It’s too bad that most of the beaches that allow camping in Southern California put the tents so closely together. If you’re not careful, you can be in a tent a few feet away from an RV’s generator in the middle of the night. Leo Carillo is not one of those beaches. We made our […]

A couple of years back, we met Lee Farmer through a friend when we were visiting the UK. He seemed an unassuming fellow and we were surprised when our mutual friend brought up after a beer or two that Lee had just climbed Mt Everest. We don’t know if we’ll ever make it to Mt […]

This is one of our favorite hikes in Los Angeles and is also just blocks away from where we live. The Eaton Canyon Nature Center and the first part of the Eaton Canyon Trail are part of Los Angeles County and are well maintained but also very, very popular on weekends and holidays. If you […]

The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition — Hinku Valley to Lukla. Thursday, October 27 Saying goodbye was tough after so much time with such great people. The porters, guides and kitchen staff had performed fantastically and though they were paid well by Nepal standards, we felt indebted to them. Flying to Kathmandu […]

The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition: Heading back down the Hinku Valley. Tuesday, October 25 Sun! Though it froze overnight, the sun rising in the morning was an excellent sign that maybe today would be warmer and less foggy. We also found out that the animals we called yaks, which we thought […]

The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition — Going as high as possible on Mera Peak. Sunday, October 23 It wasn’t a great night of sleep. We finally figured out a system for keeping warm in our sleeping bags, but it was a night of tossing and turning as we exhausted ourselves on […]

The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition — Khare to Mera High Camp. Saturday, October 22 We were awakened at 6am with the announcement that the skies were clear and we would see if we could reach High Camp. After breakfast and bag packing/water bottle thawing, we set out on the same route […]

The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition — Acclimatization in Khare Friday, October 21 This was our day to head for High Camp, with Mera Peak summit planned for the following day. Not only did it snow that night, but it snowed enough that it appeared dark in our tent even after sunrise […]

The news broke the same day we arrived in France for the 2011 Holidays, “A Beautiful Christmas Present for the Shipyard at Saint-Nazaire.” Viking Ocean Cruises of Norway signed a contract to build two luxury cruise ships  at the Chantiers Atlantique in the city of 70,000 people near the mouth of the Loire River. These […]

The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition — Tangnag to Khare. Thursday, 20 October The morning started as our coldest yet, with the first light appearing at 5:30 am and the sun appearing over Mera Peak at 9am. Joel, Karlin and Chris were talking with an Indian climber who summitted the day before, […]