King's Canyon, June 24-26, 2011 (part 1)

 

  
(my view over the valley on the drive into the canyon)

(manly men above / prescribed burn in the canyon, below)

 I got behind on this one BUT with good cause, as I knew there was another fantastic trip video coming from Mr. Woods!  So, I waited a bit to post, and while waiting and going through the trip photos, I read about all the National Park accidents that have been happening up near where we camped, fairly close to Yosemite.  King's Canyon is sometimes referred to as the forgotten step-child of Yosemite.  It's right up in the same region, is a fairly similar glacial valley also cut by a river, and boasts it's own spectacular waterfalls and distinctive rock formations.  It's just not as popular (extra bonus - no park traffic!).
  

 

(above, wooded section / below, whitewater along the trail)

After our trip and the crazy high water levels and rapids we saw, I'm not the least bit surprised that parks in that area are reporting terrible accidents.  I kept looking at all the white water while we were there, reading all the warning signs and wondering what it could possibly be like to be in that water, getting carried away.  After hearing about the three hikers in Yosemite who went over Vernal Falls, I'm sorry somebody did.  Runoff levels are always high in the spring, but with the snowpack this year the water is just nuts.  We've done spring trips before but I've never seen anything like this.

(Above, Sentinel overlooking Mist Falls / Below, Mist Falls)

Our hike along the river on Saturday benefited from the spectacle, and the hike trail lent a lot as well.  9 miles round trip but not too much elevation gain so really a pretty laid back hike.  I love trips like this where we cover so many different kinds of ground.  We started out in a large open meadow and progressed through forests, wetlands, massive boulder fields and at times the water levels and the trail placement made you feel like you were somehow hiking inside the river.  It was verrry different from any other water-side hike I've been on and I'd highly recommend the trail.  Not to mention that when you remember to turn around and look behind you, the canyon view isn't half bad either...

But no amount of pictures can do justice to a mountain trip like a Matt Woods original!

Kings Canyon 2011 from Matt Woods on Vimeo.

Update! Angeles Mountains 'Burn Zone', June 18, 2011

Quick one here - I seriously can't believe how different the Angeles Forest looks since I was there a few months ago.  I mean, total 180 from Sherman-style scorched earth back to greenery and waterfalls.  Just night and day from the blackened hillsides I saw back in March.

Not at all what I expected.  Re-paved roads and green hillsides, the burnt out trees all hidden under the new growth.  I'm stunned at how fast it's come around!












So stoked to have our hiking grounds back!  Woohoo!!!

Myrtle Beach, Memorial Day Week, 2011

I booked my Erie trip last February from a hotel room up in Sanata Barbara wine country, on a trip with Ryan and his Mom and Dad.  I don't think I ever got to write anything about that trip (the winter kind of blurred past) but it was wonderful. We had amazing weather and it was really nice having Ryan's folks out to visit on our side of the country. 

  

 

The food, the wine and the weather were all perfect, just one of those all around relaxing, super enjoyable trips you don't want to end.  Back to the trip booking, Ryan and I had done it without knowing that Ryan's Mom had rented a beach house on Murril's Inlet in Myrtle Beach.  Thus, the back to back Erie/Myrtle Memorial Week Extravaganza was born.  Or as I like to think of it, my first all grownsed up vacation that wasn't a glorified three day weekend.

After four and half days in Erie (that went by waaaaay too fast), we headed to South Carolina for a week of pure chilling time.  The house itself was gorgeous, right on the sand with a million decks, and I spent every day on a nice cycle of eating, swimming, beach-walking and reading..and reading and reading.

  

 

 (Front deck view (above) and back deck view (below))

We visited the local sculpture gardens and zoo, did a little daytrip for southern food in Georgetown, rented a boat and cruised the inlet, and even had cocktails on goat island.  Peacocks and goats on an island?  Sure, ok.

 

(Ryan, clearly schooling me on something, below)

So, let me just say, I LOVED this trip.  I'm always thrilled to jump all over and see a million things, but this was days and days of back to back, good ol' nothin' to do.  Definitely spoke to my inner couch potato.  I got to sit in a rocking chair for hours and just read and relax without feeling like I was wasting the days.  Warming my bones in the sun, with a nice breeze and a pile of books.  

 


















I'm going to need to pencil in more of this 'vacationing' thing :)   

Visiting Home! Erie Memorial Day Weekend, 2011

Oh man was I excited to visit home this year!  I hadn't been back to Erie in a couple years so I was pretty much vibrating the entire week leading up to the trip.  Normally, I'd hit home later in the summer to catch some warmer weather and wakeboarding on the lake, but a best friend from back in my Villa Maria Academy days was getting married.  Our hotly debated 2003 class valedictorian (oh yeah, I'm calling you out!) tied it on over Memorial Day weekend so, my Erie plans were happily pushed up a bit.

The weekend was a faaabulous confluence of little mini-reunions.  I obviously got to see the bride, who I hadn't laid eyes on in years, plus another highschool champ and college roommate who'd been sucked into the vortex of NYC straight out of college.  Sorry, but West Coast is the best coast!  Add to that a whole bunch of college, highschool and early kindergarten friends whom I hadn't seen since various graduations and the catching up was over the top cool.


 



Although Ryan missed THE craziest spring Lake Erie storm I've ever seen (now with tornado warnings!), he did fly in just in time to help out with a time honored Baer Beach tradition; the launching of the Kloecker pier.  That dangerous event under our belts, we set out to check a few more boxes on the Erie 'must do' list; a list I've noticed is mostly comprised of eating food, but whatever.  







We had breakfast and chocolate milkshakes at Taki's, Wing's at Eli's, H&K donuts and Sontheimer's pastries on the porch and of course, Smith's Hot dogs on Sontheimer's buns, washed down with Yuengling.  No Sarah's orange and vanialla twist cones or pepperoni balls this time, but there's always hope... 

With all the eating, running around and reminiscing, the trip ended up being far more jam packed than I'd anticipated and just zipped by.  I'm hoping to get back home again this fall on the tail end of a work trip in Ohio so I can get down to some quality sitting on the deck, doing nothing, traditional home time.  Bring it on Fuhrman's Cider Mill!  Come October, you're all mine.

 (Mayor of Lake Erie, surveying his territory:)

 

2nd Annual TJ Burkefest, April 29-May 1, 2011

Before I get to the phenomenon that is the annual TJ Burkefest, my posting laziness necessitates that I give a little winter re-cap, as I'm totally out of order writing this and it's actually June.  Yes.  I'm only just looking through pictures.  My laziness is a particular beast; I can drag it out to ski all season but I apparently can't be bothered to sit on my butt and look at pictures for months at a time.  Makes total sense... 

(view of Mt. Whitney from the route up to Mammoth)

Picking back up from the December winter update, we spent New Years in Mammoth again.  New years day, naturally, was spent on the couch.  While it's annoying that I got so behind on updating this winter, one plus on that is I can officially say the winter total was over 650+ inches this year. Storm after storm well into May, and another season that won't end until July 4th. The other plus? A concussion free season!  My Mom will be so pumped!  

After New Years, January, February, March and most of April saw us up about every other weekend, with the Aspen weekend sandwiched in there too.  


Then came May, FINALLY a little bit of Spring weather, and of course, Burkefest!

If you can believe it, the pageantry the 2nd annual Burkefest actually managed to rival last year's inaugural run.  I'm also happy to report that my condo team handily took first place in this year's relay challenge!  We assured the ski patrol that the full beer was chugged only AFTER a contestant had made his lap sprinting to the lift and riding downhill at breakneck speed - shockingly enough they weren't comforted, but I think just amused enough not to stop us.  

Because no one provides superb beer-swilling, mountain dominating, relay race action quite like a bunch of doctors, lawyers and corporate stooges let our of their cages for the weekend :)

To clarify my write-up, please enjoy this year's soon to be classic video, provided be none other than the incomparable Mr. Matt Woods. 


TJ BURKE FEST 2011 from Matt Woods on Vimeo.

Happy Burkefest, everyone!!!

Coachella 2011, April 15-17

 
Another year, another amazing Coachella.  Or "Ka-chell-o" if you're my Mom :) 

Coachella is never for the faint of heart, you survive it just as much as you enjoy it so, toughing through it sick this year was a special experience.  Word of advice: if you choose to Coachella in spite of a cold/sore throat/fever situation, mentally prepare yourself!  

And add a few more meds to your survival pack, for sure.  Luckily, my fever broke Friday night so Saturday and Sunday were much better.  It's also entirely possible I was operating solely off caffiene at that point, but I prefer to chalk it up to general badassery and spunk.  

Not to mention that we don't camp.  I love camping, but concert camping in 100+ degree heat that sick would have killed me.  Once you go rental condo you never go back.  I'm fairly certain that's how that saying goes.  Fore sure.

 




















In addition to opening up more grounds space this year, they really beefed up security; you couldn't get within a mile of the festival without a wristband on, which was fine by me as the estimated 150,000+ gate crashes who snuck in with fake tickets and/or fence cutters really crowded things out last year :( Without your RFID chipped wristband, there was simply no hope of getting in.  Cue me having a mini heart attack as we bike into the grounds and my band, which is supposed to stay on me for the next three days NO MATTER WHAT, just falls off.  No big deal, it's only a $300 ticket.  (!)  Luckily, they allowed me a replacement at the gate but I was told thousands of others with the same problem that morning weren't so lucky.

But once we were in, it was nothing but sunshine, sunsets and musical heaven for three days - all the shows we got to are listed below.  I'd recommend every show we saw seeing as how we had to pear down from hundreds of bands to get to our final must see list, but I've highlighted a few that really stood out:

Friday
**Were held up in LA and got to the festival late, hence the shorter list below.
Sleigh Bells , Cut Copy, The Black Keys, Beardyman, Crystal Castles, Monarchy, The Aquabats, Robyn, Gayngz, Flogging Molly and The Chemical Brothers

Saturday
Gogol Bordello, Delta Spirit, Erykah Badu, Cage the Elephant, Broken Social Scene, Yelle, Bright Eyes, Shpongle, Mumford and Suns, Fedde le Grand, the Swell Season, Paul van Dyke, Arcade Fire

Sunday
CSS, Wiz Khalifa, Angus and Julia Stone, Nas and Damien Marley, Best Coast, Foster the People, The National, Duck Sauce, Chromeo, Phantogram, Leftfield, Neon Trees, Kanye West

And without further adieu I present you with the final word in the Coachella experience - the Matt Woods Video!  Where would we be without you, Woods???


COACHE11A from Matt Woods on Vimeo.

Aspen, CO, March 24-17, 2011

It was tough to tear ourselves away from the crazy snow year we were havinging Mammoth BUT neither Ryan nor myself had ever skiied Aspen Snowmass so we decided a trip out to visit my cousin Jeff and his family was definitely in order.  And of course I will begrudgingly admit I was excited to get back out on some soft Colorado powder.  Mammoth May have all the snow in the world but the powder in Snowmass is like riding on air.

The weather was crisp and sunny, and both my cousins Jeff and Marty, the latter whom I hadn't seen in ages and was excited to finally get to ski with (!) took us ALL over the various mountains, with Snowmass being my favorite by far.  Sorry Aspen!  One thing that I've noticed about Colorado, everyone loves theiy're big bowls but nothing's ever steep.  It drives me crazy!  So Snowmass was right up my alley.  The hikes through he thin air with 9 year olds lapping me were definitely worth the fresh stuff - and the views...