Area 15

 Too much time between posts but I am still alive! Me and my family are doing well and survived 2020. Now well into 2021 and this summer, the boys and I did some traveling both together and separate. 

We took a summer trip to Vegas with the boys and myself to see how the outside world is handling Covid. I decided to get a GoPro and try to document our trip in June. The video recording part is pretty easy but the everything after takes me considerably longer. I am currently trying to figure out editing but so far I can manage to slap some clips together and insert transistions along with headers and closers. I keep telling myself that the majority of people start off horribly and amateurish so I am in good company. 

Eventually I will try splicing clips and adding effects but I want to become proficient where I am at now and keep working on it. 

So here is my first video of Area 15. I used Wondershare Filmora to edit this video.

Bodie Adventure

On Sunday, my original plan of visiting Devils Postpile was scrapped because the recent 18+ inches of snow closed down the road. Argh! So we drove up north on Hwy 395 toward Mono Lake and Bodie.

The day was beautiful, sunny and no clouds at all. We followed the signs to Bodie where there is paved road until the last 3-4 miles and it's gravel/dirt road. Along the way, we saw sheep with their shepherd & sheep dogs, mules and beautiful scenery.

There was plenty of cars parked in the parking lot with lots of people but the town is actually bigger than I thought so we didn't have crowds of people clumped at any one place. The town of Bodie is a former mining town and you can read more about it here. 

It really is a fascinating place and a photographer's dream. Hector could have spent all day here while I went off with the kids. If you haven't visited Bodie, you should definitely put it on your list.

So here are photos but you can check out the full set on my Flickr site.

Weekend Trip: Autumn

The kids had a 3 day weekend so I though it would be nice to see Mammoth Lakes in the fall since the kids have only seen it covered in snow during winter/spring.

I had good intentions but the Tuesday to Thursday right before our trip brought 18 + inches of snow to Mammoth. Okay. We still drove up Saturday along Hwy 395 and we stopped at Fossil Falls for the first time. My friend Kerin told me about this before so  we made a brief stop here.





It's only about 1/2 mile off the highway and another 0.2 mile easy hike amongst the volcanic rocks to Fossil Falls. The word falls is misleading since there is no waterfall which dried up long time ago and the falls is crevice/ravine 40 feet below ground level. It is very cool to see and the dark volcanic rocks contrast nicely against the golden brush and mountains.

Fossil Falls set of photos.

More Road Trip

I need to finish my Memorial Day weekend posts otherwise I'll forget. When we travel we either are on the go non-stop or we basically lounge in a different location from home.

On Sunday morning we were out the door at an early time for us 9:30am. We headed about 5 miles north of our motel to the elephant viewing area. There is a large parking lot and as soon as we step out of the car, little squirrels come out to beg and they are not afraid at all. We walk to the fence and wow, we see a seal. We are so excited and see another one in the water....then we look to the left and see a walking path and beach just full of elephant seals. There must have been over a hundred of them laying there on the beach, sleeping, flipping sand or sparring. It was really cool.









You can view all the photos on my Flickr photostream.

We then headed down to Cambria for lunch and shopping. Hector really wanted to find the hot sauce we tried the previous night with dinner. Score! We find The Pepper Plant chunky garlic sauce for $5 a bottle. Can 't wait to try it on some food.

On we go to the west side of Cambria for a hike along the coastal bluffs at Fiscalini Ranch preserve. It is about a mile trail along the ocean with gorgeous views. Tyler and I really enjoyed it and had a nice chat. He is growing up so fast and it was nice to spend some one on one time with him. There wasn't a lot of people so it was like having the place to ourselves.














All these activities took up to 2 pm so we headed back to the motel room where we had about 40 minutes to relax then off we head to Hearst Castle....but that will be a bit later.
:)

Time Warp

I realized that I didn't finish up our spring break update. The problem was that I took so many pictures that day and I haven't taken the time to go through them to pick which to upload.



So today is that day but I can't show everything on this blog so visit my Flickr site to see them all.



We went to Laws Railroad Museum and spent about 3 hours there. Hector dawdled behind us so he could read and look to his heart's content while the kids raced ahead with me somewhere between them taking loads of pictures. There is so much to see and explore there; I think it will be a regular stop to stretch our legs and expand our minds. If you ever are heading up to Mammoth and want a diversion, head 5 miles east of Bishop and visit this awesome place.

I haven't even uploaded all the pictures that I want to so I'm sure there will be another post showing more...

Fall Travel

This is where is are going in November. I booked our trip this morning and it's set for November 19 to 26. Yes, we will be coming home on Thanksgiving Day but we will be arriving in the afternoon so my mom shouldn't be too upset.

I am SO excited. A few days ago, I asked Tyler if he would like to go to Ireland. He answers, "Yes, I've never been to the UK." Such a cute jet setter and Josh is just plain happy to get on a plane. Here's hoping that our flight is empty although I doubt it since we fly to Paris and connect to Shannon but you never know.

I'm giddy with excitement. It's been a while since out last trip and I don't count our cruise to Mexico as a real international trip. Let's see, I guess it would be Canada almost 2 years ago...but Hector will be the real traveller in our family this year. China, Taiwan and then Ireland. Yay!

I gotta start walking big time since everything I want to do involves a LOT of walking...