Taylor Swift Concert

 A night to remember!  K managed to buy the tickets - reasonably priced - when they first went on sale.  (We paid about as much for parking!)  The girls have been looking forward to this since last year when they got the tickets.  They insisted on costumes, then came up with an awesome one for themselves:  replicating a "bit" at a Grammy's show (I think) where Taylor Swift (as T-Swizzle) paired up with rapper T-Pain.  They looked amazing!

Mine was their idea too, a line from "Champagne Problems," when a potential bride says "no" to a proposal and later his family says that she is "F**** in the head."  When she played the song, people behind us started saying, "oh...!" and pointing to my veil.

She's a talented performer and songwriter.  She has the most adorable crowd of fans, mostly all in costumes and so enthusiastic.  The stage effects were incredible and so much fun.  And when she sang her secret bonus song, one that is not in the set that she customizes for each show, the girls went wild.  3.5 hours of them singing every lyric - incredible.

Traffic wasn't bad, parking wasn't bad, and leaving the venue wasn't bad.  Fun to peer into other cars on the freeway on the way down and know exactly who was headed to the concert.  Sparkles!  A night to remember, indeed.

Sunday on the River

 Gorgeous day and fun on the river.  (No dinosaurs though, which has been our recurring joke since Jurrasic World 2 looks so much like it was filmed near here).

Oregon

 Sad occasion, but nice to connect with cousins and fun to spend two days traveling with Dad!

Gualala Visiting Mike and Terry

 Gorgeous and wonderful to spend time with some favorite people (and dogs!)

This was cool

 

Dance Competitions

 A lot of them don't allow photos, so I never have enough, but it is amazing to see her compete and have such fun.

Family Events

 Mothers' Day picnic with Monica visiting; Conor's graduation with Aunt Natalie, Uncle Mike, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Meg; Dad turns 86; Ernestine turns 80.

Decisions

 

Fantastic Mexico City

 Four marvelous days exploring Mexico City.  Not enough time!  Made the mistake of choosing the cheap midnight flight WITH a layover, which meant no sleep and going through customs without full use of my brain.  But it worked out!  We stayed at a wonderful hostel with a rooftop restaurant not far from the city center, explored amazing art and history museums, visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, traveled to the pyramids at Teotihuacan, saw amazing churches adjacent to museums and active archeological sites, and more.  Wonderful, fascinating city with awesome travel companions.

Joshua Bassett Concert

 The girls went to their first concert, at the Fillmore... and they went two nights in a row.  They live streamed a lot of it so I got to experience it too, which was fun.  Small venue and lots of interactions with the artist, whose music they love.

More Adventures: Giants Fan Fest, Ramses Exhibit, First Dance Competition of the Season

 

Merced Federal Wildlife Refuge

Our bird-nerd holiday weekend adventure.  My friend Kim recommended this place; otherwise I am not sure I would have known of it.  However, in researching, I learned that it is part of a series of wildlife refuges in California's huge central valley, designed both for the wildlife and to provide nature breaks for those traveling long distances.  

I am always fascinated by California's really remote spots and this was exactly that - smack in the middle of Hwy 5 and 99, accessible by nearly empty two-lane roads through vast fields.  We saw a trio of white pelicans in an agricultural canal when we were en route, got out of the car to see them better, and had nearly no traffic pass us in the ten-minute stop.  There were a few more people when we got to the Refuge, but not very many, especially remarkable on a holiday weekend.  Hunters are allowed in parts of the Refuge and we could hear gunshots occasionally.  The birds were there in massive quantities - hundreds of thousands?  Millions?  Hard to say.  The Refuge is structured almost like a driving safari, with a five-mile dirt road in a one-way loop.  We saw Sandhill Cranes, which I'd never seen before - spectacular huge gray birds with red crowns.  The mallards seemed to be in an eternal Valentine's celebration, with gorgeous, bright couples everywhere.  My favorite is the bright yellow Meadowlark, or maybe the "commotions" of coots we saw - they seem like silly birds, somehow.   Or the elegant Avocets!  Hard to pick.

Unusual day for us and thus a fun adventure.  Even the sky was amazing, both with teams of birds close to the ground (geese and cranes and maybe more) and with the vast numbers of them flying in merging formations high above the Refuge. Wow!  When we came home, K and I watched Hitchcock's "The Birds," which I'd never seen before.  Technically, it is a horror movie and thus my first.  Glad I saw it afterward!

  

Some Favorite Yosemite Moments

Photos by G. Love these two so much.  Great people to adventure and have fun with.  My favorite people in my favorite place.

 

Yosemite After the Storm

 I cried.

It was too cold to even open the car doors!  Too cold for the snow to melt, at least at first.  After a while, we started to hear multiple mini-avalanches falling on the rocks below.  Before the sun came up it was spectacular, then after, the beauty changed and was breathtaking in new ways.  We'd take a few steps (and later drive a few seconds), then see a new view and gasp again.  It was hard to leave (though not from a driving perspective - I got our new chains on without a problem and that was a relief!)