September Swan Song, 9/30/26

With October waiting in the wings, our busy September fades into dust ... dust being the correct noun for our dry NorCal landscape.  While we enjoyed a wondrous rainy day (surprise!) early in the month, the ground needs a lot more rain to truly "settle the dust" in these parts!

Outside projects kept us occupied many days this month.  Finishing summer's work.  Preparing -- winter is comng. El Nino has been forecast.  Except for some needed branch trimming (last on the list) I think we're as ready as we'll ever be.

Of course, Jimmy and I are not all work and no play!  When we weren't tied to house projects, we managed to get Out and About on the local trails, as well as on our E-bikes, plus we "fit in" some frolicking with the young'uns ... always a good time!

My camera has been mostly parked on a shelf this month, but I've taken a few pics, some with my phone.  I'll let them do the talking.

On the 11th, we put in 25 miles on the Truckee River trail, a mild day, albeit a tad smoky from a fire in Yosemite.  We always enjoy riding this trail next to the river ...

... which leads to blue-blue-blue Lake Tahoe.

I stopped several times to look at flowers and captured buzzy bee on the sulfur buckwheat and on a chicory flower.  At 6,000', most of summer's flowers have dried up by this time of year.

Common tansy was showy!

This water is soooo clear!

A photo from two weeks ago of my one "pineapple" tomato plant, with a few ripe ones ready to pick.  The thing is now twice as big, with roughly 50 green tomatoes on the vine, and it'll be a miracle if many ripen, as less sun reaches the plant now.  They're pretty good tasting 'maters. I canned lotsa pints of tomatoes and made/canned marinara sauce from farmers market tomatoes.  All set for winter.

A lone sunflower grew up in a barren parking lot next to the fence at IFM (Interfaith Food Ministry) where Jimmy and I volunteer/work for 3-4 hours every Tuesday morning.  Durn thing was tall and gorgeous!  Got bees!

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Last Sunday we spent a fine day in Fair Oaks with son, Matt, and wife, Jen, and nine-year-old Evie.  We would have a crawfish boil, à la Cajun Louisiana (where we used to live)!  Evie loves to be a hostess, and today she got out her ceramic tea set and made Gramma a present:  Green tea, with a choice of sweetener, tastefully displayed!  And then she made one for Pop-pop!  Very sweet.

Discussing the HIGH price of gas with Bob.

(which is over six bucks a gallon, BTW 😮)

Still wiggling, here's one of the river crawfish, aka mud bug.  Matt knows how to boil them, with shrimp and small potatoes and fresh corn and a spice pouch.  Plus, some kind of sausage (which I don't eat).  Everything was delish, not too spicy.  He boiled a second batch with more spice which would've had me gasping, but they like food that way.

A cooler full of crawfish.  You only eat the tails.

Lucy, the dog, went bonkers.  Not sure if she wanted to eat it or kill it.  She did neither.  Just chased it around and barked her head off.  Click on YouTube and you get a bigger screen.

Yes, yes, I know, we aren't supposed to get on ladders at our age.  Well, repairs are necessary and we were careful.  Scraping, sanding, primer coat and final coat, here off the back deck where the sun damaged the existing paint.  Same in the front (no ladder needed there) and we also added wood filler to large cracks in the wood.  All done and both areas look great!

Jimmy rests a minute overlooking the beautiful tall trees on the 1.3-mile Orene Wetherall loop, a section of the Cascade Canal trail -- this is the one with the 430' elevation gain which gives us an aerobic workout!  We don't add this segment all the time, tho it is both peaceful and glorious.  Lucky us, we can access the Cascade Canal trail from our house (and we do, frequently), for a roughly three-mile hike.

Next Monday/Tuesday will be packing days.  Wednesday we'll take our Subaru to Matt's for an O/N (and leave the car there), and on Thursday morning, an EARLY Uber ride to Sacramento airport.  At least that's the plan at this moment.  From Sac we'll fly to Miami via Atlanta, and then in the evening we'll board a Latham flight for Buenos Aires.  Thus, will begin our 22-day Overseas Adventure Travel program, "Chile and Argentina:  The Andes to Patagonia!"  Getting excited!  (fingers crossed)

With any luck and good Wi-Fi, I'll be able to post from South America, where spring will be commencing instead of autumn.

Here, There, Everywhere to June 1st

 

This was our third bike ride in May, which is not really a big deal, a bit less than 50 miles all total.  However, we have to hook the bikes to our car and go away from home (because our mountainous narrow twisty-turny roads are not safe for us to ride on, except for riding to the airport), so it's actually a bit of work and it takes time to get somewhere else.  But, with the ideal weather this month, how could we resist being Out and About?  (Well, the weather turned cold and rainy (!!) the last week in May, which is great for this dry climate but obviously no bueno for biking.)  BTW, fire season begins today .... 

On the 20th, we drove to Beal's Point and parked at Folsom Dam to ride the American River Parkway trail.  What a gorgeous sunshiny day!  Folsom Lake (no photo, sorry) was full as a tick from winter rains, thank goodness, and the river itself was fast and cold.  You see a lone kayaker in the above pic, but we saw lots of watercraft along the way.

Mom 'n Fluffy on the paddleboard.

We like to stop along the way to "see what's going on," and these next photos are from a stop we made to eat granola bars and polish off a Gatorade.  Hey, buddy, where's the rest of your tail?

Two kayakers quietly paddle up a slough or American River estuary.  I took their picture while standing on a bridge, turned around and on the other side, I spied the handsome duo below.

Loved seeing both the Blue Heron and the White Swan.

Parking the bikes at our turn around point, Jimmy checks the water temp.  He pronounced it, "cold." (No surprise) Behind him, rapids are beginning to show.  And we always ogle the fancy homes on the hills overlooking the river, picking the one we think is best.  "Oh, I like that one," kinda thing.

Riding past and below Nimbus Dam, we took an extra spur trail today, and came upon fishermen, both on the riverbank and in the water.  See the dot in the center of the pic?  Fly fisherman.  They may be hopeful, but we didn't see anyone hauling in a fish.

We always enjoy riding the parkway trail, no matter which section we do, always fun.

* * * * *

On Friday, we wanted to do something different and about burned up our brains trying to decide on something other than the same old-same old.  We settled on hiking beside the Newtown Canal, aka Deer Creek Tribute Trail.  Like our Cascade Canal, this canal is a former hydraulic mining ditch which now delivers water for the Nevada Irrigation District (NID).  The canal is roughly 6"-12" deep, zips along like gangbusters, and we even spotted fish!

While not a new trail for us, we haven't been here in a long time, maybe close to a year? And it leads 150' down a zig-zag path to the Chinese Bridge and Deer Creek.  A sunny day, we appreciated the shade that the trees provided.

 

L-R, top: Sweet pea, California (pink) Honeysuckle, middle:  Indian Pink, Golden Poppy, bottom: Seep Monkeyflower, and Twining Snakelily.  I won't say we saw an abundance of wildflowers, but, yes, flowers were still around and are always a delight to see.

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard floating merrily along the canal.

What a stellar day!

* * * * *

If you can believe this -- our granddaughter, nine-year-old Evie, graduated from third grade this week!  Above and below, she's standing with her teacher.  Not the best quality pics because it's a picture of a photo, but she sure looks happy!  She's a natural beauty!  Good show, Evie, congratulations!  On to fourth grade in August.

That's about it from Nevada City.  Almost, that is.  Tomorrow morning I'll board a Southwest jet bound for Maryland and a week's visit with my sister, Nannie!  Oh boy!  Maybe I'll post some of our shenanigans.

Monday's jaunt (5-11-26)

 

Back in 2007, when we fired up this blog, we wanted to come up with a catchy web address.  We settled on intrepid-decrepit-travelers.com, thinking we were mighty clever using this funny moniker.  And now, almost twenty years later, we realize we were ahead of our time.  Because some mornings we wake up feeling intrepid (yeehaw!), and then there are days that decrepit is a more apt description for how the ol' bodies feel when we roll out of bed.  On those days, it's hi-ho, hi-ho, up and atem anyway.

I think the best way to coax a resistant body is to head out on the bike.  And so we did, on Monday, driving up to Truckee on a warm and sunny day.  The paved Truckee River Legacy Trail is a gem, and it follows the river as it rushes eastward toward Nevada and its ultimate destination, Pyramid Lake.  Beautiful, above, isn't it?

Beginning our bike ride at Truckee Regional Park, it's about a 10 mile R/T trail.  We parked the bikes whenever we felt like it (no hurries, no worries).  At this point I scampered down to the water's edge.  Yep, it's cold, and ripping along.

Spotted a few clumps of Lupines next to the path.  I thought they were Harlequin Lupines, but, no, this plant is Lupinus arbustus, or Long spurred lupine.  Really pretty.

Yellow Bitterbrush was in full bloom the entire length of the trail.

Da River

Oh boy, we were tickled.  Not long after we began, we heard a train whistle.  Lucky us, two trains crossed here, one headed east and ta'other going west.  Eastbound had nine locomotives -- most we've ever seen!  Later, we heard one more train but couldn't see that one.

Ah, made it to the top!  Truckee and environs elevation is roughly 6000' (+/-) and the gain on this trail is 472'.  We ate our granola bars and shared a drink, grateful to sit here for a few minutes.  Water is provided via a hand pump, which I pulled "on" but couldn't shut it off.  Thank you, Jimmy!

Thoughtful folks installed this bike fix-it "station" at Glenshire trailhead.

Scenic overlook with the river and the high Sierra crest.  We have to cross the bridge over Martis Creek (above the red checkmark) to get up to Glenshire trailhead.  Quite a workout, too, even with battery assist!  Nice spot for a bench.

Between 1868 and the 1920's, ice ponds were created by damming sections of the Truckee River and its tributaries, such as Martis Creek (here) where high-quality ice was harvested and supplied to Nevada's Comstock mines and California cities via the railroad.  Above is a section of the old dam.

Back in town, we rode to the other side of the river and came upon this massive snow removal gizmo!  No longer in use, but I bet it was something to see, flinging deep snow everywhere!

I don't know if you can read this,

but this same machine rescued a snowbound train in 1952. 

And this giant crane rights train cars after a derailment.

Also no longer in use.

Wrapping up our ride, we stopped at Jax @ the Trax for a burger and a BLT, and, by gum, if we weren't in time to hail the eastbound Amtrak!  It stops in Truckee for a few minutes, with its engine idling smack in the middle of a main street, picks up and drops off people, and with a toot-toot of its horn, chugs off down the hill to Reno, and beyond.  We stood outside watching the process, smiling the entire time.  We like trains.

There's been talk about relocating and rehabilitating these historic cottages, but who knows if or when this will happen.  Built 1905/ish, they've been vacant for a long time.  Located between the train tracks and the river, the land must be valuable, but now these old houses seem like safety hazards.  

Surprise!  While poking around the old places (photo above this one), we discovered another walk/bike bridge over the Truckee ... which led to a new one-mile paved trail, which, I believe will eventually be paved all the way to Hwy 89, a great big plus as far as we're concerned.

Overall, we only put 15 miles on our bikes, 15 up/down miles, much of it in full sun, but we returned home happy as larks, albeit tired.  In the evening, we popped popcorn, put our feet up, and watched Remarkably Bright Creatures on Netflix, a lovely story.  (loved the book)

Intrepid?  Decrepit?  Whatever!  Travelers?  Always.  Count me grateful.

Summer medley, to 8-16-25

 

Summer 2025 has been very good to us thus far.  We've been lucky, we know, and we thank the heavens daily.  Maybe we'll pay for it later on, but right now you'll hear no complaints from us, especially when we see floods and heat waves and fires all over the country.  Jimmy and I have been Out and About a lot this summer, as much as we can in-between chores and appointments.  Make hay while the sun shines as the saying goes.  I can't remember exactly when we went here or there and I'm too lazy to look up the details, but you'll get the general idea.  Anyhoot, take a gander at each photo's sky:  Always blue.

One day we decided to EXplore further away from home.  For years (on our way to the high country) we've passed a sign for Omega Road off Hwy 20 but till we bought the Subaru, we wouldn't have tackled this rough dirt and gravel road which leads to the former Alpha and Omega mines.  Dang road spiraled down and down, but we didn't make it to either mine.  Instead, we pulled in and parked roughly two-thirds the way down and took off on an alleged path.  Big boulder, Jimmy! 

How about this pile of tailings?  That's me up there.  We walked hither and yon and realized a person could easily get turned around in this mess o' hills.  We were careful to keep an eye on where we'd been so as to not get lost.  We got hot traipsing around.

I tipped this picture, to see the dead critters better.  Looks like a dragon fly atop an unknown insect, but who killed who?  They're on a Cedar tree trunk.  Makes you wonder ....

At left is true-blue Chicory, which flowers all over the US, I think, especially in habitat nothing else seems to like (except maybe Queen Anne's Lace, and together they make a lovely pair).  Top right is a variety of St Johns Wort, and bottom right is California Indian Pink, native annual herb.

On another day, we bit off more than we could chew when we hiked the Point Defiance trail counter-clockwise on a HOT Sunday!  Mistake.  We couldn't even find a parking space and had to park on Rice's Crossing Rd!  That meant we had to climb the switchbacks at the end of our hike, which just about "did us in."  When the South Yuba River water level was low, someone made the round rock circle.  Looks like a huge bathtub drain!  Weird!  Enlarge the picture.

This fella entertained us as we trudged along.  It scurried ahead of us for a long time, keeping pace with our steps.  It was big and methinks it's an alligator lizard.  

We picked an awesome weekday to bike from Beal's Point to the Sunrise footbridge on our favorite American River Trail.  With mild temps, we felt like we could've biked forever (but we settled for 27 miles).  It's always a plus when you see a swan afloat, the white speck in the water at left.

Enjoying a bit of lunchtime rest.

We like the sentiment on the bench.

Lots and lots of watercraft on the river near Folsom.

Kayaks, canoes and SUP's.

Whoa, how about this! Peaches. Ten pints. They join jars of strawberry and blueberry jams, as well as plum sauce jam, cherries and applesauce. Productive summer so far. Tomatoes are yet to come. Maybe next week. Aren't we lucky to have friends who share their produce bounty with us? Yes, is the answer.

The Nevada County Fair in August is always held during the hottest week of the year. 😄 We usually go with Matt, Jen and Evie, but this time they were elsewhere, so Jimmy and I went by ourselves.  Yup, it was hot, but we enjoyed the four hours we spent.  We checked out the award-winners in every category.  Can you spot Jimmy, above, by what appears to be the world's tallest Ferris wheel?

Too hot to move, may as well nap. 😂

The fairgrounds are decked out every year with gorgeous flowers.

Recently we took off for a hike in the Grouse Ridge area, again off Hwy 20, higher up the hill, elevation between 6600-7000+ ft.  Trust me, this is one of the prettiest places ever.  First thing we saw was mountain goats. 

Round Lake Trail passes by five or six serene alpine lakes.  Above, Jimmy stands before Feeley Lake, one of the larger lakes on this trail.  Fall Creek Mountain looms in the background.  We wondered if we could hike to its summit, but we couldn't see a trail.

Finally. We "accidentally" found a stand of blooming native Corn Lilies.  I've tried several times to see these plants in flower while hiking in other areas of the Sierras (namely Castle Peak), and here they are!  The plants are quite tall, as you see, above, with many inch-wide flower clusters.  The bees were happy.

What makes a tree shift like this?

Perhaps a snow drift?

While tiny in size, Delaney Lake was also mucho picturesque. Pond lilies dot the surface, but the water in every lake was clear as bottled water. 

Comely no-name lake with an island, and two gals swimming!  Maybe skinny-dipping!?  See the two white dots toward the back of the lake, at right?  We left them in peace.

Left is the perennial herb, White-veined Wintergreen, and right is one of the largest clumps of Woodland Pinedrops I've ever seen. It's a root parasite that depends on its association with a mycorrhizal fungus (also associated with a pine tree), and has small pink, urn-shaped flowers which hang upside-down.  Both are members of the heath family and are found in coniferous forests.  Cool beans, huh?

We both tested and declared the water cool, verging on cold, but if you had to swim, you could.  Once immersed in the water, maybe it feels refreshing.  I prefer the water temp of Catalina Spa and RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs:  Warm as toast!

After eating our granola bars perched on one of these granite slabs, I left Jimmy to rest and continued my climb up to Long Lake overlook. This entire area is pocked with lakes and ponds, and each is simply gorgeous.  There are plenty of other trails or offshoots of this one in the Grouse Ridge area, and it's easy to get here in the Subaru.  Pesky gravel-dirt roads!

That's a wrap on some of our summer doings. Of course, we enjoyed other stellar bike rides and hikes, but I didn't take many pics. Hopefully we'll have a few more adventures this summer.  Yet, as August wanes and September closes in, Jimmy and I are beginning to prepare for our ambitious journey across the Big Pond -- our trip to Türkiye, Egypt and Jordan. Oh, but first we stop in Maryland.