California 5/10/08

Today we left Petaluma and traveled up the coast on Hwy 1. I can’t believe how long it is taking because I expected to be in Eureka tonight, but we didn’t make it. I guess going 30 mph and stopping every 10 minutes really slowed us down.

We stopped at Schoolhouse Beach and saw tons of people but I didn’t know why they were all along the rocks of the beach. After reading a newspaper, I found out that there are only 14 days this year where there is a negative tide and people go “tidepooling.” When the tide is out, the underwater worlds are visible to people and it is so fascinating. I even got a couple of pictures of crabs and starfish under the rocks. The views have been so awesome that I have to stop and take tons of pictures. At one place we even saw a whale but I never could get a picture of it.

On our way I saw this odd shaped building so Don had to make a u-turn to check it out. We found out it is a nondenominational chapel, called The Sea Ranch Chapel, which was beautiful. It was a nice place to say a little prayer asking for our future travels to be safe.

DSP prompts 5/7-5/9

Wednesday's Blog Prompt: On May 7, 1660, Isaack B. Fubine of Savoy, in The Hague, patents macaroni. What is your favorite macaroni dish?

I love penne or rigatoni with a meat sauce. If I can’t have that, I would have macaroni and cheese. Unfortunately, neither of these dishes are my husband’s favorites so we don’t have either one too much.

Thursday's Blog Prompt: On May 8, 1877, the first Westminster Dog Show was held. What is your favorite kind of dog?

I grew up with German Shepherds. In fact, one of them was white and grew up with me so I guess we were like sisters. I used to always complain that she would steal the ice cream out of my cone and then smile at me when I went crying to my parents. We had a chow for 11 years and is the only dog I have ever owned since I was married over 25 years ago. He was like my little baby and loved to crawl in my lap. I hated that we had to put him to sleep after he attacked my husband. My favorite kinds of dogs are puppies. I love puppies of any kind. My husband purposely steers me away from the pet store or the pet area at the flea markets because I’m drawn to the baby animals. Of course I’m grateful that he does because I’m so allergic to many animals.

Friday's Blog prompt: May 11 is Mother’s Day. Tell about your mother or a mother figure in your life.

I never really appreciated my mother until she passed away. She made a lot of sacrifices for me that I never really understood until after she was gone. My mother was 30 years old when I was born so as I grew up I always thought she was overly strict with me. My dad got to be the good (since he was working all of the time) but my mom was the major disciplinarian (since she was home all of the time). This caused me to resent my mother a lot as I grew up and I wish I could tell her now how much I loved her and thank her for all that she did for me.

I am lucky enough to have a wonderful stepmother, Marge. My father married her about a year after my mother died but she fit right in with our family. Marge is so easy to talk to and is so much fun to be around. Of course it helps that when they got married, my sister and I were already married with children and lived far away. They have been married for about 18 years now and I am so lucky to have her in my family because she takes such good care of my father. In fact, I believe Marge saved his life when he had a stroke this past November. If she hadn’t insisted that he go to the doctor (most men are stubborn but I think my dad is more stubborn than most men), he would have either had a massive stroke with major damage or died. Ever since they’ve been married, Marge makes sure they go to the doctor regularly and take good care of themselves.

I have been blessed with two good mothers in my lifetime!

California 5/9/08

The Jelly Belly tour was fantastic (and free) in Fairfield, CA. We happened to get there right before the second graders from Neil Armstrong Elementary showed up but we got the tour right along with them. I was thrilled to see so many parents on the field trip and that the children were so well behaved. The teachers seemed as excited as the students and one of the teachers said they just got done with 3 days of standardized testing.

When we left there, we stopped and had lunch at the In-N-Out burger place. I like going there ever since I found out that they don’t use preservatives in their food. Then we headed towards the coast and the Point Reyes National Seashore. I didn’t know that this was the only national seashore on the Pacific Coast. Since we were there, we just had to go visit the lighthouse which is supposed to be the most windy and foggiest point in the west. There were over 300 steps down to the lighthouse but the view was well worth it. The only problem was when you had to go back up the steps in the strong winds. While we were there, there were two rangers cleaning the old light in the lighthouse and I found out there are 1032 prisms in that light.

After we left the lighthouse we went on the Earthquake trail that explains earthquakes and the San Andreas fault. The best part was when we came to an original fence that had been split and moved in the 1906 earthquake. For some reason, this really made it seem real and easy to understand for me. I have heard about this earthquake but it seems like some point in time way and not very real to me, until today. I began to imagine what it must have been like to live during that time. I wonder how that affected property surveys and land ownership.

We are tucked away in a motel in Petaluma, CA after eating a good Mexican dinner. Tomorrow we will head to the coast and go north along Hwy 1 some more. Maybe we will end up in Eureka…and then again, maybe not.

California 5/08/08

We left San Francisco and headed south to San Jose this morning to tour the Winchester Mystery House. The tour lasted for 2 ½ hours and cost almost $30 per person. I don’t think I would recommend this tour to anyone because it was overpriced. We had seen it on the travel channel and thought it would be worth going to but for the money, I would have skipped this tour. The gardens were pretty to see and we also did the behind the scenes tour but again, wasn’t worth it for the money that they charged.

After that we had lunch and looked for a place to spend the night. By this time it was time to meet my cousin Tom. We haven’t seen each other for 34 years so it was really neat to see him again after all these years. We were able to talk about old memories and catch up on what our families are doing now.

Tomorrow we hope to head up to the Jelly Belly tour and then north along the California coast.

The Economy Inn

We are staying at the Economy Inn at Lombard and Richardson Sts. in San Francisco. After stopping at a bunch of motels trying to find a place at a reasonable price, we found this place. This was going to be our last try and then we were going to give up and head out of town. The man said that he didn’t have any rooms at the coupon rate but finally brought the price down to where it was very reasonable for us. Since we are on a tight budget (now that we are retired), we have to be prudent with our choices. I don’t mind paying for a room but I don’t want to own the motel! There was also free parking too.

Once we paid for the room, our host was so friendly and helpful. Then we went up to our room and it is fantastic! There is a refrigerator in it too which is a nice touch. Plus we are in a corner room with a little breakfast nook in an alcove surrounded by 2 windows. It reminds me a lot of a room we had in Paris, France. The room was really neat and clean which is a must for me. Our host said our bed was brand new and it was really comfortable to sleep in last night. There is also a color TV with cable and fast, free internet so we are both happy.

We are also a block from a main bus line (#30) which took us right to Fisherman’s Wharf and the AT&T Park. It also took us to the bus stop (#28) which took us to the Golden Gate Bridge. A few blocks down on Chestnut St. are lots of restaurants so our location was just perfect! Each time we went to pay for another night, the hostess was also friendly and helpful. Each time we have had to talk to someone in the office, they were always ready to help in any way we needed. It’s these little touches that really appeal to me. It seems like a family run place (I saw 2 small children playing on the computer) and I felt very safe and comfortable here. I would recommend this to anyone planning on staying in San Francisco.

California 05/07/08

Today was another wonderful day in San Francisco. We rode the “F” train all around and saw new sights. Then we came back to the Embarcadero and found the Levi Plaza which has Levi Strauss headquarters. They have a neat visitor center with lots of history displayed. There was also a couple of videos that showed some conservation of textiles and about how designers get ideas. I think I liked this more than Don did. We finally got on the way to the AT&T ballpark for our tour which was wonderful. It was only $10 per person and was supposed to last 75 minutes but our tour lasted about 2 hours. I learned a lot of neat stuff and it is a lot of fun comparing the different parks and learning about the history of baseball because I really didn’t know much about baseball until we started doing this.

After the tour we walked through Chinatown and had some lunch. Our 4 roast pork buns and 2 sodas only came to $5. I love to walk in Chinatown and look in all the stores and see all the food that is for sale.

Then we came back to our hotel to pay for another night and then went back to Fisherman’s Wharf. On the way we decided to walk to the “Crookedest Street” which is on Lombard and it was as great as I remembered it. Last time I drove down the street so I couldn’t really enjoy it and didn’t get to take any pictures. This time we walked it and I took lots of pictures. After that, we walked to Fisherman’s Wharf and enjoyed the outdoor entertainers. We also saw all the sea lions hanging out at Pier 39. By then our feet hurt and we returned to our hotel after a dinner of teriyaki wings.

California 5/6/08

Today we wandered around San Francisco. We ate at this place called The Grove and I couldn’t believe that 2 bagels with eggs and tri-tip steak, a latte, plus a can of diet coke cost over $20. Needless to say we won’t go there again. For lunch we went to the In-N-Out burger joint again at Fisherman’s Wharf which only cost $10 and our dinner at The Original Buffalo Wings cost $16. We rode the #30 bus all the way around on its entire route. Then we paid for another night at our hotel (will be written about in a separate post) and took the #28 bus to the Golden Gate Bridge.

The bridge was an awesome sight and not covered much by fog so I took a bunch of pictures. We started to walk across the bridge but Don stopped about ¼ of the way there. I continued to the part that turns out so I could get more pictures. I just couldn’t get over the view from there.

After the bridge, we headed out to the AT&T Ballpark where the Giants play baseball. We found out that they give tours at 10:30 and 12:30 on non-game days so we will probably go out there tomorrow. After that we took an “F” muni metro to the Embarcadero to look around. We went into the shops at the Port of San Francisco. Next we hit Ghiradelli Square and it sure has changed from the last time we visited this town. We are getting pretty good at riding the public transportation around.

DSP prompts 5/5 and 5/6

Blog prompt: May 5 is Cinco de Mayo. How would you celebrate Independence Day if it was today?

Since May is cooler than our usual July 4 celebration, I would spend the day hiking. The weather would be perfect and the flowers would be blooming. I love to see the wildflowers when I hike. Spring is my favorite season because it feels like such a renewal of life that fills me with hope and optimism about the world.

Photo credit: wildflowers by jikamajoja

Blog Prompt: May 3 was the running of the Kentucky Derby. Would you want to be a horse? Why or why not?

I think a horse’s life would be pretty simple but I think I would find it boring. I would be dependent on the person who fed me and I would have no control over my life. That would be horrible for me because I am such a control freak. I love meeting new challenges and feeling the sense of accomplishment. I am not very competitive though so I know I wouldn’t like running in the Kentucky Derby. Isn’t that awful about the filly that broke her legs and had to be put to sleep there on the track?

Photo credit: A Horse by Nick Lawes

California 5/5/08

We drove around Monterey and Cannery Row this morning and then headed to San Francisco. Don doesn’t drive in heavy traffic so I ended up driving. We drove into town and tried to find hotels listed in our coupon book. I don’t know why people advertise in those green Room Saver coupon books because if you ever call, they never have one of those rooms. Don says that is like bait and switch and refuses to stay at a hotel that does that so we spent some time hunting for a place. Finally found a cute one near the Palace of Fine Arts which also houses the Exploratorium (I think).

We found a Safeway grocery store where we bought a week long bus pass for $15 each. Then we caught the #30 bus and rode it to Fisherman’s Wharf. We ate dinner at an In-n-Out burger joint which was pretty good. After walking around, it started to get late and we needed to figure out how to get a bus back to our hotel. We finally made it but I’m pooped!

California 5/4/08

Today we headed up Hwy 101 and 1 towards Hearst Castle. We went on The Experience tour (#1) which includes the downstairs of the Casa Grande, a guest house, and the movie for $20 per person. The bus takes you 5 miles up to the house and it was definitely grand. It reminded me of a smaller version of the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC. My favorite part was the outside pool. I loved all the art that was displayed throughout the place and I took way too many pictures! I enjoyed learning about William Randolph Hearst and his background.

When we left there we drove along Hwy 1 and it got pretty curvy so finally I got to drive. Of course Don spent most of the time telling me how I should drive, how fast I should go, how I should slow down, and everything I was doing wrong. We did stop at several vistas and saw the elephant seals. There was even a nice old lady who was there to answer any questions that we had. I learned that they were in a catastrophic molt and it took 2 weeks to shed their fur and 2 weeks to grow new fur.

We stopped in Gorda for some lunch (which was really dinner since it was now 4:30pm). We just had 2 bowls of clam chowder, a soda, and an ice tea and it cost me $33. I would not recommend that place unless you were desperate. After we checked in our hotel, we went to Wal-Mart and loaded up on junk food.

California 5/3/08

We visited the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and so far, it was my favorite library. There were so many artifacts and videos. I loved seeing video clips of his old movies. The love letters he sent to Nancy were very moving and I also got to see the dresses that Nancy wore. My favorite was this slim red ballgown. We also got to go into Air Force One which was pretty awesome too. It was amazing to see it up close and actually get to walk through it to see the original furnishings (except one secretary’s desk they couldn’t find.) After about three hours though, I was ready for lunch.

After lunch we headed to Channel Island National Park visitor center. Obviously it is not well known because it wasn’t listed on my GPS and people I stopped to ask had no idea what I was talking about. Finally I went into a maritime museum who told me the visitor center was not at Channel Islands Harbor but was located in Ventura. It was pretty windy and cool and after getting information there, we decided we would do the islands on another visit when it was warmer.

We headed towards Santa Barbara and on recommendation from my Twitter friend’s mom, we went up Hwy 154 to San Marcos pass and saw beautiful scenery. The wineries all around were a beautiful picture too. I couldn’t believe how many cops were on the roads though giving tickets. We also went to a cute town called Solvang which was pretty crowded and there were no vacancies at the hotels so we ended up in Santa Maria for the night.

California 5/2/08

We arrived at the parking lot for the tour of Edwards Air Force Base early and took some photos of the aircraft parked there. Then a bus arrived around 8:30am and took us on the tour. The guide was an awesome guide with lots of knowledge and enthusiasm. I thought it was great when a desert tortoise started to cross the road and the bus came to a complete stop while they called the base fire department. Apparently the fine must be outrageous if you do anything to this animal so we stayed there until it crossed and the firemen took over. After a trip to the museum, we were dropped off at NASA for a tour and lunch. The bus picked us up around 1:15 and continued the tour of the base. We arrived back at our cars about 2:30pm.

We left there and went up to Red Rock Canyon State Park. The scenery was beautiful but it was too early for us to camp or plan on spending the night. We drove on to another town recommended by the person at the Jawbone visitor center. By this time it was getting late and we got a hotel room in Mojave and ate at Roberto’s for dinner.

We had time to find the Mojave Spaceport and take some more photos so Don was happy about finding this since he has mentioned this many times before. I think if he had a chance, he would love going into space. This is the only privately owned manned spaceflight ever to happen and this guy hopes to send up passengers into space (for a big fee!) in 2009.

California 5/1/08

We headed towards the Nixon Presidential Library and Birthplace early this morning and got there as they opened at 10am. It was a beautiful and interesting place. I found it interesting to learn more about him because what I remember most were his presidential years and nothing before then. I was surprised to see that the place is actually bigger than it looks and it took about 3 hours for us to go through it all. The house where he was born was the actual place and not something that had been moved there. We also saw where he and his wife were buried. The only thing that disappointed me was that the Watergate exhibit was closed and they were redoing it. We found out there were 2 Nixon Libraries: one by the Archives and one by the Foundation. Now the one by the Foundation is a federal library and will be combined with the Archives so that everything will be in one place at Yorba Linda. Of course my “conspiracy theory” husband thinks that little by little history is being changed as we know it and this is how they are doing it. Somehow little “items” will be “lost” and incidents won’t be remembered exactly the way it happened. I don’t know if he is right or not but it is one way of looking at it because I do know the Civil War is taught differently in the North (where I grew up and learned about it) and the South (where I taught about it).

After the Library, we headed towards Edwards Air Force Base so we could find the meeting place and get a hotel before Friday morning. The scariest thing happened to us and we narrowly escaped being killed by 2 enormous tractor trailers. We were on Hwy 58 and approached a traffic light as it turned yellow. My husband started to brake and stop when he looked in his rear view mirror to see the truck barreling down on us, never slowing down. Don immediately hit the gas and swerved into the middle of the intersection, facing the oncoming left turn lane. Just as he got there, the truck whizzed right by me on the right, going through the red light. As soon as it passed, Don swerved back to the right to get out of the way of the turning lane when he noticed the second truck coming through the red light behind him and all he could do was hit the gas to outrun the truck. Now we know the first truck ran the red light so the second one had to definitely go through it too. We were lucky that the trucks didn’t run over us in our little Prius, that the oncoming cars didn’t hit us or that the cross traffic didn’t start to move while we were in the middle of the intersection. It is so comforting to know that God is taking care of us because there is no way we would have survived that kind of impact.

We finally found the meeting place and hunted for a hotel. We finally found one in Lancaster, CA. I can’t wait for the tour of Edwards Air Force Base on Friday.

California 4/30/08

We spent most of the day at California Adventures. The first ride we went on was Soaring over California and it was really great. It was just like hang gliding without the risks. We also rode on the huge ferris wheel with the sliding gondolas but that was pretty scary. Then I realized I had left the battery out of my camera in the hotel room. Around lunch time we went back to get it and eat lunch at McDonalds. We returned to ride the rest of the rides there and I even rode the Tower of Terror twice (which I didn’t want to do at first). Don rode the giant swings and kept his eyes shut for most of the ride. I loved getting a photo of him and when I showed it to him, he said it should be labeled “The Things You Do For Love!” After finishing all the rides at California Adventures, we went back over to Disneyland and rode Thunder Railroad which wasn’t open the day before, the Indiana Jones ride, the Mulholland mine train, and the Bobsled ride. We also went on Space Mountain two more times. We left about 7pm to buy a tshirt and eat dinner before the crowds left the park. My feet were so tired and so was the rest of me!

California 4/29/08

We spent the day at Disneyland and it was a lot of fun. The weather was perfect and not too hot. We rode all the major rides and really enjoyed ourselves because the lines were not long at all. The longest line we stood in (for about an hour) was in the Nemo submarine line and I wouldn’t stand in that long line again. The ride was cute but not outstanding and if I rode it again, I would wait until the lines were shorter. Of course we rode Space Mountain twice. The Matterhorn Bobsled was good too and they didn’t have that at Disney World in FL the last time I was there. Next to Space Mountain, I liked the Indiana Jones ride the best (even though it practically beat you up when you rode it!). It’s a Small World was closed and Thunder Mountain was also closed when we got there.

The ride I liked least was Splash Mountain. First of all, I don’t like log flumes at all but my hubby just had to ride this! We ended up in the very front and I refused to ride in the front seat so I sat behind him. He is afraid of heights so he kept his head down most of the time. Of course, wouldn’t you know it, the ride breaks while we are on it! We ended up going a few yards and it would stop and we would wait. Waiting drives me crazy and makes me nervous. Then they would move us and stop again. They did this about 4 or 5 times. Plus, every time we took a dip, I would get drenched. Then we finally hit the 50 foot drop and I got soaked! As we left, we noticed they had closed the ride down for repairs. It was about 5pm and there was some sun so our clothes finally dried after a couple of hours.

We also went to the Innovations show to see the Honda robot ASIMO. This robot could walk on its own, kick a soccer ball, and walk up stairs. Apparently it can even run but when it showed us how it could run, the robot fell over and pieces flew everywhere. The host’s face looked priceless and he thanked us for coming and the curtain fell. They quickly got us out of the theater and someone asked the usher if this happened often. She replied, “Never!” Uh oh! I hope they can get it fixed!

For breakfast, we had a sausage burrito at McDonalds and for lunch we shared a spicy chicken sandwich and fries. So other than a box of popcorn, by 7pm I was pretty hungry. We left in the middle of the parade to beat the crowd and ate dinner at Denny’s. I’m so glad we beat the crowd because it was packed when we left.

California 4/28/08

We left Twentynine Palms around 8am and arrived in Anaheim about 11am. Traffic was lighter than expected and we had no trouble finding Disneyland. We found a hotel right across the entrance from the parks so we were happy and there is a McDonalds right across from the entrance too. We went to the park to price tickets and get our bearings. When we could get into our room, I got on the internet and found out there was an Angels game tonight and we were only 2 miles from the stadium so we went there to buy tickets.

As we entered the parking area of the stadium, there was a scalper selling tickets (only I didn’t realize he was a scalper because he just looked like a nice old man who wore a parking attendant’s uniform.) He told us he had 2 tickets for $25 each and we agreed to buy them. Since I only had half the money, I asked Don for the rest. When Don took out his wallet, his judge’s badge showed and the man quickly said that he only wanted $25 total because it was the face value of the tickets and he didn’t want any more. He was only selling them because his wife couldn’t come and he hoped to retire to Texas. He mentioned he didn’t want to move to SC because of all the tornadoes there (what tornados?). I think we made him nervous but we paid the money and left with the 2 tickets. When we got to the stadium there were big signs that the reselling of any tickets were strictly prohibited. The seats were in section 409 and they were pretty good seats. When I looked on the schedule, the seats were normally $20-25 so the poor man lost money on us.

We had fun at the game. I had to try the garlic-parmesan fries but the garlic fries at the Arizona Diamondbacks game was much better. We sat next to this father and daughter who were very nice. In fact, the dad bought me the same candy he bought his daughter. I thought that was very nice. Unfortunately the Angels lost 2-14. Since they were losing, many people left before we did and when we left, there wasn’t too much traffic and we had no trouble getting back to our hotel.

Arizona 4/26/08

We left Tom and Kathy’s house around 7am and headed west. Once we crossed over the California line, we started looking for lunch and/or gas. We stopped at Desert Center which was supposed to have both but the gas station was boarded up. We ate lunch at the café in Desert Center which seemed to be the only thing in the whole town. Amazingly, the food and prices were pretty good.

We arrived at Joshua Tree and drove in and through it to Twentynine Palms which is a town north of the park. We found a Motel 6 and booked 2 nights here. Since there is a Marine base close by, there are lots of Marines around. We had also made a reservation for a guided tour at Key Ranch at 10am for tomorrow for only $5 per person. We did have time to go into the park and do a couple of short hikes and then had dinner at the Carousel restaurant. The food was great and plentiful. When the server found out we were staying to hike in the park, she sat down and showed us some photos she took last week in the park.

Arizona 4/24-4/25

Three of us went to the Biosphere 2 in Oracle, AZ and had a great time. It was really neat even though the tour cost $20 (discounts for AAA members though). The tour lasted about 90 minutes and we got to go into the sealed environment where eight people lived for 2 years. It is a shame that in 2-3 years it will be torn down to make room for a hotel and a housing development. There were different biomes that we saw: a rain forest, ocean, savannah, and desert. There once was a half acre farm also with chickens, pigs, and fish. When we came home, we went out and bought 4 new tires for our car because the tread was getting almost nonexistent. Later that evening, when Kathy came home from work, we met her for dinner. First we tried a place called Dvine but there was no outside seating so instead we went to the Red, White, and Brew.

The next day we went to Roosevelt Dam, towns called Globe, Miami, and Superior and then some antique stores. We also stopped at Tonto National Monument and walked up to the cliff dwellings there. We were able to actually walk through the rooms! It was a really nice day. When we got back I checked the weather for Yosemite and found out that they are expecting some cold weather so we had to reevaluate our plans. Instead of going to Yosemite, we will head towards Joshua Tree, Anaheim and Los Angelos (maybe see Disneyland) and then head up the coast of California on the scenic highway. I’m so glad we can be flexible with our plans.