Oh man, it's been a really fantastic couple of weeks since our last post. I guess ALL of summer is really fantastic, but anyway...
After a short week in Reno we headed back to Aspendell where we met Sam and Sara, did some fishing and wandering, while waiting for Bobby to arrive to the mountains for the weekend!
We fished the South Fork (Bishop Creek), where we caught a few pretty brook trout and maybe some small rainbows.
Greg tricking little trout on the South Fork.
The next day we spent the morning relaxing with Sam and Sara at the cabin, then took a short hike along the South Lake shore where we were mostly unsuccessful at fishing but enjoyed the lake and sound of the waterfalls. In the evening we went to the Owens Valley to check out some petroglyphs.
These are some of my favorite spiral petroglyphs anywhere.
Then we noticed that the fish were hitting the surface (!?) of the Owens, so spent the evening catching rainbows and browns on dry flies. It was spectacular, as always.
Greg and the White Mountains and the Owens River.
Then, a short trek back to Reno for a few days of work, errands, blah blah blah etc. It's hard leaving the mountains but always great being back at the ranch. Mattie is an attentive co-pilot on drives up and down the east side.
In important news, Burrito is AWESOME and hilarious! He absolutely HATES the rafters on the Truckee River, so he bobs his head and yells at them when they go by. He is an excellent guard burro. Look at this guy. He's so cute it hurts.
Burrito is the cutest burro in all of the land, and they're all pretty cute
because they all basically look exactly the same.
Burrito also has some new friends who are living at the ranch for a while. Three sweet old mares moved in. We don't know their names, so for now we have named them Lady Einstein, Belvedere Castle and Frau Blucher. Burrito didn't know what to think of them at first, but now he happily hangs out with the ladies in the pasture and only gets really mad when they try to steal his carrots. He is a very silly burro.
Left to Right: Castle Belvedere, Frau Blucher, Burrito and Lady Einstein
After just a few days at the (hot, super hot) Canepa Ranch, we cruised down the 395 to the cabin for a mellow, cool weekend in the mountains. It was quiet, relaxing, and gorgeous.
Saturday Ian and Elsbeth (Bishop friends!) came up and we had all-you-can-eat pizza at Cardinal Village Resort just down the road. It was delicious and fun, in a beautiful meadow by the creek with great company and conversation. After a few beers they headed back down the hill, and we crashed early with a warm wind blowing down the canyon and through the bedroom window.
For the rest of the weekend we worked on puzzles, hiked, fished, walked around the neighborhood, did crosswords and read books, drank coffee on the side deck and hung out with little Mattie Mae. We were sad to find that our resident wren (Wrenly) and his babies had moved on. The mornings were much quieter without them. Hopefully they'll be back next year with a new nest and happy bird songs!
On Sunday we hiked to Blue Lake out of the Sabrina trailhead, which starts about a mile west of our house. It's an easy, gradual, happy trail covered in wildflowers and aspens, which quickly reaches back country lakes and high granite peaks. Also, parts of the trail remind me of Lord of the Rings, so that's always awesome.
On the Path of Cirith Ungol (heading up to Blue Lake).
Greg on exposed granite, Blue Lake trail.
Fishing at Blue Lake was fun and ridiculous. It's kind of like this:
(1) See a fish.
(2) Cast a dry fly on its head.
(3) Catch a fish.
That's it. Most were in the 10 - 11" range, but all beautiful and happily released back into the lake.
Greg at the Blue Lake outlet.
...and near the Blue Lake inlet...
Monday we did a day hike up to Long Lake out of the South Lake trailhead. Some mosquitoes but nothing bad, fun fishing, building clouds and spectacular views made for a perfect day at the tree line.
Almost to Long Lake...
Heaven is on earth.
Greg and a pretty rainbow at Long Lake.
Check out that fly right at the tip of fishy's nose.
Don't worry, he was released along with the rest.
We came back and relaxed for the night, did some more puzzling after finishing our awesome Smokey the Bear puzzle, then went for another walk around the neighborhood to check out fish holding in the creek.
We sang the Smokey the Bear theme song while we worked on this puzzle.
By "we sang," I mean "I sang the whole time and Greg shook his head."
By "we sang," I mean "I sang the whole time and Greg shook his head."
Mattie came on her short evening walk with us. She loves smelling the flowers, running up to the wrong cabins, and sprinting down the hill (then trudging back up). She is doing so great these days. Hot dogs, sausages, steaks...it's a good dog life.
Mattie, patiently waiting for us to catch up as she heads home to the cabin.
Our sweet girl, enjoying the penstemons before the local deer eat them all.
This morning we packed up and drove north to Reno for another work week. We'll be back to Aspendell next weekend, but we're officially designating it a WORK WEEKEND! That cabin needs some love, so there will be some constructing and (more likely) deconstructing on Columbine Drive next weekend. Watch out, neighbors! This crusty cabin is about to get a facelift.
Until next time,
Allison and Mattie the Aspendell Dog
PS - THIS COOL BEETLE (a California Prionus) was just hanging out on our window sill last night! He's huge! Greg picked him up to hang out for a minute before we put him back outside. He was very friendly and cooperative, but I still left the handling to Greg.
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