Autumn in Nevada & Idaho

We went to Reno to visit my parents and had great weather and lots of fun outings together!

Posing for a pic at their house before walking around their neighborhood marsh.

We took a trip downtown to Idlewild Park and walked along the Truckee river.

Beautiful cottonwood tree near the river.

We also visited the Rose Garden at Idlewild Park.

Dad took us to see the horses.

A beautiful sight.

We visited Mayberry Park, east of Reno, and went on a beautiful walk there too.

Our parents used to bring us here as children.

We hiked around in Davis Creek Regional Park south of Reno then visited Bowers Mansion.

Walking along the shore of Lake Tahoe at Kings Beach.  We got the whole place to ourselves!

We got sunshine and nice temperatures and as soon as we got in the car, the rain poured from the sky.

Rock cairns at Kings Beach.

Dave helped Dad choose a new lawnmower that is battery powered, so quiet and awesome! We had a wonderful visit with my family and saw lots of beautiful outdoors spots.  We got great weather too! It was a blessing to see them after a long time apart with Covid these past years.  Love you Szulok!

Back in Boise, it was full colors.  This was in a parking lot as Dave was getting his new phone.

I talked Dave into derailing our trip up to McCall to visit our friends in Stanley, Idaho.

Colin & Delta had rented a townhome for the weekend because her Mom was due to visit from Hawaii. Her Mom cancelled because of a Covid flare up in our area, so we visited them for the night.

It's a long and curvy drive, especially in the rain.  But well worth it for these views.  We took this hike together in the morning from the Redfish Lake parking lot past the lodge.

We drove out to Tamarack Resort and our property on West Mountain Road to see the golden tamarack needles.  It's always our favorite autumn sight!

This is the chapel at Tamarack Resort in their Arling Conference Center

Looking back at the tamarack trees (western larch) from Cascade Lake.

Back home I cooked up a storm!  We've been eating vegan food since June and I've found a lot of fun Asian recipes.  This was a garbanzo bean (not tofu) stir-fry.

More beautiful flowers from Dave. 

One of our autumn projects was to replace the water heater in our condo because it had leaked a little bit during one of our guests stays'.  This is the new one which actually communicates with an app on our phones.  Dave also made sure to put a tray down under this one just in case.

He pulled the washer apart to replace the old moldy gasket.  

A walk along Lake Payette near the Ponderosa State Park Visitor Center.

I took all the flowers out of the pots at our condo and replaced them with pine cones.

We also got our new couch and gave our old one to Sean & Em to put in their basement office.

And Dave put these Indonesian LED lamps on a switch to make them easy to turn on by guests.

I was trying out our new espresso cups from Mom & Dad with the machine they bought us for our house warming gift.

This is Eddy.  He's Emily and Sean's new dog and just a sweet, affectionate dog from McPaws.

Dave did a new arrangement of our outdoor lights at our townhome and it looks awesome!

After all the work and cooking, we took a weekend trip to to Burgdorf hot springs with friends.

Colin & Delta, Emily & Sean and Gina all came and rented their own cabins.

Enjoying the sunshine on our porch.  Gina's cabin is the one next door.

By staying at the cabins we had the hot springs mostly to ourselves for the weekend.

Sunrise colors on the mountains.

We went for a hike up to Crystal Mountain.

View from Crystal Mountain.

View of the Secesh mountains on the drive home.

We also visited Charlie's Gardens in McCall on our way home.

Another trip to see the tamarack trees.  This one shows the grove that Tamarack Resort is named after.

Looking north.

We went to grab ponderosa pines from Adam & Julie's property.  These were ones that were going to grow into their power lines so we dug them up.  Transplanted some on our property and gave some to Emily for her front yard.

After planting them we got a huge treat: to see the sheepherders tent and sheep flock!

That's two years in a row we've gotten to see them grazing near our property.  It's a very nostalgic sight!

We had a richly colorful autumn with a wonderful visit to Reno and quality time together outdoors.  And lots of fun back in Idaho too with a few projects, lots of good food and friends!  Love you!

August 2021

Beautiful flowers on our way home from work.

Betti's Garden in Anchorage has been a great source of joy while I wait for Dave to arrive. We have been meeting up together in Anchorage, staying the night then flying to Boise the following morning.

We have these purple stemmed flowers in downtown pots in McCall also.

Back in McCall we started our time off with a hike to Pearl Lake off of Warren Wagon Road.

This is the "hubcap loser" trail, meaning that the drive up the unpaved road is very rough.

The views and wildflowers are incredible and well worth it, even with the smoke and haze.

These late summer gems are one of my favorites!

Another gorgeous bouquet from Dave.

We planted even more flowers at our townhome, having two big pots by the driveway.

And one small one at our entryway.

We had a peaceful paddle up the meanders.

So exciting to have storage for our paddleboards in our garage and the new pump.  It makes going out so much more easy and doable.

We decided to try a new to us and absolutely stunning hike to Anderson Lake.

It is off the Boulder Lake trail and just up the mountainside beyond it.  This one is Boulder Lake that we pass enroute to the mountainside and Anderson Lake beyond that.  We've seen the trailhead sign to Anderson Lake for years and always said "one day" and we're so thrilled we finally hiked it.

Incredible views along the way, including to a sheepherders flock and camp.

Gorgeous Anderson Lake.

On our way back, sweeping views and in the valley below hundreds of tiny frogs.

And later some August hail!

We enjoyed Fireman's Beach on Payette Lake.

Dave set up our new hammock now that we have two.  Here I was enjoying the hammock and Dave and Sean were catching up while taking in the views.

This was a fun find, a floating sandy area in front of the marina with deck chairs.  An absolutely wonderful place for early morning coffee.  We also tried early morning coffee at the beach by the Hotel McCall (Legacy Park), Rotary Park and the campground in Ponderosa State Park.  All in order to enjoy our town and it's beauty before the tourists wake up and take over.  Great idea, Dave!

We drove to Bend, Oregon for my dear friend Stacie Murray's memorial service.  This was a walk by the Deschutes river in downtown.

The Deschutes river from Bend Park in downtown Bend.  Our favorite stop is to get a coffee at The Commons Cafe and then walk around the park taking in the view.

Love all the food truck options, especially during Covid.  This one has the best poutine!

The celebration of Stacie's life was held at a beautiful outdoor park.  This was an especially hard part of the service, saying goodbye by throwing rose petals into the Deschutes river. 

I think of Stacie with love every time I cook or bake something exciting or we think of travel.  She has the most beautiful and caring soul and every thought of her floods my heart with equal parts love and sorrow.  Two friends lost this year; unthinkably bewildering at times.

Our neighbor Lila has an especially magic green thumb!  Our flowers at the condo have never looked better.

We went paddle boarding again!  The time always passes so quickly because it's so relaxing.

Our favorite beach and lunch spot.

This summer we ate every meal outside.  Dave chose the most beautiful patio furniture and the fresh air, flowers and view made it our favorite hang out in the whole home.

Smoke cleared up a bit before we left giving us hope that the fires might be soon contained.

Morning coffee view of the lake from Legacy Park (near the Hotel McCall) and below is the wildflower walk in town on Railroad avenue.

Although it was a smoky summer, it's always an incredible joy to be in McCall for the summer months. There's so much to see and do that we absolutely love, from biking, hiking, paddle boarding, coffee at the lake or in Ponderosa State Park, Charlie's Gardens, hammocks and beach chairs at North Beach or Firemen's point and walking on the paved path to Payette River. We wait for summer in McCall all year long.