Tour Of California

Palo Alto hosted the opening time trials for the Amgen Tour of California. The 2.1 mile course went from city hall, through downtown, to the Stanford Oval. I was able to get close.


...close enough that I would have had my head taken off if I didn't pull back on several shots!

Image #1000

Image #1000 on my new camera of Nancy's brother and his family, taken during Tyson and Nancy's wedding reception at Pacific Athletic Club.

Boarding In Heaven

Heavenly that is! I knew conditions were perfect as I made my way toward the first lift. You know the snow that is usually all wet, slushy and nasty right next to the parking lot as you step onto the mountain? Well it was all dry and fluffy! And though the rest of the mountain was already well groomed over and nothing virgin there was nothing to complain about. It was a warm, clear and calm day with beautiful views of Lake Tahoe. The biggest problem was what to do with the extra layers everyone kept shedding.

The most random event of the day was slamming my knee into an armrest on the shuttle bus before we even hit the slopes. I was still standing as the bus started and then stopped short. I heard a loud bang and it took a moment to realize the pain in my knee and the noise were from the same impact. It only bruised my kneecap and I boarded all day on it, though at less than 100%. The real pain came after sitting still for an hour in the car on our way back to Placerville where an undisclosed, but nurse recommended, number of ibuprofen took care of most of the pain.



The real treat of the day came from the always fabulous home cooked meal provided by Erin's mom and entertaining stories provided by Erin's dad. I love visiting Erin's parents in Placerville. As soon as you pull into their driveway and step out of the car you are greeted by the sweet smell of sugar pine. It's just one of those things that always makes me happy!

Flash Of Inspiration

Glen and I check out the remote flash of my new camera setup.

Making Our Way To Big Sur

Mmmm!


Ummm?


Hmmm...


?


??


???


Uhhh?

Things learned on this trip:
By Dave:
1. The Little Mermaid retains its title for record most likely to bring singers out of the woodwork
2. Randy can't seem to keep his hand off my zipper... yet, still prefers the floor to a shared bed
3. You can get from San Jose to Carmel in the time it takes to do three laps of the Carmel neighborhood we stayed in
4. Cookie dough is a wonderful loophole
5. Ice cold feet is a dead giveaway that I am not Steph (and she wears socks to bed)
6. A white 4Runner is a great vehicle to allow for after hours park entrance, driving the wrong way on one way streets, and the respect of fellow trespassers
7. A white 4Runner apparently may also help getting you out of being pulled over for driving without a shirt, a seat belt, or hands on the wheel
8. I cannot have my future wife... (I think that knowledge is supposed to help me somehow)
9. Just because a picture (front of the house) isn't shown online, doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't worth going for
10. Putting Brooke and Tara and Julie all on the same food committee is something that should be done as often as possible

By Julie:
1. I don't think that North Dakota has ever been mentioned that many times in one weekend... even from a North Dakotan!
(Dave this could be you and your 'untouchable' wife)
http://www.ndtourism.com/
2. Randy was willing to sacrifice a little leg comfort to sit in between Brooke and Tara
3. Even when a box of food is misplaced.... there is still more than enough food to go around
4. Watch out for Margie when she is armed with a pillow
5. Always good to have Tara double check the address... in case, for example, you are looking for a house on the wrong street
6. Steph might just be a better bed buddy than Dave because she wears socks to bed
6. Dave and Robert will do just about anything for the camera
7. And finally, some woman, somewhere, is enjoying a lot of pictures of Dave and Robert in all sorts of poses

By Brooke:
1. Point Lobos sunsets beat 17 mile drive
2. Rich will take his shirt off in public, as long as he doesn't think anyone is looking
3. When traveling with a fun group, always "forget" a box food...it ensures the roadtrip reunion.
4. An Armenian immigrant who personifies prairie home chic is Randy's ideal.
5. Baking soda is a lot more exciting breakfast ingredient than corn starch.
6. The greatest benefit to getting married is being able to move wherever you want...and the second, the tax benefit.
7. Always check your bedroom closet before dressing for bed, when you are traveling with Bradshaw
8. In spite of my initial skepticism....there really is a correlation between Dave's ability to resist chocolate chip cookies and his ability to embrace the advances of an attractive woman. No cookies (just dough) and all it took was one little unzip...and Dave shamelessly tore his shirt off for an attractive woman ;). Nice work and apparently the sacrifice is worth the "blessings" (and there are residual benefits for on-lookers). With results so early in the process we can only speculate on the outcome after a month, but it may need to be implemented as an official Elder's Quorum Program.

By me:
1. Nertz promotes relationship communication
2. Tara's hair is fun to play with and hopefully stays that way
3. You can move to North Dakota when you get married
4. But I can't take a date to Spagheti Factory
5. Apparently I'm always fun to sleep with
6. Coming out of the closet can be scary or fun, depending on your perspective
7. I can resist ice cream bars from Dave but not Steph
8. I can get past first base with Brooke
9. Even before she has had too much to drink!
10. And what isn't laid back about aligator hunting?

A Wild And Crazy Night In Carmel

Who says you can have too many cooks in the kitchen?
...certainly not our birthday boy Rich!


We all know Dave has mad laser skills, but what is this?!?!


...and just what exactly is Dave plotting next?


Julie: "My oh my Steph, what harry legs you have!"
Dave: "Hee! Hee! Hee!"


Amanda discovers after all these years, and with great surprise, that the monster in the closet story is not just urban legend!

Day At The Beach

Saturday's weather forecast called for a ton of rain, so I had given up on making a trip to Pinnacles for some rock climbing. However Saturday's actual weather turned out to be rather nice, so my friend Dani called me up and invited me to the beach with her, Wendy and Jessica. We went to "Taco Bell Beach" in Pacifica and enjoyed a fine dining experience gazing out the picture windows towards the crashing surf and packs of surfers while enjoying our burrito supremes. We then enjoyed a little stroll down the beach and up to the top of the bluff to watch the waves roll in. Having some lovely subjects for my new camera was a bonus too!


Dani


Wendy

My New Camera

My new camera arrived today. No ready, willing and convenient subjects besides these two plaques I received today at work.


Ice Climber Award
"In recognition for achieving the highest level in The North Face 2007 sales club."


2007 Never Stop Exploring Award Nominee - Palo Alto
"Nominated by the store management team for his passionate pursuit of personal and professional goals that exemplify The North Face core values."

Yosemite

Getting ready for some extreme x-country skiing in Yosemite!
(l to r) myself, Jay, Sara, Kristine, Annette, Liz, Rich, Steph, Dave and Dave


The reward for our efforts:
A grand view from Dewey Point


Sunset on El Capitan, as viewed from the shuttle bus back to the valley floor.

Hot showers, a quick nap and a frolicking wake up call from the ladies kicked off our evening activities. The Curry Village buffet was way too crowded so we trekked over to the Yosemite Lodge food court for some decent and inexpensive food. After scarfing down some grub we decided to entertain ourselves with a spontaneous game of "Egyptian rat screw" until we got booted from the cafe - presumably because it was closing time, not because of our riotous laughter. So we moved our card party to a small corner of the Curry Village Lodge where wonderful dance music was conveniently provided by the neighboring family reunion. After much "Nertz" we were again vacated from the premises, again due to closing time. But before actually leaving, "Big Johnny", the night janitor, provided two more hours of colorful entertainment with stories of growing up in gangs on the south side of Chicago, resulting in various scars and a piece of lead still lodged in his foot, and other adventures that led him to working in Yosemite for the last seven months. The funniest of these stories being that of his grade school nemesis, Wanda, who regularly stole his lunch money by threat of a serious whoopin!

A Visit To The Dentist

I went to the dentist today. It's been a while. I was kind of nervous. Not from anxiety of sharp objects being wielded within the confines of my mouth or fear of high speed drills wreaking havoc upon my precious enamel. In fact, I have never felt anxiety or fear while laying supine at the mercy of a masked professional trained in the use of sharp objects. No, my nervous state was caused by the fear only that a cavity might be found. Mind you, I haven't been feeling any pain or discomfort that I understand might be associated with cavities. But then to be truly honest here, I really have no idea what a cavity feels like. Hence my fear that one might be found. I would hate to break one of my few perfect records. At least this particular perfect record.

My New Mountain Bike!

...well okay so technically it's a used mountain bike but it's in beautiful condition. It's a 2004 King Kikapu by Kona, a cross-country, full-suspension setup that probably cost about $1800 new. I picked it up for approximately $79.99 plus tax at the local Goodwill. Yeah that's right. It was missing pedals which is why it was so cheap...maybe?!?!



Today was it's inaugural ride with crappy donor pedals from my old Giant Yukon, which I bought new in Oklahoma City at the start of my mission for about $200.

Shotgun Golf

What better way is there to spend quality family time together than shooting clay pigeons? We thought so to. So we loaded up the family van and headed down to Coyote Valley Sporting Clays in Morgan Hill.


"Pull!"


The Bradshaw Gang
(l to r) Andy, Bryan, Steve and me

Sunday Stroll

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon so the family decided to go for a nice Sunday afternoon stroll and enjoy some bird watching. We all loaded in the van, headed to Sunnyvale and parked along Carl Road. Christofer and Devan helped me load Radley into a front carrier before heading out on a levee toward the bay. We saw common egrets, a great blue heron and about a dozen black crowned night herons, including several juveniles, all perched along the levee opposite us. We watched a white tailed kite hover before diving into the grass, but he came up empty. After finishing an out and back loop we headed a little ways north along the San Francisco Bay Trail and saw coots, grebes and a little green heron that had found a prime spot for it to fish and us to watch it fish.

VAN HALEN!!!

VAN HALEN STILL ROCKS!!!
I admit I was a little skeptical about this tour. Eddie has had so much drama with so many singers for so many years that I did not have complete faith the band would not implode before tonight's stop at Oracle Arena in Oakland. I also had serious doubts about David Lee Roth's abilities as a singer and front man after so many years.

But that all disappeared very quickly after the show started! From Eddie's blistering Eruption opening, Diamond Dave's I'm On Fire! vocals and amazing high kicks, Wolfgang's backing harmonies, Alex's ever steady drumming all the way to the band's final Jump this band still kicks some serious Atomic Punk!

"Here she comes, full blast and top down!"

Singing In Memorial Church

Tonight I had the privilege of singing inside Stanford's Memorial Church for the first time! Jeremy put together a men's a capella group to sing a beautiful arrangement of Noel.

Smugmug Party

Smugmug turned five this year.
They threw a big party which I attended.
They took a sweet picture of me with big hair.

Sharks game

I randomly received two tickets to tonight's San Jose Sharks game. This was to be my second ever Sharks game and my friend Sara's first. They played against the Colorado Avalanche which is likely the only other NHL team I could name off the top of my head. Lucky for us the Sharks were gracious enough to win 3 to 1.

Back in Palo Alto after the game I noticed Hoover Tower eerily lit with bright red light in celebration of tommorow's 110th Big Game against Cal. After dropping Sara off I ran home bundled up some more, grabbed my camera and headed out to get some cool pictures. Unfortunately the red lights were already turned off so I settled for some normal night shots of the tower under light clouds, eerily backlit from a 3rd quarter moon. I bumped up the color in Photoshop to get a little more red out of the sky.

The Aquabats

Stephanie had invited anyone and everyone (ages three and over) to go to The Aquabats show with her so I tagged along. We met up with Angela on the side of the freeway (okay the park & ride) and the three of us headed into the city to Slim's. We decided we were hungry so we ordered nachos - who knew Slim's had such good nachos?

The opening act was uh, interesting, but entertaining none the less. The next band was pretty good, a local bunch that reminded me of The Killers. Then came The Aquabats. Apparently these guys have been around since I was in high school! I had vaguely heard of them before but no real experience with them. Lots of energy, as I expected, and very entertaining. They were a very tight band. Did I mention their tight blue spandex shirts, baggy black shorts, zorro masks and helmets?

The absolute highlight of the show, however, was featured guest, Quinn. Quinn is a real superhero, with powers and everything. He can even fly. By the way, Quinn is three. Even though he tried to tell the audience he was five. I guess if you are a superhero it doesn't really matter what age you are. Anyways, after he helped The Aquabats throw away trash on stage during their song, Throw Away The Trash, we got to watch Quinn fly up off the stage, through the air and then do some pretty sweet crowd surfing! It was a real treat and something I never would have believed if I had not been there myself to witness such an amazing event.


Angela shows off her newly acquired skill: The Aquabats sign


Stephanie gets her groove on next to a guy wearing a Van Halen t-shirt. I hope he doesn't jinx the band by wearing their t-shirt. I have tickets to see them December 22nd - if they don't break up before then.

The Leaves Are Falling

London Planetree
Platanus acerifolia

A hybrid between the American and Oriental Sycamore, it is a popular urban tree because of its ability to withstand air pollution, drought and soil compaction. It is found in many neighborhoods throughout Palo Alto.

The cutting of the Bradshaw family Christmas tree via Sequoya-cam

Bradshaw family tradition dictates that on the Friday or Saturday immediately following Thanksgiving the family shall pack turkey sandwiches and the dog into several vehicles, trek up into the hills and embark on a great search for the Bradshaw family Christmas tree. Generally tradition dictates that said tree shall be a Douglas fir no shorter than 10 feet, but this rule can be overturned by a majority vote in favor of a different species or stature of tree. In recent years the Christmas tree farm of choice has been Happy Elves Christmas tree farm located high on Page Mill Road. This year due to a shortage of trees at Happy Elves we opted to continue on to even higher ground, and return to Skyline Ranch Christmas tree farm, frequented in years past.

Various and varying degrees of excitement and attitude toward this outing are exhibited by the male members of the Bradshaw clan but two constants have remained steadfast on these excursions:
(1) Mamma B's ability to pull off planning, execution and full participation by all family members currently residing locally or visiting the homestead for the holiday.
(2) Sequoya's near euphoric excitement for this event.

The majority of Sequoya's excitement comes from being allowed to run as free and wild as she pleases during our search for the perfect tree. This year I attached a small digital camera to her collar and set it to take pictures every five seconds. However most all of these pictures consisted of the ground passing by in a streaking blur. These few usable shots may or may not have had a helping human hand holding her and her collar still.


Andy and I gear up for the felling of the tree.


John and Steve save a grasshopper - for later feeding to Bryan and Tauna's pet spider.


The choice of beanie today was total coincidence.

My idea of a good trip

Backpacking in Portola Redwoods State Park

Mountain Biking Up Stevens Canyon

The Ride: Canyon Trail through Montebello Open Space Preserve.
Starting Point: Junction of Stevens Canyon Rd. and Mt. Eden Rd. (x at lower right)
Total Distance: ~17 mi.
Net Elevation Gain: ~2,000 ft.
Distance Climbing: ~12 mi.
Distance Descending: ~5 mi.
Terrain: Paved, Unpaved, Fire Road, Singletrack
Direction Of Travel On Map: Clockwise


It's always a nice view from the top of Black Mountain (el. 2805')


Getting ready to make the paved drop down Montebello Rd. back to the beginning.