We were happy to surprise our friends Sean and Paul at the party.
Because it was the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, the Queendahls encouraged folks to dress accordingly. Julie’s outfit was complete with heart-shaped false eyelashes that stretched out a mile
And awesome Gogo boots! At this time last year we were with Paul and Julie on a road trip around Hokkaido, Japan, and we're glad we could attend this year’s party too!
25 years ago Paul and Julie's wedding had featured lots of performances (check out the excerpts here). At their 25th anniversary party Paul and Julie sang to each other, which was incredibly cool. We made a tiny movie of it.
The next morning we went to the Universal Cafe.
We met our friend Matty Jo for breakfast. It was great to catch up with him, as we hadn't seen him in almost five years. The three of us had a jazz trio called Hi Neighbor for ten years.
MJ's daughter Josie is playing volleyball these days.
Matty Jo arrived by bike, his favorite mode of transportation.
As we walked around in the Mission district, we took pictures of bike paintings.
We also walked by Pedal Revolution, a cool non-profit that, among other things, provides at-risk youth with internships to work side-by-side with skilled bike mechanics.
Then we flew back to Salt Lake City and drove to Denver. Along the way we stopped for an 'electric fence' milkshake made of espresso and ice cream.
In case you're ever in northwest Colorado, stop in Kremmling at Big Shooter Coffee.
We went to Denver to practice Bowspring yoga again. Kristina got reacquainted with Pinta the dog, a regular at the studio.
Here Pete is rocking his 'crouching cat' pose.
On the fifth anniversary of Obama's Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program we joined up with Denver's Indivisible C-06 group to #DefendDACA.
Now that Trump has cruelly eliminated DACA, it's up to Congress to protect the 800,000 Dreamers from risk of deportation. Please call your Congresspeople to urge them to support S.1615, the Dream Act of 2017!
Pete is in front of Potager Restaurant. We liked their vision statement, "It is crucially important that we do something we can feel really good about, everyday."
Pete's cousins Kathy and Larry met us there, and we enjoyed a lovely meal together.
Potager's menu has mostly small plates, so we each picked one to share. Larry is smiling and showing his mussels, the delicious dish he picked.
Kristina picked thin crust peach pizza, which was excellent.
It was a treat to spend the evening together.
The next night we continued the trend and met Pete's cousins John and Chrissy for dinner in Denver.
Their son Alex works at Coperta restaurant and it was fun to have him as our server.
Coperta specializes in Italian food, and we stuffed ourselves with tasty pasta dishes.
We left Denver to go camping with Pete's cousins Diana and Alex and their kids Everett and Bailey. As we drove we saw a herd of bighorn sheep.
We loved getting a close look at the sheep and their impressive horns.
But they were quite shy, so after a quick look at us, they took off.
We stopped at the ranger's station to get hiking maps. We spotted this fun book with “How come the campfire crackles and roars? I think it’s requesting that we make s’mores!”
This is Bailey and she is five years old. She is a princess who likes camping. When asked what the best thing about camping was, she replied, "Toasting marshmallows!"
This is Everett and he's eight years old. He agreed that s'mores were the best thing about camping.
And here's the whole family in front of their huge tent.
Everyone wanted to help get water from the pump.
It was hard work to use the pump.
But Everett was very determined.
Back at the campsite Alex got busy making us a campfire.
The trick is to get enough air into the flames without catching your beard on fire!
First course for the kids was hotdogs that they roasted on sticks.
Finally it was time for s'mores!
The next day we took a hike. Behind Kristina and the kids is the Buffalo Peaks wilderness.
There were lots of beautiful aspen trees.
Pete almost pulled the trail sign over by clowning around.
We all liked the trail. Everett carried his own camelback pack with water.
Bailey liked hiking and riding on her Dad's shoulders.
It's possible to get six people into a selfie!
In the campground we spotted some awesome tents. The bed of this truck had a tent for sleeping and the lower, connected tent was a sitting area.
A roof tent makes a lot of sense when there's no space to put up a tent. But climbing the ladder didn't seem like fun.
In our campsite Alex put up a slack line between two trees and we gave it a try. It's really hard to balance and walk on it!
Pete had a little more success and was able to take a couple steps before falling off.
Another night Diana and Alex made hobo packets with sausage, onions and summer squash. Here Alex is moving the foil packets into the coals.
We also hiked in a meadow area. The kids were looking for Indian Paintbrush flowers.
Bailey liked trying out her binoculars.
Diana spotted this puffer mushroom and we had Everett stand by it for size comparison. Yes, it's bigger than his head.
It was a fun weekend of camping! Diana and Alex left to get ready for the week.
We stayed another day and took some vigorous hikes.
We saw the beginning of the fall colors.
Pete hiked with his new poles and really liked using them. Our friend Laura had recommended them to us.
Here's a photo of Laura leading the December Mt Tamalpais hike. The hike was started as a public ritual walk in 1967 by Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen, and the tradition continues.
Laura is also our massage therapist and a wonderful healer. Pete took this photo at the beginning of the hike, and we're including it because it shows her with her poles along the beautiful trail.
Kristina made a nice fire for us for our last night of camping.
We went to Colorado Springs to visit cousins Les and Cherry. Their front yard was a sea of cosmos flowers.
We ate at T Byrd's Tacos and loved it. This photo was taken before Pete and Les ate their grilled jalapenos and started to sweat.
Then it was time to head to Las Vegas to visit Pete's Mom Csilla and his sister Denise. To break up the drive we went to Zion National Park. They have signature red roads in the park that are made by chip sealing the asphalt with a top layer of local red cinders.
It was hot as we started hiking.
But then the clouds rolled in and we were glad because it got cooler.
Most of the rock formations in Zion are sedimentary, and we think this is Navajo Sandstone.
From the NPS website, "Diagonal patterns in the Navajo Sandstone are called cross-bedding. Cross-beds are found in modern active sand dunes, but the Navajo Sandstone preserves the history of ancient wind patterns and migrating sand dunes in this vast desert."
When we arrived in Las Vegas, we took showers at Denise's and went out to for sushi.
Here's the delightful sashimi we ate.
Their new pool was under construction. Sorry, Pete, you'll have to come back if you want to dive in!
We enjoyed hanging out in their comfortable home.
This is cousin Erika. She visited in July and built these bookshelves.
Erika also helped Csilla set up her office.
Pete's sister Csilla and her son Erich took a road trip this summer to Rhode Island. Here they are in Washington DC. Erich is starting college at Cal State San Luis Obispo this fall.
This photo is from Rhode Island and includes Erich (right), his cousins Jessica and Anna, and his brother Sacha. They are racing lobsters.
Sacha is a dog lover. He's with his aunt Kiki's Australian Shepherd. Sacha recently moved to Santa Barbara and started community college.
Toward the end of their road trip, Csilla and Erich visited Denise and Mom Csilla in Las Vegas. Here are Csilla and Denise in their new kitchen. Csilla is modeling a new apron that her daughter Csilla brought her.
This is the beautiful hutch that Csilla found in a thrift store and will use for all her china.
Kristina is sitting in another living room and behind her you can see Csilla's piano and part of the dining room.
We rode a couple of times from their house very early in the morning to beat the heat.
There are wild burros near Red Rock Canyon. We saw the sign for them but didn't see any burros.
From Las Vegas we drove to San Diego to spend a few days with Kristina's Mom Patty and her stepdad Bill. We went for dinner at TRUST.
We started with fried squash blossoms.
The lamb meatballs with lentils were wonderful.
The grilled Branzino with herb relish was delightful.
And we shared their take on German chocolate cake for dessert.
The next day we went to Sab-E-Lee for a Thai lunch. We always enjoy spending time with Patty and Bill.
We met our friend Paul and went riding along the coast. This photo was taken on the Pacific Beach Pathway.
We couldn't resist posing by the great white shark mural.
No, we did not ride on the beach. But the temperatures were hot so it felt good to be by the water.
Paul took us to Oscar's for seafood tacos, which were delicious.
After riding 62 kms in the heat, it felt good to refuel with tasty tacos!
The next day we rode south to the Mexican border. This photo was taken in the Tijuana Estuary.
This statue is in Imperial Beach.
Here we are close to the border of Mexico.
After the ride we went to lunch with Paul and Jeff, who relocated from the Bay Area two years ago. It was a treat to get to spend time with our friends.
We spent a few days with Kristina's sister Debby and her family. It was fun to hang out with them and get to know their newest addition Daisy, who is a Havanese mix rescue dog and a real sweetheart.
We are very proud of our niece Megan, who graduated with her teaching credential in May. She is now teaching third grade at Iftin and her class includes Somali immigrant children.
We always eat well when we stay with Debby and Steve. One morning they made us waffles with coconut cream and fresh strawberries plus bacon.
For dinner Steve made tacos al pastor with three different hot sauces and Debby cooked delicious peruana beans.
Their house in Leucadia is about a 15 minute walk to the beach. Each morning we walked there and then climbed up and down the cliffs as a fun way to train for our upcoming trip to Machu Picchu. On our final morning of hiking we met Steve coming in from surfing!
Next we head to Guadalajara and Mexico City.