Family Time

We were lucky this holiday season, as we got to see both our families in the following order: Thanksgiving in San Diego with the Conrads>>early December trip to Steamboat Springs with the Bauers>>Christmas all over California with the Conrads. This post will be a quick overview (mostly pictures) of the adventures.

Trip 1: Coronado Island for Thanksgiving

The group in front of the rental house
San Diego sunshine and blossom
Lovely buffet brunch on Thanksgiving (mimosas needing refill here)Stylish sisters at brunch
Group ride along the coast
Paraglider gazing
Hiking down cliffs to the beach

Trip 2: Steamboat Springs

Rabbit Ears Pass hiking/boarding/skiing/sledding
Buffalo Pass hiking/skiing/boarding
Cute. Just. Freaking. Cute.
(side note: we cut this trip one day short because of an impending snow storm and apocalyptic traffic reports, so photos will continue back in Boulder)

Hiking Gregory Canyon with Em and Keith
Canyon view
The mighty hikers. This was one cold, windy day.
Bbbrrrrrrrrr!
Cold.

Trip 3: Christmas and after in Los Alamitos, Vallejo, San Jose, Walnut Creek, San Francisco

Sisters at Grandma and Grandpa's house
Group walk in San Jose
Recess?
Day trip to San Fran
Camera goofin'
de Young Museum
Gorgeous sister Christina and fiancee (!) Francis near the buffalo paddock in Golden Gate Park
Gooberfest on the Segways! Ordinarily I would be heckling us, but actually, they were pretty dang cool to ride (so long as you mind the sudden stops and avoid crashing into the goober in front of you...a lesson learned best by doing, I find).
Rejoicing on a grand stage in the music concourse at Golden Gate Park
Okay, I miss everybody already...

Bison Peak

Bison Peak is the highest point (12,431ft) in the Tarryall Mountain Range of the Lost Creek Wilderness. Unusual rock formations are the hallmark of this area and Bison Peak has the largest collection of them, but since it's not a sacred, glorious, transcendent fourteener the trails stay pretty quiet. In fact, we hiked it on a Saturday in mid-November and saw no one. Yes.

For most of the trail it's hard to tell exactly what makes the area special.
But once we surfaced above the dense trees and crossed this field...
...we got our first good look at why we came:
A world of gnarled granite, precarious spires, and bizarre, impossible formations:
Fantastic. We enjoyed a windy lunch at the top and did some scramble exploring, but forwent the peak because we'd had enough of the tempest:

A good day.