San Francisco
Recent residents of Connecticut, Kristin transferred to San Francisco in May 1999 and Bryan made the move in October of 2000. Just in time for the dot com boom. The photo of Kristin and Bryan was taken over Labor Day weekend in 2001 at the top of Twin Peaks with views of the entire city and the bay. Kristin and Bryan made their second attempt to “Paddle the Gate” underneath the Golden Gate Bridge in September 2003, but were turned around by high winds, aggressive tides, fog, and raging rapids. Bryan is standing on California Street, the street on which Kristin and Bryan now live, just before it drops into downtown with a view of the Bay Bridge in between the high rises.

Loch Leven Lakes, CA
September 2002
This series of three glacial lakes is located just to the west of Lake Tahoe, over the Donner Pass. Kristin and Bryan went on their first backpacking trip there in late summer of 2002. They hiked about four miles uphill, and set up camp right next to one of the lakes. The next morning, they hiked to another lake and encountered a rattlesnake blocking the trail. It was about seven feet long, and bared venom-dripping fangs. The snake gets bigger and nastier each time the story is told.

Pac Bell Park, CA
September 2001 and June 2003
Pacific Bell Park is one of Kristin and Bryan’s favorite spots in San Francisco, particularly on a sunny day. These photos were taken about two years apart. The one with Bryan was Labor Day Weekend, 2001 when Kristin’s sister Susan, and her husband Jason, were visiting from Philly. The Giants were playing the Rockies, and Barry Bonds hit a home run (on his way to hitting 73 that season). The picture of Kristin was taken by Bryan on May 31, 2003, and shows her floating in McCovey Cove, the landing spot for several of Barry’s home runs. Completed in 2000, Pac Bell Park has been hailed as the second coolest park in all of major league baseball by Bryan Thomas. It ranks right behind PNC Park in Pittsburgh, and a few notches above the Vet.

Lake Tahoe, CA
March 2002 and July 2003
Kristin and Bryan skied Alpine Meadows at Lake Tahoe in March, 2002, shortly after Bryan returned from working at the Olympics in Salt Lake City (note the cheesy blue jacket). Alpine Meadows is on the western (California) side of the lake, and is one of the few resorts in the area that has views of the lake from the slopes. The group picture was taken after kayaking on the lake. Page, Trish and Dan, Trash, Wade and Merry, Bryan and Kristin, and Susan and Jason headed to Tahoe for Kristin’s 30th Birthday Bash. Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the country (behind Crater Lake in Oregon). If drained, it could cover the entire state of California in 14 inches of water.

The Lost Coast, CA
October 2002
Kristin and Bryan did a one-night backpacking trip here last Fall. The Lost Coast, which is about six hours north of San Francisco, is the longest stretch of wilderness coastline in the country. Kristin and Bryan hiked and camped along the beach, and were warned by locals to beware of bears and “sleeper waves,” which have been known to wash up onto the beach and carry hikers out to sea. Bryan somehow managed to forget to bring the tent poles, but remembered to bring a six-pack of Budweiser.

Pittsburgh, PA (Table 6)
December 2002
This was Kristin’s first real tour of Pittsburgh. We spent Christmas in Philadelphia, then drove to Pittsburgh for a visit. The tour included a spin through the South Side, North Side, McKees Rocks, Downtown, Shadyside, Turtle Creek, Murrysville, and, of course, lunch at Primanti Brothers in the Strip. This photo on Mt. Washington was taken by Aunt Terry. It was about eight degrees.

Seabrook Island, SC
September 2002
Kristin and Bryan visited his parents in September 2002 after Susan and Jason’s wedding. Seabrook is about 40 minutes outside of Charleston, and directly south of Kiawah Island. These crabs have just been lifted from a crabtrap, which was tied to the side of the dock overnight. The dock sits on a marshy backwater channel of the Edisto River, which flows out to the ocean at the southern tip of Seabrook Island. The crabs were delicious with a little butter and Old Bay seasoning.

Mount Shasta, CA
May 2003
Mount Shasta, a dormant volcano, is the highest mountain in northern California (elevation 14,162 feet). Bryan and Kristin went camping near Shasta with friends Wade and Merry and Lulu the dog on Memorial Day weekend. The day before this picture was taken, we attempted to drive the main road that winds its way up the mountain, but the road was closed halfway up due to snow coverage. Mount Shasta dominates the landscape of north central California, from Redding up to the Oregon border. Lassen and Shasta are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA
May 2003 and September 2003
On Memorial Day weekend, Kristin and Bryan, along with friends Wade and Merry, traveled to north central California to camp near Mount Shasta, then headed east to check out Lassen Volcanic National Park. The park is about three hours north of San Francisco. Half of the park was closed due to snow cover in May, but Kristin and Bryan hiked to the top of Lassen Peak in September. Here’s Kristin in front of a beaver dam on Hat Lake. Behind Bryan is Lassen Peak, which last erupted in 1915. The fall of volcanic ash was reported as far away as Elko, Nevada, more than 300 miles to the east. The volcanic rock photo’s were taken at the top of the peak, within the crater itself, which was about a half mile across. Lassen and Shasta are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Steamboat Springs, CO
February 2003
Kristin, Bryan, Greg, Sue, Becky, Sunil, and Cousin Beth spent a few days skiing in Steamboat Springs earlier this year. It was the first time skiing in the Rockies for both Kristin and Sunil, and both tackled the mountain well. Steamboat Springs is in north central Colorado, about two and a half hours from Denver. Kristin and Bryan rode up the chairlift with an old local rancher whose family founded the ski resort several decades ago. He skis for free.

Big Sur, CA
July 2002
Big Sur is a 90-mile section of beautiful, rugged coastline that stretches from Carmel down to San Simeon along Highway 1. Kristin and Bryan drove down from San Francisco one weekend, looking for a place to camp. All of the “official” campsites along Highway 1 were full, so they turned onto an old dirt road that wound its way into the hills, 3,000 feet above the ocean. At the top of the road, they found a grassy bluff and set up their tent. From that perch, they sat in their camp chairs, got out their binoculars, and watched whales jumping in the bay thousands of feet below. No kidding!
On another trip to Big Sur they visited Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park to see the famous 80-foot waterfall that drops from granite cliffs into the ocean.

Sequoia National Park, CA
October 2001
In October 2001, Kristin and Bryan went camping with friends Wade, Merry, Willy, Alison, Brad, and Samantha to Sequoia National Park in eastern California, about a five-hour drive from San Francisco. They camped next to a river where they fished and swam in the ice cold water. Later, they saw a black bear and her cubs walk through the campsite then wade across the river. The gang then checked out the General Sherman Sequoia Tree, the largest living thing (by volume) in the world. It stands 275 feet tall, and measures 103 feet in circumference around the base of the tree.

Bodie State Historic Park, CA
July 2003
Bodie, located about an hour’s drive northeast of Yosemite National Park, and very close to the Nevada state line, is a genuine California gold-mining ghost town. Gold was discovered in the hills near the town in the 1870s, and Bodie soon grew to over 10,000 residents with over 65 saloons. By the 1930s the gold had all been mined, and the population dropped down to a few hundred people. In 1962, California designated Bodie as a State Historic Park, preserving the town as a museum of a ghost town in a state of arrested decay. There are still tea kettles on people’s kitchen tables, and bottles of whiskey in the saloons. Here are Kristin and Bryan in front of the main church—one of the more well-preserved buildings in town.

Mono Lake, CA
July 2003
Located to the east of Yosemite National Park (not far from the Nevada state line), Mono Lake (pronounced moe-no) is one of the more peculiar bodies of water in the country. The lake is more than twice as salty as the ocean, and supports only algae, brine shrimp, and (tons of) brine flies. It is fed by several mountain streams and springs, but has no outlet. The springs beneath the lake deposit calcium and other minerals that create the “tufa towers” that you see in the pictures. It makes for an eerie, lunar landscape, but it was a cool place to paddle and float-in over the 4th of July weekend.

Ansel Adams Wilderness
July 2003
Kristin and Bryan went camping in the hills outside the eastern edge of Yosemite National Park over the 4th of July Weekend. While there, they took a day-hike in the Ansel Adams Wilderness Area, named after the photographer. The hike ended up being 15 miles long, and they didn’t finish until after dark. The picture of Kristin was taken in the morning. She’s looking across the valley to Shadow Lake, which they wouldn’t reach until well after 6 p.m. Bryan is eating lunch at Thousand Island Lake, about midway through the hike. The elevation was about 10,000 feet. The mosquitoes were vicious.

Hetch Hetchy, Yosemite National Park, CA
July 2003
Hetch Hetchy is a beautiful area in the northeast corner of Yosemite National Park. It was once a large valley with sheer granite faces as dramatic as those in the main part of the park, but in 1914, the Tuolumne River was dammed, turning the valley into a large reservoir to provide drinking water to the city of San Francisco on the other side of the state. Here are Kristin and Bryan, standing on top of that dam, with the reservoir behind them.

Castle Crags State Park, CA
May 2003
Over Memorial Day weekend, 2003, Kristin and Bryan went camping in Castle Crags State Park with friends Wade and Merry. Castle Crags, a dramatic outcropping of 6,000 foot glacier-polished granite just south of Mount Shasta, is about four hours north of San Francisco. The four of us, accompanied by Lulu the dog, went hiking near the crags, and also took a drive to Mount Shasta. That night, we camped alongside a rushing stream and cooked hot dogs and keilbasa over the campfire and played poker.

Burney Falls, CA
May 2003
On Memorial Day weekend 2003, Kristin and Bryan drove several hours north of San Francisco with friends Wade and Merry to camp near Mount Shasta, a snow-capped 14,162-foot dormant volcano. During the trip, they made a few side excursions to check out many of the cool geological features in the area. One stop was Burney Falls. The water over the falls flows at 100 million gallons everyday coming from springs that are part of a large underground reservoir. At 129 feet tall, the falls are a popular attraction throughout north central California, but what the gang found more impressive were the chili dogs served at the snack bar.

Cache Creek, CA
June 2002
To celebrate Bryan's 27th birthday, Kristin and Bryan drove three hours northeast of San Francisco to go rafting for a weekend on Cache Creek, which boasts class 3 white water. After paddling all day on Saturday, they pulled off the river to camp at the outfitter's group campsite. For dinner, they were served steak and margaritas. The next morning they woke up early and rafted until about noon. This picture was taken in a rapid called "The Mother" by a guy standing on a rock in the middle of the rapids who was waving his arms and shouting, "Paddle over here to me....now smile!"