The Rathe Family

Skiing this Winter

Mark — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:53:44 +0000

David Rathe

Simone and Friends over Carson Valley, Nevada from Heavenly Valley

Lake Tahoe from Heavenly Valley

Still Frozen

Bruce — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:11:57 +0000

Lower Wisconsin River looking west.

Upper Mississippi River looking NW.....

ARUBA

Diana — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:30:36 +0000

The Calm Side of the Island

Ruth on a Rock

Had a great trip with Ruth, who was down there for a medical conference. Strange place–one side of the island is packed with high-rise hotels and white powdery beaches, and the other side is empty lava-strewn desert with treacherous waves. About a fifth of the island is a national park. The people were incredibly friendly, and even the tourists were nice! It’s Dutch-owned, and many of the tourists were European. We snorkeled, hiked, and ate great food.

Our Chariot

North Side of Island

Wild Waves

Divi-Divi Tree

Small Natural Bridge

Hotel Denizen

Local Lizard

Butterfly Farm

It Finally Landed...

500+ Steps to the Top

Top of the Haystack at Dawn

Everglades Canoe Trip 2010

Richard — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:35:41 +0000

Check out the photo gallery and blog post from our most recent sojourn into the wilds of South Florida!

AFTER THE STORM(s)

Diana — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:32:57 +0000

Yes, we’re not used to storms much here in LA. Five inches of rain–oh my! But this time of year is magical. I never thought I’d live in LA, let alone love it here. But I do…just not in September.

After Storm #3

Just up the street is a wonderful spot to view LA to the south and north. Most people don’t realize LA is backed by snow-capped mountains for a brief period in the winter. The mountains behind Doug and Jeff, however, rarely have snow–very low elevation. I restrained my impulse to head for the hills. As expected, there was a major traffic jam of people trying to get to the snow…

Doug & Jeff on Kite Hill

Fern’s 80th Birthday

Richard — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:24:49 +0000

I’ve started a gallery of photos from the big day!

Juniper River Run - Mark, Simone, Richard

Richard — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:41:40 +0000

Road Trip!!!!! Yucatan, November 2009

Mark — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:39:03 +0000

temple-of-the-magician-uxmal

El Castillo, Chichen Itza

Tulum

Richard Joined Simone and me for this most excellent adventure into the Land of the Maya.

Puenta del Sur, Cozumel, ROO, Mexico

Simone 11/26/09, Mayacoba Banyan Tree, Playa Del Carmen, Roo, Mexico

Upper Mississippi Scenes

Richard — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:59:01 +0000

Day after turkey day (Saturday this year). Relaxing and enjoying the late afternoon light and clouds reflected on the river. Took several photos including a 270° panorama. Update: I did not like the “smokey” quality in some of these photos, so I rendered them again with both tone compression and detail enhancement. I left a few of the first batch for comparison.

Rioja

Diana — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:58:37 +0000

Our First View

We left the kids and took a couple of days in the Rioja wine region, part of which is in Basque country. The rain stayed away, the autumn color was at its peak, and we had the place mostly to ourselves. I never imagined it would be this beautiful.

LAGUARDIA

Underground Cellars

We stayed at a medieval town called Laguardia, a walled town on a hill with only four gates. Beneath the town is a maze of tunnels used as cellars and, back in the day, as a hiding place when the town was under seige. No cars are allowed to drive in town, for obvious reasons! These tunnels used to connect but have been bricked up into individual cellars now. We visited La Fabulista, one of the few wineries operating in town. They still stomp on the grapes there!

Surreal Vista

MARQUES DE RISCAL WINERY

We also visited one of the grand old wineries in the area, Marques de Riscal, which has been operating since 1858. We took a tour of the old cellars and the new, tasted and bought some rioja and rueda verdeja, and took a look at the adjacent Frank Gehry-designed hotel, which is now part of the marketing scheme called the “City of Wine.” Rioja is starting to fill up with these “Star-chitect”-designed buildings and spas.

We visited a huge wine museum, Dinastia Vivanco Museo de la Cultura del Vino (another vanity project by a winery), which was terrific (no photos allowed, though). Impressive building layout, all manner of historical presses and machinery, an eclectic but too-scattered collection of modern and ancient wine-related art, and 3000 corkscrews. The only problem was the quite obvious snubbing of the U.S. wine regions in the world exhibits. Harrumph!

Speaking of the U.S., another small town had something surprising–a statue of liberty. It was dedicated in 1897 to those killed in one of the Spanish civil wars.

A relatively new feature to the Spanish (and French and Portuguese) landscape is the wind farm. It seems like every hill is covered with turbines (and the plains are filled with solar panels). But this new technology sometimes doesn’t fit so well with the old; got stuck waiting as a driver negotiated the narrow medieval streets of this small town. He’s hauling a single turbine blade.

FRANCE

Diana — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:44:26 +0000

The journey began on S.’s birthday after school. Here she is with her birthday “cake,” a selection of 12 pastries she sampled into the night. Long but pleasant drive to Paris.

Stopped by Chartres on the way, which was undergoing a top-to-bottom cleaning, including the windows. Can’t imagine how amazing it will be when everything is gleaming. Saw “La Boheme” at the Bastille Opera House–fantastic!

Walked out of our hotel to the Sunday Bastille Farmer’s Market–100 stalls of seafood, produce, cheese, and bread–unbelievable. Bought our breakfast and lunch materials for the next two days. Doug made us wild mushroom omelettes! Onion bread–mmmmmm.

Had a very rainy day at Versailles, but it was intriguing to see the place off-season. The weather didn’t deter the crowds much, at least inside.

Stopped by the Eiffel Tower on the way back. The top was closed due to weather, but we were able to go to the second level. No crowds! Wonderful views. Went to the Louvre the next day–again, very few people, given it was a Monday holiday with no other museums open. Saw the classic must-sees.

Drove through Bordeaux country and stopped at Saint Emilion, a classic old town surrounded by chateaux and vineyards. T. decided to sample the remainders–delicious!

Stopped by Hossegor, a little surfing town in French Basque country where the continental shelf is near shore. The waves are crazy.

Mark and Austin, 49ers v. Titans, 11/8/09

Mark — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:57:08 +0000

Austin

Frank Gore

Vince Young

MORE SPAIN & A LITTLE PORTUGAL

Diana — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:15:35 +0000

THE ATLANTIC BOTANICAL GARDENS IN GIJON

400-year-old oaks, pokeberry, hips, and Laboral University view.

SALAMANCA, SPAIN

Lively city between Madrid and Portugal. Massive square where the city once held bullfights, beautiful old sandstone buildings, and a 13th century university.

NORTHERN PORTUGAL

Porto church and pier; Viana do Castelo with a modern basilica on the hill–impressive view and Sophia’s dream car; lots of old and crumbling buildings.

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, SPAIN

Many pilgrims walking the Way of St. James in the countryside and arriving at the cathedral; gorgeous lighting.

LUGO, SPAIN

Complete Roman wall around a crumbling city in Spanish hills.

BAIONA, SPAIN

Little town north of Portuguese border where the Pinta returned in 1493 to deliver news of the New World. Below is a replica of the Pinta–hardly more than a tub with sails. It happened to be Columbus Day when we were there, hence the traffic jam.

Yeah Baby!!!

Bruce — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:02:29 +0000

: Waited a long time for these!!! I have a wonderful wife!

Gijon, Playa de Silencio

Diana — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:51:02 +0000

We live next to a park that has a lot of fun playground equipment and an aviary with emus and other birds.

Playa de Silencio is a great beach near here. Kind of hard to get to, so it isn’t crowded, especially during off-season. We had the place mostly to ourselves. The tidal pools were really fun. Theron was thrilled to find his favorite sea creature, an octopus waiting for the tide to come in. He even touched it, and it grabbed him with its tentacle.

Lots of little villages here, and gigantic hydrangea bushes everywhere (Mom would like that!).

Picos de Europa

Diana — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:36:45 +0000

We drove to the nearby mountain range. Passed Covadonga, where the Christians successfully fought off the Moors in the 8th century.

The Asturian landscape and the Picos are gorgeous. The traditional farms have these plantation-like raised structures for drying crops (see the blue house picture, which sports the Asturian cross).

On the way back we happened upon a little 12th C. church, S. Juan de Amandi.

MADRID

Diana — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:12:34 +0000

While we were waiting to move into the apartment, we took a trip down to Madrid to pick up our new Peugeot. Saw the Prado (no pix allowed) and went to an old flamenco club. Saw lots of decaying sunflower fields on the way home.

SEGOVIA & MORE

Diana — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 09:53:08 +0000

We stopped in Segovia on the way back from Madrid. Storybook kind of place. Alcazar is the castle some say was the model for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle (but I think a lot of European castles claim that). The highlight in Segovia was the mortarless 2000-year-old Roman aqueduct, still in use with a pipe on top.

OTHER SPANISH DETAILS
The cuisine of Northern Spain is wonderful–apples, beans, lots of seafood, and, of course, ham! In EVERYthing! Our first night was spent on the Boulevard of Cider in Oviedo, capital of the Principality of Asturias. The cider, which has very little apple flavor and very little alcohol content, must be poured from a distance to aerate it. Fabada (huge beans in stew with saffron, chorizo, and blood sausage) is a regional specialty–very yummy.

Tunnels are everywhere in Asturias, some 4 km long through mountains, and some just ‘cuz…

Art is everywhere, too. Even the graffiti is nice…

(Click on pix twice for largest size.)

OUR FIRST WEEKS IN SPAIN

Diana — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:51:37 +0000

GETTING SITUATED

Spent almost two weeks trying to find an apartment. More difficult than I thought, but when we found a place we all liked, it was fantastic. Couldn’t have done this from afar, and the kids got to be involved (in fact, Theron made all the appointments and did all the talking!).

The kids take a luxury bus to school every day–bus stop just down the beach. The school is 12 km away between Gijon and Oviedo, the capital of Asturias. T and S have adjusted very well and made friends.

(Click twice to see the photos large.)

Bruce and Richard at the Wisconsin State Capital

Richard — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:14:38 +0000

Had a nice visit with Bruce in Madison.

Bruce gave me a tour of the state capital building, very impressive!

Many of these shots were taken with my iPhone, which is also impressive. It compares pretty well with my old Canon Elph!

Also went back the next day to take some HDR photos before they closed.