California Railroad Museum

April 20, 2016February 13, 2020Leave a comment

For Darlene’s birthday this year, we went to Old Town Sacramento for the weekend and stayed on the steamboat-turned-hotel “Delta King”. We spent a good part of Saturday checking out the fantastic California Railroad Museum which makes up almost all of the pictures in my gallery:

No pictures, but we also spent time wandering around Old Town and checking out the shops. That afternoon we participated in another “escape room” and successfully solved “The Study” at Escape Sacramento and then, after dinner, went to a fun play put on by the B Street Theater in town. (Take note: skip the Suspects Mystery Dinner Theater option on the Delta King – it gets terrible reviews on Yelp and TravelAdvisor.) Sunday was filled with a long bike ride out and back along part of the 30+ mile bike trails along the American River.

Tahoe Ski Season

April 20, 2016March 12, 2023Leave a comment

This is a handful of pictures and a couple of videos from this season of skiing (and an afternoon of sledding). Featuring… Darlene, Mike, Nanci, Rick, Maxine, Greg, Erin, Jon, Bill, Kat, Jim and myself.

Click through for the gallery:

Death Valley Super Bloom

March 5, 2016July 1, 2017Leave a comment

Death Valley is in the midst of a rare “super bloom” of wildflowers right now. Darlene and I were able to drive down there for a brief overnight visit, camping along one of the backcountry roads.

Click through above to view my gallery of pictures. For more info on the current status, see the week-by-week wildflower update for this year’s bloom.

Skiing/Gaming Week in Tahoe

March 4, 2016August 18, 2024Leave a comment

Here’s the pictures and video from our annual week of skiing and tabletop gaming, this year back in Tahoe again with Jon, Jim, Bill, Kat and Brin. We were unfortunately in a bit of a very warm and dry spell for California at the end of February. This kept us to the freshly groomed runs, rather firm in the morning, soft in the afternoon and refrozen over night, but we hit up Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, Sugarbowl and Northstar over the course of the week.

Into the Ventana Wilderness

May 19, 2015September 7, 2017Leave a comment

Pictures from a four-day backpacking trip last week with Darlene, Laura and Rachel into the Ventana Wilderness, south of Big Sur and below Cone Peak – click through for the full gallery:

Tahoe Skiing

December 29, 2014April 26, 2019Leave a comment

Click through for my gallery of pictures plus a video montage from this past weekend skiing at Squaw and Alpine Meadows with the Outdoor Adventure Club:

Eastern Sierra Colors

October 11, 2014September 6, 2017Leave a comment

Darlene and I headed over to the Eastern Sierra for a few days last week to catch the fall colors of the aspen climbing the mountain valleys. We came over Sonora Pass, visited Bodie and camped the first night near Lundy Lake, hit Mammoth Lakes and then camped below Rock Creek Lake before finally having to make our way back via Tioga Pass and through Yosemite.

Seems like we might have been about a week early to catch the peak but it also seemed that a lot of the aspen were really dry and drying out quickly after turning yellow (skipping over orange and red), presumably due to the extended drought.

Click through for the full gallery:

Ghost Town

October 11, 2014February 13, 2020Leave a comment

Bodie was a thriving gold and silver mining boomtown in the late 1800’s, home to many thousands (and many dozens of saloons) before falling into decline in the 1900’s. It was eventually completely abandoned in the 1950’s and became a state historic park in 1962. Many buildings remain standing and still contain the furniture, appliances, equipment, stores and even personal items left behind.

I’ve visited Bodie a number of times before, including in the winter, but this time was with Darlene on our way over to see the fall colors in the Eastern Sierra. My first visit was with my family back in 1979 so I managed to dig up and scan in a few old photos of me and my brother Glenn from 35 years ago.