Clear Lake

Posted by Karen on 13-May-2010

(Click photo for all 16 photos)

Pauline and I are one our way up to Redwood Country for a few days under the tall trees. We took our lunch break at the Lucerne Harbor on Clear Lake and enjoyed watching the ducks paddle around for awhile before continuing on up down the road.

Rancho Seco

Posted by Karen on 13-Mar-2010

(Click photo for all 19 photos)

This afternoon, I took a drive out to Rancho Seco to visit with Tersha and Vic and to see their new trailer in their favorite camping spot. This was my first visit to the decommissioned nuclear power plant and the recreation area they’ve converted it to. While the towers still stand, and probably will for many more years, they’ve not been active since we voted the plant closed in 1989. Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) operates a large solar farm and a natural gas plant out there now. The park area is very nice, there is a large lake where people were wind surfing and enjoying a fishing contest. There is also a trail through a wetland area that should be full of flowers here soon, but not yet.

Lake Natoma Stroll

Posted by Karen on 05-Feb-2010

(Click photo for all 22 photos)

Tanella and I both had the day off from the tax office, so we took a stroll along Lake Natoma and enjoyed the sunshine that was shining for the day.  We strolled past the Sac State Aquatic Center, past the geese, ducks and birds on the shore and then down bike path and over the bridge before heading back.

GPS Stats: • Odometer: 3.52 miles • Total Time: 1:31 • Moving Time: 1:14 • Moving Average: 2.9 mph • Overall Average: 2.3 mph

Isenberg Crane Preserve

Posted by Karen on 11-Nov-2009

(28 photos)

Lori and I took a drive to the south wetlands and went pretend “snipe hunting“. The Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival was last weekend, so we figured that viewing spots wouldn’t be overcrowded today. We first drove to the Cosumnes River Preserve and decided to keep heading towards Lodi since it wasn’t near sunset yet. For sunset, we settled in at the Isenberg Crane Preserve (also known as the Woodbridge Ecological Reserve) to watch the Sandhill cranes arrive for their evening roost. This was the first time watching the cranes for both of us and we didn’t know what to expect really. It’s a very peaceful way to enjoy the sunset. Various types of birds fly into a wetlands field for the night; we saw the cranes, tundra swans, ducks and other birds that I didn’t hear the birdwatchers identify. We had a spectacular sunset and I learned that bird photography is really really hard and I’ll have to retry it again many more times in order to get some decent non-blurry photos. <grin>