July Update

Here I sit on a Saturday morning in December with a cold cup of coffee, trying to get the blog a little caught up. It was supposed to snow last night for about 6hrs. Nothing. Even the pond is starting to melt. The closest we got to anything white is fog - visibility is about half a mile.

For myself, one of the most exciting things in July had a lot to do with visibility! I had the privilege of taking a test. An examination of my ability to safely get our airplane from one point to another without looking out the window. AKA the Instrument Rating. It was quite the windy day, which made the event a bit more of a challenge, but I passed on July 1st. On the 4th, we headed off for our annual California trip, this time better prepared for the coastal low clouds that California Summers are known for.


Becky flew us down to Redding where we stopped for fuel. Both the plane and our bodies needed it. I can't say how much I enjoyed the food at Peter Chu's restaurant just above the commercial terminal at the Redding Airport (http://www.peterchu.741.com/). Huge windows for watching planes come and go. There was quite a fire to the NW of Redding (somewhere near Trinity), so the fire fighting planes were constantly on the go. After lunch, I flew us into Pine Mountain Lake Airport (http://www.airnav.com/airport/E45) just outside of Groveland. This little community is about 30 miles NW of the NW corner of Yosemite and has an absolutely beautiful Golf Course and possibly the best Bed & Breakfast we've ever been to. The Cub Inn (http://www.thecubinn.com/) is brand new and has 3 guest rooms, each with it's own bath. The owners, Joe Riley and Charleen Beam picked us up after we landed and treated us to three wonderful nights. Strange, the only pics we took were of the home and a couple of deer. Just too busy I guess. The day we arrived, we went to the lake that evening for an incredible fireworks show over the water. Beautiful against the clear Sierra Nevada Mountain Sky!


The town of Groveland is known for having the oldest operating Saloon in the country. Well, of course, we had to go for a steak and a little Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.



We drove up into Yosemite for a day. Controlled (?) fires were burning near the SW entrance (Hwy 41) and the westerly winds were blowing the smoke into the upper reaches of the valley. This sorta ruined the view. The top of Half Dome actually disappeared at times due to the smoke. We hiked up to the base of Vernal Falls. The trail is practically paved so that anybody can get to a fantastic view point a couple miles up river. At that point, the trail is for the strong and courageous only. Becky drug me up the hill to a point where the mist from the falls was making the trail a bit to slick, so we enjoyed the moment and headed back down.





There's basically three main roads into Yosemite. The one from the east is from Lee Vining, hwy 120. In 2002, we came in this way from Hwy 395 out of Reno and loved the high country scenery as we made our way down into the Yosemite Valley. This trip, we headed east on 120 to a point where we could get out and stretch our legs and meander amongst the granite slabs.





























After a good day's hiking, it's always nice to find a frigid mountain stream to cool off in. It wasn't too bad! The sun was intense and dried us off quickly.


After the three nights, Becky flew us to San Luis Obispo to stay at my sister's place in Arroyo Grande for several nights. This is always a treat. We have a wonderful relaxing time whenever we go. While we were there, we took the road north to Carmel. On the way, we stopped at the Mission in San Miguel, which is under a complete renovation. They have a long way to go, but we were free to wander around a in small areas and look at the old architecture.




























































































Upon entering the east end of Carmel, we visited the mission there as well. It was established in 1770 and completely restored in 1931.






I filed for an IFR departure out of San Luis to go down to Oxnard to visit some cousins. The morning dawned sunny and clear! No clouds except over the coast south of San Luis Obispo. Drat. So, we flew VFR instead and had a nice lunch next to the docks in Oxnard. Quite the place. Channels have been built throughout the area, allowing homes to be built along the waterways. Boats everywhere.










































The rest of the trip was spent exploring the beach or sitting in the hot tub watching the sun go down. Of course, on our way home, we had to have lunch at Peter Chu's again! The winds were quite strong - 25 knots or so - directly down the runway. Becky's comment as we landing in Redding was that she felt like a helicopter! Looking forward to 2010!