Hanging out with Ella

Picked up Ella from the airport on Friday arvo - fabulous to see her as this was the reason for the trip!  She was delayed in London so we were a bit late getting on the road to Yosemite and had not factored the holiday traffic in.  What a drive - freeways were jammed and slow and took us hours to get about halfway - made more difficult in the dark.  We finally arrived in Mariposa and it was great.  Nice place to stay.

Up early the next morning to Yosemite and had a great time exploring.  We only had time for a couple of short works but the place is breathtaking.

Headed back to San Fran via a few shopping stops then spent the next day visiting a few places around SF that Ella wanted to see - including driving across the Golden Gate.

Great time but happy to finally be on the way home for Christmas

Last skate and on the way to meet Ella

Meant to get away early yesterday morning to catch the frost but was a bit lazy.  Travelled to a couple of skating spot I know about and had some good skating. The snow covered mountains are a fantastic back drop and just great being there in the outdoors.

Had a swim in a hot pool after the first skate - bit weird being outdoors on ice then 5 mins later in a hot pool about 30 metres from where I was skating.  Fabulous.

Spent the rest of the day touring back to Carson City with a few stops along the way.  Snow-shoed to Lundy Lake to check out the ice and had a final skate on Bridgeport Res before heading back.

Stayed over night in Carson City then headed to Auburn ready to go to the airport tomorrow.

Fabulous backdrop while skating

Last skate - Bridgeport Res

The hot pool where I had a soak

Snow shoes today

Today I decided to head along the Eastern Sierra to Bishop and visit some of the places I had skated before - not really expecting to skate as they have had so much snow.
Headed up to Caples Lake -  although I had heard that it was snow covered and with water in the middle.  Plenty of snow around but looked like it had ice at one end.  Although there were a couple of ice fisherman out I was not willing to cross snow covered ice so I snow-shoed around the edge of the lake (prodding the whole way) to the clear place to find amazing smooth black ice. Had a fab skate then followed my trail back.  Bit of an effort but well worth it.
Form there headed on and stopped off at Bridgeport Reservoir to find nearly the whole lake covered.  Had a another great skate before finally moving on to make sure I arrived before dark.  Fabulous snow covered scenery most of the way.

Rest day...

Today was my one shopping day - well a bit of it as it was such a nice day I went out exploring for most if the day.  Around Tahoe is stunning scenery.  Went for a half hearted search for ice, a bit of shopping then visited a couple of local waterfalls.  The drive was beautiful and loved the partly frozen waterfalls.  Back to Carson City for the night.

Pleasant Valley..and more

Cold start this morning so set off to check a couple of local spots to see if there was any ice.  Managed to get a scratchy skate on the edge of a small reservoir - good the get the skates on one last time for this trip.
Next stop was a place called Pleasant Valley - a side trip on the way east to Reno.  this turned out to be a very pleasant afternoon. As I arrived in town (very small) there was a herd of deer wandering behind houses and across the road.  The town was still lived in (about 30 people in winter) and many of the original buildings are still there and fascinating.  Had a quiet walk/drive around town including walking thru a flock of wild quail and being befriended by a wandering goat!
Chatted to a cowboy (his words after I asked what he did) and then the owner of the only business - a bar/eating joint.  As the owner came out he did a massive hoik (spit-dang!) before chatting.  I ended up going in and paying handsomely for a beer and a look at the bar.  The bar owner ("been here 60 years") told me they had 35 people in last night.  I made the mistake of saying - what all local? - he said no and proceed to tell me who and where they were from (I could see him mentally counting). Took about 15mins.......
Finally dragged myself away as I had a bit of a drive to do - a great afternoon.

Snowy Day

Woke up this morning to a few cm of snow - and still snowing lightly so planned on a late start as it was supposed to stop.
Spent a bit of time sightseeing around Twin Falls waiting for the weather to ease then headed south to Elko.  Fantastic drive through the snowy landscape.

Last skate

Stayed over night in Dillon - at a hotel that was actually true to the advertising - clean, comfortable and warm - and a good breakfast (for a cheap hotel!)
Headed to Clark Canyon Res for a last skate.  Skated out to the island again on the nordic skates then went around the back of the lake for a skate on thick smooth ice.  Chilly wind came up and time to move on.
Had a fantastic drive to Twin Falls - I decided to travel via a 'back' road rather than the freeway.  Very enjoyable - lots of snow and very scenic.  Travelled through and area called Craters of the Moon - a volcanic area - very rocky and looked amazing in the snow. Unfortunately no where to really stop because of the snow and lack of areas to stop.
Now in Twin Falls for the night and its snowing....

Starting the journey south...

Up early for a final skate on Lake Helena this morning and a sunny day at last.  Great skating and
hard to drag myself away.  Headed to Butte then down to Clark Canyon Reservoir where I skated last Monday.  Was surprised to see it covered in snow.  Chatting with a local he said that had only happened this morning but I arrived in bright sunshine.  The snow was thin and fluffy so put on the Nordic skates for a quick explore.  Ending up skating out to an island and loved it so decided to stay in Dillon nearby and hopefully skate again tomorrow.  Loving the scenery with the clear weather.  Can't really capture it on camera  as it is so vast.