Monday, April 4, 2011

Misadventures in California - Part II

The day after we'd been frolicking by the river in our T-shirts and cracking a sweat in the Sunshine, it snowed.  Yup. 

A Change in Weather


All over California, storm warnings were issued, flood warnings, heavy snowfall warnings in the Sierras and a bleak forecast of rain, rain and rain from Northern California to South.
 

All Smiles!

This guy kept smiling.  Really, by our perspective it was feeling pretty tropical with the high humidity and mild temperatures.  I say that now, but by the end of this run - we had to flag down a car and hitchhike back to the car.  It's a fine line between being cold and being hypothermic.  It can strike pretty fast when your wet and tired and there's sub-freezing temperatures, wind and exposure.  I was surprised by how quickly I got cold.

Puddle-Hopping-Fun!






I couldn't help but think of my friends at Coyote Two Moon running this same weekend in Ojai, California.  They've had weeks of typical Southern California weather, but the weather forecast for this weekend was threatening to go from good to ugly. And it did.






He Really Likes Snow

In Truckee and Tahoe, where we had enjoyed a blue sky day the previous day, it was forecast to dump a few feet of snow.  Damn.  Should have brought the skis!
We had plans to meet up with our friend Gretchen from Truckee, but the plans went array when Mother Nature dropped about 6 feet of snow in the High Sierras over the weekend. The roads were closed and our friends spent the weekend digging themselves out.

Fortunately in Auburn, the snow didn't stay.  The rainstorm continued throughout the night, with driving rain and howling wind pounding the windows of our hotel.  By morning it had disappeared like a drunken memory. 

Solitary in the Oaks

Naturally, the next day I made plans to go for a run - a long one.   The next day I got up early and joined up with a group who were doing a training run for the American River 50 Miler.  My feet were wet just walking through the parking lot to get to my car. :)  I was stoked to get my run on.

4 comments:

Kaz said...

BRRRRR! That looks decidedly Scottish- like!

Leslie said...

It was something - something different that's for sure! Big moist flakes - totally different than what we would EVER get here in Banff. It was still a fun day because:

Running + Hitchhiking = Hilarious!

JeffO said...

"Keith loves snow" - brother of a different mother! Kindred spirits.

travelerguy said...

Those photograph was really amazing! I can feel the coldness..grrrrrr...with just a speedo???Crazy :P