Del Valle park.

It's summer and hot east side San Jose. Last weekend we joined the millions going to the beach, it took 2 solid hours to go 55 miles, which is typical, but no less gruelling. This weekend we tried something different, and headed to Del Valle park, just south of Livermoore. Just less than an hour away.

It's a fresh water lake, about 5 miles long, but the water is pumped in from yosemite, so there is water in it, in fact it is still mostly full at this time. Also unlike many lakes in California you can actually swim in it legally. There are beaches and such, it is quite pleasant. Consequences to the environment? It seems bizarre to pump water from a drought where crops are withering to a recreational lake. You can count on the politics, that's for sure.

We took a quick look around at the facilities.

Set up camp and Maddy fell asleep for her nap. This dictates the schedule quite a bit these days.

While she was doing that we took off on the kayak, that passed the mandatory mussel inspection.

About half way up the lake, there are some rocks that look like they would be fun to jump from.

We stopped and played around there for a while, cooling off.

Nice to be out on the water - it's been a while.

Burney creek falls

On the way home from Lakeview we stopped at Burney creek falls state park. Being summer and extreme drought expectations of a voluminous cascade were low, but the falls are spring fed, a mighty spring at that!

The falls were spectacular, and the mist in the canyon was refreshing.

We did a short walk around the falls and picturesque creek.

We soaked up the greenery since there is precious little in the bay area, unless you count the over watered manicured lawns.

After a dip in the lake we continued the long drive home.

lakeview umpteenth free flight festival

This year I was able to get a room at the Hunters hot springs resort, and take the whole family to the july 4th umpteenth free flight festival.

Here we are at Sugar launch, starting point for the famous "Sugar Dash", where one flys back to town as quickly as possible. This year there were problems with the land owner down below launch. This is very unfortunate as without a good landing option the dash contest is dubious.

Unaware of the drama going down in the bailout, I flew back to town, going as quick as I could, but the day was a little soft, and I was slow, I was happy to glide into the Landing zone, where the beer and hot tub awaited :)

Chris came in to goal a little later, as the sky darkened.

He joined us in the mineral spring for a soak. Oh yeah, that takes the aches away.

The next day we flew from Black Cap to avoid potential land owner issues.

We flew north to Aberts rim, where there was a thunderstorm getting going, turned west into the 12 mph wind, and made our way to Paisely (just short) but into this beautiful pasture Gerry picked out. All in all a great three days flying. And fabulous sunsets to boot. The BBQ at the Lakeview Locker was great too!