back to Marin, first time
Couldn't leave town without the 4.95 steak and eggs special (with biscuit & gravy instead of toast, yum!) at Mel's Diner in the the Sands Casino across the river. Took 4th Street all the way out of town.
My first time up I-80 since I moved here. Verdi ("Verd-eye" to the locals) was beautiful and green. Most of the snow is melted on this side of the pass. On the other side however, there's still 2-3 feet at the higher elevations.
My plan was to take SR 20 across the state through Grass Valley and Marysville, just to relieve the boredom of 80. That worked out great. The road is pretty deserted for the first 30-ish miles, and its downhill, so it's just a liesurely coast for quite a while. Then it becomes a sort of mini-freeway through Nevada City/Grass Valley so it's easy cruising past all those fine old houses. Marysville/Yuba City however is a pain in the booty - from 20 they seem like a 15-mile long strip mall with a lake and a river in the middle.
My second good decision of the day was to take a detour and circumnavigate the Sutter Buttes. If you've driven up I-5 through the Sacramento Valley you've seen the Sutter Buttes, the smallest mountain range in the world (they say). After you've left I-80 and start north on I-5 or I-505, there they are over to the right (east), north of Yuba City and south of Chico, this odd little set of hills just popping out of the monotony of the central valley. Well today, I thought I would get as close as the roads on the map would let me, so I went north on 99 for 10 miles, took a left on Clarks Lane and headed for the hills. I circled the Buttes in a counterclockwise direction (so they would be out the driver's window rather than the passenger's) from about 2:30 to 6:30, or maybe 240 of the 360 degrees. The hills were beautiful and green, there were flooded fields and streams and ditchs chocked full of birds -- very pleasant!
After that my third good decision was leave 20 as soon as possible again and follow the edge of the Sacramento River as down to Knights Crossing, which was rad! I saw kingfishers (funny looking, kind of chopped-off birds), some big hawks, herons close enough to make eye contact, and about three cars in about 40 minutes of liesurely driving down the river.
All this added about 70 miles and 2 hours to my drive, but it was so worth it.
After Nevada, the central valley seemed like Costa Rica in terms of greenness and lushness.
The actual visit was pretty nice also. Thursday night with the family, Friday afternoon at Muir Beach -- sooooo excellent! -- the beach and coastal hike was as expected, but the creek and marshy lagoon behind the beach was the higlight of the day; full with the spring rains and lotsa birdies.
Friday evening happy hour -- good ole Tara, and good ole Jen Berry, and good ole everybody! Pizza with Christian then off to the Deuce for even more aimless drinking and talking -- good ole Tricia and more. I made myself hoarse re-telling my Reno report to everybody. Back to Novato safely.
Saturday with the family -- a delightful Final Four party at Mike's best man Jim's house in Pinole (bad result on the Louisville game, though). Sunday drive up to Petaluma to hang with Laureen on Sunday night, fun dinner with Sandy and Clive. Monday was Ikea, which was very exhausting and frustrating. I spent five hours there, with the result that I had to escape the East Bay in the heart of rush hour. that sucked. home by 9:30, yuck. Reno does feel like home now -- imagine that!
My first time up I-80 since I moved here. Verdi ("Verd-eye" to the locals) was beautiful and green. Most of the snow is melted on this side of the pass. On the other side however, there's still 2-3 feet at the higher elevations.
My plan was to take SR 20 across the state through Grass Valley and Marysville, just to relieve the boredom of 80. That worked out great. The road is pretty deserted for the first 30-ish miles, and its downhill, so it's just a liesurely coast for quite a while. Then it becomes a sort of mini-freeway through Nevada City/Grass Valley so it's easy cruising past all those fine old houses. Marysville/Yuba City however is a pain in the booty - from 20 they seem like a 15-mile long strip mall with a lake and a river in the middle.
My second good decision of the day was to take a detour and circumnavigate the Sutter Buttes. If you've driven up I-5 through the Sacramento Valley you've seen the Sutter Buttes, the smallest mountain range in the world (they say). After you've left I-80 and start north on I-5 or I-505, there they are over to the right (east), north of Yuba City and south of Chico, this odd little set of hills just popping out of the monotony of the central valley. Well today, I thought I would get as close as the roads on the map would let me, so I went north on 99 for 10 miles, took a left on Clarks Lane and headed for the hills. I circled the Buttes in a counterclockwise direction (so they would be out the driver's window rather than the passenger's) from about 2:30 to 6:30, or maybe 240 of the 360 degrees. The hills were beautiful and green, there were flooded fields and streams and ditchs chocked full of birds -- very pleasant!
After that my third good decision was leave 20 as soon as possible again and follow the edge of the Sacramento River as down to Knights Crossing, which was rad! I saw kingfishers (funny looking, kind of chopped-off birds), some big hawks, herons close enough to make eye contact, and about three cars in about 40 minutes of liesurely driving down the river.
All this added about 70 miles and 2 hours to my drive, but it was so worth it.
After Nevada, the central valley seemed like Costa Rica in terms of greenness and lushness.
The actual visit was pretty nice also. Thursday night with the family, Friday afternoon at Muir Beach -- sooooo excellent! -- the beach and coastal hike was as expected, but the creek and marshy lagoon behind the beach was the higlight of the day; full with the spring rains and lotsa birdies.
Friday evening happy hour -- good ole Tara, and good ole Jen Berry, and good ole everybody! Pizza with Christian then off to the Deuce for even more aimless drinking and talking -- good ole Tricia and more. I made myself hoarse re-telling my Reno report to everybody. Back to Novato safely.
Saturday with the family -- a delightful Final Four party at Mike's best man Jim's house in Pinole (bad result on the Louisville game, though). Sunday drive up to Petaluma to hang with Laureen on Sunday night, fun dinner with Sandy and Clive. Monday was Ikea, which was very exhausting and frustrating. I spent five hours there, with the result that I had to escape the East Bay in the heart of rush hour. that sucked. home by 9:30, yuck. Reno does feel like home now -- imagine that!