A quick update...

Hello everyone! Sorry for the long delay between posts, but we've been pretty busy the last week...or two. Here are a few pics from last weekend. We went out to the beach and got some pictures of the wildlife... Also, that's Johanna out there in the Pacific, challenging the 8 foot waves....

Johanna is actually back in Boston today for her father's B-day (hopefully he won't see this tomorrow), hopefully she'll post a few pics of the weekend in Boston/Maine. It'll be a great respite from the last two weeks of organizing the optometry residency at the UCSD medical center.

I've been pretty much wall to wall with school the last week and a half. I'm taking 4 classes, and scored a TA position (which is really a 5th class) in the undergrad linear circuits class. As much as circuits might be out of my expertise, the class is definately 10x easier than the grad classes... I just held my first office hours today, which basically is just a question answering session; and me and the other two TA's are holding a problem solving class on Monday (300 students in the class yikes!) I'm probably going to spend most of this weekend going through Fluid Mechanics and the vector calculus it requires, hopefully learning it like the back of my hand.....well eventually..

A Trip to Cuyamaca State Park

We took a trip to Cuyamaca State Park, about 40 miles east of San Diego. It was ranch-like, between the desert and semi-tropical coastline, and was all in all a pleasant getaway with tons of beautiful hiking trails, horseriding paths, apple and date farms, and wildlife (we saw a huge herd of wild turkeys running across a small windy road, a large convoy of California Quails in a small gulch, and many other animals/signs of animals we couldn't identify...)

Most of these pictures were from a hike we took about 10 miles south of the town of Julian, a gold rush town built in 1870, with most of its original structures still standing. We'll be going back for the apple season in a few weeks, so no worries, we'll be sure to take plenty of pictures of the town.
























The area in which we hiked had been ravaged by a pretty intense fire in the last few years. The fire appeared to be limited to a 3-4 mile stretch along the curving route 79, as evidenced by the skeletal trees with charred black trunks. Here's one overlooking a mountain valley with a carpet of chaparral...



















It was amazing to see how life rebounds from fires. This area was like entering another world, with some kind of ivy/holly invading the burnt out trunks of old trees. We also found a few sprouts of new oaks pushing through...




















Here's Johanna and the massive valley to the south of Julian...

































The monochrome does justice to the landscape in the fire zones.... Check out the gullet on that raven!


























We'll definently be taking a trip back here in the late fall. There were two warm apple turnovers sitting in a bakery window that we didn't indulge in, and we plan on returning to claim them. Also, two horses stood in the middle of a burnt meadow, stamping and carousing around--we're going to take them for a ride.

A Craftsman Kitchen Must-Have

After scouring the San Diego region for the one piece of furniture we really wanted, we finally found it! We met a guy via craigslist, in the rough part of town, and he pulled it right out of his storage closet..... A mid-50's dinette set, complete with vinyl chairs and a cool 'flake pattern' lineoleum top on the table. Lots of chrome...check her out!

































































Also, we picked up a couple of cheap bikes from another guy in that part of town; apparently his kids had stopped riding them. We took a bike ride today up to the center of town and they rode great. There's a free shuttle from the Hillcrest UCSD medical center up to school, both of us are definately going to save the gas and ride/shuttle to campus.....

Craftsman Cat Sightings...

Our main room went from empty to full yesterday--we had some great couches delivered, and Johanna's harp arrived from the "Harp Haven", the local harp rental spot. We liked the couches for their Stickley-like qualities...with the exception of price.



















This is a nice ceramic plate we picked up in Santa Fe...inspired by European cave drawings...created by a local SF artist.



















Another view of the living room...


















Last night, as we were settling down for a comfortable night's sleep, we heard a ruckus outside our window--the trademark hissing and scuffling of a wild cat fight. We were intrigued--especially considering that but an hour earlier we had placed an entire can of tuna fish on our lawn, hoping to lure in some hungry strays. We rushed to the window and from the shadows emerged a mid-sized, healthy, puffy tailed Siamese stray! He slinked across our lawn, down our front porch stairs, and off into the darkness....When we woke up in the morning, this was all that remained of the tuna...

Getting Set Up....

After much resistance, we succumbed to IKEA, hoping to find some matching bedside tables and patio furniture. We found what we were looking for. However, we do not plan on returning....

























The most exciting purchase of the day was an amazing original 50's butter tray. I (Johanna) have been looking for one of these things for a while. I can't stand when the butter is cold and hard when I'm trying to butter my toast. Problem solved--and so stylish! Perfectly complimenting our hip 50's kitchen...




















Another view of the butter tray....




















Here's Cole setting up our unique Nordic bedside pieces, made of the finest fiberboard in Sweden.

The New Spot!

The New Spot!

The New Spot!

Exploring the area...

Here's a view Down to La Jolla from the Torrey Pines Glider Port...

Its the first glider port in the country, it benefits from the pacific breezes that ride up the cliffs and create thermals, which propel the parasailers up!









Its one of the few places in the world you can take off and land a glider at the same altitude...We're definately going to try this!



















Johanna's ready for takeoff!

A Week in Limbo

Hotels to House!

Hi everyone, we're out here still, doing well, getting settled. Sorry we dont have any pictures, the camera cord is lost somewhere in the pile of stuff that is our car, and we can't offload any pictures as of now. However, we are moving in to our new place today, and should be able to find it soon.

It'll be nice to have home cooked food again...the eating out definately gets old quick.... Updates coming!

Day 7: Flagstaff, AZ to San Diego, CA

some reaaaal serious desert about 70 miles east of San Diego....They have radiator refill wells every 1/2 mile or so, and the temps were in the 120 farenheit range when we passed through...