cupcakes and the meaning of life

Made red velvet cupcakes for John's birthday yesterday. First time using a pastry bag for the icing - can you tell?

Well, by the looks of this sadly neglected blog, we either joined a secretive egg trailer cult or vanished over the side of a mountain road. Instead, just a bout of adult onset attention deficit disorder. We're in a transitional period as John approaches his retirement. Lots of stuff to sort out.

One thing we're actively considering is moving to live closer to our daughter. We've been in our current home for almost 11 years. Moving would mean selling our house. Selling our house means getting it ready to sell. I've been assessing things around here. Eleven years is enough time to need to do some updating. We've been painting...room by room. Something weird is happening though, the more we ready our home to possibly leave it, the more I appreciate it. Am I ready for this change?

On the eve of another eggventure

Sadly, there is a terrible wildfire not too far from our house. It has added color to the sunsets however.

After having what seems to be a very long time off from adventuring with Dora, our new 16 ft Casita, we're heading out tomorrow. Originally, we had finally decided to go to Yosemite's White Wolf campground. But, a big forest fire has broken out closing the road we'd use to get there. Change of plans! Now we're going back to Lassen National Park and trying something different. This time John is going to leave me there for a night while he returns home to work two shifts. I'll only be on my own for one night but I'm a little apprehensive. We're doing this because I wanted more time just to hang out and check out photography locations. He gets a little tired of this while I'm always wishing I had one more sunrise or sunset to shoot. It's a compromise of sorts -- we'll see how it goes.

BTW - if you're on Facebook, my photography page is Wild Mountain Photography.

Sugar Pine Point

Our third camping adventure went very well. Sugar Pine Point at Lake Tahoe is a popular campground and we can see why. It's beautiful with nice access to the lake. It's clean. It's quiet. In order to have two nights, we had to stay in one site the first night and the move to another site for the second night. The first site was not very good but the second was terrific. We will be back.

We did a little hiking and spent yesterday afternoon kayaking & swimming. There is just something special about kayaking on Tahoe. And the way you feel after swimming in the lake is wonderful.

Here are the Casita findings from this trip:

* The mattress topper made the wee bed so comfy. We slept well both nights.

* We want another cover for the spare tire. The current cover (the one that comes with a new Casita) would be fine if it didn't have the 1-800 number on it. That makes it look as if Dora was a rental. That will just not do.

* Organization within Dora is improving with each outing. There really does seem to be ample storage at least for the length of trips we're currently taking.

Photography was sorta pitiful during this visit to the lake. Bald skies. Here's my best shot:

So, while not exciting for photography, we made a discovery regarding campsite food: Amy's Black Bean burger patties. Served on Orowheat whole wheat thins and with heirloom tomato slices & avocado - YUM.

We don't have another camping trip planned until early September. I hope we can get another two nighter in around mid-August. Should we head for the coast or Yosemite's high country? Hmmm.

Lassen Eggventure

Taking a break during sunset on our way home along I-5.

Dora's second outing to Lassen National Park was terrific! We are thinking ahead to when we can return and spend more time. The campground was quiet and managed very well. We kayaked, hiked and took some photos. We also met some fellow travellers who were camping with a fiberglass trailer (not a Casita though).

Here's what we learned from this go round:

• really must get a squishy mattress topper for the wee bed
• also need something for the floor of the bathroom
• must have a plan in advance for John's dirty clothes otherwise he will stuff them randomly throughout our tiny home on wheels
• make sure the the shower drain valve is set to "closed" before travelling

The more time we spend with Dora, the more smitten we become. Next egg-venture is back to Lake Tahoe in just a couple days. Can't wait!

learning curve

I took a class last evening on Lightroom. My mind is still in a fog of information overload. It's unrealistic, I know, but I'm always hopeful if I get the right editing program my images will just pop. But it still comes down to taking the right photo with the right light & perfect focus. There's a lot you can do to improve an image but you need to start with something pretty spectacular to get those "oh, wow!" results.

Here's my first post-class edit of an image from our brief visit to Capitol Reef National Park.

I don't like it.

While I think the instructor was pretty good, I was disappointed that his focus was on using Lightroom to edit portraits. I don't shoot posed photos. I rarely shoot photos of people let alone portraits. Guess I still face a very steep learning curve.

In other non-photography news, we're packing up Dora in preparation for our Lassen National Park adventure. I'm hopeful that'll we'll leave early tomorrow and that John's modification to Dora will really make the bed feel a bit larger.

little mama

We went for a hike yesterday on a trail to a lake that's known for its wildflower displays. It was such a relief to get up in the high Sierra out of the heat & smog of the foothills. The wildflowers were indeed plentiful and beautiful but it's this cutie pie that really made my day. She was perched atop a boulder in the sun. The way she was clasping her little hands together and resting them on her pregnant belly was just so precious. Wish I would have had my telephoto lens with me but this will do. Thanks for letting me snap your photo little mama.

Hope you had a great 4th of July.

alpenglow

Dark Lake Desolation Wilderness Sierra Nevada

Our next adventure with Dora the Eggsplorer is a week away. We're heading to Lassen National Park. I'm really excited about this as we had planned to take Rocky there last summer and had to cancel those plans. We've only done day trips previously to Lassen and being able to spend two nights there will just add a whole other dimension to exploring this wonderland. Can't wait!

a-camping we will go

We packed up Dora the Eggsplorer and headed to a nearby campground near Lake Tahoe. It was a quick overnighter to check things out. Here's what we found:

- The small bed is going to take some getting used to. Turns out my hubster is an aggressive pillow flipper. It was like being in a one-sided pillow fight all night long. No bueno. New, smaller pillows are on order.

- It was nice to be able to keep food in Dora instead of using the bear box outside.

- This was a fantastic campground. That's why I'm not naming it. It's pretty popular already but for now it will remain unnamed here.

We rose at the crack of dawn so we could try taking some sunrise photos at Emerald Bay. As we exited Dora with coffee in hand, we watched as a large black bear ambled peacefully across our campsite. Bear country indeed.

Here's the reward (in addition to seeing the handsome bear) for being early risers: