The Latest From Radley B and Co

Starring: Radley B
Freestyle Rap: ChrisBcream aka dad
Guitar and Backup Vocals: Ja-key aka cousin Jake

Fire Breathing

Steph shows off a truly amazing discovery...


...apparently you can breathe fire with cornstarch,
as also demonstrated by Margie.

Portola Redwoods Hike

Old Tree
Species: Sequoia sempervirens
Diameter: 12 ft.
Height: 297 ft.
Age: ~1200 years old
Thought to be the tallest Coastal Redwood on the San Francisco peninsula.


Anna checks out the rings on a fallen pine tree.


Mixed forest in Portola Redwoods State Park.


Sara crosses Slate Creek.

A's vs. Mariners game

Tyra: "Stay back from my dog!"


Meghan: "Got my malt goin on!"


Kristen: "I really wanted Diet Coke!"


Robert: "Who's your brother?!"


Made it on to the jumbotron at another baseball game. Unfortunately I didn't really notice until it was too late so no wild dancing this time.

Powell crew 2007

(top row l to r)
Kim, Christina, Katie, Steven, Brian
(standing l to r)
Rob, Jack, Hilary, Erika, Adrian, Erin, Karen, Anne, Rick, myself


carvin the wake

Meetin' Little Radley

Gettin to know each other


Catchin some Z's

The Scenic Route Home

Liz - as we pass through downtown Eureka


Lee - our fearless driver


Julie - fun and hardy


Me - with summer plumage

Sunrise In The Trinity Alps

Looking down on our campsite.


Lee got some nice pics of the sunrise...


...while Chris and I goofed around

Trinity Alps

View from our campsite.


Random pics


Dessert with Betty Crocker may or may not have been dictated by the fact that I refused to pack out a box of brownies and two eggs after packing them in x amount of miles!

The Jumbotron

We're kind of a big deal now. Andy, John, Stephanie and I made it on the Jumbotron at AT&T Park during Saturday's Giant's game against the Brewers. Got some pretty rave reviews:

"U look aaaawwwesome on the big screen!" - Karen Duffin

"Nice shot! - Heather Linebarger

"Nice moves Bradshaw on the big screen! Yeah, there's just nothing more I can say about it." - Jessica Matthews

"Bradshaw, your lookin good on camera up there! We just thoroughly enjoyed watching you dance and shake your bootie!" - Katie Kalemba

80's Party

Best 80's outfit: Jon Bon Jovi


Best smile: Yahaira


Best karaoke guitar solo: Eddie Van Halen


It's the Eye Of The Tiger!!!
Mark "Sonny Crockett" Wangsgaard, Celeste, Robert "Def Leppard" Bradshaw and Kramer

I'm officially an Uncle!

Name: Radley Black Bradshaw
Weight: 7 pounds
Parents: Christofer and Devan Bradshaw


Proud parents


Dad - with the t-shirt to prove it!


Mom catching some well deserved Z's

The Lost Boys Return

Cruised down to Santa Cruz with my brother Andy and some new friends to catch the movie The Lost Boys on the beach in front of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The town of Santa Cruz and the Boardwalk were used as the setting of this 1987 cult classic vampire movie. It was awesome to hear the crowd cheer during the opening credits as the camera panned from the ocean to the lights of The Boardwalk. This movie was likely the pinnacle for the Corey boys but more importantly it started Jack Bauer aka Kiefer Sutherland on his way to saving America several times over in a days work. Afterwards we walked back to our car along the spooky train bridge also featured in the movie.

Big Sur

Sunset from the best campsite on the west coast.

Oakland earthquake

Apparently there was an earthquake in Oakland at 4:42 this morning. I didn't feel it. I want my money back.

Rollin VIP with Ozzie!!!

Managed to score a last minute VIP ticket to Oz Fest so I could tag along with my brother Andy and his buddy John. We rolled up at 9pm, next to the tour buses, in VIP parking, just in time to get in and catch the Oz man himself take the stage. Andy and John had lawn seats and I planned on kickin it with them on the lawn for most of the show. I had a little trouble talking my way in the common folk entrance instead of the VIP entrance until a manager came over to see what the issue was. She had overheard "VIP" and tried to bend over backward to make sure I was being taken care of - all I wanted was to walk in the regular entrance!

Ozzie took the stage like a giddy little kid who can't get enough of the spot light among adults. It may have taken a few songs for his vocals to sober up to being legible but he certainly had the energy and enthusiasm of an aerobics instructor. Periodically he unleashed a fire hose loaded with foam upon the first dozen rows like a kid with a new toy. Zakk Wylde ROCKED on guitar and Faith No More's Michael Bordin wailed on drums while his kids peeked out from behind the drum riser. I waited till the last 20 minutes to go down to my assigned seat on the 20th row. All the ushers continued to bend over backward every time I flashed my VIP ticket. When Crazy Train came on everybody tried to rush to the very front row. The usher in front of me tried to keep everyone back but just smiled and waved me by when I flashed the VIP! I got to about the 12th row before being stopped. Just as well because Ozzy threw several buckets of water on the first few rows and continued to wield his foam hose to the end.

Observing the demographics of the fans at this event was also quite entertaining. The range was all over the board: little kids, junior high kids, generation X,Y,Z etc., die hards, has beens, "normal people", over the hill, sober, three sheets to the wind and just about anyone in between. After the show, as we waited to escape the VIP parking, it was hilarious to see how uncool some prima dona on a bullet bike can be when they rev their high pitched Ninja next to a leather clad grandma sitting on her heart thumping Harley.

Quintessential R.R.A.T.

I don't know what is more random, the fact that it just rained at 10:30PM on July 10th in Palo Alto or that I went for a walk around the block in the rain, bare foot, by myself and drinking Gatorade.

07/07/07 in Zion - The Perfect Day?

Here are some pictures:


Going down the first rappel.



The Palo Alto crowd (Dave, myself and Sara)



The Crew right before the last rappel. (front to back: Brent, Ronnie, Tara, Sara, Reina and myself)



Sara descending with grace down the 165' last rappel of the day.


Here's an email from Reina regarding this calculated adventure:

Friends new and old,

07/07/07
was the perfect day. Yes, triple 07 was Better than Bond. There was action (9 rappels, including a 165 foot free rappel in the sunset), blood (a few burns and a bloody nose), terror (Tara can tell you about that), and romance (even the cesspool stench couldn't keep 4 women away from Evans, Brent Evans).

With that, let's look at the results for the
Perfect Day Behunin Canyon Awards

* Brent wins sacrificial pimpin' frog award. …By the way, judges are wondering if you've showered yet. Judges also want a personal demonstration of how you like the women walking; feel free to post it on YouTube.

* Reina wins best guinea pig award.

* Sara wins the wet t-shirt contest (self-proclaimed and uncontested). Looks like she won 2 awards! The other is…most appreciated for being a great hostess. And the canyon walls are echoing, "Here, here!"

* Tara wins most improved. (And she actually wasn't even too sore the next day! Hard core, Tara! Speaking of hard cores…)

* Ronnie wins hard core award. Oh wait, there's some confusion among the judges… judges say she actually wins… best hair award!

* Robert wins most willing to save Jefe.

* Dave wins best giggle. That's right, best giggle.

Thanks, folks. All I've got to say is, YAHOOOOOO, let's do it again!

Send Pics Soon,
Reina

Here's a video showing what I hope was a calculated rappel:

The Drive to St. George

My friend Sara and I wanted to join our friend Dave and company in Zion National Park for some good old fashion canyoneering. So in true Robert's Random Adventure Tours style we made a road trip out of it.

Here are some choice moments and memories:
-Our smokin red hot rental car that made me forget my train of thought the second I hit the accelerator for the first time.
-Ten hours of enthralling entertainment watching the thermometer reading on the dashboard soar ever higher.
-Ice cold air conditioning driving through Baker, CA.
-Sara's snoring. *
-A cultural experience named Jenny Rose (restaurant - not a girl)
-Huevos Rancheros
-Fake tattoos
-Some of Sara's music (okay, okay, almost all of it)
-The fact that she didn't complain when I played my Led Zeppelin CD.
-The fact that it was a hundred and what?!?! in St. George (NOT!)
-Meeting Sara's aunt, uncle and cousins.
-Jeff and Mary's generous hospitality.
-Playing boys against girls pool basketball.
-Poolside pizza
- ...did I mention Jeff and Mary had a pool!
-Dust In The Wind
-My very own guest room full of Legos!



*J/K, more like an opportunity for taking in the sights and quietly meditating while she slept quiet as a mouse.

Half Dome McTwist

Andy and I at the top of Half Dome.

I love Yosemite. I don't think I can ever get enough of it. In fact I drink it every day - but that is a different story. This is about Half Dome, a 4,800 ft granite dome sliced in half by a glacier millions of years ago. I'd already hiked Half Dome several times previously and though it is a breathtaking and rewarding view from the top it can be quite crowded. So I vowed several years ago that the only way I would do it again was by the light of a full moon.

-to be continued-

Camping At Foothills Park

l to r: myself, Andy, Bryan


Three brothers Bradshaw, Bryan, Andy and myself, represtented at the father son campout at Foothills Park. We downed some burgers, shared some campfire stories, roasted some marshmallows and then instigated a little game of zorch. The layout was a little in favor of zorch so we ended making a biltz run so that one of the young'uns could make the grab of zorch's treasure.

The rest of everyone's families, including mom, dad and John Bradshaw came up the next morning for some of momma Bradshaw's famous corn meal pancakes. John brought his guitar, played a few songs and got everyone singing.

A day in the Foothills

Cooked myself a nice pre-marinated juicy steak from JJ&F's at Foothills Park for a barbecue organized by Joe and Angela. After leaving there I decided I needed to do some exploring, so I headed up Page Mill Road a little ways to Foothills Open Space Preserve. Lucky for me there was one parking spot left of the two designated for this small preserve. Coincidentally, I happen to have my GPS and knew of two geocaches in this preserve. The half-mile trail leading to the grassy knoll was easy enough, as was the first cache.



The rest of the trail leading to the second cache was, shall we say, not currently maintained. It was obviously a well used trail at some point in time, judging by the well worn rut, but the dense brush and trees that had since grown over it made for an interesting hike/crawl. My GPS batteries gave out while crawling through an overgrown tree about 500 feet from the second cache. By this point I felt committed to finding it, or rather I wanted something to show for all my scratches and scrapes. I figured I could roughly gauge the distance on the trail and that with the dense foliage it couldn't be that far off the trail, if there was a trail left by then. Thankfully right about the time I was ready to turn around, or try bushwhacking a new route back, I found it. I opted for the known route back and found it fairly uneventful, except for the baby rattlesnake I nearly stepped on.

In The Studio

Laid down lead and rhythm guitar tracks on Angie's song Movin' Out. She's been recording several of her songs at A&D Studios in Sunnyvale with Andy Deguara. I had a lead part all worked out but ended up having to make up most of it on the fly because the initial rhythm track was already recorded in a previous session. Re-recording a new section would be too hard to match the tone. After that Angie laid down some conga percussion on two other songs of hers. Andy was really great to work with. I may have to record some of my songs here to add to a Dirty Edelweiss album.

White Water Rafting

Ahh Yeahhh!


Ready to put in at Coloma.
l to r: Dave, Julie, Katie, Adrian, Glen, Erin and myself


Dave, Katie and I jump around.


Chillin' at the end of the run.
l to r: Adrian, myself, Julie, Erin, Glen and Katie


A little deflated afterwards.

Condors at Pinnacles

Volcanoes were one of my favorite subjects in elementary school and Pinnacles National Monument is one of my favorite places currently, partly because Pinnacles is half of an ancient volcano (the other half is somewhere near LA) and partly because this is where I got hooked on rock climbing. But this adventure to Pinnacles with my mom and two brothers John and Steve was to hike to a spot where we could hope to see some California Condors.

Currently there are only 280 California Condors in the world. Of these, 135 are wild and of those, 15 are flying around Pinnacles. Today was a release event open to the public for up to five more juvenile condors but unfortunately they didn't feel like leaving their pen today. Fortunately for us there were several wild condors flying around near the pen.

At first it was hard to tell if we were seeing any condors or not as we looked through our binoculars to the ridge across from the viewing area. With a six foot wing span, Turkey Vultures are big birds and look very similar to a condor. But with a nine foot wingspan for the condor, it was easy to tell what we were looking at when these two birds glided around in circles near each other.