Category Archives: Home & Family

The
Lair of the Golden Bear is the
U.C. Berkeley family camp in the Sierras near the little town of
Pinecrest. Below are some photos of the week we spent there last month.
Our family has two tents at the Lair’s 10th week: one for John and the
kids and my mother (Eleanor) and me, and the other for my brother Peter and
his wife Liz and their kids.
The Lair has been thriving and growing since 1945 and many camp
traditions have developed: the Blue Review (camp talent show), creek walking,
Lair birthday cakes, making fun of Stanford,
Disco Bingo, pictures with Oski the Camp Blue (and Cal) mascot…

My son Paul has been going with us to the Lair since he was about one
year old. Since Paul’s birthday is almost the same week as when we
go camping, he always gets a chocolate Lair cake to celebrate. For
all celebrations, the camp staffers sing the following song while
smacking metal pans and bowls with big spoons:

We bring you a cake!


That our cooks have baked!


We hope you enjoy it, ’cause…


Lair cakes are great!

The day before going to the Lair, we had to ship off my daughter
Jessica’s 3 boxes to
Carnegie Mellon since she was
flying to college the day after we got back. Here Jessica is showing
off the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Fourth Amendment Shipping Tape in which she strapped her boxes.
(She was an EFF summer intern two years ago.) The
tape is printed with the following text from the

U.S. Constition over and over:

Amendment IV The right of the people to be
secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no
Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath
or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

http://www.eff.org: protecting
rights in the digital age

Here are the Lair photos:

Jessica and Paul at Grandma’s:

Lair campers starting in San Francisco:

Why we have an SUV – 6 packed for camping:

Funny Bull and Pig BBQ Cookers beside road:

Camp Blue entry sign:

Lair Welcome Home sign:

Eleanor arriving in Camp Blue:

Camp Blue tent porch sign and our little Oski bear:

Board game in Camp Blue Lodge:

John reading in Lodge:

Camp Blue telephone booths:

Outdoor movie in Pinecrest:

Paul driving Eleanor’s cart with hitchhikers:

Eleanor in her bunk bed:

Jessica and Matt watching movie on laptop in tent:

Matt auditioning for Blue Review:

Matt, Jessica, Lynda, Daniel, and Paul waiting to audition:

Jessica singing in Blue Review:

Blue Review: Stanford student bandana-banana skit:

Peter, Lynda, Daniel, and Liz at dining hall:

Eleanor at dining hall:

Paul’s Lair birthday cake:

Jessica and her fish:

Peter escorting Eleanor:

Camp Blue creek:

Packing the truck to go home:

John and Katy – last pictures with Oski, in our Lair wear:

Back to San Francisco

(cable car):

Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson, John Plocher, Jessica Dickinson Goodman

The
Lair of the Golden Bear is the
U.C. Berkeley family camp in the Sierras near the little town of
Pinecrest. Last month, during our week at the
Lair, John and Jessica and Matt and Paul and I went on a tour of

Pinecrest Lake by kayak. The reservoir water level was low but
still over 115 feet deep (according to the marker lines on Strawberry Dam).
There were many fishing boats, pontoon boats, sailboats, catamarans, and kayakers out that day. My camera was in a zip bag when
not in use! Photos:

John in kayak:

Jessica and Matt in double kayak:

Paul in kayak:

Pinecrest Lake Strawberry Dam:

Pinecrest Lake Strawberry Dam:

Pinecrest Lake Strawberry Dam:

Jessica and Paul:

Pinecrest boulders in grass lake:

Pinecrest lakeside:

High water marks on granite cliff:

Paul in granite bowl:

Jessica and Matt in granite bowl:

Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

The
Lair of the Golden Bear is the
U.C. Berkeley family camp in the Sierras.
We have camped at the Lair every August for 14 years. This year, during
our week at the Lair, John and Jessica and Matt and Paul and I went on a
new hike: to Sword Lake. The Lair is
at an elevation of about 5,500 feet. Sword Lake is probably at about
7,000 feet above sea level. It is an hour’s drive by car out of camp
toward the Dardanelles Cone near Sonora Pass in the

Carson-Iceberg Wilderness of the Stanislaus National Forest.

The trail is only about 3 miles to the lake but it is at high
altitude, the day was hot, and the trail dusty. Swimming across the
lake before lunch was a delight. We all used the rope swing to jump
into the deep water. Despite having our wonderful
CamelBak water backpack, John and
I both suffered heat exhaustion on the trail back. We were the very
slowest hikers but it was still a beautiful place to visit. Here are
some photos from our hike:

Carson-Iceberg Wilderness trail head sign:

Lair hiking group briefing:

View of Sierras:

John on trail:

Scarlet Gilia wildflowers:

First view of Sword Lake:

Nearby Lost Lake and ferns:

Granite bordering Sword Lake:

Across Sword Lake:

Across Sword Lake:

Sword Lake wood trail sign:

Ice split granite boulder:

Ice scored granite hill side:

Indian paintbrush and asters – wildflowers:

View of old lava flow:

Huge granite split boulder:

View of old lava flow:

Thistles in bloom:

Split granite boulder:

Ripe spiny gooseberries:

Dardanelles Cone:

Heart Stone:

Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Jessica has been away at college for over two weeks. Last week were her first
classes. Also, last week she auditioned for and was accepted as an Alto in
the CMU classical repertory chorus directed by

Robert Page. You can read her delight at singing again in her

First choir practice blog entry today.

We talked with Jessica by phone Sunday night and by
Skype yesterday afternoon. My
parents were fascinated when Jessica used Skype to gave them a live
electronic tour of her Pittsburgh, PA dorm room by walking her laptop
computer around. On our end, we held up Tino the cat to wave to her.
He looked confused and purred, as always.

Besides Chorus, I think Jessica’s favorite is her First Amendment
Law class. She held her first dorm hall tea party despite CMU’s water shortage. (A water main broke.) It is wonderful to hear about my daughter’s
adventures in her new big world and, of course, we are all immensely
proud of her. But I would still rather listen to her tell us all about it
in person.

Image Copyright 2006 by John Plocher

My 15-year-old son had all 4
wisdom teeth removed yesterday. When they started to come in, the new teeth were
making his already-straightened-by-braces teeth crooked again. The surgery went well: it only required
a local anesthetic and did not take long. To make up for having surgery on his birthday,
Paul has been enjoying unlimited ice cream. Since it hurt him to
talk, my husband John gave Paul a small pad of paper. Here is the collection of
little notes from Paul on the way home from the dentist:

• I would like the chocolate ice cream first when we get home
  because vanilla makes lots of foam when you have it with 7up or Sprite.
• Whenever I swallow, it tastes of blood and is making me nauseated and
  headachy.
• It is very hard to swallow and I have minor hickups and yawns.
• By the time this is over, this stack of paper will be very small.
• The numbness feels like it is slowly crawling up my skull and my
  headache is getting worse in the places that are not numb yet.
• When we were in the parking lot, I saw a minivan going really fast
  into the parking lot then swerving perfectly into a parking space
  and after a few seconds they went towards the Safeway.
• You were shuffling the notes.
• They said no rinsing for one hour.
• The taste of blood in my mouth is diminishing somewhat.
• The worst part of this right now is I can’t really move my tongue
  and my tongue is tickling.
• How are we going to switch out the gauze?
• Hands at 10 and 2 on the wheel, not knees at 5 and 7.
• I need a blow horn to call you when I need you because I cannot shout.

Paul is feeling much better today.

My daughter Jessica flew off to attend Carnegie Mellon
University in Pittsburgh, PA last weekend. We have received some excited
and happy phone calls since her arrival so all seems well. She called last
night to say she tried out her new baking set in the dorm kitchen and even
though she thought she was making cookies, the chocolate brownies that turned out
were much appreciated by her hall-mates.

Jessica is sharing a big room with two other girls also in CMU’s
Science and Humanities Scholars Program.
She likes her roommates and hallmates. For her first
Freshman term, Jessica is signed up to study: Calculus, a Humanities Scholar
seminar on War in Society, Interpretation and Argument, 1st Amendment Law,
and a computing class. Jessica is auditioning for two choirs this week as well.
Classes start on Monday, 27 August.

My son Paul starts his Sophomore year of High School on Tuesday. He gets his
wisdom teeth out tomorrow – on his birthday. We said he could eat as much
ice cream as he wants after the surgery. Paul is getting
used to being an only child but is not sure he likes it.

Friday night, we returned from camping at the

Lair of the Golden Bear – the family camp for
U.C. Berkeley. We have camped
at the Lair every August for 14 years. The Lair is made up of 3 adjacent camps (Blue, Gold, and Oski) of over 300 people each, open for 12
weeks in the summer. Lair reenrollment numbers are overwhelming; there
are families who have been Lair campers every year since Camp Gold
opened in 1945. The Lair offers activities and accomodations for everyone from senior citizens to babies, so many families use it
for their annual reunion.

My family rented two tents and spent a restful fun week together.
This year, John, Jessica, Paul, and I were joined by my brother and
his family, my mother, and Jessica’s boyfriend, Matt. My brother’s
friend Ed and his family were also there. Normally, we would have come
home Sunday afternoon after a leisurely drive from

Pinecrest, California. However, Jessica had a plane to catch: she
flew off to Carnegie Mellon University
in Pittsburgh, PA yesterday morning. We were very glad to spend a
full week with her before she took that big step.

I will post photos soon. Last week, we saw the funny movie
Ratatouille at the
Pinecrest outdoor theater (where bats flying across the screen
add to the experience), the kids went horseback riding, we hiked
to Sword Lake and paddled kayaks around Pinecrest Lake, Jessica and
Matt performed in the Blue Review talent show, we tiedyed shirts
and pillowcases (my fingernails are still blue), and had
a pleasant week.

It took a bit of organizing to be able to camp for a week and then
immediately send Jessica off to college the next day. She cleaned and
sorted her room and filled three boxes with selected worldly possessions, including a set of baking pans and supplies.
We shipped them to CMU a week in advance. UPS tells me that they
arrived in Pittsburgh two days ago. Jessica had her two suitcases
mostly packed before we left. The first three loads of laundry
I washed on Friday were for the clothes Jessica wore at the Lair
that she also wanted to take to college.

Jessica called when she arrived at the hotel near CMU last night.
We look forward to hearing from her tonight about how her dorm
move-in and first day of college orientation went. She starts
classes in CMU’s
Science and Humanities Scholars Program on Monday.