Birthday BBQ 27. 4. 2014

Every year for a few years now I organize BBQ in park with friends to help me celebrate my birthday. This year the weather didn't look that great so we invited everybody to our small patio in our apartment. The weather was great in the end, and we had great time.
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Kazdym rokem uz po nekolik let poradam grilovani v parku s kamarady k oslave mych narozenin. Tento rok pocasi nevypadalo uplne nejlepe a tak jsme pozvali vsechny k nam na nas maly dvorek v nasem byte. Pocasi bylo nakones super a my jsme si to poradne uzili.
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Mexico 12. - 19. 4. 2014

This year spring break we decided to go to Mexico. Through Groupon we got accommodation in Cancun for 5 nights, but because I can't spend my vacation only on a beach we stopped in Mexico city for two nights on the way there. Mexico city has this bad reputation of being dangerous place, but walking around the city center felt safe. We arrived to Cancun on Monday, but except for the first day and last day there wasn't much sitting on a beach time. We took bus to city of Cancun and walked around (we stayed in the area with just hotels), tour to Chichen Itza, sailing with snorkeling, and cenote tour. The week went by fast!
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Tento rok jsme jeli na jarni prazdniny do Mexica. Pres Groupon (akcni ceny pres Internet) jsme ziskali ubytovani v Cancunu na 5 noci, ale protoze ja nedokazu stravit moji dovolenou jen na plazi, po ceste jsme se zastavili v Mexico City na dve noci. Mexico city ma spatnou povest nebezpecneho mesta, ale prochazeni centra mesta pusobilo docela bezpecne. Do Cancunu jsme prijeli v pondeli, ale krome prvniho a posledniho dne moc casu na plazi nebylo. Jeli jsme autobusem do mesta Cancun (zustavali jsme v oblasti, kde byly jen hoteli), jeli jsme na vylet do Chchen Itza, plachtili jsme a snorkovali, a jeli jsme na vylet k cenote. Tyden utekl velice rychle!
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Van Vleck 29.3. 2014

I went to Van Vleck couple years ago and it was the first hut trip I did. The Van Vleck hut is very well equipped and I was looking forward going back. This winter wasn't much of snow, but the Saturday we were going the weather forecast wasn't great. There were a few things that didn't go that well. We started later than I intended; it was raining in the beginning, but snowing later, and not everybody took snowshoes; and not everybody was fit enough. When we reached winter bad weather shelter, we discussed if we should turn around or continue. First, all of us agreed to keep going, but when we started to get ready for next section, few people decided to turn around. Splitting group into two didn't sound like good idea so we all went back. Maybe next year we will try again.
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Ja jsem byla v chate Van Vleck pred nekolika lety a byl to muj prvni vylet na tento typ chat. Chata Van Vleck je dobre vybavena a tak jsem se tesila az se do ni zase podivam. Tuto zimo nebylo mnoho snehu, ale v sobotu, kdy jsme vyrazeli predpoved pocasi nebyla moc dobra. Par veci se nevydarilo jak melo. Vysli jsme pozdeji nez jsem chtela, na zacatku prselo, ale zacalo snezit pozdeji, ne vsichni meli sneznica a ne kazdy byl dostatecne fit. Kdyz jsem dosli do pristresi, ktere slouzi pro pripad spatneho pocasi, rozhodovali jsem se, jestli pujdeme dale a nebo se otocime. Nejdrive vsichni souhlasili, ze pujdeme dale, ale kdyz jsem se chystali vyjit dal, tak se par lidi rozhodlo otocit. Rozdeleni skupiny nebyl dobry napad a tak jsem vsichni sli zpet. Snad pristi rok to zkusime znovu.
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Amy and Eric's wedding - Napa 22. 3. 2014

 This weekend we were supposed to be in Yosemite skiing towards Glacier point hut. For lack of snow the trip was cancelled. This was not good news, but since we were able to attend Amy and Eric's wedding instead, it wasn't such a bad weekend in the end. They got married in Napa, with about 200 guests as witnesses. It was beautiful venue and since we were in the area, and the wedding finished around 3 pm, we managed to visit one other winery and did some wine tasting.
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Tento vikend jsme meli byt v Yosemitech a lyzovat smerem k chate Glacier point. Pro nedostatek snehu byl nas vylet zruzen, ale jelikoz jsme misto toho sli na svatbu Amy a Erica, tak to nakonec nebyl tak spatny vikend. Vzali se v Nape, s asi 200 hosty jako svedky. Byla to moc pekna udalost a jelikoz jsme byli v oblasti, a svatba skoncila kolem 15h, stihli jsme jeste navstivit jednu vinici a ochutnat dalsi vino.
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Glass class 15. 3. 2014

Eric likes to work with glass so after taking one glass blowing class we decided for another glass class This time it was in smaller scale. First we did some torch work, then moved to work with colored glass and in the end we learned how to cut glass and learn about fuzing glass. We were able to take home the first two projects, but we had to wait for the bowls to arrive for about week and a half.
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Eric rad pracuje se sklem a tak po jednom kurzu foukaneho skla jsme se rozhodli zkusit dalsi kurz se sklem. Tentokrat to bylo v mensim meritku. Nejdrive jsem pracovali s horakem, pak se presunuli k pracovani s barevnym sklem a nakonec jsem se ucili jak rezat sklo a slucovat sklo. Prvni dva vyrobky jsme si mohli vzit hned domu, ale na treti misticky jsme museli asi tyden a pul pockat.
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Yosemite - Ahwahnee hotel with Gillian and Paul 1. - 2. 3. 2014

Sometime last year I found out that Gillian and Paul, the family I worked for in England, were coming for a vacation to California. I haven't seen them in more than 10 years, so I was really excited about their visit. They were going to stay in Yosemite their first weekend in CA. I used this as an excuse to plan a trip to Yosemite too. When they found out our visits would overlap, they were incredibly generous and offered to host us at the Ahwahnee - dinner, room, and even breakfast the next day. We first met on Friday for quick tour around Google and then dinner. On Saturday, Eric and I drove to the park and went for a short hike to Clark point. In the evening we enjoyed the amazing atmosphere of the hotel by their enormous fireplace and then a delicious dinner. On Sunday morning after breakfast, and saying bye to Gillian and Paul, we drove to Badger pass. The trip to Dewey point and back was really fast on our skis; the only downside was the weather, which prevented us from seeing much of the valley.
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Minuly rok jsem dozvedela, ze Gillian a Paul, rodina pro kterou jsme pracovala v Anglii, planuje dovolenou v Kalifornii. Nevidela jsem je pres 10 let, a tak jsem se na jejich navstevu moc tesila. Planovali jet do Yosemite prvni vikend v Kalifornii a ja jsem toho vyuzila a naplanovala jsem vylet do Yosemite take. Kdyz zjistili, ze nase navstevy se prekryvaji, byli neuveritelne stredri a zaplatili nam pobyt v Ahwahnee hotelu - veceri, pokoj a dokonce snidani druhy den. Nejdrive jsem se potkali v patek vecer na veceri a rychlou prohlidku Googlu. V sobotu jsme s Ericem jeli do parku a zasli na kratky vyslap ke Clark point. Vecer jsme si uzivali uzasne atmosfery hotelu u obrovskeho krbu a pote u vyborne vecere. V nedeli rano jsme se po snidani rozloucili s Gillian a Paulem a jeli k Badger pass. Vylet k Dewey point byl na bezkach velice rychly, jedinne minus bylo pocasi, ktere nam nedovolovalo videt nic moc z udoli.
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Winter break - Bear Valley and Benson hut 15. 2. - 23. 2. 2014

This February break we started by going to Bear Valley to try our new cross country skis. The first day we spent going around groomed trail in the cross country complex, nothing too exciting, but good for practice. Eric's binding broke at the furthest place from the trailhead, but since he wasn't too keen on skiing there anyway, he was quite happy that he had an excuse to walk :). The second day we went snowshoeing to Mt. Reba. It was snowing overnight, everything got covered, and we had nice quiet hike. After couple of miles and lunch, we decided to go back and give our skis a second try (Eric managed to fix his binding). We skied to Alpine lake and around it, returning back to the car close to the sunset. Even though we had one more night at our hotel, we decided to drive back home.

During the week, I spent some time doing errands, but most importantly we started to make our patio a little bit nicer by planting some plants and preparing to plant a few vegetables.

The second weekend we went to Benson hut. This was the last hut that we haven't visited (from 4 Sierra club huts) and we heard that it is the most difficult to reach. Our plan was to take a lift to the top of Sugar bowl ski area, but we learned that without skis or a snowboard we can't get on the lift. So we had to hike it up. Which wouldn't be that bad, but we also had to pay $25 for being at the area! The same price as we would pay for taking a lift! After we managed to get on the ridge, it was a relatively easy hike to the cabin. One other person was already in the cabin, but otherwise we had the place to ourselves. In the morning we enjoyed the views from the cabin for little bit longer. Most of us agreed that this cabin had the best location and we would like to come back. Then we started our way back, which was quite easy and we were by the cars in almost no time. On our way back, Eric and I stopped in Concord at the Czech restaurant for dinner.
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Tyto unorove prazdniny zacali vyletem do Bear Valley, abychom vyzkouseli nase nove bezky. Prvni den jsem stravili lyzovanim v arealu s upravenymi tratemi, nic moc vzrusujiciho, ale dobre na procvicovani. Ericovo vazani se rozlomilo na nejvzdalenejsim miste od auta, ale jelikoz ho lyzovani tady az tak moc nebavilo, tak byl docela rad, ze ma duvod k tomu, aby lyze nesl. :) Druhy den jsme sli na sneznicich k hore Reba. Pres noc snezilo, vsechno bylo pod snehem a tak jsme meli pekny tichy vyslap. Po par kilometrech a obedu jsme se rozhodli jit zpet a dat druhou sanci nasim bezkam (Ericovi se podarilo vazani spravit). Jeli jsme k jezeru Alpine a kolem nej a k autu jsme se vratili k zapadu slunce. I kdyz jsme meli zaplacenou jeste jednu noc v hotelu, rozhodli jsme se jet domu.

Behem tydne jsem stravila cas delanim ruznych domacich praci, ale hlavne jsme zacali si upravovat nas dvorek, aby vypadal o neco pekneji a abychom mohli zasadit nejakou zeleninu.

Druhy vikend jsme jeli na chatu Benson. Tato chata byla posledni, ve ktere jsme nebyli (ze 4 Sierra club chat) a slyseli jsme, ze ma nejtezsi pristupovou cestu. Nas plan byl, ze se vyvezemem lanovkou na kopec arealu Sugar bowl, ale dozvedeli jsem se, ze bez lyzi a nebo snowbordu nemuzememe na lanovku. Tak jsme kopec museli vyslapat. To by nebylo az tak hrozne, ale my jsme taky museli zaplatit $25 jen za to, ze jsme byli v arealu! Ty same penize jako bychom platili za lanovku! Pote co jsme se vyskrabali na hreben to byla relativne jednoducha cesta k chate. Jeden dalsi kluk byl uz v chate, ale jinak jsme meli chatu celou pro sebe. Rano jsme si jeste uzili vyhledy z chaty a vetsina nas souhlasila s tim, ze tato chata ma nejlepsi umisteni a ze bychom se radi vratili zpet. Pote jsme zacali nasi cestu zpatky, coz bylo docela jednoduche a u aut jsme byli velice brzy. Po ceste zpet jsme se s Ericem zastavili v Concordu v Ceske restauraci na veceri.
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