Mike and I left in our little red car and drove on Friday the 21st of August (Happy Birthday, David Autrey!!) to Cromberg, California. It was a 9 hour drive. Whew! LONG drive. We left right when we thought we should have left (between 8 and 9 am was what we were shooting for) and we pulled out at 8:59 am. We had snacks, we had water, we ate lunch in Ely and arrived in Cromberg around 7 or 8 pm. Depending on whose clock you were looking at. Maybe it was 8 or 9. I don't know. But it was smokey all they way there! We noticed smokey/hazey skies right when we left Cedar City and headed out on Highway 56. Lots of forest fires smoking up the skies.
We had reservations at the Sierra Sky Lodge for Friday and Saturday night. We were given unit #2. I think they only have about 7 units. It's quaint and cute and woodsy and comfy. And quiet.
We were lucky and got a King Size bed. We're used to sleeping in a King and get crowded in a Queen
It wasn't partituculary huge, but it was more than adequate. And the bed was very comfortable.
The window's only opening is a 3 inch screened in opening at the very top. The glass is slanted. There's a hinged 1x3 or so on top that you can flip open or closed. We didn't notice any difference. There was plenty of light and we had a ceiling fan. It was probably best to keep everything closed, just to keep the smoke out. There was a fire less than 10 miles away!! No body seemed really alarmed about it, strangely. Photos of the yards and grounds follow. There were about 5 buildings making up the lodge. Office, breakfast room, and three buildings with rooms. They had a pool!
After we got checked in, we walked up the road (Highway 70) to a Mexican restaurant and had some dinner out on their front veranda. We also found that we had no cell service and could not successfuly connect to the Sierra Sky Lodge wifi. Oh well. It's a vacation, right?
Air conditioning? ;-)
Usually, breakfast was served family - style. This is "COVID-19" style. We put on our masks and go to the front office to pick up of our basket of breakfast to go at the designated time. sheesh. We could have eaten in the Breakfast room. I think they re-arranged things to accommodate Social Distancing. But we just went to our room. And we really struggled with the coffee maker. You see, we don't drink coffee, but wanted hot cocoa. All we needed to do was heat water. There's no instructions, but eventually we got it figured out. Feeling stupid. Breakfast was a spinach and ham and cheese frittata, fruit cup, orange sticky buns and hot cocoa. It was a bit cool in the a.m.
This is what it takes to get us through a day of map reading and driving and scripture reading. three pair of glasses. Sometimes more. I didn't include the SUNglasses! ha.
The view outside our back window. I found a hammock to lie in on Saturday morning for a bit. There was a horseshoe pit that we never too the chance to use. There is a badminton court right there, but we never used that, either.
Below: What it said on our front door. We agreed. :-) It was a fun adventure for us to get a way for a bit.
Mike spent his time adventuring through novels. On his iPad. On the bed.
I enjoyed reading about the area. This lodge dates at least back to the 40's, the wood it is build of was harvested and milled entirely on site. Here's a view of the top part of our door. The owner said it's make of "pecky Cedar." There's holes all through it, so I guess it's just not premium grade. Perhaps insects made the damage, but I'm not sure. It's sturdy, well-built and they've kept it up nicely, updating periodically. And yes, the door and walls are very light pink.
After our Saturday morning breakfast, we went for a drive south (since the fire was north, near Quincy).
a LOT of fires were burning in California.
We just went sight-seeing to find lakes and trees and campgrounds and ponds and more trees and rocks and waterfalls that were not because there was no water. We did see some lovely streams and rivers, however.
Mike did point out that THIS area, near Quincy and Portola, was where his dad and uncle worked as young men in lumber mills oh-so-many years ago. Right where we were. And there are a LOT of trees around in this area. So many trees. We loved seeing such healthy, strong, tall pine trees. And Cedar trees! and a few fir and spruce. But mostly pines. Everywhere.
First we drove to Frazier Falls. Mike stayed in the car to read. He wasn't sure his knees could handle a half mile trek. So I went. The photos from my walk follow.
We were amazed (appalled?) at the amount of smoke in the air! We should have been able to see ridge after ridge after ridge of tree-covered mountains. But we could barely see past the first and second. Sometimes only the first, closest ridge was visible.
So much smoke.
And moss on trees. I love moss.
BIG tree. Baby tree.
Nice paved path, picnic areas.
I love rocks, too. Slate. Granite. Everywhere.
Manzanita, ground oaks.
Cute bench made of logs and cedar planks.
A little glimpse of the flora.
This big fallen log is over 200 years old. I wish I would have had a person to put in the photo for perspective. It's pretty big, but not over 2 yards in diameter.
Not all trees are healthy. But would YOU be, growing out of a rock? This is where the stream runs that feeds the falls.
Slate. Rocks. Trees. Trail. Smoke.
Continuing on my walk, I passed over the foot bridge across the dry stream bed.
This is manzanita, in case you didn't know. It's a mountain-shrub, has small green leaves and smooth red bark.
So many of the tree trunks had bark on them, but the big pine in the back also had moss growing off the branches. Did I already say how much I like Moss?
Here is evidence of some of the fauna of the area. A squirrell demolished a ponderosa pine cone and left the remains on the pathway. We never saw any animals. Even the birds I could hear were so far up in the trees, I couldn't see them! I think some were stellar jays.
Below. Here are the (dry) Frazier Falls. No water.
To be Continued.
