Category: Westy

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Photos Thanksgiving Westy

Thanksgiving Leftovers, Vol. 2

Following our lovely Thanksgiving feast, on Friday we loaded up the Westy & set sail for San Luis Obispo & points beyond. SLO is a great little college town we’ve visited a few times (e.g. four years ago at Thanksgiving, and again the next year with “Farmer Seamus“). This year we had a ball fanning out to explore great little shops like Junk Girls before settling in for chow at the irresistibly named Finney’s Pub!

After spending the night in a cabin in nearby Arroyo Grande, we gobbled up some Old West Cinnamon Rolls, then tooled around the charming beachside town of Cayucos, where Hen & I attended an insulator show back in May.

From there we were off to—as Bob Newhart would put it in Elf—”the Show, or The Big Dance”: riding four-wheelers around the dunes of Pismo Beach. Four years ago the four of us hit the beach, and this year Henry, Maria, and I hit the sand while Margot & Finn kept an eye on Seamy.

We capped our evening with a walking tour of the beautiful holiday lights at the SLO Botanical Garden.

Finally, on Sunday, we scored some delicious breakfast, dropped by a historic train depot & railcar diner, and then headed north. Check out our gallery to see the whole excursion.

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Insulators Photos Westy

Porterville Insulator Adventure

For the last several months, Henry had last Saturday circled on his calendar, as it was the year’s last scheduled gathering of insulator collectors in our region. That, of course, was not to be missed.

Thus we headed out in the Westy after school, trucking out all the way past Fresno. We camped in dairy country at the ranch of a lovely couple named Frances and Henry, who kindly gave our Hen three insulators from his collection:

Afterwards we grabbed breakfast at a railway cafe that featured cute model trains running around the ceiling. From there we were off to the event, where Hen scored some great deals & got to visit with his old friends. Check out our gallery from the outing.

Oh, and here’s a little draggable 360º pano I captured at dawn with my drone:

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Camping Photos Westy

Captains of Finndustrees

It’s pretty rare to get the ol’ Finnster interested in camping these days, so I was especially delighted that he wanted to mark the end of eighth grade (!) with me & Seamus by spending a couple of nights amongst the redwoods near Santa Cruz.

We headed out on Friday night following his school dance, and we spent a chill Saturday cruising up Highway 1 to his favorite restaurant (the Roadhouse in Davenport), letting Seamy cavort on the beach (tiring out a small new pal!), and generally relaxing at our campsite. Check out a gallery from our dudes’ weekend.

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Photos Thanksgiving Videos Westy

Stalking “The Wild Maria”

Thanks to a chatty Ace Hardware employee who talked me up after seeing my ND jacket, we learned about Russian Gulch and its striking waterfall just outside of Mendocino. As we began our trip south, we did a quick detour to take in the beautiful redwoods.

Here’s a video of the waterfall up close:

Check out our photo gallery for the full set of visuals.

And for the piece de resistance, our budding naturalist Hen, aka Dr. Alias Fakename (“Elias Fah-ke-nah-may”) filmed “The Wild Maria” traipsing around her natural habitat, Sasquatch-style. Check out his report (sound on!). 😝

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Photos Thanksgiving Videos Westy

Mendocino: From Sea Glass to Sunrise

Following our railbike outing, Hen & I met back up with the crew for Giant Burgers at Jenny’s (“next to Denny’s,” the locals helpfully noted—as apparently all directions are relative to Denny’s).

Margot & Finn were looking for a little downtime, so they peaced out to the campsite with Seamus. Maria had dropped by the local Sea Glass Museum, so armed with new knowledge & a little guide book, she took Hen & me out to Sea Glass Beach to hunt for treasure:

If you squint, you can just see the two of them hunting amongst the crags in this interactive drone panorama:

I swear, I almost had to crowbar the two of them off the beach as the sun set. 😌 It was worth it, though, as they collected quite the haul:

Some locals had recommend a funky local seafood joint called The Sea Pal Cove, where fishing boats pull right up to the pier to drop off their hauls. While Hen & Maria got us a table, I drove back to reclaim the rest of the crew & bring them to the fishy scene.

After a good night’s sleep, we again hit the beach. Talk about live & learn: Seamus grinding his face into a log full of barnacles left him smelling deeply gross for our four-hour ride home. 🙄

And Maria learned just how quickly the sea can turn on you & soak your feet 😅, necessitating some fireside steaming:

Check out our gallery for the full set of pics & vids.

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Photos Thanksgiving Videos Westy

Mendocino: Skunk Train Rail Bikes! 🦨🚂

Back at the tail end of 2014, we had a ball riding the famous Skunk Train out of Fort Bragg (see photos and video):

For Christmas break last year we were all set to visit again, even booking tickets—but then <sad trombone> the ‘rona had other plans.

Happily we were able to reschedule for this year, and Hen and I took full advantage by renting a pedal-powered railbike!

Check out the high-speed silliness in this video:

We even got the Lego family (complete with Lego Maria & her dog Tippy) in on the action. See more in the full gallery.

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Photos Thanksgiving Videos Westy

Mendocino a-Go-Go!

After having a terrific Thanksgiving at home with our visiting pal Maria, we packed up the Westy—complete with the spacious new “techno-yurt” Margot bought for my birthday & which finally arrived at the last possible minute.

First we zipped across the Golden Gate Bridge under picture-perfect skies:

Afterwards we made our way north to Hopland & Ukiah, where we visited an antique store & then an army surplus store, both recommended by our friend Marcos who grew up in the area. From glass insulators to fake teeth to all manner of MAGA madness, the selection & clientele were eclectic & memorable, to say the least.

From there we made the long and very winding path out to the coast, arriving in Fort Bragg to set up camp just outside of town, then score some pizza and supplies. The new tent went up like a champ & kept Finn and Maria cozy all night, with an assist from space heater Seamus.

The campsite was located just a short walk from the beach—which proved delightful to visit the next morning.

Check out our gallery from the first day’s adventure, and stay tuned for lots more from the weekend.

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Christmas Videos Westy

Zipping the Lights Fantastic

Continuing our efforts to bring the party to the people, we keep driving the blinged-out Westy around San Jose & points beyond. Last night was no exception as we headed over to Los Gatos to take in their Fantasy of Lights—one of our favorite Christmas traditions. Like last week & last year, my co-pilot Hen hung himself out the window to get the best look, but this time he was content to put down his camera & just enjoy the moments.

Check out our rather trippy video from the event:

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Photos Westy

Gold Rush + Goldendoodle

On the Friday following Thanksgiving, we shook off our food coma & drove north to the Sierras, setting up camp in the funky Sierra Circles Sculpture Garden.

As you can see in our photo gallery, highlights include:

  • Chatting with the local artists about their work, including their clay-making business (involving a giant press we got to see)
  • Exploring numerous old cars rusting, printing presses, steam shovels, and more around the site
  • Seeing a giant custom pirate-truck that’s frequented Burning Man
  • Trekking to the nearby lake where we surveyed old logging equipment & dodged projectiles from Frisbee golfers
  • Doing dueling Schwarzenegger impressions in the down of Arnold
  • Hen staging numerous medieval Lego battles & practicing his photography skills wherever we went
  • Visiting the Jamestown railroad (see previous)

Check out the pics.

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Christmas Photos Westy

Christmas Lights On The Move

Finn is very sentimental about the holidays. He loves our annual rituals, which we add to each year. The pandemic has certainly done its part to hamper our normal activities like going to the Nutcracker, Christmas tree lightings and parties, and the like, and to prevent us from traveling to see our families.

To that end, we are trying to create some safe, local joy that will keep our Christmas spirits up. I saw a photo recently of an old VW microbus that was decorated with Christmas lights, and I thought it would be fun to do the same with the Westy, and drive around spreading some Christmas cheer. I asked Mr. Christmas, Finn, what he thought, and he loved the idea. Last weekend, we headed out to Ace Hardware and picked up some colorful lights, and some small suction cups with hooks that we could safely stick to the van. We already have a big rechargeable battery in the Westy that we can plug the lights into.

Needless to say, we got the lights strung, plugged in, and did our first Christmas Lights Cruise around the neighborhood on Sunday night. A few observant passersby noticed our moving light show and seemed charmed. Most of all, though, Finn and Henry both love it, and they’re all smiles when we light up Westy and hit the streets, playing Christmas music on the radio. Seamus seems to enjoy it as well, cuddled up on his boy’s lap, watching the world go by. We plan to cruise around in our portable light show as often as possible over the next few weeks. Maybe we’ll even hand out candy canes!

Here’s a little photo gallery of the proceedings.


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Colorado 2020 Photos Westy

Road Trip Day 9: Buena Vista Fireworks

If you think that no summer trip to Leadville would be complete without a charming small-town Fourth of July parade (see installments from 2011, 2012, and 2018)… well, sadly you’d be correct. Social distancing this year meant no downtown fire trucks, burros, and hailstorms of hard candy—but that didn’t mean we couldn’t have fun.

With fireworks also being cancelled, we trundled down the mountain to nearby Buena Vista, where we met up with the Wiggii and set up shop in the Westy alongside a neighboring pop-top VDub. Its owner was a nice lady whose career as a Southwest pilot was on hold, so she & her son had come up to enjoy BV. The dudes whipped glow sticks through the air with Charlie while the grownups knocked back a few beverages.

Here’s a little gallery showing the proceedings.

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Colorado 2020 Photos Westy

Road Trip Day 5: Arch Amigos

After wrapping up at Mesa Verde on Monday afternoon, we made our way to the funky hideaway Kelly Place. It’s an incredibly archaeologically rich B&B/campsite tucked away in the red rock canyons near Cortez, CO, and the boys shared our fascination as we hiked around the dry arroyo & restored kivas (underground storage/community structures created by the native inhabitants).

You can check out a few images plus this 360º panorama I captured via early-morning drone flight (drag down to spot the tiny red Westy 😌):

After a nice hot breakfast, we headed north towards the spectacular Arches National Park, home to soaring spires & seemingly impossibly balanced rocks and flying arches. Much like clouds, the miles of rock formations offer a million interpretive possibilities, and we had a ball calling out the things we saw—from “Seamus Rock” to Santa’s “Chimnaysium” where we think he practices column-descending in the off season.

Sadly Hen’s legs were pretty thrashed from run-ins with stinging plants earlier in the day, so his explorations with Mom-O were cut somewhat short. They did make it out towards Delicate Arch, and meanwhile Finn & I got to scramble all around the Window Arches.

Check out some rather amazing (if I may say so!) photos we captured, as well as this crazy little video:

 
 
 
 
 
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Chillin’ like an arch villain

A post shared by John Nack (@jnack) on

After taking in our fill of the sights, we set out to find medicine, cold compresses, and ice cream (hey, why not?) to mend Hen’s throbbing legs, after which we headed to our campsite for the evening. Fortunately he mended quickly enough that we were able to explore the unattended freight train he was delighted to see sitting just across the way.

Here’s a small set of images from our sunset sojourn.

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Videos Westy

The Goooooooolden Gate Bridge

As we crossed the Golden Gate en route to Petaluma last weekend, my copilot Finn was game to stick my 360º camera out the window of the Westy. I inadvertently set the cam to time-lapse mode, but as luck would have it the results loop perfectly. Check it out!

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Photos Westy

Hobbit Cobin!

Having gone 💯 stir-crazy during quarantine, we decided last week to take advantage of Margot’s day off on Friday by loading up the Westy and getting the heck out of Dodge. Happily I was able to find a really neat-sounding listing for something called the “Hobbit Cobin“—a hand-built adobe structure up in Petaluma.

After making our way up through SF & over the Golden Gate Bridge on Friday, we arrived and set about chilling extra hard with Seamus and a good helping of wine, cheese, and books. Finn & I took the first night in the van with Seamy while Margot & Hen enjoyed the cozy one-bed cabin (er, cobin), and the next night we swapped. Saturday saw us exploring cute (if unnaturally quiet) downtown Petaluma, checking out giant Burning Man artwork, and trying our hands at ping pong and ladderball.

Here’s a little gallery from our much-needed time away!

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Photos Westy Yosemite

Yosemite 2020!

Feeling a bit stir crazy last weekend, we decided to get the heck out of Dodge & take the Westy off to Yosemite—and this time we didn’t even get stuck in snow! If you’re impatient, hop right to our photo gallery, or read on for an overview.

After tucking in Mr. Seamus at a friendly dog boarder, we cruised out on Friday afternoon. After arriving in the valley near sundown & pausing for some horseplay by Bridalveil Fall, we made our way to Camp Curry & cozy cabin 4A. The moon illuminated our spectacular little nighttime hikes as we watched Orion’s belt rise over the sheer mountain cliffs behind us. Even our cold & grousing tween had to acknowledge the grandeur. 😌

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Saturday proved to be somewhat overcast, chilly, and eventually rainy—but undeterred we headed out for a guided Ansel Adams photo walk led by an accomplished nature photographer. Henry enjoyed seeing Ansel’s prints juxtaposed with the real subjects behind them, noting what’s changed (trees, bridges) and the eternal mountains that haven’t.

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After warming up a bit at the visitor’s center, we hiked over to what we dubbed back in 2010 “The Dad-O Falls & Goonie Falls” (i.e. one big, one little). We pit stopped for lunch, reading, and recharging, then motored up to the spectacular Tunnel View before making our way back down to the beautiful Awahnee Lodge for dinner & drinks.

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Finally, on Sunday morning (newly bright & crisp!), we headed off to a brief & easy hike to nearby Mirror Lake before packing up the Westy & heading back to civilization (and our wiggly friend!). As I say, please check out our gallery for the full picture.

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PS—Just for fun, here’s a quick vid (and pics) of our tiny troopers enjoying the waterfalls almost exactly 10 (!!) years ago:

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Photos Seamus Westy

Farmer Seamus & the “Big Giant Dogs”


Sure, the dog park is great, but how about meeting some really big amigos—in the form of horses & cows?

A couple of weeks ago we took Mr. Seamus over to our friend Matthias’s farm for some R&R with the animals (livestock, goats, cats—you name it). Check out some photos & videos I captured while Henry tried his hand at driving the four-wheeler.

Then for Labor Day weekend, the whole gang loaded into the Westy and took off to camp near Morro Bay, not far from San Luis Obispo & Hearst Castle. There too our pal got to interact with some horses while eating his fill of their stash of carrots. The rest of us enjoyed exploring town, finding antiques at an art fair in the park, searching vainly for Pop Tarts, and trying to take down a truly intimidating burger. Check out a few shots of the adventure.

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Posted by John Nack on Saturday, August 31, 2019


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Photos Videos Westy

Lowrider Hen!

“Invest in experiences, not in things,” they say, and we’ve always regarded the Westy as a catalyst to making great memories (beating the heck out of staying at some random hotel!). Our trip to Legoland delivered on that promise in spades: the campsite Margot found (an out-of-the-way vineyard) happened to feature a young guy named Max who was delighted to show us the old cars he restores & even let Henry drive his ’52 lowrider Chevy!

Check out this gallery of both dudes getting a tour—and in the vid below see Henry getting behind the wheel:

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I made a little logo to commemorate the event:

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Photos Seamus Westy

Big Sur 2019

Last weekend, after way too many months of drought in our Westy family adventures, we fired up the red gal and journeyed (with Seamus!) down the coast to camp in Big Sur. My friend Jim had booked a campsite just across Highway 1 from a rocky beach, and we had fun making a quick overnight outing of it.

Seamus in particular seems to have had a blast, roughhousing like mad with a fellow Goldendoodle pup (Parker), who outweighed him by a full 20 lbs. He came home a filthy burr-encrusted wreck, but after a thorough hose-down at home he was good as new.

Check out a gallery of our shots as well as an interactive panorama I captured via my drone during the short burst of golden sunshine that preceded sunset.

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Photos Thanksgiving Videos Westy

SLO Beach Bros

Cabin fever, at least in the days post-Thanksgiving, has proven no match for us the past couple of years, seeing the fam head out to Yosemite, Hearst Castle, and Point Reyes. This year we fired up the Westy and headed down to San Luis Obispo & stayed right by the water & the famous dune of Oceano Beach (see 360º panorama from my drone, at bottom). During the days we checked out SLO’s mission, butterfly grove, and antique shops (you’re welcome, Hen 😉), and at night Finn & I enjoyed some epic long walk-and-chat sessions to the beach and back.

The highlight, though, had to be renting a squad of 4-wheel ATVs:

We tore around the beach amidst thousands of other folks riding dune buggies, motorcycles, trucks, and RVs. Although we experienced a few close calls, Henry does not remain at the bottom of the Return of the Jedi-style Sarlacc pit into which he & his machine plunged, and remained un-crushed by Finn’s stranded vehicle. At the end everyone emerged happy if sandy. (“My legs feel like jelly!” reported Hen.)

Check out this album showing the whole weekend’s worth of adventures, plus our videos from the beach & from the air:

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Photos Westy

Micro Mountaineers

 The lads & I are just back from a quick “Guys’ Weekend” camping outing to Mount Diablo (about 60 miles from home) with my friend Justin, his 18-month-old son Jackson, his friend Danny, and Danny’s two little boys (ages 3 & 2). We rolled up in the Westy, popped the roof, and had some good fun hiking, roasting s’mores, and helping corral the younger guys. Little Jackson took a particular shine to Henry, and from his tent at bedtime he kept repeating “‘enRY! ‘enRY!” until I fetched our guy to help tuck him in. 😌 Here’s a gallery (in which I appear for once!—thanks, Justin) from the outing, plus a 360º drone shot (which you can click & drag to navigate) of the spectacular sunset. 

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