On the road again

Homemade biscuits
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

After school, exploring town, big trees, and finding a house, we loaded up the car and got back on the road. Tiffany drove while I sat in my early morning stupor until we started heading into the Sierra's and pulled off at this historic cafe. Lots of history from Route 66, feeding soldiers who were guarding train tunnels in WWII, and feeding the local good ole' boys.

Tiffany had one of the best Chicken Fried Steaks I've tasted in a long time and I had "Cowboy Benedict" which consisted of homemade biscuits, large ham steaks, eggs, and some gravy which comes about as close to Dad's as I have ever had.

The other patrons consisted of the local Sheriff reading the paper and drinking coffee, a table full of truckers having an in depth discussion of NAFTA, and the usual first name basis "I'll have the usual" leathery locals sitting at the counter.

This is a must stop for anyone traveling on HWY 58.

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Home sweet home, August 1st

Home sweet home, August 1st
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

So we looked at 4 other places in the Clovis, NE Fresno area of town. Much sought after because of the school districts and shopping, but we would be paying too much for houses that weren't in that great of shape, were built as little hallways with rooms sprouting off the sides, and not great puppy play areas. Basically it all paled in comparison to the Craigslist find.

We went back to take a look at the house again because we were thinking it would be too small, but were happy to find that it was larger than we made it in our minds. Garage, office, big master bedroom, walk-in closet, 2 full baths, an updated kitchen and a gas fireplace. That's just inside. Outside the dog door is a very large dog run with some dirt for hole digging, a big back yard with grass, a vegetable garden, an fruit trees.

The house is also within walking distance of the grocery store, and a quick scooter ride to lots of good restaurants, coffee shops, Whole Foods, etc. And the price it right. We're pretty psyched. There is no guest room though, so we offer up the back yard for tents or for the less adventurous we'll find where the closest Best Western is.

Sequoia National Park

Sequoia group named after one of our favorite short people
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

After arriving in Fresno, we met with a property management person who showed us a house and told us all about the different neighborhoods. I spent Friday and Saturday driving around Fresno looking for coffee houses and doing some work while Tiffany went to class. Yesterday we went to visit a house Tiffany found on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago. The owners are really nice, there is great puppy space, and the house is gorgeous. It's a little smaller than we were hoping to find, but we really like it. We have some other appointments setup on tomorrow, so all others will have to compare to this.

This morning we woke up, piled into the car and headed for Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. The idea was to do some hiking, but as the temperature dropped (Fresno is 400 ft above sea level and the parks are at 7,000 ft.) and the snow started to fall we decided to take a driving tour and only do the short hikes which hit the biggies.

Being a foggy, snowy, cold, wet day, the park was relatively empty and we didn't have to deal with people. The trees were mind blowing, and the scenery breath taking. This photo is just before the tree you get to drive through and gives some feeling of the scope. Click through to Flickr to see more hugeness.

After leaving the park we had a tasty and way too big Mexican lunch. Tiffany said it was pretty authentic, I say it was pretty yummy. We then wound our way back to Fresno through Kingsburg, Selma, and a whole lot of fruit trees.

Road Tripping to Fresno

California Sunset
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

This morning Tiffany and I woke up early (4:30 am) for our 7:55 am flight. Everything was packed, so quick showers, throw some bags in the car and we were off for the airport. A new Flying Star opened last weekend in Bernalillo, so the idea was to get breakfast there on the way to the airport.

We turned of on 550... and couldn't find the restaurant. No big deal, we'll just hit the one in Corrales, traffic wouldn't be bad because it was just after 6. We got there, got some breakfast and headed back out for the airport, but now we were in morning traffic, but boy was that breakfast good. Good thing, since it started the adventure.

Getting to the airport with "just enough" time we got in line and waited. One older Japanese gentleman was engaged in a conversation with one of the representatives about how much she loved his island. Another representative was handling a family with 4 young kids. One broken kiosk meant there was one representative available for the rest of the line.

We got to the kiosk, swiped the card and was informed that we were too late to check in. I pried the closest rep away from discussing noodle dishes, she looked at the clock and said "yup, you just missed it, pick up the phone" and went back to her conversation.

Looking at the clock showed that we were 2 minutes too late. These times are when I really dislike automated processes, the reps of old would have checked us in and said "best run for it, they start boarding in 5 minutes". After talking to the united phone which wouldn't help, patiently speaking in "Alpha, Lima, Lima, Echo, November" to Travelosity in India, and in general being fed up with "Customer Service", Tiffany suggested we road trip! Whoooo!

A couple of Starbucks drinks, a new "New Wave 80's" CD and we got onto I-40 for 14.5 hours of beautiful desert scenery. This photo was taken as the sun set just past Barstow, CA while we sat stuffed with In-n-Out Burger and 4 more hours of driving ahead.

Paying for all the fun

Paying for all the fun
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

Some friends of mine from LANL and I headed up Santa Fe ski basin yesterday for what may be the last day of spring skiing this year. I went up last weekend with Nikki and the snow was pretty rough, and this weekend saw large bare patches and plenty of ice.

We went up to ski the Nambe Chutes, something I haven't done because I've always skied up there by myself (well, with Nikki, but she's not much good at Avalanche rescue). The chutes are 35-40° and were less than ideal snow conditions, but still a whole lot of fun. Call me masochistic, but climbing out with skis on my back was actually almost more fun for me than the bumpy ice we called snow on the way down.

After skiing the chutes we found some decent mash potato like snow in the trees and got brutalized by Sastrugi on the open runs.