September, 2008

Lets start out with a trip to Cabella's over by Sam's Town.  Haven't been there yet.

Cabella's is now know as a destination spot for tourists.  It was a nice store.
Moving on to Hilmar Cheese Company in Hilmar, CA
Don't ask me what prompted a pass through Hilmar, other than to say there was a minor programming problem with the Garmin GPS. Hilmar is a rural town, an agricultural area with tons of black and white cows. On the way out, I happened to see the Hilmar Cheese company on the east side of the road. It looked like a nice place so I stopped in to have a look.  It was very nice and reminded me of the Tilamook Cheese company in Oregon. I would say the best cheeses were their Queso Chipotle, Vintage Sharp Cheddar and Colby Jack, in that order.  The cheese curds were very good too.
There was a nice walking path across a stream and  to a waterfall.	A shot from under the waterfall.
Nice Fall Grasses	Another shot of the waterfall.
Now why was I supposed to be going down south?
Oh yes... had something to do with a power plant.
How about something a little closer to home.
Donner  Lake, looking east.	The old bridge, looking north.
Lots of trees growing out of rocks around here.	Lots of bored Indians doodling over here.
Indians living in Nevada had a rough life. Can you imagine wearing clothes made out of sage brush and being allergic to same? Rabbits seemed to be the critter of choice for many when it came to meat for food and skins for clothing.	Chasing down rabbits would have taken a lot of time and energy.  If Indians spent the majority of their time hunting and gathering, where did they find the time to etch on rocks? My personal theory about petroglyphs: I believe these glyphs were done by baby sitters, Indians who couldn't hunt, couldn't gather and in general couldn't do much of anything except amuse kids.  Someone had to babysit while everyone was out every day doing what they needed to do to survive. What I believe we are seeing here is akin to modern day finger fainting and it should be given as much seriousness as finger fainting merits. There.  Mystery Solved.
Looking south and up on the rocks is where people with suicidal tendencies go to fulfill their lifelong ambition.	Judging from the number of people out here, this is either a popular sport or a lot of people invested in the wrong stocks.
What to do, what to do.  Climb rocks or............	Visit a winery.
First snow on Job's Peak	Clouds rolling in  - finally.
It is always fun taking a trip up Highway 50 for the fall colors.
Awesome clouds coming back home	Back home
I didn't fully understand where the actual road is here (by the way, the is Northern Nevada's infamous boondoggle - the Road to Nowhere. I thought the road went through the span, trusses and supports. I was wrong. The trusses and supports are actually for a road which is going on top, up over them.  I can see why people are saying, 'Me travel on top of that?  You've got to be kidding.  Didn't anyone realize that it gets windy around here, I mean really windy?' I can agree with that point of view.