I’m back in Alturas, California. For the fifth time. This is the final visit. There is not a whole lot to do in town. There is a wildlife refuge on the edge of town, and and that’s about it. There is Antonio’s for food. Despite it’s lack of things to do in town, around the area within 30 minutes to 3 hours, there are tons of places I would love to go to. One of them was the waterfall in Modoc National Forest near Likely, CA. This was about 30 minutes and then some hiking south on US 395. Alturas to me seems like an outpost in the middle of the desert in the NE desert of California.

The whole area I learned tonight (thanks to Google research) is on what is called the Modoc Plateau. The whole area is full of volcanic rock. Almost all the rocks you look at are full of bubbles. Northwest of Alturas is the Lava Beds National Monument. Haven’t been yet, but would like to!  Southwest are several mountains, in particular is Mt. Shasta, an active volcano.

Of course to get to all of these places when coming from Michigan you have to fly into Reno. From Reno it was only an hours drive to Lake Tahoe. I went there in January 2013. I never would have gone there for vacation on my own had I not had my bag make it to the airport in Reno on a previous trip. I had the rental car anyway so I drove to Lake Tahoe, and then drove the entire circumference of the lake. It was breathtaking from every side. I will go back again sooner or later.

While I am not a huge fan of Reno, I would fly there and spend a night, and then head back to Lake Tahoe, and then head back north, hit the volcano, the lava beds, sleep in Alturas, hike near Likely, sleep again in Alturas and then head back to Reno. Thank you work for sending me to another place in rural America that have lead me to see these small, cool places. 🙂

Posted from Alturas, California, United States.

This week I am back doing work in Newberry, MI.  I was super excited to come back and stay at the Chamberlin’s Ol’ Forest Inn.  This place is awesome. It’s a huge old house that built in the early 1900’s and moved to its current location.  It is located on Big Manistique Lake and has awesome views. I was able to convince one of my co-workers to stay here as well…another needed more ‘work space’ and went to the Comfort Inn located just outside Newberry.  I have heard that the Comfort Inn is not clean, though.

Staying here makes it feel like I didn’t even work each day. The Inn keepers make you feel at home, and the food is absolutely fantastic! I was the first guest of 2013 to kayak on the lake. The last of the ice melted 8 days ago. I kayaked over to the island today to check out the cabins that are there. Totally worth it; there were also four canada geese nests. I had no idea how big their eggs are.

On my last visit it was March, and a ton of snow was dumped on us during the week. I brought snow shoes with me for that trip.  I am heading back to Petoskey tomorrow for a three day weekend.

Friday will be a ‘family day’. My last living grandmother passed away last week. It was her wish to not have a funeral or service. Just the spreading of her ashes by her children over my grandfather and their poodle. She will be missed!

Posted from Michigan, United States.