U wan go beach?

Doggies love the beach.

Without fail, everytime we go anywhere with sand or loose dirt, Luigi immediately starts rolling.

Flora & Fauna

Coastal California, for me, is a place of wonder. The woods here are prehistoric and full of so much exciting micro-life, especially after dark.  You merely need to break out a good flashlight, squat down, and scan the forest floor.  You will see neat stuff.  For me, of particular interest, are salamanders. In my opinion, these mysterious and private little amphibians are woodland prizes, and any time you can find one, you should feel lucky.

If I lived in this area, I would definitely familiarize myself with the vast array of different mushrooms that grow here. There are so many varieties, and I want to know which ones are good to eat. I do know that most of them are not.

Fud

For most people, vacation means time off.  But for us, it also means no holds barred eating.

First stop: Pork Belly Grub Shack. This place is off Truxel Road in Sacramento, and I am kind of obsessed with it.

Thanksgiving Northcoast Style

For the Thanksgiving holiday we went over to California's North Coast again. This is probably my favorite area of California in general.  I could see living over there.  We rented a little house on the northern end of Elk, CA right where hwy 1 and 128 meet.

This is the view of the ocean from the deck.

...

Lost Angels Food Heavy

Last weekend we went down to L.A. for JCCS 10.  Here are pics from our trip.

Here's Linda at a place I have been wanting to go back to for a while. It's called Pork Belly Grub Shack. It is not a BBQ place despite its name.

Graeagle 2

On Sunday, we rented a boat on Lake Almanor which was very enjoyable.  Linda really likes boating.

Graeagle 1

The Graeagle area of California is literally only 90 minutes from Reno. So close I cannot believe we don't go over here more often. It really is beautiful and it's an excellent place to camp, hike, herp and fish.  Below is collection of photos from Labor Day weekend. We spent the day hiking and it was really nice.

Luigi enjoys being in the Trooper

Omaha, NE

So I had to go to Omaha, NE for work at the end of August.  I'll apologize in advance to anyone who ever reads this who is from Omaha, but I have to say, this is one of the most boring places I have ever been.  The weather was miserably hot and humid which added to my misery. But, when you are stuck somewhere awful like Omaha, you have to make the best of it. I figured I should get out of the city and try to find a place to hike a little.  This didn't work out so well, because the area I picked turned out to be more or less inaccessible.  Add the sweltering humidity to the mix, and it was just a bad idea in general. However, while on my journey that ended up being nothing more than a waste of gas, I stumbled upon an old cemetery called Little Sioux. So for an hour or so I photographed the place.  And then I decided to find out what the oldest cemetery in Omaha was, and then I went there and photographed that place too.  These photos were edited to give them a more interesting look.

August Stuff

Linda's home-slices came down from P-town for a long weekend in August.  We went out to the petroglyphs and played dress-up for the 2014 Reno Superhero Crawl.

On our way out to the Lagomarsino site, we spotted some wild hoses including this cute baby.

Amador Wine Country

Towards the end of July, Linda booked a weekend down in Amador County for some relaxation and wine abuse. I find the wine from this region of California just as good as Napa/Sonoma, and it is only a couple hours away.  Enjoy the photos.

Summer Camping Trip. Post 2

Post 2

We came upon a valley, with a resting group of Pronghorn.

Summer Camping Trip. Post 1

Tom came out for a few days of camping in the desert.  It was July, and it was HOT.  We need to stop camping in the worst heat of the year.  Still, it was cool and we found some cool spots.

Wide open country north of Winnemucca.

Luigi likes to go for rides...

España - Post 7

For the final post of photos from our trip to Spain, I present to you a collection of photos from Linda's camera, some taken by me, most by her.

Without a doubt, my favorite photo of the entire trip.

España - Post 6

The next day, we attempted to go to the main train station and buy tickets to Figueras, a city a couple hours outside of Barcelona, on the Spain/France border where the Dalí Theatre and Museum is.

We learned very quickly, that buying a train ticket in Barcelona is nothing short of a fiasco. You basically wait in a huge line (like for 2 hours) only to get to a window where you can buy a ticket FOR THE NEXT DAY or later.  So this through our plans off a little.  We still got tickets for the following day, and salvaged the rest of the day wandering around Barcelona some more.

After leaving the ordeal at the train station, we were left with an open-ended day.  Outside the trains station, we found this enormous metal sculpture that you could climb on.

España - Post 5

After the cemetery, we rode the bike around to various sites. Below is a collection of photos from a day of scooting around Barcelona.

A strange rolling horse sculpture.

España - Barcelona Cemetery Bonus

The following post contains images from our morning spent at one of the most amazing cemeteries I have ever visited. It rivaled Père Lachaise and the giant cemeteries in Kyoto, Japan in beauty and layout. 

The sun was high and bright, making for some difficult photography and harsh shadows, but with 3200 speed film you can do some neat things, even when the light is not optimal.

España - Film Bonus

We did something different on this trip. We left our big DSLRs at home, and just brought two small Sony point and shoot digital cameras.  And then we both brought some old film cameras. Linda carried my old Canon TI-80 and I shot with an old Nikon FE2 and a wide angle lens I just picked up. While I liked not carrying around a hulking backpack full of camera gear, like I did in Japan, there were a few moments where I wished I had my DSLR and lenses. But for the most part, it was fun to only carry a little pocket camera and shoot film the rest of the time.  Film forces you to think a little bit more about the picture, and it is just a fun ritual in it's own way.  The following is a selection of some of the film we both shot.

Linda sitting at a little beach bar...waiting for some olives and wine.

España - Post 4

I find this funny, and also interesting.  Spain has some serious economic problems...don't we all!

España - Cars, Bikes & Scooters Bonus

I love to take photos of cars and motorcycles from other countries, and while in Barcelona there was no shortage of different stuff to keep my camera snapping.

This is me on the Cooltra scooter we rented.  It was a blast to ride around Barcelona with Linda on this thing.

España - Post 3

Crazy cool.

España - Post 2

Continuing on, with some more pics from Barcelona!

Barcelona is an old place, full of beautiful gothic architecture.

España - Street Art Bonus #2

More glorious Barcelona street art.  I could wander the world and take pictures of street art forever.

España - Street Art Bonus #1

Barcelona was full of street art. Everything from typical rattle can graffiti, to sticker art, to large murals. A lot of the art adorned the many roll-up doors that covered shops when they were (frequently) closed, which made for entertaining walks through the stone corridors of Barcelona's backstreets.

Here's a typical Barcelona shop, in closed form.  Shop hours seemed to be basically willy-nilly. Most of the doors did not roll up until 5:00pm or so.

España - Post 1

So for our 13/13 Anniversary, we flew over the little pond to Spain, to spend a week in Barcelona. I really didn't know what to expect, other than good food and drink, as Barcelona is known for being a foodie's dream come true.

Here we are, on deck for 14 hours of traveling.

The big four O

To celebrate, we went over to San Fran and then up to Dry Creek for the Passport Wine Event.

Always a nice time over there.

Okonomiyaki at Izumiya was on point. We so miss Japan!

Two weekends of Ophir Creek Trail + miscellany

Havent posted in a while, catching up with miscellaneous stuff from the last month or so.

Up a ways along the Ophir Creek Trail, Reno, March 2014

I wonder about this record

MeXiCo 2014 - Day Cuatro

A view of the haze on the the morning of our last day.

MeXiCo 2014 - Day Tres

The next morning we work up early to go on our Mariettas Island Tour.

MeXiCo 2014 - Day Dos

The next morning I woke up feeling like this.

MeXiCo 2014 - Day Uno

So we went down to Puerta Vallarta for a few days last weekend.

I like the green mountains in Puerta Vallarta.

Fire & Ice Extreme RC 4x4 Challenge 2014

2014 is here. January was a blur of work and more work.  First event of the year is the Fire & Ice Extreme RC 4x4 Challenge 2014 held at Moon Rocks here north of Sparks.  Moon Rocks is a popular local 4WD destination, but on this Saturday, it was all about the mini RC 4x4 rigs.  My friend Brad came over from Sac and lent me his spare rig for the day.  I had a lot of fun driving his truck.  It was a lot more challenging than I thought, and I can't wait to get my rig finished. Justin missed out.

All in all, I enjoyed it. After participating in this competition however, I realize I don't like the pressure of holding up the crowd.  Meaning, it would have been more fun to bring up the rear.  I didn't like when all the rigs got bunched up together and there was no where to stand.  Otherwise, it was fun.  I am not sure my Gelande II can do these types of challenges, as it is very tall and more designed for scale overlanding.  We'll see.

The weather was nice for the first half of the day, then just after lunch the wind picked up something fierce.  It was literally a sand storm out there. Still, beats the shit cold everywhere else in the country! Thanks to Linda, we had a photographer for the day snapping pics of the action.  Here are some of them.

Mike's rig catching air.