Hiking 2015

Calvin had a number of hiking trips planned this summer that didn't all turn out quite as well as he planned.  He had planned to backpack a 16 mile segment of the Gold Rush trail for us from Caples Lake to Tragedy Spring. This was my request, but I wasn't all that enthusiastic about backpacking all 16 miles.  He planned to start at Caples Lake and go west and I wanted to start at Tragedy Spring and go east following in Lucy Nutting's footsteps.  So a couple of weeks ago we took a day hike east along the trail from Tragedy Springs to Mud Lake, about 4 miles each way if you trust the 49er journal excerpt on the marker at Mud Lake. The trail from Tragedy Springs heads through a rather pretty pine forest. 

Most of the trail follows a ridge line and the views were pretty spectacular and still undeveloped.

There were even a few big trees that might have been there in 1848 when Lucy passed through.

We were following the trail in reverse order from our trail guide, so it was reassuring when we found a trail marker along the way.

We thought this was Mud Lake at first. Since it is a severe drought this year this looked like it could have been a lake in a good year.

but... it turns out that this is Mud Lake

which actually looks like a pretty nice lake. And even in a drought year in August there were still a few wild flowers.

and the grave of one George Cottowood, no other details known. It took courage to take this trail.

After our slightly truncated hike on the Gold Rush trail Calvin got to go hiking in Colorado with Butch, Zach and Austin, which might turn out to be his most successful hike of this year. They actually got to sleep in tents. 

And have a big campfire.

And cross a raging river

Life just doesn't get much better than this.

An evening at Tahoe 2015

One of my favorite things to do is spend a long summer evening at Lake Tahoe.  This year we spent the evening with some of my very favorite people.

Alice was the first one in the water and would have happily stayed there all evening. 

Especially if she gets a little swing action.

There are rocks at Lake Tahoe

Small ones for building

big ones for climbing

 and posing for pictures like this one titled Smith boys on a giant rock. Even though you can't really tell they are on a giant rock.

And once you are on top of a rock what else are you going to do but jump off.

One more time

Of course a big pile of rocks makes a great target for a sunset swim

One of the best things to do is just hang out on the beach.

And when the light gets that nice golden color, grab the cameras for family pics.

Bike racing

A few weeks ago Rosie and Alice and Butch and his family paid us a visit.  Calvin sees the potential for a new generation of bike riders and to encourage that generation we now have a flotilla of small bikes that grandkids can ride.  One day he chalked a race track on our street and we had bike races.

Alice liked the bikes, but I think she liked the chalk a little bit better.

Zach was a fast bike racer, but he actually ran the course faster that he biked it.  Very impressive!

Austin took racing very seriously.

Alice was new to riding her own bike, but she loved it.

She looks like a good prospect for a third generation bike rider, with a little help from Mom.

A few more pictures from Greece

We spent most of our time on the water in Greece, but we spent two nights in Spartahori and had a sight seeing day in Ithaca, so here are a few land pictures.

Spartahori is a city above the boat harbor.  

There are a few cars but for the most part the streets are narrow and paved with flagstone.

We saw several older women still dressed in traditional black walking the streets, but it didn't feel quite right taking their photo, so we took ours instead.

 The churches are Greek Orthodox, as you would expect, and look exotic to me.  I like Byzantine art but Calvin is not a great fan.

We saw this tiny church as we paddled along the shore of Kalamos.  It is abandoned now and in a sad state of repair. But I thought that it was a lovely setting for a church.

On our sightseeing day on Ithaca we started at the Kathatra monastery.  I was a rainy cloudy day, which made cool shots of the monastery, but wasn't great for seeing the fantastic views from the top of the island.

There is just one monk left at the monastery and we didn't see him on our visit, but the chapel was well maintained and had beautiful stained glass.

 Notice the ship in front of this window.  This is a sea faring land.

We have a group picture at the monastery that gives some idea of the views.

And a picture of us that doesn't really show the view.

After the monastery we visited the town of Anogi with its famous church.  Parts of it were possibly built in the thirteenth century, but the majority of the murals were painted in the sixteenth century.

The exterior of the church was not much to see, but there was a lovely bell tower. All of the bell towers are separate from the church buildings proper,

Calvin, not a fan of Byzantine art, spent most of his time on a bench outside.

Anogi was once the capital of Ithaca, but today only about 100 people live there, but they do have a heliport.

We visited  an impressive one room museum in Stavros with a collection dating from the third millenium BC to Roman times.  Outside there was a very impressive olive tree that has clearly been around a while.

We stayed in Vathi and enjoyed evening strolls along the waterfront to dinner

and a  few other memorable spots.

Even Lord Byron made it to Ithaca.

If you don't read Greek the translation is at the bottom.