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Over the break we took a trip to California. We began in Santa Barbara, visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Rabiner and Aunt Joni. We all went for a nice sail along the coast, and we walked along the beach, went to the aquarium, and took a killer bike ride up to "the Mesa". Nate and Molly loved getting to spend some time with their grandparents and Aunt Joni!
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After Santa Barbara, we visited Death Valley National Park. We visited the salt flats at Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the western hemisphere, the natural bridge, Devil's golf course, Artist's Palate, Zabriski Point, the Sand Dunes, Cottonwood Canyon, Mosaic Canyon, and Golden Canyon. We camped for three nights, which was enjoyed by everyone but Molly, who let everyone in the campsite know of her displeasure, and we witnessed 2 rainstorms (in the desert, go figure!) and a windstorm with gusts up to 45 mph. The scenery was beautiful and we really enjoyed our visit. Nate and Molly especially loved all the hikes.
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After Death Valley, we headed up to Lake Tahoe to visit some friends and go skiing. There had been a huge amount of snow a few days before we got there (Tahoe got 80 inches of fresh powder), and all this snow caused an avalance on the main highway. We tried to wait for the road to open up (along with a million skiiers itching to get on the slopes!), but after 1.5 days trying to wait for the road to clear, we ended up detouring through Nevada. Steve had some excellent skiing at Mt. Rose, we had a nice visit with the Sabins, and we got to try snowshoeing.
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Our final stops were in Napa Valley, where we visited with cousin Jake, and Foster City outside San Fransisco, where we visited with our friends the Bennetts. We took a hike in a redwood forest and watched the sun set over the Pacific. A wonderful end to a fantastic vacation!