The Cabin

Thus ends our time in the Sierras. I've more or less collected some of the photos that were taken at the cabin and the pond (ran out of room, guess there's another post in order) and collected them into this post, so things aren't in chronological order.

So here's the quick low down on the cabin. About fifty years ago, two couples (one set being my mom's parents) decided it would be neat to build a cabin in the Sierras. They each invited another couple to join them. Then they set about building a cabin that could hold quite a few people, but still seemed rustic and small. Over the next couple of years the families worked on building it together. My mom's family was in Europe quite a bit at the time, so at one point, my grandfather flew back and built all of the cabinets on trip. Mom also has memories of nailing the cedar planks onto the walls. Hopefully I'm remembering this right? Mom?

Then after a while, one of the families moved to Florida. The other couples decided to invite my other grandparents to join. Of course, this was before my parents were even dating...  ;P  So I have lovely memories of going here with both grandparents. :)

Here be the outside. It's nothing fancy. And check out the street names... Muriettas Roost refers to a stage coach robbers hangout. Pretty awesome in my book.

The boys playing Dominion. 

Notice all the swim towels on the deck? It may get cold at night, but the air is so dry things dry out really quickly!

We play a lot of games at the cabin! Here Jacob is teaching Grandma how to play nine square. 

And on another day, Dad, Jacob and Mom playing Bingo while Grandma observes.

When I was little this table was SO HUGE. Then in between trips I grew like four inches and I came back and was totally shocked at how it had shrunk-ed!.

Also, when they built the cabin, the group decided NOT to put in a dishwasher. Thus, doing the dishes is an integral part of the cabin, too.

Scot and Juli whipping up a delicious something.

Not a super exciting photo, but it does show the banister. And yes, this a real banister that you can slide down. And yes, I slide down it every trip.

Every laundry/mud room should have swinging saloon doors.

And there's no garbage service either. Here Andrew and Jacob are taking care of that problem.

And just a sample of the awesome decor.... Every cabin should have reward posters, right?

Columbia & gold mining

Thursday, August 18, 2010

Today most of us went traipsing off to Columbia State Park... which contains Columbia, a gold rush mining town, quite well preserved. We didn't take a whole ton of pictures of the town as it hasn't been that long since the last time and um, it doesn't change much, since they are tying to, you know, preserve it! 

The one picture I wish we had gotten was of the old house that was used in the movie High Noon, the white farm house that has John Wayne coming out of it.. That part was filmed here. In fact, I believe the tour guide said that the film was supposed to be filmed in Columbia but they started filming to late and it was to "fall-ish" by the time they made it up here...

This building was not well preserved as you can see. I don't remember what it started out as, but eventually it was a part of the china town area.

And ditch. (duh) Columbia has an interesting history of getting water down from the mountains. Mostly it involves a lot of out of work miners digging ditches.

The Columbia fire hall. Notice the faux brick siding.

The old fire engine... Columbia had several devastating fires (everything is brick now) and the bought this fire engine from San Francisco. San Francisco had obtained it after some company or another couldn't deliver it to some Indonesian island. It wasn't built with good brakes, and therefore was not well suited to San Francisco, thus Columbia got it. Also, note that the white bar is in a very propitious place.

Family photo shoot!

The Paynes

Walking down main street. At this blacksmith shop you can get a horseshoe with your name stamped on it. I have one from when I was 5. It was so special.... :D

So around Columbia they did hydraulic mining... ie, HUGE fire hoses of water that blasted the earth away and then left tons of rock outcroppings. These are very fun to climb on. :)

Awesome...

Here you can get an idea of how big these rocks are... and it's like that all over the place, where there was a hint of water coming down from the Sierras... usually not so tall though, but very noticable none the less!

The traditional Jail photo shoot...

A beautiful bridge that you cross to get to Columbia... Here the oaks are mixing with the Pines...

Back to the cabin a swim and dinner!

Picturesque Mosquito Lake

Remember this view of Mosquito Lake from my last post... well, this post is devoted to Mosquito Lake. 'Cause it's pretty!

This is the view from the road earlier in the day. The cabins are so picturesque!

Well, on our way back, Dad, Mom, Bev and I decided we needed a break. So we stopped at Mosquito Lake. I've always wanted to get out and explore this little place. My day was made. :)

This is a little rock wall that separates the two lakes.

And yes, there is snow in the Sierras in August!

Bev graciously agreed to take my picture on the big rocks that I love, with the lake and the cabins that I love in the background. So happy!

Near one of the cabins was this funny little rock shed. It had a boat sitting  on top of it.

And yes, the classic outhouse picture. Love!


And thanks to Bev for letting me post her pictures!

And yes, sigh, there were plenty of mosquitoes at Mosquito Lake.

Ebbetts Pass & Grover's Meadow

So in my last post, I left off with us finishing lunch at Lake Alpine and had decided to go to Grover Hot Springs for the afternoon. To get there we get to drive the lovely route of Hwy 4... It's such a beautiful stretch of highway in the Sierras that it has it's own website.Which if you want to see more or better pictures has a beautiful little slideshow!

This is the high point of the trip! Also, as a kid I remember getting such a kick out of the nearest town's propane supply store. It's called Ebbetts Pass Gas. Get it? Hahaha.

I wish I had more pictures to share of the next hour, but mostly we were too busy enjoying the scenery and watching out for other cars on the narrow road! 

But this view of charming Mosquito Lake give you and idea of the beautiful rocks and trees...

And then we come to this. The most harrowing part of the trip. Most of the road consist of narrow (squeek by other cars) windy road that meanders up and down rocky forest terrain... but we've now crossed into the eastern Sierras so the terrain is noticeably drier. 

Also, see that valley floor? That's where we're going... I think it's about three thousand feet lower. And about a thousand feet of that drop is on a narrow road, no rail guard and a nice drop to the valley floor. Eeks!

This is what the ridge looked like. Just imagine a road snaking its way down. Now. Also imagine being in a big van and meeting, not one, not two, not three but FOUR rent-a-RVs coming up. That have ignored the "do not drive on this road if you are a vehicle longer than 25 ft" sign. Plus the ~20% grade.. On a narrow road. With no guard rail. That was a little scary. We had to back up both times. And the engines on these poor RVs were just smoking. And there was a line of cars stuck behind them. We were guessing they were New Yorkers who had no clue what they were doing. And one of the poor women driving the RV looked absolutely petrified.

So this is Grover meadow where the hot springs are located. To be honest, I found the hot springs to be a little disappointing... mostly like swimming in a regular pool. I thought it'd be more nature-y.

But the meadow was more to my liking! In fact there's few things I love more than a Sierra meadow. 

 

This meadow was simply beautiful. Along one edge there were boulders that made it looked landscaped by God. Also the colors of the grass and wildflowers were gorgeous.There's a hiking trail that goes up the meadow, which Dad and I explored it for a few minutes and found a beautiful little creek. 

The Sierras & Lake Alpine

August 17th, 2011 Wednesday

Today we set off on a jaunt to cross the Sierras! Since the cabin is at about 5000 feet and Ebbetts Pass is at 8000 feet, we had some elevation to gain... and then we lost it on the way to our final destination, But I'll leave that to the next post.

First we headed to Lake Alpine. Actually, not. First, the ones in the big van headed to the gas station, 'cause the last thing you want to do is to run out of gas up there! The gas pumps were from the 70s and considering I barely know how to pump gas with a credit card (oh us spoiled Oregonians), I had to have someone show me how to work this one. It was such a novelty to my little mind that I made Dad take a picture of me and the gas pump.

 We bonded.

And we also found out that the little general store/resturant had wifi. Oh yes. A touch with the outside world was sweet for one minute.

Then we headed off to meet everyone else at the view point.



It's pretty breathtaking! And it's even better in person. I need to scrounge around in my photos from last time and see if I have a video. And remember that river in my last post? That's down there, way down there. I think we are at about 7000 feet here.

Next we went to Lake Alpine to have a picnic lunch. We were all to busy stuffing our faces (altitude makes me hungry!) to get any interesting photos with people, but I do have a few scenic shots.







I love Lake Alpine. One reason being that Lake Alpine is a resoivoir and so there are these fantasic granite islands dotting the edges. I think when I was about 12 we went swimming here and it was so fun to swim around the islands and clamber around them. For a little while you were king of the Island. And what child doesn't want there own private island? It was pretty magical.

When my parents were dating, my mom once won 20 dollars from my dad at this lake. So my dad hates cold water, while my mom is a proud member of the Polar Bear Club (motto: if there's water; it must be swum) and was standing on the edge of the lake contemplating jumping in. Dad dared her 20 dollars to jump in and she said "OK" and jumped. I think Dad's jaw hit the ground.

After a scrumptious lunch, we had a group meeting to determine whether to do a hike first or go to the hot springs first. Since not everyone could go on the hike we decided to do the hot springs first, that way others could go back early if they didn't want to go on the hike. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to do the hike, but my goodness, it was my grandparents suggestion to do the hike and it's not often you hear of couples in their mid 80's recommending a hike at 7000 feet!

Next time.... how to not drive fall down 3000 foot tall cliffs. The secret? Let your father drive.

The Sequoias & the Stanislaus

August 16, 2011 Tuesday

After we enjoyed a fairly leisurely morning at the cabin (in which I was introduced to the game Dominion, which is awesome) we all headed off down the big hill to Calaveras Big Trees State Park. We usually go there about every other trip, but I think it been a while since I'd last been there. We just took the shorter and easier hike/walk. I think we saw about 20 giant Sequoias, along with numerous baby Sequoias...

A mighty Sequoia! It's hard to tell but this tree probably has a diameter of at least 12 feet. Also, since I have to re-remember this every time, I'll just say it, the Redwoods and the Sequoias are related. Redwoods are the tallest trees, whereas Sequoias are the biggest (ie mass and diameter-wise). This grove is about as far north as Sequoias grow. Also, Redwoods grow in the mountains near the coast as they need the moisture and Sequoias grow in the Sierras.


My beautiful grandmother and I. She and Grandpa joined us at the cabin for three days.


The Family (Grandparents, Daniel, Sam P, Andrew, Jacob, Mum, Me, Julie P, Scott, Tyler, Dad & Bev P. )

We are standing in front of a Sequoia stump that measured 25 feet in diameter. It was huge! You can see a family posing on it behind us. ;)


Part of the tree that made the huge stump pictured in the background in the previous photo.

This was one of the first Sequoias discovered around here during the 1850's. They didn't have any equipment big enough to fell it so they used augers which created the lines above. The stump is about 25 feet in diameter! The part that fell down, of which only part of it is pictured above had at one point a bar and bowling alley built on top of it!


Here you can see a Sequoia that has had it's top die off. Also, check out the size of the limbs. The lower ones are probably around 6 feet in diameter! Later on the walk there were some branches that had fallen down and you could've sworn that they were trees in and of themselves!


This one had been hollowed out so that you could walk through it.


Here's Jacob posing in between two Sequoias. They have burn marks in between them as debris had collected and then was burned off. Sequoias rarely burn themselves thanks to their bark being naturally fire resistant and their sloping sides which encourage falling trees to roll away from them.


Grandma, Me, Andrew, Jacob, Sam P and Daniel

This bench allows you to easily gaze at the tops of the trees. Very clever, I say.


The "let's take a big tree and hollow it out so a car can drive under it" tree.

This is the Stanislaus River. It was quite chilly, but it's so beautiful! The rocks are mostly granite.

And this is what happens when you get a lot of boys (and a few gals ;) , all of whom like to skip rocks...

Also, thanks to Bev and Tyler for letting me use their photos!