All of my years are evaluated by the number and quality of trips I get in. Of course, mental and physical health, family gatherings, weddings, babies, and such are huge pluses, but I mostly remember trips to the Hill mostly now, but in the olden days, it was camping trips with the boys. They really did, in large part, dictate my quality of life.

Now, Kristen and I are traveling more, and we have done more family trips with the kids. Boys camping trips are virtually non-existent anymore. However, the rise of the day trip has filled in some of the holes in the weeks. More than a hole filler has been the arrival of our new puppy Mowgli. He is supposed to be 3/4 shepherd and 1/4 husky and he may get to a substantial size. He has big paws, head, ears, and tale; all signs of pending mass. He has been an extremely smart and well-behaved puppy, so after the first month or so of potty training and complete babiness, he has become a real joy.

One of his favorite things to do is to play in the water. He loves puddles and our ponds and the creeks near our house. One spot in particular on Carmichael creek offers him the perfect depth to run and splash and then bite the splashes. He loves to run up and down the creek and now has gotten big enough to be able to jump out and across the creek to the other side and rage around there for a bit before he descends into the creek again to splash about. He has so much fun and it is a joy to watch him play.

On longer walks out of the neighborhood, we typically drive to Ancil Hoffman, Bannister, or William Pond and walk there. He has always done really good off leash, although he is becoming more aware of birds and squirrels and he is tempted to bolt after them. He is really good with other dogs and other than being a too exuberate puppy, he has never been aggressive or ill behaved. He typically makes good friends and they run and chase each other for a few minutes while the humans talk and then we go on our way. He has really gotten me out of the house, but so far, only to make my feet ache rather than lose any weight.

In late January Ken, Steve, and I headed up to Big Hill Lookout, a great place to view the Crystal Range and/or play in the snow as even though it is over 6100’ elevation, the forest service and/or PG&E keep the road plowed. We have had a really good snow year so it was fantastic to get up to see it, especially on such a beautiful day. This is a spot we have come to over the years for great day trips and for a few camp trips. We did not see or hear another person all day except for when we walked out to the observation deck. Puppy was super good, even though he was super young at the time.
We had a small fire and BBQ’d some sausage and chicken and had a couple different salads and chips and dip. Steve surprised us with some of our wine and we kept all our beverages cold in the small patches of snow around us. It was a spectacular getaway.

The following weekend, HBO, Ingrid, Ted, Kristen, and I all went to the Aerospace Museum of California at McClellan airbase. It is a great facility with flight simulators, tons of rocket engines from the space program and dozens of planes. There are many exhibits and a kids play area, videos, and a café. Ted is an engineer specializing in rockets and satellites so he was super interesting to listen to as he recognized a lot of the items on display. It was a rainy day but Oliver led us outside to see the big planes nonetheless.

This was a Beerfest fundraiser for the museum and they had about 30 breweries serving beer, teas, ciders, mead, and wine. The beers were good but the guy from Hart2Hart Vineyard and Winery was super nice and personable and seemed genuinely interested in our one barrel wine operation. He gave me a coupon for wine tasting at their Pilot Hill winery so I really wanted to head out there.

I was able to interest Steve, Ken, and Bill to come with me so we headed out one beautiful sunny day for wine tasting and a puppy walk. I was super happy to see the guy from the Museum behind the bar and after I showed him the complimentary tickets, he remembered me. There was only one other young couple in the place and they seemed like friends so we had the run of the place in a real relaxed atmosphere. They also had a young puppy so the two of them played and played and the people seemed happy for the exercise and entertainment.

Eventually the guy came outside and sat with us and we brought out a bottle of our wine that he tasted and gave us some real good feedback. It was such a good time. We walked out to an event venue with lights and tables and chairs and then beyond it out into the vineyard and up to a beautiful vacation farmhouse rental that was part of the winery. It would be a fantastic place to rent for 4 or 5 couples. Across Highway 49 were 3 BLM river access points that Ken had talked to Howard about to get the inside poop. We decided to go to the Greenwood access to walk puppy even though he got a good workout at the winery.

The South Fork of the American River was flowing nicely as we had had some good rainfall recently. We met a few folks on the narrow trail, but puppy was really good for the most part. He did get confused at one point and headed off with a group of guys doing a litter pickup, but otherwise stayed with us and was good with the dogs we passed. We stopped at a beautifully green spot and just stared at the water and the light and the greens. It was a great little walk to end a fantastic day.

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