| In July,
2002, Matthew and his dad came out to spend some time with me.
The 3 of us took my RV and went exploring California's highway 49,
starting from Grass Valley, to the end in Oakhurst. We visited
old mines, some of which we
toured, we waded in a creek, rode a train and just enjoyed seeing the
country. Highway 49 is spectacular! |
 Matthew on the way to California. |
 Empire Mine
Nevada City. |
 Empire Mine
Nevada City. |
 Empire Mine
Nevada City. |
 Lunch time in the RV.
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 Resting at the Northern Queen, Grass Valley. |
 Odd locomotive in Grass Valley. |
 A stop at Nevada County Fair Grounds. |
 The artist at work. Matthew loves to draw. |
 Entrance to the Gold Bug Mine, Placerville. |
 In the Gold Bug mine. |
 Ready for tour at the Sutter Gold Mine. |
 Mine tour truck at Sutter Gold Mine. |
 Entrance to Sutter Gold Mine. It was really neat! |
 Whistling Billy at Coulterville. |
 Cooling off in Oakhurst RV park. |
 My grandson the miner. |
 Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Shay #10. |
 Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Speeder. |
 Niles Canyon Railway Caboose 999081. |
| In June, 2003, Matthew
attended a "Robotics
Camp" held at a local university. It was sponsored by Lego and
gave the participants the opportunity to build programmable vehicles
which were run through various obstacle courses. He enjoyed the
experience immensely and graduated with honors. He is a pretty
smart young man, taking after his mom and dad. |
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| He has liked Legos since
he was very, very young and still creates some clever machinery like
this steam tractor, modeled after one he saw at an antique tractor
show. While not steam, this model ran by means of an electric
motor. |
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| Here he is mowing a
neighbors yard with dad's riding mower. I have never run one of
these and am pretty jealous. |
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| Matthew likes to
participate in science fairs at his school. Last year, he
advanced to the finals which were held at a local college. This
year, his project is on the characteristics of batteries. It looks as though he enjoys studying electricity. |
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| Last Christmas, we gave
Matthew Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 and a joystick. He is
getting to be a good pilot. |
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| Matthew's dad belongs to a
local railroad historical society. Matthew is getting his feet
wet working on locomotives, both steam and diesel.. Jobs like
these fall to
the smaller members. Fortunately, he does not mind getting
dirty. What a guy!! |
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| It gets pretty cold where
Matthew and Shelby live. Like any kids, they like to go outside
to build forts and snowmen. |
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