Ryan's 30th Birthday Weekend

The crew for Ryan's 30th birthday celebration in Sonoma: Adam and Rachel, Jason and Tiffin, Grace and Alonzo, Phil and Nicky, and Jesse and Eileen

Tasting at Roshambo Winery, home of the world rock-paper-scissors championship. The lady behind the counter gave Ryan a free t-shirt, which is now one of his favorites.


We rented a huge house for the group, and Ryan forced everyone to compete for the prime bedrooms through an all-night tournament of games. (Hey, it was my birthday, and I was into it!)

Guess who won?

Giving the little brother advice :)

And of course no birthday is complete without a freezing late night swim!

Best of 2004

Our fondest memories from 2004...

Ahhh... the second half of the second life of business school: Good memories indeed. Spring Break '04 staying at Jerry's place in Honolulu and touring the Big Island, Pinky's 80th Birthday Party in San Diego with the Hills, Spring in Tahoe skiing with friends, and Memorial Day Camping in the Sierras.

Then came the graduation festivities: a week of "Disorientation" events, followed by the Graduation itself. An end of an era!

Before Ryan started work again, there was still time for Karen and Alex's Wedding in Houston, and a Backpacking to Minaret Lake with Jim Sharky.

And then, of course, the epic Nichols family trip to Tibet: we traveled to the roof of the world and discover for ourselves legendary cloud-shrouded mountains, the mysteries and realities of Buddhism, and the spirit and strength of the Tibetan people as they confront a modern China.

We ended the year with the ultimate roadtrip, from Palo Alto to the tip of Baja and back: 4 nights sleeping on the beach as we work our way south, an unforgettable New Year's Eve celebration in Cabo San Lucas, 4 days of recovery at a beachfront condo, and 3,579 miles under our belt before getting home. Our partners in crime? Jesse and Eileen on the drive down and Grace and Alonzo for our time in Los Cabos.

Click here for a close-up of the collage of the best of 2004.

Baja Baby

The ultimate roadtrip, from Palo Alto to the tip of Baja and back: 4 nights sleeping on the beach as we work our way south, an unforgettable New Year's Eve celebration in Cabo San Lucas, 4 days of recovery at a beachfront condo, and 3,579 miles under our belt before getting home. Our partners in crime? Jesse and Eileen on the drive down and Grace and Alonzo for our time in Los Cabos. Click here for photos..

Pilgrimage to Tibet

"My own mind's Tibet,
secret soaring roof of world--
found, and found far more."

Between July 18th and August 15, 2004, the Nichols clan embarked on the adventure of a lifetime: we traveled to Tibet to explore the roof of the world and discover for ourselves legendary cloud-shrouded mountains, the mysteries and realities of Buddhism, and the spirit and strength of the Tibetan people as they confront a modern China. Ryan had just graduated from two years at Stanford Business School and arrived in Tibet early for a week-long trek with classmate Dave Weickhardt. Eunice managed to take a three-week sabbatical from work and joined Ryan a week later. Ryan's father Michael, stepmother Nancy, brother Adam, and Adam's girlfriend Rachel met up with us for our final two weeks of adventure in this magical land.


Dave and Ryan's Trek from Ganden to Samye 
7/18 - 7/28
The adventure began with a week-long trek with Ryan's friend and GSB classmate David Weickhardt. After a quick stop in Chengdu and some time in Lhasa seeing the sites and getting used to the altitude, we set off on our six-day trek between two of the most important monasteries in Tibet-- Ganden and Samye. We walked 50 miles, climbed two seventeen-thousand foot passes, dealt with rain, snow and hail, and handled more than our fair share of altitude sickness before walking down from the mountains and through the desert surrounding Samye's golden spires. Just when we thought the adventure was over, our bus got stuck in a river on the way back to the airport. What a trip!


Eunice and Ryan's Journey from Lhasa to Shigatse
7/28 - 8/1
After meeting in the airport and heading back to the wonderful Mandala Hotel, we spent a couple of days exploring Lhasa before deciding to check out Shigatse, the second largest town in Tibet. The main road was closed and the side roads were flooded, meaning that we spent 22 hours over 2 very full days traveling the 150 miles between these two towns on unbelievably bad roads in various forms of public transportation. The ride was worth it though, for the beautiful views traveling over the passes, the wonderful statues at Tashilhunpo Monastery, and the markets of Shigatse.


The Nichols' tour of Lhasa
8/2 - 8/3
Eunice and Ryan met up with the rest of the Nichols clan in Lhasa to join their Mountain Travel Sobek tour, led by the amazing Cathy Ann. We toured Drepung and Sera Monasteries on the outskirts of Lhasa, had tea with the Abbot of Sera Monastery, watched the monks hold afternoon debates, toured the Jokhang Temple, and visited the Dali Lama's former home, the Potala Palace.



The Nichols' trek to Namtso
8/4 - 8/8
We departed for Damxung and started our long hike up and over the river valley that would take us to Namtso-- "Heavenly Lake." We hiked past yak-hair nomad tents and mountainside monasteries, over glaciated valleys, and through narrow gorges to reach Kong La, a 17,200 foot pass which offered our first views of our magnificent destination.



The Nichols' pilgrimage at Namtso
8/8 - 8/9
After visiting several nomads' camps, we walked to our camp at the foot of the cliffs of Tashi Do, the auspicious rock jutting into the 800 square mile Namtso Lake at 15,060 feet. We made a kora around Tashi Do, exploring the hermitage on the shores of the lake and its remarkable monastery, grottos, cave temples, and twin limestone watchtowers. In the distance, we could see the snowy Nyenchen Thanglha peaks across the turquoise waters, reaching 23,249 feet.



The Nichols' side-trip to Beijing
8/10 - 8/14
Although altitude sickness forced us to spend a couple more days in Beijing than we'd originally planned, we stuck together as a family and made the most of our time in the capital of China. We toured Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Hongqiao Market, and took a fantastic day-trip out to the "Wild Wall." Not to mention sampling some of Beijing's finest food and lodging!

GSB Graduation

On June 12, Ryan received his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Here are photos of that weekend with family and friends.

GSB Disorientation

The week before business school graduation is called "Disorientation," and is filled with hikes, bike rides, and river trips during the day and lots and lots of parties during the night. A great end to a great two years of higher education.Click here for photos

Pinky's 80th Birthday Weekend

On the weekend of 4/17-4/18, Pinky's children and grandchildren gathered in San Diego to celebrate her 80th birthday with a weekend of table tennis, hearts, parcheesi, good food, and family fun.Click Here for Photos

Best of 2003

We started 2003 in San Diego, recovering from our big night out with Adam, Fran, and Morgan. On New Year's day, we woke up early for an 8 hour drive to San Francisco, a 2 hour flight to Vancouver, and a 3 hour drive to Whistler. We joined 200 of Ryan's GSB classmates at Whistler for 4 days of skiing and some time with family in Vancouver.

Then it was back to the "grind" of the first year of business school and our life in Palo Alto... with lots of little breaks to keep things interesting! We made a winter trip to New York where we visited Ryan's old roommates, ate at Peter Lugar's, and caught up with lots of good friends. We stayed closer to home on President's Day Weekend, hosting dinner parties and hanging out with David and Jennifer (getting bigger and bigger!) before heading off to Pinnacles National Monument for a weekend of camping, just the two of us.

Of course there were also loads of business school events: One Tuesday night later in February, 300 of Ryan's business-school classmates dressed up in 70's gear and headed to Las Vegas for a one-night party called "Vegas FOAM." Eunice decided to jump into the fray and became the head of the business school partner's group, planning parties, events, and outings (including a trip to see the elephant seals at Anu Nuevo State Park). And no spring would be complete without a late-season trip to Tahoe with friends, a baseball game at PacBell park, a ride on a segway, and beers with friends in the backyard of our cottage in Palo Alto.

Melody was born in April.... and we were at the hospital moments after her arrival! How exciting to have our first niece so close to home! And Benson and Danielle were married later in July, bringing lots of Eunice's family to the Bay Area (and our house) for more celebration!

To celebrate Dad's 60th birthday, the Nichols boys took a 10 day road-trip through the north and south islands of New Zealand (boys only, much to Eunice's chagrin!). We drove 2000 miles, landed on a glacier in a helicopter, swam with dolphins, climbed a volcano, kayaked to a remote beach, jumped off an underground waterfall, and sampled lots of excellent food and drink. Happy birthday, Dad!

We spent more and more time outside with the arrival of the Bay Area spring. We took a great family hike through Big Basin, meeting Adam's girlfriend Rachel for the first time. Jesse and Lee came out for a visit from New York to visit wine country, do some volunteer work with Eunice, and do some incredible hiking in Yosemite. Susan's visit over the summer was a great chance to enjoy the arrival of summer in the city and cool off in Stanford's fountains. We relived our days in San Francisco for Eunice's Birthday, staying at a B&B in North Beach, having a wonderful meal at Cafe Jacqueline, and enjoying a great hike out to the beach.

We went out to New York again in July to celebrate Tej's Wedding and to spend July 4th in the city, watching the fireworks from a swimming pool by the river (thanks to Jesse's park's department connections!). We finished the summer with a weekend visit to San Diego and a weekend trip to Virginia for cousin Carrie and Pete's wedding.

Ryan spent his summer trying out product management at Intuit, but September brought the start of his second year at business school. It started off strong-- he led a mountain biking trip
up in Lake Tahoe for the new first year students.

We went back to New York in October to see Mamie's dance performance and connect with the New York crew again. We spent our first Halloween in the Castro with Josh and Christine, using Adam's house party as a base to avoid the madness.

Thanksgiving was a huge family event-- the Nichols, the Barons, AND the entire Lin / Tang family, all at Dad and Nancy's place for dinner! After an epic day in the Marina, we went with Eunice's family down to Carmel.

This was also the debut of Eunice's first short film, "New Beginnings," about 3 generations of mothers in her family. You can check out the film here (give it a couple of seconds to load)-- its only about 12 minutes.

After Christmas eve with family at the Hills, the two of us escaped for a week-long road trip to Death Valley. We fell in love with this place-- camping in the desert in the winter is a magical experience. Then it was back to the craziness of the Bay Area for a New Year's Eve wedding: Patricia and Adam threw a fantastic party, providing the perfect finale to a great year.

New Beginings

Here is Eunice's first short film... online at last! A 12 minute documentary, this was screened at the first annual SNBC Film Festival in 2004 and received a certificate of honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. It was also screened at the Williams College Reunion Film Festival in 2007.

According to the director, "After the birth of my niece, I was inspired to make my first film - a documentary about four generations of Chinese women in my family and their exploration of new beginnings through motherhood, immigration, culture, music, and faith. A retrospective of their personal journeys through major life changes, this film attempts to capture the strength of spirit passed down through the generations.

My interest in filmmaking comes from my father who had a passion for capturing memories for posterity, first through black and white photos, then silent film, and finally video… After he passed away in 1995, I took a trip home and started going through hundreds of his old videotapes documenting countless music recitals, vacations, reunions, and family milestones. Buried in all this footage were threads of stories that I found myself remembering, reconstructing, and wanting to explore through a more refined narrative. Yet it wasn’t until 2003, after my sister had given birth to her first baby girl and was taking a trip to visit my mother and grandmother, that I found myself for the first time itching to be behind a video camera – not so much to document the actual family gathering, but to capture the nuances of their personalities, ideas, values, actions, and physical selves, so different, yet also so clearly connected. Each had taken from the generations before them but were also passing on things uniquely theirs. The short film format turned out to be the perfect vehicle for exploring this theme."

CAST LISTING
Hong Chen Tao, Grandmother
Terry Tao Lin, Mother
Jennifer Lin Tang, Daughter
Melody Joy Tang, Granddaughter

CREW LISTING
Eunice Lin Nichols, Director, Camera Operator, Editor
Ryan Nichols, Interviewer
Madeleine Lim, Advisor

Hike in Big Basin

What could be better than a pre-father's day hike at Big Basin Park?
Beautiful redwoods, lush valleys, and 3 wonderful waterfalls....
Click here for photos!

New Zealand

To celebrate Dad's 60th birthday, the Nichols boys took a 10 day road-trip through the north and south islands of New Zealand. We drove 2000 miles, landed on a glacier in a helicopter, swam with dolphins, climbed a volcano, kayaked to a remote beach, jumped off an underground waterfall, and sampled lots of excellent food and drink. Thanks, and happy birthday Dad!

Best of 2002

See below for our fondest memories from 2002....

Our fondest memories from 2002: Ryan figuring out "what's most important to him and why" as part of the business school admission process, scrambling to get the admissions package together, the agonizing wait made even more agonizing by the news in February that Ryan's employer, Bluefire Systems, was going to fold up shop (bet you wish you'd applied to more than one school now, don't you Ryan!). Rather than sit around waiting for the phone to ring, Ryan jetted off to join Edward for a long weekend of skiing in the French Alps. Eunice tried to do a phone conference so we could listen to the fateful voicemail together, but Ryan was only linked in to hear the final seconds... but it was the admission director, and the news was good-- business school, here we come!

We spent the rest of the spring planning our summer travels to China and Southeast Asia (watching lots of subtitled films from the region on NetFlix in preparation) and enjoying our final days living in San Francisco...

Then it was off to Asia! Read about our adventures here -- our favorite memories included early mornings playing with the foster kids at New Day, team-teaching business classes at the Chinese magnet factory, eating delicious fish lettuce wraps (washed in local water, causing Ryan to say to Eunice, "remind me how good this tasted when I'm ill") overlooking the Mekong river in Laos, hiking up a valley lined with bright green rice paddies in Sapa Vietnam, watching sun rise over the main temple at Angkor Wat, having our smelly backpacks carried up to our fantastic (free) room at the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, picking out our $2 a night hut on an isolated white-sand beach in Ko Pha Ngan Thailand, our first scuba dive together on the reefs off of Malaysia, and our last night together sleeping on bamboo mats in a Japanese Ryuken in the shrine town of Nikko.

What did we learn? This kind of trip doesn't have to be once in a lifetime: it's surprisingly easy to let go of everything (except each other), kids won't end the adventures, we don't need luxury (just its ocassional availability!), and we like feeling a sense of connection to the places we travel. Most importantly, we learned that we will never get sick of each other.

Coming back was another flurry of activity: finding our little College Terrace cottage in Palo Alto and getting ready for the all-encompasing experience of business school. What better way for Ryan to prepare than a week of solo backpacking through Desolation Wilderness, a weekend with family back in San Diego, and celebrating our 1 year wedding anniversary by taking a bay cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge. Our experience in the first months at the GSB ranged from mountain biking trips in Tahoe to study groups in corporate finance to hosting a black tie dinner party that completely maxed out our cottage. Then there were the ongoing weekly activities: Tuesday night bar crawls, Thursday nights at "the Goose" with deviled eggs and liars dice, and Friday afternoon "Liquidity Preference Functions." Ahhh, gotta love business school.

Special memories in our life outside of b-school included the weddings of Scott and Jess, Alonzo and Grace, and Jeff and Annie; Gong gong and Po po's wedding anniversary which served as a family reunion for Eunice's extended family down in LA; and a huge, multi-cultural Thanksgiving hosted by Ryan's parents in the Marina.

We finished the year with some fantastic ski trips to Tahoe and a grand tour visiting family and friends in Palo Alto, Lake Tahoe, Oakland, San Francisco, Marin, Los Angeles, San Diego, Whistler, and Vancouver. We came back needing a vacation from our vacation!

Click here for the collage, of photos from 2002.

2003 Christmas and New Years

We toured the west coast this Christmas, seeing family and friends in Palo Alto, Lake Tahoe, Oakland, San Francisco, Marin, Los Angeles, San Diego, Whistler, and Vancouver. We came back needing a vacation from our vacation! Below are 5 galleries featuring favorite moments from our trip. Click here for photos...

2002 Thanksgiving at the Nichols

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year at the Nichols' place in the Marina. We had a group of 20, including the Nichols, the Barons, the Lins/Tangs, and some of Ryan's classmates from overseas. Click here for photos.

Autumn at Stanford GSB

Since coming back from our summer travels, we've found a house and spent lots of time with friends and family. These pictures represent some of our fondest memories of our first autumn at Stanford. Click here for photos.

60th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

30 of Gong Gong and Po Po's children, grandchildren, and great-children gathered in Monterey Park to help them celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. Here are photos from meals, the family photo shoot, more meals, the church service, hanging out at the hotel, and more meals. Click here for pictures.

2002 Fall Weddings

We had the pleasure of attending the weddings of some dear friends this fall: Scott and Jess, Alonzo and Grace, Jeff and Annie. Click here for photos.

Bebe and Jake

Bebe and Jake were two of the finest dogs ever to roam the earth. This site captures some of our favorite memories with these wonderful boxers.

Asia Adventrues

On May 1, we left on a three-month sabbatical to China and Southeast Asia. Experiencing this part of the world had long been a dream of ours, and we were very fortunate to be able to take this trip: Eunice managed to get the time off of work—Ryan didn’t have to worry about getting time off since his company went under in March!

We started off in Beijing. After visiting Eunice's family and seeing the sights, we spent three weeks volunteering at an organization that run a foster home and community center, all funded by a small factory. We helped take care of kids in the foster home, taught English, business and computer classes, and worked to make the business side of things more efficient. Then we spent two months backpacking across Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, with a quick stop in Tokyo.

Best of 2001

Our fondest memories from 2001....


Our fondest memories of 2001: In March Ryan whisked Eunice away for a surprise trip to Hawaii announced only at the airport, which culminated in a drop-to-one knee marraige proposal overlooking the ocean.

In May we moved in together in Ryan's fantastic North Beach apartment and continued enjoying life together in the city, mostly defined by meals: lazy weekend breakfasts on the deck in our homemade "breakfast nook" with views stretching from Coit Tower to the Golden Gate bridge, brunches at Mamas served by the ever friendly Cyrus, lunches of Golden Boy Pizza in Washington Square Park, and dinners at our favorite restaurants serving food from around the world... Italian at Bocce Cafe, Afgani at Helmond, Chinese at Green Garden, Dim Sum at Lychee Garden, and, on special occasions, French Soufle's at Cafe Jacquiline. At home there were the legendary dinner parties for friends, prepared in our only-holds-one kitchen, and served in our narrow dinning room with a view.

But there wasn't all that much time for fun, as we had a wedding to plan! Weekend after weekend of no-fun-at-all trips up to wine country, looking at all the fabulous vineyards at which to get married, doing our fair share of tasting as well. We decided on the very first place we'd seen: Vine Hill House, a little white house surrounded by gardens and vineyards.

The festivities were in August: starting with a sailing trip in the bay and a night out in North Beach for the boys, a party in the Marina for the ladies. Our rehearsal dinner was in the Chinese tradition, complete with tight red Qipao for Eunice and a 7 course banquet overlooking the city at the Empress of China. On the day of, we decided to go with the flow and not get stressed out by our lack of a guest book or 2 hour late bus for the guests. Our favorite memories include getting dressed with the bridal party in separate rooms of Vine Hill House, our well scripted ceremony conducted by Michael Funk, complete with special contributions by our parents and friends, our never-ending first dance to a special song performed by our best friend Jon (accompanied by the little cousin screaming from the tree), the boys serenading Eunice with GNR's "Patience," poems by Adam, Dad, and the bridesmaids, deciding to go back for seconds at the buffet instead of making our rounds to the tables, swing dancing to the Plaids, and running out to our well decorated XTerra for an escape to our wine country hideaway!

Our honeymoon began with day at a Sonoma Spa... unfortunately our hot enzyme bath gave Eunice an all-over body rash! We drove out to honeymoon at the Nichols Cabin in Blanco Basin Colorado, filled with evenings by the fire and days filled with beautiful hikes (including a death-march to Fish Lake!). We nearly succeeded in our goal of not seeing another person for our 2 weeks.

We wrapped up the year with a ski trip to Tahoe with the Barrons and trip to London for a New Year's eve celebration over the Thames, and a the countryside wedding of Edward and Laura.

Click here for the collage of the best of 2001