Independence Day

[Fire$torm]

Now that the work week is behind us............

**== **== Have a Great Fourth of July Weekend **== **==

[DrPop]

Thank you, Sir! Same to you and your family there. If it's one thing the Mid-West inks how to do, it's celebrate the 4th! :)) ;)Kat is in Alaska with grandparents, so Kim and I decided to take a much needed trip together. I used to be real into backpacking, camping, etc before we moved to CA and started our own practice. ;)So, we are on the way up 395 to Bishop, Yosemite, and the lake area up there. Should be a fun trip, but I d'oh t i'll have much coverage for the cell phone in a lot of the hiking places. If you don't hear much from me until Wednesday, that's where we're at.All rigs are running at the office...let's hope no fires and all is well when I get back! :DHappy 4th to all the Team SETI.USA!Pops

[Mr. Hankey]

Thank you, Sir! Same to you and your family there. If it's one thing the Mid-West inks how to do, it's celebrate the 4th! :)) ;)Kat is in Alaska with grandparents, so Kim and I decided to take a much needed trip together. I used to be real into backpacking, camping, etc before we moved to CA and started our own practice. ;)So, we are on the way up 395 to Bishop, Yosemite, and the lake area up there. Should be a fun trip, but I d'oh t i'll have much coverage for the cell phone in a lot of the hiking places. If you don't hear much from me until Wednesday, that's where we're at.All rigs are running at the office...let's hope no fires and all is well when I get back! :DHappy 4th to all the Team SETI.USA!Pops

I love the Bishop area I used to go over there for the rock climbing in the Owens river gorge. I also spent a lot of time (every year) backpacking out of the trail head at the pine creek pack station. I love the trout fishing too.... sigh. If I could move there and keep my job I would... the only thing that would make it better if it was not located within the boundaries of the peoples republic of CA.

You probably won't see this since you are on your trip, but if you do and you are on your way home make sure to stop at the Erick Shat's Bakkery http://www.erickschatsbakery.com/ in Bishop (its on 395 as it goes through town) the cheeze breads and apple fritters.... oh sooooo good!

[Steve Bohlen]

Man...sounds like great times. I'm on-call this weekend (which obviously sucks) so no trips for me and the family. Maybe I can live vicariously through you guys... :)

[DrPop]

Haha...sorry for the late reply, but just so you can do some living through us, it was great! :D Hankey - thanks for the recommendation, we did indeed go to Erick Shat's Bakkery, and boy was it a treat after all that "backpacking food" if you know what I mean! ;) Kim got a fritter and coffee, I had some of their Gelato, and then we bought a bag of their croissants to eat the rest of the day. Took 126 East to 14N, to 395N, then 120W into the park.

Ended up going through Yosemite on the 4th - oh my goodness! I have never seen so many people wanting to get a piece of the wilderness. Well, Yosemite is not exactly roughing it (I grew up in Alaska), but wow. There were so many people they actually had to shut down the entrances for a few hours in the afternoon. That's just nuts.
Anyway, we saw the big famous hotel there, the usual sites like Half Dome, El Capitan, and the falls.

Then we took 41S out of the park and into civilization again. Yuck! :p ;) So we decided to add on some more to the trip and go West out 180 to King's Canyon and Sequia National Forest and then down 198 through Sequia National Park and got to walk around the huge trees...I think General Sherman is like 22 feet across or something insane like that. Largest living trees in the world, they tell us thousands of years old. Pretty impressive. There is even a (dead one) giant Sequia you can drive your car through at Tunnel Log...

Lastly we took 99S out of there, and then hit 33S after I5 and dropped down behind Ojai into the Angeles National Forest, and then back into Ventura here by the ocean. Have been going crazy at work ever since, catching up and all, but what a trip! Worth it and then some.
OK, there's the update, hope that puts a smile there to all the old backpackers and campers among us!