Yosemite - Day 1

We bid goodbye to Lake Tahoe this morning, journeying through Nevada to get to Yosemite.  Before driving away we stopped for one last look.

The water in Lake Tahoe is very clear.  You can see the bottom near the shore.  According to the Nevada Parks Commission there are many places in the lake you can see 75 feet down.  Unfortunately, according to the same trail guide, the lake is not expected to remain that clear forever.  They site a number of man made problems which they hope will be reversed.  That's disappointing.

Then we moved onto Yosemite coming in through Tioga Pass.  That part of the park isn't always open.  Even in drought years there is plenty of snow in the pass.  Often times the pass opens in July.  It depends on the snow pack.

Tioga pass is up about 9,000 feet and the beauty of the landscape is awe inspiring.

Those are two different bodies of water and the contrast is striking.  The rocks are different colors.  The water is recreating friendly in both, but chilly.

Opposite the bottom picture is a very steep cliff in the same smooth, white rock.  See if you can spot something on the cliff.

We saw people on that same rock the last time we visited too.

Not an easy climb!

We made our way from Tioga Pass down to the canyon floor, Yosemite Valley, which take some time.  We are staying in a condo in West Yosemite.  The land is privately owned even though it/'s inside the park.  We arrived late so no pictures of that with tonight's post.  Instead, I'll leave you with a look at the valley.  It's sometimes called the tunnel shot.

It's one of the more famous views of the valley.  More tomorrow.

The Fantastiks

Crossed the state line into Nevada where the Arts Council performs plays during the summer.   Usually Shakespeare but tonight a musical.   Staging a play on the shore can be a challenge,  especially if a storm is threatening.   It went well.   The cast performed well and they were entertaining.

Lake Tahoe - Day 2

Our plans were to take it easy on Sunday and we did do that.  The property management company gave us some lift tickets so we could get up mountain and walk around.  According to people who come here often, summer traffic is about 15% of what winter is.  It's pretty laid back.

This is a massive property development project.  From the Ritz Carlton, to the Northstar Condos, to the retail shops and the other recreation facilities this is huge.  I'm sorry Albany.  I didn't mean to turn the blog into an automobile commercial.

This is just a piece of the village.  The condo we are staying in is within walking distance.  The buildings in the village are all constructed as multi-use.  Upstairs is housing.  Downstairs is retail.  In the center of the picture is a roller skating rink which becomes an ice skating rink during the winter.

The chair lifts carry hikers and mountain bikers up mountain this time of year.  I suppose we hiked but it was leisurely.  We looked around.

The first picture in this group is from the chair lift looking back across the valley.  The second is at the head wall to a trail.  Spring flowers flourish this time of year.

There are lots of weddings during the summer season.  Unlike ski places in the east there are huge ski lodges at the top of the mountains.  They were setting up for receptions.  This floral arrangement was in a wooden barrel outside one of them.

I played with the shutter speeds on these frames so I can use them in class to demonstrate the different outcomes when you do that.  Yes, the bikers move fast.  No, they do not disappear when the ride.  That's just an effect.  However, at mid station we saw a young couple get on their bikes and head down as we jumped onto the chair lift.  They were down and in the restrooms as our chair ride got to the station.

And what does it look like during the winter?  Like that, except Jan would be wise to get out of the way of the snow movers.  Snow cover has not been deep the past five years.  Ordinarily the weather takes care of all of their needs, but the resort relied on their snow making devices.  Not surprisingly, those are not in this picture.

Tomorrow, we head over to Yosemite.  We will enter through Tioga Pass, which is always beautiful.  It will be spring time there as well.  After spending several days in Yosemite we will head back to San Francisco to meet up with Tim and Debbie.  We began the trip with them so it's fitting we end it with them.  Our plan is to take in a San Francisco Giant baseball game.  The Giants are playing the Mets rivals, the Washington Nationals.  It will be easy to route for the Giants.

Lake Tahoe

You read about the California drought?   This is a boat dock on Lake Tahoe.

In looking around the lake most of the docks are in concrete pilings and they cannot be moved.  Instead, if you look off in the distance on the right, you can see boats anchored off shore.  People use rubber rafts to get out to their motor boats.

We are staying the the Northstar resort.  It's a ski village.  Like Stratton Mountain, but on a much larger scale.  The road system inside the village is extensive.  It has it's own fire department and transit system.  

Jan Pricelined a studio condo so we have a good rate.  I imagine this place is mobbed during the winter.  Everything is geared towards skiing although they certainly do a brisk business renting the units out to people who want to spend a summer vacation near Lake Tahoe.

Our original dinner plan wasn't going to work.  The restaurant is at least 45 minutes from where we are one way.  With traffic it could be more.  Instead, I selected a place inside the Ritz Carlton which is right next door.  

The hotel is settled into the ski mountain.  There are chair lifts all around it and some of the trails end in back of the hotel.

Last night we were treated to a live episode of Law and Order.  This night we got a wedding based reality show.  There were two weddings out back.

Both weddings took place outdoors.  In the distance, behind the pavilion, you can see an outdoor fireplace.  The people sitting under that covering are enjoying drinks or dinner.  The wedding in progress was small and is behind them.

Dinner was spectacular.  It will be hard to top the food served here.  In honor of the Santacrose family we took pictures of our meal.

We started with a grilled peach and radicchio salad.   It was accented with some sort of sheep's milk cheese and we forgot the name.  It was yummy!!!

Jan had salmon with heirloom tomatoes and green beans.  The piece on top is salmon skin.  It's a garnish.

 My meal is a pork chop with shaved fennel and apple slices served over a bed of Swiss chard and  black eyed peas.  Our entrees were delicious.  Below are two views of a dessert we shared.  It's cherries served with chocolate sorbet, pistachio flakes, crumbled chocolate bits and the back side is some sort of dark chocolate dusted with cocoa.

We were tempted to return there for brunch tomorrow, but we think once is enough for our wallet.  Dinner on Sunday will be simple fare.  We are seeing a play so we'll be dinning close to the theater.  

Lassen Volcanic National Park - Day 2

We got up early and enjoyed the breakfast served at the Bidwell House.  The couple running this use to live in Lake George.  They also run a restaurant called the Red Onion.  We ate there last night.  It's on the lake.  Nice views.  Good food.

We met a gentleman who gave us advice on the best route to Lake Tahoe and a recommendation on where to eat.  He owns a house in Carmel, two of them along Lake Alamanor and another somewhere in "the valley."  We surmised he has some money at his disposal.

Our main objective today was to hike the Bumpass Hell trail named for Kendall Vanhook Bumpass who discovered the thermal features in the region and fell into one of the pools of water.  It cost him his leg.  I guess that's why it's Bumpass Hell.

The trail is spectacular.  Great views of the park, the valley, wild flowers, lakes and the mountains.  The trail guide says the it's 1.5 miles into the thermal features and the same on the return trip.  But the GPS tracker in the phone says we hiked 5 miles.  Take your pick.

Still some haze in the distance from the fires, but overall, a much clearer sky today.

We couldn't really see Mount Lassen on Thursday, but it was very visible this morning.

 One of the lakes the trail skirts.

That's the trail surface.  Kind of chunky.  Kind of dusty.  The drop off over the right edge is significant so it's important to pay attention and stay on the trail.  We made it down and back with no problem even though the trail is at 8,000 feet.

That's Brokeoff Mountain in the distance.  Not Brokeback.  It's also a volcano and when it erupted a chunk of the mountain broke off.

 There were huge fields of lupin.  The aroma was powerful and pleasant.  Snow doesn't leave this trail until about July 1 so there are spring flowers in bloom.

Another view of Mount Lassen.

Once you get to the end of the main trail you descend about 350 feet into this hydrothermal area.  Very active and very beautiful.  The hike back up those 350 was not all that pleasant since we are sea level humans, but we made it.

This mud pot is really active.  It's throwing and spewing everywhere.  The park service had to rope the area off and push viewing back a bit because from the normal viewing area if we stood there we'd get boiling mud thrown on us.

Emerald Lake, our lunch spot.  A lovely breeze.  The water is greenish blue, probably influenced by the runoff from the mountains.  No fish that I could see.

Tomorrow morning we head to Lake Tahoe.

Virtual Vacation

I use to be able to send an email to a list of friends that liked to browse our vacation blog.  However, the spam filters at Google will no longer let me email it to all of you as a group.  Bummer.  It was easy that way.  They just made the change this week.

However, I can enter a list of people on this blog site, ironically run by Google, and it will automatically notify you of my posts.

I didn't realize you weren't getting the emails until tonight so don't feel like we didn't think of you.

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