Beautiful day on Devilfish Lake

We are heading out kayaking again today! Right now the conditions are foggy on the Lake Superior shoreline but we are headed to an inland lake so maybe it won't be foggy up there. Of course, if it is foggy I won't complain because that could make for some interesting pictures! In the meantime, here is another shot from last week's paddle on Devilfish Lake. I loved this tree hanging over the water and couldn't resist paddling under it to photograph Jessica out in the lake with the tree in the foreground.

A Hike Up Cataract Trail

I's incredibly happy that the county we live in is more than 75% dedicated and undeveloped Open Space, with trails for pups, horsies, cyclists and hikers. I've made several posts about these amazing lands throughout Marin. But unbelievably, I can romp on other undeveloped lands here too. Our water district (its sign, above) manages 20,000 acres with 160 miles of unpaved roads and trails. We have 7 state parks (14,000 acres), and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (45,000 acres) and finally, in western Marin, the Point Reyes National Seashore with 150 miles of trails and fireroads (33,000 acres), but I can't hike most places there. Still, I'm spoiled rotten with all the options I have and yesterday, since it's been raining so much, we decided to check out any waterfall activity happening on Mt. Tamalpais. Humans make pilgrimages to Tam in spring, when the falls are roiling and banks dotted with showy wildflowers. We didn't spot any posies, but the falls were a torrent!
The approach eventually takes us out to Alpine Lake, around which we meander. It's about 4:30 pm, and we'd like to get to the trailhead, as the canopy is dark on the brightest of summer days in the thick conifer forest everywhere here.
The trail starts at the end of the bay to the left in this above photo.
Mom hadn't been here for about six years. While Cataract Falls was full and rushing, and the wildflowers were splendid, today's experience was radically different.
C'mon Ma, stop with that box thing! Lots to investigate here... a ton of smells!
Such as something I like in these grasses.
Love this place - it's beautiful, the woods smell incredibly yumzers, but that water is very LOUD. I decide to bark at it when it comes into view.
This little side rivulet (there are many falls that are coming down from the steep canyon walls on either side of the "river") is about to empty into the main Falls. I can handle this little stream!
A nice old bridge crosses yet another side falls.
It's a very steep trail that goes for about 2 miles - lots of stone and wooden stairs - I like the old stone steps. They are treachurously slippery, we find, on the way down.
Here's a little side river that I examine - some excellent smells here and I thought I might have spied a tree rat above. Mom was too slow to get a picture!

Very loud!And very beautiful. Mom seems meditative - there are only one or two others here today - on a typical weekend, the trail is packed.
Time to head back to the car as the woods are really starting to get dark. Pretty Alpine Lake views on the way back by trailside.
On the road home, we see several of these - some in fields, some on the chi chi Meadow Club golf course!
Eyes practically glazed over, I stare intently at these furry creatures as I know them. And like the way they move. If I could, I'd try to play with them, but they are too fast for me. I sleep all the way home, which is about 20 minutes away. I feel very lucky to have all these great places to investigate.

Ice Mountain

Another shot of the ice piles that were lining Grand Portage Bay before last weekend's winter storm. This pile of ice was maybe 4 or 5 feet tall, and I was laying on the ground on my side to get as low of a perspective as possible in order to make the ice pile look as large as possible. It would have been nice to have a blue sky or some more interesting clouds for a background, but this is what the sky looked like on the only day the ice was there before the winter storm hit. After the storm, the ice piles were diminished considerably thanks to the pounding waves from Lake Superior.

When’s a King not a King?

A king is not a king when it’s a Sleep Number^® bed in a motorhome.  No wonder the king size mattress pad and sheets we initially bought for the Phaeton didn’t fit the way they were supposed to — even after we washed them in hot water!

Stupid us!  We didn’t measure the mattress before shopping for bedding.  After all, a king is a king.  Right?  Wrong!!!  Even the sales people at the Sleep Number® store we went to at Fair Oaks Mall weren’t aware of the ‘custom king’ mattress.  At 72” x 80” (1.8 x 2 m), the mattress in the motorhome is 4 inches (10 cm) narrower than the standard king — that’s Eastern, not California.  That’s enough to make all the difference in the fit of the bedding.

Thanks to MBZ, friend and fellow Phaeton owner, who gets to have her rolling home parked next to her stix & brix home, we didn't have to make a special trip out to the coach to measure our mattress.  Not only did she do the measuring for us, but she provided a link to Camping World to confirm the custom size.  Who knew that CW sold Sleep Number® beds!  As well, MBZ pointed us in the direction of right-sized bedding, which we ordered from Amazon.

These Sleep Number^® products didn’t work for the Phaeton bed, but we’re keeping
them for when we buy our Eastern King after we’re done with our nomad lifestyle.

Ah, yes; these work beautifully.  Just the right size.

The linens are washed and the bed is made up, complete with the tea-dyed matelassé
cover we prefer to the bedspread that came with the Phaeton.

Finally, sheets stretched taut and not a wrinkle, crumple, crinkle, or bump in sight!  No Princess and the Pea experience for these two campers, thank you very much.

God's Grace

"In God there are no more good days or bad days for you, just days of grace. Some days there is grace to enjoy, and some days there is grace to endure."

Madopterini

Weevil party at the nearest daisy, pass it on...
I think these weevils are in the tribe Madopterini. Though I might just be leaning towards that conclusion since I like the name so much.
I wasn't even aware that there were such things as tribes, taxonomically speaking, until I started trying to look up bugs. Just as species can be further divided into subspecies, families are sometimes further divided into subfamily, tribe, and subtribe.
Madopterini: More likely to march on Rome, or to perform straightjacket escapes while upside down and underwater?
All zoological tribes end in -ini, apparently. (I would not have been able to resist naming several of them after Italian operatic composers.)
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A professor at the University of Florida has a nice series of pages about writing scientific papers. They include sections on species name formation, Greek and Latin words adopted into English, pronunciation of scientific names, and several other interesting topics.

Little Rock

Hey, I am still around. Not much to blog about the last 3 weeks. Cold, nasty weather. So, I decided on a rode trip to Little Rock.
Made a quick ride in town to check equipment, then headed to the N. Little Rock River Trail. Rode to Burns Park. Coming back was in the wind. Riding over the Main St. bridge almost did me in, heart rate way up, riding at 5mph. Fast recovery.
Damn, it felt good to be back on the bike!

Valley of the Gods

What a strange day! When I left the motel this morning I immediately noticed this strange sort of haze throughout the entire sky, which at first made me think of a forest fire. Then I realized that it was dust being kicked up into the atmosphere. It was incredibly windy all day, and all day these surreal skies kept me company. As the day neared its end the sky took on an even more eerie glow. Eventually as I approached Moab, Utah it started to snow a bit which seemed to knock the dust out of the sky. By the time I arrived in Moab the sky had partially cleared, and the strange haze was almost entirely gone.


These first few images were taken along the highway between Blanding, Utah and Moab.

Below: The dust storm at Goosenecks State Park, Utah. Goosenecks State Park features a series of bends in the San Juan River. I couldn't even see the bends in their entirety because of all the dust in the air.

Above and below: The dust storm in Valley of the Gods, Utah. Valley of the Gods is similar to Monument Valley, although on a less "grand" scale. It is a gem of an area, however, and if you are passing through on your way to Blanding from Monument Valley, its worth checking out.

(Above: Dusk in the Valley of the Gods)
(Below: Goosenecks State Park again, taken the night before the dust storm.)