Sunday, January 25, 2015

Hebgen Lake and Horse Butte

Saturday we took a leisurely ride west of town along the Lionhead trail. Easy going, settling into all this very deliberately, allowing old bones and joints and reflexes to adjust. Also marveling at how much our snowmobile pants have shrunk over the years. Sunday we thought we'd keep it on the easy side, but do a longer ride, up to Hebgen Lake, along its Madison Arm, and then up to the top of Horse Butte and its forest service lookout station. It was a pleasant ride, a bit cloudy, but not too cold and not too much traffic, unless you count the sled dog rigs out practicing for the Idiotrod.
At the Madison Arm of Lake Hegben; the boat ramp,
campground, and "resort" all closed for the season
















Vicki at Madison Arm; Madison, as in President Madison,
named by Lewis and Clarke, one of the most storied of all
fly-fishing rivers; "all them memories come floodin' back..."

















Montana version of "share the road"



















Horse Butte lookout 



















A bit of Lake Hegben from Horse Butte



































Tomorrow, after the weather clears a bit more, we'll do Two Top, a longer and higher trail, and possibly over to Island Park, ID. We've done Two Top many times before and especially enjoy its view of the distant Grand Teton range.

Snowmobiling The American West, 2015

As students of this blog know, we took up snowmobiling in our latter years in Missoula, purchasing a 2003 Bombardier Grand Touring Skidoo, two-up, 1000ccs, totally-duded up with saddle-bags, winch, and many other amenities and paraphrenalia. Between 2003 and 2008, we covered most of the groomed trails of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, many of them more than once. From these travels, I did several posts with a number of pix from the Sherouse Family Digitization Project, in 2012, and these may be found at http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2012/05/snowmobiling-american-west-2003-2008.html, and later posts.

We put our snowmobile in storage, along with everything else we either held dear or couldn't sell or give away, in 2008, planning, after a year or two of retirement travel, to come back to Missoula and snowmobile the winters again. Plans change, of course, and after six years now we were back in Missoula trying to dig our old trailer out of a friend's snowy and frozen back yard and trying to get our dormant snowmobile up on it and to a Skidoo dealer for pre-season maintenance and resuscitation. The details of all this, re-wiring the trailer, and further work on the camper, took a week. We also played some and visited friends. Eventually, the dealer we took the machine to was in West Yellowstone, the same one from whom we bought it in 2003. The Missoula dealer was busy, and the weather was "improving" in West Yellowstone. Happily, the snowmobile fired up perfectly well after its six year sleep, and we've driven several hours now on the trails near West Yellowstone, trying to re-learn the sport and get everything back into shape. So far, so good. More pix and posts will follow.
Outside our storage unit in Missoula















En route to West Yellowstone





Saturday, January 24, 2015

Camping in the Big Sur

We took P on another camping trip, in part to distract her from Mama's absence, this time to the Pfeiffer State Park in the Big Sur country south of Monterey. We have driven the coastal highway many times--it is one of the world's great ones, and Rebecca lived for several years just north of it, in Pebble Beach. It was our third or fourth outing among the redwoods in a couple months, although the ones at Pfeiffer were the biggest yet for this California visit. All this is to say I did not take very many pix. Except one spectacular event as we were driving back home on CA 1.
Our campsite at Pfeiffer; note BIG tree in background















Big Sur River; the  Big Sur is the land south of Monterey, not
just the coastline
















P and Grandma on our hike to the waterfall, the trickle in the
distant background
















Playing by the river















The spectacular event was seeing whales, seemingly a dozen
or more, swimming quite close to the cliffs...perhaps only
a half or quarter mile away

















Thus















And thus; and especially the video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjgBIWmn_fE

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles At The Oakland Zoo (And Some Animals)

Among our better outings with P was the Oakland Zoo, which sports a variety of rides and other attractions as well as animals and an excellent educational program...
Great zoo,rides, animals, education...















Planes















Trains















And automobiles...well, she chose the fire engine















In parks likes this, one has to pace oneself...















They have animals















Mostly what she likes doing, however, is climbing everything
in sight
















Thus



















And thus



















And thus















The grandparents insist, however, that we occasionally look at
the animals
















Thus















And thus















And associated droppings















And thus














More Peninsular Grand-Parenting, More Outings With P

Rebecca had the usual ton of grading to do, in addition to Christmas, and January 1st she departed on one of her school's field trips--escorting a dozen or so juniors for ten days in Delhi and environs. Jeremy had just started a new consulting job, and so we stayed around, camping in the drive-way, helping with P, pretty much our favorite activity.
So one morning, Grandpa came over to entertain P while Mama
was grading (Mama always wears a tiara while grading)
















And a bit later, in P's room, she too is grading; "Mark Sherouse,"
she says, "please finish your sentences"
















Another day, we are at the North Fair Oaks playground, which
has a kitchen at its sand-box
















And P has prepared the local favorite, Silicon Pie, topped with
locally-sourced acorns; a bit grainy to my taste
















And, another day, we are at Oakland's wonderful Fairyland

Thus















And thus















And thus















And thus















And another day, swimming lessons















And, yet another day, trying out the grandparents' new
inflatable kayak in the front yard ("our ship has come in")

Friday, January 23, 2015

Christmas, 2014

It was not a huge family Christmas, but it was a Christmas with a three-year-old. P's parting words to us, Christmas night, were "I love my presents, I love Christmas, I love my family." Top that!
Decorating Christmas cookies



















Special attention to the letter P (not shown...
making the gingerbread house)




















Traditional Christmas Eve meat/seafood fondue (the cheese
fondue course was lunch, earlier; the chocolate course on
Christmas night)





















Helping Grandma unwrap a Christmas eve present















Christmas morning...P examines the chemistry
set from Poppy (paternal grandpa), as Mama
looks on, demonstrating use of safety glasses;
what does a chemistry set for three-year-olds do,
you ask...have you ever seen raisins rise and
fall in a solution of carbonated water?























With her first American Girl doll (christened
Sarah) and matching Snow White night-gowns




















Daddy with specially-selected vintage tie















A Frozen night-gown



















Mama looks on to the unwrapping of a culinary present















Grandpa unwraps something (probably a gadget
for the camper)




















As the morning winds down, with Sarah, in
matching night-gowns

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Interim Update: Missoula, January, 2015

It's the Ides of January, and here we are in Missoula, MT, fog and 16 degrees F at 10 in the morning . At least it's pretty outside, if you like whore-frost everywhere and white-out.... (That's a joke, son).

After a three-day drive from Menlo Park, mostly on I-5 and then the Columbia Gorge, and then up to I-90 via its tributaries, spending nights--savage camping, of course--at Grants Pass (OR) and Kennewick, OR (WA?), we are here, pursuing Vicki's dream of snowmobiling the American West; again. Most of the scenery on the drive was stunning, as usual, particularly Shasta, the mountains of southern Oregon, Mt. Hood, the Gorge, and the montane regions of the inland northwest: our country, or used to be. Anyhow, we survived the drive, with its increasing cold, and our first sub-freezing night in the Bigfoot. Vicki's ingenuities and gadgets got us through with (apparently) no frozen pipes, tanks, bottles, nor frost-bite, and with abundant propane and electricity. (The hypothermia will come later.) The Ram didn't get great mileage--it was uphill a lot of the way. And we're dealing with a bit more condensation inside the camper than anticipated. Vicki has suggested I help solve the condensation problem by not breathing.

Anyhow, we are here, and our next steps will be reviving our eleven year old snowmobile, in storage since 2008, and our trailer, which we'd sold to a friend who is lending it back for the season. As all that progresses, I'll try to fill a variety of blog-gaps from the last month or so.
I watched the national championship game at a bar in Grants
Pass, OR, surrounded by Ducks fans; it is difficult to contain
oneself in such circumstances--particularly here where Ohio
State's Ezekiel Elliot is celebrating his 3rd TD against the 
favored Ducks to make OSU's lead insuperable; it was an 
interesting season for me, since both my alma maters made the 
final four; and my beloved Buckeyes were clearly the 
Cinderella story of the year; FSU was evidently not up to its 
previous year's national championship, and I am pleased that 
its quarterback is moving on to the pros, where he'll 
undoubtedly make RGIII and Johnny Goofball look good; 
oh, and I have nothing but respect for the Ducks fans with 
whom I shared the evening in Grants Pass: good sports, all...