the pinnacles (of achievement)

so, I am awaiting photos from when my family came to visit, but until them, I will write about last weekend's venture out to Pinnacles National Monument. I found out that Pinnacles National Monument began as a volcano that first erupted about 195 miles south of its present location.

Jeremy, Mari and I headed out there Saturday afternoon and arrived around dusk. We set up camp and proceeded with some beers and chips.


We weren't able to have any fires, so we decided to try and see the sunset before it went down. Unfortunately the sun had already set down behind the area that we could get to via car. On the way we saw some wild boars, and made up our own fun.



In the morning we set off to the Old Pinnacles Trail Head to do a hike to the Balconies Cave. Basically at this point, I'll just share some photos of the hike. Btw, it was HOT! In the 90s.

Really cool, multi-colored rocks

Cool mossy rocks

Pinecones!
Rawr!

We stopped for a leisurely rest
(No, it was not in the least bit comfortable) Altho look for Jeremy's 2009 Calendar soon to be on the shelves!


Another fun fact is that Pinnacles NM is home to 14 of the 24 bat species in California. Actually, Bear Gulch Cave was closed due to bats raising their young. Luckily we still got to enjoy Balconies Cave. (Mari was really excited! Actually, she was running from us so we couldn't get a picture of her with the headlamp on, teehee)
Inside the caves...
Spooky dark caves See, we still got a headlamp photo! And this was a close call! Cool flowers
This looked like a man (Elvis) lying on his back
I believe this is Machete Ridge
This guy joined us while we ate our lunch

Between hikes, Jeremy and I got IT'S-IT ice cream sandwiches, a local specialty, while Mari got a popsicle and we enjoyed some much deserved pool time.

We were told to go on the reservoir hike before we left by our friendly camping neighbors, so Jeremy and I set off to do the Moses Spring - Rim Trail Loop before heading home.
This is one of my favorite pictures, I like that it's a tad blurry, it helps you imagine the heat
Jeremy "Badass" Sell
Jeremy "Crack Navigator" Sell
Fun trees that had red and black bark
Here's my shining moment, I saved an entire girl scout troop from being crushed under this boulder! They tried to give me a medal and some trail mix, but I declined...all in a days work
Stairs carved into the rock Oh and this is where you can turn the water on and off (Just kidding!)
It was pretty cool though because once we got to the top of the steps we turned to our left and looked over the reservoir

Coming up this weekend is King's Canyon/Sequoia National Park then Yosemite in August!

what do pinballs, steam trains & grills have in common?

...well, they all made up my weekend, plus other fun stuff. first off, this month has been the month of shows. Got to see Cloud Cult!



Incredible show, I am beyond happy that I got to see them perform, plus they had great openers - Kid Dakota - totally explosive and fun energy and Love is Chemicals. Also Connie Minowa, the wife of the leading force behind Cloud Cult, painted this picture during the show, and then auctioned it off to the highest bidder:



Then The Kills came to town, all rock & roll and acting the part. I swear there was a fan blowing on them the entire time, while the girl, "VV", prowled about the stage like a caged animal. This is the tamest video I have of the show, but I posted it because the sound is the best
Then, last week, Jeremy and I hit up the Mates of State show. Their newest album requires more then just the typical keyboard and drums, so they had a violinist (sometimes guitarist) and cellist up on stage with them. The new additions rocked hard! I don't think I've ever seen a string section more animated and into the music they were playing. I tried to capture it here (the sound quality stinks tho, so be prepared)
Before the end of the month, we get to catch Beirut (only time I saw them was SXSW and it was incredible!) with The Brunettes opening, as well as Neva Dinova!

Now, onto the weekend! Saturday, Jeremy and I went to Lucky Ju Ju Pinball in Alameda (this is a town next to Oakland). Basically you pay $10 and play as much pinball as you want. There are about 3 dozen pinball machines to play. We spent a good 2 hours there trying them all out.

The coolest/craziest pinball there was called Orbitor 1. It is hard to explain, but it is one of the strangest pinballs I've ever played. The ball actually goes behind the paddles and all around an uneven surface. They do a better job explaining it all if you go to the link posted.

Sunday we went to the Jack London Square farmer's market for some super fresh and delicious produce. We basically ate breakfast there with everyone handing out free cherries, apricots, raspberries and other great samples. We picked up a bunch of fresh goods, then decided to head out to Tilden Park in the East Bay, where we got to ride this awesome steam train! It wasn't the cog railway, but it sure was fun holding our own among all the 5 and under crowd.

choo-choo!

zee caboose

We wandered around and Jeremy found this gnarly old tree that had fallen over.


Then we took a little hike around inspiration point and decided to take some silly pictures for our amusement. Enjoy!


Before we went home, I managed to prick my finger on this beaute

twice.
But to make up for it, we went to Heinold's First and Last Chance Bar

with Paul and Dayana, and enjoyed the slanted floor, sea-worthy atmosphere and lamented that we'd miss out on drunken hopscotch.

No pictures from Monday, but we rode our bikes up to Berkeley and rummaged thru Amoeba Music and got latte's at Mediterraneum Caffe who claim to have invented the latte. I'm skeptical, but they were quite tasty.

As with all weekends and holidays, they must come to an end, but I'm going to start rallying for a national week off holiday, in honor of, let's say, the working class! Three a year, mandatory, on top of your normal paid vacation time.

ya.