Grayson took us to a secret surf spot before the show that I can’t write about.

The Bahamas is a large group of small islands surrounded by very shallow, sometimes unnavigable water. If you want to visit any of the other islands, you have to pay $8 one-way for a little ferry, no pun intended, then you catch a taxi from the dock to the closest town or next dock to take a ferry to the next island. If you want to explore or go on a liquor run, (as in our case, as we stayed on a dry island), you end up spending a lot of money.

Ocean Dreams Cottage on the dry Christian island of Spanish Wells.

We kayaked to an island that we could have mostly walked to.

“I’ve got the conch, I get to speak!”

It rained every night and it felt great. Not so good for card games, though.

On a San Francisco sized ferry with a very shallow draft.

Mr. Cookley, proprietor: Cookley’s International Sporting Lounge on Harbour Island.

Kalik: The Beer of The Bahamas.

Preacher’s Cave: This plaque carved in the rock claims that it’s the first settlement in The Bahamas. People lived here after a shipwreck on the Devil’s Backbone and for years it served as a church.

We returned just in time to drive up to Malakoff Diggins for a pioneer Thanksgiving.

The goal was to cook up a Thanksgiving dinner over the campfire. Craig took it a step further by putting a turkey wrapped in foil in the fire and making a fire on top of it for hours. I was skeptical, but when he brought it out and cut through the charred skin, it was super juicy and tasty. He said he read how to do it through Google.

Want more photos of these trips? Go to thelandlubber.com, unpiano.com, or a girl’s gotta eat.

Here are photos of some of our other adventures:

Shakes Gown is a band.

Around daybreak, we checked into a hotel that her dad booked for us, as we had appointments in his dental office at noon in the town of Boulder City, Nevada.

After a teeth cleaning and 3 new porcelain fillings, we drove on toward the ranch, stopping at the Hoover Dam to check out the new bridge being built above the dam to alleviate traffic jams. Coming around the corner, you could see the construction crew walking down the transition for a break. They looked like ants coming down a branch. Unfortunately, no one got a photo as we couldn’t stop until the vista point.

Willow Springs Ranch.

This kid Yanni on summer break from college in New Mexico was hired on as the ranch hand. He offered to take Jesse and Evelyn for a ride. He had recently broken this horse and somewhere on the ride the horse bucked and rolled over on top of him, then ran away. He got up, sent Jesse and Evelyn back to the ranch, and waited for the horse to come back. It did and he rode back.

We took a 30 mile ride to the tiny town of Chloride for lunch and some adult beverages. It took us about an hour and a half of riding through washes and rocky trails. So much fun, even though I ate it in the sandwashes 3 times on the motorcycle I was riding.

Ron and Yanni coming down one of the less primitive roads.

Mariah.

Yanni and his lady waiting for the laggers.

After lunch, we rode up some hills to check out some rock art.

Yanni caught a snake.

Next day, a little target practice at the ranch.

One of the best junkyards I’ve seen on the way back home. It was mostly filled with pre-1970s cars and trucks.

Time for the long drive home.

I’ve been a fan of Karma’s natural style ever since I first saw him in a magazine 15 years go. I recently had the pleasure of hanging out with him, his wife Julie and son Parker at a BBQ at the Bird’s in Walnut Creek.

koperski

lila and mg

eddie

squirrel