Alcatraz

Today I went to Alcatraz Island in the SF Bay. It is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It's a pretty quick ferry ride out to the island from pier 33 in SF, and there is an audio tour of the prison included in the price of the ferry ride. Because of this, everyone does the audio tour, and if you take your headphones off for a little but, you will experience something rarely found in society today, a totally quiet environment with just the sound of the shuffling feet of all the visitors. I found it a little surreal.

This is #5 of 10 NPS locations I'm hoping to visit before October




I'm pretty sure I went here in Grammer school, but I didn't remember anything about it, and decided anything I did before I was about 15 could be redone and called "new."

Murphys

Murphys is a small town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains off HWY 4. I came up in events realted to the Ironstone Vineyards Concours d'elegance Car show. Main street is where it's happening, small shops and plenty of restaurants...There is a large butterfly bush on main, that lives up to it's name it was swarming with Monarchs today.

Stebbins Cold Canyon Hike

A 45-minute drive west of Davis (15 minute west of Vacaville, CA) bring you to Stebbins Cold Canyon and the Homestead Trail. This is part of the UC Davis Natural Reserve System which contains many locations for outdoor activities/research.

When you get to the parking area (marked only by a silver gate), there is no obvious signage to get you to the correct trail, only after you have found it (cross the dangerous road with no visibility, and veer right on the trail) and walked on it for a while, do you find a information placard and sign-in area(also after two very narrow gate passages (we had a bit of a time getting through with the child hiking carrier.




We stopped for a picnic lunch at the cold storage remains at the end of the homestead trail a very shady area with lots of rock foundation to sit on.



The trail is half shady and half exposed with a fun little "living tunnel".

Lafayette reservoir

In Lafayette, CA The Municipal Utility District owns a reservoir which they very generously (for a small fee) allow day use to, you can go on the water with non-motorized craft, you can fish from any of the many docks that surround the lake, and you can run or walk your dog on the 2.7 mile paved trail (I hour of walking) that encircles the lake.

Loch Leven Trail

Off Hiway 80 near Soda Springs, there is a 5-mile roundtrip trail to the Lower Loch Leven Lake. This trail is pretty much all uphill to the lake, and down hill on the way back. You cross a stream over a wooden bridge, train tracks (at your own risk) and lots of boulders. The trails is very rocky in some places, very dry and powdery in others (maybe just at this time of year). The lower lake is very pretty - totally worth the hike...




There is an optional extension to the higher Loch Leven Lake that is a 7 mile round trip hike.

Fair Oaks Horticultural Center

I visited the Fair Oaks Horticultural Center today for the open day. The Center is interesting, there is a community garden for residents, and demonstration gardens. They had a demonstration on blueberries while I was there.