The girls check out the huge icicles at Boreal.

I think Charlie likes the syrup quite a bit.

Snow angels are the best part of snow.

Beautiful sunset following us up the hill to Tahoe.

Little planks for little people. Henry would not get off the slopes.

Today I had a great relaxing day making a meal from leftover Thanksgiving holiday food.

Started with Salsa and guac

Next was arugula (rocket) salad with balsalmic mustard dressing, parmesan shavings, clemetine segments and baked crumbled proscuitto.

Entree of turkey soup (made from homemade stock) with dried cranberries and cilantro.

Served on the side were balls of stuffing coated in corn meal and star shaped corn bread.

Dessert – choice of pear or apple phyloll parcels with homemade vanilla custard, port-cherry reduction and semi sweet chocolate chips.

My office at Boise airport! I was there for 7 hours on wednesday waiting for a shuttle so I got lots of ordering done for parts for Darling.

No snow around the lodge unfortunately. The lodge is beautifully decorated for the holidays and had many old photos of celebrities who used to come to sun valley sking.

Old style advertising for Sun Valley skiing.

Uncle Dales and Linda’s dog Punzi who loves attention and I love giving it to her!

Thanksgiving appetizers

With Aunty Linda in front of a beautiful log fire.

The golf course Uncle Dale goes to has an amazing lodge.

Manmade snow for those desperate to go skiing.

Some artwork from a gallery open during the gallery walk.

We headed higher to Gallena Lodge and finally found some snow.

Snow looking like  cotton against a cystal blue ski

The jelly fish exhibit at Monterey Bay aquarium is simply amazing. So well presented as well.

Some species have tentacles that are over 100 feet long.

The upside down jellies are pretty funny looking.

Tiny little ones the size of a rubber on a pencil and smaller.

These guys look like clouds.

These are like the ones we had surrounding Rhumb Boogie on the Pacific Cup in 2010.

 The aquarium was absolutely packed. It has been a number of years since I went last the exhibits are so well done and interactive it is almost like taking your kids to an amusement center. They even have scuba in the bay for kids up to the age of 13.

Last weekend I introduced Chad to the coast south of SF we went as far down as Carmel and then took HW1 back up stopping at beaches for him to surf, the boardwalk just cause it is fun and the monterey aquarium (the best in the world in my opinion). I wanted to go diving and had all my kit but unfortunately the viz wasn’t that great.

The Peter Pan 6am bus was not running so when I got there I was a tad dissapointed at having got up so early needlessly so headed back to my air mattress till 7:30am. Jesse and I took the bus together up to Boston and as the next flight wasn’t till 2:45 I had three hours to kill in Boston. I have been wanting to be a tourist in Boston for a number of years and finally yesterday was the day 🙂 I took the subway to the Charles station and walked back over Beacon Hill to the Common and then got on the Freedom trail ending at Faneuil Hall.

Walking on the brick pavements in a city founded in 1630 (not that old by British standards but ancient by American!) that played a central role in US History including the Boston Tea Party.

I loved the red brick architecture, the beautifully maintained floral displays including many window boxes and of course the US flag displayed from many houses.

In front of the ‘new’ state house built in 1798. During 1997, at a cost of more than $300,000, the dome was re-gilded, in 23k gold!

At Granary burial grounds third oldest in Boston est 1660 with 2345 graves but an estimated 5000 people were buried here. Included are a few gentleman who signed the Declaration of Independence and those who were killed in the Boston Massacre.

So I flew on Cape Air from St Thomas to Puerto Rico in a Cessna which is always great fun. Then went to transfer to Houston and the flight was delayed so I would miss my connection onto SF. They asked for a volunteer as the delayed flight was over sold and offered flight vouchers, dinner and a hotel.

So here I am in Puerto Rico with a very dismal view of the airport roofs in a room with no character but at least I have a voucher and a first class ticket tomorrow to New York and then onto SF tomorrow.

What you can get at the airport for $40! Time to watch some news and maybe use the gym.

I had an overnight stopover in New York on my way to Antigua so went to visit some friends in Conneticut. We went to a great resturant and they bought me a 2lb lobster which was very tasty. As you can see I was quite happy with the spread.

My sister in law and I went diving today which was great fun. Our first dive was on a wreck of the Pelinaion. See the video below for what the wreck looks like.

The Greek steamer, Pelinaion, was built in 1907 by Russell & Company, Port Glasgow, for Hill SS. Company, Ltd. and originally named Hill Glen. She was 385 feet in length, had a 49.9 foot beam, was powered by 384 n.p.h triple expansion engines and displaced 4,291 gross tons. In 1914, she was sold and re-named Doonholm. After serving with a number of British tramp owners, she was sold in 1927 to G.K. Ktistakis, Chios, Greece, and renamed K. Ktistakis. In 1939, she was re-named once again the Pelinaion.

On December 22, 1939, the ship sailed from Takiradi, West Africa, for Baltimore, Maryland, with a cargo of iron ore. On January 16,1939, under the command of Captain Janis Valikos, while heading for Bermuda to take on fuel, she was wrecked off David’s Head, Bermuda. Captain Valikos was apparently unaware that St. Davids Light was out due to the war, and he inaccurately calculated the position of his ship.

Today, the Pelinaion lies scattered in 65 feet of water. Her engine stands upright coming to within 10 feet of the surface, and her bow sits in only 20 feet of water. Mike Burke tells us of a tunnel like cave that starts on the reef, which allows divers to swim under the ship’s hull and end up in her stern. Divers can see her deck winches, propeller and anchor while exploring this magnificent shipwreck.

The second dive was a reef dive and we saw tarpen that were about 4-5 feet long, went through arches in the reef and saw a school of groupers.

Finally arrived in Bermuda and the dog and my nephew remember me despite it being 20 months 🙂 Happy Aunt Ash