The PENguin Blog

Like any good tourists, as we travelled we bought stuff. And since native American culture was a major part of the experience we bought a few choice pieces of pottery some jewery and some kachinas and katsinas (in Hopi) as well as some other stuff, and I thought it might be fun to do a selective show and tell of some of the more intereting pieces, excluding gifts for family and friends and Sharon’s tee shirts. Missing is her rather stunning turquiose necklace, I’ll add that later. So here they are. This may be my favorite, from Tanner Traditions in Ruidoso, a Zia (Pueblo) pot from ~1960 A contemporary Navajo pot, what is unusual is the interior decoration A Hopi parrot pot that caught Sharon's eye From the 1970s, an Acoma wedding vase Sharon's favorite, River girl I think this guy is Cornplanter Neither of us can remember who this is Notecards From Mesa Verde, a Ute-made mug This one picks up them...

We spent our last day of the trip driving and hiking at the lake. Not much more to say, except that I took too many photos. Unlike Thursday, when the light was muted today was crystal clear showing off the gem of a lake at its best. Sharon was patient, partially because we had managed to assemble a very nice picnic lunch to follow our walk and partially because she loves this area as much as I do. Tomorrow we drive down the familiar west slope of the Sierras through gold mining country and home. Once I get caught up, shipping pens that folks purchased while I was away and listing the backlog of pens not on the site, I plan to do some proper photo finishing and offer some carefully curated albums.

Is that things don’t stay the same. OB’s Board in Truckee is gone and the town seems to have gone over to fru-fru shopping and gastronomy. The town was founded, actually, as a railhead and trains still rumble through regularly and it’s been a tourist trap of the genteel sort for a long time. So what’s the problem? I’m not sure. We bought four hours of parking and used half that before moving on to another local, and more blatant, tourist trap, Virginia City. The Truckee Hotel, we actually stayed here after dropping our daughter at school in Colorado in 2005 I rather liked this change, a Flying A station restored to 1949   Now, beneath the hokum, there is some history in Virginia City, as you will see, but there is a lot of hoke along with it. In fact, they now offer staged gunfights just like in Tombstone. WTF?? But, if you’re paying attention as you have read this blog, you realise that Sharon and I have a very high toleranc...

Yesterday, Thursday, brought us “back” to Tahoe. As I noted the place has a great deal of resonance for me. In fact, if I remember correctly, it was the summer of 1964, fifty years ago, that my family first came up here, and for many years my parents summered here to escape the heat of Palm Desert. Where we started the day, in the Nevada desert Here looking toward the Sierras OK, long story here. The short version is that this is Fort Churchill. The long version is that when we honeymooned here in 1971 I drove my 1959 Corvette over about nine miles of gravel roads (Sharon swears that the car had more creaks and rattles after than before), to find this historic site, totally unrestored, undeveloped (they have since done work on it), and the only other living being within ten miles a rattlesnake sunning itself on one of the walls. Since then whenever we have put in more effort getting somewhere than the site warrants, we turn to each other and just say, "...

Wednesday brought us back around toward home as we covered 550 miles from Casa Grande to Tonopah, Nevada, an old mining town. The route took us past Vegas where we began and along the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Obviously we did not have a lot of time for sightseeing, but I continue to be fascinated by the blossoming desert and so I stopped at midmorning to snap a few images.  By the time we got to Tonopah hotels were pretty booked up, but we managed to snag one of the last rooms at the 1907 Mizpah Hotel, and I got a few casual snaps of the town and hotel. Tomorrow, a stroll down memory lane as we take three days at Lake Tahoe, where I spent several summers in my youth, where my parents had some property and where Sharon and I were married.