A Prehistoric Wonderland

I made it to Joshua Tree National Park today for the first time. What a strange and magical place! It was too far and too big for a work-day excursion, so I decided to visit on the last Friday of my trip, on the way home. Fortunately, Josh, my project manager said I could have the day off. Thanks Josh! As I drove into the park from the north-west entrance, I was surprised how quiet the roads were. The drive through the park was really beautiful, and I stopped to go on the Ryan Mountain hike - a moderately strenuous hike that climbs around 2400 feet. The trail was very serene, with only a dozen or so hikers, mostly from Europe and the UK. It's inspiring to see so many retired people in good physical condition - may this be me when I'm 63! I decided to camp in the park for the night, even though it is cold and my cell phone and internet are not working. My camera works though! I am going hog-wild with my new camera, as this place is such a visual wonderland. The rocks are so strange, you feel like you're on another planet. And then there are the weird spiny trees and plants everywhere. It is good to be in this wild and strange place. I took advantage of the sunset at the 'Jumbo Rocks' campground, and managed to get some really interesting photos. So this is the end of my Palm Springs trip. I am 3 hours from home now - taking advantage of my last opportunity to blog before I jump back into my work week. There are many other things I could mention - the trip up the Tram, the trip to the botanical gardens, the really nice folks I met at the Happy Traveller RV park. So this RV concept is really working out well. A trip to Arizona is in my future. I leave you with one of my favorite photos from Joshua Tree. I was almost giddy to get some of these shots. Signing off now...

Flirting Lizards

Another work-day excursion was biking distance to the RV park - Andreas Canyon - part of the Indian Canyons area. It was a hard bike-ride there (lots of uphill), but fun whizzing down the hill on the way back. This was a short 1 mile round-trip hike - very beautiful. The streams were gushing with the melting snows. The trail borders a cliff on the right side and palm trees and palm furns on the left. Sitting by the streams was tremendously invigorating. At the loop point of the trail, I chatted on the phone with my project manager about the complications of implementing our new reporting strategy, while a lizard was sunning himself on a log next to me. Cheeky little devil! Andreas is an excellent short hike if you're in the area.

Taquitz Canyon

Taquitz Canyon is walking distance to the RV park, and was a good option for a short work-day excursion. I decided to go on the 8am ranger-led hike, and it was well worth it. The ranger was extremely knowledgeable, and had befriended two ravens which he had given names to (a male and female pair). He said they like to follow the hikers along the trail sometimes, and at one point he made a bird noise to them, and they responded back to him. I told him a story about a Tibetan Lama who was doing a particular ceremony, and at the end of it, two ravens landed on him - one on each shoulder. I should note that this story was told to me by someone who witnessed it first-hand. The ranger really liked the story.
One of the highlights of the hike is a beautiful waterfall (shown in photo). Also the history of the Native Americans who inhabited these canyons from 2000 yours ago, and the artifacts from their time there was also quite interesting.

Hummingbirds, Ravens and Lizards

Due to bad weather and time constraints, I decided to postpone my trip to Sedona Arizona and hang out in Palm Springs again.
So here I am at the "Happy Traveler RV Park" in Palm Springs again. The park is bustling with cheerful retired Canadians - this is definitely peak season, and I was lucky to get a spot. I’ve been working almost full-time hours, but have managed to get a few excursions and delightful hikes in. Weather has been good, though perhaps a bit too hot on some days.
I’ve been playing with the new digital camera, and tried to get a few shots of the hummingbirds at the RV park office. I would like to blog more, but am finding that I just need to get off of the computer sometimes. More later, about the lizards and ravens.

Wine Country

It was a busy autumn moving house. Bought a lovely 3-story townhome in Roseville. Wasn't planning to buy, but the real-estate melt-down suddenly made is seem like a good idea. In summary, it is a lovely home, and even has a view of the Sierra mountains on a clear day.

To kick off the new year of motorhome adventures, I decided to take a long-weekend trip to "wine country", a mere 100 miles from Roseville. It has been many years since I visited the Napa valley. Calistoga was my weekend destination, in the heart of wine country. I kept checking the weather forecast and waited for a sunny weekend. Fabulous weather arrived, so I hit the road. The RV park is walking distance to the main street in the town, which has great restaurants and art shops. This area is perhaps the greatest wine-lovers paradise on earth - there has to be over 100 wineries within a 40 mile radius.
Calistoga is a very bike-friendly town too, which is great, since I do not tow a car with the motorhome.
Part of my reason for taking this trip was to test out the motorhome before going to Arizona. Yes - Arizona in February! Sedona Arizona is my planned destination. My brother says the scenery is awesome. You'll be happy to know I've invested in a good digital camera - now I just need to learn how to use it!
On my 2008 trips I discovered the fun of photography, and hope to develop my skills in this area.


So Calistoga is a winner. I shall return again some time in spring, fall or winter. Summer would be too hot - in this part of the world, summer is a time for the mountains or the ocean. Winter days here can be nice, but they are not predictable. Some winters get a significant amount of sun, but you probably want to be in Palm Springs to get consistent winter sun in California.

Weekends Rock

After a productive work-week, it's play-time! Yesterday I went on a 10 mile bike-ride to the foot (head?) of Fallen Leaf Lake, a smaller lake not far from my camp-ground. The weather was perfect and the scenery beautiful. (Photograph is one I took last month on a weekend trip here in June.) In the afternoon, I went on a tour of the Pope Estate, which was a rich family's summer estate in the early 1900's. Kudos to US Forest Service and local Tahoe Historical groups for keeping these attractions alive. The place is run primarily by volunteers throughout the summer. A lot of younger retired and semi-retired people come here for the summer and volunteer in exchange for free lodging. Last night I went to a play in the 'Boat House' - part of the Pope Estate, which once was a real boat house. Camp Richardson is teeming with people - they seem to be cheerful and polite for the most part. I think the best thing about this place is its proximity to good walking and biking trails. There's really a lot to see around here if you're into hiking. I'll definitely return here - perhaps in May or September when it is a bit quieter. I'd like to hike up Mt Tallac, but it may have to wait for another trip, since I need to return home in 3 days, and the weekend is winding down. My big decision for tonight - where to have dinner?

Clean air again

(written 7/17, posted 7/20). Day 5 in Tahoe, and the weather is excellent. The smoke has cleared and the vivid colors of the lake, sky and mountains have returned. It's so great to be breathing cleaner, cooler air. The last few days have been focused around work, but I have managed some bike rides and lunchtime strolls on the beach. Today I learned that there is no commercial fishing allowed in Lake Tahoe, which explains why none of the restaurants have local fish. I have all but abandoned cooking dinner in the motorhome, as South Lake Tahoe has a great variety of moderately priced restaurants within biking distance.
For my nerd friends, I should tell you that Verizon internet service works really well here, as does cell phone service. Even uploading 30 megs of data was not a problem. One more day at 'Campground by the Lake' and I will move to 'Camp Richardson', about 4 miles north-west of here. It is not as handy to restaurants, but has beautiful walking and biking places next to the lake.