Marsbarn Designs...

In search of clouds, we head home

On Saturday morning (day 11), we packed up our little cabin in the woods and marveled at the week that was. See this square of blue? That is a photo of the sky. Notice the lack of clouds? I missed clouds. This is not the world I am meant to live in. Really. Nice to visit, but I was ready to get back to Portland and have some weather.
We all had mosquito bites, everywhere. I had a huge bite on the bottom of my foot which felt like a marble in my shoe throughout Big E's Hike of Doom. As beautiful and wonderful as Plumas wilderness had been, it was time to head North.

After saying our Goodbyes and Thank You's we headed North to Klamath Falls. Now, I am normally the navigator. This is my Role (in addition to snack keeper, car packer, and vomit catcher). Big E got a tip from someone that there was a great museum in Taylorsville, a 15 mile detour, but we were game! We found the sleepy small town easily, but had to ask directions from the gal at the post office. We also asked if the road on our map that lead north toward Susanville was a good one. I was informed that it was paved, and as it was Saturday there shouldn't be any logging trucks. The museum was closed, so we headed out of town toward Susanville on the country road. Except it wasn't. After about 10 miles, I said, "That's funny.." as we
passed through an area called Genesee and I realized we were heading east, not north. It was then that I realized we had entered the Twilight Zone of California where there are no road signs, and almost all of the roads aren't on the map. We had three maps, and none of them gave details on this area. So we backtracked (the museum was still closed), found our wrong turn and headed North.. ish... After about 15 miles we started heading west, and then we found ourselves in Greenville (click on the link, you can see the road we ended up on.. notice our road to Susanville doesn't even exist on this map....) So we set off again on the conventional route to Susanville without incident. (Hey and we found that Paul Bunyon in Westwood!)

Given this experience we avoided a shortcut that had been recommended to Big E by native, and stayed on the highway for the rest of our trip to Klamath Falls.

Knowing that this first leg back home would be a long 5 hour drive, I splurged on our hotel. I paid almost twice what I had in Susanville for the place with the pool, hot tub, complimentary soup at 4pm, hot cookies at 8pm, and a big breakfast buffet with cinnamon rolls hot out of the oven. And the ever-so helpful young man at the counter pointed us toward a fabulous Thai restaurant within easy walking distance. Ah, money well spent!

up hill, both ways, and there wasn't even snow

It is Friday, the 10th day of our Road Trip, and our last full day at Elwell Lodge. Big E wants to hike to a new (for us) lake. All three girls want to hike back to Cub Lake for more rafting adventures. A compromise is made. I will hike with Big E to Long Lake which is a mile up a steep trail, and the girls will repeat our trip from Sunday with Grandpa D and Grandma K. I pack separate packs for the girls and us, and Big E and I set out. The first part of the hike is fine. We arrive at Long Lake and marvel at its beauty. It is a startlingly deep blue. We sit and eat our lunch while watching damselflies and dragon flies. We talk without interruptions. A cool breeze blows from the water. It is lovely, perfect. And then we begin to hike around the lake toward a dam that runs along one side of it. Away from the water's edge, among the rock surrounding the lake it is hot. Soon our trail takes us into boulder fields without shade or breeze and I get hot. For the next half mile, the hiking is not fun. It seems to all be up hill and so bright it hurts my eyes even with my hat. Once we get to the dam, the trail begins to wind back down toward the falls we visited on Monday, except we have no vehicle waiting for us down below.. instead we are hiking up the fall trails. By the time we make it back to our cabin we are parched, sweat soaked, and tired.
Big E says to me "Don't you love to feel like this? To be drenched in sweat and to feel your muscles so tired?"
I realize I married a mad man ten years ago. "No. I hate feeling like this. I stink, my hair is soaked in sweat, my skin feels tight, dry, and burned. My thighs ache, and I want to hit you."

Realizing he would need some serious bribery to get to me to do anymore hiking that day, Big E drove us into Graeagle where we raided the local candy store. Refueled with gummy frogs and the best gummy orange slices EVER, we went to Fraizer Falls. The four mile drive on the old one lane highway was beautiful, and the mile walk to the falls was a marvel in flatness. We returned to camp in time to help with dinner. Next time I want my gummy treats before the hike of death that runs uphill both ways.

A tale of two museums

On Thursday, our 9th day, we separated for some small group action. While my dad and his crew went and explored the Yuba River, Big E and I took Sweet G and little e on a tour of nearby sights. First stop was a visit to the local ranger station and area museum. At the Plumas-Eureka State Park we were lucky enough to be just in time for a hand quilting class taught by a local volunteer. She was kind enough to bend the rules and let little e join in, if I sat and helped her. My two girls worked for an hour on their little squares. They did wonderfully. In addition to the small museum, there is a period home, an ore mill, and an operating blacksmith's shop. We could have spent the whole day here, but lunch time was approaching and Big E had other stops in mind. Another time, I would love to go back and see the rest of the park.

We drove to Portola for lunch. We chose a small but excellent Mexican restaurant which turned out to serve the largest burritos I have ever seen. Big E and I worked on ours for two days before admitting defeat (no exaggeration, honest! Those puppies were the size of my thigh!). After being fortified, we ventured into a small fabric shop I had spotted with my Quilter Vision (my newest super power, after Vomit Catcher.) Next we perused a wonderful independent book shop. It was a hard and grueling day.. sewing, food, fabric, books... But Big E had one more stop in mind.... The Train Museum.


The Feather River Rail Society manages the Western Pacific Railroad Museum and Collection. Now when I imagine a train museum I think models. I think air conditioned, controlled atmospheric conditions.. I think look, don't touch. Boy, was I on the wrong track. So we enter and make our donation, we look through the hanger. We look in some dusty cases and buy a lapel pin from the gift shop, and Big E asks the woman behind the counter "How much of the yard can we go into?"
"Oh all of it, honey" she answers. "Just watch out for the moving trains." she adds as an afterthought.
"All?" I ask sure we are missing something.
"Sure. And you can go into any of the trains you can open." she smiles and goes back to her computer solitaire game.

We wander out into the blinding sun and look about the dusty, hot yard. There are hundreds of tracks, thousands of train cars all in various stages of decay or renovation. We are instantly overwhelmed by our choices. I quickly realize I am the wrong person to be here. I don't have any idea what to appreciate. I know how marvelous this is, but I just don't have the knowledge for true understanding. And it is hot.. all that metal, all that dust. We crawl up and into trains. We walk through cars. We marvel at the beauty and the immense size. And.. oh my... if we had been more prepared, if we had known about this wonderland... you can rent a train and be your own engineer. We watch an engine puff up and down a short track with a family at the controls and know we are not worthy. Reading the fine print, there is an age limit. You must be five. Little e could have driven a train, if only we'd known ahead of time. Flushed with sun, we walk back to the car and head back to our cabin thinking of all of the people who would have loved to see what we have just seen.

snakes, frogs, and polliwogs

On the eighth day, after our day of rest, and my regrouping, we headed out for a day of adventure with van assist. The plan was to drive from lovely lake to lovely lake and play along the way. We drove past one lake, before little e threw up, so we stopped at the next spot, Sand Pond, and stayed their for most of the day. Sand Pond is a man made body of water caused then they removed the tailings left over from mining at the beginning of last century. Since it is a small body of water, it was warm and lovely to swim in. The water that fills it comes from the lower Sardine Lake (the body of water in the photo) with the Sierra Buttes above it. Sand Pond was a wonderful place to play. We walked half way around it, and had a little secluded area to ourselves. The wildlife was phenomenal for such a popular play spot. Their were frogs and bullfrogs everywhere. I saw the largest tadpoles of my life.. the bodies were larger than golfballs! Big E saw a little water snake catch and eat a frog! I was in time to watch the little guy swim off with the frog's legs sticking out of its mouth. Amazing! I used to swim in ponds and lakes a lot as a child, but I've never had nicer freshwater swimming than on this trip.

And on the 7th day we rested, and melted down

Following little e's wishes, we rested on the 7th day. I think we were all ready for a day of lounging. I broke out my inktense pencils and pretended I could draw. Sweet G and Naynay joined me at one point for a lovely hour of communal art. Big E took off on his own, with my camera, and took some mini-hikes. He saw deer, a snake, and lots of flowers and butterflies.

It was at about this point that I imploded. I wanted my blog, my computer, my sewing machine, in short... my life back. All I could see was laundry (I did two loads while Big E explored), dishes, meals, planning and packing... and all of it was done without thanks. It was as if I had lost my anchor. And the only thing I had any access to was my camera.. which my husband had. I wanted it back. It was ugly. I was ugly. How did I become this person who couldn't share? Gah. It did make one thing clear... even in that beautiful environment, I cannot do the Mom/Wife/caretaker thang without my outlets.... and we need a second camera. I had no idea how important it had become to me as an artistic tool.

In one of the rare moments when I had the magic silver box in my hands, I discovered the digital macro setting. Apparently, it has taken me a year to become comfortable enough with my Precious to start to explore the other settings. Who knew the little dynamo had Super Settings? (Okay, anyone who had read the manual... )

All photographs on this post my Big E.

Oh, we earned those s'mores

That night we had grilled steak, corn salad, tomato salad, roasted potatoes, and our first s'mores of the trip. Oh man it all tasted so good. Remember when I made the marshmallows before the trip? Well, it turns out that the extreme heat from our trip south fused some of those fuffy squares and caused them all to bloat. So they were a little messier than normal, but no one complained. The marmot looks pretty jealous, doesn't he? It was the perfect end to a day of hot hiking.

Woh! another hike.

On Monday (our 6th day) we hiked through more beautiful country from Elwell Lodge to Graeagle Lodge. This hike was longer, but mostly down hill. We descended about 400 feet over 3 miles. Wisely, one of our vehicles was waiting for us at our destination. We admired numerous waterfalls, creeks, and vistas. There are different wildflowers and butterflies for each elevation and area. It was astounding to see such diversity in such a small area. By the end of this day, Little e (see her poor feet?) announced an end. "Tomorrow, I do not want to hike. I want to play." Both of our monkeys introduced a new word to their vocabulary on this trip. "Woh!" said in a expulsion of air at anything surprising or interesting. Each girl had their own flair with the syllable, and that puff of air punctuated many of their conversations.

There was more swimming, for those interested in snow fed streams, and plenty of spots to throw rocks into streams. Give little e a bank full of rocks and somewhere to huck them and she is one happy girl.

three little bonnets all in a row

This past Christmas I used the bonnet pattern from Angry Chicken to make bonnets for each of my favorite Little House on the Prairie devotees. Naynay (my eight year old sister), Sweetheart G (my eight year old daughter) and Little e (my five year old daughter) all wore their bonnets throughout our trip. In fact, one of the women we met at the camp ground was worried a cult was moving into their campground. They broke up the Little House play with episodes of Horse Family. The horse game consisted of lots of neighing, wearing blinders (the bonnets played double duty), being broken, resting, and grazing. It was wonderful to see the three of them scrambling over rocks and through creeks constantly in a world of their own.

It was juuust right.

On Sunday (Day 5 of the Road Trip), we journeyed out on our first hike to the Bear Lakes. Grandpa D, Grandma K, Auntie Nay-nay, Sweet G, little e, Big E, and I headed out. Our packs of provisions included water, lunch, and air mattresses.
We hiked past Big Bear Lake and Little Bear Lake, to stop at Cub Lake. (You know the drill, the first was too big, the second was too cold, the third was just right.) Cub Lake is beautiful, small enough to swim across easily, the shallow water is warm, and it was beautiful. We ate lunch, and then used the mattresses as rafts and played in the water for hours. Too much fun!

In a cabin in the woods

This was our home away from home for 7 days. Isn't it lovely? Inside is a queen bed, two dressers, a twin bunk bed, a kitchette, and (bless the gods) a flush toilet and shower. Everything the adventurous, but plumbing reliant, needs for a great base camp. Elwell Lakes Lodge is an amazing place. It is a collection of cabins (all with kitchens and flush toilets), tent cabins (which were essentially extra sleeping space), a recreation hall (The Lodge) and a dining hall. The original buildings were built in the twenties, but the newer cabins retain that original feel so you can't really pick them out.
The land is part of the Plumas National Forest, but is leased to a family who runs the camp. The set up is sublime; trees, lakes, creeks, rivers, waterfalls, wildflowers, thousands of butterflies, ground squirrels, and marmots. The forest fire smoke cleared by our second day there. We bought a flower guide for the area, and Big E set about photographing and marking off all of the flowers we'd seen on our ramblings and hikes. This campground has been the gathering place for generations of families. Cabins can be hard to get on season because the same families come year after year. Three generations of one family shared our time there, and they had been attending the camp annually for over 35 years. We were blessed to be included in this special place.
My dad and his part of the family stayed here in this A-frame. The A-frame was located at the top of a ridge, so it had a lovely view and the picnic table was located around back with rock outcroppings surrounding it on three sides. It was a wonderous place to set and talk while the kids played on the rocks. Sweetheart G, little e, and Nay-nay all spent quite a bit of time playing in the loft of the A-frame. Elwell Lodge was a great backdrop for our various adventures.