On the rocks.

Franz Josef, NZ. We ate PB&J at the nose of the Fox Glacier today, watching the icy runoff and listening as it dumped rocky debris and split apart.

Jason & Sarah

Sweet as.

Franz Josef, NZ. The Tasman Sea is warmer than expected. We spent yesterday driving the southwestland, which is marked by rocky outcrops that crumble into the ocean. The Tasman is not for swimming as it pounds unrelenting. The water is an inviting Caribbean aquamarine, a clean blue like the glacier water that runs beneath the bridges that span the highway's ceaseless river crossings.

New Zealand is a perpetual national park, with every view and vista scenic and every 100 meters a new preserve. If all of America's national and state parks sat back to back along a highway, that would approximate our road trip here, thus far. The landscape possesses spectacular variety.

We're camped at the base of the Franz Josef Glacier, and will hike the nearby Fox Glacier today as soon as the weather breaks. All that is available is an ancient computer, so we'll post pictures later.

Jason & Sarah

82 kilometers done. And done.

Karamea, NZ. We just finished the Heaphy Track, a Great Walk that runs along the northwest coast of the south island. We have been hiking 15 - 27 kilometer days for the past four days, tent camping on mountain saddles and river deltas, and crashing in huts when the rain and cold drove us indoors.

The Kiwis like their tramps uphill and fast. We had trouble from the start meeting the time estimates for each leg of the track. A five hour section took us eight, even if we booked it. We thought this tramp, marked as a casual, easy trail, would be just that, but it turns out tramping in New Zealand requires a brisk pace we're just not interested in. We like to stop and see the scenery, take a few pictures, soak it all in.

Which we did, but the long hikes wore us way down, as we spent twice as long on the trail each day as everyone else. No training, perhaps, played a role in this. But Christmas dinner at a delta on the rough Tasman Sea, even if it was a freeze-dried chicken and rice concoction, and the late-night sunset on that rocky coast is unbeatable. Excellent first Christmas and 6-month anniversary. And we got the chance to try out our gear. Our best "kit item" - as a fellow hiker from Wellington put it - would have to be the super compact cook set, used every morning and night, and the water filter, used several times a day for some of the best tasting water we've ever had.

We are beat up. Sore and sand-fly bit. We're recovering at the Last Resort hotel in Karamea at the southern end of the trail before heading back to Nelson by bus tomorrow to retrieve our brightly painted van and then head farther south to shorter trails. The place has a green roof, sod and plants hanging off the top, and edible landscape out back where they let me grill up my own 17-ounce T-bone steak. Sarah had what she'd been craving: a mountain of salty fries (chips).

And they had Old Dark on tap.

Jason & Sarah

PS: Merry Christmas!

Not a single damn Hobbit.

Nelson, NZ. New Zealand is amazingly beautiful, constantly. We got out of Auckland fast at the suggestion of everyone we met after landing: We landed on the last day of work and school for New Zealanders before they take a long holiday. However, traffic New Zealand style seems to just mean there are other people on the road driving the speed limit, just like you. I'm not sure what they would make of Los Angeles.

Our plan was to spend a few days on the north island before heading south for our first big tramp. However, we found that we needed to book a ferry passage between the islands ahead of time, again because of the holiday, so all we could get was 3 a.m. the morning of Dec. 21, basically a day after landing. So we spent our first afternoon and the day after on a leisurely drive to Wellington (distances are short here, despite the Kiwis thinking a few hours drive is a quite a long one). The north island is green like Scotland. Sarah says it is like all the best parts of California in one place. All the Kiwis have told us, "Just wait till you get to the south. It's really beautiful there." Maybe it's because we're from out of town that we can't tell the difference between one bit of beautiful and another.

We knew it would be our kind of country when shortly after we landed we saw a sign that read "Earth before politics." Also, all the food is excellent and seems to be organic or locally grown. The bread is great. I had one of the best burgers I've ever eaten last night at the Pheasant Plucker Pub, one of the oldest in the south. We discovered a brilliant beer called Hearty Black there. Night before last in Wellington we visited the Backbencher Pub (at Mark's suggestion - thanks, Mark), and there we found another great beer, Old Dark. Kiwis know how to brew. Their only shortcoming seems to be that they are all tired, dangerously so based on the road signs every 100 meters that warn people to pull over and take a nap, that yawning is a sign of fatigue, and that driving tired is the same as driving drunk. They're not afraid to illustrate in graphic detail what happens to those who get sleepy behind the wheel. We haven't noticed New Zealanders to be any more sleepy than anyone else.

Anyway, great time so far. We just finished finalizing our plans for the Heaphy Track, which we will leave for this afternoon and be hiking for the next five days. With roadsides so picturesque, it is hard to imagine what the back country will be like.

Jason & Sarah

7 to the 28.

After much delay on our part we were finally able to reconnect with Stan and Jeannette and pick up our full set of pictures from the wedding — all 1,386 of which are amazing. We've enjoyed sorting through them during the past week and being reminded of our wedding days.

Actually, the timing is great. Flipping through the pictures and re-experiencing the wedding is the perfect send off for our upcoming honeymoon.

Which we leave for in seven days. While we're in New Zealand we'll post a few notes and pictures here — so check out the blog for updates. Four weeks should be just enough time to re-invigorate us for the spring remodel: Despite finals, during the past week we managed to fit in getting a new garage door, and we took delivery of our new kitchen cabinets. Two massive pantries now stand in our living room, and the garage is half-filled with stacked base cabinets.

But before that all takes shape, back country tramping. Lots of it.

Jason

Remodel presupposed.

And done.

Since its completion, we have been looking over the patio cover and thinking how great it is, how happy we are with it — and how it clashes a bit with the rest of the house as is. We have decided that it presupposes the completed remodel, going beyond even the spring Phase II of the current set of projects to offer a little glimpse of the real finish, including improvements we haven't even thought up yet.

Until then, we'll just drink beers and plan away in the newly christened Belikin Memorial Patio, so named for that fat, lazy, favorite cat we lost shortly after moving in.

As soon as the weather breaks for summer, we'll have everyone over and give this space a fitting grand opening.

Jason

Like a rock.

Eight nuts and bolts; 52 lag screws and cut washers; 52 screws; four column bases and heavy angle brackets; 40' of 6"x6" doug fir; 48' of 6"x8" doug fir; 144' of 4"x4" doug fir; 34' of 4"x6" doug fir; 10 bags of concrete; and one gallon of weatherproofer chocolate semitransparent stain.

Yesterday my dad and I finished building the new patio cover after three days of construction and about a month of prep (see posts below). It's damn good, and damn-near indestructible — which is pretty much the only way dad builds. We lucked out with the weather Wednesday. Clouds and the weather-person threatened, but we felt little more than a few sprinkles while we worked. As we slammed the last nail home, the rain fell hard and the last of the daylight winked out.

All that's left is cleanup and planting the red/green grapes that will grow along the beams and provide shade when set, as well as the Dutch clover at the base of the posts — and this remodel project will be done and done.

Just in time, too, since we leave for our honeymoon in less than three weeks!

Jason

The way of the samurai.

The patio cover project moves forward. Yesterday my dad and I poured the footings. This proved to be the most difficult stage of the project thus far, and it required us to Williams it up a little.

What does the verb "to Williams" mean. Well, many things, depending on the situation. In Saturday's context it meant to push forward with a project, despite uncertainty regarding the outcome; to wing it; and to work only with the materials in one's immediate vicinity despite the ready availability of perhaps more fitting materials nearby (i.e. at Home Depot), even if that means constructing or otherwise modifying existing materials so that they 1) no longer function as intended and 2) somewhat resemble and mimic the functions of that other, desired object.

How'd it go down. We were pouring footings with brackets embedded in them, and the brackets need to be absolutely level and square to the other brackets 10' to 12' away in order for the finished structure to be level and square. No big deal, but we were working in a tight space that became ever tighter the more we modified our forms to level and square the brackets. When it came time to smooth and finish the concrete around the brackets, we found my dad's finishing tool to be about two inches too wide to fit between the forms and the bracket. Problem: The cement must be perfect. Solution: 1) drive to Home Depot and buy a new, smaller finishing tool for $3 to $5 or 2) modify the tool in hand.

Two: The modification of the tool began logically enough — if we could bend two inches of the tool up out of the way, it would work. However, the tool was made of a stiff metal and was only 3" by 5", so there was no leverage, and thus no easy bending being had. Nor would the metal yield to a saw. Part of it bent when wedged into a crevice in the cement and kicked, but we needed an evener bend than that method would allow. Hammering the metal against the curve of a cement step also failed. Final solution: Placing the tool on end between two boards, stepping back, then jumping on the board, creating a sandwich action that bent the tool and snapped off the tool's handle, yet yielded a twisted metal contraption narrow enough to fit between the tight spaces left by our improvised forms.

Worked, though. And it's really not about the means. Anyone who has seen my dad's remodeled house, or any of his other work, knows that he produces precision craftsmanship, excellent work, and there's no question that the footings will hold stable what will be, in the end, an indestructible, appealing patio cover.

To Williams.

Now we let the footings set for two weeks — then we build!

Jason

Patio's progress.

My dad and I spent the day cutting four 18" x 18" squares into the existing patio. We chipped and smashed out the cement so that we can pour foundations for the new cover next weekend — which means I will spend the week digging holes in which to set the cement (always a pleasure in the rock-clay soil of San Diego). Eventually all of the cement that surrounds the pool will be removed and replaced, but that's a task for another time and another budget.

So far the project's been smooth success. I had no idea you could just saw through slabs of cement. But I guess a wet-saw with a diamond-tipped blade will do that for you.

Jason

Mrs. Williams.

Well, it only took us four months to find the time, but after a quick visit to the Social Security office this morning, Sarah Leone Sturm has officially become Sarah Leone Williams.

Just in time, too, since the airline tickets for the honeymoon are in the new name — and we still need to order up Sarah's new passport. And change her name on all accounts and legal documents.

Husbands have it easy.

Jason

Finishing what the termites started.

The termite eaten, dry rotted, all around unattractive and unstable patio cover has become the first significant casualty of the remodel project. My dad and I demoed it today — part one of a multi-stage project that should result in a sparkling new patio cover built by Thanksgiving.

Sarah and I have been slammed with school and work, nothing new, so besides the little fixes here and there around the house to get settled, this is our first major work on the house since we moved in. Rebuilding the patio cover will likely be our only big ticket remodel project this fall, unless someone gets elected president who's willing to "spread the wealth around." Joe the Plumber may have $250,000, but I don't.

Jason

The first 100 days.

On Day 1 we got married again, and it’s been great since. We were fortunate to kick off married life with a few days in the redwoods with friends and family, and then some time to ourselves on our little honeymoon just east of the Sierras. We soaked it up because we knew we’d hit the ground running when we got home.

And we did.

Sarah jumped right into the beginning of her fourth year in a row of full time work and school, and with the economy sucking and her energy flagging, it’s been a tough start this go around. But — it’s her last year! It seems like a long way off, but by the end of next summer she’ll be graduated.

Everything converged for us during the last two weeks of August and the first two weeks of September. To Sarah’s schedule I added my seven-course fall semester load (I’m also taking a California history class as part of an A.A. I’m working on). Any leftover time went to prepping for the move from Grandpa’s to our new home, which crammed tenting the house, scraping the popcorn off the ceilings, painting, and installing new flooring into a two week period (see slideshow below). The painting took twice as long as we expected … for various reasons. But everything looks great, and thanks to a little help from our friends, the move went smooth.

We lost two additional weeks spending our spare time looking for our lost cat, Belikin, who we’ve yet to find (see posts below). We did manage to bring home a similar, yet ultimately different cat, which we’ve taken to calling Maybe.

Those six weeks of busyness threw us fairly far behind in work and school, and we’re only now beginning to settle, catch our breath, and catch up. With a little tinkering here and there we’ll put Phase 1 of the remodel to bed — and with an eye toward June 25-26, 2009, we’ll take the first few tentative steps into Phase 2 of our massive project.

We’ve really enjoyed all the milestones of the past 100 days, both wedding related and not. We had a blast anticipating the arrival of our wedding pictures with everyone else who checked the Trailbrook blog by the hour, and then sharing those pictures. Following our wedding we got to celebrate the marriage of Sarah’s cousin, Melissa (She became a Williams, too, after tying the knot with fiancé Klay Williams). We were happy to congratulate my dad on his retirement coup, calling in to the fire department from a beach in Hawaii to say simply that he’s not coming back to work. Ever again. Now he just gets to spend his days playing with wood, and grandkids when they come along. I’ve enjoyed helping Anna and Frank build their wedding web site, and we’re both excited to hear about their developing plans for their April wedding. And we were thrilled that Amber moved to Korea so that she and Chris could both share in the unique experience of living and teaching English abroad, and exploring that part of the world (Anna and Frank will join them for a trip to China at the end of this month). All good things.

And speaking of exploring the world, Sarah and I are gearing up for our month-long honeymoon Dec. 17 – Jan. 14. We’ve been snapping up trekking equipment every time R.E.I. has a sale, and making reservations for the multi-day, 40 – 80 km tramps we’ll be taking into the New Zealand back country. Just last night we secured a reservation for the Kaikoura Coast Track (3 days, 37.3 km) — the last big hike we’ll do before coming home.

Thanks to my unemployment, we got to enjoy one another during the summer, and now that the hectic days of August-September have passed, we’re happily enjoying married life, still tickled by the idea of being a “husband” and a “wife” and how strange those grown up terms sound tripping off our tongues.

Jason

PS: Here’s a peak at the remodel work, so far.

Maybe the cat.

Well, with reluctant certainty, we have come to the conclusion that the stray cat we rescued Sept. 26 is not Belikin. Despite the coincidence of so many similar factors, the preponderance of evidence leans toward "No."

So, Belikin remains missing, and we are actively looking for him. However, the cat we snapped up several days ago, according to the woman who contacted us, has been hanging around her place for nearly a month with no tag and no one claiming him. We can't imagine turning such a friendly cat back out on the streets, so barring an owner come calling, we'd like to introduce our new cat, Maybe.

Jason

Mr. Mark Twain.

The rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated.

Last night at about 6:30 p.m. we received an e-mail from someone who saw one of the fliers we'd put up at a market. The woman said our cat had been hanging around her place for a few days, stopping by around 5 p.m. for the food she would leave. I casually clicked open the series of photos the woman had attached and found Belikin.

We'd had few leads at this point, and after Mapquesting the address I had my doubts that he had gotten that far: The woman lived off of El Cajon Boulevard, where 67th Street ends and becomes a little known road. To get there Belikin would have had to cross the 8 Freeway, navigate the college area around SDSU, and pass Montezuma and El Cajon Boulevard.

But the pictures were pictures of him.

No one was home when I reached the house around 7 p.m. Sarah was in class, so I went alone. I knocked, and when I turned to go calling for him, he was already coming up the porch steps. In the fading light it was difficult to know for sure if it was him. I twisted and turned him under the light of a streetlamp, but still couldn't be sure. I sat with him for a while, considering. The distance had planted a formidable seed of doubt. I stuffed him in a cage and brought him home.

Kitty seemed to know him. His markings looked right. But he seemed a little blonder, and his facial structure looked off from certain angles. His behavior was similar and different at the same time, but he was highly stressed. He sounds different, but he also has a cold. It's hard to know how life on the outside might change him. The vet said he's healthy except for some fleas and a slight respiratory infection.

He's such a unique personality, we were expecting certainty upon finding him — "Belikin, I presume." Now we're searching for things that make him an impostor. But would a cat that didn't know us show so much affection for us? Would it be comfortable in a strange house? Would two cats that didn't know one another tolerate the other's presence with just a few half-hearted hisses?

It's where he was found. That's the seed. In time we'll know — but by then, by the time we know one way or another, this doppelganger will be Belikin. Time will have eroded the dissimilarities and accentuated the sameness.

Or, perhaps it's just him. Belikin's back.

Jason

PS: The errant bastard's improbable route.


View Larger Map

West to Mexico.

Yesterday evening we got our first lead on Belikin. The owner of Emiliano's Mexican Restaurant on Mission Gorge Road called to say that a waiter had seen a cat matching Belikin's description underneath the restaurant's deck, which overhangs a slight slope down to a golf course. The space is tight and fenced in, and full of junk — tiles, toilettes, cooktops — presumably from the restaurant. The waiter, who was very helpful, showed me where he had seen a cat out a window as he was bussing tables. When he went down to leave some food, he saw the cat again sitting amid the trash. We had left a flier with this restaraunt, and the waiter seemed sure it was the same cat.

We checked the area last night and this morning with no luck so far, and will return again this evening. Something had eaten the shredded beef left by the waiter during the night.

He's been missing about eight days now. I suppose I can sympathize with the desire to run away and live under a Mexican food restaurant.

Jason

Belikin Watch 2008.

Early in the morning hours of Sept. 16 our cat, Belikin, pushed his way out of or simply fell out of our front kitchen window where the screen is old and bent. This has happened before on two occasions, and in the past we have found him on the porch the next morning, whining about his predicament. This time, however, the morning came and he was nowhere to be found.

Yesterday we spent the morning scouring the house and yard, as well as our immediate neighbors' yards, refusing to believe that a cat so disinterested in anything but napping and eating could have brought himself to wander that far — let alone farther. We were surprised to find that his plaintive whines didn't come in answer to our calls, and we had to leave off for work with no luck locating him. That evening we canvassed the neighborhood, dropping fliers in every mailbox in a two block radius and decorating telephone poles with an adorably lazy picture of the errant bastard (see above). Again, we came up short with the exception of discovering that we have moved into an extremely friendly neighborhood (We moved in Sept. 14). Most people were home when we dropped off our flier, and they welcomed us to the neighborhood and promised to keep an eye out, wished us luck.

The only luck we've had is in not discovering any evidence that Belikin has been attacked, eaten, or hit by a car — which we suspect would have been apparent and happened in the area we hoofed yesterday. He likely got spooked, ran, and got lost.

He's in Allied Gardens somewhere. Napping.

Last night we left the garage door open with a basket of our dirty laundry, food, and water, hoping to attract him home with some of his favorite things: food, and us. Today we have expanded the search. Sarah registered Belikin with a national missing pets organization, and I posted fliers at businesses up and down Waring Road (our closest major street).

We have hope that he will turn up. He is a stocky, strong cat with sharp-ass claws. And he moves so little, it's hard to imagine any other creature noticing he is there. Tonight we will expand our leafleting to a four block radius.

I type this to the sound of fliers printing. It's surprising how many noises sound like a whiny cat gone missing.

Jason

At last.

Our long wait has been rewarded with a brilliant preview of our wedding photo collection. Stan and Jeanette did an amazing job, as we knew they would, and the slideshow they have posted on their revamped blog showcases the event and the people who made it a phenomenal experience.

We are so happy with the work, and are excited to be able to share these pictures with you.

Click here.

Jason

Word.

SAN DIEGO—Sneak Peak Part II of the wedding pictures will be published on Stan and Jeannette Liu's blog next week, according to a Trailbrook official close to the photographers who requested anonymity because he did not want to be seen as leaking the announcement. Officials said the full collection of wedding photographs would be available soon after the preview was released.

Jason Williams contributed reporting from San Diego. Sarah Williams contributed reporting from Moscow and Dublin. The article was written by Mr. Williams.

The before.

The renters are gone, man. Tomorrow we officially begin work on the house.

The Fall-Spring Remodel will kick off with a flurry of activity as we try to squeeze in as much of the must-do-before-move-in projects as possible. We're also trying to beat the clock in terms of our schedules getting hectic. This week: Sunday-Monday painting; Tuesday-Thursday termite tenting; Friday popcorn ceiling removal; Saturday-Monday new floors installation (half the house).

Then it's packing and prep for the big move the following weekend.

Contrary to our typical habit of finishing a big project and wishing we had taken "before" pictures, this time we snapped a few pre-remodel images so we can all look back weepy and remember when the garage was rotted of its hinges and termites redistributed our house here and there in little post-digestion piles. See below.

Jason

Who needs downtime.

Since the wedding we've jumped right into prepping for our fall-spring home remodel and planning for our winter honeymoon.

We don't really do downtime.

Tentatively we will move into the house on Gala Sept. 13-14. We have been running numbers and running all over town in preparation for the work we will do, and spent hours staring at kitchen cabinets (It's a tough call between the Honey Almond or the Auburn finish as to which better accents the simple lines of the Shaker-style cabinet faces). A lot of pretty nice little Saturdays. When the first phase of the remodel is complete, we'll host the San Diego Lime. Date and time TBA.

As for the honeymoon, we've been learning all we can about ultralight-weight gear for the backpacking we will do. We just bought a pair of thermal sleeping bags that weigh less than 1.5 pounds each and that wad up small enough to fit in your pocket. New Zealand limits the number of people allowed on its back country treks and spots fill up fast, so we've already booked two long tramps for Christmas and New Years — check them out: We'll wake up Christmas morning on the Heaphy Track and New Year's Day on the Kepler Track.

Jason

PS: I checked Trailbrook's site twice by 9 a.m. today for wedding pictures. Anyone else want to weigh in?

Just a tease.

Stan and Jeannette have posted a few teaser images from the reception on their blog — a tease before the much anticipated teaser trailer due out soon. Our rabid, compulsive checking of their web site has paid off: We've seen it and posted about it on our blog before they've even had a chance to tell us the pictures are up (we checked last night around midnight, and this morning around nine).

Click please here.

Jason

PS: All of you who attended the wedding can probably guess the subject of at least one of the images.

Pictures of you, pictures of trees.

The picture sharing on the community Picasa account we created for the wedding has worked out fantastically. The account has 13 albums with a total of 1,575 pictures.

If you have wedding pictures but haven't loaded them into the shared account — please do so! (In particular I'm looking for the person who has the group shot from the second wedding in the clerk's office.) If you already have, sign on and check out everyone else's — more have probably been added since last you looked. There are many great shots from the week's adventures.

So — upload your images, and e-mail us if you have trouble or need the how-to note. My favorite images so far are the group shots, like the one below of the rafting trip. Notice how the image is a bit soft and the colors, especially in the background, are a bit unsaturated — that's because we're rafting through a wildfire that will soon trap us in the beautiful, yet rustic, town of Big Flat.

Jason

Expiration of a web site.

Tomorrow our wedding web site expires.

Thanks for viewing it thousands of times (or maybe that was us), and making it a valuable part of our whole wedding experience. We enjoyed constructing it and maintaining it.

As it signs off, the wedding countdown simply reads "MARRIED", the honeymoon clock displays 161 days, 7 hours, 2 minutes, and 14 seconds — and the mix of reggae and soca that makes up the soundtrack for the site still sounds good. The bio's and the references to "Sturm" are now a bit behind the times.

Browse through the links one more time if you like.

Jason

PS: Looking back, perhaps a more accurate web address would have been www.june25or26.org.

Honeymoon 0.5.

We took some time to ourselves on the way home from Orick and made a stop in Bishop, east of the Sierras, June 28 - 30. From Bishop it's about an hour drive up into the White Mountains where the oldest thing that's ever lived grows — the Bristlecone Pine. Known for its exceptionally contorted and weather-worn exterior, this tree can live for 5,000 years. The nutrient-poor, harsh environment at 11,000 feet contributes to this longevity.

Anyway, it's somewhere we've always wanted to go. We spent a week amid the tallest species that ever lived, skirted the turf of the largest (the Sequoia in the Sierras), and stopped by the oldest — all native to California.

The grove we visited sat at the end of a 12-mile dirt road that twisted through the hot high desert. The temperature dropped from 91 to 66 with the elevation change, but despite the balmy weather we had to hike the last mile of dirt road to the stand because the road was closed ... due to snow. A large patch of pure white snow made a portion of the road impassable and dribbled run off — the only moisture that cut through the dry terrain. As we arrived at the grove, several heavy rain drops hit us out of what moments ago was a blue sky. A narrow trail of thunderclouds had slipped in above us, for which we were unprepared. Near the end of the Patriarch Grove loop, thunder echoed and we ran as fast as the thin air would let us (not fast). As we neared the car lightening struck a low rise nearby, and we realized on that barren moonscape we were often the tallest thing. Meaty hail fell.

It was the perfect little pre-honeymoon. We spent most of the long drive to Bishop (12 hours, another fire on Hwy. 80) chattering about the wedding (which was awesome!) and planning backpacking tramps for Honeymoon 1.0.

Jason

What Would Smokey (the bear) Do?

By the time the wedding week came to a close there were more than 100 fires burning in Humboldt County. Several fires scorched the steep ridges that overhang Highway 299, which runs alongside the Trinity River — the river we were to white water raft on Friday.

Sarah and I got a call Thursday morning telling us that our rafting trip had been moved down stream due to road closures, but when we arrived the company said the roads had opened and the better rapids of the Upper Trinity proved hard to resist. Despite the heavy smoke that dominated our drive to that point, we drove deeper into the wildfires.

The trouble began after the rafting. See Mark's video below.

Jason

PS: The rafting was amazing, great fun: good rapids, excellent guides.


Eagle Fire along Trinity River from Mark Ranallo on Vimeo.

Stop, drop, and roll.

This is one of our favorite moments from the reception. Based on the laughter, the rapid paparazzi response by everyone close enough with camera in hand, and the good natured post-drop conversation — we think many of you found the first dance to be a highlight as well.

Thanks to everyone for helping to make it a joyful, rather than an awkward, moment. And thanks to John for masterfully preserving it on film.

Jason

PS: This embedded video is a bit grainy — but for the record, John's version is crystal clear.

To the trees.

The morning after the wedding as we rounded up the last of the loose items around the Bluff House we were happy to find that eight of our redwood saplings were missing. We set out 24 pots as centerpieces and came home with only 16. With the one we are holding for Kat, that makes for nine of the trees being planted in friend's and family's yards throughout California.

This series of plantings is the is the green aspect of our wedding that we find the most pleasure in, and we hope that you will post pictures or notes on this blog keeping us up to date on how the trees are faring.

Speaking of which, a few comments to get you started.

• Your redwood may look sad after so much travel (the ones we came home with do). No worries, just water it well. It may not outgrow burned tips and such until the next growing season (Feb. 2009). Redwoods recover from almost anything, so don't give up on it.
  
• The little pot your tree is in will lose moisture fast, particularly in the hot summer months — so water several times a week and don't let the soil dry out. Putting your tree in a part-shade environment for the rest of this season will help you help it.
  
• Don't plant or transplant your tree until November. My recommendation is to upgrade to a five-gallon pot (with good drainage) in November and grow your tree for another year before putting it into the ground. It will be three to five feet tall by then and will handle the world better. Less than a year ago your tree was a oat-sized fleck of seed; I planted these trees in July 2007.
• For potting soil I use Miracle Grow Moisture Control Potting Soil. For a little fertilizer I use Miracle Grow All Purpose Liquid Fertilizer — but you can use whatever you prefer so long as the tree gets water and a little nutrients each week, particularly during the growing season (Feb. - Nov.).
  

Enjoy your trees, and e-mail or post with any questions or concerns (see old posts for more info, June 2008 and October 2007). If you didn't get a tree and want one, or want us to grow one bigger for you, e-mail or post for that, too. We'll even come plant it!

Jason

Mr. and Mrs.

That couldn't have gone better.

We returned home yesterday afternoon after taking the scenic route south from Orick, and we talked constantly of the wedding and how amazing the day — and the whole week were. We had the best time.

Thank you to everyone again for traveling so far and taking the time to spend the week with us. Having so many of our favorite people in one place really made the week what it was. We did a lot of planning, but the people made the time special — and a blast! Lots of good times at the cabins, hiking, boating, pub hopping, rafting, causing trouble at the clerk's office, and getting trapped in the wildfires. Because of you all, even the trouble with the license turned into one of our favorite memories of the week.

We are so looking forward to seeing everyone's pictures and video from the week. I will e-mail everyone today about where to upload your photos so that everyone can share, and I will of course post a note here with a link when Stan and Jeannette's pictures are up and ready (we've been checking their site twice daily since the wedding).

There is a barrage of wedding posts to come, so keep an eye to the blog. Thanks again for making the week a brilliant experience. We hope to see everyone soon.

The Williamses

No sleep till Orick.

We're on the road, heading north!

Jason

Our blog will go on.

On July 10, 2008, our ownership of the domain www.june25.org will expire, and our wedding web site will no longer be available on the internet. We have enjoyed that you have enjoyed our site, and we had a blast building it.

However, there is more to this wedding than a mere week-long celebration. Because we were limited in the number of people we could invite to our wedding up north, this fall/winter we will host a barbecue in San Diego to celebrate the wedding and our new home with as many people as possible. Once the web site expires, we will use the blog to update everyone on this event — as well as on the progress of our pending remodel. We will also post a short preview of our wedding photos here, the rest of which we'll show at the barbecue.

And we will use the blog to keep in touch with everyone during our 28 days in New Zealand. We'll post pictures and video of the honeymoon every now and then while we're gone this December/January.

So, keep an eye on the blog!

Jason

176.5 hours to go.

We're in the home stretch, with only three more days in San Diego before we head north — and only one week till we're married. We have been actively planning and preparing since February 18, 2007 — during the drive home from the Pacific Crest Trail, where we got engaged. So it is strange to be at this place, 16 months later, checking items off the final "to do" list. A year ago it was where to have it and how many people, and today there is a wedding dress hanging from our bookshelf, ready. It is difficult to adjust to having so little left that needs doing.

The reason the adjustment is awkward is because there was much to do. But there was also much willing and happy help readily available. We couldn't have done it all without the pitching in of our family and friends, who provided physical labor here in San Diego, planning and coordinating from La Mesa to Cheongju, and much appreciated enthusiasm from Ramona to New York City. Thanks to everyone for helping us get from February 18, 2007, to June 25, 2008.

We're almost ready, and we hope you are, too.

Jason

Just today.

We're just sitting here passing a bottle of pure leaf green tea, cool-warm late afternoon breeze, crafting something for the reception centerpieces and enjoying wedding prep while it's going well: music, Sarah still towel-headed from a late shower after last night's bachelorette party, engagement pics splashed big on the desktop and switching — and the centerpiece project is green-friendly as it gets.

Good times.

Seven days from now we'll be barbecuing in the redwoods as people hit town.

Jason

Gettin'.

Check your e-mail.

I have sent out two attachments to everyone regarding transportation on the day of the wedding that provide directions and maps to the cabins from Eureka, Arcata, and Trinidad, and then from the cabins in Orick to the reception in Trinidad.

As a reminder, everyone attending the ceremony needs to meet at our cabins in Orick by 2:45 p.m. on the day of the wedding to be shuttled to the ceremony site. Our permit requires that we keep the scenic parkway as free of parked cars as possible, so shuttling everyone is our solution. Three minivans will transport 18 people at a time and will be driven by Frank, Mark, and Peter — which we appreciate. The shuttles will then return everyone to the cabins after the ceremony, at which time you can make your way to the reception, about 30 minutes to the south. We encourage those of you staying in the cabins to carpool as parking at the reception is limited.

Please print the directions and bring them with you.

Also, those of you driving up Saturday, June 21, will be getting another e-mail from us soon that will list contact information for other people on the road that day in case anyone runs into trouble — or just wants company during a lunch stop.

Jason

PS: I thought about just posting all the info and an interactive map on the blog, but then I thought we don't really want Guhn showing up to either event. You all remember that crazy bastard (If you don't, check out the April 2 and April 4 posts).

Follow the leader(s).

We have enlisted several people to help us coordinate our week-long wedding event — mainly so that we don't have to spend the whole week doing just that. We've done a lot of leg work on the front end and are looking forward to taking it a bit easier once things get rolling. With a few extra hands in the mix, that will be possible.

So, we've abdicated control according to the schedule below.

Monday - Jason and Sarah (Prairie Creek Cabin)
Tuesday - Anna (Golden Bears Den)
Wednesday - Amy (Roosevelt Elk Lodge) and Chris (Golden Bears Den)
Thursday - Carol (Johnny Redwood Cabin)
Friday - Kat (Gold Rush Cabin)

Please refer all questions for a particular day's activities to the people in charge, and refer to the Itinerary to see what they're in charge of. They will be handy for directions, times, and pithy one-liners. You may also find them knocking on your door if you're late for an outing.

We really appreciate their pitching in.

Jason

PS: 14 days ...

Look at us 207 times.

We met with our photographers Friday night to see the rest of the photos from our engagement session. For those of you who haven't had enough of our agressively-cutesy-pre-weddingness, find a 207-picture slideshow below.

Jason

The best man cometh.

Chris has returned from Korea. He'll be here for 20 days, soaking up some much needed California: burritos, girlfriend, family, friends. He hasn't been home since October of last year.

The wedding festivities officially kick off with his return, since he's so excited. Sarah and I are just trying to be at least as excited as he is, but according to the latest CNN poll, 57 percent of Americans think he's the most excited, and there's a lot of pressure on us to bow out and officially endorse him as being more excited than we are.

Jason

B.Y.O.__.

Throughout the week we will be hanging out and sharing downtime at the cabins — one of the perks of staying in close quarters with 90 percent of our guests. We are looking forward to this lounging and visiting almost as much as the other activities we have scheduled. Even for the low-key events there are a few things we need, like wood for burnin' and chairs for settin'. We thought we could all pitch in for these few community items — particularly those of us who are driving and who can just throw a chair or something in the trunk:

Firewood.
Chairs (for around the campfires, etc.)
Board games/cards.

For those of you who will be in bustling Orick, California, on the evenings of Sunday, June 22, and Thursday, June 26, we are organizing two pot-luck barbecues followed by bonfires at the cabins.

For Sunday, Sarah and I will provide hotdogs, buns, and the necessary condiments. We could use anything that might go good with dogs, including:

Chips and dip.
Potato salad or macaroni salad.
Vegetables to grill.
Soda.
Beer.

For Thursday, everyone should bring their own meat to grill and something to share — like the items mentioned above.

These are just suggested pot-luck items. If you think of something else you would like to share — great. Just let us and everyone else know what you're bringing by posting here, so we don't end up with 50 bags of chips and no beer. There will be about 24 people on Sunday, and 28 on Thursday.

The first barbecue is two weeks from tomorrow!

Jason

The last word on trees.

I planted a test-run of the seeds that came enclosed in the Save the Dates on Sept. 12 of last year. About a month later I had some success, with one redwood and one sequoia nosing about two centimeters out of the soil — just two out of 50 seeds planted. Such a low germination rate makes some sense if you consider that a single redwood cone contains 150 to 200 seeds. If they all sprouted and grew to adulthood, the world would be overrun by the giant trees (though there is a high probability that humans could still log them quick enough to drive them to extinction). Another factor that may have played into the limited success of those of you who tried to grow the Save-the-Date seeds is that they could have been collected from young redwoods, which tend to produce cones full of infertile seeds until they reach 200 years of age or so.

Anyhow, after eight months, my saplings are doing well, as are the two sequoias Sarah's mom managed to get going. The two images at right are of mine. For context, check out the Oct. 6 blog entry.

And, for any of you who haven't passed out from boredom or been driven to click away by the irrelevance of this post — I stumbled across a pretty interesting site operated by the National Parks Service that discusses redwood reproduction.

Yep, that ought to just about drive away the last of this blog's tiny, yet devoted, following.

Jason

Pictures of us.

About a week ago we spent four fun hours with Stan and Jeannette, our wedding photographers. They took us all over Old Poway and Ramona shooting our engagement pictures — a preview of which are available for viewing on the Trailbrook blog!

The pictures are brilliant and inventive, and really capture us (though it is a bit hard to look at so many images of ourselves without feeling a little self-conscious). Stan and Jeannette made the experience a blast and proved true our original impression of them — that they are excellent photographers and two people we'd enjoy spending the week with during the wedding. They are creative and obviously love what they do. We can't wait to meet up with them later this week to check out the rest of the pictures from the session — especially since they said they never post the best pictures on their blog, saving those for the couple. It's hard to imagine this is true based on the quality of the images that are already available.

Over beers at Cheers in Ramona at the close of our shoot, we encouraged Stan and Jeannette to make a vacation out of their work up north and join us for some of the outings we have planned. We hope they take us up on the offer, and we can't wait for you all to meet them up north.

So, check out the pictures! Let us know what you think. And let Stan and Jeannette know: They love feedback from family and friends on their blog, too.

22 days!

Jason

The last 30 days.

Here we go.

The countdown is on, and there is much to be done, and much that has been done. As June 25 approaches, we are busy but excited — more so when we hear how excited everyone else is, particularly those of you who have never been to this part of California. Sharing this setting with all of you sold us on this location.

We have firmed up and finalized the itinerary for the week, so visit the web site and see what we have planned. There's a printer-friendly version of the calendar you can download. Also consider checking out some of the links on the destination and itinerary pages to plan some adventures of your own. We hope that you come along with us for our activities, but we also hope that you experience the redwoods on your own terms. This is your vacation, too. Note that times have changed for some of our scheduled events.

Otherwise, keep an eye on this blog and watch for e-mail updates from us during the next 30 days. And get damn excited.

Jason

What's a wedding ceremony docent?

Over Mexican food/beer last night we enlisted our good friends Jessica and Charles to help us keep an eye on people as they arrive for the wedding ceremony to make sure no one wanders off down the wrong trail or aimlessly through the ferns and giant trees. While there are no lions, tigers, or bears to worry about, we are trying to fit 50 or so people on a narrow trail in a manner that allows everyone to experience the ceremony without trampling nature.

Basically, they're an extra two people who can listen for questions and reassure people as they arrive for the wedding — and as people head out after. Sounds kind of like an usher, but since there are no seats or bride's/groom's side at the ceremony, they are more informational than tactical. Jessica suggested "ceremony docent," based on her experience working for Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the Birch Aquarium — an erudite, yet fitting title.

We're happy to have them no matter what they're called.

Jason

One-woman band.

We have been debating whether to have music during the ceremony, and if so, how — seeing as we're getting hitched on a trail in a forest down by a river.

The solution came as we were listening to songs on YouTube. We found a Bob Dylan song we liked for the procession, and as we were listening to it, we both kind of thought, "You know who could do a sweet version of this song — Becki!"

A quick e-mail later and we had recruited our good friend from high school to provide a little guitar and vocals to kick off and close our ceremony.

Woo-hoo!

Jason

Uncle Charts Trail in 'Off Chance' that Nephew Proposes There 26 Years Later

My uncle, Brian Williams — source of my "Brian" middle name — called me last night after reading the Engagement page on our wedding web site.

Before becoming a CHP officer he worked as a land surveyor, first for a private company, then for the U.S. Forest Service. In 1981, he served on a crew assigned to chart a section of a new trail that would stretch from Mexico to Canada. Survey crews throughout California, Oregon, and Washington had begun piecing together this 2,650-mile trail comprised of new lengths connected with existing tracks. The trek became known as the Pacific Crest Trail, and the length my uncle helped chart runs through Warner Springs — a two-mile section of which Sarah and I hiked and got engaged on in February 2007.

As a surveyor, he planned the route, making sure the trail wasn't too steep and that the views were good, among many other responsibilities. The view was beautiful from the place we had a picnic and got engaged.

I thanked him for planning ahead.

Jason

On the water.

Our river adventures are on!

We booked the jet boat tour and the white water rafting. The final details are below. You can also find links to the companies conducting these two river expeditions on the Itinerary page on our web site. Please note the time change for the jet boat tour on Tuesday. We had to move it back from 1 p.m. to 10 a.m. to give us a little more breathing room for the wedding rehearsal that afternoon.

Jet Boat: Tuesday, June 24, from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Klamath River, north of the cabins. We need to be in Klamath about 30 minutes before departure, so we will coordinate leaving the cabins around 9 a.m. The company has a boat that will accommodate the 27 people we have going — so it should be a blast. The final cost is $28 per person. Map with directions from cabins.

River Rafting: Friday, June 27, from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Trinity River, south of the cabins. We need to be in Willow Creek at 10 a.m. It takes about 90 minutes from the cabins, so we need to leave around 8 a.m. I'm not sure how many rafts we will be in, but we all will be drifting downstream and crashing over waterfalls together. Also a blast. The final cost is $79 per person. Map with directions from the cabins.

We need to prepay for each of these events, much like the cabins, so please send us a check for the full amount for all your people by June 5. I sent an e-mail to everyone with details about payment. For those participating in the white water rafting, you need to download the attached forms (2) in the e-mail and fill one of each out for each member of your party and send it with your check.

We are definitely looking forward to hitting the rivers before and after the wedding. If you didn't sign up for either of these events but decide you want to go, there is room. The jet boat can hold 35 and we can always add rafts. Just let us know. If you signed up for either of these trips but change your mind, please let us know that, too.

57 days ...

Jason

27 days in a brightly-painted van.

We're so excited about spending four weeks together poking around New Zealand that we can barely concentrate on work and school. All we want to do is pick up our guidebooks and read about the phenomenal sights we will see.

Our original itinerary included Tahiti and Easter Island, but economy-bankrupt airlines-President Bush-something caused the prices for those stopovers to spike and made the cost obscene. However, the more we looked into our options over the past few days, the more we realized that a laid-back road trip through New Zealand is an ideal honeymoon that needs no add-ons. (Besides, dropping Easter Island frees up that destination for the Chile-Easter Island Spring Break 2010 — any takers?)

So, off we go December 17, 2008, not to return until January 14, 2009. And, we'll be traveling in style. Last night we reserved an intricate, brightly-painted van to tour about in. As we considered the typical, bland motor home options you might expect, Sarah discovered a brilliant little company, Escape, that hires out converted vans painted by local artists. The inside switches to a bed, the backside opens out a little cook area — and we'll camp and barbecue our way across the country (whenever we're not two days trekked out into the isolated, deep-green forested middle of nowhere, that is).

Well, I could end this post by telling you I've got to get back to grading or studying or something, but that would be a damn lie. I've got a Lonely Planet travel guide on my desk that reads New Zealand in big print across the top, and it's thick and mostly unread.

Jason

A note about a Monday.

We have decided to have our engagement photos taken in San Diego, rather than up in Eureka during the wedding week. Originally we had the first half of the day on Monday, June 23, set aside for this. However, Sarah is addicted to our wedding photographer's blog (see here), and on it we keep seeing the excellent work they do shooting couples in places around San Diego that are meaningful and unique to each engagement. So, we were swayed by the place we got engaged and by wanting to get a chance to work with and get to know Stan and Jeanette before they shoot our wedding up north.

We are also excited by this shift because it frees up a day before the wedding during which we can all get together and do something leisurely in the redwoods.

So, we have a few ideas (see below), and we are really interested in any ideas you might have.

Biking the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. This is the road off of which the wedding ceremony will take place. It is about 10 miles long, paved, flat, with little traffic — and surrounded by massive redwoods. We would rent bikes at the cabins for around $30 each for the half day.

Hiking either the James Irvine-Miner's Ridge Loop or the West Ridge-Prairie Creek Loop. Both are about 6.5 miles and will take about 3-4 hours, or so. We'll pack in snacks and a lunch. The first traverses a "magnificent creekside forest, a haunting hillside of redwoods, and a historic mining trail." The second follows a "redwood-covered ridge line, the park's namesake Prairie Creek, and the wildly contorted Corkscrew Tree." Both trails have an equal rise in elevation (in other words, uphill parts). This event is free.

Horseback riding to a redwood grove. This can be done through the cabins as well, for $90 for a two-hour ride.

Let us know in the next week or so what interests you most by posting a comment here.

Jason

P.S.: "Guhn" has been up to his old communist regime tricks again, and posted a "See please here" virus link on this entry (since deleted). I might add that he was the first response to this post, and while he didn't indicate a preference for hiking, biking, or riding, he did demonstrate his commitment to the wedding by posting right away. (If this addendum strikes you as odd, see previous posts below.)

No penguins in the forest.

Several people have inquired about attire for the wedding — none having ever attended a wedding ceremony in the middle of a forest — so we thought we would drop everyone a line about what the wedding party is wearing to give everyone a benchmark.

Sarah and her bridesmaids are wearing what you might expect: traditional formal attire. Myself and my groomsmen will be wearing black suits with open-collar shirts — with the exception of Anna, who will be wearing a black dress. No tuxes, no penguin tails, no ties for the groomsmen.

We suggest that women considering high heels think twice about that option since you will be walking down a dirt trail in the forest and then over a lawn at the reception — neither of which is really conducive to high heels. One other thing to keep in mind is that it will be cooler up there than it normally is in San Diego in late June. The days are likely to be mild to warm, but not in the shade of the forest or on the windy sea bluffs where the reception will be.

In writing this e-mail we came across the term "dress casual" — we think it sums it up:

Think of dress casual as being the social variant of business casual. For men and women, the main rule of thumb is no jeans, and something slightly more conservative and "dressier" than your standard business casual attire. For example, men should choose slacks and button up shirts over khakis and pullovers, while women should choose a nice pantsuit or a dress over
separates.

We hope this helps. For the rest of the week just keep in mind the activities you plan to participate in and the fact that it can always rain in the redwoods. The tallest trees in the world don't grow there by accident.

Jason

P.S.: Contact us with any questions by posting a comment here or by e-mailing us at junetwentyfifth@gmail.com.

Kim Jong Il reads our blog.

Um ... I think North Korea just attacked our blog.

I logged on to see if anyone had commented on my Korea post, and I saw that two people had, so I clicked on the link to read them. One was from my sister, some nonsense about her being the hotter Williams.

The second post was from someone named "guhn" with a message that read "click please here" and the "here" was a link. I have a program on my computer that allows me to view a link without really opening it, so I thought I might be safe to click without clicking — a stupid behavior, but so few viruses target Mac's that I have become ... overconfident. Anyway, I used that function, and as soon as I moved my cursor over the link, it shut my Firefox browser down and a message popped up at the bottom of my screen that tried to entice me to click another link that would "scan" my computer for viruses. I force-quit my browser and reopened it, and as far as I can tell nothing is amiss with my computer. I have deleted the post from "guhn" — but not before checking out "his" profile, which indicates that his Blogger account was activated in April 2008, and so far this month he has viewed 248 blogs. Also, according to some very cursory research I just did, Guhn is a Korean surname.

This was totally some North Korean information processor scanning the web for talk about the north. And he totally dropped some virus bomb on our wedding blog as punishment for my characterization of North Korea in my last post.

Do not click on any links posted on this blog by anyone you don't know.

Jason

PS: This entry itself was hit by two similar attempts to transfer a virus through a link on April 6 and April 9. Again, the links were posted by users with accounts that had been created in April 2008 and that had viewed 156 and 207 blogs, respectively. While the posts' broken English mimicked the original, they had shed the Korean user-names for gibberish. As with the first post, I have removed the entries.

Korea, Korea.

March 13 - March 24, Paul (officiant) and I (groom) traveled to Korea to hang with Chris (best man). Good trip, good times. We traveled extensively throughout the country, from the DMZ in the north, to Seoul and the fortress city of Suwon, to Cheongju where Chris teaches and the Sogni-san National Park in the center of the country, to the green tea fields and mountains in the south, and ultimately out into Korea's western-most extremity where the country breaks into 2,000 islands.

Chris arranged the tour of the DMZ for us through the U.S.O. Probably one of the most interesting and damn tense destinations I have ever traveled to. Our military escort took us into the Joint Security Area, which straddles the Line of Demarcation (the place where all military action ceased and from which the north and south retreated 2.5 kilometers to create the DMZ). Both the north and south have installations hugging the line on their respective sides within the JSA. Two buildings overlap the line, with conference tables in each that are bisected by the line so that the north and south can hold talks without either side leaving their country. We were able to enter one of the buildings and cross the line, standing for a short time in North Korea. Wild. The whole time we were there a North Korean soldier watched us with binoculars from about 60 feet away on the steps of a North Korean building. The situation is no joke. The South Korean soldiers are solid, intimidating, and focussed on the northern side of the line. They face the line with half of their bodies obscured behind the buildings so that they make for a smaller target. There have been many provocations by the north since the establishment of the DMZ, and many people have died.

The rest of the trip was travel-intensive, but far more relaxed with fewer land mines. I'll let the pictures below speak for themselves.

Jason

Goodbye March.

Well, it's not March anymore.

As with most mid-semesters, our work and classes have overtaken us for the past month, leaving little time for wedding planning — though we did manage to achieve some much-needed goals. In addition to work and school, we both celebrated birthdays in March and I left the country for 12 days and visited my brother in Korea (more on that in a subsequent post).

The big accomplishments wedding-wise for March included finding a DJ and finalizing the menu for the reception — you will eat well. The DJ was a major remaining concern for us because we had been striking out with our original ideas. However, when we went to Sarah's friend Stephanie's wedding in February, we made friends with her excellent DJ, and he has agreed to head north in June and take care of the music for us. We are stoked to be able to hire someone we have heard play for a whole night and who we know will be good. He also plays in a band, and he used to play with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. He's very chill, very cool.

You should have received two e-mails from us this evening, one concerning the cabins for those of you who expressed interest in staying in the cabins and for whom we had room, and a second concerning the entree choices for the reception. For the cabin people, please review the information in that e-mail and respond with questions/concerns immediately, otherwise by May 18 as noted. For everyone, please make your entree selections by April 30 and let us know so we can let the caterer know what to expect.

If you didn't receive these e-mails, let us know that, too.

Hope everyone is well.

Jason

Ticket for an airplane.

Sarah's maid of honor, Amy, just e-mailed us about Delta Airlines opening new service to Eureka beginning June 5. They are having a sale to initiate the new line, with round trip flights as low as $208 from San Diego — but you have to book by February 29.

I found that low fair by searching Delta's web site, www.delta.com, with an arrival date of Sunday, June 22, and a departure date of Saturday, June 28.

For more information, click here.

Jason

Birth Mom is fertile.

Sarah's mom, Pam, got her "Save the date" seeds to grow!

Hers is the only success story we've heard. Redwood and Sequoia seeds are notoriously difficult to grow, and we know several people put a good effort in but had no luck. Pam planted her seeds a few months ago, and ended up with six Sequoia seedlings. An unexpectedly hot day withered three of them under the glass in her kitchen window, so she has turned them over to us to care for because she was "freaking out" after half of them died. But she did a great job: I only got two to grow from my pack (see earlier posts).

If you still have not planted your seeds, now is a great time because late winter and early spring is when they would start to grow in the wild after hibernating through the cold. If you have no interest in growing the seeds, or no green thumb, just sprinkle them in a semi shady patch of dirt that might get some water and leave it at that. Seeds in a pack will never grow, and this way, at least if nothing happens, they'll return to the soil as nutrients.

Jason

PS: If you've tried — whether you've succeeded or not — we'd like to know. Post a comment here.

Change of venue.

So — the story behind the mad dash to Eureka ...

As most of you know, we had originally planned to have our wedding reception at the Moonstone Beach House, located (as you might expect) on idyllic Moonstone Beach: a half-circle of sand that stretched long out to the ocean with redwoods stacked high on the cliffs above. It was a great setting, but the venue itself was a bit rustic — which we knew and had accepted from the start. However, a few things happened over the last few months that tipped the scale toward finding another venue.

The first, our excellent wedding planner, Sarah, took part in a wedding at the Beach House in October and e-mailed us soon after to express her concerns. Apparently, screens and sliding glass doors were falling off, the kitchen wasn't working properly, the bathrooms were unkempt, and there was just a general poor condition about the place. In short, a bit too rustic. Some of these problems we knew of, but some the owner had said he would fix before our wedding in June. Shortly thereafter, Sam, the owner, said he was raising his price by 25 percent over what he had quoted us, and he said he would not be making any of the improvements he had spoke of. Then he went missing for several weeks right around when we were trying to firm up all our arrangements in December. Then when Sarah found him again, he raised the price by another 25 percent — so double what we were originally quoted, and still no improvements.

The final straw came when, while Sam was missing, Sarah found a vacation home surrounded by trees on the bluffs above the beach that would allow a wedding reception. My Sarah haggled with the property manager and was able to get the place for the reception and arrange for her and I to stay in the house the night of the wedding — all for no more than the Beach House would now cost us. The new venue is called the Bluff House, and consists of four acres of trees and a little cottage that overlooks the ocean.

Ultimately, we like it better than the original venue.

How does this affect you? Not much. The Bluff House is located in Trinidad, which is where the reception was originally to be held. And the new place is actually easier to find than the Beach House. We will distribute directions the day of the wedding that will get everyone from the ceremony site to the reception, no problem.

That's the news.

Jason

There and back again.

Four days ago we were standing in the Redwoods at our wedding site. It was one stop on a whirlwind trip that began in San Diego Thursday night, swept through Eureka Friday, paused for a wedding near San Francisco Saturday, and then ended back in San Diego Sunday afternoon.

The original occasion for the trip was the wedding of Sarah's college roommate, Stephanie, but as her wedding neared several changes and loose ends in our own wedding plans made it hard to pass up one last chance to visit Eureka before June. So we tacked on an extra day and an extra 10 hours of driving.

The trip turned out to be well worth it. The main change to our plans comes in the form of a change of venue for the wedding reception (more on that in a forthcoming entry). This was also the impetus for the extra effort in the road trip: We couldn't imagine planning a reception for a site we'd never visited. We checked out the site, met the owner and the property manager (both chill northern Californians), and came away quite happy with our decision and ready to plan with tons of pictures in hand. We also double-checked the ceremony site, confirmed our reservation for the rehearsal dinner, and met with our caterer to finalize the menu. We did all this in about three hours, then crashed.

The wedding was a blast. We got to hang with Brian, one of our favorite Northern Californians and a friend of Sarah's from Davis. It was the sixth or so wedding we've attended together (and the last before our wedding), and as always, we took away ideas for our own.

After leaving Eureka, we basically spent three days in the rain, which followed us all the way home to San Diego. As we came out of the redwoods on Highway 101, we ran into a fairly heavy snowstorm that forced us to try out the chains we had bought Thursday night before leaving. Sarah is the master of putting on snow chains. We passed at least a half dozen cars that had slid off the road as we made slow but steady progress through two hours of constant snowfall.

Quite beautiful, though.

Jason

PS: Pictures, from top: A view from the trail that leads to our ceremony site; us after fixing chains to Sarah's Vue; the scenery as we made our way through the snow storm; and us at the wedding with Brian.

Lime it up.

We have decided on a theme for our September 2008 San Diego event. It will be a lime.

A lime is basically a chill party, casual, light — but a damn good time. The idea of the lime comes from Trinidad and Tobago, where we traveled with eight other people and had a blast for 10 days in March 2005. Definitely one of our best trips, mainly because of the great people we met in Grande Riviere. The time we spent hanging with Nigel Tinto, Nigel, Troy, and Gideon at Nigel T.'s pub Jamesy's came to characterize for us the spirit of the lime, which has a lot to do with meeting new people and enjoying their company. With good beer. (I'd trade a case of Jack Daniel's for a cold Stag beer, the beer of choice in Trinidad.)

Anna will be helping us put this huge event on as one of her many contributions to the wedding as a Groomsman. Sarah and I will be coming off a busy summer of getting married, remodeling our new house, and moving into our first place as homeowners. We will also be in the first four weeks of our hectic fall school/work schedules, so Anna's help will be essential to making our lime happen. Check out the updated San Diego Lime page on the wedding website for more info and pictures.

The San Diego Lime will likely number in the hundreds, so there will plenty of new people to meet over a beer. Now we have yet another event that we can barely wait for, and this one's farther off than the wedding.

Jason

PS: Below is Chris and Nigel T. at Jamesy's Pub.

One of my groomsmen is marrying a dude.

Anna is engaged!

My sister and Frank got engaged a few days ago. They spent the week hiking around the Yosemite Valley, just the two of them for the most part since many of the trails were deserted in the winter snow. On the last day of the trip, he asked.

Sarah and I are thrilled; we couldn't be happier: We love Frank, and think he and Anna are great people. Some of Sarah and my best times since we've been together have been spent traveling around the world with Anna and Frank, and Chris and ... various women. Particularly our trip to Trinidad in 2005.

We look forward to spending our future trips, holidays, and lives with them.

Jason