Category: Awesome Travels

First Maltby Descendant’s Journey to Historic Maltby Lake

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HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENT: First Maltby Descendant Conquers Maltby Lake

In the early 1940s, the owner of Maltby’s Resort at Upper Twin Lakes in Mono County, California, ventured high into the Sierra mountains. Hal Maltby, on a scouting trip for deer to benefit his lodge’s customers, stumbled upon a hidden gem: a pristine lake sitting above 9,000 feet that wasn’t marked on any Forest Service map.

Fast forward 81 years, Hal’s great-grandson, Carson, undertook the same challenging trek to locate this family legacy, now known as Maltby Lake. This journey not only retraced Hal’s footsteps but also forged a new chapter in their family’s history.

Watch the video, edited and narrated by me, to delve deeper into Hal’s discovery and Carson’s epic, albeit arduous, journey to Maltby Lake.

A ride in a Self-Driving Car! Would You?

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In 2012, autonomous vehicle testing in California officially began. This was before I retired in 2014 as a media spokesperson for the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The Department was overseeing this entire thing in California! It was a fascinating time. Tech enthusiasts and skeptical onlookers alike were wondering if self-driving cars would ever become a reality. I didn’t realize those days at the DMV would come full circle in 2024. In 2024, I found myself riding in a Waymo through the bustling streets of San Francisco. I was very skeptical back then, but here we are!

Here’s the thing… Self Driving cars, Waymo have 29 cameras and 360 degree view. No blind spots like us humans who sit inside of our cars, having to crane our necks to see things. Humans are distracted, emotional, angry, tired, and sometimes under the influence while operating cars. Are self driving cars perfect? NO. They’ve had their issues, but as I see it, like all technology, they will get better with time and innovation. Moving from horse and buggy to automobiles wasn’t perfect either, but look at cars now! I think in 50 (maybe sooner?), these cars will be the norm.

Buckle your seat belt because self-driving big trucks are next!

We Walked with Wild Alaska Grizzlies in the Bush!

Take a hike with us among the Grizzlies deep in the bush of Katmai National Park. We took a bear viewing flight with Sasquatch Alaska Adventure, donned hip waders and started hiking into the bush. It didn’t take long to see a whole bunch of bears fishing in the river and coastal waters for Salmon. This is a once in a lifetime bucket list experience, and if you have a trip planned for Alaska, definitely save your coffee money for a while and DO THIS!

If you haven’t done it already, please put your email in the FOLLOW box over there to the right on this page so that you don’t miss any of my epic posts! Well, I think they’re epic anyway! 🙂

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Enjoy the show!

This was CRAZY! We got so000 CLOSE!!

Episode 5 of my Road Trip Alaska Series gets us into a Helicopter for the ride of a lifetime! Skimming over huge ice pinnacles on a giant glacier, landing on a glacier and drinking from its pure glacier pools, and picking blueberries on a mountaintop with views for days. It was CRAZY!!! This one you won’t want to miss!

A Glacier Landing on Denali! Alaska Road Trip Ep 3

Hi All! On our 18 day Alaska Road trip, we go for a flight into the heart of the Denali National park and meet the highest Mountain in North America, up close and personal. Road Tripping Alaska has been my bucket list destination and we tried to do the most epic excursions we could afford. Landing near Denali was on top of that list. Was it worth $355.00 a person? See for yourself! I personally WOULD do it again in a heartbeat!

Anchorage to Talkeetna! We did A Lot!

Hey all! This is Episode 2 of our epic Alaska Road trip. In this video, we travel from Anchorage to Talkeetna with stops at the breathtaking Hatcher Pass and the Independence Mine and then Wasilla where we visit the Iditarod Headquarters and take a ride with an actual Iditarod sled dog team! Oh yeah…. we got to see something that only 10% of summer visitors in Alaska get to see!!! We did a lot in one day! Come along for the ride!

Adventure Alaska (Ep 1) An Epic 18-Day Road Trip!

It’s been a dream for many years to finally see Alaska. So, after a year of planning, map viewing, line drawing, mileage figuring, re-mapping, and questioning my every decision, I pulled the trigger and booked everything myself from the airline, rental car, lodging, and excursions.

Fast forward to August 1, 2023 – touchdown in Anchorage, car rental secured, and off we went on an epic Alaskan road trip for 18 days! 🚗🌄

Glaciers that made our jaws drop, wildlife encounters that felt straight out of Nat Geo, and landscapes that blew our minds around every single turn in the road – Alaska exceeded every wild expectation. 🐾🏞️

Blazing a Trail in Big Snow!

The Sierra saw huge snows in December and the back Country is another world. Huge granite boulders and outcroppings that are impossible to traverse the summer. In the summer, the trail makes switchbacks around this rough terrain. In the winter, the terrain is transformed to rolling hills of snow high above the granite. This is a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail that is just south of I-80 near Boreal Ski Resort. We pretty much went way around where the PCT that sits under 15 feet of snow and forged our own path to an awesome overlook of Donner Lake. The hike was hard and very slow going through the thick powder, but it was worth it! Head over to my YOUTUBE CHANNEL and subscribe and don’t forget to hit the notification bell!

When it’s too Hot to Hike – Do This!

This Kayak trip was extremely cool!

I haven’t been hiking as much the past couple of weeks, it’s just been too hot! Even up in the Tahoe Basin, it’s been in the 90s.

So what do we do??? KAYAK! I have my usual go-to lakes in the Sierra, but I’ve had my eye on this trip for a while.

Sand Harbor on Lake Tahoe is on the Nevada side just south of Incline Village on Hwy 28. The water is crystal clear and the boulder structure in the water is amazing to see.

Here are your instructions if you want to do this:

  • Go to the Nevada Wildlife website and get a mussel sticker for your boat. It costs 6.00 and it’s mandatory. Don’t get caught without one!
  • Get there no later than 8:00am in the summer months. Seriously, we got there at 8:30 and got one of the last parking spots! This is a state park so you’ll need to bring $15.00 CASH if you are from out of Nevada. If you are a Nevada resident, it’s $10.00 CASH.
  • Be prepared to carry your kayak from the parking lot and walk in the deep sand through the hoards of people on the beach that miraculously got there at 7:00am when the gates open and already have their blankets and Easy-up shades set up! There is no boat ramp (it was closed). The walk isn’t a huge distance, but two people carrying one kayak helps!
  • Once you are in the water, you paddle away from the crowds on the beach and head to the right to get to the awesome water.

2021 Hiking Stats

I finally got around to tallying my hiking stats for 2021. (scroll to bottom) With the fires it was a challenge so I went to the coast as much as possible. However, it was hard to escape the smoke even at the ocean on some days! In May, Alex and I took a Colorado/Utah road trip with the camper for a couple of weeks and explored lots of roadside trails, in Colorado, Moab, Arches and Canyonlands. Not much real hiking was done, just some meandering with a poodle riding in a backpack. Check out the vids!

Here are my 2021 stats for a total of 149.76 miles