Turkey Trot

The Long Beach Turkey Trot was on Thanksgiving Day in the morning. I ran the 10K that started at 7:30AM, and ran down the beach path from the Belmont Pool to Downtown Long Beach and back. It was a nice, cool and cloudy morning as we had rain the day before and the weather was still a bit unsettled, but nice to run in such great, cool conditions, but yet not too cold. This made for great running and halfway through, I got a pick me up and somehow felt like the last ½ of the run was like I was flying! It was great. I finished with a time of 46:00 at about the same time when all the kids were finishing with the kids run. It was like an obstacle course trying to avoid all the little tots as they were coming through the finish line! I met up with my friends Tigger and Ana after the race, they had run the 10K as well, and we chatted for a while before heading home to make our Thanksgiving Dinners! It was a great way to start out the Holiday!

El Capitan State Beach

I left work early on Friday for a lovely drive up the 101 to Santa Barbara, where I met my friends Michael and Andrew and we all went camping at El Capitan State Beach, about 17 miles west of Santa Barbara. We met up on the 101 on the way, and stopped in Santa Barbara for some groceries and some Starbucks. It was a beautiful, sunny and warm day in the 80s, and clear weather. We set up camp, and I started to make my Beef Bourguignonne, in my dutch oven over the fire. It was Mike's birthday earlier that week, so we celebrated, and we all had such a great dinner with smores afterwards on the open fire. We spent all evening chatting and enjoying the stars and the moon overhead. The next morning after a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs we all went to the beach for a nice view before we left and headed back to Los Angeles and Long Beach.

UMAA

Dale and I went to our first event that was put on by my University of Minnesota Alumni Association, (UMAA) greater Los Angeles Chapter. I have wanted to go to some of their events before, but they usually are happy hours at a bar(s) in Santa Monica, and it is not very conducive to getting home in any timely manner, etc. on a workday. Not to mention that I usually don't drive to work but take the train. If anyone knows Los Angeles, there are no trains that go anywhere, even close to Santa Monica.

Any rate, I absolutely had to go to this event, as it was only a block from our house in Long Beach at the Wine Crush. http://www.thewinecrush.com/ It was a wine tasting event of 7 different Rhone wines. (French regional) There are 22 grape varietals allowed in the Rhone region of France, about half of them red. The primary red varietals of Rhone blends are Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre. The primary white varietals are Viognier, Roussanne, and Marsanne. We sampled a selection of Rhone blends from both California, Australia, and France. Rhone blends are some of the most complex yet subtle wines out there. We had about 3 California, 1 Australian, and the rest were all authentic French Rhone wines. 2 were white, and 5 were Red. It was a very interesting mix of all of them, however only a few were my favorite, including the Australian. ( I have an affinity for Australian and New Zealand Wines)

One of the best parts of the event was all the U of M Alumni. We were warmly greeted as soon as we arrived, we all had name tags and the lively conversations began. Somehow, and in someway, all the Minnesotans and friends of Minnesotans, seemed to have the best time together out of any group I have been to in So. Cal. We exchanged several e-mails, and names and phone numbers and we will be in touch and attend other future Alumni Association events for sure. I was amazed! In realizing what a small world it is I met one young lady who graduated from Frazee, MN high school who knew my family name and a number of relatives that have graduated from Frazee, HS with her. How cool is that, and certainly makes it seem like a small, world, when you can run into someone in So. Cal all the way from the small towns of Northern Minnesota!

Table Mountain

Dale, Max and I and our neighbors Greg and George all drove up to the Angeles National forest, near Wrightwood, California for an overnight camping trip to Table Mountain Campground. This is one of my favorite campgrounds with beautiful tall Coltier pines, and Douglas Fir, and some Blue Oak trees. It is up at about 6000 feet and on the north side of the mountain overlooking the Antelope Valley and the cities of Palmdale, Lancaster, and Victorville. The campsites are well placed apart, and at this time of the year there is no need for a reservation as all the sites did not fill up. It was also a very quiet and serene campground, unlike some other campgrounds near the city. As soon as we pulled in and found a campsite the campground manager was by very shortly, even before we set up, to collect our fees and give us our "occupied" receipt to put on the post. We brought plenty of firewood, as we really wanted to make some great fires while camping. The gnats were a little bad, and bothered Max the worst, but as soon as the fire was going and he figured out that by sitting close enough to the heat, the gnats didn't bother him so much.

We had arrived in Wrightwood around noon so we had a lovely lunch at one of the local Cafe's. It was just as delicious as can be and we all were delighted with it and the charm of the small mountain ski town. After setting up camp and starting fire, (Max loves to start campfires) I made a little appetizer of smoked salmon & cream cheese on pita crackers, It was just enough to satisfy. George and Greg made our dinner that evening of a delicious fresh Parmesan, pimento, salad with a fresh lemon/olive oil dressing, and garlic bread. We had chicken breast, with angel hair pasta/panchetta and mushrooms, and some delicious steamed sugar snap peas. We were all stuffed after a superb dinner. We sat around the fire the rest of the evening, and chatted, drank hot cocoa and I told stores about bears in Alaska and Minnesota, and how we were in bear territory in the mountains, and everyone should be aware. All our food was put in the bear bin at night to ensure no scavanging.

We all awakened in the middle of the night to a noise of something going through the garbage dumpster on the other side of camp, and hoped it was not a bear, that would soon be heading to our campsite. Needless to say, we found out the next morning it was a coyote that was in the dumpster and not a bear. Thank goodness!

We awoke at sunrise and after some great coffee, we had a delicious breakfast that Dale and I made of his specaial crepe recipe with fruit, fruit syrup, and whip cream, along with a side of scrambled cheese & eggs, sausage and bacon, and orange juice. It was delicious and all too soon it was time to head back to Long Beach. It was beautiful temperature in the mountain, but down in the basin when we descended it was very hot for our drive through the inland empire. (In addition the AC went out in the SUV) We were glad to be back home in cool Long Beach and unloaded the car and started our laundry. It was such a beautiful, and relaxing weekend, and we will surely be back to Table Mountain again sometime soon to have another great camping experience!

Progressive Dinner Party

We attended this dinner party put on by the "Progressives" at our neighbor's Gary and Dennis' across the street from us. The Progressives hold these dinner party/fundraisers about every other month to raise funds for worthy cause each time.
This party was for Long Beach Organic's Youth Program, called Youth Environmental Leaders (YEL) Dinner was courtesy of: Chef Joe Corso/Tapenade Catering and Chef Paul Buchanan/Primal Alchemy Catering (two Long Beach Organic chefs/gardeners!) The minimum donation requested was $35 per person. The meal was delicious, the backyard was simply packed with people and a lot of funds were raised for a worthy cause.

The YEL Team supports Long Beach Organic's mission through service-learning projects and hands-on training at the community gardens and at environmental project partnership events (i.e., tree plantings and native plant enhancement and restoration projects). In the last two years, YEL Team kids have contributed over 7,000 eco-service hours to the organic gardens, to three native plant gardens, and to restorations at Dunster Park, Sims Park, Marine Stadium and White’s Landing. YEL kids also coordinated and planted 12 community tree plantings at the LA River, five Long Beach neighborhoods, and two schools.


Pictures from previous Progressive Dinner Parties can be seen in the below link.

http://progressivedinnerparty.shutterfly.com/

McCabe's Concerts

Dale and I were invited to an evening of entertainment at McCabe's Concert series, at McCabe's Guitars in Santa Monica by our AFS host-parent friends Karen and Mark. We met them at their place in Torrance, and then all drove up together to Santa Monica for a quick, and great dinner at a little Tapas restaurant/bar called Violet. (it promises promiscuous food) It was a great dinner of all different tapas and a nice bottle of wine and some great conversation, mostly all about our AFS boys! Karen and Mark's AFS student had gone on an overnight at another AFSers place, and we had Max catch up on his homework for the evening at home. We then headed just down the block to McCabes for a great evening performance by Richard Shindell, a guitarist/folk artist. McCabe's is first and foremost a guitar shop that has everything and anything for someone who plays guitars or wants to play guitars. They offer numerous classes on learning to play, through all levels, and well as songwriting, etc. It is amazing what they have. The back room is where they have concerts several nights during the week. It was very much of a folk music crowd with most everyone knowing all and everything about the artists they feature. It was a great evening, and Shindell gave a great performance, interspersing his songs with some great humor and conversation with the audience. It was very personal, and a great way to see the first hand talent of a great artist such as Shindell. Incidentally he lives in Buenos Aries, Argentina, and had recently chopped off the tip of one of his fingers with an axe while chopping wood. He had most of it healed, but by the way he played you would not have known it!

Below is a short review of Richard Shindell:





Scott Alarick of The Boston Globe says: "Shindell is a master builder of songs, yet always leading listeners toward the emotional essence of the moment or character he is evoking. As with all master craftsmen, knowing what to leave out is as important to him as what he puts in. Shindell has uncanny sense of the theater of a song, building his ballads sparely and subtly, set to sweeping graceful melodies." We concur.

Evening at the Hollywood Bowl

A group of us from work all went to the famous Hollywood Bowl for an evening with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by the famous Esa-Pekka Salonen. It was Symphony of a Thousand; Mahler symphony No. 8; We took the shuttle bus from the Hollywood & Highland complex, and the bus drops you off right at the box office, so you have no troubles parking. No sooner did we arrive at the Bowl and found our seats when the lights went down and the symphony started and Esa-Pekka took the stage to do his magic or making a lovely evening under the open sky, and the beautiful sounds of the orchestra. Their was a lovely cricket making a ton of noise under one of the seats. However interestingly, it almost seemed like part of the orchestra. I was not the only one that noticed, and it seemed to get louder in the loud parts of the symphony, and it seemed to be softer during the soft parts of the symphony. Perhaps the cricket was trying to talk back and forth with all the members of the orchestra. It was an amazing evening, and one could not help but be moved by the beauty of it all. I am sure I will go back to the bowl sometime soon, but was glad to see Esa-Pekka in his final season of conducting the LA Philharmonic.

Here is a bit about Esa-Pekka


About The conductor
Esa-Pekka SalonenConductor
Music Director
Walt and Lilly Disney Chair

ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, the 10th conductor to head the Los Angeles Philharmonic, began his 16th season as Music Director in October 2007. He will end his tenure at the conclusion of the 2008/09 season to devote himself more fully to composing. Salonen, who was born in Helsinki in 1958, studied at the Sibelius Academy in Finland. He made his conducting debut with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1979, and his American debut conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1984. He was recently appointed Principal Conductor of London’s Philharmonia.

Among the many highlights of Salonen’s career with the Los Angeles Philharmonic have been world premieres of works by composers John Adams, Franco Donatoni, Anders Hillborg, William Kraft, Magnus Lindberg, Witold Lutoslawski, Bernard Rands, Kaija Saariaho, Rodion Shchedrin, Steven Stucky, Tan Dun, and Augusta Read Thomas, as well as his own works. He has led critically acclaimed festivals of music by Ligeti, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Berlioz, Beethoven, and Sibelius and The Tristan Project. He and the Philharmonic have toured extensively since 1992. In October of 2003, Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic opened Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry.

In March 2003, Salonen signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. The following year, DG released a disc devoted to his recent orchestral works, featuring Foreign Bodies, Insomnia, and Wing on Wing. In January 2006, Salonen and the Philharmonic recorded their first CD together for DG, the first live recording from Walt Disney Concert Hall. (Salonen and the Philharmonic also have four live concert recordings available for download on iTunes from DG Concerts.) Before signing with DG, Salonen recorded regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Sony Classical.

Salonen is the recipient of several major awards, including the Siena Prize from the Accademia Chigiana in 1993 (the first conductor ever to receive the prize), the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Opera Award in 1995, and their Conductor Award in 1997. In 1998, he was awarded the rank of Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Musical America named him 2006 Musician of the Year.



http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/index.cfm

BWCAW

Our annual trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in Minnesota took place the last week of August. We took the red-eye flight from LAX to MSP and rented a car, after stopping in St. Paul for a brief visit with my cousin Chris and his family near the airport and a great breakfast with my good friend Jennifer from Plymouth, MN. We drove up to Ely where we met my good friend Greg from Willmar, MN at the local hotel where we met up to coordinate and launch our trip. We all went out to dinner at the Ely Steak House for a great dinner. The next morning we all headed out for an early breakfast and headed to the outfitters for a 9AM departure to be towed to our first portage into Birch Lake. The day was sunny and clear and warm for a wonderful day of paddling through Birch Lake, through 5 portages and Carp Lake, into Knife Lake where we set up our campsite at about 2pm. It was clear and sunny, but at nightfall the mosquitoes made their presence known. We all escaped into the tents at night to be free from their persistent biting, and enjoyed our first evening under the stars. We had a super cold evening, with temperatures getting close to freezing. It luckily didn’t freeze and the remaining nights we had warmer low temperatures. (although it may have killed some of the mosquitoes)
We spent the next two days fishing, and exploring Knife Lake. Max got is very first small mouth bass, and we had some great tasting fresh fried fish for dinner a couple of nights. We enjoyed and relaxed and ate very well, and had no problems. On our 2nd to last night we canoed back through the way we came in along skirting the Canadian border, back down to Newfound Lake. We found a very nice campsite there, where we set up camp for the night in a small bay in a Cedar grove. The entire day had been rather overcast. It looked like it was going to rain, but didn’t all day long. It was not until that night about 10pm that it started to pour, and it rained much of the night, and was done by the time we got up in the morning to paddle out of the wilderness. We packed it all up and were back at the outfitters dropping off our canoes by 1PM. It was a superb trip, and with some great campers, everyone got along, and had a very, very wonderful time in the wilderness. It is a world of difference from Los Angeles and Long Beach, and yet was such a welcome change and a relaxing time. We drove to my dad’s place in Menahga for a visit and then to Baxter to visit my sister Anna and her family, and then to Spooner, WI to visit my sister Anita and her family. On the way back to the airport in Minneapolis, we stopped at Jill and Jeff’s place in Apple Valley for a wonderful dinner and visit.

Garden Bounty

The Garden was filled with bounty this season, and all the produce is now put up. We had almost 30 pints of tomatoes we froze from the garden. We grew Roma VF and Viva Italia varieties for making tomato sauce and such! We also put up about 32 quarts of pickles from the garden. I used Mom's pickle recipe and it turned out as good as I remember, I sent some to my sister and she also confirmed that they tasted just as good! I know we will have some good pickles to eat this winter. Sweet corn was also in abundance from the garden this summer. Kandy Corn was the reliable hit variety that I grew, and turned out well, with succession plantings. I also grew a new variety called Earlyvee. It was as the name implies, early, only 60 days, but very short, but good tasting. I also grew a white corn variety, called Jubilee, it was super difficult to germinate, tall, and nearly 80 days, but very tasty. The bags of corn pictured are the white Jubilee and Kandy Corn, mixed with Earlyvee. This will give us some good winter eating. Best of all this was all grown organically with horse manure and cover crops, and organic fertilizers.

Blue Jay Campground

Dale and I and our neighbors Greg and George all decided to go camping up at Blue Jay campground in the Cleveland national forest. It is about an hour drive from Long Beach up in the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange County. It was a Friday and I was off work early, so we packed up the SUVs and high tailed it up the Ortega highway to the mountains. We did not realize that there was road work on the windy mountainous Ortega Highway, and the road actually closes at 8:30pm to all traffic. We made it with only 10 minutes to spare to the top of the mountain before the road was closed, and found our way to the campsite just as it was getting dark. We set up tents, and cooked a great meal and went to bed after a nice evening around the campfire. The weekend was warm, up to 96 F and sunny, but there were some nice cool breezes and we had plenty to drink and keep us cool. We also took a run into the nearby town of Lake Elsinore for some more ice and supplies. We also tied up our nice solar shower to a tree and we all had refreshing showers in the evening before our dinner. It was very dry and dusty, so no matter where you turned, you got dirty. We had a 2nd evening of a great fire, meal and meal around the campfire, and went to bed for a nice rest under the stars. We packed up on Sunday morning after a hearty breakfast and headed back to Long Beach. It was a perfect weekend get away that made is seem like it was a mini vacation. It was fun, and back home in time to do some laundry and dinner.

5.8 Earthquake

Below is the official news post for our most recent earthquake. I was at work in the Capitol Tower when it struck in Hollywood. (on 4th floor) The building swayed and jolted for about 10-15 seconds, and I decided between diving under the desk or running down the stairs to outside. By the time I even got to the stairs it stopped, but I went down anyway, as you never know how long any of the aftershocks or waves will last. I was not the only one, as many people were in the parking lot, not anxious to go back up. However, it was about it. A few smaller aftershocks were recorded in Diamond Bar, near by Chino Hills, but for the most part, no dammage reports, just a lot of "shaken up" people.


CHINO HILLS (KABC) -- A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit late Tuesday morning two miles southwest of Chino Hills in San Bernardino County.
The jolt was felt from Los Angeles to San Diego, and slightly in Las Vegas. It caused buildings to sway and triggered some precautionary evacuations.
No damage or injuries have been reported as a result of the earthquake.
The quake struck at 11:42 a.m. PDT. Buildings swayed in downtown Los Angeles and San Diego for several seconds.

Bass Lake

Over the 4th of July I went up camping to Bass Lake, near Oakhurst, CA with my good friend Michael and his boyfriend Andrew. We had a great time. It was a group campground in the Sierra national forest with a group of about 110 gay men. It was very relaxing and a great time for everyone. We were out on the lake most every day.
Many people brought boats, So we got to do some boating and wake boarding. That was fun, in addition some great swimming in the mountain stream fed lake. We also had the opportunity to do some great hiking up in the mountain streams that fed the lake. It was amazing and very beautiful. One of the parts of participating in the camping was volunteering a day for cooking. We took the 4th of July and were on the tam for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the day! It was fun, and we all had a good time in the outdoor kitchen!

It was all to fast and all went by so quickly before we had to head back down to LA for the 5 hour drive. It was not too bad, as we missed most of the heavy traffic, leaving at a late enough hour. The trip was great, and the area was superb, only a few miles from Yosemite national park!

Limekiln State Park

Our neighbors George and Greg had such a good time camping last time, they decided to go again, this time they picked the spot. (we also invited our other neighbors Brian and Dennis as well as their friend Kate) They chose a great place up the California Coastline, along the Pacific Coast Highway, about 40 Miles north of San Simeon is the very first Costal Readwood grove, in Limekiln State park. We left on a Sunday AM and drove up the 101 freeway, and the PCH with a stop along the way in Paso Robles, for a quick stop for some wine tasting at a vineyard. We then stopped in Cambria for a nice lunch at a cute roadside cafe/restaurant. It was fun, and nice and cool along the coast. We found a great campsite under all the redwoods and then started to explore the hiking trails and the beach area were we were camping for the next two nights. A very wonderful bubbling stream ran right through the campground to the ocean, and hiking trails all the way back to the waterfall deep in the redwoods where it all started. It was amazing hiking all the way back in the woods. The park is named Limekiln for the fact that early settlers found a great deal of lime in the rocks and ovens are still there from where they smelted the lime out for commercial use in cement making. It was very interesting to see! We all had a great time, and ate and cooked like crazy, as we all enjoyed the beautiful surroundings very, very much. We had a great drive back with a stop along the coast to see the elephant seals on the beach area where they lounge and in their protected habitat. We also stopped in San Luis Obisbo for a great lunch and a little walk around the very beautiful downtown of such a nice coastal town.

Pride Run 10K 2008

On Saturday of Pride for Long Beach, I ran the Shoreline Frontrunners, annual 10K run. http://www.shorelinefrontrunners.org/priderun/results/ It was a very hot, hot day, and by the time the run started at 8AM it was in the upper 80's and very hot. My friend Eric had come down from San Francisco to run it as well. (He runs in the Frontrunners in San Francisco a lot) Also my good friend Tigger ran it with us and my friend Steve. We were all excited and started off with a bang. Because of the heat though, I was sweating buckets by mile three, and then I hit a WALL. I thought I was going to fall over in the sand face first on the beachfront pathway. I managed to keep going though, and persevered to the very end. I made it in across the finish line with a time of 41:23 and was very happy with it.

I didn't think it was anything great, but it turned out I took the 1st place medal for Men's in my age group. 41-50 years. (4th overall) Eric took the 2nd place for his age group and Tigger took the 3rd place medal for her group in women's. We were all very excited about it and went out for a great breakfast later on! It was all good and we had a treat of mimosas to celebrate with our hearty breakfast!

Lake Perris Camping

The last weekend in April with temperatures unseasonably warm, in the mid 90's we drove inland to go camping with our neighbors, George & Greg to Lake Perris, near Riverside, California. We had such a nice time, even though it was terribly hot, the lake was cool and we had a nice time cooling off in the water, even though we really didn't feel like going swimming in it. (Lake Perris is a water reservoir for the area)

Ironically this was the same weekend when they received about 2 feet of snow in Northern Minnesota. We talked to my dad on the phone while we were sweltering in the heat and he had just finished blowing snow from the driveway. How ironic is all of that! It was a fun, and quick camping weekend trip, and we stopped in Riverside on the way back for a small little tour before heading back home.

Hollywood & Vine Fire

As I stepped off the Hollywood & Vine train stop this morning I could smell the smoke from this fire. It was right on the corner of the intersection in a popular Hollywood night club. The intersection was littered with over a dozen fire trucks, and fire hoses all over the street. Up in the air was nothing but black smoke coming out like crazy! It was quite a scene. I went to the gym and completed my morning workout just a block and a half away. After when walking to work I ran into all my co-workers on the street outside the Capitol Records tower. (2 doors down from the fire) Our offices were right in the area where smoke had been blowing the past several hours, and so the building was closed for the day until the air quality would be better. It was an unexpected day off work, but just glad that no one was injured or hurt in the fire!

You can read more if you like on the following link;

http://ktla.trb.com/news/ktla-restaurantfire,0,1122118.story

Portland, OR

Dale and I flew up to Portland, Oregon on the weekend of March 28-30th to visit our friend Eric. We had a hard time finding open flights from the LA area to Portland, so we flew into Seattle from Long Beach, and Eric drove up to pick us up. It was a snowy day in the Seattle area, and Eric had driven in snow most of the way up from Portland, and it started to clear on the drive back down. We were not in any hurry, and took our time along the way. It was a nice winter wonderland in some places but was all pretty much melted by the time we got back to Portland that evening.


We all went out to Breakfast one morning at the Bob's Red Mill in Milwaukie, OR. They area a local miller that has products around the nation in most grocery stores. We have always loved and used most of their products, so it was fun to see the mill where it all originates from and have a delicious breakfast in their restaurant.
http://www.bobsredmill.com/company.php


We also went to Breakfast at one of the best, outrageous, most typical Portland fares you can find. The Tin Shed Garden Cafe; http://www.tinshedgardencafe.com/index.html

The food is amazing, the fun part is that they have over half their space in outdoor seating, and even though it was cold, in the 40's, we sat outside next to a blazing outdoor fireplace for a lovely breakfast that none other could compare! If you want the quintessential dining experience while in Portland, this place is a must!


We also took an afternoon to enjoy a movie and shopping in the Hawthorne area. This is one great area of Portland, and the Bagdad theatre ROCKS! http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=9&id=176




We did some cooking and made a nice meal for Eric, with some great grocery stores in the area to choose from. We then headed out on Sunday to catch our flight back to LAX from Portland. This was one interesting trip, 4 different airports, in a round trip. That is a first!

Dripping Springs Campgrond

Dripping Springs Campground at The Cleveland National Forest.

Dale and I took off for the first camping trip of a the season on a very nice warm sunny weekend in February to a desert campground 11 miles east of Temecula, CA, about a 2 hour drive from Long Beach. The site had a beautiful stream, the Aroyo Tiaga stream running through it, (seasonally) and miles and miles of hiking trails up in the mountains nearby. It was fun to get away, camping under a clear sky and an almost full moon gave so much light it seemed like the sun was moving over the tent at night. It also got quite cold, with a touch of frost, and our dishwater had a quarter inch of ice on it when we left it out overnight. Once the sun was up, it warmed up quickly, for a beautiful day. The Dripping springs campground is also home to the endangered Aroyo Toad as well. It's habitat in Southern California is nearly destroyed due to all the development. We didn't see any, but were able to hear one croaking late at night while around the campfire. I was glad they didn't keep us up all night!