Brown Motion

It was going to be triple digit heat.  Everywhere you looked.  In our vicinity.  So we figured we would visit a cool body of water.  It had been a while.  A long while.  We went to Lake Tahoe.  Straddling the CA and Nevada state borders it is the largest of any alpine lakes in all North America. At a height of over 6,200 ft above mean sea level this amazing blue water was very inviting. Of course it also meant taking our chances with many like minded folks taking their conveyance to the mountains causing a big traffic jam.  It was not too bad.  We did get out early enough to beat a large horde of wanna get away crowds and made it to the lake in 3 hours. The rim is around 70 miles in circumference but we chose to visit the South end and do some hiking followed by a visit to the exact opposite end also on the California side and wade the waters on the shores. The south end was an inspired mile long hike along the slope on a portion cal...

This Memorial Day Holiday we took to the mountains - again.  We visited two most amazing pieces of real estate that are managed and maintained by the US Department of Interior - the Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. Both parks are located around 150 miles due south / south-east of the SF Bay Area and reside amidst the southern flanks of the Sierra Nevada mountains. As parks go these amazing stores of information and beauty are all over the United States and California has a large share of them.  We visited Kings Canyon first and Sequoia NP the following day. Kings River and South Fork merge in the valley in Kings Canyon NP Entering Sequoia NP   As one of the plaques noted (image below) it certainly is a treat to simply visit with nature and gape.  As an aside I find that the word Sequoia (named for a Cherokee Indian credited with defining a written language) is fascinating in that it contains all vowels and is only ...