from a bookstore in Hong Kong. After picking out some of the stories that are fitting for a four-year-old, I…