Another year older, another first day of school conquered!

For reference, we present First Day 2010:

It almost didn’t happen. It wasn’t planned. It evolved organically without a definite plan over all 605 miles.

And it started with a missed connection. We were in Oregon for a week with GrandMama & GrandPapa, minding our own business, when the opportunity dropped in our laps. Karen was supposed to join us for the weekend to end the trip, and then we were going to get her home for work by Monday morning. But she missed her flight connection to Eugene (other options were unworkable), and we didn’t have to be back home at all. The next obligation was an event in Reno on Tuesday, and the obvious option became clear: Criss-cross Southern Oregon and Northern California on a rambling car trip between Roseburg and Tahoe. Voila!

Sunday: A Tale of Two Waterfalls: We started Sunday in Oregon

You’ll notice the waterfall above and the one below are not the same place. Clearwater Creek along Highway 138 and the North Umpqua River in Oregon gave us a short full waterfall that the girls got to see upclose (notice the picture on the right is actually a playable video) on our way to Crater Lake (recapped in the Oregon post). From there, we drove to Klamath Falls, crossing into California on US 97 through Dorris.

We took a slingshot ride around Mt. Shasta, catching Highway 89 south from I-5, toward Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Our day ended at the incredible waterfall over Burney Creek, just a few yards off of Highway 89 at the McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park. We drove in to the park on a lark, hoping it might be easy to see the Falls. And was it: The base of these incredible falls was less than five minutes walk from the parking lot! It was such a pleasant scene, that we had our picnic lunch near the campground and then visited the Britton Lake boat docks inside the park.

Thirty minutes after that, we were at Hat Creek, where we spent the night before the Lassen part of our adventure began. Overall, the first day took almost 8 hours to drive the 350 miles to the outskirts of Lassen:

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Confession: The day might have included a third waterfall, as I got sucked-in by the touristy-sounding city named “Klamath Falls” … but, alas there were no falls evident as we drove through.

Monday: Volcanoes, Lava Tubes, Canyons, Rivers, Railroads

Monday was another whirlwind of fun, with some extraordinary outdoor scenes. It began with a morning drive into Lassen Volcanic National Park. Although the park is still closed for the “winter,” the Visitor center was open, and we were able to get some great pictures of the tallest plug-dome volcano in the world.

After the outdoor discoveries, it was time for a little indoor exploration … underground! The Subway Lava Tube had been one of our destination ideas from the beginning of the trip, and it did not disappoint. The tube was formed thousands of years ago from volcanic lava flowing from Mt. Lassen and its predecessor. The entrance fed us into a completely dark (pitch black) cavern with cool temps and cool reflector-marked interpretive trail. Spaces inside included Lucifer’s Cul de Sac, The Sanctum, and some low spaces where headroom was at a premium.

The volcanic geology was especially cool for Jocelyn, because her sixth grade science curriculum included a lot about volcanoes. We talked a lot about plug-dome volcanoes, mudpots, and pyroclastic flows.

From Lassen, we had to drive around the closed stretch of road, through high alpine meadows and lots of cattle ranches. We got our last glimpse of Mt. Lassen form the shores of Lake Almanor, where we also crossed a PG&E hydroelectric dam before rejoining SR89. Our trip included a stretch through the scenic Feather River Canyon, with high canyon walls, crisscrossing railroad lines, and steep whitewater runs. We stopped in Quincy for lunch, and the girls were really struck by this huge Native American mural.

We continued following Highway 89 through Plumas and Sierra Counties, and eventually found our way back to the familiar in Truckee and at our cabin in Serene Lakes. But not before we all agreed the fun had been well worth the long drive.

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And … BUGS! … not surprisingly, many bugs died to bring you this adventure. And, yes, we gave the Volvo a thorough cleaning after its 1300-mile odyssey.

You can also enjoy the trip by reliving my Twitter Feed for the month of June, beginning on June 12

Another great card produced by TinyPrints – although we have to apologize for its heft. It turned out to be a bit bigger than we imagined it would be.

It took us a few years of looking, but we finally found our cabin in Tahoe (along the Serene Lakes in Soda Springs)! So we’re celebrating Christmas and the New Year up on Donner Summit!

In addition to lots of snowplay, both Jocelyn and Felicia finished 2009 attending elementary school together, enjoying ballet and dance at the same studio, playing soccer with coach David, and hiking the wilderness with Karen. For variety, Felicia says she’s going to ski, while Jocelyn has become an accomplished snowboarder!

Wishing You Peace & Happiness in the New Year … and beyond!

The tradition continues … with a twist! … This year’s “Christmas Carol” gift to Mommy was the time-honored ‘Frosty the Snowman.”

While no long, drawn-out explanation is required this year, we added an enhancement to the standard tradition for 2009. Our “Frosty the Snowman” gift included the usual hand-made ornament and a handy kit for actually making Frosty: a magic top hat, an actual corncob pipe, a button nose, and two eyes made out of coal … just add snow!

Speaking of snow, we’ve got it! We are spending the Holidays in our new Serene Lakes Cabin, and so far this year, we’ve got four feet of snow sitting right outside the cabin window. So a snowman-making kit makes perfect sense!

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Past Christmas Carol gifts:

2008: The Race That Long in Darkness Pined
2007: Away in a Manger
2006: Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!
2005: What Child is This?
2004: I Saw three Ships
2003: One-Horse Open Sleigh (Jingle Bells)
2002: A Sweetie Goose in a Pear tree (12 Days of Christmas)

After 15 years of faithful service, alternating as bird watcher, alarm clock, and hockey namesake … our first family cat Tiburon died today. She’s pictured here in December 1998, and that’s one-month-old Jocelyn in my other arm. Tiburon, of course, is Spanish for ‘Shark’ …

My mother will be the first to tell you that odds were against Tiburon from the beginning. I think we’ve all lost count of the number of cats that I had as pets growing up, almost all lost dramatically to cars or other sundry accidents (including a crippling bike accident and a famous fishhook incident). Woodstock, Starch, the list goes on. The first cat to make it into adulthood was named Photon (although she was deaf, so everyone in the family made up their own unrelated name for her, and then fought over them).

But Tiburon made it through three different houses (with two intervening apartments) and two long-distance relocations, overseeing the transformation from a no-pet/no-kid household to a full-blown family of four with both kids in school. She even suffered gracefully the indignity of us adopting a second cat, Siskiyou, who survives her “bigger” (but always littler) sister.

We adopted her in 1994, in the midst of the first-ever playoff run for the San Jose Sharks. I still remember her cowering in our bedroom after the Sharks scored in the first game of the famous Detroit series. She would eventually get used to my goal-induced screaming, undoubtedly even enjoying them. She sat on my lap for most of Saturday’s win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Of course, Tiburon never got to witness me screaming during a Stanley Cup playoff series, and it’s time for my hockey team to fix that … in her name.

In an odd convergence of traditions, maybe I should have given Jocelyn one of Felicia’s birthday books this year, instead of the traditional stuffed plush toy I usually give her on her special day.

This is the year that Jocelyn truly became a reader. A Voracious Reader. There were times that we had to pry books out of her hands in order to move on to the next activity, including sports, dance, homework, travel, and even sleep. And this was never more true than the five-week period this summer during which she read the last four Harry Potter books.

She’d read the first three books in parentally-enforced yearly intervals (she had inhaled the third book in 2008). She began reading the fourth installment on June 14, and finished the seventh book on July 22, even re-reading many of them again afterward. And of course, the big Eleventh Birthday Party over the weekend only reinforced the point.

So, back to the traditional gift. … Actually, two traditions collide in this photo taken the day of her party … She’s crashing through the traditional Birthday Curtain (silver and black this year) while holding Dumbledore’s pet Phoenix named ‘Fawkes‘ on her arm.

Yep, there they are! Congratulations to Felicia, who started Kindergarten today!

And Jocelyn started the Fifth Grade, marking the only year that both girls will ever be at the same school (barring some tricky post-secondary matriculation rubrics that I don’t want to pay for). The confluence was not lost on the girls, who graciously agreed to let me take a picture in the same spot we took on of Jocelyn back in 2004, on her first day of kindergarten.

Technically, Monday’s classtime was only an hour-long for Felicia, while Jocelyn served her full term. That means pursist might say Tuesday if Felicia’s first real day of Kindergarten. Either way, life is changing.

And for those of you worried about what I’ll do with all of my extra time … well, don’t worry … this poor fool is volunteering to co-Chair the school’s big massive Walkathon fundraiser, which ought to keep me quite busy for now.