TRAVELS WITH MATTIE

YOU GUYS, IT'S REALLY SUMMER!!!! There's too much to do, so this post will be short. But here's how summer is going so far: After a great weekend with Yeti and Dad, we left our little home last week and drove in late to the ranch. Leaving for another summer in the mountains! Beach bonfires and hanging out with Yeti and Dad. Since being up here, we've been busy feeding carrots to the horses, climbing, swimming and walking through the river, watching Jurassic World at the drive-in, running in the morning before it's hot, looking at our buddy the Great Horned Owl in the barn without making eye contact because he's super intimidating, watching World Cup, eating AWESOME BBQ that Greg's been making for us, and spending some time with the Reno Crazies (Scott, Laura, Sid, Anni, Aidan and Emme). So it's basically the best. Here are some pictures about some of the greatness that is SUMMERTIME:     Hanging out in the river pasture with Cloud. ...

I really don't know how that happened. This has been an awesome, challenging, data-filled quarter of teaching, and one of my favorite yet. The last 8 weeks have flown by, and Spring with it. So we find ourselves sitting anxiously on the brink of another summer in the mountains.  What have we been up to? Mostly school. Teaching. Grading. Learning all kinds of amazing things in R. But in the other times... Backcountry wandering near Sisquoc with Greg. Wildflowers all over! Some water! It's hot! Paradise Road is perfect as usual. It feels like summer in this picture and on the road. Fossils and sprained ankles on all kinds of cross-country adventures. Scrambling up sandstone canyons to find the EXACT starting points of beautiful springs. Really. This is where it starts, coming straight out of the rock. Getting a little higher up in the backcountry.  Alabama Hills vacation weekend with Mattie, Greg and Milo. East side and Whitney ...

We've been around Reno. This means something new now, because Greg moved into a sweet little guest house on a 17 acre ranch on the Truckee River near Verdi. It is the BEST. But I'll start from the beginning. We left Santa Barbara a week and a half ago and drove the long road up Highway 395. We stopped at cool places like Red Rocks, Fossil Falls, and Bob and Nancy's house in Washoe Valley before getting in late to the ranch. Feeling small, Red Rocks State Park. Bighorns and things. Antelopes elsewhere. Fossil Falls is awesome. But there was no time for relaxing! We woke up the next morning and drove out to Pyramid Lake for the most low-key wedding ever in the world. Scott and Laura were married on a beautiful Saturday at the lake. Fishing, beers, vodka in grapefruits, sand castles, sparklers, tents, campfire, s'mores, hot dogs. My kind of wedding.  The whole gang. The next day we drove back to town and climbed. We've been climbing pretty ...

It's Yeti's Day!!! Happy Birthday! We love you Yeti. You are the best. Where would we be without our hiking, adventuring, backpacking, marathon running, movie-naming Wild Y?  Light blue-phase Yeti atop McKinley Peak. This hike was horrible, but days on trails with Yeti are awesome. Lighter blue-phase Yeti with Dad, Sid and Anni. Ice cream at the Mono Market? THE BEST. Dark blue-phase mountain Yeti and gremlins. Blue-violet phase Pine Creek Pass Yeti and Dad. In the Santa Ynez River Valley with my Y.  Happy Birthday Yeti! Can't wait for our next adventure! Love, Allie

Hi Everyone! It's been a beautiful winter. Meaning it hasn't felt like winter at all, and we could really use the rain. Mattie and I have been working hard, but finding time for adventures, climbing, finding animal prints and other silly things in the dirt, painting and drawing, and getting in a lot of exercise. Liiiike going on walks through the creekbeds finding all kinds of weird and awesome stuff. I want it to be a "camofrog." But I think he's a toad. Sandstone creek walls. Even found some recent prints from a good buddy near Upper Oso! That's no little kitten. A big cat in the creek. Of course we made it back to the mountains. My class this quarter was a 5-week intensive course, so when that finished last week we headed north on 395 to burning sagebrush, Greg and Milo. We were sad to hear about the burned homes in Swall Meadows, but happy that everyone stayed safe in the fire and windstorms. The rain that night was welcome, even thoug...