Quaint Quincy

We've made it to our next assignment! A few feet of snow welcomed us to our little mountain cabin, so we of course had to make a snowman. The town of Quincy, CA is a town of 5,000 with two stoplights, and the biggest news of last year was the oppening of a Subway sandwhich shop. It's a small village tucked into the mountains, and was founded as a gold town. We are conviently close to Lake Tahoe and Reno which we hope to visit on a future weekend. The vistas are gorgeous with snow capped peaks and dense forest, just what you would expect at 4,000 feet. On our wish list of things to do include hiking, hot springs, snowshoeing and kayaking in the spring on one of the many surrounding lakes. We'll be here for 3 months until moving north to the pacific northwest.

Clovis, a way of life

We thought we would produce some pictures of our backyard before we left. Clear days are few and far between here in the valley. We can maybe see the mountains once a week, but when we can, what a sight! The snow caps shine brightly in the sun. The mountains are a couple of hundred miles away and rise to an altitude of roughly 8000, with peaks upwards of 12,000 feet. We've enjoyed our time here, but we are eagerly awaiting our next chapter which should hopefully land us somewhere in the Sierra Nevada's. They tried to get us to stay longer, but the need to explore is too great. The threat of summer temperatures in the triple digits is enough to get us out! So we're moving next to a place where the 10 day forecast includes a few inches of snow. I guess we aren't sending our winter coats to storage just yet! Clovis is a cute and friendly town. When the fog and smog rolls in, you can't see the mountains and we might as well be anywhere else in the country. We also don't like having to watch the news to see whether we can burn wood or not.

What an 'Extreme' week

Ty Pennington and his small army of 5,000 workers and countless semi-trucks were in Fresno this week to build a new house for a lucky family. They shut down most of the neighboring streets and fans were bussed in from the nearby civic center parking garage. The start of construction was delayed earlier in the week due to a cold and wet morning. However, we hope all went well as today is the day when the family returns and sees the transformation. We don't know anything about the story, since the show will air in March. Our guess is the mom lost her kids to a dinosaur that stomped around the city. We unfortunately could not see nor hear Ty, we think he was hooked up to a coffee IV at the local starbucks. We did get to catch a glimpse of Michael, shown in the picture below. It was a sight to see so many people working in such a small area. They truly must have some good neighbors because people were walking through yards all week. The noisy generators must keep some of them awake as well because they were loud! They apparently didn't mind because some across the street put up lawn chairs on their roof.

Trip to the coast!

Two months after leaving Florida, we finally made it back to the coast.  However, this one is a little colder, but worth the sacrifice of our fingertips.  We camped in a state park in Big Sur, a little bit south of Monterey.  It was incredible to see how the land stops suddenly, and gives way to giant cliffs of rock and sand as it meets the Pacific.  The sound of the waves crashing against the earth were thunderous, even at a distance of several hundred feet!  We could only tolerate watching the surfers for a couple of minutes before having to head back to camp and make some hot cocoa.  The wildlife was out in full force, as we awoke both mornings to a pack of deer outside our tent, and large groups of otters right below us in the top picture.  We also hit up Monterey, and check out the famous aquarium and Cannery Row, which has turned into shopping/dining/nightlife area.  The sun was out all day, and literally a warm welcome to below freezing temperatures.  The sun disappears two hours from the coast, and we returned back to our dreary skies and cloudy weather.  Yes, that is our tent and humongous fire we created from two sticks in the picture below.

A Clovis Christmas

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!  This is actually a 10 foot tree, but objects in the background may appear smaller.  We thank everybody for all the wonderful Christmas cards.  You can't see them but our little mantle is filled with cards from friends and family.  They really made is feel missed and loved.   We strolled through Old Town Clovis and found a couple of antique ornaments to adorn our tree with, as well as a star tree topper!  Christmas came and went with a quiet breakfast, some presents and lots of quality time at home.  Although we did miss everyone dearly, we spent time remembering all those we care for.  We're excited about the prospects on where we might spend next Christmas! Lord only knows where that'll be.  Hopefully we can convince some friends to fly out and spend it with us :)  

Walks to remember...

On a cool, windy Saturday morning we decided to try a hike a little closer to home.  We found Millerton State Park recreational lake to be perfect.  It was not as challenging as say, hiking up a thousand feet to a mountain peak, but it was refreshing.  It was only a few miles round trip around the south side of the lake.  We packed a lunch and had a little picnic overlooking the lake.  It looked like they had some good campsites so we may return shortly before the really cold weather sets in.  It is supposed to snow these next few days at an elevation of 1500 feet (we're at 350).  We hope to bring you some cool snow pictures from the national parks in the coming month.

To celebrate the Christmas season, we took a stroll down Christmas Tree Lane in Fresno.  Apparently, the city closes down this one street to allow people to walk down the couple of miles to soak in the thousands upon thousands of lights strung up on the trees, houses and just about everything else.  As the story goes, a child was killed in 1920 and in an act of mourning, the house decorated the large tree by the street.  In the following years, neighbors followed suit and have been doing it since.  It was pretty amazing to see so many lights hanging from large trees.  The atmosphere was complete with carolers, garage bands and children playing musical instruments.  People took this opportunity to dress their dogs in christmas outfits and parade them about.  Some dogs were larger than most children we saw!

Lunch at 8,000 feet

We chose a random hike to do in Sequoia National Park and ended up with this view at the top.  We had a great panoramic of valleys, rocks, trees, fog and snow cap mountains, all within our 360 degree vista.  The whole hike smelled like walking inside a christmas tree farm.  The air was so crisp and refreshing.  Snow littered many parts of the hike, but the temperatures cooperated with our day of exploring.  We are fortunate to have these opportunities to spend in our new backyard.  We hit sunset on the 8,000 foot descent back through the fog line.  I couldn't help to think how blessed we are to have eyes built to appreciate His creation.  No other animal on the planet could look at these sights and see beauty.