Life is Full in The Silver & The Golden State

Aloha all,

have I ever told you how full life on the road feels to us? Well, here I go again: Look at what we did in just two weeks traveling through Nevada (“The Silver State”) and remote parts of California (“The Golden State”): We learned that Mark Twain lied about everything. We went to ‘Devils Postpile’ and ‘Bumpass Hell’. We were in the biggest little city in the world and at the site of the world’s largest silver strike. We returned to our favorite German restaurant in America. Also, we found state capitol number 38 and national park number 44. And we had the best hot springs soaks and cold lake plunges. In other words: Life is good. And full.  

Rainbow Falls, not even the main attraction
at Devils Postpile National Monument

We went to Devils Postpile even though it’s a bit remote and you have to reserve a shuttle bus to get there. But it sounded intriguing and it’s a National Monument and we’ll go almost anywhere if it’s run by the National Park Service. Pretty cool rock formations and they did a good job explaining the geological process how they formed. However, not good enough that I’d remember any of it. But I don't recall the devil having anything to do with it.

Not sure why the devil get credit
for these pretty postpiles

I do remember we took a gondola up to Mammoth Mountain the next day. The views from the summit at over 11,000 feet were great; and it really made me want to go ski there…I bet it’s even prettier in winter when it’s covered with snow.

Gondola to the summit of Mammoth Mountain

When we came by Mono Lake (yes, again!), we finally went to the visitor center. They had some quotes from Mark Twain about Mono Lake from his book “Roughing it”. Since we had done the guided walk and the canoe tour, we realized immediately that Mark Twain lied about everything: He wrote that the mountains around Mono Lake are always in the clouds…we did not see any clouds in those mountains on any of the three days we were there. He also described Mono Lake as the “Dead Sea of California”…even though over 4 trillion shrimp live in this lake, as avid readers of this blog know. Mark Twain also wrote that nobody knows where the water that flows into the lake goes. I can’t help but think that even a century ago, someone must have known about evaporation, right? But even though Mark Twain lied about everything, he’s still a funny guy. Maybe I could be a more successful writer if I didn’t try to stick to the truth so much.

After all these adventures, it was time to take a day off, stay at a campground and do laundry. But the Paradise Shores RV Park made sure that even our “day off” was fun filled: They provided free kayak rentals, so we took a little tour on the Bridgeport Reservoir. 

Our favorite campground feature so far:
Free kayaks at Bridgeport Reservoir

They also recommended nearby hot springs that I soaked in the next morning. They were my favorite natural hot springs: You could actually sit in the hot water in a little cave and then cool down in the stream right next to it. The hot springs were slightly sulphuric, but you didn’t have to get your swim suit all smelly…

Soaking in hot springs, in a cave by a river...

We went to Lake Tahoe, mostly because of our fond memories from a fun night 12 years ago at the “Himmelhaus”, but also because it’s a pretty lake. Slightly cooler water temperature than the hot springs, but a great way to refresh during our little hike. The return visit at the Himmelhaus was bitter sweet: The German food there is still delicious and the Himmelhaus seems to be very successful. However, we found out that the very nice and very fun owner, who we had met on our last visit, has died unexpectedly earlier this year. 

At the Himmelhaus in Tahoe: Here's to you, Zak!

We had planned our route specifically so that we’d be in Carson City on a Saturday when they offer tours at the Nevada State Capitol. We went by the capitol Friday afternoon just before they closed, just to confirm what time the tour would start the next day. Turns out they had some sort of plumbing issue and the capitol would be closed for the whole weekend. Luckily the security guard let us stay in the building after it officially closed and he even answered some questions for us, so we count it as our state capitol number 38.

Nevada State Capitol in Carson City

The Nevada state capital really should have been in Virginia City. Nevada became a state in 1864, soon after the Comstock Lode was discovered, still the biggest silver strike in the world to this day! This made Virginia City a boom town and the largest city in Nevada at the time. The city of Las Vegas did not even exist. Carson City was tiny, but had better lobbyists. 

The historic mint in Cason City is now
the Nevada State History Museum

A few decades later, after they took all the silver out of the mountains around it, Virginia City was on the verge of becoming a ghost town. According to our local historian, the only thing that saved the town was the TV show “Bonanza”, which brought visitors to the area and helped transform Virginia City into the cute, touristy, historic mining town it is today. 

We inadvertently were in Virginia City
during a biker rally

Virginia City’s other claim to fame is that Mark Twain was born here. Not Samuel Clemons, we have visited his hometown in Missouri. But the very first time Samuel Clemens used his more famous pen name ‘Mark Twain’ was when he wrote for the local news paper in Virginia City. Yes, you could say he even lied about his name.

Reno - The Biggest Little City in the World

Reno claims to be the “Biggest Little City in the World”. Hard to argue with that superlative. We loved the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. We also did an audio tour of downtown that explained how Reno has reinvented itself several times throughout its history. One chapter was when it became the “Divorce Capitol of the World”. They specifically set the residency requirement at six weeks. Short enough to attracted couples seeking a quick divorce they could not get this quickly at home, but long enough that they had to spend some money to support the local economy. Reno also attracted couples who wanted to get married quickly; Bunt & Ann for example.

We will not move to Reno,
but we picked the condo
where we would live,
 if we did.

After a successful divorce in Reno, it was a tradition to throw your wedding rings from the bridge next to the courthouse into the Truckee River. Seems pretty weird at today’s price of gold, but apparently some people still do it: There was a guy snorkeling under the bridge, looking for wedding rings.

Mini Maui Ultimate reunion in Reno

We hope to visit several ex-Maui friends on this trip. First of course we saw Bunt & Ann in Colorado. In Reno we got to meet up with Mel from Maui Ultimate. It was fun reconnecting with her at the Schüssboom Brewing Company …and educational: It’s not often we learn a new German (!) word in America. I don’t know where the ü came from, but apparently “Schussboom” is actually a real German word, meaning something like “skiing downhill way faster than Chris should ever go”. Things you learn at a brewery…

Not long after we left Reno, we started driving through miles and miles of burnt forest. The 2021 Dixie Fire burnt almost one million acres (!) in and around Lassen Volcanic National Park! We know forest fires can be an essential and important part of the natural cycle, but this widespread devastation still feels wrong. 

Just a few of the almost
one million acres burnt
in the 2021 Dixie Fire

Lassen Volcanic National Park seems underrated, even though it was the 11th national park in America, established in 1916, a year after Lassen Peak erupted. (Coincidentally, the Lassen and Hawaii Volcanoes national parks were established only 8 days apart). Somehow the Lassen Peak eruption seems overshadowed by Mount St. Helens and the geothermal features of Lassen seem overshadowed by Yellowstone. But don’t the second best geothermal features in America and the second most recent eruption on the US mainland count for anything? 

Geothermal features at "Bumpass Hell" 
at Lassen Volcanic NP

Lassen was our 44th National Park (out of 63), so we have seen more national parks than state capitols, but also have more to go. We highly recommend visiting Lassen Volcanic National Park, especially if you have not been to Yellowstone. Or if you love Yellowstone, but just can’t quite make it there right now. Or if you want to see some cool geothermal features without the crowds. 

Boiling Mudpools at the
Sulphur Works Lassen NP

I’m glad I soaked in two hot springs before we got to Lassen, since the pools in the national park are way too hot. Instead of hot springs we did several cold plunges in the beautiful mountain lakes in Lassen Volcanic NP.

Lassen Peak reflecting
in one of the many pretty
(and pretty cold!) lakes

Just north of Lassen, we got a little taste of Hawai’i in form of a lava tube at the “Subway Cave”. It’s a very impressive 1/3 mile long tunnel that is almost too perfect to be natural, but it is. For such an impressive geological feature, it is surprisingly low key and totally free. Makes me wonder how many Californians go to the Big Island to see the Thurston Lava Tube, even though they have a better one at home. 

The lava tube, aptly named "Subway Cave"

The two weeks on the road were so full, it's hard to believe there was also time for two rounds of stick golf, one round of disc golf, a bike & scooter ride, about a dozen hikes, some games and sometimes just sitting by a river. 

Sunset by the river
at the campground

And that’s the news from Lake Lassen, where all the geothermal features are strong, all the mountain lakes are good looking and all the waters are either hotter or colder than average.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra

Colorado, Vegas & JOYsemite!

Aloha all,

after the European part of our trip, we flew back to Denver to spend a week with our Colorado ohana. We were glad to see how well Kelly is doing compared to just two months ago. We would have been happy to just be there to help, but there also seemed to be at least one fun activity for every doctor visit. Then again, even going to a doctor can be fun with Kelly. 

But of course it’s even more fun to play games, go to a soccer match or have lunch or dinner with Bunt & Ann. We also took Bunt to a Beach Boys concert with the Colorado Symphony at the Red Rocks Amphitheater…or “The biggest Rock in Rock” as they called it. This was right up Bunt’s Alley: Legendary 60’s music about Surfing, Hot Rods and California Girls….and all in the arguably most scenic concert venue in America. We love it when we can do someone a favor and enjoy it ourselves just as much!

The Beach Boys at Red Rocks!

Fun, fun fun!
Bunt & Sandra feel the 'Good Vibrations'

We took a short trip down to Colorado Springs and at least saw our friends Jeff & Lucas. We also did a quick museum visit, a short hike…and ate the best Irish Nachos we ever had. 

In Vegas we stayed at the New York New York,
but saw the Eiffel Tower from the Bellagio 

Joy spent her winter in Las Vegas, so we flew there next. Usually Vegas drives us crazy after 3-4 days, because it can take 25 minutes to cross the street. At 110 degrees Fahrenheit, one day was plenty. Just enough time for one fun Cirque de Soleil Show (“Mad Apple”), four water fountain shows at the Bellagio and to pick up Joy and get her ready, washed and stocked up for the trip. Joy survived her hibernation very well. The only issue we had so far was when the fridge door fell off, but so far the super glue is doing its thing. And by “its thing”, I mean it fixed the door, not the other thing where you get your fingers glued together for days.

Joy is on the Road Again!!!

Now we are very excited to be back on the road with Joy. To our surprise, even on short notice in August, we were still able to get campground reservations in Yosemite National Park for 5 nights. In our typical, meandering slow way, we took three days to get to Yosemite. After all, who wouldn’t want to see the International Car Forest? 

Just one of the cars growing
out of the desert at the Car Forrest

And why not see yet another silver mine, especially if it’s ironically located in a funky small town called Goldfield. Our claim to fame is that we stayed out drinking in Goldfield until after the only open bar in town shut down…and still made it home before 9pm.

Goldfield Midnight is even earlier
than Maui Midnight

On Sandra’s birthday we made it out of the desert and into the Sierra Nevadas. We somewhat randomly stopped at Mono Lake, just because it was on the way and looked pretty cool on the map with an island in the middle and these funny looking “Tufa Towers” along the shore. When we got to the parking lot at 5:40pm, Sandra spotted a sign that there’s a guided tour at 6pm. It turns out, Mono Lake is a very special place, if you are interested in geology, water rights or shrimp. 

Tufa Towers along Mono Lake

Mono Lake does not have an outlet. Any water that flows into the lake (plus the water that bubbles up from underground springs in the lake) eventually evaporates. This makes for a very special ecosystem. It is threatened since 1942 when Los Angeles began diverting so much water that the water level of the lake dropped drastically. After much lobbying, many compromises and several law suits, the worst disaster seems to be averted for now. 

Sandra canoeing on Mono Lake

We enjoyed Mono Lake so much that we booked a naturalist-guided canoe tour on the way out of Yosemite a few days later. We even swam in the lake…or rather floated on top of the lake…it is VERY buoyant!

Me and a trillion shrimp
in Mono Lake

Since the lake is more than twice as salty and much more alkaline as the ocean, only two animals survive in it: The Brine Shrimp and the Alkali Fly. But the lake is still teeming with life, since there are millions of flies and trillions (!) of shrimp. Our guide made us randomly scoop a cup of water and everyone caught several shrimp.  But don’t plan your next BBQ around Mono Lake, at only about a quarter of an inch, these shrimp are hard to grill. Fun Fact: Brine shrimp are one of the very few animals that lay eggs and also give live birth. Yep, they do both. Also,…two of them had sex on my hand. 

Great hike above Fantail Lake 

Even before Yosemite, the scenery just east of the park is already spectacular. One of our favorite hikes was actually outside of the National Park. It took us through the deserted mining town of Bennettville and along four beautiful lakes. Great views, cold plunges and just the right length and elevation gain to feel accomplished. 

We spent the first and the last night in the park in the high country. Our first hike in the park took us next to North Dome with a spectacular view of Yosemite Valley and Half Dome. Luckily, the trail description was way off. Had we known how much elevation it really was, we might not have done this hike, but it was worth every step!

Half Dome seen from North Dome

Indian Rock Arch on the way back up

The next day, we spent in Yosemite Valley and did three different ranger programs. My favorite was the tour of the historic Ahwahnee Hotel. We had been to Yosemite only once almost 30 years ago. Back then, we only had one day and basically only saw the valley. Obviously, Yosemite Valley is a beautiful place, but I am glad we now had more time to explore the rest of this spectacular park.

Almost 100 years of history
 at the Hotel Ahwahnee

We walked through the Giant Sequoia groves of Mariposa and Tuolumne. Always impressive to see these majestic trees. They sure look like trees, they are just the wrong size. By volume, they are the largest trees in the world. But I guess that’s what happens if you don’t stop growing for over 1,000 years…

I like Big Trees and I cannot lie

Our favorites views of the park were from the top of the Sentinel Dome. That’s the hike to do if you want the most ‘bang for your buck’: Only 2.5 miles of hiking get rewarded with spectacular 360 degree views of Yosemite. Or if you are even lazier than us, just drive to Glacier Point for the best views of the valley below.

Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point

Ranger Theo made our last day in the park: First we went on an intriguing two hours history walk across Tuolumne Meadow with him, then he did an inspiring campfire program about bears at the campground. And he was the one to tell us about the canoe tours on Mono Lake. Boy, do we love the National Park Service…America’s best idea!

Thank you, Ranger Theo!

And that’s the news from Lake Yosemite, where all the Joy is strong, all the park rangers are good looking and all the views are better than average.

Chris & Sandra

9 to 5 - Nine Weeks to Five Countries

Aloha all,

I’ll be honest: Even though we made it to five countries during our nine weeks in Europe: Wherever we were, we spent a good chunk of that time eating and drinking with our friends & family. That’s why I don’t write weekly blog posts from Europe. As enjoyable as drinking and eating your way through Europe with friends can be, it would get pretty boring to read about it after the second pretzel or the third Hefeweizen. Or would you like to read about every chess game I played with my dad or every walk we took between meals? But we did plenty of more blog-worthy things:

Extended family on our traditional pilgrimage
 to our happy place at Les Alpages

For the very first time, we got to spend a full week at my parent’s favorite little hotel in the Jura region in France. That means: More time to enjoy each other’s company, more time for hiking and swimming in the lakes and more of our favorite food in the world…all without any of us ever having to do any dishes. Extra bonus of staying a whole week from my birthday to my dad’s birthday: We called it one big party and thus were able to celebrate our birthdays together for the first time.

The lake region in the French Jura

Wenn ich den See seh',
brauch' ich kein Meer mehr.

The main reason we return
to Les Alpages every year

On a second trip to the Alsace-Lorraine part of France, Sandra’s sister and mom joined us. That eliminates the hiking, but luckily there were plenty of botanical gardens to keep us busy for four days. And yes, they had great food there, too. 

The whole country of Switzerland, and my brother’s family in particular, were under the spell of the Women’s Euro 2025 soccer championships, which Switzerland hosted this year. How times have changed: Growing up in Germany, I don’t remember ever hearing about any women’s soccer championship. Now it is a really big deal: Sold out stadiums with tens of thousands of fans following their teams from game to game. 

Record setting crowd at the Women Euro 2025

First I got to see Germany win against Denmark with my dad, securing a spot for Germany in the quarter finals. Then I got to join my brother and his Dutch friends for the Netherland-France game. It was a lot of fun, but as much as I like the color orange, we probably would have had even more fun, had we gone with some of our French friends… 

"Dutch for a Day" with my brother & co

Dutch "Fan Walk" to the stadium in Basel

And for those of our American friends who think that soccer is a boring, low scoring game: We saw seven goals. If soccer were scored like American football, it would have been 35-14 in roughly the time it takes to play two quarters. And the women don’t even spend as much time rolling around on the ground in agony as the men often do.

Over Sandra’s sister’s birthday, we took a six day trip to the Allgäu region in Germany and the Bregenzer Wald region in Austria. Obviously, traveling with a mostly wheelchair-bound 90-year-old is somewhat limited; but I’d be thrilled if I still get to travel like that in 2060. 

Ravensburg - home of the famous game company
and one of those picturesque towns 

In the Allgäu we explored the picturesque towns of Ravensburg, Ottobeuren, Memmingen and Kempten. All with lots of history, impressive churches and plenty of good food.

The sky adds to the impressive
architecture of the basilica in Kempten

The basilica in Ottobeuren was the most impressive of all the impressive churches. The grandeur of the architecture, the beauty of the art and then the power of the organ music was overwhelming. I can only imagine how impressed people must have been at a time before amplified music and the constant overstimulation of our modern times. 

Basilica in Ottobeuren
just another small town church
 that I had never heard of before

In Austria, we took full advantage of the lift tickets that were included in our hotel package. We took five different gondolas and chair lifts up and down five different mountains. 

Paraglider at the Diedamskopf
in the Austrian Alps

It would have been fun to go hiking or even paragliding, but it was also fun to hear Emma enthusiastically claim that she has “never seen so many mountains in all her life”. It was so cute, I refrained from pulling up the pictures from a few years ago, when we took her up into the Swiss Alps with even more mountains.

"More mountains than Emma has seen in 90 years"

Both the hotels we stayed at had very nice wellness areas. We got used to spending a couple of hours a day in the saunas and steam rooms. That’s the type of vacation I want to take should I ever get a real stressful job. But it was very enjoyable even without the need of letting go of all that stress.

Sandra doing well(ness)

On our way home, we stopped for a tour at our favorite schnaps distillery: The Prinz Feinbrennerei in Hörbranz in Austria. In wise foresight, we had booked rooms within walking distance of the distillery, since the tour included a very generous tasting. 

10+ kinds of Schnaps...and no headache!

We learned a lot about the history of the company, the distilling process and why their Schnaps doesn’t cause any headaches. This was proven by us sampling at least ten different flavors and still waking up without a headache the next morning. 

Unexpected side trip to Spain

Thanks to some serendipitously well aligned stars, we were able to spend four days with our friends in Spain. They’ve been going to the same campground on the Mediterranean coast by Calella for decades. After hearing about it for so long, we were very grateful that we finally got to experience their second home ourselves.

Viva Espana!

On our way to the airport, we had some hours to explore Barcelona. I was excited to check on the Sagrada Familia Basilica; after having seen it under construction over 30 years ago. It’s still not finished, but they made some impressive progress. Gaudi was a gifted architect: The Sagrada Familia is instantly recognizable as a church, even though it looks very different from any other church I have ever seen anywhere else in the world.

Sagrada Familia - the most impressive church
 I have ever seen anywhere

We had a very close-knit group of friends in college and one of our nieces now lives in Munich, so we spent an extended weekend there. As the capital of Bavaria, this obviously included even more “Bier & Brezen”, but we also joined the festivities for the city’s 867th birthday and a summer solstice celebration in Unterhaching with a huge bonfire.

Biergarten Gemütlichkeit (go, look it up!)

With Linnea, Torben & Sir James
at the Nymphenburg Castle

Traditional solstice festival
in Unterhaching

Sandra and I thought that we had a fairly international wedding since we had guests from France and from Chicago. Now we went to a party for Sandra’s cousin’s son’s wedding, which was international on a different level: His wife is from China, but she lived in Finnland and they now live in Denmark. We only talked to a few of the wedding guests, but they all had stories involving at least three different countries. 

The happy German-Chinese
couple from Denmark

We continued the tradition of “Pinot & Rock”, the music festival in my little hometown, Breisach am Rhein. Not sure how, but after the Scorpions and Alice Cooper last year, they managed to lure Lynyrd Skynyrd and Melissa Etheridge to the German hinterland. We were thrilled that our Maui friends Karine and Ovick were able to join us again. In my view, “Freebird” is one of the most iconic rock songs of all times. And since Willie K is not around anymore, seeing Lynyrd Skynyrd perform it, was the next best thing.

Pinot & Rock in Breisach with Lynyrd Skynyrd,
Ovick, Petra, Melissa Etheridge and Karine

My favorite German band when I grew up was BAP…and it still is. How amazing that Wolfgang Niedecken is still at it after all these years. They are currently on a tour appropriately called “Zeitreise” (‘Time Travel’): They only play songs they wrote at least 40 years ago. They played for 3 1/2 (!) hours and we knew every single song and apparently so did just about everyone else in the crowd. They have a bit of a cult following. Some of those songs I had not heard in decades, so it really felt like time traveling. What a treat!

BAP - my all time favorite band

There are some venues that are so spectacular that I’d go see almost anything there. The Naturbühne Steintäle in Fridingen is such a place. It’s a theater built into a little, green canyon. Think Red Rocks, just cuter and much smaller, but equally spectacular. They performed “Jekyll & Hyde”, which we feel is a timeless masterpiece. Just like when we saw it on Maui a few years ago, we were amazed that one actor can play such polar opposite roles so convincingly.

"Jekyll & Hyde" at the Steintäle Naturbühne

Sigmaringen is not even an hour from Sandra’s hometown. It has a spectacular castle that is still owned by the descendants of the royal bloodline of the Hohenzollern dynasty. I doubt that the 15 euros for the tour cover the cost of maintaining that castle. But even though they don’t live there anymore, apparently the current owners did not want to be the ones selling it to some sheik after 1,000 years of family tradition. 

We also learned that Sigmaringen was technically the capital of France for a few months towards the end of World War II, when the nazi-backed French government was brought here while the Allies liberated France. That might be handy to know for some future game or trivia night. We really should play tourists more often, even when we are in familiar areas.

At the Hohenzollern Schloss in Sigmaringen

A few more rounds of schnaps and we are at the end of our two months in Europe. Since we gain over a pound per week,  maybe it’s about time to leave before we need to replace our entire wardrobe. I already don't need a belt anymore, but my sweat pants still fit. 

It’s never enough time to see everyone as much as we like, but we also really enjoy our time on the road and eventually, we want to return to Maui, which is still where we feel most at home. 

And that’s the news from Lake Europe, where all the old memories are strong, all the food is good looking and all the weeks go by faster than average.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra