Christmas time celebrations 7. - 15. 12. 2013

The two weekends before the actual Christmas were filled by many Christmas parties and celebrations. We started the first weekend by going to a restaurant with one Michelin star. Eric got a certificate for his good work about 6 months ago, but we didn't find time to go until now. It was an interesting experience - delicious, small and very nice looking dishes paired with great wine. On Saturday Google had a holiday party in San Francisco. The theme was "It is mall world"and we could taste and see many different cultures. This weekend we finished by hosting a holiday party for our friends.
The second weekend on Saturday we hosted early Czech Christmas dinner with fish soup, carp and potatoes salad. We managed to squeeze in to our small apartment 11 adults and 4 children, which sounded impossible, but in the end everybody had a good time. On Sunday we started Eric's early birthday celebration by going to glass class. We assisted in making a bowl and learn a little bit about glass making. 
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Dva vikendy pred skutecnymi Vanocemi byly nabite mnoha predvanocnimi oslavami a aktivitami. Prvni vikend jsme zacali v restauraci s jednou Michelinskou hvezdickou. Eric dostal darkovy poukaz za jeho dobrou praci asi pred 6 mesici, ale my jsme doposud nenasli cas si tam zajit. Byla to zajimava zkusenost - vyborne, male a velic pekne vypadajici chody sparovne se skvelym vinem. V sobotu Google poradal vanocni party v San Franciscu. Tema bylo "Je to maly svet" a my jsme meli moznost ochutnat a videt mnoho ruznych kultur. Tento vikend jsme zakocili poradanim vanocni oslavy pro nase kamarady.

Druhy vikend v sobotu jsme poradali predcasnou ceskou vanocni veceri s rybi polevkou, kaprem a salatem. Podarilo se nam vmacknout do naseho maleho bytu 11 dospelych a 4 deti, coz vypadalo nemozne, ale nakonec se vsichni dobre bavili. V nedeli jsme zacali s Erikovymi oslavami narozeni navstevou hodiny vyroby skla. Pomohli jsme s vyrobou misky a trochu se priucili o vyrobe skla. 
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Thanksgiving - Yosemite 28. - 30. 11. 2013

Thanksgiving break is always a good reason to go for a trip. This year we chose Yosemite. We celebrated the actual Thanksgiving in the Ahwahnee hotel, where we attended dinner. This was formal occasion, and we had to come in formal clothes, it looks like new tradition for us - second time in Yosemite and bringing a dress! On Friday we went for 13-mile hike to Eagle peak (7779 ft) which is past upper Yosemite falls. It was nice day and we got back in dark after seeing beautiful colors of sunset. On Saturday we stopped at Mariposa Sequoia grove on the way home, part of Yosemite that I haven't been before. We also wanted to do short hike to Fresno dome, outside of Yosemite, but we had to turn around when we run into icy road. It was getting late in the afternoon, and we weren't sure if we could get back down safely.
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Den dikuvzdani je vzdy dobra prilezitost k vyletu. Tento rok jsme si vybrali Yosemite. V den dikuvzdani jsme byli na veceri v hotelu Ahwahnee. Byla to formalni vecere a tak jsme museli prijit nalezite obleceni, uz to vypada jako nova tradice pro nas - podruhe v Yosemitech a v satech! V patek jsme vysli na 21 km vylet na Eagle peak (2371 m ) ktery je na ceste za hornimi Yosemitskymi vodopady. Byl to pekny den a vratili jsme se az po setmeni pote co jsme videli nadherne barvy zapadu slunce. V sobotu na ceste domu jsme se zastavili v u sequoii v Maripose, v casti Yosemite, kde jsem jeste nebyla. Take jsme se chteli vydat na kratky vyslap na Fresno dome, mimo Yosemite, ale museli jsme se obratit, kdyz jsem narazili na namrzlou silnici. Bylo pozdni odpoledne a my jsme si nebyli jisti, jestli bychom se dostali bezpecne zpet.
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Halloween 25. - 27. 10. 2013

This year Halloween landed on Thursday so most of Halloween activities happened the weekend prior to October 31. Our friend Alan and his roommates organized huge halloween party. I dressed up as the painting "Scream" and Eric as the painter. It was nice surprised that I got a lot of nice comments about my costume. Unfortunately not many people got, that Eric is the artist, especially when he did all the work on my costume. On Saturday we went to corn maze in the evening, and on Saturday and Sunday afternoon we carved our pumpkins and roasted the pumpkin seeds.
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Tento rok Halloween vysel na ctvrtek a tak vetsina halloweenskych activit se konala o vikendu pred 31. rijnem. Nas kamarad Alan a jeho spolubydlici zorganizovali obrovskou halloweenskou party. Ja jsem sla za obraz "Vykrik"a Eric sel za malire. Byla jsem prijemne prekvapena mnoha peknymi poznamkami o mem obleku. Bohuzel ne mnoho lidi poznalo, ze Eric je ten umelec, hlavne kdyz to byl on, kdo stvoril muj kostym. V sobotu vecer jsme si zajeli do kukuricneho labyrintu a v sobotru a v nedeli odpolend jsem vyrezavali dyne a oprazili dynova seminka.
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Mendocino 19. - 20. 10. 2013

Eric had a team building even through his work in Mendocino on Thursday and Friday and I thought it was great opportunity for another trip. I drove up to pick him up on Friday after work, it took me little bit longer than I expected (about 6 hours), but it was worth it. We spent Saturday morning kayaking around the coast and through caves near Mendocino. After nice lunch we walked around shops in the town since the weather wasn't that great; it was foggy and cold. On Sunday we went for very short hike, hoping for some sunshine, but since that didn't happen we decided to leave and spend more time in Anderson Valley. We stopped at three wineries for some wine tasting and small lunch.
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Eric byl pracovne v Mendocinu ve ctvrtek a patek a ja jsem v tom videla dalsi prilezitost k vyletu. V patek jsem ho jela vyzvednout, coz mi trvalo dele nez jsem ocekavala (asi 6 hodin), ale stalo to za to. Sobotu rano jsme byli na kajacich okolo pobrezi a projizdeli jsme jeskyne pobliz Mendocina. Po peknem obede jsme prochazeli obchudky ve mestecku jelikoz pocasi nebylo zrovna nejlepsi, byla mlha a zima. V nedeli jsem sli na velice kratkou prochazku, doufali jsme, ze uvidime nejake slunicko, ale kdyz to se nestalo rozhodli jsme se odjet a stravit vide casu v udoli Anderson. Zastavili jsme se ve trech vinnych sklepech na ochutnavku vin a maly obed.
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San Diego 3. - 6. 10. 2013

The first week of October I had week off and Eric and I used part of it to drive down to San Diego. We left on Thursday early morning and arrived just for lunch at Eric's favorite mexican restaurant. The afternoon and evening we spend by walking around La Jolla cove and visiting University of California, San Diego. Friday we spent in Sea World and in the evening we met with Eric's friends. On Saturday we went to Tijuana, Mexican town by the border. I never been to Mexico and I wanted to add one more country to my passport :), but I never even noticed when we entered the country. To get back was different story, it took us about 2,5 hours waiting line! Before we went for dinner in San Diego old town we stopped at one beach, even in October it was so hot that I went for short dip. On Sunday before we left we went for walk around Balboa park and then Ocean beach. It took us about 8 hours to get back, luckily the traffic in LA wasn't too bad.
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Prvni tyden v rijnu jsem mela volno a tak jsme jej s Ericem castecne vyuzili na cestu do San Diega. Vyjeli jsme ve ctvrtek brzo rano a prijeli jsme akorat na obed do Ericovi oblibene mexicke restaurace. Odpoledne a vecer jsme pak stravili prochazenim se v oblasti La Jolla a navstevou university San Diego. Patek jsme stravili v Sea World a vecer jsme se potkali s Ericovymi kamarady. V sobotu jsme jeli do Tijuany, mexickeho mesta u hranic. Ja jsem nikdy v Mexiku nebyla a chtela jsem si pridat dalsi zemi do pasu, ale ani jsem nezaznamenala, ze jsme se do stali do zeme. Dostat se zpet bylo ale horsi, cekali jsme ve fronte 2,5 hodiny! Nez jsme si zasli na veceri do stareho mesta San Diega, zastavili jsme se na jedne plazi, i v rijnu bylo horko na to, abych se zasla osvezit. V nedeli, nez jsme odjeli jsme si zasli na prochazku do parku Balboa a pak na plaz Ocean. Cesta zpet nam zabrala asi 8 hodin, nastesti doprava v Los Angeles nebyla prilis spatna.
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Tuolumne Meadows 21. - 22. 9. 2013

 Another annual camping trip organized by Bay area mountaineering, this time in Tuolumne meadows, Yosemite. The weather in September can be a little bit unstable, and last time as well as this time the forecast was predicting rain. A few groups of people changed their plans because of that and a few just proceeded with their original plans. Eric and I went with other people in a group for hike to Tuolumne peak, but around noon it started to rain and we decided to turn around and come back without reaching our goal. Since it was early in the afternoon and the weather wasn't ideal for hanging out at the campsite, we drove down to Lee Vining for hot chocolate and cake. The weather was quite nice while we were down from the mountains and we soon met many other people from our group who came for a dry and warm place to stay. Around 5 pm we decided to drive back to our campsite. On the way up the Tioga road we drove into rain and then snow! Many people were leaving the park as we were driving in. The weather caused a few people to have a longer hike/climb than they expected, and one car didn't make it back to the campsite due to snow, but luckily everybody's story had a good ending. The Tuolumne meadow was beautiful the next day in the snow and very quiet for a few hours while the road was still closed. The strong sun managed to melt the snow very fast and we could drive safely home.
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Dalsi kazdorocni kempovani organizovane skupinou horolezcu, tentokrat v Yosemitech, Tuolumne meadows. Pocasi v zari muze byt trochu nestabilni a tak posledni rok i tentokrat predpoved pocasi hlasilo dest. Par lidi zmenilo kvuli tomu sve plany a par zustalo u sveho puvodniho planu. Eric a ja jsme sli s dalsimi lidmi ze skupiny na horu Tuolumne, ale kolem poledne zacalo prset a tak jsme se rozhodly se otocit a jit zpet bez dosazeni naseho cile. Jelikoz bylo pomerne brzy odpoledne a pocasi nebylo zrovna idealni na straveni casu v kempu,  jeli jsme do Lee Vining na kakao a kolac. Pocaci bylo pomerne pekne kdyz jsme sjeli dolu z hor a za chvili jsme se potakali s dalsimi lidmi ze skupiny, kteri prijeli take za templem a suchem. Kolem 17 hodiny jsme se rozhodli jet zpatky do kempu. Po ceste zpatky nahoru po silnici Tioga jsme vjeli do deste a snehu! Mnoho lidi odjizdelo rychle z parku v dobe, kdy my jsme jeli tam. Pocasi zapricinilo par lidem delsi vylet/vystup nez ocekavali, jedno auto se nedostalo zped do kempu kvuli snehu, ale nastesti kazdeho pribeh skoncil stastnym koncem. Tuolumne meadows byly prekrasne druhy den pod snehem a velice tiche na par hodin, kdy byla silnice uzavrena. Silne slunicko zvladlo rozpustit snih velice rychle a my jsme mohli jet bezpecne domu.
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Tioga Pass - BAMM meetup 7. - 8. 2013

This traditional camping organized by the Bay area meetup group (BAMM) is just on the other side of Yosemite. It is a long way to get there, and this year our trip was even longer. For a few weeks, local firefighters were dealing with huge fire that was partially in Yosemite. The road through Yosemite was closed, so we had to drive around it. Luckily, for most of Saturday the smoke wasn't a problem. Eric and I enjoyed a relatively easy walk around lakes by North peak. On Sunday, we left after breakfast and stopped at Mono lake; the smoke from the rim fire had reached the area and the visibility wasn't that great.
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Toto tradicni kempovani organizovane skupinou horolezcu z oblasti Bay je kousek na druhe strane Yosemite. I tak je to dlouha cesta tam dojet, tento rok byla cesta jeste delsi. Po nekolik tydnu mistni hasici bojovali s velkym pozarem kolem Yosemit. Cesta zkrz pakr byla zavrena a tak jsme museli jet okolo. Nastesti po vetsinu sobotniho dne kour nebyl problem a tak jsme si s Ericem uzili pomorne jednoduche prochazky kolem jezer u Severniho vrcholu. V nedeli jsme vyrazili hned po snidani a zastavli se u jezera Mono, kour z pozaru uz sem zasahl a tak viditelnost nebyla nejlepsi.
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