Lucky to be alive

Update! 2.5 weeks later the kid is doing great. So very lucky. All the stitches are out and the plastic surgeon did an amazing job. Teeth are no longer loose. John cringes at intersections while driving around town still.

John was involved in a bike/car accident this morning and had to be helicoptered to the Santa Clara Trauma Unit.  He is extraordinarily fortunate to be alive and relatively uninjured. It is a quite deeply moving experience to see one of your children laying on the road in a pool of blood surrounded by emergency vehicles. John on his bike slammed into a car at pretty high speed and fortunately went through a window of the car rather than hitting a door or the frame of the car. Many awful things could have happened, but in the end, after a few hours in surgery and maybe 100 stitches, all the damage is relatively superficial and we are back in Santa Cruz tonight. He is going to be pretty sore and uncomfortable for awhile and have some impressive scars on his face but he is a lucky young man.

John giving the thumb's up at the hospital

The impact zone

His helmet and messenger bag

Kitty the convict

Kitty is a supporter of the Occupy Movement hoping to restore some fairness and democracy back to the United States.

Last week she was arrested while (peacefully) occupying the Bank of America in San Francisco. Handcuffed and taken to a holding cell in a paddy wagon! Released after a few hours.

The gal bottom left corner

Whale of a good time

For the last week, there have been 8 or 10 humpback whales right off shore in Santa Cruz. From about anywhere between the lighthouse at Steamer Lane and down to Seabright you can see them. It is incredible. Sunday morning the kids and I went out in the kayaks. It was a crazy human scene. Kayaks, canoes, stand up paddle boards, sail boats, dingys, powerboats were everywhere. But, within a few hundred yards of the harbor mouth we saw the first of the whales and over the next few hours we saw many backs and spouts including some encounters within 30 feet! It was an awesome experience.

Tail lobbing seen from shore

Surface feeding from shore

The scene heading out

First whale spotted on our way out

Lots of close encounters! This with my little waterproof camera with limited zoom.

John wanted to dive with the whales

Yosemite October 2011

The kids and I barreled over to Yosemite to catch a slide show by the climbing legends Royal Robbins and Tom Frost. Perfect Fall weather and we got in a few climbs.

The Robbins/Frost presentation was very well attended

Kitty on the second pitch of the Harry Daly Route 

Kitty on the 5.10c Sherrie's Crack

John leading Nurdle

Tuolumne with Kitty

The gal and I took a quick trip to Tuolumne and Yosemite Sept 2011. Cold at night, perfect during the day.

The weather was perfect

We did some climbing: Scandalous Summer

We saw some critters

A Pika! First time I have ever seem one

Tuolumne 2011

We took our annual August climbing trip to Tuolumne this year. Unlike years past there was some weather. Rain. Had lots of fun anyway meeting many of our climbing friends up there.

Bouldering by the lake

John at the Cube

Kitty on a beautiful route called Great Circle Route

Kitty at the base of West Crack on Daff Dome

John led a 5.10a, Steve Latif following

Kitty at Dozier

We took a rain day down to Mono Lake

We found the Mammoth hot springs

Mono Lake tufas

Camping with friends

Summit shot Daff Dome

Walking off Daff: Fairview Dome in the background

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The Hound: Aug 2011

Luna is five years old now. She has calmed down and grown to trust all of us. She can leap over tall barriers and crash through bushes and fences in pursuit of tennis balls and loves to do so till she is so tired she can't stand up. But, she also likes to flop down next to you and get a good ear scratching now.

Ready for a ball to be launched

The Girls: July 2011

Every year Sara comes to Santa Cruz for a month or so and Jennifer makes it for a week. This year was busy as we arranged and attended a 3-day meeting in honor of Bob Kraft. As always it was great to get caught up.

Jennifer Johnson, Frances Bolte and Sara Lucatello

The Leap

Kitty is back from UC Davis and the kids and I headed to Lover's Leap by Lake Tahoe for some climbing.

Campground had some spots and we did the Classic "Bear's Reach" after setting up camp. Beautiful evening. Up before it got too warm and over to climb "Hogwild" - and excellent face and crack climb. Rope got hung up on rappel and ended up leading it twice. By 1pm it was about 95F and we headed back to Santa Cruz. Saw two rattlesnakes on the trail.

Kitty on the first pitch

John leading the third to the top

The summit shot!

Lover's Leap campground

John leading the first pitch of Hogwild. Took an unusual variation left.

Guanaja Honduras

The Bolte Boys headed off for a little adventure in June 2011. Me, not-so-little-anymore John, Uncle John and the cousins Zach, Matt and Chris headed to Guanaja, a 2 mile by 10 mile long island off the coast of Honduras. To get there we flew to Houston, then caught a flight to Roatan (another island off Honduras with an airport that can handle 737s), where we hopped on a little prop plane to Guanaja. From there the dive master of the B&B where we stayed picked us up in his boat. 93F, 98% humidity.

The kids were there for the fabulous diving. 100' visibility, 80F water and a vibrant, healthy reef.

View of the house where we stayed (top) and the view from the house

Brother John and I were there to fish for bonefish

Johnny got certified just before the trip: he had a blast diving

The beaches and water there are classic tropical paradise

John on the dock

Gearing up for a dive

There were some classic flats

Bro John and I did our exploring for bonefish flats via kayak

The bonefishing was fabulous

Saw permit, barracuda, snook and lots of bonefish

The crew: me, Chris, Zach, Big John, John, Matt