TRAVELS WITH MATTIE

Last weekend, Greg, Mattie and I happily headed south on the 395 for a special wedding celebration for Nathan and Elin (Greg and I did NOT get married. I repeat. DID NOT GET MARRIED. The family rumor mill is in full effect). The wedding was in the evening up on June Mountain, just after a gorgeous series of summer storms rolled through in the afternoon and kindly cleared in time for our ride up to the venue on the chair lift. From the midway lodge we looked down on Gull and June Lakes, with Mono lurking in the background still under gray and yellow thunderheads. Perfect views all around, good company and old soccer-playing friends, beers, cupcakes, a great bluegrass band, and most importantly the celebration of a really wonderful couple alongside their friends and amazing family. Congratulations, Elin and Nathan! What else have we been up to for the past few days? Stylish fishing in Lee Vining. Mattie decided to take a swim without telling us, and after a frantic search Greg...

HI EVERYBODY! There's just so much to cover from the last two weeks. We headed south on the 395 and have been roaming around the east side for a while with different people and dogs. It's been absolutely awesooome.  Mattie and I left Reno two Mondays ago and camped near Convict while waiting for my parents to show up with the little gremlins.  Mattie always jumps in the tent before it's even completely set up. She can't get enough of tent living. Mattie stole Greg's sleeping bag while we waited for him to show up later in the week. The madness began quickly once they showed up.  S'mores, fishing, wandering, hot dogs, creek swimming and battles.  Then it just got crazier: the rest of the family showed up for the Fish-Off (EVEN Dylan and Jessie), Greg and Milo came on Thursday, and we had a great weekend playing farkle,  family, chasing children, catching fish,  and visiting before things mellowed out again...

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 ...