Escape from Mordor

For the last several weeks Reno has been positioned perfectly to receive smoke from the Rim fire burning near Yosemite.  What would otherwise have been a beautiful end to summer was covered in haze and health advisories.

It looked like Reno was lost in fog, but it was smoke.

Finally Calvin had enough and declared that we needed to get out of the smoke so we took a fairly spontaneous trip to Healdsburg, California to breath fresh air.

We decided to spend Friday afternoon canoeing on the Russian River. We arrived at the river about noon and rented a canoe at Burke's canoes where life jackets are mandatory, at least when you leave their dock.

Most of my experience in a canoe was on our Green River trip last year.  This was similar because drifting down the river is an excellent way to spend an afternoon or a week, but the water in the Russian River is clear and it has houses and people all along the section of river we paddled.

But it also had some great birds.  Right off the bat we saw a pair of double crested cormorants in a tree at the river's edge.

And we saw several great blue herons.  One even sat still long enough for us to get a close up picture.

It was really a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Back in Reno we are finally getting a little relief from the smoke.  It is still a little hazy, but much better.  Compare these before and after shots looking more or less the same direction.

August 27

September 7

This more what Reno should look like.  It is nice to be able to go outside again.