Sometimes we fail to appreciate our own backyard.  We just kind of take it for granted, or perhaps worse, forget about it.

Our local mountains are beautiful, yet this was only our second camping trip there.  That’s going to change.  The scenery is magnificent.  The single track biking trails are fast and flowy.  Mid week the crowds are minimal and here’s the kicker, it’s only sixty miles away! A mere seventy-five minute drive.

We reserved three sites in the Lilac Loop of Burnt Rancheria campground for R, Jen & Ang, and ourselves. It was like the good old days, socializing unmasked.  The five of us ate breakfasts and dinners together, played card games, Chinese checkers, and had a few drinks.

San Diego County, what an amazing place: mountains, desert, beaches, and even another country all just a short drive away.

We saw more flowers than expected including the Montane Woolly-Star. .

The beautiful and appropriately named Summer Snow flower was in most of the shaded openings and as bright as snow.

Kwaaymii Point video

This is the first time since we’ve had the Airstream that we’ve taken a road trip without it. Our niece was getting married in Minden, Nevada. Normally, this time of the year Amelia would be out of school, and we’d make the wedding a part of a longer Airstream trip. The pandemic changed all of that, and school started two weeks late. So, we blasted up in the Subaru on Friday. Then Sunday morning, we pulled the southbound hammer down routine back to San Diego.

Boy, oh boy is it different not towing. It’s less stressful, but you aren’t traveling with a kitchen so you make poor food choices and eat out too much. I never seem to sleep well in a hotel room and they are not cheap, but the gas mileage on the Subaru is three times better. Like everything in life, there’s pluses and minuses. We prefer the Airstream. It’s comforting having your second home with you.

It took a lot of sweet-talking, but I convinced Amelia we should bring our bikes.  How could we drive past Lower Rock Creek and also be in the Tahoe area and not ride?

We saw our first Fuck Biden bumper sticker while in Nevada. Of course, it was on a big pick-up truck with a lift kit. The woman driving it looked bitter and angry, no doubt pissed off that Biden stole the election. She’s probably counting the days till Trump gets reinstated to the presidency in August. I wonder what her and her pals are going to do when that doesn’t happen…hopefully not have another insurrection. Unfortunately, one thing is fairly certain, they will believe the next lie told to them.

 

 

 

Carson Valley Inn, second floor. If you can’t have fun, what can you do?