My Chicago Garden » Outdoors

Starved Rock State Park – 2010

tyler — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:54:27 +0000

Trip Report

for

Starved Rock State Park, Illinois (6/4-6/2010)

Picture Gallery: Flickr

We hit the road at 11AM on Friday.

As we did last year, we stopped at Outdoor World on the way down to Starved Rock to pick up some last minute items. We [...]

Looking back, and forward

tyler — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:52:26 +0000

2009 In review

Purchased a worm bin in early March and got it going. Still going strong in the garage. Spring started on March 15th for us with a trip to Scooby’s Went to the Wheaton Native Illinois Plant sale, like we do every year. Need to get in line no later than 7:30am. [...]

Scottish Highland Games 2009 – Chicago

tyler — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:13:58 +0000

This was the first year for Mel and I to go to the Scottish Highland Games in Oakbrook, IL (chicago area). We have been to others before, just not in Chicago.

The folks at the Illinois St. Andrews Society put on the games and in general I think they did a fine job. Especially [...]

Scottish Highland Games this weekend

tyler — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:57:04 +0000

Quick post…

If you have nothing to do this weekend come visit the Scottish Highland Games this weekend at the Polo Grounds in Oak Brook.

Visit the Illinois Saint Andrew Society website for more info. See you there!

Paso Robles, CA

shozu — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:31:04 +0000

Wine country in Paso Robles. The most interesting part of the day so far has actually been visiting an olive oil farm (Pasolivo) and doing a tasting and tour. I didnt realize just how bad the olive oil I have been buying from the local grociery stores realy is. Doesn’t even taste like [...]

Ristorante da Gaetano

shozu — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:50:12 +0000

Sorry for the horrible picture, the camera on my phone sucks in low light conditions (actually any condition). We had a wonderful dinner at Ristorante de Gaetano in Paso Robles, CA. Our B&B hosts told us most of the good restaurants in town are closed sunday night, but my wife found this little [...]

Elephant Seals

shozu — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:42:42 +0000

Elephant Seals at Point Piedras Blancas off highway one on our way down to Paso Robles.

Monterey, CA

shozu — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:11:12 +0000

What an anniversary should be like, if you fail to climb a peak. We are heading to Paso Robles tomorrow for a quiet stay in a B&B.

If you dont try, you are never disappointed

shozu — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:02:18 +0000

We called off the trip early. In short, I was over ambitious planning for 8 days. The pack weight of nearly 40lbs (necessary for 8 days) was way too heavy. We think we could have done Mt. Lyell if we had planned for only 3 nights not 7 and the pack weight was [...]

Trail Start

shozu — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:07:14 +0000

A little late start, but we are on our way. See you in 8 days.

Tuolumne Meadows Lodge

shozu — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:18:23 +0000

Base camp. Had dinner looking south into the ridge line over the meadow in the direction of our trip. Proving a good plan to acclimatize for a day as I have a headache. Very nice tent cabin to start the trip. Excellent cell coverage in the meadow area but Im sceptical in the [...]

Permit Station

shozu — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:39:08 +0000

At the permit station to pick up our wilderness permit. Then off to the lodge and dinner.

Ready to Go

shozu — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:13:22 +0000

Gear is packed and ready to go. Ill be trying to update the blog with at least one picture each day off my cell phone, if we have cell service in the back country. I doubt it…but you never know.

Trip Report from our first family backpacking trip

tyler — Sun, 18 May 2008 23:39:47 +0000

What can go wrong, will go wrong. But you can still have fun! Read all about it

Learning the harmonica

tyler — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 02:40:15 +0000

So today we were at Outdoor World looking for something to blow $50 worth of gift cards on. I remember seeing a harmonica and learning DVD in the store the last time I was there so I went hunting. I found it and snatched one up for $15. I figured I could learn how [...]

Quick update

tyler — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:53:37 +0000

A bunch of things are going on at the same time….I’m still putting together the seeds I need for the garden this year. I think I have everything but cauliflower, I can pick those up somewhere local. There is a new layer of 8 inches of snow in the garden, with another 10 inches [...]

Freezer Bag Cooking

tyler — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 05:50:32 +0000

My wife and I are getting excited about our backpacking trip to Yosemite and we started thinking about food options for 6 to 7 days in the high country. We had seen the REI choices and frankly I’m not exactly thrilled. I heard about "Freezer Bag Cooking" over on the practical backpacking forum and [...]

Get out in nature!

tyler — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:43:39 +0000

My wife and I have decided to take a family trip out to California to see the grandparents (my mom/dad) and the extended family. My family loves Yosemite National Park and I’ve been going there since I was a kid. I’ve only been to the "high country" or "high seirra" a couple times, one [...]