Valley Springs

So I thought I'd share a little of what I did this past weekend with you. A bunch of guys from work and I headed up into the foothills to a little town called Valley Springs. My friend Chuck, has access to a house up there, so we loaded up the beer and left the wives at home. I can't show you all my pictures from the weekend (wink, wink), but I will show you a few of the family friendly ones (lol).

Here is the house and the view - very nice!

We took a little hike down into the valley....

The only problem was we had to hike back up to the house!! (insert the sounds of groans and complaints here) Whose idea was this??? LOL!

Lots of cool birds to see .....

Western Blue Bird

Acorn Woodpecker

Junco

Tree frog

Nut Hatch

Male and female Purple Finch

By the Sunday the buzzards were circling, but we all managed to make it home alive!

There ya go. I can tell you alot of fun was had by all, myself included.

Have a great week!!

TVH

The Central California Coast, Pismo Beach and Morro Bay

On Saturday, the family made a long day trip down to San Luis Obispo to go check out a barn sale south of Pismo Beach. Up early and out the door by 5:30 we made the 5 hour trip south to the Remnants of the Past barn sale. The weather was great and the turn out at the barn sale seemed pretty good as there were lots of customers. We wondered through the barn and around the outside, taking it all in.

The girls from Bungalow in Fair Oaks, Ca had made the trip down and had a great display on the outside of the barn

Check out these cool pumpkins that were for sale. How awesome are these? The words are actually cut into the young pumpkin and then scar to make the writing you see here. (Click the picture to enlarge it)



I also enjoyed the items for sale by JennyK of Junk Girls. Be sure to check out the link to her web site. After leaving the barn sale we drove up to Pismo Beach and unlike Bugs Bunny, we made it there with no problems (even that pesky left turn at Albuquerque)! Upon arriving we were informed that Pismo is the only beach in California that you can drive on. Not being one to miss out on a great photo-op, we took the BMW down on the beach.


The kids love the beach and the sand dunes made for some great digging. I on the other hand, enjoyed watching the jet skiers jump the waves and do some other crazy tricks. The marine layer was a little thick, so I apologize for the dark pictures.


From Pismo Beach, we drove up to Morro Bay and had a great lunch at The Galley. This picture is of The Rock, the famous land mark there in Morro Bay.

After a great day, it was time to head home. Another spectacular day in California. I hope everyone enjoyed the pictures.

Until next time....

TVH

Trip to the Coast

So, what to do on a sunny California day? Head to the coast for a little relief from the sun, the smell of salt air and cypress trees. Drink some coffee and maybe get rained on little. That's exactly what we did. From our home base in Sacramento, we drove 2 hours west toward San Francisco with a slight detour south to Half Moon Bay. First stop was to grab some coffee, a quick bite to eat and then on to the beach.

It was slightly overcast but warm. From Half Moon Bay we headed north toward Pacifica.

How could you pass up a chance to walk the maze someone created from rocks on the beach?




This was the coolest! Click on this picture to enlarge it. Someone carved a whole bunch of marine animals on this tree stump that was washed up onto the beach. Is that crazy, or what?

The beach at Pacifica was loaded with surfers. There were easily 200 people of all ages out in the water surfing. I wish I had taken an over all picture of every one. These were just a few of the surfers.



After leaving Pacifica, it was onward to San Francisco which turned out to be quite crowded. The chocolate festival was going on down at Ghirardelli Square. We walked around, sample some chocolate had some ice cream, got rained on and then headed home. What better to do when stuck in traffic in downtown San Fran, than shoot some pictures out the sunroof.

The daughter shot this one out the back window on the way home. The rain was following us home. All in all a very satisfying day. Nothing super exciting, but definitely better than sitting on the couch all day watching tv!!

Have a great week!!!

TVH

California State Fair

Ice House Reservoir, Wrights Lake and Dark Lake

So, with the T.H.G. (Tattered House Gang) on the road to the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market, the kids and I decided to get out of the Valley heat and head up into the mountains for some trout fishing. We took off up Hwy 50 to Ice House Reservoir. Upon arriving we found that we weren't the only ones that had the same idea. The campground had a "Full" sign and the lake was busy with water skiers and jet skiers. Not a good thing if you want to go fishing! But having made the hour drive up, and seeing as it was such a nice day, we decided to stay and give it a try.

The thing about fishing with the kids is making sure there is something to do when the fishing gets slow. Luckily there were plenty of rocks on the shore for rock skipping and excavating.

After spending some time with nothing to show but a few drowned worms and a few less rocks on the beach, we left Ice House Res and headed up the road to Wrights Lake. Wrights was also full up. We couldn't even find a place to fish, so we cruised over to Dark Lake.

Dark Lake was fairly quiet, so we went to work trying to catch us some trout. I give Jake credit, he definitely gave it a good try, but alas, no fish today. The day wasn't a total loss. It was a beautiful day and we had fun. On the way back down, we were up around 8,000ft, we stopped and took some pics.

Who doesn't love climbing on top of a big chunk of granite?

Looking back toward Sacramento with Hwy 50 looking tiny in the lower left hand corner.
We drove past this rock and the kids and I thought the graffiti was hilarious. :0)
Ok, that wraps up our day trip to the mountains. I'll try and post some pics of the goodies that the Tattered House Gang brings back from their trip to L.A.

See you next time

TVH