These are early morning shots from John's house looking at the river and the Sierras

 On a walk in July with Felix we passed this odd memorial that a man built for his deceased wife along a trail adjacent to the American River Parkway.  Below is one of the many views of the river along the trails.

 When my friend Brenda came to visit in early July we went to San Francisco (on a very foggy day, as you can see above) and Lake Tahoe (on a clear and beautiful one)

 These photos above and below were on the Eagle Falls Trail above Emerald Bay

 There is a lot of activity on the American River on hot summer days.  I was amazed at the flotillas that went by below us, usually with at least some evidence of drunkenness.

 The shot above is early morning at John's house.  Below is the old Fair Oaks Bridge, which is now open only to pedestrians and bicyclists.

 The views from the bluffs above and upstream from the bridge are quite beautiful and distant if it is a clear day.

 I saw the couple below on their paddleboards many times.  Sometimes their dog swam along as he was doing on the day I took this shot.  Other times he stood on the board with the woman paddler.

 The Crape Myrtle above is proof that this species likes dry soil.  This was the only outrageously healthy tree I saw in poor parched California.  The big ole vulture perched in the tree below was a frequent visitor who seemed undisturbed by Felix and me being only 15 or so feet away from him on John's deck.

 More scenes hiking along the American River.  The egrets generally took off when they spotted Felix, even if we were on the other side of the river.

 Rob came by for a day in August when he returned from his summer in New Hampshire.  He and Carolyn were getting ready for their monumental hike of the John Muir Trail from Yosemite to Mount Whitney.

 I was struck by how oddly beautiful the underside of the Sunrise Boulevard Bridge is, with or without Felix.

 Early morning in Yountville, before Risa and Joey were up, Felix wanted to go for a walk.   As soon as we went outside we were treated to the amazing sight and sound of bunches of hot air balloons launching.

 In late summer we spent a week at my friends' Larry and Mary Kaye's house in Tahoe Keys.  Robyn came for a couple days visit and we hiked.  The first group of shots were all taken around Angora Lakes.

 The shot below is early morning in Tahoe Keys.

 The next group of shots were all taken on our hike to Fallen Leaf Lake.

 One night we went to eat at the Beacon at Camp Richardson where these shots were taken.  Robyn has a big smile on her face even though we didn't have our drinks yet.

 This is what it looks like at 6:30 in the morning from Larry and Mary Kaye's house.  People without demanding dogs don't ever see this.

 Back in Sacramento my car lost an argument with a parking lot bollard.  Ouch.

 The best hike of the summer was one Felix and I did from Meeks Bay to Lake Genevieve in the Desolation Wilderness.  I have always thought this was a bizarre name considering that it is anything but desolate.

 On the way down from Lake Genevieve one is treated to a brief glimpse of Tahoe through the trees.

 Robyn taught me how to use the panorama setting on my iPhone after only two years of my attempting to use it incorrectly.  You will, no doubt get sick of seeing these wide panoramic shots.

The photo below was on the same hike as the ones before and after but it was a little strange.  The people who were watching this spectacle with me were pretty sure it was a wedding and there were guesses that the people were Russian or some other Eastern European ethnic group.

 The photo above finally begins to capture what John's house actually looks like. . .thanks to my learning to use the panorama setting.  The shot below was taken from directly across the river on one of the horse trails.

 Since Rob's birthday was the week our friend Bethyn was to visit him in Yosemite, we celebrated a couple weeks earlier with a dinner at the guest house.  Felix planted a happy birthday kiss on him.

 If you click on the above photo so it enlarges you can see a deer that had just walked across the shockingly shallow river and was climbing out on the South bank.  The shot below is on the coast in Fort Bragg where we finished our summer at Winesong with the usual suspects.

 There are scads of water fowl along the American and one last shot of John's place from the South bank.  If you look carefully there is a tiny figure wearing orange standing on the deck waving.  That's Robyn.

 The next series of photos are all taken from the car while heading East on US Highway 50 "the loneliest road in America" through Nevada and the Western third of Utah.  It is very beautiful and tremendously varied.  I strongly recommend this route to anyone who drives cross country to or from California.

 This windmill farm seemed to appear in the middle of nowhere.

 The geology you pass when driving through Utah varies enormously from mile to mile.  It was all spectacular.  Sorry about the dead bug smears all over the windshield in these shots.  This is one of the unavoidable hazards of a major road trip.

 The party for my parents' birthdays was a big success.

 I was not the designated photographer but got this nice shot of my sister Lisa, her husband David, and their daughters Kailee and Arlee.