Thailand with Kai! (part 2 - Chiang Mai - Mae Sa Elephant Camp/Waterfall)

OK... back to the adventures in Thailand... 

At the Mae Sa Elephant Camp you get a condensed view into the incredible world of elephants.  Last time we were in Chiang Mai we visited Lek's Elephant Nature Camp, highly recommended, and I would have loved to have gone back there, but we wouldn't have been able to volunteer as much with Kai.  At the Mae Sa Elephant Camp, the Mahouts put on a show.  And it's quite the show... 

Getting Kai used to "elephano"

And the show begins!!!

The march of the elephants...

My parents are certainly thrilled...

Kai was quite giddy with excitement during the show... 

Elephant paintings...

in action...

Quite amazing.  

After the show we got a nice hug from the elephants... Kai like them from distance, but his instincts kicked in and wasn't very happy up close.  

Elephant poo!  Probably weighed as much as Kai...

Afterwards we went on to feed the baby elephants...

who gladly accepted bananas...

they eat lots...

Obaa-chan taking a seat

On the way back, we stopped at the Mae Sa waterfalls.  A really nice reprieve from the heat...

Sweet waterfall...

On the way home!  I turned into his carseat...

Schmidt's Bakery!!!

Sly Guard Cabin (June 28-30, 2013)

Had a great time up at Jenkinson Lake/Sly Guard Cabin a few weekends ago with Sigman, Stefan, Muriel, Kevin, Laura, Riro, Sully, SeaBass, Melanie, Kimbo, Mingus, Brioche, Hiccup and Kai!  Barrett also came by on Fri night for a few beers.  The weekend consisted of: slacklining, BBQ-ing, eating, drinking, canoeing, swimming, tubing, mtn biking, unicycling, laughing, and taking some pictures....

Enjoy!

Check out the cabin!  Sweet egh?  Sleeps 4 inside, with full electricity, running water, pots, pans, plates, games, DVD player... yadda yadda... And they also let you sleep 8 more folks on the property adjacent to the cabin for up to 12 folks!  

The kiddos loved the pool.  Thanx to uncle Kevin for bringing that up.

Kai & Riro eating turkey rolls!

Mmmmm.... 

The weather was beautiful the whole weekend and we could eat outside for every meal!  A great set up outside, where the three doggies would clean up after the kiddos, everyone would cook, clean, etc... while I slacklined.  Me likey.  

Kabobs, brats, sauerkraut.... mmmm

Hi Sully!

This was probably the best note left in the journal for the cabin.

Naked kiddos!

And not to mention, we could ride from the cabin 3 miles to Jenkinson Lake!  All on singletrack.  There's an amazing amount of trails around here that aren't on the interwebs...

Jenkinson Lake has a pretty steep entrance fee (10$), but it's probably one of the nicest lakes I've been to for kiddos, picnicking, etc...  there are numerous areas to chill out, but we'd usually head over here by these evergreens where it was always cool, no matter how hot it was in the sun. 

We got plenty of water time this weekend.  It was HOT.  95? or so?  Anyway, the canoe, the innertube all came in handy.  

There's a 9 mile loop around Jenkinson Lake, mostly singletrack... actually a fun ride.  Would be a good one on the uni next time.  On the N. end of the lake there is a waterfall that's a perfect stop for a dip.  

but first you gotta ask permission from the waterfall keeper... 

Sigman and I went on another ride the next morning.  On Fleming Meadows... lots of options here and some really fun riding... and you can connect it to the Jenkinson Lake loop for longer ride.  

After our second day at the lake, we went to the Knott Hole Grill, which has some great food and an awesome outside area in the back with horseshoes, misters, etc... Highly recommended stop.

Sly Guard info
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev7_018784.pdf

Jenkinson Lake Weekend Sherpa
http://www.weekendsherpa.com/stories/jenkinson-lake-mountain-bike-ride/

Weekly Pano: Jenkinson Lake

Jenkinson Lake... outside of Pollock Pines.  Stefan & Muriel on the canoe... Kev, Kai, Riley, Laura, Sully & Kimbo...

East Bay Hills mixed terrain ride with Lincoln...

Went on a fun ride with Lincoln after work last week.. decided to a bit shorter ride than the usual Pinehurst loop so I figured I'd throw in some mixed terrain... Lincoln got to know Big Trees Trail very well... he left a nice hole in his only "padded shorts..."

Another paddle to work...

This time... I needed a little nudge from the BART employees to get myself in the water.  But it sure was a nice day!

Hello boat!

Bye bye SF... Gotta say I had a grin on my face here 2 min after I passed a 5 block long line for the ferries... 

Big boats.... yikes.

the bay bridge is actually quite pretty on the western span...

water got a bit choppy in places.

see... pretty... 

back to Oakland!

And back to the playground I've never seen anyone ever at...

A busy father's day weekend...

Started the Friday off in sunny Alameda at Crab Cove to check out "Concerts at the Cove"... very kid friendly and fun.  Fleetwood Mask was ok.  

Met up with Anna who was there with Julian and Craig in tow...  both these ladies are both carrying another one too.

Sat morning, I took the first BART which was delayed... the bay bridge looked as pretty as I have ever seen it while riding down the Embarcadero in SF.

Started riding with a guy on the GG Bridge who showed me the route up Old Railroad Grade... we parted ways at the West Point Inn as he was carrying on for a much longer ride.  A pretty sweet route, and I was very impressed how fast he was going on his road bike with 23c tires... anyway, thanx Nathan.

The view of the bay from heaven... turned out this was the best weather I'd see all day. 

Met up with Kimbo for Brekky at Fred's... known for their deep fried french toast... (is that a Paula Dean recipe?)

all their food was quite yummy.  We ate outside in a breezy, foggy alleyway.

Then we took Kai to Mia's B-day party at the Bay Area Discovery Museum at 10 am.... i.e. heaven for kids aged 1-8... that place is amazing.  

Kai checking out the pond/waterbed!

Then we cruised up to Tomales Bay Oyster Co to pick up 2 dozen oysters...

While Kai napped.  This morning Kai woke up with a fever, so we changed our plan so we could take it easy.   We were planning to spend the night at Coast Camp in Pt. Reyes with Rachel, Jill, Piper, Kevin & Riley... but we decided we'd just go in for the day.  

at the trail head we ran into this guy getting ready to bike in with Riro!

Check out this setup folks.  The xtracycle with the trailer carrying all the campgear, while I ran next to Kimbo with Kai in the jogging stroller... All of the campgrounds in Pt. Reyes is bike friendly.  Not all the trail are, but there is always a bikable route to a campsite.... as there is a vault toilet and trash at every site... meaning somebody is driving in for maintenance.  In anycase, this makes Pt. Reyes a pretty ideal spot to go camping with kiddos.  Just take your jogging stroller with ya!

Hangin' out at the beach with Rachel!

We packed in our oysters for some yummy appetizer... 

Jill & Piper cooking up a mean meal... I think I took in too many oysters and beer as these ladies weren't as hungry for oysters as I was.  So my 3 mile run back was a LOT more painful than my run in as my belly had 4 beers and at least a dozen oysters swishing around.  At one point, my face went numb... 

The next morning we took the tandem bike for a cruise around Oakland.  Around Lake Merritt then ended up at Jack London Square's Farmer's Market.  After listening to a guy jamming on a bluesy steel guitar we headed up to Telegraph Beer Garden for my first beer of this Father's Day!  BTW, the Telegraph Beer Garden is awesome!

During Kai's nap, Kimbo let me go on a Coker ride for Father's Day.  But the day being Father's day and all, I wanted to be with Kai as much as possible.  So I decided to ride up to the Tilden Steam Trains via Redwood Mtn Biking Loop.  That was a challenging uphill.  But my timing was perfect, and as soon as Kimbo got Kai dressed and ready after his nap, she drove up to the steam trains, 1 min after my arrival.

On the way up, I saw this... so this became my Father's day gift to Kai... the kiddos love it!

Here's Kai's first lap on the steam train!  Choo Choo!

Then we drove just down the hill to Codornices Park to see if Kai could handle the concrete slide...  he did it , but was "all done" after his first ride with papa.  I think Kimbo got a pic, but it's on her phone... so here's a pic off the interwebs.

Then we ended up eating pizza at Jupiter's!  A great ending to a great weekend.  Phew, that was a lot of bikes & fun... 

Weekly Pano: Mt. Tam!

Cruised up Mt Tam last weekend... pretty gloomy with dense fog in Oakland and SF, but above West Point Inn, it was sunny and warm.  A memorable ride as the guy I started riding with over the GG Bridge showed me the way up Old Railroad Grade on his carbon road bike.  I <3 p="" tam="">