Gnarled Tree

Gnarled Tree

Somewhere in Cuyamaca State Park (now Cuyamaca Rancho State Park) in the mountains east of San Diego, California. We camped at Paso Picacho, but I don’t remember whether this was near the campsite or spotted during a hike.

This was taken in April 2002, about a year and a half before a devastating fire destroyed large areas of the park.

(It was also about a year before I got my first digital camera, so this image was scanned from a print.)

Overnight in San Diego

My company will sometimes do its Christmas party as a destination event. It was in Las Vegas one year, and one year it was even a 3-day cruise. I think it’s a holdover from the dot-com days during which we’d always have an annual ski trip and an annual summer trip. Then it was cut down to one trip. And now it’s combined with the Christmas party.

This year it was held in San Diego, at the Omni Hotel. Since it’s relatively close, we were all on our own for transportation, so alenxa and I took it at our own pace, spending Saturday afternoon in Old Town, hitting a farmer’s market, and so forth. Unfortunately it was casino-themed, and I’m not really big on gambling (though Katie made a killing at blackjack), but the food was really good (it was the in-hotel McCormick and Schmick’s, and while I couldn’t eat the seafood, the steak was quite good, and the chocolate cake was excellent), and I think I have gained at least a rudimentary understanding of craps beyond “you roll the dice and bet on how they land.”

( K2R: Old Town, the Omni, and just how big is that space by the convention center, anyway? )

Now if I could just figure out what to do with this wireless keyboard and mouse…

Nighttime view: San Diego Hilton & Convention Center