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Corvettes have had a colorful history since their debut in 1953. 

Take a Video tour of the recently expanded museum that is located right across from the Corvette Assembly Plant.

Now is a good time to plan a Fall road trip that will pass through some of the most spectacular and colorful scenes in the Sierra Mountains.

This photo was taken beside Hwy. 88 in Hope Valley, near Sorensen's Resort.


From late September through mid October, the area between the Carson Pass and Sorensen's Resort to the west explodes with beautiful Fall colors.


Plan to pull over and give yourself an opportunity to enjoy the beauty.

Notice the shadows in this photo.  You can see that the sun is behind the trees.  See how the backlighting adds drama to the shot?


This photo was taken along the West fork of the Carson River:


I like to call this one, "Trees Ablaze":


If you do choose to travel this route, consider stopping at Sorensen's Resort for lunch.  They have an excellent gourmet menu in a particularly beautiful setting.

Photo Tip:  I've found my best fall color photos tend to be taken at mid day, just as in the old days of Kodak's directions to take your pictures between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm.  The colors seem to "pop" when you shoot fall scenes at those times.

Photo Tip:  Look for chances to shoot trees with back lighting.  The back lighting gives drama to your shot.

What would you say if I told you that there is a jeep road that leads to the top of a mountain where you can enjoy a breathtaking 360 degree view that includes the entire length of Lake Tahoe as well as the vast Nevada high desert area known as the Carson Valley?

What if I also told you that you can make this trip in virtually any SUV with 4 wheel drive and low range gearing without fear of damage to the vehicle?

Sound interesting?  Well step inside for the details......


The photo above gives a typical viewpoint along the trail.

Starting from South Shore, Lake Tahoe, follow Hwy. 50 north to Hwy. 207 (Kingsbury Grade) and continue about three miles.  Turn left onto North Benjamin Drive and follow it up through the neighborhood of mountain homes.  The trail begins about 1.5 miles after you turn off of the Kingsbury Grade Road.

Follow Road 14N32 north about 3.5 miles.  Watch for Road 14N33.  Once you see Road 14N33, continue past it for a half mile or so and watch for a road (unmarked) leading off to the right.  It will be the first right turn after Road 14N33 and it will take you up the steep half mile or so to Genoa Peak.

The view from the parking area at the end of the road....  That's South Shore in the distance.  It's so far away the photo can't show all the signs of civilization that are there.


The top of the mountain can be reached after a fairly short climb that begins with what almost looks like a road and deteriorates into a short, steep cross country scramble over boulders.  Genoa Peak rises to an elevation of 9150 feet and is well above timber line.  You'll find yourself breathing hard when you reach the windy top.

Genoa Peak:


Once you've made it to the top, you'll be rewarded by the breath taking 360 degree sweep of a view.  You'll have to share the small space at the top with an incredible array of antennas, but the view is well worth sharing.

The view from the top.  Looking South East:


Below:  Looking North East....


Looking West toward Lake Tahoe.  That's the Jeep at the lower right of the frame.  The wide angle shot really minimizes how steep the slope is:


The return trip can either be to retrace your tracks or to continue back to Road 14N32 and turn north.  Follow 14N32 all the way to Hwy. 50 where it joins the pavement just before Hwy 50 reaches the junction of Hwy 28.

Here's another viewpoint along the route:


Photo Tip:  I recommend a circular polarizer for scenic photos like these.  In addition to emphasizing the blues, and increasing contrast, the polarizer will help reduce any haze in your shot.

Photo Tip:  If you're shooting hand-held in high wind conditions like at the top of Genoa Peak, I recommend a lens that has image stabilization.  Otherwise, be sure to use a tripod for maximum image clarity.

Yosemite's Ahwahnee Hotel is host to a rare treat each November & December.  The event, called Vintner's Holidays, combines wine tasting seminars presented by premium wineries and a wine & hors d'oeuvres reception.

Also included in the event is an amazing dinner at the Ahwahnee Dining Room that is specially prepared to compliment the featured wines.

The winter setting in Yosemite Valley can be breathtaking if you happen to be there after a fresh snowfall.


Even if the snow isn't fresh, winter is a memorable time to visit the park:


Seminars are held in the Ahwahnee's spacious lobby:

Seminars are presented during the afternoon.  The reception is held during one of the evenings and at past events there has been enough food to make dinner unnecessary.   That's a good thing, because the dinner is held a different evening!

Here we are just before dinner is served.  Check out all those glasses!


If Vintner's Holidays sounds like something you might enjoy, now is the time to make reservations.  Past sessions have sold out early.

Here's a link to the information about the 2009 Vintner's Holidays Schedule 

Photo Tip:  Be sure to remember to bring your camera to the event.  People were happy to snap the shot of Mrs. Stone and me above and it's fun to be able to share that picture now.  This is when a compact digital camera is ideally suited for use.

Every so often.....err....make that seldom....does a TV commercial actually ring my chimes.

This one did!  It may not be a Corvette, but it's the thought that counts.

The last line pretty well sums it up for me!  Enjoy!

Road trips are one of my favorite pastimes.  And one of my favorite road trips is to head up California's Highway 50 through the Sierra Foothill country and on to beautiful Lake Tahoe.

Some years ago we discovered a friendly wine tasting spot near Placerville.  It's called the Boeger Winery, located at 1709 Carson Road.  Their wines are excellent and they have a mini deli to make an ad hoc picnic an easy event.  The grounds are beautiful and feature several terraced spots with picnic tables.  It has become a regular stopping off spot for our Lake Tahoe treks.

This particular Gold Country winery has been operational since the gold rush days.  It still has the old stone building that was used as both a dwelling and tasting cellar in the old days.  Amazingly, there is a zinfandel vine that grows from one side of the adjacent patio, up and over the patio and onto the second story.  That vine has an absolutely huge diameter at its base (about the size of my thigh!) and it is said to be well over 100 years old.  The building is shown below and the vine can be seen crawling across the open space and on to the eaves on the second story:



The grounds of this mountainous winery are great subjects for photography and on our last visit we found an interesting antique beside the vineyard.


Photo Tip:  Note the deep blue of the sky and the wispy clouds.  This image is "untweaked" except for the effects of one of my favorite landscape photography tools.....the 'magic' circular polarizer.

The video below shows a lightly modified Jeep JK Wrangler Rubicon 2 Door tackling deep water, mud, boulders, sand and just about everything else you might imagine that would stop a vehicle.

Modifications appear to be limited to after market front and rear heavy duty bumpers, winch, and snorkel.  The snorkel allows the engine to get its air from way up at the top to the windshield instead of 'just' above the passenger fender.

Jeep JKs are assembled with critical wiring, fuses, computers located as high as possible within the engine compartment in order to minimize risk of damage from deep water, but the owner in the video is pushing the envelope big time with the depths he's traversing.  In stark contrast to the Jeep's wiring strategy, my Corvette's computer is located just above the passenger floorboard, which is probably no more than four inches or so above the road surface.  You wouldn't want to get into much more than a puddle with the 'Vette!

The Jeep's electric fan only runs when needed in contrast to conventional belt driven fans.  This minimizes the risk of a speeding belt driven fan's plastic blades deflecting on contact with deep water and pulling itself into the radiator, which would do serious damage to the radiator.

It's fun to watch what the Jeep can do, but I can't help but wonder how long it will last when used this way!

When my soon to graduate son told me of a tradition at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo I laughed with skepticism.  According to him, graduating students and their parents head out to the local bars.....at 6 am the day of graduation. 

"You have to be kidding" was my first reaction.  My second reaction was horror at such an odd and early start to such a big day.  

My thoughts drifted back to summer camp when I was 12.  The first night's campfire featured the presentation of a camp tradition.  We were told that the few boys with the fortitude to arise at dawn for a dip in the camp's unheated pool would be honored at the final campfire ceremony of the trip.  Each boy would receive a special "Polar Bear Ring" as an award for their unusual fortitude.

Naturally I was intrigued and imagined how proud I would be to show my parents such fine a ring when I got home.  I was surprised to discover that none of the other boys in my cabin shared my enthusiasm, but after some persuasion all of us took a qualifying dawn dip.

We could hardly wait when the final campfire began.  We wanted to enjoy the presentation (not many other boys had qualified) and we wanted to see those special rings!  As it turned out, the last part of the final campfire was the Polar Bear award ceremony.

Each of us was called before the group and asked to stand there for the award.  And then it happened....The first award was announced and CLANG came the "ring" of two large horseshoes.  CLANG came the next and so on as the humiliation wore on.

Did that experience long ago make me a lifetime skeptic?  Probably so!  I told the story to my son and he insisted that "This was different!  There really was such a tradition at Cal Poly."

So I agreed to head to the bars at 6 am.

Was it true?  You bet!  And it was fun too.  The place quickly became totally packed.  It was upstairs and the stairs were full as well.  Outside a line formed down the block.  Other bars in town were packed as well.

Here's the end of the line as we saw it leaving the scene:

Inside before it got really crowded.







Naturally we had to have a picture of the Summa Cum Laude Graduate & his proud dad:


I guess the moral of the story is that you  can't always be a skeptic!  It pays to have an open mind.

Photo Tip:   These photos were taken with my little Cannon PowerShot SD 700IS.  The flash on the camera is really tiny and carries only ten feet or so.  The photos of the crowd above had terrible light fall off, but I was able to perform a quick fix using PhotoShop Elements and a plug-in from Nik Color Efex Pro's digital filter set.  I used their Graduated Neutral Density digital filter to correct the dark lighting toward the rear of those shots.  The tool is remarkable easy to use and has a preview mode so you can see exactly what you are doing before saving the file.  I can heartily recommend the tools from Nik Color Efex Pro!

The top of Half Dome offers spectacular 360 degree views of Yosemite's High Sierra Mountains.  It can only be reached on foot by climbing almost a full mile of altitude.  The trail itself is about 16 1/2 miles round trip.  To say it's a tough hike is probably the height of understatement, but it can be done if you're in good shape and plan well.



The trail includes a spectacular climb up the face of the cliff to the right Vernal Falls (shown lower center above).  It continues climbing up behind Vernal Falls toward the base of Nevada Falls (center of photo).  After crossing a rustic wooden bridge, the trail heads right up the steep and rocky area just to the left of the falls.

Once you've made it to the top of Nevada Falls you enter what is known as Little Yosemite Valley and for a brief while the trail isn't so steep, but it still heads upwards toward the steep turnoff leading to the base of Half Dome.

Upon reaching the base of Half Dome, the climb grows ever steeper until you arrive at the famous steel cable section.  These cables are the secret that enables hikers to make it to the top of this amazing granite monolith.  The National Park Service takes the cables down before the winter snows and restores them once the snows have cleared.  The photo below shows what you'll see as you approach the cables.



The image above was scanned from a 35mm slide I took on my first climb when I worked in the park the summer of '62.  Do you see the two climbers?



That's yours truly.  Notice how steep the climb behind me was.  I turned around from that point and shot the picture below.  Yes, that's my foot on the cable holding me against the face.  It's quite windy on those cables and this ensured a steady shot.





The view from the top looking south.

Open Road TV produced an excellent video that documents a climb to the top.  I enjoyed it and I hope you do too.

Spring Mountain Corvette Racing School is one of two driving schools that you can choose from as part of the purchase price of a new 638 horsepower, supercharged Corvette ZR1. 

GM rightly concluded that anybody buying one of these 200 mph plus super cars ought to get some specialized training before venturing onto the street.

This looks like a complete blast and it's on my wish list for some future date!  The fact that it's located close to Las Vegas means it's an enticing vacation choice.

The video below gives some great action shots from a "school day" and shows the beautiful desert landscape nearby.

Spring Mountain Corvette Racing School