Flee, flee!

There's been a big hullabaloo in Davis: West Nile has invaded.

Planes were supposed to fly over Davis Thursday and Friday nights, spraying a pesticide that would kill millions of mosquitoes but supposedly not endanger humans in the process.

However, seeing that our baby is not really that much bigger than a mosquito, we decided to escape the spray and go camping.

So we fled.

We landed on a mountain near Morgan Hill, spent Thursday and Friday nights in our sleeping bags atop an ever-flattening air mattress, and returned Saturday only to find that the winds were such that the Davis mosquito spraying never even happened.

At least we got a no-guilt mid-week camping trip out of the deal.



Bethany at Henry Coe State Park, blocking the beautiful view we had from our campsite.




Camping inspires creative eating, especially when campfires are prohibited. (Bummer.) Here Richie eats a creation he was extremely proud of: a whole-wheat bagel with cream cheese and BANANA! Bethany refused the bites he offered, as tempting as they were...




Nobody's perfect, not even Mr. Air Mattress. Our poor little mattress kept deflating during the night, and since Richie was heavier, he sank to the ground. So he opted for his thin little Thermarest, and Bethany got the whole air mattress to herself, folded in half. Reminiscent of the Princess and the Pea?




We played many a game of Rummy. Bethany lost many a game of Rummy. Richie enjoyed many a game of Rummy.




Seeing wildlife was one of the highlights of our trip. Raccoons were bountiful; we even got to watch one gently lift open a trash can, enter the can, disappear for a while rummaging for treasures, pop back up through the lid, and gingerly replace the lid with its paw. Then there was this coyote who pranced around from campsite to campsite, not really caring who was around...




On Friday we headed down the mountain and surprise! Ended up at the ocean. We passed a harbor with what looked like a floating brown log. Then we thought, nope, it's a dead otter. Then we realized, nope nope nope, it's alive! And gigantic! We think it was an old man otter just livin' it up. As people gathered around to watch the cute guy, a seal popped his head up wondering what the commotion was all about. Later, we watched three dolphins play in the waves.




Richie was jealous of the dolphins and had to play in the waves, too.




Whee!