Chico, California. Beer, Country rides, and Monster Trucks !

Hello Blog Fans! Before the narrative, let me remind you that you can click on the photos to enlarge them. Also, there's a couple of movies that are inserted below that should be nice to view.

We headed out last Wednesday for a 4 day trip to Chico in northern California which is about 80 miles north of Sacramento. We went up there to tour the Sierra Nevada Brewery, sample the beer(s) and buy useless magnets, beer mugs, etc.

"Wait, we're driving right by the place Dad"

But we never did tour the place. When we finally got around to it on Friday, all tours were booked. We got so distracted by other things to do that it never happened. However, we did go to the restaurant to sample their 16 beers....yes, SIXTEEN!

BEFORE sampling the choices.

AFTER sampling the choices....hiccup, hiccup. We found only three that were not to our liking. What fun!

Kim and I ordered some appetizers then decided to go exploring. We took off north of Chico and turned on a street that headed out into the country. Here's what we found.

 Wonderful views of wide open spaces...just the way we like 'em. The wildflowers were in abundance in every field. We went about 8 miles north until the road ran out then we stopped the truck, got outside and just listened.....so quiet and peaceful. All you can hear is the wind.

We also toured the Bidwell House which was an amazing place! When constructed, Bidwell Mansion featured the most modern plumbing, gas lighting and water systems. The overall style of the three-story brick structure is that of an Italian Villa, an informal, warmly romantic style. The building's exterior is finished with a pink tinted plaster. We had the tour director all to ourselves so we peppered him with questions to which he was only too eager to answer. Great tour and visitor center.
This fellow, John Bidwell founded Chico in the late 1800s from part of his 30,000-acre ranch called Rio Chico. His biography is pretty impressive stuff.

Bidwell House....Three stories and a cupola

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/John_Bidwell

Of course, we had to have breakfast a few days.

The local donut shop made GREAT donuts.

The last night were were there, Friday, they had a Monster Truck event going on at the local fairgrounds. I found out about it a week earlier and bought a couple of VIP tickets which got us in to see the trucks close up as well as primo seating for the event. They had the trucks, of course, then dirt bikes doing long acrobatic ramp jumps, some kids driving quads and a rocket car called The Beast, which shot out flames 30 feet from the tail end! Check out the movies below.

Lots of kids got autographs from the drives...including my wife!

The California Kid hitting on Kim.

Titan was one of the best this night.

Look for the real monster in this movie....very scary.

Of course, our cats came along with us....they seemed to always be wondering why there are so many dogs in the RV park..."where are all the cats??"

On a final, sad note. My sister, Shelley, passed away April 6th. My Dad was with her when she closed her eyes and just went to sleep. She just turned 63.

Love you always Shelley!

Steve and Kim

Some Odds and Ends

With the three weeks of steady rain here in Northern California and some personal stuff going on, we've not been able to travel like we had planned so.... here's some fun stuff to look at until we head off to Chico next week to hang out at the Sierra Nevada Brewery for some tours and tasting.
Weather, goats, birthdays, zydeco, a movie, breadmaking, a new tool pegboard and a 60 year old guy running.... Lots to look at...enjoy all the photos.



Looking our our front window, south, with the rain clouds coming.

We've got some Groucho Marx disguises so we can go to the brewery multiple times during the day...hiccup.

Now...for the REALLY fun stuff...
Kim offered to help out with a local goat farm. She spent the day feeding over 50 baby goats (called kids).

Sarah, the owner, milking some momma goats. She makes goat milk soap which Kim LOVES.

So tiny. Kim picked them under her arms to feed them. She called them "her footballs".

It was also Kim's birthday in February and my Dad's in March. I got Kim a handmade rubboard from Louisiana and we took Dad out to breakfast for his 89th birthday.

Unwrapping the box.

She was so not expecting it. You can see how much fun she had playing it in the video below. Oh, and notice we still have our artificial tree up.




 

We bought a Breadman breadmaking machine at a garage sale for $2 !! ...and watched in amazement as the bread got mixed.

KIm is praying for it to Rise, Rise, Rise!

the Before photo of our tools to put on the new pegboard

Clever way to hold it in place while I secure it to the wall.

Wall BEFORE.

Wall AFTER.

For the first time in 5 years, I stayed in shape during the winter...zooooooom.

The Amazing California State Railroad Museum

Kim and I went up to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento a few weeks ago when the town opens up all the museums for a day for free! We got there an hour early and got there ahead of most of this line that ran around the block! Kim has been trying for years to get me to go to this museum and, when she finally got me there, I enjoyed it so much. Thank you Kim !

They must have over a dozen trains from all eras inside. Passenger, Coal, Mail Trains, Personal Trains.....wonderful exhibits.

Next to each of these trains were many glass enclosed displays showing details for each one and other side interests to railroading in general including the engineering tools used to make the tracks themselves.



Engineering Tools used in the railroad industry



Wheel defect guages and caliper in canvas pouch - 1950s



Southern Pacific Rulebook - 1930



Literature of the day regarding railroading

These are some of the "high-class" choices

Some passenger Give-Aways once you board

Some of the First Class treatments for the passengers.

Drafting Scales and Protractor

Drafting Tools

Upstairs, on the third flor, was devoted totally to toy trains, from decades ago to more recent. How many of us used to play with these trains when we were kids? I sure did.

HO Scale trains

N Scale Trains (Kim's hand for size comparison)

And, of course, the happy couple outside afterwards.

All the photos were taken with my Droid phone.

Waaaaay too much to take in just a couple of hours....and it was a bit crowded due to the Free Day. We'll have to come back and take a more liesurely journey.

The photos seems small but if you click on them, they'll enlarge for you to see more detail.

Happy Railroading!

At last... a trip !

Well, it was only a day trip but a trip nonetheless. Kim and I headed up to Beale Air Force Base north of Sacramento about an hour to do some on-base business (secret stuff).

Beale is the home of the 9th Reconnaisance Wing (9 RW) which features two very cool airplanes: the U2 Dragon Lady and the Global Hawk.

U2 flying over Beale AFB

The U2 provides day and night, very high-altitude (70,000 feet), all-weather surveillane. The aircraft is also used for electronic sensor research and development, satellite, calibration, and satellite data validation. As a frame of reference, commercial aircarft that we fly in the United States fly between 36,000 and 40,000 feet. These guys fly WAY up there.

Because of the high operating altitude, the pilot must wear the equivalent of a space suit. The suit delivers the pilot's oxygen supply and emergency protection in case cabin pressure is lost at altitude (the cabin provides pressure equivalent to about 29,000 feet / 8,800 metres). To prevent hypoxia and decrease the chance of decompression sickness, pilots don a full pressure suit and begin breathing 100% oxygen one hour prior to launch to remove nitrogen from the body; while moving from the building to the aircraft they breathe from a portable oxygen supply.

Pilot walking up to the U2...but first....must let someone take his photo.

Landing is very very tricky due to the construction of the plane and especially it's wing span. There is a "chase car" that actually follows the airplane as it's landing to talk it down. Check out this youtube video of landings gone bad. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eamnTyfkUBY&feature=feedwll

The other plane is a Global Hawk. This plane is flown with no pilot!

Here's a terrific link is you are interested in the plane..... 

http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/global_hawk.htm

Global Hawk maintenance.

After we were done watching the U2 practice "touch and go" landings we headed out to explore the surrounding country and saw the plane fly right over us. Pretty spectaular.

Well, we did other stuff later in the day that I'll post in a few days. This post is already a bit lengthy.