Labor Day silliness

Labor Day with the OAC is always entertaining.  The adventure is not limited to boating.  Here, JoeH rocks a unicycle:

Saturday brought the kids trip.  No pictures.  My Shredder looked liked ants were swarming over it when the Lundy kids abandoned their sweet mama and the raft.

On Sunday, I had a strong crew in a raft.  One of the raft crew was particularly recalcitrant and refused to cooperate with the rock splat.  On the next raft trip, SteveF may regret the decision to mutiny!

The rock splat was somewhat successful, that splash is JennaD goin' in the drink:

Funny Jenna story... if you check the pics at:  http://www.leisuresportsphoto.com/mp_client/pictures.asp?pagenum=204&action=viewphotos&size=fullsize&id=7994493&imagename=IMG_6759t.jpg

you will see that she is smiling directly at the camera in EVERY pic.  My last comment to the crew was:  "Look at the camera and smile".  Jenna took me seriously!

Coopers Rock Overlook

My campground borders the WVU Research Forest and Coopers Rock Overlook.  After work, the dogs and I walk 1/2 mile down to an overgrown WVU archery range.  The dogs do a little bit of mousing:

After mousing, we head back to the campground and pick up the pick-up.  Coopers Rock overlook is about 4 miles across the interstate.  On this trip, a really nice couple took some pics.  This is an art installation in the park - no, not me and the hounds, then giant behind us:  

The overlook is an easy 300 foot walk from the parking lot and you can see for miles and miles.  View to the right:

 View to the left:

Stunning, a little crooked - the overlook is very sloped.   And totally recommended if you are ever at Exit 14 off I-68.

I love West Virginia.

Foster reunion

I have had the privilege of fostering some a-Maze-ing dogs.  One adoption netted me some friends.  Dan and Beth brought the gorgeous Ms Maze over for a reunion/visit

Jamie brought goofy Bo, a four month old AussieX.  It was hard to get a good pic of Bo since he attached himself to Thomas' nub - Bo's eyes crack me up in this picture:

Disc action:

Okay - so there are two disc freaks, one puppy, and one very tolerant adopter :)

Great weekend with friends

I just finished a two week stint at a software go-live.  If you have never had the opportunity to work one of these gigs, it includes long, odd hours, bad food, bad seating, moments of high anxiety broken up by hours of boredom.  Okay - this is the first go-live where I've had hours of boredom, but that's just how my life is rolling right now.  

After all of that - I was definitely in the mood for some fun, so I hooked up the trailer and went over some impressive mountain passes.  I got to go through the Sideling Hill cut in Maryland.  Unfortunately, I was driving through clouds so I didn't get any pictures, but it's impressive!  You can follow this link to check it out:

http://www.mgs.md.gov/esic/features/sidel.html

After some white-knuckle driving, I got to camp and let JoeH have the honors of backing the beastie into our shared site.  The previous night's heavy rain meant that we actually had some choices for boating destinations.  The big boys decided to hit Meadow Run which is a delightful  Class IV creek with the world's shortest shuttle.  The mere mortals decided to run the Casselman.  Tthe conversation went something like this:

Me:  Can I take your 12 year kids on my Shredder?

Allen:  Have you ever run the Casselman?

Me: No, but what could possibly go wrong?

Allen:  OK - let's go.

I had a fantastic day with the the older two Lundy kids.  The youngest rocked the river in his hard boat.  Now, you might be wondering what could go wrong.... The kids had such a good day that Allen sold his creek boat and is now in the market for a Shredder.  Yes, another Shredder partner succumbs to the fever!  I'm pretty sure that Allen didn't see that coming :)  

Day 2 brought the Lower Yough with a great level for the rubber boats and another new partner for me.  Duane and I got boarded by some of the pirate crew from Joe's raft:

The pirates' boarding attempt was not quite successful and they got to walk the plank:

  

Day 3 was the Lower Yough at normal release levels and another Shredder partner.  Again no pics - boo :(  But, Katie is a trooper!  I met her two years ago at the Lower Gauley.  Conversation went something like:

Darren:  Katie - meet Kathy.  Kathy - meet Katie.  

Kathy:  Katie - want to Shred with me?

Katie - sure.

Kathy - have you ever Shredded before?

Katie - no.

Kathy - what could possibly go wrong?  let's go!

We had a great day.

a move

I've been a bad little blogger.  No pictures, no posts for a while.  I've got a fix for that!  A move to a new campground has me (and the hounds) all fired up.  I'm currently parked at Harper's Ferry KOA.  This is a really cool campground.  It abuts the Harper's Ferry National Historical Park.  


My campsite backs up to a Civil War Trench.  It's pretty cool to camp on a site where battles were fought - I think my trailer is on the Union side, but... I'm directionally challenged, so I could be on the Confederate side.  I'm a pacifist, but I can honor our history.

Amazingly, Thomas has made friends with a Iraqi War Vet:

Bam is a campground ambassador who helped me select and back into a quiet campsite for the next 11 days.  He spent some hell-ish days in a bad place, but has a fantastic attitude.   He gave me a great tip for a seafood dinner.  Crab legs, shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes, hush puppies, can you say "stuffed"?

Sweet Meg on a random NorCal beach

Jamie's visit day 1

Jamie came out to visit California.  We packed in a ton of fun in just a few days.  


Day 1 included a drive through Sausalito with this view of San Francisco

After Sausalito, we cruised on down to Santa Cruz.  The boardwalk is quite the tourist haven

We hit a great little brewpub in Santa Cruz for a late lunch then headed back to Sacramento.  Unfortunately.... we hit Friday traffic which extended our trip.  We did hop off the highway for the road less traveled which was really nice.

The Badlands

Simply stunning:

 some cuteness:

The second great migration

I dropped Jamie at the Sacramento Airport, went back to the campground, hooked up and headed east.  Jamie made it to Ohio several days before I did.


The Bonneville Salt Flats happened to be on my route.  No pics, but it was really cool to see miles and miles of flat.


Next up was the Black Hills of South Dakota.  Love. Love. Love.  It is as beautiful as advertised.  I saw the Crazy Horse Monument.  The monument is about 1/2 mile behind the model:

Next up was Mt Rushmore:

Then the Mammoth Site which was SUPER cool:

Then Wind Cave.  The entrance hole:

Wind cave inside:

Pacific Coast Highway

The PCR is simply stunning.  It's hard to drive when you are looking over the edge at this:

or this:

or this:

Hopland Passport wine festival

Jamie and I hopped in the convertible and swung through Napa Valley on our way to:  http://www.destinationhopland.com/hopland-passport

First stop was in a Redwood grove at the Nelson Family winery.  

Then we cruised through a couple of other wineries before ending up in downtown Hopland.  Hopland is a cool little wine focused town.  We met a bunch of winemakers.  My favorite, Greg Graziano:

Guinness McFadden produces great wine, great beef, great seasonings:

Grapevines:

Cali whitewater

Satan's Cesspool reminds me of Julie's Juicer on the Gauley.  And yes the Shredder is buried under the pile!  With my newest river-husband Millard Blakey

Happy Mothers Day!

Dear Friends Revisited

Spent a weekend with my dear friends Jason, Michelle and Sebi.  Michelle and I went for a little hike on Saturday.  We were having such deep discussions that I got only one picture.  And it was of this banana slug.  Ugh!

On Sunday, we headed down to Santa Cruz for some quality beach time.  

Michelle tempting the surf gods:

Michelle and Sebi jumping in the surf

Cutie-patooties - Jason and Sebi

Surfer in the fog

A self described "Crazy French Woman" educated us about the joys of searching for sea glass

Sea glass is our discarded glass that ends up in the ocean.  Wave action grinds the glass down to these beautiful bits.  Picking up trash is actually fun in this circumstance.  The small gray-green rock in the upper right corner is jade - a gift from a fellow beachcomber.

Note to self:  Never turn your back on the sea and always wear appropriate clothing!

Awesome day on the South Fork of the American

Had a great day on the river!   The Shredder is back to her promiscuous ways, but is being somewhat restrained.   I only had two partners for the day.  The first half of the trip was the Princess cruise with Boo.  We floated from Coloma to Greenwood.  At one of the rapids, we saw a campground right on the river - I soooo want to camp here some time:

Boo took out at Greenwood.  Her hubby and my new RiverHusband, Millard jumped in and we ran the The Gorge section of the SF of the American.  It reminds me of the Miracle Mile on Slippery Rock on steroids.  Solid Class III+ pool/drop.  Very narrow, very scenic.  I understand why it's a popular run.  For whatever reason, Millard and I were the ONLY folks on the river. It was an absolutely gorgeous day.  The water is still snow melt and FREAKING cold.  After the last drop, there is a long paddle out through the Folsom Reservoir... unless... you've got a RiverHusband who swears his LandWife is good for the tow fee:

Thanks to Boo and Millard for a fabulous day on the river!

Oregon wine country

This weekend I went to Oregon to spend some time with my friend, Lucky.  

Thanks to Margie's recommendation of http://www.harvesthosts.com/ , I scored a "free" campsite at a Fly High/Longsword vineyard. This is the view from the camper door

Those vines are less than 10 feet from the camper!  The concept of Harvest Hosts is cool.  You get to camp at a farm/vineyard/orchard for free with the expectation that you'll probably buy something from the host.  I lived up to that expectation and got a wonderful case of wine.  The Vintner/owner/host greeted me while I was walking the pack.  He has pet ducks and gave me a fresh egg.  I haven't made an omelette yet, but am looking forward to tasting it soon. 

Our plan was to visit wineries on the Applegate Wine Trail.  We started near Grants Pass, OR and worked our way back down to the campsite near Jacksonville, OR.  One of the lovely views of the Applegate River Valley:

Wine and cheese:

After stopping at several wineries, we got back to the campsite.  Our tasting "room" was a wonderful patio:

The Vintner used to have an AussieX, so Thomas' "antics" were well-tolerated

We had some drop-in guests:

The guy with the hang-glider *MAY* have talked me into trying it.  We'll see.

I had hoped to see Mt Shasta on the way up, but it was snowing and visibility was low. The trip back was a different story!  Mt Shasta: