When we went to Hawaii last month on a trip built around a timeshare presentation. Although we went in knowing there was 0% chance we were going to buy, new (yesterday's blog) the exercise did change my thinking a little on whether a timeshare, at the right price, is worth it for us. Here are Five Things I recommend anyone considering a timeshare ( Read more... )

Bassets, Calif - Sat, 25 Sep 2021, 11am

The first day of our weekend trip to the Sierra Nevada began when I awoke to my usual Saturday alarm at 8am. Well, so much for getting an early start on the day, as I hoped when we arrived before 11pm last night. But hey, being able to sleep in a bit was the main reason we stretched the driving (and the hotel ( Read more... )

This weekend is our anniversary. Hawk and I have been together for 27 years, officially married for 15 of them. We're celebrating with a quick weekend trip. Tonight we'll drive up to Truckee, California.

"WTF is Truckee?" you might ask. "Do you drive there in your caree on the roadee?" Well, the town's name is derived from that of a  native Paiute ( Read more... )

As I've been surfing through news about the Caldor Fire forcing evacuations around Lake Tahoe (link to previous blog) a few photos have really stuck with me. One's this one, of Emerald Bay:


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Fires are burning all over the west, smoke is everywhere even 2,000 miles away, yadda yadda yadda. Stories about wildfires burning in California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho (and other states) have become such a fixture in the news feed that it's easy to tune them out. Thus my ear perked up this morning when I heard that evacuation had been ( Read more... )

Eldorado National Forest, California
Friday, 16 Jul 2021. 6:30pm.

Our plan for today has been to hike another trail or two in the Crystal basin after hiking Bassi Falls then camp for the night nearer to Wright's Lake to hike into the Desolation Wilderness tomorrow. Our visit to Bassi falls took longer than expected- a few hours and 3 blogs. Our next ( Read more... )

When something occurs frequently the phenomenon needs a name. This week I realized there needs to be a name for "news" articles that are actually just advertisements. These are the pieces in my news feed, usually several per day, with titles like "Five Unbelievable Deals at Amazon Today!" (someone's flogging their affiliate links) and "Three ( Read more... )

It was time to buy a new bottle of vodka. I've had my eye on a few different brands lately. Some I've had before, some are new to me. I chose to wait until I'd finished off 1 of the 2 bottles of vodka in my cabinet before buying another. That's how I manage my "drinking problem"- which applies not just to the size of my wine collection but hard ( Read more... )

Back at Incline Village, California - Sat, 21 Sep 2019, 9pm

It's been a late day for hiking. We only started down from Ellis Peak at 4:20pm. It was hard to tear ourselves away from the views.


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Atop Ellis Peak, California - Sat, 21 Sep 2019, 4:30pm

That "Stairway to Heaven" to Ellis Peak at the end of my last blog? False summit. We huffed and puffed our way to the top of it, and there were some nice views, but there was also still more climbing to go. Namely, this rocky rampart:


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