Last Ride of the Year

Today, I just HAD to end the year with a singletrack ride. Headed over to Manawa and ride the trails I rode yesterday. Rode better today than yesterday. Thanks again RF and Martin to deflate my tires.
Weather was upper 20s, sunny, and with some wind. By the time I had finished riding, I was quite warm - wearing too many layers. Tomorrow, I will probably need it.
Here's shots of the same place on Fast Track - December vs September

On a Clear Day you can See - St John

It's been a little hazy around here lately. The winds were blowing dust from Africa, without any rain to wash it away, it settles on the first thing that breaks up the air patterns... TheCaribbeanIslands.

But for the last two mornings, we woke up to rain. It clears off quickly, just enough to clean the air...

The shot above is pushing my camera to the max, but just beyond the boats in my bay, those are the houses on St John, about 10 miles from my deck...



This guy flew into our yard while I was taking the photos of St John.



A nice day

Mini-Vacay Amongst the North Coast Redwoods

Hi again! Thought we'd take y'all on a little tour of our roadtrip to Eureka and parts northwest! About an hour into the journey, we spied Mount St. Helena, which is at the north end of the Napa Valley. CHECK OUT that snow on top! (Very rare here, so we get excited about any snow that shows up in the neighborhood-at-large!)

A couple of hours later, we investigated this hollowed-out (giant) redwood tree. In our little slideshow, you'll see our gas-saver little car go through it!

After we left the monster drive-through tree, we took the slow route to Eureka; the "Avenue of the Giants." What a stunning road! After quickly checking into our sleeping quarters, Mom and Dad took us to a really huge, sandy expanse, called Samoa Beach.
It was soooooooooooo great to be able to stretch our legs and bodies out!!!
You can prolly tell that we are having the best time here!
We had lots of bitey/fierce face play!!! The next morning after breakfast, Mom and Pop took us to another, even MORE beautiful (and completely empty) place called Mad River Beach in Arcata. We could see the snow-covered hills from the beach!!!
Hi Ma! Gee this is fun!
And even though we weren't allowed in here, our snooters easily picked up the aromas coming from the Samoa Cookhouse. It's apparently the last place of its kind in Northern Cali, serving a family style meal at tables filled with people you don't know - super friendly and extremely yumzers breakfast (and smells like baking bread and maple syrup when you walk in!) Well... that's what Mom and Dad said, anyway! Then we drove over to the very cool Ferndale - a town loaded with old victorian houses that are beautifully maintained. After gawking at the homes and stores on the main drag, we jetted over to Russ Park, more like a huge redwood forest, and did some hiking.
We sure love the smells and feel of a redwood trail underpaw!!!
Here's a little photoshow to fill in the blanks - please biggify for better viewing!

And we're still having probs. uploading our vids, but you can go here to see the Avenue of the Giants, and here to see us ruffhousing on Samoa Beach and finally, HERE to check out some of Russ Park if you'd like. Although our roadtrip was so short, it was really fun and also incredibly beautiful in a dramatic way; the weather ranged from cooooold, yet sunny on the way there, to rainy with a little sun peeking out on our journey home. We saw some spectacular rainbows!
Have a super weekend!

Harney Peak revisted

We had really enjoyed our hike up to Harney Peak earlier in the season and I had wanted to go back in the Fall when the foliage was turning and it was cooler. Well closing looms closer and after losing one of our days off, we seized the opportunity on our day off this week. The foliage was turning color but the temps were rising into the 80's. Can we really complain?A shot of Harney Peak and the Fire Tower in the distance - can't see it?

Let's Zooooooooooooooom!

A Panoramic View

The final ascent to the Tower. We don't need any stinkin Stairmaster!



Humpty Dumpty??

Sweeping views!


What a great hike. On the drive home we ran into my favorite residents! I will miss these guys. Good thing I had some leftover carrots on board!

And the babies are even cuter!

We continued the drive through the Needles Highway

If you have a 3D computer this video is really cool! My new camera takes 3D pictures and videos.


I guess this will be the last blog for a bit. Will be busy the rest of this week closing down the Lodge and Cabins. Hoping to take a break Monday and go to the Native American Day at Crazy Horse for their last Blast of the season and to try their Buffalo Stew! Otherwise we'll be on the road a week from today!

Acoustic Cafe

Yellow Bearded Iris
My wildflower buddies and I made another visit to the Acoustic Cafe Amphitheater.

Steve Masterson
Steve very graciously took us on another guided tour. Most of my flower photos didn't turn out well (it was too sunny) - the ones from last year are here.

Mabel and the formerly perfectly fine soaker hose.
Mabel's the new pup on the block, and she's very friendly. She's still at the chewing stage though, and will probably be on vacation during the upcoming festival, so as to save tent ropes and such.
Sadly, the lovable Buster passed away since last year. Lucy is as aloof as ever.

Tadpole
Tadpole walked with us. Her sister (Sarah) joined us briefly, but was skittish of the camera. Katy the calico slept through the whole thing.

Fiery Searcher
On our walk, we spotted a Fiery Searcher, Calosoma scrutator. They're also known as Caterpillar Hunters.

Another view
So brilliant in the sun! If not the most beautiful beetle, he's at least in the top ten. He was large, as beetles go, and very fast.

Take off your shoes
Also new since last year, this exquisite hardwood floor (Ash).
There are some wonderfully worked details. I didn't forget to photograph them, but I did forget to remove the lens hood. (The lens hood is great for reducing flare when you're taking pictures in the sun. When using the flash, it causes horrible shadows. Duh.)

Skull tree
The skull tree. Still wishing I'd thought of that. Now that we have Jasmine the bone-stealing dog, we don't find the number of skulls that we once did. But I'll remember Steve's advice for cleaning such things: stick them in an ant bed. Reeeeally wish I'd known that before the antler incident.

The Acoustic Cafe is all about String music, and this is its museum. (Click for a larger version.)
It includes:
John Hartford's bowler hat,
Sam Bush's whiskey bottle,
Vassar Clements' pipe, and
Duke Bardwell's photos of playing with Elvis.
Now, Steve knows that while my friends and I do enjoy string music, we are pretty much totally ignorant about it. "You may not know his name," he said, speaking of John Hartford, "but you know his song, Gentle on My Mind."
I didn't realize though, til just now when looking up his links, that I did know John Hartford. He was on the PBS special Songs of the Civil War, that I had taped years ago, and watched dozens of times.
Here he is singing my favorite version of my favorite Civil-War-era song, Lorena:

link
Just lovely.
I looked for another song I remembered from the show, Sweet Honey in the Rock's rendition of Climbing Jacob's Ladder. Couldn't find the video, but I believe this contains the audio:

link
OK, one more. Another favorite from that show was Hard Times Come Again No More, sung by Kate and Anna McGarrigle and their families. I found this somewhat later version by them that I actually like better, and it has the added bonus of Emmylou Harris:

link
Rufus Wainwright is in both versions. Here's a link to the original, with a much younger Rufus and Martha.

Waiting to greet you at the Acoustic Cafe Amphitheater...

Covered Bridge Festival

I was a lot more impressed with this costume before I learned that they sell them at pet stores. (I'd thought that the impatient lady at the other end of the leash had made it herself.) Still, it was cute, if you like clothes on dogs. He didn't seem to mind much.

The "Covered Bridge Festival" is held in Oneonta (Blount county) every October. I'm only two months late in posting these pictures. On the bright side, if you're sorry you missed it and are eager to attend the next one, well, now it's only ten months away.
That's the main shopping street in downtown Oneonta. Annie's old store was just there on the other side of Regions bank, just beyond that inflatable green turret. It's Fred's store now - the Eureka shop. (Eureka as in "aha", not vacuums.) I think it's the best shop on the street, but of course Fred sells my handmade soap there, so I might be a little biased.

The next street over, there's an antique car show. People in Alabama seem to hold antique car shows at the drop of a hat. I suspect that antique car people just like to socialize with each other.

You can see a video of one of the bridges, and a bit of the festival, and a cute kid, here. Not my video - it's from Thicket magazine, a very good new(ish) magazine about Alabama.
Another article about the festival is here. It includes photos of all the remaining Blount county covered bridges, as well as my friend Barbara (whose name people always spell incorrectly).
There were previously four covered bridges here, but one burned down. I should say, one was burned down. That's the scuttlebutt anyway: Ne'er-do-wells partying near the bridge were reported and forced to leave. The bridge suspiciously burned down shortly thereafter.
I'm not sure why the article refers to an "accident" that closed a bridge temporarily last year. According to the newspaper, there were deliberate, heavy-duty, meant-to-destroy acts of vandalism on two of the bridges. I'm not sure if rural areas have more than their share of misbegotten miscreants, or if the teenagers here are just really, really bored.

Deer at Little Loch Broom

A line of deer grazes on the shores of Little Loch Broom, in the Western Highlands, with sea mist rising from the loch. The mountain is either Sail Mhor or Meal Garbh - sorry to be vague!
See other Skywatch glimpses here.