This week Amy (The World is a Book) has challenged me to go to the mountains, and so I shall. Traveling has been limited to Sacramento lately. Not exactly sure why. But these photo challenges gives me a good reason to check out my library. The highest mountain I ever visited was the Himalayas when I visited Nepal in 1965. At the time Kathmandu had traveler restrictions, and two small hotels. The Royal Nepal Airline had 3 planes, not a modern jet plane. We traveled between the peaks. A pretty scary ride. But alas I don’t have any photographs. Sacramento is located two hours from the Sierras and Lake Tahoe. Heading east Donner Lake is a beautiful, quiet stop.
Donner Lake in the fall
Donner Lake in the winter
Yosemite in the Sierras
Yosemite
A weather change as I leave Yosemite
Flying over the Sierras
Outside Bodie located in the eastern Sierras. Do you see what I see?
Bodie California – the Sierras in the distance
Heading east the Sutter Buttes make for a rural landscape.
Northern California’s Coast range provides many photo opportunities just as long as there is a place to pull over. Otherwise commuter traffic makes this prohibitive.
Stopping on this winding road between Livermore and San Jose. Anne will always remember this drive!
Jez invites the hunt for reflections with a fantastic collection of great photo examples. Visit his post HERE.
Be it mirrors, still water, or glass I always look for reflections when I am out with my camera. For this challenge, I limited myself to some of the over 900 reflection images I have taken.
Taken many years ago with my first Nikon D70 at Mirror Lake in Yosemite National Park.
Mirror Lake in Yosemite
Another view of Mirror Lake was taken in late April about 14 years ago.
Taken in Seattle with my Nikon D70
Beautiful Sedona, Arizona
I last visited New York City in 2014 during a snow storm in February. We had tickets to visit in March 2020 but canceled just as Covid got serious and N.Y.C. closed down. Good thing!
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
Another view from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Which one do you like?
The rest of my images were taken closer to home in Northern California.
Setting sun over the ButtesNapa CaDonner Lake in the fallSierra foliage in autumn
When last I sat down my grandson Baby Colton arrived, and a week later my puppy-to-be made an appearance.
Three weeks later and much has happened. My 22-year-old grandson visited us for one week in February.
Sacramento Metropolitan Airport public sculpture. I see my red Samsonite!
I haven’t seen him in two years, and the visit ended with him saying, “Best vacation ever!” Not that he has taken many vacations in his short working life. It seems like for being on his own he is doing well. But there were a few details that needed to be addressed. Haircut, eyeglasses, cell phone upgrade, and work clothes set the stage for a busy week.
One thing I have to say about this guy is that he is a foodie. Straight away he planned to eat his way through Sacramento. Straight from the airport, we head to his favorite Fish and Chips place. Interestingly enough, the owners remember him. I guess he frequented this establishment when he lived close by. For dessert, I visited Icicles. Curled up icecream created right before your eyes.
Step 1
Fast moving hands
Creating rolls of handmade ice cream
Delicious. Never knew this existed. I plan to visit again.
After taking care of all those details, we planned a day out of town. At first we wanted to go to San Francisco to meet up wtih my son and family. With everyone having a different schedule this was difficult to arrange, and so we went with plan B. Headed east with Reno being our destination. This is the first February where we didn’t have a drop of rain. Weather is just lovely, but I am starting to hear talk of drought again.
First stop, Donner Summit. Checked out Donner Lake. I tried to imagine the Donner Party stuck here.
It was the end of February and there was no snow around.
My two guys!Some fishermen getting ready to cast their lines.Another tourist from the Sacramento area. Love the colorful sari.
Searched for a open restroom. Didn’t know this was a seasonal condition. LOL!
We visited the Donner Memorial State Park Visitor Center with a very nice restroom.
From October through the spring snow reached up to the foot of the sculpture when the Donner Party arrived in California. This year’s snowfall wrapped around a tiny sprouting pine tree.
We continue on to Reno and arrived about lunchtime. Headed for miles of food buffet.
Buffet at the El Dorado Casino
My grandson first took a look at the miles of desserts.
Miles of tempting desserts
He then placed his drink order. He has a unique way of ordering his meal items. But he does it with a pleasant demeanor and the servers try to oblige him.
We walked around Circus Circus, but no performances to view. We checked out the arcade. We needed to walk off that meal!
Reflections
Arcade games. No chance of winning BIG!
Tried our hand at 25 cent poker machine, and quick when we were ahead. Winner of $0.55. It was nice sitting and talking while we tried to beat the machine.
Argggh!
Thanksgiving in February with all the trimmings, except pumpkin pie. My grandson requested this holiday meal back in November so I kept a turkey in the freezer for this occasion. He remembered that I usually put walnuts in my stuffing. Not this time. Oh well. I liked the fact that I didn’t have to cook for a couple of days afterward.
Been paying close attention to the upcoming presidential race in November. California moved up the primary vote, and Super Tuesday came and went. No further comment here. I just hope, upon hope that our next president will be someone other that our current ____. You fill in the blank. Decisions, decisions, but not the greatest of choices.
My grandson headed back to Knoxville, and we focused on our upcoming trip to New York City. Then the news of coronavirus ramped up. Decisions, pro/con. After much discussion, we decided that New York City will be there, and we would postpone our trip. Booking.com made it easy to cancel the hotel reservation. I had a harder time with AAA air travel. I purchased travel insurance for my Jet Blue tickets. But I would need to file a claim, and there would be a big hassle. I called Jet Blue and they agreed to give me a 1-year credit for the tickets.
So next up, was opening day of baseball. But it was rained out. Luckily, game was called early. Go figure!
Each day from 1 pm until 7 pm I get to watch puppy television, starring Ginger and her litter of 10. And after 4 weeks they are playing and eating gruel. Next weekend the plan is to drive up north and meet the pups in person. Ginger has 10 puppies. Three girls, and seven boys. I am pretty sure that we will be bringing home a little girl pup, but we will see after we meet all of them next week. We wanted a solid colored pup (only a couple of boys fit that description), but all are so cute and personalities are starting to form. That is more important in the decision process. So excited.
So that is it for the moment. Trying to stay healthy. Relaxing and getting ready for my new adventure.
A Photo's Worth 