Long weekend in Santa Barbara

Last week we made a long weekend trip to Santa Barbara.  The weather was warm, the beach was delightful and we got to have lots of fun with the Wrights.

We had a couple of beach trips on beautiful days. A highlight of the trip was a bonfire on the beach one evening.

Calvin built a "mud kitchen" that required some painting and assembly.  There we lots of willing helpers.

We also enjoyed an evening playing "Go Fish" with Alice while Jay entertained on the guitar and a fun block party with great dancing and music.

Napa River and Lake Natoma

 A few weeks ago we got tired of living in smoke and decided to take a quick trip to anyplace that had good air quality.

 Napa fit the bill, so we loaded up the kayak,Calvin's bike and took off.

In the morning while Calvin biked I took a walk along the Napa River.  About four different bay area trails converge at J.F Kennedy Park where we launched the kayak.

We tried to time our trip so that we would be paddling around high tide, but we didn't account for the strong wind blowing up river.  On smooth water we can go at a pace of 15 to17 minutes per mile.  We made it one mile down the Napa River and it took 25 minutes.  We turned around and just let the wind blow us and it took 25 minutes to return.

There wasn't a lot to see in the way of wildlife on the Napa, but the air was clear and it was a sunny day which made it worthwhile.

We did see the remains of the Basalt Rock Company, which started out as a mining operation in 1920, but switched to building boats for the Navy during World War 2. The remains of the loading pier are still standing

On the way back to Reno we stopped at Lake Natoma in Folsom. It is a five mile long extension of the American River behind Nimbus dam.  It is a very urban lake and has a speed limit for motorized craft of 5 miles per hour, so it is heaven for SUP and kayak paddlers. We saw lots of seagulls, and ducks and a few turtles when we paddled into the wetlands. The lake actually extends all the way to the border of Folsom Prison, but we didn't get that far.

It is fun exploring new places, but Lake Tahoe is still the favorite.