Rodeo Beach

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That orange dot is me...a little perspective how big this is.

#Owachomobridge #retzroadtrip2017
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Owachomo Bridge in Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah

Short hike to Owachomo Bridge...so amazing!! We're seeing lots of cool rocks during this trip. 😀
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Muir Woods

Amazing hike in Muir Woods. I haven't been here in 20ish years. Love that is hasn't changed much!! But OMG, that light.
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11.21 Lucky Ladybug

This lucky little ladybug
Has landed here to stay
To make my garden pretty
And keep the weeds away.
-author unknown

Sweetwater Mountains - Ride through the Aspens

It's a bit of a bumpy ride, but I promise it's worth it.

River of Gold

Jimmy and I hit the fall color motherlode this weekend.

Sonora Pass had some of the best we've ever seen...

Till we got to the Sweetwater Mountains in the Eastern California desert.

The aspens grow along a river. You can follow the River of Gold all the way up the mountain.

We rode through several groves, leaves rustling and quaking in the breeze, leaves raining down on our heads.

Since we haven't experienced a New England fall, we can't compare our amazing fall color to theirs, but ours is pretty damn good, too!!

Ice Jam against Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone

For us California peeps, this was one of the cooler things we saw on our trip.

The Yellowstone Lake was still covered with ice.

It flows into to Yellowstone River but there's a bridge, called Fishing Bridge, at the mouth of the river.

The pylons of the bridge kept the ice from flowing through smoothly, creating an ice jam. I've done a bit of internet searching since then and it's not uncommon in areas that get really really cold.

But California people don't see things like this.

We had no idea this phenomenon would be happening. We planned on maybe spending 5 minutes at the bridge, but ended up watching the ice for an hour at least.

We chatted with a ranger and he said that it looked completely different 2 hours earlier; it changes constantly depending on the wind. In fact, we drove by a couple hours later and there wasn't any ice jammed against the bridge at all. Seemed like we caught it at the perfect time.

The way the ice moved and slammed against each other, Jimmy said it was like plate tectonics, each flat of ice was like a continent.
You could visualize how mountains were formed as they butted up against each other.

And when that happened, ice shards would break off.
The sound of the shards rolling around in the water was really cool, too.

When some of the ice finally broke through to the other side of the bridge, it flowed freely to the river.

Of course I did another video for it. It's kinda long. You can skip to about a minute in to watch a big portion of it break through and flow through to the other side.

Marching On

Saying goodbye to the 3rd month of 2014...how quickly it flew by! Here are a few snapshots of my March...
Gandhi Statue at the Ferry Building.

Taxi and bike turning onto Market Street.

My brother-in-law works here.

Sunset on March 15th. Too cold for me to dip my toes in. Jimmy's braver than me.

Same day as above, only about an hour before. The fog lifted just in time for sunset.

A different day, the setting sun glowing on Alcatraz.

That apartment building fire was the opposite side of the ballpark from us but we could see the black smoke from our living room window. We drove by the devastation one Saturday afternoon.

Today, the last day of the month. Cold, windy, stormy. Raining sideways, umbrellas barely made a difference.

Paula Cole was in Berkeley on the 27th and we saw her at an awesome venue called Freight and Salvage. We had front row seats. No photos allowed during the performance, but I got one of her afterwards signing cd's.

Practicing barre chords. They are hard but I love them for some reason. I think because they are challenging. Although every part of learning the guitar is challenging. And rewarding. And that half gold dinosaur makes me laugh. Who would buy that??

Yes guitar is taking up most of my creative energy right now. But I still managed to do a decent bit of paper crafting too.



Our drive to the hideaway was gorgeous last weekend. A beautiful sunny spring day where our normally golden brown hills were fresh green.



California poppies.

A new friend...shy at first...

but as curious about us as we were about her.

Then just a day and a half later, we had just a little bit of snow on the ground.


"The March wind roars
Like a lion in the sky,
And makes us shiver
As he passes by.
When winds are soft,
And the days are warm and clear,
Just like a gentle lamb,
Then spring is here."
- Author Unknown

11.17 Chemung Mine

You may recall that Jimmy and I did an amazing off-roading trip in the Eastern Californian Desert. I blogged about the more famously known Bodie State Park and Ghost Town.

But the Chemung Mine was my favorite spot of the day. There was something magical about this spot.

It might be because of the magnificent, freshly snow capped Sierra Nevada mountain range in the background.

Or maybe it's because the mine was up against the hillside next to a beautiful aspen grove. And aspens are my favorite tree.

More likely it was a combination of both in addition to the amazing buildings that was deteriorating, instead of the ones at Bodie that were maintained in 'arrested decay'.

I wasn't able to find out much about the mine. But according to a bit of googling, it was built in the early 1900's and was active till 1938. Then again in the 1950s and 1960s, a sole prospector worked the mine, supporting himself, but never striking it rich.

Now, if you can get to it, you can explore the mine freely. Just be kind to the surroundings so others can appreciate it, too. It's really a remarkable spot in California's mining history.

This main building seemed to take center stage.



But the other smaller buildings were just as amazing.



With breathtaking views.

Not sure if this was a place of worship, or just a power line perfectly placed...

But doesn't this invoke the Wild Wild West to you?

Exploring the ruins of the main building was very interesting.

Imagine the people and now ghosts(!) that wandered through these rooms.

Watching the aspens quake in the wind and change colors in the fall.


Or prepare for the bitter cold of winter. At 8100 feet elevation, winters were harsh, windy and covered in several feet of snow.

But the dreams of finding "gold in them thar hills" was enough to keep the mine running.


I'm sure you can see why this spot is so amazing. We could have spent half the day exploring this area, but we were just beginning our day.

But seven hours later, we rode by it again on our way back to the car and caught the mine at that perfect Golden Hour moment.











The best way to start and end a day packed with back country exploring.