The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
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willythekid
thanks for seeing to it that she got here safe and sound. Looks like she had a great time with you and I hope I can do the same for her here in California.
Engaging narrative with fabulous photos! I'll bet Pearl is very glad for the opportunity to see some of the local sights and to "bark with the big dogs" such as Rufus. Looking forward to more of her visit with you!
Vaporstang
,
Fodderwing
, and
5K Qs
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Pearl's been visiting almost a week now, so I think it's about time I shared some of what we've been up to.
I started by showing her my neighborhood, through the best way I know: taking her along on a walk with my dog, Rufus. Here we are in our local park, where many of my What "Traditional Knife" are ya totin' today? photos are taken, usually with him off camera.
He's doing his best to look like he's being patient to get that treat that Pearl is holding.
Yesterday my wife and I took Pearl to McArthur-Burney Falls State Park, which is a few hours north of us, situated between Mt. Lassen and Mt. Shasta. We'd never been there before, but enjoyed hiking the waterfall loop trail there and camping there for the night.
Burney Falls isn't huge, but we all found it quite impressive in the way the water fanned out over the volcanic rock. We started by taking in the view from the top:
And then hiked down to get a view closer to the bottom:
Here's the full view of the falls:
From there, we continued along the waterfall loop trail until we had to opportunity to divert and travel along the Pacific Crest Trail for a bit:
After the hike was complete, we set up camp, enjoyed a meal, and settled in to relax in front of a campfire until it was time for bed.
This morning after breakfast, we broke camp, packed up, and drove to nearby Lassen Volcanic National Park for a quick stop before heading back to the Bay Area. Lassen is a really neat place with all sorts of geothermal activity, but, unfortunately we didn't have enough time to show Pearl those sights. We did get in a quick look at the Manzanita Lake and part of the hike up this trail:
We had to turn back about halfway to the Crags due to time constraints, but that turned out to be a good thing. I don't have a good picture of it, but we were treated to seeing a bear cub climbing a tree and then seeing its mom watching from not far away. That's the first time I've seen bears in the wild, which was pretty cool.
After that we headed back to the Bay Area. I'm hoping to take Pearl up to San Francisco next week to see the Golden Gate bridge, but hopefully we'll get in another adventure before then.
Thanks for the kind comments
I have a couple more small adventures with Pearl to share. First, it wouldn't be a trip to northern California without at least a quick jaunt to the wine country in Napa and Sonoma counties. So, that's what we did on Sunday. We didn't stop for any wine tasting this trip, but Pearl saw many a vineyard as we drove through the area. Here she is taking a closer look at some of the vines:
The prime motivation for this trip to Napa was actually not wine, but a visit to Bouchon Bakery in Yountville, CA. It's owned by chef Thomas Keller, who is well known for his very fancy restaurant, the French Laundry. We were seeking brioche buns for use with burgers later in the day. It was a hot day, so some cold brew coffee found its way into our order, too, and, if you're at a bakery owned by a famous chef, you pretty much have to also sample the pastries.
On that trip we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, but didn't stop to take a look. We fixed that yesterday, though, and Pearl got to stop and take in the scene:
After that, we headed over to Crissy Field for a walk and another view of the bridge:
As we turned and walked with the bridge at our back, we had a view of Alcatraz Island looming in the Bay. It's not a great photo, but you can make it out here:
After a stop for lunch, we drove along the coast and stopped at Ocean Beach to take a couple more photos. First is a view of the Pacific Ocean with the landmark Cliff House restaurant over to the right:
Turning around to the look the other way, you get an idea of how long this beach is and, more fun in my opinion, you can see a bit of the two old windmills that are on the edge of Golden Gate Park:
That's it for this installment, folks. I hope everyone is having a great week.
So you introduced Pearl to Paris-Brest tasting. Hope she enjoyed the moment...
The prime motivation for this trip to Napa was actually not wine, but a visit to Bouchon Bakery in Yountville, CA. It's owned by chef Thomas Keller, who is well known for his very fancy restaurant, the French Laundry. We were seeking brioche buns for use with burgers later in the day. It was a hot day, so some cold brew coffee found its way into our order, too, and, if you're at a bakery owned by a famous chef, you pretty much have to also sample the pastries.
...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris–Brest
I'm in TOTAL agreement with
FOG2
!!
FOG2
and
5K Qs
, I completely agree. I've had a lot of fun following this thread and seeing all sorts of different places I haven't had the opportunity yet to visit in person. As GT put it, it's not a matter of better or worse, but rather noticing, appreciating, and celebrating the differences that make this world we live in so interesting.
Pàdruig
now, but I showed her one more sight before sending her off:
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