Do you believe in magic?

How amazing was my day?  Pretty amazing.  First, I went running on a trail that is around the corner from my house, but I hadn't visited in years.  I only saw 5 people in 2 hours.  The flowers and the views were gorgeous.

When I got home from my 8+ mile run, I was pooped!  I got some food, took a shower, and took a nap.  Then I got up and went to see Master Lu to get some acupuncture on my knee.  It has been achy for over a month now.  It's feeling better after two sessions, but has a ways to go.  After today's treatment, it feels a little bruised, but I also got some herbal rub from him that I will start using in the morning.  I feel like I'm making progress.

After getting home from acupuncture, I did some weeding in the yard and vacuumed the house a bit.  Did some errands close to home.  Had a snack.  Then it was that time of night when the dogs look at me longingly and ask for a walk.  I rallied.  Went up to the Avenues Shoreline and it was kind of spitting rain as the sun was going down.  We were rewarded:  double full rainbow.  A mountain biker stopped and took my photo.  I couldn't stop taking photos.  It was amazing.  It was magic.

First this:  a beautiful run on single track ~

Followed by this:  happy, magic needles ~

And topped off with this ~

Halfway between Reno and Bishop ~

When I got back from Germany, I worked for a couple of days and then turned around, loaded up the car with some running gear and the dogs, and hit the road!  US Highway 6, to be exact.  Through my beloved central Nevada (shout out to Tonopah!) and then meandered through the creepy town of Hawthorn, NV (if you have never been there, you should put it on your bucket list.  Just one visit.  I promise, it will make every other locale you have ever been to look like absolute paradise.  Hundreds if not thousands of ammo-bunkers out in the Nevada desert with a dilapidated military town.  It's sadly impressive.)

So after about 10 hours of driving and stopping to run a couple of times along Hwy 6 (at Ward Mountain, which is a great little trail system west of Ely, NV; and Radar Rd, a little used road up to some radio towers north of Tonopah, which was one of the places I used to run a lot when I lived there three years ago) I found myself in Bridgeport, CA.  It's a very small town on the east slope of the Sierra Mountains, between Carson City, NV and Lee Vining, CA.

The first thing I thought about Bridgeport was, "quaint".  The second thing I thought was, "look at that view.  It's like Austria is just a few miles to the west."  And the third thing I thought after several days of meandering around town a bit and going out to several of the restaurants, bars, and the local market was, "Wow.  The people here are so friendly and nice."  Like, really nice.  Lean over the fence and introduce themselves nice.  Stop on the street to chat for 5 minutes about the weather kind of nice.  Genuinely just good folks.

I went for a run in town one morning (it's about one mile from one end of town to the other) and crossing Highway 395 I was thinking like I usually do... "Gotta pay attention, run across the road when there's a break in the traffic."  And as I looked both ways, I realized there really wasn't that much traffic and the cars that were moving were going the posted speed limit of 25 mph.  I casually sauntered across the road like I had all day... and didn't even come close to any one of the cars.  Wow.  I could get used to this.

Walking the dogs on the Twin Lakes Road just south of town, people slowed down and moved into the opposite lane of travel so as not to come to close.  Wow.  Courteous.  What a concept.  And several of the drivers waved, too.  Sheesh ~ can these people be for real?

I went running in an area called Leavitt Meadows for the better part of the day one day.  It's up past the US Military Mountain Warfare Training Center at Pickle Meadows on the Sonora Pass Road.  Words cannot describe how beautiful this area was.  I had initially planned on running for three hours, but ended up doing four and a half hours just because it was such lovely running and I thought to myself, "What else do I have to do today?  Eat when I'm done, maybe take a nap... "  So I kept running and enjoying myself.  And yes, I did eat meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and a slice of cake afterwards.  It was totally over-priced at the Bridgeport Inn, but the server was so nice and attentive but not overly-pushy and there was a nice view of the quiet street from the bar windows that I thought it was worth it.  Hell, I was on vacation anyway, and sometimes I just sign the credit card slip and walk away when I'm on vacation.  No sense in ruining my good mood.

Four days in Bridgeport and the surrounding area and I did not want to leave.  I did take a side trip to Lee Vining to meet up with a friend from Bishop at the Mobil Mart's Whoa Nellie Deli for lunch (and I bought some beer, and I hung out with the people who worked there for a bit because they were super-cool and friendly).  The Tioga Pass Road was not yet open and they were enjoying their last few days of quiet before the busy season starts up.

The trip was not all fun and games.  On a hike to Barney Lake with the dogs, Vernon decided to turn around and run three miles back to the car, through the on-leash-only campground and scare the crap out of me that I thought I had lost him forever.  Franklin jumped in the creek the same day when I wasn't looking and didn't come when I called him, only because he had jumped into a deep hole in the creek and couldn't get back out because the granite rocks on the bank were to slippery.  We never did make it all the way up to Barney Lake.

When we got back to the car in the parking lot, Vernon was taking a nap in the shade underneath the car.  Thank God.  Then while I was hugging him and thanking him for sticking around, Artie jumped into Twin Lakes and went swimming with her leash still attached, and then couldn't climb back up over the 4-foot seawall to get out.

The next day, on a reconnaissance mission to check out the running in the Leavitt Meadows area, Artie decided to jump into the West Walker River and nearly drown herself.  She got out unscathed before the next set of rapids.  I also noticed a red rash developing on my right knee at the site where I had been bitten by a tick two weeks previously in Germany.  I was pretty sure it was Lyme disease, and put myself on antibiotics after getting back to Salt Lake.  I talked with an Infectious Disease doctor up at the University, and he agreed with me that it was likely Lyme.  I haven't had any problems other than the rash, which seems to be resolving after a week on antibiotics.

I took I-80 East home to Salt Lake and drove in a thunderstorm most of the way.  It was the type of driving that makes you think to yourself, "What am I doing?  I should have stayed in Bridgeport."  But I had to get back to go to work the next day.  It's ok ~ I'll go back soon.

Now for the photos ~

Dogs are loaded up and ready to hit the road! 

Rush hour in Tonopah, NV ~ I was glad to see
that the Mizpah Hotel has been restored.

The always-creepy "Clown Motel" in Tonopah, NV

Difficult to see, but this is the ammo-bunker area
near Hawthorne, NV

Mono County seat, courthouse ~
Bridgeport, CA

Dogs love trucks!  This is what the dogs did
while I was running in Leavitt Meadows ~

Lane Lake, above Leavitt Meadows

Upper West Walker River

Big, beautiful trees ~

View of the West Walker river valley
and Leavitt Meadows ~

Secret Lake ~

West Walker Rapids ~

View of the Sawtooth Ridge from
the Twin Lakes Road ~

I swear that is Austria behind the dogs ~

Dogwalk near Lee Vining ~

The happy crew ~

Silver Lake on the June Lake Loop road

Mono Lake ~

Nice quiet night in Bridgeport, CA ~

My co-pilot did not want to leave CA, either.

Schönes Deutschland

I'm back from Germany and back to work.  Oh, how I wish I could spend the rest of my days running around in the mountains of Germany.  Every day filled with greenery and rolling hills, friendly people, good food, coffee, and beer, and so much cake and chocolate that I think I cannot possibly eat another bite of those things anytime soon.

Running in the mountain valleys was a dream.  Several days I got up early, before my brother and sis-in-law were going for the day, and got a quick 4 1/2 mile run in along the lake, the river, and through the moors; all with snow-capped mountains keeping watch over me.  The ducks were busy on the waterways, and a few other quiet souls were out walking their dogs.

My brother and sis-in-law went skiing on the Zugspitz ("peak at the head of the train [of mountains]"), the highest peak in Germany, one day and I opted for a long run in the valley near the town of Grainau.  I had a bit of a tummy ache from too much sauerkraut the night before, so I started out slow and did a lap around the Eibsee (Eib Lake).  I was feeling a bit better after about an hour and a half of easy running, with the beautiful peaks all around me, so I continued down to the town of Grainau and ran through the main street in the village to the mouth of the Hammersbach (Hammer Creek).  There is a big gorge here, up to the Höllental (Hell's Valley) but I opted out and decided to take the high route (Höhenweg) back to the Zugspitz Bahn (Train) station to meet up with my family.

I got a text from my sis-in-law that they were running behind schedule and wouldn't be able to get to the peak for a look around.  I insisted on them going to the top, as I was still an hour away from the meeting point, so they went to the top and were not disappointed with the views ~ it was a clear, sunny day, and you can see pretty much all the way to Innsbruck from the observation deck at 10,000 ft.

I ended up doing 4 hours of running and hiking, with lots of stopping to take pictures.  I got back to the train station and changed my clothes and read my Kindle for a little while.  After meeting up again, the three of us went to some friends' house for coffee and cake and a very nice visit.  Our friends' dad was an old army-buddy of our father's and they are very much like family to us.   We used to go camping with them in Italy when we were kids.  They are wonderful people.

I couldn't get over the fact that no matter where we went and whom we met up with, how generous everyone was.  Everyone offered up a room for us to stay in the next time we visited.  They insisted that we come back again soon.

One night, my brother, sis-in-law, and I went to dinner and met up with some old classmates of ours from the 6th grade, when our mom put us in a German school for the summer.  We were very upset with our mom over this at the time, because we were supposed to be on summer vacation, and here she was making us go to school!  Well, thanks to our mom, we now have life-long friends in a small town in southern Germany.  My brother and I ate some delicious schnitzel (breaded, fried pork filet) with roasted potatoes, and my sis-in-law had the most delicious cheese and caramelized onion spätzle (homemade egg noodles) that any of us had ever tried.  The chef was at another table visiting with some of the guests and we went over to thank him for the most delicious spätzle we had ever eaten!  His face turned red and he got a huge grin on his face.  I took a photo of my sis-in-law with him, and moments later, he brought us all a shot glass of Bavarian fire water, otherwise known as Obstler, a fruit brandy liquor.

One of the highlights of the trip was probably going up the hill behind the house multiple times per day to see our neighbor's baby sheep.  They had been born just as we arrived in Germany, and were only a few days old.  A couple of the sheep (twins) were born when we were there.  One evening, my sis-in-law and I went to check on the sheep and one of the babies had gotten herself stuck in the hay trough of the manger.  My sis-in-law jumped in to save the baby and give her back to her momma.  We went back to the house to go to bed, but my sis-in-law said she needed to check on the sheep one more time ~ in the dark.  By the light of her iPhone and a tea candle, she rescued the baby sheep for a second time, and blocked the hole with a piece of rebar-metal.  The next day, we learned from our shepherd-neighbor that he had named the baby after my sis-in-law.  What an honor!  We enjoyed watching the lambs romp around in the meadow even more after that.

Likely the most stressful part of any given day was deciding how many rolls and pretzels we needed to purchase at the local bakery, and if we had enough cheese and cold cuts back at the house to go along with them.  We made a couple of stops to the local drink market warehouse, where we are friends with the owners, and also borrowed their van and some tables for a garage sale that my brother had after I went home.  We made enough money from the garage sale to pay for the dumpster we had rented to clean out the family home.

It was also one friend's 65th birthday while we were there, and we celebrated with a wonderful dinner at the local pub-restaurant.  I had venison steak.  My sis-in-law had (again) cheese spätzle (which in retrospect was nowhere near as good as Felix's at the other restaurant, but delightfully delicious all the same) and my brother got the "catch of the day".  All of our meals were very good, and it was nice to be around a table full of happy, laughing people.  Our friend's son came from the hospital, where he had been visiting with his wife and their newborn baby boy.

Sounds like all we did was eat delicious food!  Well, we did do a lot of that.  My brother and I also had a great hike up to a local peak together on a foggy morning, and I did lots of running.  We got a lot of business done as well, so that the next time we go back to Germany, it will really be for vacation and not working on an old house.  We are very happy about that.

On the last night, my sis-in-law said after dinner, "Let's go up to the Lainbach (Lain Creek)!"  Which is one of our favorite places, right behind the house.  We had wanted to get up there the entire trip, but were running out of time.  It's a beautiful walk through the woods with waterfalls along the way and birds singing in the trees.  We took pictures by the largest falls and looked down on our town from the pasture above it.  It will keep in my memory forever.  Heimat ~ the essence of "home".  The place that I love more than anywhere else in the world, with people whom are dear to my heart.  Schönes Deutschland.  There's nowhere else quite like it.

Get ready ~ there's a lot of photos...

Waiting for my train in Passing ~ on the way to my
destination from the airport in Munich.

First morning run along the river and through the moors ~

One of my favorite houses ~ it was robin-egg blue!

House along the "Old Street" (Alte Strasse) ~

The school where we were in the 6th grade one summer ~

Forever penitent~

View of the lake from the pasture above the house ~

Forget me not!

Always on the lookout for some new lip balm!

Just driving along through the beautiful
Bavarian countryside ~

Photo op!  Stopped to take a few photos,
because it was just too nice of a spot to pass up.

Our good friend's 65th birthday ~

At the drink-market in town ~
we hadn't even been drinking yet!

Priest's alley

The church and graveyard where
my father is buried ~

Schmied von Kochel! The blacksmith
led a rebellion in 1705 (or so the legend goes... )

One of my favorite houses in town,
freshly painted ~

A stop for coffee on a chilly Sunday morning ~

Nice woodpile on the walk back home ~

Forever grateful ~ WWI memorial cross

My sis-in-law's favorite pasture ~

Sis-in-law on the walk home ~

Again, the beautiful view ~

Now for a little 9 mile run around the lake to take in some more scenery and earn my next piece of cake:

The monestary in the next town ~

Happy running along the moors ~

A foggy-morning hike up to a peak above the house with my brother ~

It was a steep one ~

... but still smiling!

Cross at the top of the Sonnenspitz (Sunny Peak ~
not very sunny today!)

Me and my brother at the peak ~

Whew!

Trying to feed the wary goat at the end of the hike ~

Sheep!

Walking through the neighborhood to the house ~

Now for a run around the Eibsee and through the meadows below the Zugspitze, the highest peak in Germany ~

Eibsee ~

The Zugspitze is behind me, with the Eibsee

The Zugspitze from Grainau ~

Under the Alpspitze and the Wachsenstein ~

Above Grainau, looking north to
Garmisch-Partenkirchen ~

The Zugspitze peaking through the trees ~

The Zugspitze train, going up the mountain
to pick up my brother and sis-in-law!

A nice stop in Grainau for a cup of espresso ~

The view from our friend's front porch ~
not bad at all!

My dad's old buddy looks like he is sleeping,
but I think he is really enjoying himself immensely.

 At the Herzogstand Hotel for dinner with old classmates ~

My sis-in-law with the chef, Felix,
who makes the best cheese spätzle in the world!

Me and my old classmates ~

One more trip up the hill to visit the sheep and goats, then beyond to the Lainbach, and to the meadow above town to say goodnight to our Heimat ~

Team Berkel ~ we had a good time.  Auf Wiedersehen, Kochel.  Bis zum nächsten Mal.