Lucky Lego Truck Explores the Fort Bragg Area in Preparation for the Arrival of the Neukom Family

Upon hearing the news that the Neukom family was to pay a visit, little Lucky Lego Truck got very excited. So excited in fact that he had a hard time staying still on his mantle above the  fireplace.

Watching for the perfect opportunity, Lucky Truck was ready one fine afternoon when Solo left the door open on his way out of the house.

he rolled down the pathway, jumped on the fence, and was on his way!

On down the sidewalk...

and stopped at the stop sign before crossing the wide, wide, street.

Once out of the neighborhood, Lucky Lego Truck discovered an amazing road made out of a steel bar that seemed to stretch into infinity!

He found monoliths of wood and stone with strange writing and symbols carved into them.

He rolled along, thinking, "I can't wait to show Elsa, Hazel, Amy and Jacques this wide, huge world that I've discovered!"

He was so absorbed in the elated feeling of freedom, and the anticipation of sharing his discoveries, that he was surprised when all of a sudden the world seemed to drop right off into a vast, crashing body of water!

Whoa! Little Lucky Lego Truck felt REALLY little.

Building up his courage, Lucky Truck managed to roll down the cliff toward the water. He could hardly believe that the whole beach was made out of pebbles of glass! Wait 'till Hazel and Elsa and Jacques and Amy see this!

Tired, Little Lucky Truck decided to make his way back home to Malia and Josh and Solo.

Whoooooo! Whooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Yikes! What is that???????

  Lucky Truck jumped off the track just in time...

whew. It'll be great to be home...

and back safe on the fire place mantle.             

Train-a-comin' 'round the bend...

     Near our house, the Skunk Train makes it's twice daily sojourn. Leaving it's downtown station, the little train (sometimes pulled by a steam engine, sometimes diesel) chugs past our neighbors' houses, turning it's back on the ocean and traveling above Pudding Creek into the woods. Today, on this 23rd of September, we left a message for it's heavy wheels to read. As those steel rollers traveled over the little images of Abe and the Lincoln Memorial, perhaps it felt something. Perhaps not. 

  

Choo-choooooo! Chug-a-chuga. 

for you, Carah!

trinity alps in july

trinity alps: bear basin to granite lake

Macintosh welcomes you.

Christmas Crab

Thanksgiving in the Fire Tower

It was snowy-er than expected on the day before Thanksgiving in the mountains of Oregon. This soft and forever-vast expanse of grey was a perfect backdrop for the sighting of Alan and Dabney's fire tower refuge.


and Alan and Dabney cozy inside...

Morgan, Deb, Malia, Josh + soLo
that's Brian up there...


and Brian with his rockin' sis








moss mustache woman and moss-mustache man
old moss mustache beard man
regal moss mustache contemplating man


snow sliders!!!

the bear bit the inner tube

or:

Elisa and Kayla pay us a visit.


the penny is there for scale - that's something Josh got in the habit of while photographing the mushrooms he collected and classified. The bear's tooth put a hole in the innertube and we were no longer able to float down the river with it.

these are some of the mushrooms -

notice the penny for scale?



-but I get
ahead of myself. The mushrooms we collected later in the fall - just before Thanksgiving in time for a fungal feast.

The bear bit the inner tube around the time of Elisa's October visit.


This is Elisa.
She would do well to look behind her because I think that's Sasquatch.

People have noticed him around.

Josh introduced himself to Bigfoot, and now we're all friends.



Kayla and Solo are also friends.

Kayla took the big bed, so Solo had to be contented to stuff himself into Kayla's bed.

It was great to see E. and the big K.
Until next time... keep your innertubes inside or the bears might bite them!

the river

Train Mountain! September, 2010

or:

The Attack of Solozilla.


Josh and I drove to Oregon to meet Aunt Amy and Uncle Courtney at thei r beloved Train Mountain near Klamath Falls.





Steve Martin made this event famous in his own way, and we had anticipated sharing the same adventurous glee ever since talking with Courtney about his hobby of building these trains with a couple of buddies of his.






We camped right in between two lines, and so were able to catch this early riser as he took a spin on his machine. Here's Josh with his morning maté hanging out in the sun while the single engine rider whizzes by...




Our first morning, we fueled up - some trains run on gas, others steam, and there was a wonderful story of the guy who runs his engine with the pine cones that he collects as he chugs through the forest tracks.







We asked SoLo if he would like to take a ride on the flat car in front of me, and as he was obliging, we took off. Josh and Amy in front, Courtney driving, and Solo and I hanging out near my favorite car: the caboose!





We toured over the 13+ acres, under bridges and through the woods
until we came to a rail block - seems like once again, a damsel in distress decided to lay herself on the tracks.
It was just as well, because we wanted to check out the miniature (functioning) water tower
Courtney and his friends had built. We had a moment while the damsel was coming to her senses to admire his handiwork.





We continued through miniature towns, tunnels made from large culverts, and later that night, we took a ride through the garden of lights. It was a unique and fun day, I will always remember the feel of the rhythm of the tracks - an up-tempo version of their larger cousins - rocking us gently as we rolled through the grounds of Train Mountain!

whooooooooooo-whoooooooooooooo!