Tosca at the Ball Park

"What's more telling of opera than a hotdog?" That's how my friend John greeted me as I returned from the concessions stand with three hotdogs at San Francisco's ATT&T Park for the Tosca Simulcast. Tosca, one of the most celebrated operas, was transmitted live from the War Memorial House at the Ball Park on a 103-feet long HDTV screen.

Free opera for the masses, what a fantastic initiative! Opera should not be reserved to the few who can afford the cost of full-staged production with orchestra at an opera house. If opera wants to live on, it also needs to go to the streets just as opera arias did when people sang "Va' pensiero" at Verdi's funeral. These composers were rock stars then.

Their music is still as beautiful today and should not become extinct for financial reasons. That's why the Ball Park is such an appropriate place for opera simulcasts. The performance is free. And ... you can get your beer, popcorn and hotdog all while listening to beautiful music that transcends centuries and countries. Plus, the Ball Park has a few interesting twists sure to appeal to the non-opera crowd.

As free coded ticket holders, we got in half an hour early and spread our blanket on the lawn for our picnic. The children very much loved that.

Before the performance, everybody rose to sing The Star Spangled Banner. I was in the hot dog line then and grinned from ear to ear as people walked by with their hand on their heart.

At the intermission, we were treated to a rendering of "Take Me Out To The Opera" where everybody sang the words based on the famous baseball song. The best part, however, was how much people were involved in the story.

In theory, it's not a setting everybody can relate to. Rome, turn of the 20th century, a celebrated opera singer, a mean police officer, an artist on the run, the gallows ready. But hey, love is universal. So is injustice. Never before have I seen people cheer and clap so wildly at a woman stabbing an oppressor on stage. In the exit line, a young guy went "Man, did you see how she got him? Not once but twice, even in the back!" That's the kind of reaction opera should trigger. It means it's very much alive.

Now do yourself a favor and don't forget to sign up for the next Simulcast on September 19. It's going to be Verdi's Il Trovatore.

From Bothe-Napa Valley to the Bale Grist Mill

Eleven miles south of Chateau Montelena, the winery that put Californian wines on the map with the 1976 Judgment of Paris - romanticized in the Hollywood blockbuster Bottle Shock - lies the sole survivor of Napa Valley's past as the Golden Valley: the Bale Grist Mill. Before the Napa Valley churned profit from red and white liquid gold, grain farming was the main crop in the valley. Along with fields of grain came a tradition of milling. That was 1846, three years before John Marshall kicked off the Gold Rush.

As we were camping at the Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, we went from Bothe-Napa to the Bale Grist Mill by way of land. Passing by the park's spring-fed swimming pool, we veered on the History Trail and stopped at the 1850s pioneer cemetery.

Beneath a hill of rustling wild oats and rattlesnake grass, members of the Tucker, Cole, Kellog and other families lay low in the ground. We entered the white-fenced rectangular plot and looked at the stones. "This one was a baby," I said. And I read the name and age of the departed: Ida A. Hoover, one year, three months and four days, May 1869 - August 1870. Our children looked down in disbelief. One hundred and thirty years later, from then to now. It was a special moment.

We continued our way up the hill to the ridge before descending through an oak canyon traversed by dry river beds. Along this moderate 1.2 mile hike, we did not meet a single soul and our little ones played hide-and-seek in the descending portions of the trail.

As we finally arrived at the Bale Grist Mill, remains of ditches and ponds told the silent story of the once lively mill.

According to the ranger on duty last Sunday, there used to be 18 mills from Santa Cruz to Napa. I think he meant only grist mills as there were for sure a lot of sawmills - take Sutter's Mill up in Coloma or the "Old Mill" that gave its name to the Bay Area town of Mill Valley, they were sawmills. Anyhow, the Bale Grist Mill is now the only surviving historic mill of its kind in California.

Constructed by Dr. Edward Bale in 1846 and maintained after his death by his wife Maria, the grist mill featured a 36-feet high water-wheel using the diverted waters of Mill Creek through an aerial flume system. The system is still in place and every single weekend, rangers in costumes operate the machinery.

Inside the mill, our children got to follow the grinding process from grain to meal. As Eric the ranger took ears of dried corn in his hands, the children gathered round. They each got an ear of corn and fed it through a hand-cranked machine that separates the kernels from the ear in seconds.

After that, Eric lifted a trap door in the floor and uncovered the cogs turning below the building. He then showed the big round grinding stones coming from a Parisian quarry (now supposedly underneath Disneyland Paris' parking lot) and prepared the children for the water wheel.

Before the giant wheel was set in motion, the creaky noise of chains pulling, the smooth sound of belts sliding and the gurgle of water flowing filled the buildin and the surrounding grounds. At full force, it must have been a defeaning noise.

The childen ran outside and watched in awe. Big machines are beautiful things. That day they were grinding corn for polenta. In paper sacks on a table were other types of flour ground on site: spelt, whole wheat pastry, whole wheat bread, rye, cornmeal and polenta. The children got to pass around wooden ladles of grain before and after grinding. It was great.

After the demonstration, we took a sack of polenta back for the evening meal. At the campground, our friend Klas obliged by following Miller George's Polenta recipe and the Napa Valley grinding experience came full circle accompanied by bottles of wine from the nearby Summers Estate Wines.

Who knew Napa Valley had a past behind the bottle?

Pinnacles National Monument

East of the Salinas Valley, nestled amongst chaparral-covered hills lies Pinnacles National Monument, the remains of an ancient volcano. There, you will discover doughnut-shaped rocks, spires and canyons, caves and a reservoir: a small world that was recognized as a national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908.

Pinnacles deserves either a long day trip from the Bay Area or an overnight in nearby Hollister (or Fremont Peak, where we were camping), to allow ample time to cover the trails. Six years ago we hiked Pinnacles from the West entrance with my father.

Last week we entered through the East entrance off Highway 25, the latter being an immensely popular ride for bikers. Since the park gets steamy hot during the summer, this hike is recommended during cooler seasons. From the Bear Gulch Day Use Area, visitors have three options.

For a leisurely walk (less than a mile), the Bear Gulch Reservoir offers a splendid view on crystal clear waters and a big "No swim allowed" sign, because well, it's the kind of reservoir that gets water in your tap. Just next door is Bear Gulch Cave. However it is currently closed to protect a colony of bats so check back on the status after mid-July.

That said, we were there to sweat it out so we opted for a longer tour: a 5.3 mile hike around the Pinnacles through High Peaks Trail, Juniper Canyon, Tunnel Trail, High Peaks Trail (again, other side), and Condor Gulch Trail to finish. It was great and .... hot. With a 1,300 elevation gain, the hike was a nice workout - the more so as we forgot our real hiking shoes.

Strangely enough, we hardly felt the elevation gain as the trail gradually zigzagged up the mountain to reach the rim right below Scout Peak. At that point, we were surprised to spot a cute little house overlooking Bear Gulch Valley. A cozy Sierra Club shelter? Not so dear. A restroom of course! Gosh the National Parks Service is organized. (I want to be there when they empty the tanks with a helicopter.)

From the rim, brave ones can follow the High Peaks Trail, knowing that they will face "steep and narrow" sections - read "get me 911 right now!" We, wimps, went down the other side of the mountain through Juniper Canyon.

Occasionally we scanned the sky for condors but the biggest bird of prey we saw looked very close to a turkey vulture. Steady flight path, wings black above, light grey below, we've seen it before.

Going on Tunnel Trail was fun because - o surprise - there is a tunnel, which prompted my other half to comment that "the Civilian Conservation Corps really had a lot of time on their hands." Well you'll see the tunnel, you'll understand why. The CCC was actually responsible for nothing less than the stone buildings, trails, roads, bridges, and Bear Gulch reservoir at Pinnacles. Hats off to the CCC.

Going up and down Juniper Canyon and Tunnel Trail, we literally dreamed of hiking shoes as the trail's dirt and gravel combo formed perfect shoe-skating slopes. Thank God for the teeny one's denims. She ended up on her butt more times than we could count.

On the trail, we also perfected the ultimate hiking technique for youngsters: storytelling. We've already tried that a few times and it works better than bribes, better than water stops, better than ice cream promises. Taking turns, we each told a story, twisting and re-arranging the plot with elements of the landscape so that hiking became effortless for the young crew. Well ... we still had to award an ice cream for outstanding hiking capabilities the next day. But hey, 5.3 miles up and down in the sun is an effort.

Right before the Overlook on Condor Gulch Trail, three shirtless young hunks passed us at a brisk pace. "Duh, they forgot their shirt at home!" scoffed my 4-year-old. We saw them again at the Overlook. My husband exchanged a few words with them and told me later "They're in the army." How did he know? To all the questions he asked, they answered with a firm and non-equivocal "Yes, Sir!"

When we finally got to the parking lot, the one item that felt better than a gold mine was a water fountain. We did the hike with less than a gallon of water for four and clearly, that was not enough. Remember that when it's your turn. There may be a restroom on the way - but you ain't gonna find no snack shop with cold sodas up there.

Fremont Peak State Park

Fremont Peak officially kicked off our camping season. As each Memorial Day weekend for the past four years, we went camping with a group of friends. So far we've experimented with various group sizes, weather and locations such as Shaver Lake (it snowed on the pine forest), Lake Isabella (we baked on the lake's muddy shores but enjoyed beautiful starry nights), Malakoff Diggins (we withstood three days of rain in a superb landscape), and now Fremont Peak.

A small park (there are exactly 25 camp sites), Fremont Peak offers a very particular climate feature: it (usually) overlooks a sea of fog and the fog is not even fifty yards below. This photo shows a sunset on a thick blanket of fog, not on the ocean.

As we drove up, we could not believe how overcast the area was until suddenly, we emerged out of the fog in the sun. An experience that could be compared to having a window seat on an airplane that flies through the clouds into the sun. That's what I call a micro-climate.

Fremont Peak State Park is, as described by the almighty Tom Stienstra, "often overlooked" by people who travel to Monterey. And yet, less than two hours from the Bay Area, it qualifies as a camping hot spot. Why?

Two words: primitive campground. Fremont Peak has a lot of "no's" when it comes to facilities: no sinks, no showers, no recycling (or I couldn't find it), no vault toilets (think pit with smell attached), and no room for two cars (although campsites can accomodate 8 people...). We were lucky to get the best view, our own faucet and a lot of space with number 25, but our friends at number 19 were literally in their neighbors' close backyard.

The park's huge pluses though? The view is really hard to beat. The hills are pine and California oak woodlands covered with tall grasses swaying in the wind (of which there is a lot, since it's a peak). And .... there is an astronomical observatory with a 30-inch telescope on the peak.

A state park where you can take a walk in the dark from your campground to the local observatory ten minutes away and look through the lens of a dozen of serious star enthusiasts' telescopes before you get in line to see Saturn with its rings through the big telescope? Now top that!

The night sky is so pure at Fremont Peak State Park that astronomy is actually what draws campers. Across from us at the campground was Bob Black, the membership chair of the Fremont Peak Observatory Association, a fervent education advocate for the city of San Carlos and astronomy teacher for middle grade kids. Bob is that passionate that he comes once a month to pitch his tent at Fremont Peak. He arrives way early in the day to get the only non-reservable campsite because it's such a prime star gazing spot. Ominous number 14. Then he sets up his telescope (one of six) and wraps it up in thick NASA-type silver foil until night sets in and the stars of stargazing align.

So yes, astronomy is huge at Fremont Peak. When we admired Saturn through the telescope, I was dumbfounded. I had never really seen Saturn before I guess. It was so perfectly round and so black-and-white bright that it looked, as my friend Sue put it, "like a sticker on the lens." A postcard perfect Saturn.

That was a big hit with the children, although slightly conceptual for the youngest. Yes munchkin, the celestial object that looked the size of a distant apple is actually 762,700,000 miles away. Sure, let's walk back in the dark. Ah, the forgotten charm of walking in the dark without flash lights because it disturbs star viewing.

The next evening we had a different weather experience as the fog rose up to our level at sun down and crept through the trees with its chill. The children were playing in the woods when word spread like firecrackers: there's a tarantula on the parking lot! Legs rushing, loud voices, more legs. They all ran downhill to see the "monster" which looked in fact quite scared.

The lonely tarantula was one of many wildlife specimens that crossed our path on Fremont Peak: skunk, grasshoppers, roly-polys, hairy itchy caterpillars, black beetles and more. For once, our bug box got a lot of mileage.

However for my five-year-old, the highlight of the weekend was a tooth fairy incident. As a result of a pillow fight in the tent, she lost her first tooth and guess what? The tooth fairy also delivers at campgrounds. Fortunately, San Juan Bautista State Historic Park is only 11 miles away and the gift store sells nice shiny copper coins with the Mission's backdrop. Now that could have been a close call...

Fort Mason: A Diamond in the Rough

Set between two iconic San Francisco destinations – Fisherman’s Wharf and Crissy Field – Fort Mason is a world of its own.

A pre-Civil War coastal fortification, Fort Mason once featured an underground tunnel connecting three Navy piers to the Embarcadero’s railroad system. You can still find the rail tracks in the parking lot and the tunnel might be resurrected as part of the extension of the F tram line.

However, today’s Fort Mason, now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), is better known for its cultural non-profits and gourmet vegetarian restaurant, Greens. Don’t let the army-warehouse look fool you – come out and rediscover a San Francisco gem.

Read the rest of the article here on SFKids.org.

GreensMoms Celebration Launch at Half Moon Bay's Farmers Market

Curiosity killed the cat - despite its nine lives. Will mainstream kill the green movement despite global warming? Everywhere you turn nowadays, it's green this and green that.

It's like we're talking Smurf or something. "I was on my way to green my daily commute when I was road greened by that awful greenling agent. Can you green that?" Green has become such a staple of our daily media brainwashing and consumerist grocery errands that we tend to forget that green starts at home and it starts yesterday. That's where grassroots movements like GreenMoms.com can make a difference - you can join online, choose a local group, act on a local level and at your own pace.

The cynical will say that it's just another green website trying to sell you stuff. Websites trigger reactions like that, it's the flip side of being available online 24/7. It lacks that warm hand shake and eye contact that seal a deal.

However, GreenMoms.com is as real as it gets. I should know - I met them. The brainchild of Janice Solimeno and Melinda MacNaughton, GreenMoms.com was launched at the Half Moon Bay Farmers' Market last week.

I was there, registering people on a laptop while a friend made recycled calendar bags with my girls at the GreenMoms.com craft table. For the launch, GreenMoms.com partenered with the popular psychedelic kids' rock band The Sippy Cups and Sippy Doug was present at the market, juggling and entertaining a crowd of fascinated families. Earlier in the month, GreenMoms.com had a table at a Sippy Cups concert at Bimbo's.

The Sippy Cups are part of a growing number of bands who take the environment so seriously that they even have a Green page on their website.

Now, what is GreenMoms.com? It's a website to help green-thinking moms (and non-moms) live a greener life. Pretty simple statement. Don't you get the wrong idea and think green moms will dance in white robes under the redwoods for the summer solstice. No, no.

GreenMoms is practical and down to earth. A lot of topics get exchanged over online forums. Want a recipe for vinegar-based house cleaner? You got it. Want to know the closest organic produce stand? You got it too. Organic fair trade chocolate? Just check the blog.

With enough community presence, GreenMoms.com could become sort of the social parental arm of the Environmental Working Group or the Natural Resources Defense Council. So why wait? Register here. It's free. What can I say? Nowadays, free is worth a click.