Norcal Adventures

End of an Era

2009-05-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

This is officially my last post on this blog. Why, you ask?? Holly and I have just launched our joint blog where we will be posting what is going on in our lives! Here is the address:
http://KyleandHollyLerman.blogspot.com

Please visit our new blog to keep tabs on us and our adventures. Thank you for all of your thoughts and comments on this, my old blog. We look forward to hearing from you on the new one!

Take care and God bless. This is Norcal Adventures signing off....

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

HAPPY EASTER!!!

2009-04-12T01:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

What a weekend!!!

2009-03-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when God brings things together, he brings things together in a really big way!!

That's how I felt about this past weekend on my trip down to the valley. The trip started off in a big way. After going out to dinner, Holly and I went to the Chris Tomlin concert. Wow, what a blast! The only downside to the concert (other than the volume!) was the fact that they wouldn't let me take photos inside, even though I carried the camera in with the strap over my shoulder! Still, it was so much fun.

One of the 4 photos I got of the concert before I was asked to turn my camera off.

Holly's dad was leaving for a hunting trip in Africa, so on Saturday we dropped him off at his friend's house so they could carpool to SFO. Afterward, we hung out with Holly's mom for the rest of the evening. We went to church (I got to play again for the first time in a while!!), and then took her out to dinner at BJ's in Folsom.

Sunday morning, Holly and I went for a walk and explored her old middle school. Afterward, we headed down to Folsom, where Sam and I played a game of 1-on-1. We have been playing these games (12-minute quarters) for years, and so far I had won zero games and lost 75 in a row! In this particular game, with time winding down, I found myself behind once again. With only 3 seconds left and down by 3 points, I missed a shot and fouled Sam. Amazingly, he missed both free throws, and I got the ball back and called a timeout. I passed the ball in, dribbled once or twice, and fired a 3-pointer, which dropped through the net with half a second to go. Sam called timeout and tried a half-court shot at the buzzer and missed, so we went into overtime tied 89-89. In overtime, I eventually took the lead by 5 points, before Sam battled back hard and scored 6 in a row to take the lead 103-102 with less than 15 seconds to go. On my final possession, I used a little time, and fired in a 2-pointer with one second to go to take the lead 104-103. Sam tried another half-court shot at the buzzer, and as the ball was in the air, he said, "It's over." I actually won a game finally! OK, so my record is now 1 win and 75 losses (0.013), but still, at least it's a start! It was a lot of fun. We'll see if I can back it up with another win sometime in the next 76 games!

Holly and I and Sam and Amy had a nice turkey dinner with my parents and grandparents after the game, and us 4 "kids" headed down to the Kings game against the Nuggets. This was Holly's first Kings game, and the Kings actually won! Wonders never cease, right?!

Wrong!! Here comes the highlight of the weekend. This event could not have been timed any better, even down to the minute!! I drove down to Sacramento on Monday to meet with Holly and go for a 45-minute walk on her lunch break. We were only 2 minutes into our walk when I got "the call." I had told her that I was waiting for my phone to ring and say the word "Missouri" on it, since the place within the Weather Service that makes the job offer calls is in Kansas City. This particular call was labled "Missouri" on my phone, so of course I interrupted our time together and answered the call. Holly's reaction was priceless when I told the person on the phone that I would accept the job offer! She backed up, covered her face with her hands, and said, "Thank You, God!!!" We had the rest of her lunch break to celebrate the incredibly happy news!! Just another example of God's perfect timing! I am sooo glad that Holly got to be there by my side when I got the call! I will be starting work in Sacramento the second week of May. Later that afternoon, my sweetie sent me an amazing gift and had it delivered to my parents' house. Check it out!:

Thank you, Sweetie!

Here's a few details about the job - it is within the National Weather Service's California Nevada River Forecast Center in Sacramento, currently located on El Camino Ave. near Watt. My job will consist of forecasting rainfall amounts and snow levels for most of the states of California and Nevada, and a small portion of Oregon. We have the opportunity in the winter time to brief state water officials in person and live over the Internet. Oh yeah, and even though we are open 7 days a week, it is a 6am-2pm day job!!! That's right, no more evening or night shifts, except for rare occasions when there are extended operations due to flooding potential! WOO HOO!!!

Holly and I had dinner at my grandparents' house on Monday evening, where I took this photo. We don't look happy at all, do we?! ;)

Every trip down to the valley is incredible! God has certainly shown Himself to be good and faithful to us! So what's up for the next trip? Holly's first trip to the races (and my 24th season!), and maybe a trip to Tahoe, we'll see. Oh yeah, and In N Out Burger. Sounds like a winning weekend to me - I can't wait!!!

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

2009-03-09T16:35:00.001-07:00

A quick post from my phone.... I found out today I was selected for a job @ the River Forecast Center in Sacramento! Praise God! :)

Official Date!!!

2009-02-18T13:34:00.000-08:00

I would have to say last weekend turned out to be very productive! Holly and I managed to find the location for our wedding (we officially reserved the date yesterday), book a photographer for that day, and purchase both of our wedding rings! First off...the date - August 1st. Hey, when you want to get married in August, why wait till later in the month when the 1st is on a Saturday?! Besides, the 1st will be an easy anniversary to remember. I'm just kidding - there is NO WAY I would forget my own anniversary, no matter what the date!!! You do believe me, don't you sweetie?!

The location: Lake Natoma Inn in Folsom. They are having a really good "All-Inclusive Wedding Special" that includes the ceremony and reception locations, buffet catering, no-host bar, champaign fee, set-up, clean-up, etc. That makes it much easier to plan things, especially since I live so far away and can't always be around to help with the planning. There are a couple of choices for ceremony and reception locations, and here's some photos of the ones we chose (click for larger versions):

Ceremony site - these tables and chairs will be gone and replaced by white chairs.

Panoramic of ceremony site - the building on the far right is the reception room.

Reception room

We've also been working on getting places booked for the honeymoon too, especially since places book up fast over the summer. We are planning on staying a few days near Yosemite (already booked), and then a few days near Tahoe (still looking for a place). There's nothing like a trip to the Sierras to get away from the nasty summertime heat in the central valley!

Here's a photo of the rings:

Holly's wedding and engagement rings on the left, and my ring on the right.

Getting this stuff taken care of has been a huge relief to us since it is a lot less we have to deal with in the coming months. Still, we have plenty to do!! Save-the-date cards will be going out soon, we still need to find the entertainment, get a cake ordered, etc. Oh by the way, Holly found her dress already and blogged about it here.

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Awesome "Adventure" Drive

2009-02-05T21:52:00.000-08:00

On January 19th, Holly and I took advantage of a holiday we both had off work and decided to take a nice drive through the Sierras. *WARNING - weather geek talk ahead!!!* An unusal stretch of sunny weather (big ridge of high pressure parked over the west coast) meant we knew we would have fair conditions for the trip, plus the roads would be clear of any snow and ice. However, the snowpack in the Sierras is nothing like what it should be this time of year, thanks to the ongoing drought conditions in northern California. OK, enough weather talk for now....

I picked up Holly from her place in the morning and we headed on out toward Jackson. After a quick stop at the grocery store, we caught Highway 88 in Jackson and headed east. Here is the first little turnout where we stopped, probably up around 6000-7000 feet in elevation (notice it was a comfortable, mild day, despite all the white stuff around!):

We continued up the hill and stopped at another vista point, which I think was somewhere near the summit (up around 8000 feet). Here's the view from up there - notice frozen Silver Lake down in the valley:

Can you say, "cutie pie"??? :)

We headed up the hill further and stopped briefly at Hope Valley. We had hoped to drive down Blue Lakes Road to Upper Blue Lake, where Holly's family likes to camp, but as we were afraid might be the case, the road was closed for the winter. We mosied on over and caught Highway 89 and headed north and hit Hwy 50 at Meyers. We drove east and crossed the Nevada line and came back and stopped at a couple places on the south end of Lake Tahoe, which is gorgeous in the winter time!

Sledding fun at Tahoe:

I was really impressed how this photo of a seagull came out, with its wings spread against a pretty cloud background:

Next, we drove down 50 over Echo Summit and through Kyburz, and took Ice House Road north to Ice House Reservoir. (This was my first time driving on Ice House Road, and I must say I was proud of myself! If you know how steep and windy that road is, you'll understand why!) The lake was pretty, but again, there is not nearly enough snow up there.

My mom posts regularly about her adventure drives with my dad, and I wanted to post about mine with my sweetie! (Although, technically this wasn't an "adventure" drive because we planned ahead of time where we were going.) I'm looking forward to a lifetime of these drives through the hills with my girl too! When can we go again, Sweetie?!

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Engagement Photos

2009-01-25T11:49:00.000-08:00

I finally had a chance to download some photos I wanted to share from Friday. You can click on any of them for a larger view.

Check out this ring:
And if you thought the ring looked pretty before, just look how much prettier it looks on Holly's finger!

My beautiful future bride:

And last, but not least, check out the happy couple!

In case you haven't seen my blog in a while and this post doesn't make much sense, you might want to check the previous post from Friday night! God bless!

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Do you know what this picture means?!?!?!

2009-01-23T22:44:00.000-08:00

It means...she said yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, so it's true she already told me that she would say yes when I did finally ask her, but still - wow, so exciting! With all the wedding plans we have already been making for a while now, it's nice to finally make things official.

Here's an engagement prayer I found online. I wish I could take credit for writing it - I really like it, and I pray it for Holly and I:

Lord God, we ask for Your presence here with us as we prepare for our marriage. We thank you, Lord God, for being an integral part of our lives and our relationship. We ask that You continue to bless and guide us in Your calling to us to be Christ to one another and to those that surround us. Help us to remember You are the center of our lives and to keep us turning to You in times of sorrow and in the times of joy.
Lord, we ask that You bless and guide our married family and the children that You give us. Help us to instill and exemplify Your teachings in our family, so that we may never stray from Your love. We love You, Lord, and we thank You for blessing us with one another. Amen.

As for the big date...we're shooting for August. Take care and God bless.

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Everyone, meet Holly!

2009-01-12T23:16:00.000-08:00

It's about time I posted about one of the most important events in my life: meeting someone very special to me. Meet my girlfriend Holly:

Holly has got to be the sweetest person I've ever met. I'm so thankful she is in my life. The hard part about our relationship is that we live around 350 miles apart, but that will only be temporary.

Oh, and in case Holly happens to be reading this right now...I love you Sweetie, and I miss you! See you this weekend! :)

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2008-11-28T02:03:00.000-08:00

OK, I realize I'm posting this the day AFTER Thanksgiving, but better late than never, right?!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and I hope you have a great Christmas season!

By the way, if you're interested, check out my friend Holly's blog over there on the right-hand side of the page at the top of the "My Favorite Links" list.

God bless!

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

A few things...

2008-11-17T03:05:00.000-08:00

This post is pretty much just some miscellaneous stuff.

First of all, I'd like to introduce a new feature to the blog - a Bible verse of the week. It's posted at the top of the right-hand side.

Secondly, check out my mom's write-up of my bro's senior project rocket engine firing in Fresno this past weekend: http://bakeslotsacookies.blogspot.com/2008/11/final-blast.html

And finally, I found another nice place to take photos of the ocean. The following 2 photos were taken from near Table Bluff, which overlooks both the Pacific and Humboldt Bay. The panoramic was from Saturday, and the sunset photo from Sunday.

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Driving poorly?

2008-08-01T00:49:00.001-07:00

Alright, I guess it's about time I FINALLY posted something about this since it happened about 7 months ago already. This post has been on the back burner for a long time now.

This little story takes place on New Year's Eve 2007 as I was driving back to Eureka after spending a few days with my family in Sactown. I was headed north on Highway 101 around 7:30-8:30 pm in either northern Mendocino or southern Humboldt County (believe me, they look just the same, especially at night). As one might expect to see on New Year's Eve, the California Highway Patrol was out in force, and there seemed to be black and white cars all over the road.

As is typical on my drives home, the road was fairly empty, but cars going above the speed limit would still occasionally catch up to and pass me. Then at one point, one car caught up to me and stayed in my lane behind me. At first I didn't think too much of it, but eventually my curiousity became stronger when I realized this car didn't want to pass. It would get closer and then fall back a ways. Finally, the car got close enough behind me that I could see the bars in the car through my rearview mirror. "Ah ha," I thought. "So it's a cop."

Well, I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, but he kept following me for several minutes. I just watched my speedometer even more closely than I normally do and kept on going. Finally, he turned his lights on and pointed his spotlight at the back of my truck. I thought, "Oh, great. Now what?" I had never in my life been pulled over before and, needless to say, I was more than a little nervous about what was going on.

I started slowing down, but didn't immediately see what I thought looked like a safe place to pull over. Finally after several seconds, I found a place and stopped my truck. The officer walked up to my passenger window and knocked on it in order to get me to roll the window down.

After I rolled the window down, officer #1 (as he will be called from now on) said, "The reason I pulled you over was because you were driving pretty poorly back there. You were in and out of your lane about half a dozen times and straddling the line on the road."

Well, this was news to me! I had never been accused of being a bad driver before, and I thought I was driving pretty good, myself. But I certainly didn't want to get into a big debate with the nice police officer, so I said the biggest argument I could think of: "Really!?"

He asked me where I was coming from, and I told him. Then he asked for me driver's license, registration, and insurance, which I happily handed over. He gave the paperwork to officer #2 so he could radio the information into dispatch and check up on me while officer #1 continued to talk to me.

Officer #1 continued, "Someone actually reported you. Someone called and reported a silver Dodge Dakota weaving all over the road and throwing cans out the window. That's why two patrol cars are here tonight."

Well, I hadn't noticed that there were two different patrol cars behind me; I thought both officers had come from the same car. So I said something that probably wasn't the brightest thing to say: "Oh, I didn't notice there were two of you back there." D'oh! Maybe I shouldn't have said THAT!

Officer #1 said, "It also took you a while for you to notice me behind you." I didn't say anything in response to that, but I was thinking, "What are you talking about? I've seen you following me for the last 10 minutes!!!"

Finally he got to the point: "Do you mind stepping out of the truck for a couple minutes?" I thought, "You've got to be kidding me," but out loud I said, "Sure, no problem."

So I followed officer #1 behind the truck and stood where he asked me to stand. Keep in mind that it was pitch black outside, which only added to the frightening aspect of the whole thing. Around this time, officer #2 was still occupied with dispatch.

Officer #1: "You seem really nervous. Have you ever been pulled over before?"
Me: "No, never."
Officer #1: "Never? Not even for a speeding ticket or anything?"
Me: "Nope, first time in my life."

He took a pen out of his pocket and said, "I want you to follow the pen with your eyes without moving your head." Then he started moving the pen from side to side.

I don't know exactly what I was thinking, but it might have gone something like this: "I know I haven't been drinking, but eyes, please don't fail me now! Do whatever it is you're supposed to do while following a pen. And please don't move, head!" I'm just glad he didn't ask me to walk a straight line, because sometimes I can't even do that on a good day without tripping, falling, or running into something!

When he was done, he asked me, "Have you had anything to drink at all?" I said no. He asked me if I was tired, and I told him that I was a bit tired, that I had just worked a bunch of night shifts, and then I had driven to Sacramento and back for the weekend.

Then he proceded to take my pulse. I'm sure it must have been a new world record because I could feel my heart going about 90 mph. He pulled out his pen again and moved it toward my nose to make my eyes go crossed. Then he asked me to follow the pen again and did his routine again.

Finally, I guess he was satisfied. He told me that he normally liked to be very thorough about things, but he saw no reason to continue checking me out any further. He said he could see no signs of my being under the influence of anything and could not smell any alcohol in the truck. He looked at officer #2 (who had finished talking to dispatch about the fact that my truck's registration was current and there was nothing wrong with me), and officer #2 just shrugged his shoulders.

Officer #1: "That report of throwing a can out the window doesn't make any sense to you, does it?"
Me: "Not at all."
Officer #1: "Well, we have to fill out some paperwork real quick here since we both had to spend our time talking to you out here tonight. We are a state agency; I'm sure you understand."
Me: "I do understand. As a matter of fact, I work for the government too."
Officer #1: "Oh yeah, who do you work for."
Me: "I work for the National Weather Service up in Eureka."

This launched a whole (but brief) conversation about how I had worked in Texas and then moved to Eureka, and how I went to school to get my meteorology degree. He even mentioned that I must have known how it would be cold out there that night, which it certainly was. Then officer #2 gave me back my paperwork, officer #1 wished me a good night, and I went on my way.

The truly ironic thing about this whole experience is that I have never in my life even tasted a drop of alcohol, let alone would I ever consider drinking and driving. It also left me wondering: Hmmm.......if I had really been swerving and driving erratically like officer #1 said I was, wouldn't you think there would be at least reckless driving ticket or something? How interesting. I guess he just felt he needed a nice excuse to pull me over after all.

And to top off the strangeness of the story, in case you haven't noticed, officer #2 never said a single word to me or to officer #1 during this entire ordeal. Am I the only one that finds that odd?

So, my latest theory is this: Ph.D. boy (if you don't know who that is, that's a whole other story) knew that I was driving back home along Highway 101 and thought he would have some fun by making a prank call to the CHP concerning a vehicle exactly like mine driving poorly and throwing cans out the window. Seems logical, right? Anyway, thanks a lot, man!

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Scenic Highway 101

2008-04-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

I spent my three-day weekend this week visiting my grandparents in Florence, Oregon. It's a 265-mile drive each way that takes almost 6 hours to complete (average 46 mph, thanks to the slow twists and turns of Highway 101). On the way home, I hit weather ranging from completely sunny skies to heavy drizzle and fog so thick I couldn't see much of anything but the glare from my own headlights. However, I found a few opportunities to utilize the vista points on the side of the highway to take some photos. Since I still don't have the wide-angle lens for my new camera yet, some of the photos were taken with my old camera. You can click on the photos for larger versions.

Look closely to see if you can find the Umpqua Lighthouse:

The next four were taken just south of Port Orford, OR (the third one down is my favorite, and likely the next photo of the week):

A greeter at the Oregon Visitor's Information Center just north of the border:

On the way home, I had to stop at the Crescent City Wal-Mart to check it out. At only 90-minutes away, it is the nearest Wal-Mart to Eureka:

Finally, a couple of sunset photos from south of Crescent City:

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Major Upgrade

2008-04-07T01:14:00.000-07:00

As much as I love my current camera (the Panasonic DMC-FZ8S), I finally decided to upgrade to something nicer, namely a digital SLR. Although I still have a long way to go, I feel I have learned a lot about digital photography in the last couple years with lots of practice with my Panasonic. My official reason for upgrading is wanting a camera that provides more manual control along with much improved image quality. However, my secret reason (shh, don't tell anyone!) is that I have a long-standing photography inferiority complex thanks to Jim (yeah, right!). He use to try to intimidate me by threatening to put away his standard camera (Sony H5) and break out his "big" camera (Sony Alpha A100) to take some shots. Of course, the results never fully lived up to the hype, but I always pretended to like his pictures to make him feel better.

Anyway, in my typical fashion, I researched all kinds of DSLRs for an enormous amount of time before I finally settled on the Canon Digital Rebel XTi (check out the home page for this camera here). For lenses, I decided on the Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS and the Canon EF-S 55-250mm IS (see photos below). Together, they cover a zoom range very similar to my Panasonic. As I have done in the past, I ordered this camera from Amazon.com and thus now have to spend a week waiting for everything to arrive (all the various components are coming from different places). I don't know what to do with myself now. I'm having a hard time being patient waiting for my XTi's arrival, but I guess I have no choice. For now, I'll occupy my time (which I'm sure could be better spent!) by reading the downloaded user's manual so I will hopefully have some clue about how to use an SLR by the time it actually gets here. So Jim: I'll soon have my own "big" camera to bring out when it's time to show you how it's done, so just be ready. I can tell you're scared....

(photo from www.luminous-landscape.com)

(photo from Canon)

(photo from Canon)

Snow in Eureka

2008-01-28T02:09:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post with some videos from yesterday. Sorry for the way they look - when I uploaded the videos from my camera, the blog software promptly re-formatted them to a low-resolution, blurry mess. However, I think they are still good enough so that you can kind of see what's going on. Please feel free to ignore the commentary on the second video - I was on the phone with my mom at the time.

We had quite a wintry mix in Eureka today. It started off around 50 degrees this morning with lots of rain (over an inch and a half total on the day). By mid-afternoon, the temperature was in the mid- to upper-30s and we saw rain, a rain and snow mix, and some light snow flurries (with little or no rain falling). Then just before midnight, we had a heavy shower for a couple minutes that nearly covered the ground with small hail (see photos at the end of the post). We do have the possibility of more snow overnight (although it is 35 degrees right now), but I doubt there will much accumulation, if any. Too bad. Still, it's been a fun day!

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Riverwalk

2008-01-15T09:53:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not talking about the San Antonio riverwalk (which I think is overrated, by the way). I'm talking about the scenic walk my mom and I took yesterday down by the American River and Lake Natoma in Folsom. You can click any of the photos below for a slightly larger version.

Check out these birds' nests attached to the side of a cliff: Lone kayak:
Interesting rock formation:
Advancing cirrus clouds made for a nice one-sided sundog display:

The three main bridges in Folsom are pictured below.
a) In the foreground, the newest bridge called Lake Natoma Crossing. It was built in 2000.
b) The next one back is called Rainbow Bridge (for obvious reasons!). It has stood there since 1919.
c) The furthest bridge back (the tall one behind Rainbow Bridge) is a historic truss bridge which I think is nameless. It was originally built in this spot in 1893 and then was moved to a different part of the river in 1918. In 2000, the bridge was brought back to its original location in Folsom. Originally used for pedestrians, cattle, and small vehicles, the old bridge is now strictly for walking and biking.

See this page for more info: http://www.myfolsom.com/3bridges.shtml Looking downstream from the same location as the previous photo: This is an interesting story, especially considering my past. We found about 7 roosters just hanging out in the parking lot near a group campground. We have no idea why they were there by themselves, but they did make for some interesting photo subjects:

Squirrel on a log:

Hope you enjoyed the nice Northern California scenery. Sorry for the history lesson in there -- as a proud former Folsom resident, I think these historical tidbits of the town are important to share!

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Big Pacific Surf

2008-01-06T17:50:00.000-08:00

Check out these pictures of the surf yesterday. The buoy 3 miles off the coast of this spot showed a peak wave height of 29 feet yesterday morning. The waves washed up some pretty hefty debris, too.

Debris washed up by the waves:

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

I'm back!!!

2007-12-01T23:18:00.000-08:00

This quick post signifies the fact that I am FINALLY back online at home after a 2.5-month absence. Also, I would like to announce the addition of the Photo of the Week, which can be found on the right-hand side of the blog home page. I intend to update this photo near the beginning of each week with a photo from the previous week. The first photo is already posted.

I'll see if I can get some storm photos the next couple of days. We have a classic Pacific storm bearing down on us, with winds offshore gusting to 60 knots and waves in the surf around 30-35 feet. I'm going to try to get down somewhere near the beach Monday morning before I go to work and get some photos if possible, but with the wind and blowing spray, it will not be easy. It's amazing how much extra workload a storm like this causes at the office. Here are some of the extra, non-routine products we dealt with at work today:
Snow Advisory (1st one I've ever issued)
High Surf Warning
Storm Warning (offshore)
Gale Warning
Hazardous Seas Warning
High Wind Warning
Hazardous Weather Outlook
Flood Potential Outlook

This is the kind of storm I have missed while being in Texas for over a year. There's nothing quite like a Pacific wind storm to help you feel the raw power of the atmosphere in motion. Anyway, I'm looking forward to it, to say the least.

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Goodbye Ol' Blue

2007-11-04T00:25:00.000-07:00

After 19 years of faithful service in my family, it was finally time to say goodbye to Ol' Blue yesterday. Although it only managed to accumulate 68,000 miles in its long lifespan, Blue's age showed itself more and more this year, and finally the bills and repair estimates became more than the car was worth. This car got me back and forth to school in San Jose many, many times and held up well on its 4,000+ mile journey to Brownsville and back. But as of yesterday, Blue was retired from the family service and now belongs to the good people at Folsom Lake Dodge.

Ol' Blue back in some of its better days in Brownsville.
On the flip side of the story, I am now the proud owner of a brand new 2007 Dodge Dakota pickup that Folsom Lake Dodge had at a really good price in order to make room for the 2008 models. This truck is certainly bigger than what I originally had in mind, and I never imagined I would be able to afford a new vehicle, but with the special deal going on this weekend, this truck turned out to be very close to the price of most of the used ones I had looked into. The newcomer still does not have a name yet, but here are some photos to show what she looks like:

So I guess the story turned out to be a happy one after all. At least I know there is another Ol' Blue still driving through the streets of Brownsville and hopefully will continue to do so for a long time to come. By the way, any thoughts on a name?

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Yes, I'm still alive

2007-10-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I posted, but I don't have Internet at home still, so give me a break. I thought I'd post a few pictures today (on my day off) to show what things look like around here. The NWS office here is really cool looking, in my opinion. Check out all the wood on the outside of the building and the wooden signs out front:

I've also found a house to rent here in Eureka. I should be able to move into the house in the next week or two. For those who haven't seen pictures of this place yet, here is one taken by somebody I work with:

And then, just for fun, here is a photo of a sawmill in Samoa, CA, I took a couple days ago:

Well, if I want to finish the rest of my errands today, I guess I should get out of here and get moving. I sure am looking forward to moving into my place and having Internet at home again. Until then, I'll post when I can. See ya.

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Home at last!

2007-09-17T23:53:00.000-07:00

Twelve and a half hours after leaving Phoenix, my dad and I made it home around 7:45 this evening. Although today's drive was roughly the same length as yesterday's, knowing home was the final destination made today's journey seem much quicker and easier. A wonderful home-cooked meal (my mom's world-famous chili) was waiting for us when we walked in the door. I thought I'd share a few of my photos from the trip along with a couple that my dad took, too.

Mammatus clouds in Arizona (through driver's-side window):

Phoenix sunset Sunday evening: A couple of lightning photos from a thunderstorm east of Phoenix Sunday night:

These last two were taken by my dad through the car window in Arizona Sunday afternoon - nice work!

I'll be staying with my family here in Folsom for the next couple of days. Wednesday, we are driving up to Eureka so I can start the process of looking for a place to live before I start work next Monday. At least I get a short break before it's time to start driving again!

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Trip Log-Day 2

2007-09-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

1354 miles down, 686 to go. Phoenix tonight-home tomorrow. Had a great dinner at Crackerbarrel. Nice lightning show to the E 2nite.

Trip Log-Day 1

2007-09-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

Made it all the way to Sonora to spend the night. The car even handled well in the 80 mph zone! Phoenix tomorrow. See y'all later!

Trip Log-Day 0

2007-09-14T22:19:00.000-07:00

Ah, spending the night on the floor-gotta love that! Last night in my apartment-on the road in the morning. Next stop-Kerrville.

Going Away

2007-09-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

Since all my stuff will be loaded up and taken away tomorrow, this will probably be the last blog entry until Saturday night on the road. Fred the duck's blog is coming along, but won't be posted for a few more days. So, see you later, Brownsville!

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

Feathered Friends

2007-09-09T14:50:00.000-07:00

I guess one of the benefits of living right next door to 3 ponds and a resaca is that there is never a shortage of birds to observe and take pictures of. (I hope my former English teachers didn't notice how I just ended that sentence!) That's just one thing (among many) I will miss about Brownsville. I've managed to fill up 6.5 gigs of my hard drive with over 2,000 photos of ducks in just about one year's time - these guys are by far my most popular photo subject. But how can someone resist taking photos of something so cute, especially the little ones. Here are some photos taken just today, for example:

So, I guess I'll have to find another favorite creature to take photos of soon. Maybe there are ducks in California, too. By the way, I have another feathered friend named Fred, but he's such an important bird, I think I'll hold off on talking about him for now and give him his own blog entry later.

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog

California, here I come...

2007-09-08T22:20:00.000-07:00

Well, the big trip out west starts about a week from today. I'll be posting a quick message here on the blog each night along the way via my cell phone (my phone allows me to post 131 characters, or about 2 or 3 short sentences). Then, hopefully I'll be able to post some photos and a recap of the trip on Monday or Tuesday. Looks like I'll be stopping in Folsom for a couple of days, and then traveling up to Eureka on the 19th. Once in Eureka, blog updates may be infrequent for a while since I'm not sure of the Internet availability at my temporary housing (here).

(Photo above is of the Pacific coast in Florence, Oregon.)

http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog