Sorry for the delay, I have been a bit tired/busy since our return from our weekend adventure. Hopefully, I can still remember all of the amazingness. Here it goes... Friday we booked it out of work as soon as we could. Most of us had started work at 5am so we thought we would be done early with plenty of time to pack the car and still get out early afternoon. This was furthered when we were all back at the office by 11am. However, we then learned our boss (one of them anyway) expected us to work a full 8hours, [View Full Entry]

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August 20, 2009 (Melisse here…) HOME We packed up and left HOME, St. Louis, MO., a place that means so much to us, our family, friends and neighbors, our house and it’s gardens, our easy-access town. And yet, after driving cross-country (stopping first in Pocatello and Jackson where my brother, John, generously as always, laid out the red carpet for us) we crossed into California where the winding, tree- lined mountain roads filled our hearts and minds with the same word for different reasons: HOME. After nine years away, the sights and smells, the anticipation of reuniti [View Full Entry]

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San Joaquin Valley, Huron, 30-10-2002. I'm in Friant, a small city close to Millerton Lake, waiting for my breakfast in Jerry's Diner, studying the map of the San Joaquin Valley which I'll have to cross on my way to the coast, I can feel my mind slipping back to last night when I entered the forested area around Millerton Lake looking for a camping place and cycled into this weirdo. Busy with his camara, casually dressed and with an enormous moustache hiding his upper lip, he told me he was a park guard and demanded an entrance fee of twelve dollar. [View Full Entry]

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We just got back from 5 days of free camping at the Buttermilks (just outside of Bishop, in the Sierras of California). April 14 through April 19, 2008. Who: AB, DJC, Sidd, and Maya. Camp sites are first come, first serve - we arrive on Monday and the place was packed. Acitivities: Snowshowing to snowboard-able slopes around the Buttermilks. Tons of ardous hikes abound leading to amazing runs...this is not for the weary. Will be much better in JANUARY! Will return w/ snowmobiles for sure. Mountain Biking - we brought the bikes, but we lag too much and only managed t [View Full Entry]

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This was an overnight, solo trip to 8000 feet deep into the heart of the Sierra Nevadas. I tried to invite people, but nobody wanted to come! I knew it was going to be a long weekend with lots of driving and hiking. But I also knew I would get to spend a day and night in the wilderness enjoying the biggest meteor shower of the year. I brought food I didn't have to cook. I brought only a sleeping bag and mat. I only said a few words in 24 hours to the 3 passing hikers I saw on trail. [View Full Entry]

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What a fabulous backpacking trip. It averaged 8o degrees and there was still snow in some places along the trail. Amazing waterfalls and strong rivers, beautiful flowers and succelents, and not too many people! [View Full Entry]

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In August of 2005, I needed a getaway. It was just a normal 2 day weekend like any other, but this time I had tremendous motivation. And I needed it, Florence lake is just 150 miles from Fresno- but the drive takes almost 3 hours one way. I left Fresno early saturday morning. Within an hour you reach Shaver Lake, a forested Gem at 5000 feet. Soon the grade increases as you reach Huntington Lake and Sierra Summit Ski Resort. Here the road turns into a one lane, twisting track that winds its way over 9000+ foot Kaiser pass, and down [View Full Entry]

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