Beautiful Day In SoCal

Sure is a beautiful day here in SoCal today. It was about 46 degrees or so when we woke up this morning. I went for a nice walk in the cool morning air. It's so nice outside that I'm thinking about taking another walk in an hour or so. It's about 82 degrees right now. After my morning walk, I had breakfast and then headed up to Kohl's for their "early bird sale". I normally don't shop at Kohl's, but every time they have a grand opening somewhere, they send me a free $10 gift card to spend. They have done that 3 times in the past year or so. I don't know why because I do not have a charge account with them. I prefer WalMart. They are more my "style" and they are less expensive. Anyway, I found three tops that were on sale, one short sleeve T-shirt and two long sleeve T-shirts. I got all three of them for $6.55 using the $10 off gift card. They claim I saved over $50 on those three tops. To me, there is NO WAY those three T-shirts are worth that much money! One of them was originally marked $26.00 and I got it for $5.99 on sale. Anyone who would pay $26.00 for a long sleeve T-shirt is OUT OF THEIR MIND!

These are not the colors I bought, but you get the idea.

Preparing For My Next Trip

Well, I've begun preparing for my next trip away from home which takes place this Saturday. My younger brother Keith and I are heading up Interstate 5 here in California to the township of Paradise, CA to visit our older brother Ron for about 4 days. Ron moved up there with his family about 27 years ago. He is now divorced and all of his kids are grown. Keith and I try to get up there to visit with him at least once a year. I'll be taking more photos and I will post them (or the link to them) here when I return. Hopefully I'll be able to get online while I'm there so I can check out your blogs and post a few of mine.
But I'm still here at home for a few more days until we leave, so I'll be hanging out in cyberspace.

Last Vacation Video

This is the last video I took while we were up north. We went to Ft. Humboldt State Park and they had a little steam engine giving people rides. There was also an old guy playing the fiddle there.

Battery Point, Pebble Beach, St. George Point

One of our favorite places in Northern California is Crescent City. It is just a few miles south of the Oregon boarder right on the coast. There are two lighthouses there. The Battery Point Light is right off the coastline. When the tide is out, you can walk out to the island that the lighthouse sits on. The other light is 6 miles off the coast and can only be sceen on a clear day, which does not happen very often in Crescent City. It is foggy there about 300 days out of the year. We drove up there from Ferndale on the Monday we were up there and it was pouring down rain, so we went back up again on the Friday because they predicted sunshine, but it was so foggy, we could hardly see the Battery Point Light. Pebble beach is one of the most beautiful coastline drives in the state. The day we were there it was foggy.

The Lost Coast Of Northern California

One day when we were out sightseeing, we noticed some people on a cliff over one of the jetties between Ferndale, Ca and Eureka, CA. We drove over to see what they were doing and found them para-sailing. The prepared for each flight for almost an hour only to have a short 2 or 3 minute sail down to the beach.

The River Walk in Fortuna, CA

This is a nice walking trail along the Eel River near Fortuna, CA

Animals in Humboldt County, CA

In the middle of Old Town Eureka, CA there is a pen that holds two geese. These two geese have been there for years. Even Huell Howser did a story on them once on California's Gold on PBS. No one really "owns" these geese, but people in town feed them and watch over them.
The cows are near Ferndale, CA which is a dairy town.

Another Vacation Video

Today my vacation video is from The Founders Grove along the Avenue Of The Giants which runs between Phillipsville, CA and Pepperwood, CA. This drive is one of the most beautiful drive in the world. Towering groves of redwood trees and lush ferns. You almost expect to see dinosaurs walking through the forest here like in "Jurassic Park". These trees are the tallest living things on earth.

Fall?????

You certainly would not know that today was the first day of fall here in SoCal. It got up to 101 degrees and was extremely windy. We do have wind in the fall, but 101 degrees?
Another brush fire has broken out over in Fillmore, CA which is about 25 miles west of us. We have been in a red-flag warning/fire warning for about 2 days. I think the arsons love to hear that on the news so they know they can go out and get their jollies.

Short Videos

I filmed a few short videos while I was on vacation. I spliced them all together into a longer video and tried to upload it to YouTube, but they came back and told me it was too long. They only allow up to a 10 minute video and mine was almost 15 minutes. Oh well, I fooled them (LOL). I made shorter individual videos and have been uploading them a few at a time so I can post them here.
Here's the first one:

Last Photos Of Trip

Here is the link for the last few photos I took on our way home from our vacation yesterday. Soon I will have some short videos to post too.

http://public.fotki.com/kayben80/vacation-september-2009/day-8/

Day 7 of Vacation

Today being our last day, we decided to just do some last day sight-seeing and pick up some things we wanted to take home.First we stopped by Fort Humboldt State Historic Park. Here is a link about the park:
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=665

We drove up to Arcata but could not find anywhere to park and walk around the town square because they were having a big farmer's market. We headed back down to Woodley Island again and spent a little time there, then went over to Ben's favorite chocolate shop, Partricsk in Eureka. Then we drove back uptown and had lunch at Sizzler then headed back down to Loleta to hit the cheese factory again and buy some cheeses to take home. Here is a link for their website:
http://www.loletacheese.com/

After stopping back by our suite in Ferndale to put the cheese in the fridge, we headed down to Fortuna because they were having a Civil War Reinactment. I stood up on the hill and shot some photos of the battle.The we drove down some backroads on the way back to Ferndale.

Here is the link for todays photos:
http://public.fotki.com/kayben80/vacation-september-2009/day-7/

Day 6 of Vacation

Today we decided to head up to Crescent City again hoping that the weather would be better than it was Monday. It was nice and sunny when we left Ferndale and beautiful all the way up, but when we got to Crescent City, the fog started to roll in. We were standing in the parking lot for the Battery Point Light and couldn't even see it. We decided to go check out some gift shops and then headed back. The fog had lifted a little, but we were not able to see the St. George Reef Light as it is 6 miles off the coast. I did walk to the end of St. George Point to take some photos. On the way back along the path, I scared a little snake that went slithering across the path in front of me. He scared me too. We left Crescent City and headed back to Klammoth to have lunch at the Forest Cafe again, which is where we ate last Monday. Then we drove back down to Trinidad, CA and took more photos since it was a better day than when we were there Monday.
Here is the link for today's photos:

http://public.fotki.com/kayben80/vacation-september-2009/day-6/

Day 5 of Vacation

Today we drove around on the back roads just sightseeing. We drove over Grizzly Bluff to Rio Dell and Scotia. Scotia was once the home of the Pacific Lumber Company and they used to have a really neat self-guided tour there but the lumber company was sold. There is an old Inn there that had been closed down for many years and I had always wanted to see the inside of it. It was refurbished and reopened last year so we went inside and they let us wander around and take photos.We went over to the Bear River Indian Casino in Loleta. I told Ben before we got there that we may as well hand the Indians our money and walk out. We may should have just done that since we dropped $40 in about 15 minutes.Then we went over to the Wildlife Refuge and up to the Jetty where we watch some people para sailing off the bluffs. Then we drove over to a couple of small covered bridges on a back road near Eureka. Here is the link for today photos: http://public.fotki.com/kayben80/vacation-september-2009/day-5/

Day 4 of Vacation

Wednesday we decided to roam around Woodley Island Marina and Old Town Eureka. Old Town was really a mess until about 2 or 3 years ago when they started to refurbish it back to it's original beauty. The buildings were falling apart...broken windows, paint peeling, bums living in them. Now Old Town is a beautiful tourist area with quaint little shops. We also took a drive through Sequoia City Park in the middle of Eureka, CA. Had lunch at Jalisco Mexican Restaurant in Eureka. They have a great buffet. After we got back to Ferndale, I went exploring again. I found a dirt road that went behind the cemetery and followed it until it came to a dead end.
Here is the link to my photos from today:
http://public.fotki.com/kayben80/vacation-september-2009/day-4/

Day 3 of Vacation

Today we drove south to drive through The Avenue of the Giants. If you have never been on this drive, you are really missing one of God's greatest gifts to us...the giant Coastal Sequoias. These trees are over 300 ft. tall and average 12 ft. in diameter. They are over 2000 years old, so remember, they were here when Jesus walked the earth.
After we returned to Ferndale, I walked around and took some photos of the homes and buildings here in town. For those of you not familiar with Ferndale, CA it was the town of Cedar Creek, CA in the movie "Outbreak" starring Dustin Hoffman and about 80% of the movie was filmed here. It was also the town of Lawson, CA in the movie "The Majestic" starring Jim Carrey. Also, for those of you who watch The Food Network, Ferndale is the hometown of Guy Fieri.
Here is a link to Ferndale's website:

http://www.victorianferndale.com/

And.....here is the link for today's photos of The Avenue Of The Giants:

http://public.fotki.com/kayben80/vacation-september-2009/day-3/

Day 2 of Vacation

Today when we got up, it was very cloudy outside, but we decided to head up the coast to Crescent City, CA. As we got farther north, it started to rain again. It rained off and on all the way up and when we got to Crescent City, it was pouring, so we decided to turn around and head back south and try to go back up on Friday because they say it will be sunny all day up there then. On the way back, we stopped at one of our favorite restaurants, The Forest Cafe. It is in Klammoth, CA just across the street from The Trees Of Mystery. It is such a cool place. They have two themes going on in the cafe. The first is the forest theme. It makes you feel like you are in the middle of the redwood forest (which you are). The second is the under the lake theme where you see duck feet, boat bottoms, fish, etc. when you look up at the ceiling. Makes you feel as though you are eating under the water. Headed back down to Ferndale and the farther south we got, the more the sun came out and it was a beautiful day here the rest of the day. I walked over to the Ferndale cemetery and took some photos. There are some really old head stones there. Enjoy the first photos of our trip in the blog below this one.
BTW......What Kanya West did to Taylor Swift really pisses me off! I felt so sorry for her. She is such a sweet little thing.

First Photos Of Our Vacation

Here is the link to the first photos of our vacation:

http://public.fotki.com/kayben80/vacation-september-2009/

Enjoy!

Greetings From Ferndale, CA

Greetings from Ferndale, CA!
We arrived here around 4:45 P.M. (PDT). Started out a really nice sunny day but became more cloudy as we headed up Interstate 5. When we got to SR20 to head west toward Hwy. 101 the clouds started getting really dark. By the time we reached Hwy. 101 it started to rain and then it started to pour and it poured all the way to Ferndale, about 150 miles or so. It is still dripping a little outside, but not like it was. When we checked in, they told us that it started out really sunny and beautiful here this morning so they said we must have brought the rain up with us. Actually the rain was a nice change from the hot hot hot weather we've been having down in SoCal.
Well, I need to check out some of my other sites and my email now, so I'll try to post another blog tomorrow evening.

Saturday

Well today I will be busy doing the "last minute" things to be ready to leave on our vacation tomorrow morning.
Finish packing, do a load of laundry, fill the gas tank in the car, wash the car, etc.
Ben works today, so I'll be on my own doing it. No walk for me this morning!

NEVER FORGET - Silent Friday

9-11 Tribute Page

Please visit my 9-11 Tribute Page at NotOverTheHill.com

http://notoverthehill.com/KaysWay9-11Tribute

Vacation Is Getting Closer

Good morning all.
Ben is back at work today then he is off tomorrow and works again on Saturday, then Sunday morning we leave for our long awaited week long vacation.
Weather is beautiful here this morning. I need to get going on my walk before the temps heat up.

THANKS!

Ben says THANKS to everyone who sent birthday wishes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!

This is Ben my husband. Today is his 59th birthday.

Mixed Up

Because of the way the holiday fell and Ben's days off, he ended up getting 6 days off in a row. Today was day 5. I am so confused over what day of the week today is since he's been home for so long. If and whenever he retires, I won't know what day it is at all!
Went for my morning walk while Ben took the Corolla over to the tire store to have the tires rotated and checked for our vacation.
Had lunch at Der Wienerschnitzel the watched "Young & Restless".
Went to Kaiser Pharmacy and picked up my medications for the next 3 months.
The rest of the day I've been "creating" email signatures at http://www.gif-mania.net/animated-signatures/your-own-figurines.html
Ended up make some for my brother and a couple of friends too.
How was your day?

Labor Day 2009

Didn't really do anything today. We never do on holidays as there are just way too many people on the roads and we don't like crowds.
I went for my morning walk then we did a little packing for our trip. I have enough clothes that I was able to pack all of my clothes, but Ben doesn't. So we will have to do most of his packing the end of the week.
Went over to the Kaiser Pharmacy to see if my medications that I ordered online yesterday were ready for pickup, but they weren't. Since today was a holiday, they didn't get their delivery so they told me to come back tomorrow.
We had lunch over at Del Taco. Love their bacon cheeseburgers.
Mostly just been staying around here at home watching "The Golden Girls" on the Hallmark channel. They are having a marathon.
Hope all of you have had a great day.

One More Week Until Vacation

Was able to go for my walk again this morning. While I was out, I started hearing sirens and I heard helicopters flying around. Then I started to smell smoke. I thought "oh no, here we go again". I could see a little plume of brown smoke to the east, but it hadn't gotten too bad yet. When I got home, I turned on our scanner and found out the the fire was up Sierra Highway about 3 or 4 miles from us "as the crow flies". Thank goodness, there are a lot of fire personnel in the area right now with the fire camp being over at Central Park. They had the small blaze out in no time. Ben and I drove up that way this afternoon and saw where it had burned maybe an acre or so on the side of the hill.
As I mentioned in the blog title, we are not only one week away from the start of our vacation. We will be leaving around 6:00 AM next Sunday morning and arrive in Ferndale, CA probably around 3:00 PM or 4:00 PM in the afternoon. We used to do the drive in two days with a stop over in Williams, CA but this year we have decided to drive the entire 600+ miles in one day which should take us about 10 hours. We will alternate the driving so neither of us will get too pooped to pop.
Tomorrow we need to get our huge duffle bag down from it's storage place so I can start doing some packing during the week.
We are really looking forward to this trip. Our suite has WiFi, so I should be able to be online in the evenings and maybe post some photos or videos and do a little blogging about what we've been doing.

Good Saturday Morning

Got to finally go for a morning walk and it felt great to be outside with no smoke.
They have the Station Fire 50% contained now and they are going to start releasing some of the fire crews and let them go home. The state of California offering a $100,000.00 reward for the arrest of whoever started the fire.
Can't believe that it's only one more week until Ben and I leave for our vacation. I am getting excited. When we get back I have only 2 weeks to get ready for my next trip with my younger brother. We are going up to see our older brother for 5 days. Looking forward to that too.
Maybe by the time I get back from both trips, the Fall weather will be here and I'll be able to start hiking again.

Finally, A No Smoke Day

Finally we had a day without the smell of smoke in the air and without the plume of smoke billowing into the skies. I still did not go out for a walk yet as they are still saying that the air quality is very unhealthy, but hopefully things are getting better.
I just hope they find the SOB who started the fire and caused the death of those 2 firefighters.

Arson Fire

They have just announced that the huge Station Fire here in SoCal was arson. That means that the death of the 2 firefighters is now homicide.

Update On The Station Fire

Today it is extremely smokey here again. We cannot even see the mountains that surround our valley and they are only about 4 miles away. Even though the fire has not come over the mountain onto our side, they have a fire camp set up over in our Central Park in Saugus. Everywhere you go, you see caravans of fire engines, forestry truck, and bulldozers. You see fire personnel at WalMart and the grocery stores. It's like being in a battle zone.
Here is a link to the latest official on the fire.

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1856/

Clouds or Smoke?

Today we cannot tell what is clouds or what is smoke. We are getting the outer bans of Hurricane Jimena that is now at the tip of Bajo, California so we know there are some clouds, plus we actually got some big rain drops earlier when we were out this morning. I wish it would POUR! That's what our firefighters need to help them put this monster fire out. Because of the layer of clouds, the smoke is staying closer to the ground than it has for several days so it really stinks and it is really thick.
Below is a photo I got off the Internet from the Mt. Wilson web cam. On Mt. Wilson is an observatory and also all of the communication towers for Los Angeles and the outlying cities. These towers are used for television and radio signals plus the fire, police and sheriff communications. They are afraid that the fire may get to them and stop all communication in most of Southern California.