Train Ride

We took a train ride from Sacramento up the Feather River Canyon yesterday. I have driven up highway 70 which goes up that same route many times but the train tracks take a slightly different route and since I was free to walk around and didn't have to drive, I could enjoy the view like I never have before. It was a great experience even though the people who organized it should have had a little better idea about how to organize something like that. I could critique it but needless to say overall it was quite a fun thing to do and a nice day to do it.

Willow Lake

Went up to Willow Lake today to show everyone the floating bog. That thing is so cool and it still looks like I remember it. The whole shoreline in this picture is floating bog and walking on it is like walking on a water bed. The last time I went up there was many years ago and it didn't change much over time. We went swimming but there are a fair amount of weeds growing just under the surface which made treading water almost impossible. I was able to back float over them though and that worked out just fine. I was also able to identify 3 species of fish in there, bluegill, trout, and catfish. As bassy as it looks you'd think there might also be some bass in there but I don't know and didn't see any I could clearly identify as bass. It was a nice day, warm and the water felt great. Not to mention that the scenery was hard to beat.

Looking for petrified wood

Well, looking for petrified wood wasn't exactly what we were doing, it was more like picking up petrified wood since there is so much of it out in the place we went to. You have to pick only the best pieces otherwise you end up with full pockets after only a short time. I was looking for stuff I could cut and polish and there was plenty of it. Everyone had pockets full within ½ hour. This place is on the old Milford District where I used to work and I've known about it for many years. I've shown several people where it is but for the most part it is a place known only to me.

I saw this old juniper tree out there and thought it was pretty picturesque so I took this picture. There was a dry front coming through today and it was very windy and not very warm. I'm used to hot and dry this time of year and we had the dry part but it was not hot at all. I could have had it another 20° warmer and still would have been cool as a cucumber. Oh well, ya gotta take what you get with the weather.

Homer Lake

Beautiful Homer Lake! You used to be able to drive within about an eighth of a mile from this gem but the Forest Service in their infinite wisdom have closed it off for anyone who doesn't have 2 good legs and the desire to walk the distance. I didn't mind the walk mind you, but when the road going in here is in such good shape, the idea that they needed to close it just makes me mad due to the lack of thought they put into this decision. Yet another bad choice concerning our so called public lands.

We went swimming up there and I'll tell you, that water was cold. I went in anyway but it almost took my breath away once I got all the way in. The water was nice and clear and not weedy so swimming was easy from where we were.

After we got back to the parking area I had them all pose for me, even the dogs as you can see in this picture. A very nice day and an easy hike even though the road going in there could have been driven if they hadn't closed it off.

Crystal Lake

Today we decided to take Karen's 3 grand kids up to Crystal Lake in the Jeep. It was a little tight for the kids in the back seat but they made it and didn't complain about it. The boys went swimming but it just wasn't warm enough today for me to get any deeper in the water than about knee deep. There were still lots of wild flowers blooming at that elevation so I walked around the shore to get another view of the lake and take a few pictures of them. The last 2 times we were there we saw a bear but not today. We did see some deer along the road and that was good for the boys to see some wildlife. It was a nice day but it certainly could have been warmer for my blood, after all, it is near the end of July and it should be nice and toasty. I guess global warming is to blame, we must be in the area where the new polar icecaps will be forming. I'm not complaining mind you, just poking fun at this so called global warming hoax.

Moved!

Wow... moving day is over and now the unpacking is taking all of our time. We have been making pretty good headway and that's a good thing since tomorrow we go to Reno to pick up 3 of Karen's grandsons for a 3 week stay. We will still be getting the remainder unpacked but those boys are going to want to be doing things and we have lots of stuff planned to do with them. In addition, my grandson Tristan will be coming to stay with us for a while too so having 4 boys here might be a chore, but then you never know, it might be lots of fun too.

We got Dish for TV and we get 120 channels, 90% of which seem to be commercial. Truth be known I will probably only watch 5 or 6 channels anyway so kind of a waste of money. Our internet we get through good old 2 cans and a string phone company (Frontier) and true to their nature they advertise 3 mb connection speeds and then when the installer comes he tells me we can only get 1 mb since we are too far from the switching station. I know I got spoiled when I had cable internet but Frontier was the last resort for us and as soon as somebody comes along with something else I'll be switching.

Ok, I guess that's enough of an update for now. Ya gotta love it... at least I love the view from our deck, don't think I'll ever get tired of that.

From beauty to ugly

We had a great trip to Greenville. Unfortunately we didn't get to the solar cookoff as we had planned but we took everyone up to Crystal Lake instead and since it was such a nice day it turned out to be a wonderful thing to do. While we were there a bear decided to come down to the lake for a drink and Krista got some pictures of him but I was off climbing rocks and didn't get to see him. We had seen this bear a couple of days earlier when we had come up to the lake so I didn't feel like I missed much.

Now we are back in Idaho dealing with moving again and fixing things to get the house ready to sell. The basement has a couple of leaks in the walls and here is one of them. That hole is about 4 feet deep and with that water pipe in the way it was a little hard to dig. I covered the crack with an asphalt sealer and I don't think that will leak again any time soon. Now we have another one to fix but that one is going to be an above ground fix that involves concrete work. We don't have much time since we are leaving with our final big load for Greenville on Saturday or Sunday, depending on the time it takes to fill the truck. So in a few days it will be back on the road again but the end is finally in sight... YEAH!!!