A month behind...

We went to Cerro Gordo at the beginning of March - we left the house about a month ago today, actually, to start the trip. So this is a bit late in coming. I didn't get around to uploading my pictures onto my computer until last week. Now, I'm finally getting around to the blog update. This will be mostly pictures. Remember: if you click on the photos, you'll see them larger. First, a couple from before we left home:

The crescent moon and venus (?) setting over our neighbor's house on a beautifully clear evening.

A whale spout (just right of center) while we were whale-watching before our trip. I got to see a whale tail that day, fairly close, and it was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, the whales are pretty much gone now, until November.

And now on to some pictures from Cerro Gordo...

Full moon over the Belshaw house one of our first nights. 

Twilight over the Sierra Crest, the American Hotel in the foreground.

Looking towards Death Valley from the saddle above town. These were the subject of a painting while I was up there.

Looking back towards town from the saddle - a little bit of snow on the Sierra Nevada.

Old tram terminal.

Plaque at the refurbished Hoist House. 

Entrance to a nearby mine tunnel. Fairly safe, as far as tunnels go, but I didn't like it.

Miner's Whiskers (washing soda)

Telephone wire in the tunnel.

Overhead shoring... I felt really safe walking under this woodpile... :/

The light at the end of the tunnel! (Jack took this picture of me.)

Back outside in the sun.

Roger looking like a miner. 

Clouds over Mt. Whitney

The best sunset while we were up there.

Raven atop the Chapel steeple.

Coming down the mountain!

Thunderstorm at sunset on the way to Jack's folks' house.

Next, I drove up to Virginia City to spend some time with my former Bodie housemate, John, his wife Sandie, and to see the sites! Here's a couple photos from the Mark Twain Museum under their store.

Mark Twain's desk (and several other peoples' desk, I'm sure, but he did use it).

A writing clip from Mark Twain in the Territorial Enterprise.

Old printing press.

Old milk jug.

Then it was off home. A long drive brought my through the northeastern part of the state and over to my northwestern side. Along the way, I got to see Mt. Shasta for the first time. Despite the snowlessness of everything else, Mt. Shasta appeared to be it's iconic, snow-covered self.

We've been home for two weeks already, and there's less than two weeks left before Jack heads to Sequoia for the summer. I just heard this past Friday that I got the job at Redwood National (phew!) so we're both breathing a bit easier. We had a visit from Jack's folks last week, and from his Aunt Sherry this week. Jack is trying to finish projects before he goes into the backcountry, and I'm just hoping he hasn't bitten off more than he can chew! Cerro Gordo, while fun, bit into our plans a bit because Jack got the call with his start date while we were up there, and then he had to sit tight for another week or so before he could do anything about it. Next winter, we've decided that we won't be going to C.G. after February if we get asked again. I have less than $3,000 remaining in my student loans, and it looks like I should be paying them off in full before the summer is over. We have purchased seeds and starts for our garden and begun digging up the lawn to plant. Roller derby continues to go well, and I am developing my skills with every day. Everyone is commenting on how quick a learner I am and conjecturing that I will be passing my tests within a couple months. Thursday I am going to try for my 27 laps in 5 minutes for the first time (roughly 1 mile), so I'll probably do a blog update for that. Overall, lots of good news here! Hopefully it won't be an entire month before I update again. ;)

Until next time!