The River Trip

A Great Time With A Great Family!!

It was in May that my parents, siblings and spouses took a float down the Colorado River. Mom had planned this trip for 18 months; Dad was just glad it wasn't a Caribbean cruise. We took four days floating and hiking amongst the most beautiful scenery in the world. The red cliffs,the fresh water falls, the wide, meandering river all created an experience I'll never forget. But most of all, during this adventure, I was most struck by the absolute "coolness" of my family. I realized that there is not one bad apple amongst us. During our time together I looked on with pride, seeing the very best of mankind right in front of me. I truly am so impressed with the spouses my siblings have chosen. Martel is certainly the most hardest working, happy and friendliest guys I know, Casey is so casual and undemanding and tolerant, Jason is pragmatic, brilliant but humble, Nanette is always able to survive the most brutal political conversations with her head held high and with good humor. I didn't do so bad either; Dave keeps everyone entertained with his self- depreciating wisecracks and not so subtle commentary . I can't express enough what a joy it is to be so closely involved with such great people. So thank you mom and dad for making the great river trip possible, and for keeping us all together.

Catalina dive trip

Catalina water is 67 degrees so we wore full 7mm wetsuits


Our dive boat could sleep up to 35 people



The yellow kelp in the background grows from the bottom
70 ft down. It's like swimming through an eerie forest.


Last week we took an impromptu dive trip to the Channel Islands with Dave's work friends. We drove 12 hrs across the scorching desert, got to the port at Long Beach and boarded a 70 ft dive boat for a 4 day cruise. But this was no cruise ship! We slept in little bunks with about 1 ft between our heads and the bunk above. The cook prepared delicious meals and snacks and the captain was gruff and salty just like a cap'n should be. We were very pleasantly surprised and delighted to experience a totally new dive experience in the "cold" waters off California. We swam through beautiful kelp forests, thick and dense . We were spellbound as the sea plants on the ocean floor rolled back and forth with the swells , creating a sensation that the whole ocean bottom was moving beneath us. We saw tons of lobster, octopus, starfish and various marine life including playful dolphins which were racing the boat as we moved from place to place. It was a good trip! Hey! I was thinking that maybe the family could charter a boat sometime..... $5500 for 4 days??? What do you all think?