Trail Tour Part 1

                               

                   Looking at the sunset in the side mirror of the Ranger’s Truck.

Ranger Theresa and I finally hit the trails yesterday.  We waited until it was a bit cooler which allowed me to get some really neat sunsets pictures.

We started out at Grant Lake.  Because of the drought, the lake is really low, although there are still fish in there and we do get fishermen there all the time.

We headed out on Halls Valley Trail.  At the beginning there is quite a bit of shade from the oak trees.  As pretty as this looks, you wouldn’t want to go tiptoeing through there or pick any.  It’s Poison Oak!!!  It not only grows like bush, but as a vine,  It is everywhere.

We continued going up the trail with magnificent views.  The camera can’t do it justice.

A lone oak tree.

The trail continues. We connected with the Canada de Pala Trail, going higher and higher, thru Deer Valley on towards the site of the Pala Seca Cabin.

That Poison Oak grows everywhere, even right out of a big rock. 

One more hill to climb before we get to the cabin site.  At the top of this hill we spotted a coyote, which disappeared as soon as it saw us.  Yes, there were deer down in Deer Valley.

The information board picturing and explaining the site.  That’s Grant on the left and President Hoover on the right.  You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

 

Views of and around the cabin site.  There is a spring nearby, so they had running water.

                                         The sun is beginning to set.

 Along our way there is a base rock that was used as a mortar with a pestle for grinding acorns and other things.

 

 

In my hand is a piece of chert. It is a piece of rock that the Indians mined to make arrowheads.  The outcrop of rock on the left is one such rock.

Below are some of the sunset.  The cloud in the second two reminded me of the surf on the ocean.

As the sun continued to set it left some beautifully lighted hills.

Here there were some California Quail on the trail that flew off as the truck approached.

If you enlarge this picture, you can see both the rising moon on the right and Licks Observatory on the left.

When people ask me how big the park is, I tell them that if they see the power lines to the east and to the west, that is the area between those two lines that is how big the park is.  It’s just a visual for them,  but the park is 11,000 acres.

We were losing light and so headed back to the campground along the highest ridge in the park.

We could now see Grant Lake where we started.

I really enjoyed going out on the trails.  Thank you Theresa,  I learned a lot that will help with advising campers as to what's out there on the trails.  If you ever get a chance to visit this park, I’m sure that you will enjoy your visit.

Thanks for visiting

As usual I had to stay at home.

Susan and Angel

Happy 4th of July Wedding Bells

 

                      

Just another busy weekend in the CG. Holiday weekend with lots of campers, kids running all over the place, barking dogs, amazingly no horses, and did I say that the CG was full.  I always get asked, “where can we go to see fireworks”. The answer is back in the valley.  We are in a valley and the only place would be on the trail overlooking the Santa Clara Valley, however, the trails are closed at sunset, but we sure could hear them until after 10 pm.  Most of my day was spent replenishing TP rolls in the restrooms, answering questions from campers, reminding them of the CG rules, selling firewood, and in general just being available when I wasn’t cleaning camp sites as some campers left and others came in.

In addition to all that going on we even had a wedding in the Rose Garden.  It was kind of cool the way that they used recycled pallet for the different areas for food, drinks, etc.

Most of the wedding guests camped in a group site on Friday and Saturday nights

                             

                                            The Bride and Groom

 

                                  logs and mason jars to hold flowers

                             

                            me, the Bride and Groom, and Ranger Theresa

These pictures were taken after the wedding, but before they cleaned up.  We were just checking to see if everything was okay.

It was a great day for the wedding, warm but not hot.  They thought that everything was perfect.

That was yesterday and today it was back to normal, cleaning all the camp sites after the mass exodus of campers.  Tomorrow I will finish the last few that I didn’t today.

We had a good holiday, I hope that you did too.

Thanks for visiting

I’m just all tuckered out

Susan and Angel

Time To Experiment With Blogger

Thinking about changing the way that I write my Blog.  I have always used Live Writer because I  like the way that it is easy to insert pictures, however, I can only use it on my laptop.  Evidently it is not available for mobile devices, like my I Pad.  I have recently gotten a bluetooth keyboaard to use with my new I Pad, which is really handy and I like a lot.

I have actually done this blog using the Blogger app.  It's a lot easier to do the text part here, but I can't insert and edit pictures the same way as I do in Live Writer.  So this is a test.  It will be a work in progress for a while.

Now if I can only figure out how to access the latest pictures.  This one of Angel is from a couple of years ago.  Isn't she cute?

Ted really did love driving the convertible, even though his expression doesn't say so.  It was a bit chilly this morning.

This past weekend I rented a Mustang Convertible and visited with my son Ted.  The main reason was to check out China Camp State Park in San Rafael CA as a possible location for Workamping in the winter.  We were also going to check out Sonoma Lake, but decided that it was too far.  Instead, we went to Napa for a bit of wine tasting.  He bought me a bottle of Muscato Amabile from Louis M Martini Winery.  It is really yummy, but I will probably save it until I have visitors.

We also went to IKEA to stock up on my favorite jellies and preserves.  Since I was in the convertible with the top down and Angel was in her wire crate, I found something in the "as is" section for a couple of dollars that I could cover her crate and protect her from the sun.  

Later that evening we would be picking up his girlfriend, Leslie for dinner.  In the meantime we headed up to Tilden Park to take some pictures of the Bay.  From the top of the mountain you could see all the way to and past the Golden Gate Bridge as the fog started to roll in.  

The pictures are on my Cannon camera and I don't have access to them from my iPad.  Ted has figured out how I can access most of my pictures on my iPad.  They were downloaded from my iPhone.  I think that some of them did't get transferred, so I will have to work on that later.   The picture above I took with the iPad from the laptop.  That's why they are kind of "funky".

If I get this job for the winter, this is where it will be.  It is a lot closer to Ted than where I'm at now and I won't feel so isolated.  I still have to talk to the Ranger some time this week to find out if I get it.

I didn't think to take pictures of all the things that we had at "The Dead Fish" restaurant, but we shared and they were all delicious.  After dropping Leslie off at home Ted and I headed back to his apartment in SF.  

This morning we went to La Boulange for breakfast.  That's Ted on the far right waiting for our coffee.

  

We both had scrambled eggs with different "add ins".  Check out the bowls of coffee!  

I had to turn in the car in San Jose by 11:00 am, so when we got back to his place I got Angel and packed all my things (including the the things that I bought) into the trunk and reluctantly headed home.  It's only and hour back to SJ, but another half hour up Mt Hamilton to the park (in a normal car that the engine doesn't overheat).  After running a few errands I was finally back to "My Spot" by 2:00pm.

We had a great weekend,now it's back to work for both of us.

I hope that  you all enjoyed your weekend too.

Thanks for visiting

Missing Ted already.

Susan and Angel

Flora, Fauna And Fun

WOW -----  It’s been over a month since I last posted.  Time really flies when you’re having fun.  At least most of the time I do enjoy being here.  Sure there is work, but what else would I be doing.

 

Most of these flowers are gone and it is mostly dried grasses and dust, especially over in the Snell CG.  After all we are in a drought. 

 

Still some mornings it is still a bit chilly.

In the morning I start off with the sweater and vest, but by the time I finish with the restroom cleaning I shed those two layers.  Most days have been quite comfortable, although we have flirted with 100 degrees.  Some days we get the Marine Layer in the morning.  At times I can barely see a hundred feet in front of me.  In the pictures below it looks like there is a lake past those trees, but it is actually low lying clouds in Halls Valley.below the camp grounds.  Within an hour it has all burned away, although it is pretty while it lasts.

  

It is usually in the mornings that I see most of the wild life.

One day when I was out at the front entrance talking to the other Angel, we spotted this Blue Heron staring at the ground for the longest time, when all of a sudden he caught a ground squirrel and swallowed it in one gulp.  Then in a little while he just flew away.

While cleaning restrooms this Blue Belly Lizard slithered up into the cart to visit with Angel. 

Since it is so dry, one of the local tree squirrels visits my bird bath.  The birds enjoy it too.

Last year when they had this fund raiser for Autism, wasn’t able to check out the different obstacles, because I had to monitor the restrooms.  This year they put in a port-a-potty, so I was able to get some more pictures.

  Here the runners crawl through a mud pit. The climb this wall.

Then over the “Tube-a-Soras”

Those that are in a team carry that log (as big as a telephone pole) around a huge oak tree.

Then they cross that monkey bar thing

After all that they head out over the trails and go over a few more obstacles along the way

This where they had the Polar Bear Plunge last year.  This year it was the Dirty Drawers.  They had to hand over hand under the webbing that is over the hay bales.  It’s all on a big tarp.  The guy in the red shirt is throwing water on the back sliders.  The water has a bit of soap in it to make it more slippery.

It looks like all the participant had a lot of FUN.

The people that put this on really work hard, but also eat well.  They insisted that I try the grilled asparagus.  It was excellent.

This last picture is of a doe and her twin fauns.

If ever you are in the area, stop by and visit.  it’s a great park.  In the meantime I hope that you are enjoying whatever you are doing.

Thanks for visiting

Just monitoring the radio for Mom.

Susan and Angel