Weekend Travel

What better weekend to go down to LA to visit the Austrian Consulate than over September 26, the Austrian-American Day (per President Clinton’s Proclamation 7027 from 1997!? None, so this weekend was to be it! After making good time on our way down to the outskirts of LA, we came to an almost-stop on the freeway as a camping/travel trailer had crashed into the center divider, causing 3 lanes to be blocked (an hour delay was the result). What better … Read More

With no plans for the upcoming weekend, it takes only a quick moment to decide what we want to do: go camping! Again! So after picking up the trailer Friday night, calling ahead to get a site, we are on the road late Saturday morning, heading north -towards Calistoga in the Napa Valley. Bothe Napa Valley State Park has a small, no hook-up campground, with pretty (small) sites and great trees & shrubs for privacy. Only a mad person would attempt to sneak through … Read More

Approximately 5 years after a day trip up to Pinecrest with Kristina and Stephanie, when we marked the “good sites” vs. the bad sites” at the Pinecrest Campground, and following many years of trying to get a reservation for a summer weekend up here (by Kristina), she was finally successful in booking 2 great sites for the weekend following Labor Day 2010. And so, the Cougar & the Fun Finder got picked up and taken out for a ride up the Sierra … Read More

This weekend, Kirk & I explored the boundaries of camping travels … to see how SHORT the drive between our RV storage place and the campground can be! 7 miles is what we managed to travel! All the way from South Livermore to Del Valle Campground & Reservoir, an East Bay Regional Park! What a nice change! Packing up, leaving, arriving and setting up in less than an hour almost! Kristina, Clae & Kody came along with us, and the … Read More

Over the 4th of July weekend 2010, the annual Rollins Lake camping trip was happening again – and this time with an (almost) even split between kids and adults: 14 vs. 16! Besides most of “the usual suspects”, this year also introduced 2 new families to the camping group! “Newbies” the Holmes family – with Chris, Athena,  Cameron, Kate & Nicholas, as well as the Alexander family – with Abe, Laura , Nick & Ben, were joining the “pros” at … Read More

A HUGE Thank You & Danke Schön to my friend Pam, who – very last minute – scored a couple of VIP tickets to the 2010 US Open Pebble Beach, the golf event of the year … and invited ME to come along! So off we go on the morning of Saturday 06/19, heading south past Monterey and to Pebble Beach, where the VIP parking awaits between Spyglass Hill golf course and the Pacific Ocean. A (first and) last  quick … Read More

These photos from our Lake Sonoma – Dry Camping weekend in the North Bay (by Kirk) are like Day & Night … when compared to the ones I took! Enjoy!

Nach 5-wöchiger Pause ist es Anfang Juni endlich wieder soweit: Kirk & ich fahren über’s Wochenende mit unserem Mini-Wohnwagen weg! Lake Sonoma liegt ca. 45 min nördlich von Santa Rosa und war somit ein regelmäßiges Ziel der Sylvester-Family Ausflüge (zelten, Boot fahren, etc.). Und jetzt ist es an der Zeit, dass auch ich hierher komme … Und obwohl “Lake” nach Wasser klingt, und auf dem Liberty Glen Camping Platz normalerweise auch Fließwasser zu finden ist, ist dieses Mal “dry camping” … Read More

(Note: View the English version.) Über den Wolken muss die Freiheit wohl grenzenlos sein … Um das beurteilen zu können, hätte es Donnerstag Abend allerdings bewölkt sein müssen. Und das war ganz und gar nicht der Fall! Mit nur ein paar Stunden “Vorwarnung” hiess fuer Kirk und mich in die Luft zu gehen – im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes. Jim the Pilot hatte uns eingeladen, ihn auf einem Flug nach Jackson in die Sierra Foothills zu begleiten. Gefolgt von Abendessen … Read More

For our birthday, it was Sabine’s turn to come to the US this year … And did I have plans for this round! Even though she barely made it over (due to the volcanic ash cloud over Europe … getting her stuck in Barcelona for a week … and then a “last seat” on the SFO flight after airspace had been opened up again just a couple of days earlier…), she got here in time! Not just to celebrate our birthday … Read More