New Year! New Year! New Year!

Apparently New Year's is big this year.  At least, I managed to get a lot of mileage out of it.

The shortened basketball season meant the Kings started their year in December.  This is cool- I actually got to watch basketball with some of my bros.  We saw Jimmer strut his stuff.  It was the first pro game for my nephew Adam. And, best of all the Kings won!  (update:  best of all, the Kings are now staying in Sacramento!)

Next, there was the 8 miles of epic hiking on New Year's Eve.  Angie Tingey and I met up with 65 new hiking buddies and headed out to Feather Falls, near Oroville.  It's supposed to be the 6th tallest waterfall in the continental United States.  My mom assigned it to my waterfall life list, so I had to go.  It was certainly beautiful.

Our hiking buddies are actually a "Meet Up" group.  This has a couple of great advantages.  1) Most of them have been there before and I was not required to navigate.  2)  Wandering between groups of people we have never met makes for interesting conversation.  Apparently, a lot of hikers are disgruntled teachers.  One lady tried to recruit me for a rival SLP company.  And Angie won for wackiest walking story with her escapades in Spain!  3) They pack in a pretty awesome spread for lunch.  4) If you follow someone on a trail that is marked "closed", and for some strange reason a tree has destroyed a bridge on this trail, said person will help you climb over the tree if needed.  Those who decline help, provide extra entertainment value.

Look! Party sleeves!

Straight off the hike, we cleaned up, dressed up, gassed up, and headed out for the obligatory dance, this time in Danville.  When we accidentally arrived at the dance before 10 pm, the accepted start time for the under-60 crowd, we were both mortified.  We cut out for a YSA dance down the street, resulting in further mortification.  A return to the first dance at least allowed us to finish out the night with streamers, horns, grapes, and a late night milkshake run, even if it was less than satisfying.

Is that enough New Year?  Oh no!  Now we have Chinese New Year!  It fell on January 23rd this year, but in order to stretch the new year out further, San Fransicans decided to celebrate on February 11. We met up with some friends for the parade.  If you are having a parade, you should hire Angie, Nate, and I to cheer for it.  Our yelling scored more dragon dances, tai kwon do moves, waves from the floats, candy for the kiddos, smiles from the politicians, new best friends, and curious stares than any other block on the parade route.  As if the first 115 entries didn't make it worth while,  there was mochi and custard buns from Chinatown involved, and a TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOOT dragon.  Like the dragon, the parade seemed to go on forever- but, like the firecrackers, it sure was a blast!

2012 is off to an explosive start. Stay tuned to see what further adventures are in store!