What a Strange weekend...

First I wander into Bumpass Hell and then I take a dam tour at Lake Shasta!!

It was fun!! Alot of driving as usual!!

Lassen Volcanic National Park is apparently another active Geothermal area in the US!! I shouldn't be surprised considering the plate tectonics out here in CA!! But hey I grew up thinking Yellowstone was the only place in the continental US with geysers, fumeroles and mudpots!!

I know of tons of hotsprings...but never that stuff!! : )

http://www.nps.gov/lavo/planyourvisit/index.htm

I didn't study volcanoes much in school. They had an interesting display at the visitors center. The park has examples of all four types of volcanoes.



Fumeroles at Bumpass Hell...trust me it smelled like boiled eggs...there is a reason they are called fumeroles!!

Lassen Peak

Vulcans eye on Lassen Peak

I got my Aspen fix!!

Sunset coming out of the park

By the end of the day I was driving in the dark through an X- Files scene! Then through the trees I see this sign on the side of the road! I was expecting deer maybe...but cow?? Yup definitely and X FILES scene!




Hey! What are those things in the sky? Beautiful at sunrise!!

Lake Shasta Dam

Apparently the second largest Dam in the country...It has the second most amount of Concrete. A Dam in Washington has more!! Hoover Dam is like 4 or 5 on the list!! That surprised me!!

Others visiting the dam early!

So a town or two disappeared when they built the dam... but the dam does supply energy to most of the West coast and mid portion of the US. The dam was paid off in 1988 and it MAKES money every year since then!

Shasta Mountain! A fourteener in Northern CA!

We can't walk over the Kensico Dam in NY but we can enter the hydro electric plant at the dam in CA that supplies energy to most of the US...ok...I get it???? NOT!!

The Golden Gate

I have been into San Francisco a few times but haven't spent too much time there. Jess and I met Heather and Jen at Pier 39 and took a boat tour under "the Bridge" and around "the Rock".

Then Jess and I met Jen and Heather for lunch on the pier and headed back over the golden gate to the national recreation area and then to Muir woods.


A Burke Reunion at Pier 39 in San Francisco. Jess was in for her Birthday and Heather and Jen are here for a few months for a course.


Who knew there were this many harbor seals hanging out right in San Francisco!!? Not me!


Taking a boat ride under the Golden Gate bridge on a chilly October day!!

Jess under the Golden Gate

The Bay Bridge in the back ground of Alcatraz with Treasure island in the background.


Escape from Alcatraz!! The bridge is in the background not on it!

Any one want to go for a ride? Phone number is right here!!

And it was fleet week so we ran into an airshow while getting off the boat!!


Ok it was hard to wrap my brain around a rock band in uniform!! But they were pretty good!

The PTs of Burke

The view from the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Driving North on the Golden Gate

Muir Woods

I have taken a few trips to Muir Woods.

http://www.nps.gov/muwo/index.htm

First time was with Jen and Heather from Burke in NY. Then Jess came out to visit from Denver and we had to hit it since we are both trying to go to ALL of the National Parks.

Hiking with Jen and Heather was the first time I lead a hike in I can't remember how long... ok unless you count cross country skiing.. well maybe Waldo Canyon but that was 2 of us exploring..this was definitely leading a hike..

The Redwoods are the tallest trees ...the Sequoias are further south and are the widest...the redwoods are still the tallest.


The first circle in the middle is dated 1100!! the last white circle you see on the outside is 1776!!!
That tree was growing for a long time before it fell down!!



I mean really they are the tallest? not the widest?

And how is it that these trees come from THESE pinecones?

Why would you think we are lost? No we aren't...I know where we are!

Standing next to a few of the babies...

Believe it or not that is the pacific ocean just above the last hill you see there.

Houses with a really nice view!!