San Diego for the CNPS Conference
The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) Redbud chapter sent me on a scholarship to the CNPS Conference down in San Diego to learn all about different types of native plants and how to use them to help non-profits and anyone working with water quality use these plants in helping to reach their goals… right? Right! In other words it was an awesome, and sometimes overwhelming for an engineer not botanist, learning fest! Not all work…
San Francisco Meets My Mom
In early June Mom kicked off summer with visit to California. A very wet, rainy, and mild weathered trip to California. Despite the lack of sun in the state I think she managed to enjoy herself in our whirlwind tour of Yosemite/Groveland, San Francisco, Point Reyes, and Grass Valley/Nevada City. Not sure if I managed to convince her it was WAY better than Southern CA, but she is getting there…
An extra “E”, is that nessesary? Really, Renaissance Faire?
Due to the standby reason of having nothing better to do on the weekend Curtis and I agreed to attend the Northern California Renaissance Faire, and then I found out that we were expected to dress up. I mean I knew people dressed up for these sorts of events, but thought they were not the sort of people we hung out with. Turns out I was wrong, and thus I…
In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, and in 2010 Curtis & Denise biked past a winery or two
Not postponing going to Murphys and doing this bike loop any long Curtis and I set out on a couple day long adventure. Our Goals were to: Enjoy the wine and chocolate flight in town Find the vegetarian restaurant we have heard good things about Camp on the cheap Bike the loop that my road bike was dreading (GRAVEL!!!) What was accomplished instead was: Took Curtis’s new Focus on it’s…
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass makes me think I don’t know what bluegrass really is.
There is a very well-to-do person who loves the idea of a lots of free blue grass music, dirty pot-smoking hippies, and peacefully, but loudly, taking over the Golden Gate Park for one weekend a year. They call this phenomenon “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass”. Although I am still trying, and failing, to become a bluegrass fan, Curtis (+ all of his work buddies) were going. How could I really turn down my first big California Dirty Hippie festival anyhow?
Bike Paths, Cold Rivers, and Trail Markers
Curtis and I had planned to bike around wine country this weekend, but, as we should have expected, it was your traditional end of September scorcher of a day. Instead we decided to take the opportunity to swim in Yosemite, and bike around the valley there. We had been avoiding the valley all summer because of the hoards of people everywhere. I enjoy people watching to a degree, but we…
North Dome, Not the North Pole
Trailhead: Porcupine Creek Trailhead, off of Tioga Rd / Hwy 120
Distance: ~9 miles. Slightly downhill on way out and then uphill on the way back. The end of this hike take you onto granite slopes and it is probably best if you wear some shoes with traction & not your foam Tevas like I did.
Northwest for a wedding
Curtis and I adventured this labor day weekend to the Oakland California airport through 5:30 am bay area traffic, across the state of Oregon, and many mountains Curtis told me the name of, to Spokane Washington, then Flathead Lake Montana, for the wedding of Two or Curtis’s friends from college, Rick and Adair. The mountains in the northwest seem very different than the Sierra Nevada by us, and it was a really great time meeting…
The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Pikas… on Mono Pass!
Pikas are distant cousin of Basil and all bunnies, and occasionally are referred to the real life Pokemon Pikachu. No joke, I read it on the internet ;) And pikas are liable to become an (Word of the day!) endemic species with climate change, due to their highly specific mountain sub-alpine scree environments and mortal distaste for warm environments. These cute little threatened critters can be found throughout the park,…
Hello! I am a 30-something outdoors-lady, backpacker, and resident of Groveland, California - 
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