A small gathering of Laffins for the 2023 cabin tradition!

Bunny ears edition. 

IIt's become somthing of an annual tradition for us to take my mom to Yosemite for an afternoon of strolling around the valley capped with a camp stove soup dinner in Ahwahnee Meadow. This year didn't disappoint!​

​Pit stops on our way to Ventura and Magic Mountain!

​A great day spent with Garry Hayes (@geotripper) and students along the gold-rich central Motherlode. Stops included Ione clay pits, Kennedy Mine, Chaw'se State Park and a great tour into Black Chasm Caverns.

2023 Version of Garry Hayes' field study of Pinnacles National Park with stops along the San Andreas and Calaveras Faults.​

A quick autumn leaf-peeping and tenkara fishing adventure in the eastern sierra, We based out of the Coleville KOA motel and had a great time exploring Slinkard Creek in Slinkard Canyon and then Lobdell Lake in the Sweetwater Range. Now we know for next time that Slinkard Creek lahontan trout require a 3mi hike and that the road through the refuge is actually closed, LOL.lly closed, LOL.

​A fun excursion near Twin Lakes. Used a 4WD to get to trailhead and cut off many miles and elevation gain. Thunderstorms and a kid not having his best day prevented us from fishing the lake, but I hear there are great trout in it!

​It'd been three years since we last visited May Lake. We left the house at 7:30am, picked up sandwiches in Oakdale, had lunch on the ridge overlooking Tenaya Canyon, caught some fish and were back home to Turlock in time for dinner!

Thanks to our fogged-out experience at Whalers Cove in 2022, we were determined to fish from an area that was served by planes that could fly in inclement weather. We ended-up choosing Glacier Bay Country Inn in Gustavus (Gus-day-vus) because Alaska Air has daily 737 service to the Glacier Bay airport.  My dad Jim, his friend Charlie, my borther-in-law Colin and I had a grand adventure! The weather was amazing, the wildlife viewing was excellent and the fishing was generally the best we've had in several years.  Take a look at some of the sights and awesome wildlife we saw!  And thanks to Captain Steve of Taylor Charters for putting us on the fish! We each got our keeper king this year!

Please view the full photo album to see ALL of the amazing things we witnessed on this trip.