Six members of AmyRuth's cohort joined via video feed (hence the laptop). The full graduation ceremony is tomorrow morning!

Drakesbad Guest Ranch was just the break we needed after big city living in San Francisco.

Paul says, "It's a great place if you have a family."

We are writing this at Zoey's having just eaten yummy sandwiches and ice cream!

Yesterday we all saw "My Fair Lady" and it wa great. YiYing says she'd like to see it 5 more times. Last night Paul, Daddy, and Mommy saw "The Heart of Robin Hood." Paul says, "It is about a princess named Marian who wants to be in Robin Hood's gang but finds out that Robin Hood's gang is a mean gang and they steal from rich AND poor and they don't allow girls. so she makes a gang of her own and pretends to be a boy. We won't spoil the play, but there is a bad guy. The end. The Shakespeare Festival is a lot of fun!"

Tonight we will all see "Midsummer Night's Dream." This morning Karl, David's former student, and Ellen, Karl's wife, gave us a tour of the theatres. It wa awesome.

Tomorrow we drive to Salem and at night we have one of the 2 graduation ceremonies. Will try to get some pictures posted between now and then.

The day after Drakesbad we drove through Mt. Lassen Nat'l Park and we would recommend that as well. Breathtaking views of snow covered mountain peaks (photos to come.) Just a week before we came through the road through the park had been closed due to snow. At several of the pull outs we could make snow balls. We made a couple short hikes - Sulphur Spring (smelly!) and another through the "devastated area" where there were many signs explaining the aftermath of the 2 large volcanic eruptions in 1915. If you find yourself in Northern California we highly recommend this park!

Drakesbad was awesome. The pool was fed by hot springs. The meals were good. And we stayed in a cabin with no electricity, a small bathroom, and one room for our comfy beds. I (YiYing) slept on the rollaway. We went hiking and saw a boiling lake and some animals - including a marmot, deer, and a chipmunk. At night there was a campfire and all our clothes smelled like campfire smoke - but the smoke kept the mosquitos away.

We highly recommend Drakesbad to all our friends.

Remember to drive slowly, we saw a young buck about 20 feet from our car and he followed us for 100 yards as we drove down the road.

(Written by Paul, YiYing, and Mommy)