Big Telescope @ Big Bear

When we were checking out the details of various hiking trails in Big Bear Discovery Center, Swetha spotted a sign indicating there would be star gazing with professional telescopes that night at 8pm.  All of us got excited and decided to check it out.

After an early and very spicy dinner at the Himalayan restaurant, reached the discovery center. An amateur astronomer, Tim Bagerly was setting up couple of big telescopes. Had a good conversation with Tim and got plenty of tips from him since I want to move up to one of the automated telescopes.

One of the telescopes was a monster 16" telescope. Couple of families with children and another young couple from Orange county enjoyed outstanding views of the crescent moon, Saturn and its moons.

After spending an hour, we headed back to our cabin by the lake. This turned out to be a perfect anniversary day/night -  starting the morning by the lake, spending time at Big Bear village, excellent lunch at  a Mom and Pop restaurant Saucy Mama's, hiking the trail by the lake, desserts at Sugar Pine Bakery, afternoon tea by the lake, spicy dinner at the Himalayan and capping it all off with views of Moon's craters and Saturn.

Spontaneous Sunday

Once the Boston RedSox schedule was announced in March, I started looking forward to their LA visit to play against the Angels. The last game of the series happened to be on my B'day weekend and a spontaneous decision was made yesterday night to go for this game.

The Angels stadium was 1 hr+ drive north of San Diego and we left around 10:30. As we approached the stadium, it started raining and Sheila started complaining that this is not the perfect San Diego weather :)  The girls and I wanted to be close to the action and I had bought "Field" tickets just 10 rows from the field between home plate and 1st base.

As we entered the stadium, it was raining and Sheila was livid with anger that there is no roof over our head :) She was yelling at me: "...next time, before you buy the tickets, you have to tell me where we are going to sit..." :) I had paid extra $$ to be close to the action and she wanted to sit under a pavilion, far away from the field :))

 The girls are ready with their signs!!

Kevin Youkilis' unique stance, holding the bat horizontal above his head. "Big Papi" Ortiz on deck. We watched the first innings in soaking rain, covering our heads with whatever we have :) 
Luckily, the rain stopped by 2nd innings.

In the stadium, there were more RedSox fans than Angels fans. This is not a surprise since RedSox have fans all over the world from the oldest to the youngest, including this little boy!!

Ex-San Diego hitter Adrian Gonzalez drove in couple of runs with this hit. By this time,  all the rain clouds had passed away and it turned out to be Sunny & Hot. Sheila started complaining again: "...hey, it is getting too hot now.." :)

The game is just a small part of the whole electrifying atmosphere in the stadium, with guys selling Cotton Candy, Hot Dogs, Popcorn, Pizza, Snacks, Drinks and Ice cream ( yes, in the rain!!! ). And...watching people...always...interesting ;)

We were delighted to watch Carl Crawford, the 142 million $$$ man, hit his first home run of  his first season with the RedSox.

Cheering Carl's home run hit!
Whenever, Youk came to bat we were all chanting and yelling "youk...youk...youk.." and for Ortiz,  "papi...papi...papi".  Swetha and Shreya (of course, and I) were thrilled to watch our favorite RedSox players up close and personal.

John Lackey, the starting pitcher did an outstanding job, pitching 8 scoreless innings :)

RedSox won 7-0, sweeping the Angels, winning all the 4 games @ LA.

After the win.

Both in 2005 and now we have watched  RedSox play as a family and have won both the times. So, Swetha, Shreya and I have decided to drag Sheila with us to all the future RedSox games, rain or shine, snow or Sun :) :) :)

The fun part is, Sheila was relating the game to Cricket. Whenever foul balls went outside she screamed "Sixer...Sixer" :). When a player got thrown out at a base she was yelling "Run Out" :))

We are all looking forward to the RedSox-Angels playoff games in Oct. :))