Yosemite May 24-27

Yosemite National Park, a national treasure, originally designated a protected national area by President Lincoln in 1864; then, through the eloquence of John Muir, enlarged to 1200 sq. miles and designated a national park in 1890. Everything here is huge, the rocks, the waterfalls, the trees. Because of excessive snowfalls this winter (it snowed the week we were there) many of the roads in the park were closed, but the main attractions and the visitor center were open with good weather. Driving up there we kept remarking as to the size of the trees, not unusual to see pine trees 200+ feet; as we got closer the visitor center the sheer height of the polished granite walls surrounding us was dramatic. Then we came upon one of the two magnificent waterfalls there; Bridalveil. You can actually walk up the base of it, get showered and feel its force. This time of year the falls are at their most dramatic. Below is a picture of Bridalveil (doesn't nearly do justice to it). I did a video at the base of it; it is at the bottom of this entry (sorry I turned the camera to the right, maybe I was a bit overwhelmed by the spray and the power of this wonder). I'll bet the drop is 1000ft. Unbelieveable.
The next two pictures below are Upper and Lower Yosemite falls, total drop 2400 feet; couldn't get quite as close, but there are hikers that go all the way to the top. Great place to camp and hike for a week.

The park includes granite mountains formed 10 million years ago, with valleys developed by glaciers, ice ages and erosion. The remaining granite almost appears polished from the historic action. Hard to appreciate the majesty of the granite; below El Capitan, one of several spectactular mountains that people climb up while they are here. Could not believe how huge the trees were, including the pines and giant sequoias. Definitely worth a return trip when we can see more.

Finally, our RV park was in a little town called Columbia, a town developed during gold rush days in 1850. Population went from about 0 to 4000 in 4 weeks after someone found gold here. Largest piece of gold 134 lbs. They have a state park here, the town rebuilt to look a lot like it was back in the late 1800's w/blacksmiths, pony express, gold panning exhibits etc. Packed with school kids, it was a fun time.

Wells Fargo (pony) Express in Columbia, drivers dress in period garb and give rides.

Blacksmith at Columbia.

Below the video of Bridalveil, sorry about turning the camera.

NAPA May 16-23

Napa Valley, only 6% of the vinyards in the state, but famous for the wines they produce. Had a nice week here testing the wines, enjoying the countryside. There are over 300 vinyards here, from the small family run ones to the the large national distribution ones. I noticed you are only good for about 4 tastings before you can't taste much difference. We did have a great time. Typical vinyard above.

Tasting room, usually very nicely appointed.

A lot of the vinyards had rose bushes at the end of each row of vines. Above some beautiful white roses.

Probably our favorite winery was a small boutique called Peju. The family has been here since '88, came from southern Ca and the landscaping business. Their landscaping and architectual layout was beautiful. Presentation of wines delightful; we even signed up for their quarterly club. Wonderful.

Peju's entrance.

Another view of their entrance.

Their driveway; over time, they are training these sycamore trees to bend until they form an arch over the driveway; should be great.

Above, the Artesia winery, famous for their champagnes (sparkling wines)

Finally, we took a wine train through the valley, had a very nice lunch while viewing the vinyards. Above, Marlene enjoying our table in the dining car. She looks happy doesn't she.

Santa Barbara May 9-14

Santa Barbara. More money, more beautiful weather, more magic. Had a great time here; couldn't really get good pics of the great hills with their beautiful homes; great time of year to be here; everything is in bloom. Didn't play any tennis here, but did play golf w/my friend Irwin (didn't embarrass myself too much, very picturesque course). Below the view from our RV parking spot, nicely situated w/view of the Pacific.

Below a view of Santa Barbara beach and pool facility; got there on Sunday, place was packed w/people from LA area.

Below is the view from the football/track stadium at Santa Barbara City College; nice way to watch a game!

Saw some good friends here. Below the Flatterys; Judy showed us her favorite places and Dave cooked us a great dinner. Great to see them again; nice to meet their beautiful daughters.

Also saw Salli, Irwin Eve and their children, Sam and Noah. We go way back with them too; don't get to see them often enough. Below Salli and Irwin dining with us at the Biltmore-Four Seasons overlooking the ocean. I loved it when the two waiters delivered the salads at precisely the same time with precisely the same arm movements like some sychronized swimmers. Beautiful place, great night.

Santa Barbara has some great wineries, so natually we did some tasting, including that of the late Fess Parker.

We ended up tasting more than we realized, purchased a bit more than we had planned; so far the hit of the trip has been a Koehler '06 Syrah, very smooth!

Like Hilton Head, Santa Barbara has great specimen trees; I just couldn't get enough of them. Below are a couple:

Marlene and Judy Flattery in front of a 150 year old Austrailian fig.

The above is called a Coral Tree; it looks like red flowers on tree limbs w/no leaves; against a blue sky very striking.

Above called the Dragon Tree.

On the campus of Santa Barbara City College.

I think this is a form of a cypress tree; at a garden we went to.

Not really a tree, but so much bougainvillea everywhere, and brilliant. Big bush above.

Went to a garden called Lotus Land. 23 gardens originally developed by a charismatic actress named Madam Ganna Walska, who, after having six husbands, decided to leave this legacy of natural beauty. Among other rare plants, they have a Ginko Biloba tree, the oldest species of tree in the world (species goes back 250 million years); tree is so resistant to disease and other attacks that one within one mile of the center of the Hiroshima nuclear blast still survives to this day.

A row of aloe at Lotus Land.

An arbor of lemons at Lotus Land.

A canopy of Olive trees at Lotus Land.

Marlene found this little gem (above) at Lotus Land; find room for it in the rv.

Also went to the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens, a county owned garden w/native Californian plants.

Above is a flowering yucca plant.

Flowers above, wildflowers below; like I said, everything was blooming.

For more of our photos of Lotus Land/SB Botanical Garden go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50239074@N06/sets/72157623943827973/detail/ and

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50239074@N06/sets/72157624068273806/detail/

LA Reagan, Lloyd Wright, Gamble May 6-7

Final entry for LA area. We picked an RV park to the North of LA in a quiet town called Simi Valley; the RV park located up in a canyon with few neighbors. It was very peaceful and the town had plenty of services. Marlene thought their welcoming sign was cute. After racing around on the LA freeways, Simi Valley was very welcoming. Ronald Reagan Library is located on 100 acres on a hill overlooking the valley; the setting is magnificent, the views wonderful. It is the largest of the presidential libraries; I call it a work in progress; they are renovating a big part of it to get ready to celebrate 100 years since Reagan's birth, celebration in 2011. Below, Reagan's Air Force One, in which he flew over 600,000 miles during his 8 years; quite roomy inside but now they use much larger 747s.

John and Jan Zweitel made a scale model of the White House which is quite good; roughly one inch/one foot scale; great detail of the main house, West Wing and East Wing.

We visited there on "Colonial America Day", where people are dressed up in period costumes, cooking, blacksmithing, demonstrating musket use etc to the school kids. Demonstration of musket firing pictured below.

The previous day we went to the Gamble House, built in 1908 as a winter residence for the son of the Procter/Gamble founder. It is described as America's Arts and Crafts masterpiece, with asian aesthetics, including this Japanese black pine door.

Finally, we went to three houses desingned by Lloyd Wright, eldest son of Frank Lloyd Wright. The one below was the most spectacular, "The Sowden House", built in 1926 and recently renovated. 5,600 sq ft built around a center courtyard (now pool), it was designed with Mayan Temple themes; the house has lots of cut out stone to reflect Mayan culture; the renovation was wonderful with all rooms looking out on the pool (no pictures inside); one of the rooms had a 60 gallon salt water aquarium with exotic fish, coral, kelp; best I have ever seen. Oh, the current owners don't live there, they rent it out for movies (The Aviator), tv and parties at $4,000/night. They say business is good.

Pasadena JPL (wow) Frisbee golf Ca poppies May 5

Went to beautiful Pasadena, home of the Rose Bowl. Very pretty, beautiful homes on the hills. First stop the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, one of ten NASA directed facilities dedicated to unmanned spacecraft. 5000 employees hired and administered by Cal Tech, JPL was originally started by a group of Cal Techers who tried to build rockets in the '30s and basically loved to blow things up; they were called the suicide squad; Cal Tech evetually gave them a dedicated off site area so they wouldn't blow anyone else up. The tour was great. They communicate with all the US unmanned spacecraft still operating, including the original voyager, which is currently 10 1/2 billion (yes, billion) miles away, at the edge of our solar system; round trip communication takes 32 hours at the speed of light (remember what that is?). Pretty neat.

Above is a "clean room" with a group of engineers (all covered up) working on the next Mars Rover, an unmanned craft that is scheduled to be launched (takes 9 months to get to Mars) in late 2011. Greatest contamination concern is human skin. Boy, are these guys under pressure to perform! They have been working on this mission for the past seven years. NASA budget is about 2% GNP, count me as a big fan!

Control room above, board to the left of NASA are the spacecraft they are currently talking to, boards on the right are code lines reflecting bundles of data they are receiving constantly. Go watch the Hubble videos of deep space and tell me what's out there isn't worth exploring.

Frisbee Golf, this was too funny. First, above a pic of one hill of Pasadena, beautiful homes everywhere on the hillside, pic taken from a field next to the Frisbee course. Apparently, Frisbee golf got started by those who loved frisbee throwing and golf was too expensive. Near JPL is an 18 hole frisbee golf course; it is free, the course was plenty busy on a Wednesday at 11am (doesn't anyone work anymore?). Some of the players said they thought this should be an Olympic sport (he wasn't kidding). I must admit they were pretty good at throwing these things. What will they think of next?

Guy teeing off on the first hole.

His bag of frisbees.

Finally, went to an area called The Antelope Valley up North, whose claim to fame are fields and fields of Ca. poppies, the Ca. state flower. They are only open for a short time during the year so we went to see them. A broad view of one field and a close up are below. Very windy up there, maybe 40 mph; staff says it is always windy up there, sometimes up to 70mph. Everybody was being blown every which way.

LA Museums, La Brea, Pedersen Auto May 2-3

Spent a couple of days in the museum complex on Wilshire Blvd in LA. The complex is great, with numerous museums, including a Renoir exhibit (lots of nudes), a number of Picassos, a wonderful Japanese museum and an exhibit of early American art including Remington sculptures and paintings. Audio lectures made it very interesting. Marlene in the Egytian room.





Next door to the museum complex are the La Brea tar pits, a 25 acre Hancock Park, where since 1900 excavations have been made of over 250,000 fossils that have been preserved in tar (asphalt). Below a researcher is working on a Columbian mastadon bone. Looks like a messy job.

The picture below is a clump of fossils yet to be "un-tarred".

Across the street is the Pedersen Auto Museum, somewhat different than the Nethecutt, but very interesting. Below a custom '57 Olds that was a national winner; it was a beauty. Double click on the picture to enlarge it.

They also had a section "What were they thinking?" with some hilarious vehicles. Below, the 1913 Scripps-Booth Bi-Autogo, a 3200 lb motorcycle with training wheels when it slowed down (had a V-8), never made any more (surprise), made the list as one of the worst automobile ideas ever.