After being out of town all weekend I was jonesing for some news. On Wired.com and a few other blogs there was a lot of talk about the passing of Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. I had never heard of him before but curiosity got the best of me so I watched his now famous "last lecture" which was linked to in almost every article or post I saw about him. I found this to be inspirational and moving. His view on life is truly remarkable considering his circumstances. I would recommend anyone, but especially fathers, to watch this. Enjoy.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Bark Houses and Dirty, Dirty Children
Went camping this weekend with the family at Indian Grinding Rock State Park in Jackson, CA. We camped with four other families at the U’macha’tam’ma’ environmental campground. The U’macha’tam’ma’ is a collection of seven recreated Miwok bark houses. A bark house is essentially a tepee constructed with wooden planks and a dirt floor. There were plenty of gaps in the planks for all the forests small creatures to come and go as they please. Each bark house has a picnic bench and metal fire ring and there is a common area with a fire ring and a few tables. The place is really cool and an experience I would recommend trying at least once. Here is a picture of our bark house.
Of course, as you can see if you clicked the link, there is one apparent drawback to sleeping in the bark houses, there is no door. At first, I was a little apprehensive. I wasn't so much worried about the family being mauled by bears or mountain lions, no, I was more concerned with raccoons getting into our stuff or a curious skunk. However, the view out the door at night as you lay down to sleep and the sunrising through the forest when you wake is amazing and more than makes you forget about the downside. Here is a picture taken of the view on Sunday morning.
We originally had two of the seven bark houses, one for the kids and one for the wife and myself. The first night after dinner and roasting marshmallows we all headed up to bed. The Wife and I got the kids settled in their beds and walked the 40 feet to our bark house to go to sleep. While we were laying there we discussed the positives and negatives of the no door layout of the bark house versus the traditional nylon tent. We had a good laugh at the false sense of security provided by a couple of millimeters of nylon and a plastic zipper. Although we had convinced ourselves that the bark house were perfectly safe about fifteen minutes later we were moving the kids, their air mattresses and sleeping bags up to our location. My kids are adventurous and brave to a fault and although they would never admit it but you could see it in their faces that they were relieved to be sleeping with mom and dad. We all slept very well.
The next morning, while the Wife and I prepared breakfast with the other adults, all the kids headed off into the forest around the campsite to explore. It took about an hour to get everything prepared for breakfast. We called the kids and they emerged from the trees covered head to toe in a fine red dust. We would come to find out that this would be pretty much how our kids would look for the rest of the weekend. We cleaned them up enough to eat, fed them and then sent them back into the forest to play while we washed the dishes.
One of the best things about kids, in my opinion, is that they are all about having fun and being dirty is just part of the deal. Somewhere along the way most of us "grow up" and become overly concerned with our appearances. Although I do appreciate that kids don't care about being dirty I still felt it was my parental duty to take them to the camp showers about a quarter mile away to shower and brush their teeth. Besides, the Wife and I really wanted a shower.
After showering we visited the museum at the park. It is a small museum but it has some wonderful displays and information. I think that I was more interested in the museum than I would usually be because we were sleeping in the same structures that the Miwok people one did.
We went back to camp and again let the kids loose into the forest. Of course, they emerged again from the forest covered in red dust. And, as we sat visiting with the other adults, we realized that we too were becoming covered in the dust from the kids running through camp. Finally we got to work preparing dinner. Following dinner we took a good look at the kids and decided that there was no way they were getting into bed looking the way they did so it was off to the showers again.
That night we laid down and the Wife decided to read to the kids while I read the newest Wired magazine I'd picked up while getting food for the trip. We were using headlamps to see our respective reading material. Soon we were getting dive-bombed, kamikaze style, by moths and June bugs attracted to the lights. Eventually it got to be so absurd that we had to just give up reading and go to sleep. The next morning we ate, packed up and got on the road.
The trip didn't involve anything terribly exciting but I think that the experience was unbeatable. The kids had a great time, I really enjoyed the whole bark house experience and the Wife I think just liked getting out of San Jose for the weekend.
Of course, as you can see if you clicked the link, there is one apparent drawback to sleeping in the bark houses, there is no door. At first, I was a little apprehensive. I wasn't so much worried about the family being mauled by bears or mountain lions, no, I was more concerned with raccoons getting into our stuff or a curious skunk. However, the view out the door at night as you lay down to sleep and the sunrising through the forest when you wake is amazing and more than makes you forget about the downside. Here is a picture taken of the view on Sunday morning.
We originally had two of the seven bark houses, one for the kids and one for the wife and myself. The first night after dinner and roasting marshmallows we all headed up to bed. The Wife and I got the kids settled in their beds and walked the 40 feet to our bark house to go to sleep. While we were laying there we discussed the positives and negatives of the no door layout of the bark house versus the traditional nylon tent. We had a good laugh at the false sense of security provided by a couple of millimeters of nylon and a plastic zipper. Although we had convinced ourselves that the bark house were perfectly safe about fifteen minutes later we were moving the kids, their air mattresses and sleeping bags up to our location. My kids are adventurous and brave to a fault and although they would never admit it but you could see it in their faces that they were relieved to be sleeping with mom and dad. We all slept very well.
The next morning, while the Wife and I prepared breakfast with the other adults, all the kids headed off into the forest around the campsite to explore. It took about an hour to get everything prepared for breakfast. We called the kids and they emerged from the trees covered head to toe in a fine red dust. We would come to find out that this would be pretty much how our kids would look for the rest of the weekend. We cleaned them up enough to eat, fed them and then sent them back into the forest to play while we washed the dishes.
One of the best things about kids, in my opinion, is that they are all about having fun and being dirty is just part of the deal. Somewhere along the way most of us "grow up" and become overly concerned with our appearances. Although I do appreciate that kids don't care about being dirty I still felt it was my parental duty to take them to the camp showers about a quarter mile away to shower and brush their teeth. Besides, the Wife and I really wanted a shower.
After showering we visited the museum at the park. It is a small museum but it has some wonderful displays and information. I think that I was more interested in the museum than I would usually be because we were sleeping in the same structures that the Miwok people one did.
We went back to camp and again let the kids loose into the forest. Of course, they emerged again from the forest covered in red dust. And, as we sat visiting with the other adults, we realized that we too were becoming covered in the dust from the kids running through camp. Finally we got to work preparing dinner. Following dinner we took a good look at the kids and decided that there was no way they were getting into bed looking the way they did so it was off to the showers again.
That night we laid down and the Wife decided to read to the kids while I read the newest Wired magazine I'd picked up while getting food for the trip. We were using headlamps to see our respective reading material. Soon we were getting dive-bombed, kamikaze style, by moths and June bugs attracted to the lights. Eventually it got to be so absurd that we had to just give up reading and go to sleep. The next morning we ate, packed up and got on the road.
The trip didn't involve anything terribly exciting but I think that the experience was unbeatable. The kids had a great time, I really enjoyed the whole bark house experience and the Wife I think just liked getting out of San Jose for the weekend.
Here goes...
So, a couple days ago I randomly came up with the idea of wanting to start a blog. I don’t know why or what inspired the thought but who am I to question inspiration. I started looking into how to start a blog, who would host it, etc. I Googled the subject and came up with way too many hits so I chose a couple and moved on. I took the first “how to” site on Google (courtneytuttle.com) and read an article titled “Starting a Blog That Isn’t a Time-sucking Money Pit”, a great article. However, this sent me into a whole other set of questions like ‘what is the purpose of my blog?’ and ‘what subject should my blog focus on?’ issues that the article pointed out as important to having a successful blog. As I struggled coming up with answers to those questions I backtracked a bit and asked myself ‘Do I care if my blog is successful?’ the short answer – no. Answering that question made everything easier, at least in my mind, I can post about whatever I want. Will people read it? Will I get any RSS subscribers? Will anyone link to my posts because the liked what I posted? The answer to all of these is maybe, and that is good enough for me.
Now that all that is out of the way, what will this blog be about? I will be posting about things I’ve done, places I’ve been and new things that spark my interest. I expect this whole blog can be summed up by the saying “an inch deep but a mile wide” hence, the name
Now that all that is out of the way, what will this blog be about? I will be posting about things I’ve done, places I’ve been and new things that spark my interest. I expect this whole blog can be summed up by the saying “an inch deep but a mile wide” hence, the name
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