{"id":776,"date":"2017-10-13T01:15:49","date_gmt":"2017-10-13T01:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jfmac.local\/~jf\/wptest\/?p=776"},"modified":"2021-04-09T21:23:06","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T04:23:06","slug":"petaluma-second-half","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/?p=776","title":{"rendered":"10,000 feet to sea level"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday (Sep 29)<\/a><\/h3>
<\/a>
Tioga Lake in the morning<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

What a beautiful spot. For whatever reason (altitude?) I slept very poorly\u00a0… wide awake and laptopping from 4 am to 9 am when I finally felt sleepy :-\/. I set the timer and slept an hour or so before leaving at 11 am checkout time.

<\/a>
the road runs between the lake and this dome<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

Yosemite<\/strong>\u00a0is fucking crowded today. Eight minutes in the entrance line. A big sign announces Volunteer Appreciation Weekend. I think it may be extra crazy because of that.<\/p>\n

I stop for a few minutes at Tenaya Lake<\/strong>. For some reason,\u00a0yesterday and today I’m\u00a0full of nostalgia for when I took this road with my Mom … 50 years ago! I looked up the history of the Tioga Road<\/strong> and discovered that right where I am sitting was VERY controversial back in the day, because they had to dynamite a stretch of the beautiful granite dome behind me to make this road. I think of myself as an environmentally sensitive guy, but here I am really enjoying the spot, with no sense that the wilderness had to be abused for me to be here. The world is a complicated place.<\/p>\n

I know\u00a0this morning’s drive will not offer any kind of coffee, not even bad gas station coffee, for\u00a0at least an hour and a half of driving, till\u00a0Buck Meadows<\/strong>\u00a0probably.\u00a0So I have planned a nice\u00a0little breakfast party for myself at\u00a0Olmsted Point<\/strong>! I have one of those 4-cup bags of coffee I liberated from a motel room coffee machine. I boil it up in my saucepan, flavor it with milk from the Von’s two days ago, and lay out a tasty brownie and tasty lemon bar I cleaned out of the refrigerator before I left. Pretty awesome!<\/p>\n

Another few miles of spectacular scenery then the drive settles into narrow two lane road through endless pines for the rest of Yosemite.

<\/a>
my yummy meal attracts bees<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

Exit the park, drive past\u00a0Buck Meadows, then through the very inviting little town of\u00a0Groveland<\/strong>, to\u00a0the hidden in plain sight gem I discovered last time –\u00a0Priest Station Cafe<\/strong>. I hit the perfect time before dinner rush – 4:15-ish. Nobody there when I arrived, four tables full when I left.

<\/a>
bee catcher and Priest Grade<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

Bees and\u00a0 bratwurst — My bratwurst and sauerkraut dinner was delightful. Unfortunately it’s yellowjacket season, and since I was the only diner at the time I had like five of those fuckers buzzing my plate, trying to follow my fork into my mouth, that sort of thing. They have a strategy for this – they bring out little dishes with morsels of extremely tasty looking but lightly poisoned pieces of grilled salmon, and it works! Once they get the scent the yellowjackets mostly hover around the salmon instead of MY bratwursts.<\/p>\n

Back into Gold Country rush hour. Join 49 north to a windy little road that cuts off\u00a0a stretch of 49 that goes through downtown\u00a0Sonora<\/strong>, then past the\u00a0Tuttletown<\/strong>\u00a0camping exit (a mistake!), and on across the bridge to the\u00a0Glory Hole<\/strong>\u00a0camping area, which was perfectly nice except for the locked bathrooms.<\/p>\n

  Big Oak Campground<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>
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WHUFU page for: Big Oak Campground<\/a><\/b><\/p>

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One of two large campgrounds on the north side of New Melones Lake. This side of the lake is apparently the poor relation, because they've locked the bathrooms for the season. One must drive 20 minutes back to Tuttletown for the advertised shower facility.<\/p>\n<\/p>

<\/p>tonight<\/b>:

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#138 is a wide open spot on the sunset side of the hill. Very pleasant this time of year, pretty darned hot in the summer no doubt. \r<\/p>\n

The showers are locked and the only bathroom is a portapotty. That sucks.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>

<\/a>
irresistible sunset at Big Oak<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

The locked showers was a cruel blow to me. I had pretty much given up the notion of a shower until tomorrow, then to find I could have one tonight if only they unlocked the damned door is tough to take. I scratched my itchy scalp with a little more bitterness.<\/p>\n

Other than that it is a pretty sweet place. No doubt super hot in the summer, but perfectly pleasant now. After\u00a0the last four nights\u00a0being in the 20s, it feels positively balmy over here – 71\u00b0 at sunset. The sunset was spectacular.<\/p>\n

Saturday – Sunday<\/a><\/h3>
<\/a>
Big Oak Campground in the morning, New Melones Lake<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

As the helpful Camp Host explained, my camping receipt over here would get me into Tuttletown this morning for a shower if I wanted to backtrack the ten miles to do it. If I wasn’t driving to a shower\u00a0this evening I would without a doubt do so.<\/p>\n

Anyway, back up the hill to re-join 49 north, which goes\u00a0right\u00a0down the main street of\u00a0Angel’s Camp<\/strong>. I noticed a little\u00a0bakery downtown\u00a0and I should’ve stopped.\u00a0Yelp had made\u00a0a coffee place in Copperopolis sound pretty good so I passed on by.\u00a0That place turned out to be in the\u00a0Copperopolis Town Square<\/strong>, a fake town square erected in a field by some developer to serve the ritzy lake-based communities they erected nearby. I didn’t care for the whole thing. The coffee place was adequate but that’s about it.<\/p>\n

The landscape flattened out after that.\u00a0I join\u00a099<\/strong>\u00a0on the east side of\u00a0Stockton<\/strong>\u00a0and drive north a few exits to pick up\u00a012 West<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0Lodi<\/strong>. Get relatively cheap diesel in town – I saved $10 or so by getting filling up my tank here at $2.8\/gallon rather than back in Lee Vining at $4\/gallon.<\/p>\n

Follow\u00a012 over the bridge at\u00a0Terminous<\/strong>, where the Gannons used to keep a boat ages ago and where I once spent the weekend. Continue on to\u00a0Rio Vista<\/strong>, where I decide to treat myself to a fancy dinner at\u00a0The Point<\/strong>. Well, the dinner wasn’t too fancy, just fish and chips and water to drink, but the view is very fancy – right on the\u00a0Sacramento River<\/strong>. Here I felt odd for not having showered in five days.<\/p>\n

Then onward to Gannon’s. The rest of 80 was easy going.\u00a0I was sad to see that the backups on 37 east were still happening on a Saturday evening – yuck. Luckily I am going west. It was smooth sailing, as it usually is.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
sweet baby<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

Little Tula is sick – sad. I am\u00a0being allowed to stay in\u00a0the penthouse – that is the former attic that has been turned into Collin’s luxury accommodation. Throughout high school this was treated as his sacred teenage space by the grown-ups, but now that he’s off to college, I guess it’s lost some of it’s magic and it’s acceptable for me to sleep there. Pretty sweet except for the lack of bathroom.<\/p>\n

Sunday<\/h5>\n

Basketball day. Leave at 10:30 for a noon game at the\u00a0junior high school in\u00a0Benicia<\/strong>. They won. Then grab lunch at\u00a0a Subway, then game 2 at the fieldhouse at\u00a0Allan Witt Park<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0Fairfield<\/strong>. They lost.<\/p>\n

Tyler’s team here is way less talented than his Eureka team.\u00a0But that’s ok because they are not really a team\u00a0per se<\/em>, they are the “Fall Skills Program” of the\u00a0North Bay Basketball Academy. So the games are really full game scrimmages with refs to get the boys ready for the real league in the spring.\u00a0That whole concept seems pretty Marin to me. Anyway it was fun. The games were fun. The refs were weird, calling strange technicals and generally being drama queens, but the whole thing was pretty cool. Ty is pretty much the best player\u00a0on his team, not necessarily in terms of talent but in hustle and focus. He seems to be at a different level than most of them in terms of understanding what the f-ck is going on out there. So we think he will get “drafted” by a good team for the real games in the spring.<\/p>\n

Monday<\/a><\/h3>\n

It had been decided by everybody that I would stay in the penthouse one more night so Ty could stay in his luxury pad one more night. No school for him this week. So we have a leisurely morning, then I drive Tyler and myself up to Petaluma for my first night at the Martha family’s new house.<\/p>\n

She very busy. Pretty chaotic.\u00a0All go out to Mexican restaurant down the road. I really liked it. In fact I really like the vibe of the whole area.<\/p>\n

Tuesday<\/a><\/h3>\n

Around noon go\u00a0with Martha to pick up Tula at day care. They are fortunate enough\u00a0to get her into the day care (pre-school?)\u00a0at\u00a0Sonoma State<\/strong>. Those college day care places are the best! Each toddler has their own careperson!\u00a0 Then we get coffee in downtown\u00a0Cotati<\/strong>, which also has a real pleasant vibe.

<\/a>
Petaluma backyard<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

Back to the house, she disappears into the bedroom to finish off Tu’s nap. In Eureka it really didn’t matter what part of the day I left, but down here in the megapolis, for every minute I delay after about 3-ish, I will spend two or three extra minutes sitting in traffic. So\u00a0when she reappeared around 4, I proposed to stay one more night and drive home in one day. My proposal was not accepted.<\/p>\n

So … about 4:15 I head out into the traffic maelstrom. Petaluma was busy, but most of the two-lane roads across Sonoma and Napa were pretty open. It’s the last stretch of if 12 where it narrows and merges with I-80 that is always backed up in the afternoon. Intermittent backups through Fairfield and Vacaville, I made it to I-505 and it was smooth but long sailing after that. I cut off the last few miles by taking Lone Star Road directly to:<\/p>\n

  Colusa NWR<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>
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WHUFU page for: Colusa NWR<\/a><\/b><\/p>

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Warm, clear fall day. Mostly pintails, with a sprinkling of shovellers and American wigeons. Some snowy egrets and one great heron.\r<\/p>\n

\r<\/p>\n

There was a large flock of snow geese in their southeast corner. The tolerated me until I was about halfway past, but then somebody spooked and they took to the air by the thousands.\r<\/p>\n

\r<\/p>\n

The night heron posse was at their usual hangout on the east side of the creek on the way out. \r<\/p>\n

\r<\/p>\n

I got a good long l;ook at some kind of raptor. I'm guessing red tailed, but maybe a Cooper's hawk - it was more gray-ish than reddish ...\r<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/p>

<\/p>tonight<\/b>:

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Only thing of new interest is that the pond at the observation deck is drained ... for "routine maintenance" I imagine. They say it will be refilled for the winter.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>

<\/a>
sunset at the drained observation pond at Colusa<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

I\u00a0drove through traffic hell straight to here\u00a0because I was so looking forward\u00a0to watching sunset reflected off the pond as I\u00a0de-pressurized by walking\u00a0the nature hike to the far observation deck here. FAIL!!!<\/span> There is no water in the pond!<\/p>\n

I was done with driving so the auto tour held no charm for me today. I just\u00a0sat down\u00a0on the bench at the empty, sad, deserted main observation deck. As I sat there I realized it was pretty fucking awesome, water or no water!<\/p>\n