Well, here I am again!!!!!!! Standing before you to stand behind you to tell you something I know nothing about....... So how is that for an opening. Trust me folks, it will only get worse from here.
Since I am where I am and not anyplace else and not going anywhere I figured I would take some time and do some touristy stuff. I am in wine country, but going to a wine tasting every day can be hazardous to your health.
First you have to get there and then you start tasting wine and that averages between 5 and ten tastes or small amounts which you do not want to eat before as that clouds your PALLET?????? {I hope I spelled that right????}, AND THEN, AND THEN, AND THEN,???? "ALONG CAME JONES"!!!!!!! and if you are old enough you will understand, if not find somebody who is cause you can't GOOGLE THIS ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But that is another story.
So I decided that being a tourist of the first order or second order or whatever order you want to be in was in order and I ordered a round whilst I perused {pretty slick wording ain't it} what was available for the tourist to do this time of the year. It was decided to go for a ride on the SUGAR PINE RAILROAD, and what you ask is the SUGAR PINE RAILROAD????? and if you didn't then you should because that would be bad manners and you would hurt my feelings, and I am very sensitive to that sort of thing, but that is another story so I will just assume that everyone asked and make myself feel all mooey gooey inside!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So it was off toward Yosemite to catch the train which is not really in Yosemite, but really close. Of course me being from Florida and not realizing that I would be 4000 feet!!!!!!!!!!!! up in the air, I only wore a tee shirt and took a hooded sweat shirt. DUMB MOVE!!!!!!! but that was OK because there was ALCOHOL available afterwards to warm the body and soul!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But that is another story.... So everyone gets on the train {see pictures} and we all head off into the woods together. Doesn't this just sound like so much fun or BULLS@#T depending on how you look at it, but remember there is no light, but ALCOHOL at the end of the tunnel!!!!!!! Well, not really a tunnel, but I needed some way to write this and that sounded best????????????
So the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad (YMSPRR) is a historic three-foot narrow gauge railway with two operating steam train locomotives located near Fish Camp, California, in the Sierra National Forest near the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park. Rudy Stauffer organized the YMSPRR in 1961, utilizing historic railroad track, rolling stock and locomotives to construct a tourist line along the historic route of the Madera Sugar Pine Lumber Company. Service began with the purchase of three-truck Shay locomotive No. 10 from the West Side Lumber Company railway of Tuolumne, California. Built in 1928, No. 10 was recognized as the largest narrow gauge Shay locomotive—and one of the last ever constructed. After his retirement in 1981, Rudy Stauffer was succeeded by his son, Max, as the railroad's owner and operator. In 1986, the YMSPRR purchased Shay No. 15—also a former West Side Lumber Company locomotive—from the West Side & Cherry Valley Railway tourist line in Tuolumne. The two steam locomotives operate daily during the summer months, while the railroad's Model A "Jenny" railcars, capable of carrying about a dozen passengers, typically handle operations during the off-season.
From 1899 to 1931, the Madera Sugar Pine Lumber Company operated miles of narrow gauge railroad track. During that time, nearly one and a half billion board feet of lumber were harvested from the forests. Five wood burning Shay locomotives hauled massive log trains to the mill over the extensive rail network.
Today, the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad is a restoration of the old narrow gauge Madera Sugar Pine Lumber Company Railroad. A section of the original railbed has been reconstructed using the same techniques used at the turn of the century. Two vintage Shay steam locomotives have been brought in from the Westside Lumber company and restored to provide authentic motive power for the trains.
Shay number 15 was built in 1913 and weighs 60 tons. Number 10, built in 1928 weighs 83 tons and is the heaviest operating narrow gauge Shay locomotive today. Railcars once used to provide transportation for logging and track repair crews have been refurbished and are now operated for passenger excursion. Antique Model "A" Ford gas engines power the trolley-like "Jenny" cars over the route.
The trip is approximately 4 miles long as you go around in the woods and well worth the time to get there and go for the ride. Of course after that the alcohol really made the whole trip worth while!!!!!!!!!!! Which brings me to the next part of the trip. THE ALCOHOL!!!!!!!!!!! YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After saying good by to the train and the cool weather it was off to DUCEY'S to have some SPIRITS, raise our SPIRITS, and even toast the SPIRITS and maybe even have something to eat. I have been to Ducey's before. It is up in the Sierra's at Bass Lake. Really quite a spot. You can eat out on the Veranda/Deck and view the lake and the mountains and if you are lucky even see a Bald Eagle!!!!!!!!!!!!! all this while you are getting HAMMERED!!!!!!! Now how much more fun could you have, well maybe more, but that would be another story............ Unfortunately, the sun was in the wrong place so every time I took a picture, I just had a white out and besides it is much easier to blame the sun than my drinking!!!!!!!!!!!{;-/
So after a few, well maybe MORE THAN A FEW LIBATIONS it was off to NORTH FORK, California and what you ask and if you did not ask then refer back to PARAGRAPH 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and that is where the TRIVIA part comes in because North Fork is the Geographical center of the state of California Now aren't you all just a little more excited than you were a few sentences ago??????????
Well, now that my fingers are sore, I have had a little to much wine and I am thanking the SPELLING GODS for spell check. I bet you can hardly wait to see what happens next??????? Well, I already know what is next. you all will just have to tune in and find out what is next.........................
FILM AT ELEVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
{;-)
