We got back last week from our annual camping trip. Every year since 1993,
my family has vacationed at the
Lair of the Golden Bear, the family camp managed by the
U.C. Berkeley Alumni Association.
The Lair is in the Sierras near
Pinecrest.
There are 3 camps within the Lair: Gold, Blue, and Oski.
As usual, John, Jessica, Matt, Paul and I picked up
my mother
Eleanor in San Francisco and visited Poot’s House of Cactus in Ripon on the drive
to Pinecrest.
In over 50 years of Lair camping, each week has developed its own style and
traditions. Our family is always well represented in the 10th week Camp Blue Review –
the Lair’s Wednesday night talent show. This year, Jessica sang “Losing My Mind”
by Stephen Sondheim (she studies Music at Carnegie Mellon), Matt did gymnastics (he is on the Gymnastics team at
William & Mary), and the whole family acted in a Cal vs. Stanford vampire skit written by
my brother Pete, called “Twilight at Pinecrest”.
We celebrated Paul’s birthday with his traditional Lair Cake.
After our week at the Lair, we drove our truck and Yuppie Wagon trailer over
Sonora pass (9,624 feet above sea level) through the stark and lovely
Emigrant Wilderness
to Nevada’s capital Carson City, where we
visited the Nevada State Railroad Museum.
We then drove to Vacaville to see the newly-in-use
Nut Tree train (on a very tiny
track, alas!) and the
Consolidated Rock & Mineral shop. We stopped off in San Francisco to
drop off my mother and pick up our
two new birds and then drove home to San Jose.
Entering San Francisco
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Matt, Jessica, Paul, Yuppie Wagon
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Picking up Grandma
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Visiting Poot’s House of Cactus
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yucca
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hippo cactus
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cactus flower
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Camp Blue Road
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wine & cheese
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John in hammock
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jay bird visiting
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squirrel in bucket
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our tent
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Jessica
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Jessica and Matt
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Wheel and Deal in the lodge
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visiting butterfly
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my nephew Daniel
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Blue Review skit audition
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my niece Lynda
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Lynda’s girl pack
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Paul, Jessica, Matt
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Pete, Eleanor, Katy
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Family with Oski the Bear
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Jessica
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Matt, Blue Review
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Jessica, Blue Review
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Jessica and Matt
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Paul watching a movie
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sunset tree
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the creek
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water skeeter
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Pete, Eleanor, kids
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pinecones
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Jesscia and Paul, Nut Tree Train 1994
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Nut Tree Railroad 2009
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Nut Tree Railroad flyer 2009
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San Francisco in the fog
Images Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
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