Away to play

Katie at Lake Tahoe 

In the Sluice Boxes State Park

Approaching the Mount Wright summit

I don’t post while I’m traveling.
That explains my absence.
In the meantime, I’ve done the following:
· Hiked Trail 728 in the Little Belt Mountains from Dry Gulch near Barker to Oti Park
· Done our annual hike into the Sluice Boxes State Park with an international 4-H exchange student from Germany
· Climbed Mount Wright in the Rocky Mountain Front
· Vacationed for eight days in California in the Sierra Foothills where we baked in 105 degree plus weather, getting breaks from the heat in Lake Tahoe and San Francisco
While in California we stayed with Katie’s parents near a state recreation area on Folsom Lake and Granite Bay State Park. I used these areas daily for early morning (to escape the heat!) day hikes. I was thrilled with the live oak, granite-strewn trails.
We had a chance to tour the wine country in the Santa Rosa area.
We found that recession is taking quite a toll on California, but that the country is wealthy beyond anything we know in Montana.
The wineries charge $10 per tasting, so that can be an expensive activity.
However, we paid only $10 to hear the San Francisco Opera Company do “La Traviata” in the ornate War Memorial Opera House in downtown. We stayed at a quaint boutique hotel with an international clientele.
It was the first time I’ve been back to Mount Wright since the Fool Creek Fire in 2007 that hammered the area. The flowers are out in profusion that offers a counterpoint to the dead trees. I found the whole area quite beautiful.