Olive Trees

I had never seen an olive tree, in person. They really do grow on trees. I don't know how you get the edible part out, because theses little things are hard as rocks. I tried to bust one  open and couldn't do it.

These are at a rest area in Northern California. It is next to an olive orchard (picture of the orchard below), so it was nice of them to leave some in the rest area for us to enjoy.

I am now all caught up on blogging, I'm in Redding, CA and on to my next adventure.

On to Reno and Lake Tahoe

John and I spent a lot of time in Reno, but we only got to see the truck stops. (I got one of the best haircuts ever at Petro in Reno.) Reno was definitely a destination that was on my list. Reno cannot compare to Vegas. There are only six big casinos on the "strip". Friday night, I was out late, of course, and walking from one casino to another, trying to get back to my truck, it actually kind of made me nervous. There were loads and loads of young, very drunk, people. It was hard to tell hookers from party girls. I thought I should get my ass back inside of a casino, cause it was very rowdy on the street. I had a good time though, I got fairly lucky (money-wise, not hooker-wise) on Saturday night.

I left on Sunday, and headed to Lake Tahoe. I told myself not to take pictures of Lake Tahoe. There must be a go-zillion pictures of that lake. But honestly, it was so beautiful, I gasped when it popped into my view. The water is so clear, you can see a white dinner plate at the depth of 70 feet. (I read that, I didn't make it up, or test it.) The beach below (and I only took a picture of a small part of the beach) was voted the best beach in the country. The water temperature that day was 67 degrees, and the temperature of the air was 76 degrees. (The people swimming were CRAZY. They would die from the heat in Texas.) The 70ish mile loop around the lake is, in some people's opinion, the prettiest drive in the world. I haven't seen the whole world, but I would agree that it is the prettiest drive I have been on yet.

So, even though I wasn't going to take pictures of the lake, I couldn't help myself.

I was going to stay the night in South Lake Tahoe, but it was too f-ing cold! So, I drove about 30 minutes down the mountain and slept there. Checking the temperature the next morning, it had gotten down to 32 degrees in South Lake Tahoe, and in Carson City, NV where I slept, it was 45 degrees. Still cold, but I at least gained 13 degrees. Now, if I was there in October, or even September, I could have tolerated those temperatures, but with it being August, and supposedly summer, that is WAY to cold for me.

For those of you that get to travel, I would highly recommend putting Lake Tahoe on your bucket list. Not in the winter though, unless you like to put snow chains on your tires.

Salt Lake

This was one of the most disappointing things I have done. It could have actually been filmed as one of those B-rated movies from the sixties. And, I could only stay long enough to get one picture.

I pull up to the lake, and think, beautiful! It smells like I'm at the beach! So, I find myself a nice parking spot, backed in, thinking I can sit and enjoy the sun, and people and bird watching, listen to the sound of the waves, etc. You know, a really nice relaxing afternoon. 

After about one minute, I notice these little gnatty bugs all around me. They are starting to get on my clothes, and one flew in my ear. They starting swarming the truck. Everywhere you looked, there were more than one bug, everywhere you looked! Ok, enough of that shit!

So, I walk over closer to the water cause I have to at least feel of it (and it was cold). Of course, the bugs are still all around. The salt content if between 10 and 19%, therefore, there is only one kind of fish that can live in there, and it is called brine shrimp. The biggest they get is 1/2 inch long. They have approx 300 eggs every 4 days. The eggs are so small, you can't see them, but they  look like a red cloud floating in the water. Even though these shrimp are very small, there are so many of them, you can see them, and they are THICK! I have never seen such a concentration of fish. It was disgusting! There is no way you could swim in that water without coming out with every little hiding place filled with these translucent, rubbery shrimp. Can I say the word disgusting often enough?

There are two things this lake is good for, for humans anyway. Sailing (but you better hope you do not have to get in the water), and bird-watching. As far as commercial operations, Morton Salt seems to do really good here (picture below, and yes, that is salt.) and fish farms harvest the shrimp eggs to feed their fish.

I keep thinking about the Mormons. When they came over the mountains from the east, and saw this beautiful enormous lake down below, they must have really thought God had guided them there. Then, to get down to the water level, and find that it is not drinkable must have seemed like Satan was involved. They stayed anyway. It must have either been because they were to tired to keep moving, or to stubborn to admit the location wasn't as good as it seemed at first.

How brave I am

I did a zipline! I was so proud of myself. I was very nervous. It seems the older I get, the more afraid of heights I am. Even being on the chair lift was nerve-wracking. I couldn't make myself let go of the hand rail and get my camera out to prove how brave I was. With my feet planted firmly on the ground, I did get a couple of pictures of the starting platform.

The little girl (ok, I'm chicken, even a young girl can do this) in the picture went down the same time I did. See how she is up against that wall/door. Well, when that door opens, away you go. I got all strapped in and they said, "are you ready?", and I said, "Aren't there any instructions?", he said, "hold on to the black straps." And I said, "Are you going to count down, or warn us when we are going?" and he said "Well, are you ready?", and away we went. It was really scary coming out of that door, but super duper fun after the first shock was over.

Olympic Bobsled

Here is another part of the Olympic Park in Park City, Utah. This is the bobsled and luge track. There were people going down the track, I am assuming on a sled with wheels because the track is concrete. Even then, they were reaching speed of 66 mph. I can't imagine what that is like, rough as hell I would think.

The picture just above is where the females and juniors start. I had just pasted the 3/4 mile mark, and the actual top was another 200 meters farther up. I had walked all that way, so I had gone far enough for my likings. Here is the view from "almost" the top.

Skiing

At the Olympic Park, they had ski jumping, both the distance, and the trick jumping. Here's what it looks like. And there was a little bunny hill for the youngsters. Good to know that you don't have to learn how to do this on the big slope!

This was where they practice the long distance jumping. And they do not have to walk up this one, they get to take the ski lift, (which I got to ride too.)

I have posted a video on Facebook, of someone going off the ramp into the pool. My computer is not cooperating with me on posting the same video here. I am also running out of time. I am in a hotel for the first time on my trip, and I've got to get ready to check out.  I want to show you the bob-sledding track too, so hopefully I will be near electricity soon and can share those pictures.

Another Olympic adventure

John and I had driven a lot through Salt Lake City, and Park City is on the mountain above Salt Lake City, and when you drive by, you can see this ski jump. So I was always interested in getting a closer look, and I got to. It is one of the sites of some Olympic events from 2002. They had ski jumping and luge and bobsled at this site. Luckily, they have turned it into a training site, museum, and somewhat of an adventure park.

A couple of the "puppets" used in the opening ceremony. Now housed in the museum, which is free! I love free!

Doesn't this look like just an ugly shoe with a blade attached?

These are the best pictures I took in the museum. I have lots of other pictures to show you, but I think I'm going to post them separately. There are a lot of them.

And, here is what an avalanche looks like coming right at you.

Bison?

Here is the answer to the burning question:  bison or buffalo?

And, I absolutely had to stop, take and picture, and post the picture of the ugliest statue I have even seen.  This is on I80 just east of Laramri, Wyoming. There is a rest area there called Happy Jack Road. John and I used to travel (mostly east) on this highway and Happy Jack is at the top of the last big hill before you start getting into the flatness of Nebraska. We knew once we were to Happy Jack driving would get easier and boring. I vividly remember going up this hill with it covered in ice. Not sure how I made it, but I did, with 40,000 pounds of wine from Napa Valley. Anyway, when you get to the top, there is this ugly ass statue. To me, it looks like Abraham Lincoln is growing out of the top of a tree stump.

It is not nice to say, buy Wyoming is my least favorite state so far. Cheyenne was nice, but from there, nothing of interest, at least on I80. Yellow Stone National Park is in the upper west corner, but to get there, I would have to leave civilization, and I like being able to call or text Jes and Betsy regularly, just to keep in touch. Sprint cell phone service sucks once you are out of Cheyenne. So, I'm heading to the Great Salt Lake.

Bison - Buffalo - What's the difference?

I am in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Staying at the Terry Bison Ranch. Sounds more exotic than it is, it is a campground.

http://www.terrybisonranch.com/

Jes and I debated, was it named that after a person named Terry Bison, or is the last name Terry and there really are bison. And, by the way, I "googled" the difference between bison and buffalo and couldn't be bothered to read about it, but it seems there is not much difference.

Anyway, here is the answer to Jes' and my question.

Sorry the picture is dark, but it was getting dark outside, and I only have a "point and shoot" camera. Anyway, just below the camping area, there is a fenced in area (a large area), and last night I counted 26 horses. Not wild horses, they actually belong to the ranch. Behind the horses area, were the bison. I tried to count them, and got to 50, including some of the babies. The bison are a pretty lively bunch, and it was hard to count. But anyway, they were quite active. The babies would jump around, and the adults seemed to move around a lot. Not like cows, who can barely be bothered to look up from their meal, the bison seemed to move a lot.

At Terry Bison Ranch, there is a restraunt called the Senator's Restraunt. (how in the hell do you spell restraunt?). I know Dick Cheney was not a senator, but I was not going to eat there if it had anything to do with him. I saw no evidence of that, so I was going to try it. The special of the night was a bison burger for $13.99.  The wait staff ended up being so incompetent that I ended up not even eating there, but I was really glad I didn't eat a bison burger after seeing the cute herd of bison.

There are also three CAMELS here. Yes, CAMELS!!!! I can't get close enough to get a picture, but you can apparently ride them.

Speaking of riding, they offer horseback riding here. I thought maybe I should put that on my bucket list, and do it, until Betsy told me about her very hilarious experience riding a horse. Her horse decided he wanted to stop and eat some bark off of a tree. Her head was in the branches, and she couldn't do anything to get him to move. She said she really did not enjoy having a "power struggle" with a horse. As funny as her story was, I decided I don't want to be in control of a horse either. Horses are big!

Camping and some pretty pictures

This is from Colorado Springs, Colorado at the campground. I took the 1/2 mile trail, out and back. You can see the campground from where I was, so I decided I needed a picture of the BIG hill I climbed, half a mile up. I capitalize -big- sarcastically.  These turkeys were chilling on the side of the road leading to the campground.

Here is this picture from the campground up to the BIG hill, and then from the top of the BIG hill, overlooking the campground.

I was a little disconcerted at this campground because the one in Sante Fe, New Mexico had trash cans everywhere, good clean bathrooms (with soap), free WIFI, etc. This one had NO trash cans anywhere. But, I realized there was a reason. A sign in the bathroom said please don't throw trash in the bathroom trash cans because it will attract raccoons and bears. And the dumpster was inside a chain-link fence with warning signs to use CAREFULLY. STAY BACK. Wildlife may be feeding in the dumpster. I was kinda looking forward to seeing a bear, albeit from a very safe distance. I didn't see one. Good? or bad.



I left Colorado Springs intending to go to Denver, but when I got there, I never even got off of the freeway. It was just too big, crowded, and fast. The last day in Colorado Springs, I didn't even start the truck, so I was (and still am) in the nature state of mind, and a big city just did not appeal to me at all. So, I blew through Denver and stopped in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is a college town and very oriented toward art and nature. Here are just a few pictures to give you an idea. This was the "old" downtown, you know, the place where us old people shop during the day, and the young crowd drink at night.

Betsy, the flower is for you.

I went to the Olympics!

Not really, but I did go to the U.S. Olympic Training Center, in Colorado Springs.

http://www.teamusa.org/

I want to say it is an amazing place, but that is kind of obvious. I thought it was interesting that they give free tours. Eighty percent of their funding comes from corporate donations, i.e. Visa, McDonald's, etc, twenty percent from "broadcast rights" and "other private" donations. Since it is not government sponsored, I was surprised how open they were to the public.

The Colorado Springs facility is one of three in the U.S., the other two being in Chula Vista, CA and Lake Placid, NY. In Colorado Springs, they mostly train for indoor summer events, swimming, wrestling, shooting, fencing, etc. They have resident training, as well as short term "camps". Their dining facility has won culinary awards. Most athletes need to eat 8,000-10,000 calories per day, so the dining facility is of utmost importance.

The next picture is the scale of Michael Phelps wingspan, 6'7"!

And here is the wingspan of a "normal" person.

Here is the gym for men's gymnastics. Women's gymnastics does not practice here because you have to be at least 16  years old to train at this facility, and most of the women are not old enough. (To compete in the Olympics, you have to be 16 years old by the end of the Olympic year.) The floor exercise mat doesn't look as big in person, nor does the bar look as tall.

Strength and Conditioning gym. Sounds and looks like torture.

Here is a balance beam to scale.

And here is the swimming pool! They drain it once every three years, and guess when I was there. It holds 110,000 gallons of water. They have to inform the city when they are going to drain it, and drain it slowly (over three days) because it will flood the city. I didn't hear how deep it was, but the temperature of the water is usually 79 to 81 degrees. (The temp of the pool in London was about 77 degrees). There are speakers UNDER the water, so the coaches can yell at you while you are swimming, but also so the syncrinized (sp) swimmers can hear the music. At the far end of the pool, are the starting platforms. They added a new design for London this year, and they cost $5000 each. The bottom is a V shape because that helps alleviate the "drag" that the outer lanes have.

I was absolutely amazed at how far this guy jumped. It looks like about the length of two cars nose-to-nose.

It was an awe-inspring tour! All Olympians are amazing people! We are very lucky to get to witness the Olympics.