California Poppy

Just wanted to get a new picture up for my blog header. My favorite flower, California Poppy. This one's growing in my garden.

Watch for a new post soon, with photos from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library!

Pinnacles National Monument - Nine Mile Hike

We spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at the Pinnacles National Monument near Hollister, California. This is one of our favorite places to hike and camp. We always try to go in the spring and/or fall because in the summer it is just wayyyy too hot, and in the winter it can be unbearably cold, especially at night.

Well, this visit turned out to be unseasonably warm, or should I say, HOT! It was like July or August instead of April. On the other hand, because of the recent rains the wildflowers were out in full force, and looked absolutely incredible. We saw flowers we'd never seen before, and in such quantities that they blanketed the ground in many places. And the green grass and leaves! It was really beautiful. I just wish I were a better photographer so that I could do proper justice to the gorgeous scenery.

Mike's photos are much better than mine but since he hasn't given me copies yet, and he's gone to bed, you'll have to make do with my poorer efforts!

Usually it's the Pinnacles themselves (caused by a long-ago volcanic eruption) that are the attraction . . .

. . . but this time the flora stole the show. Here are just a few of the photos I took of the wildflowers, grass, and trees:

...the easy part of our hike....LOL!

. . . hummingbirds love these. . .they are Common Monkeyflower . . .

. . . we'd never seen these before, they are called Virgin's Bower. . .

. . . not sure which member of the Pea family these purples beauties are . . .

. . . of course, California poppies were everywhere . . .
. . . amazing, even growing out of cracks in the rocks. . .

. . .switchbacks took us ever higher . . . just look at all that green. . .

. . . and what a view from up there . . .

. . . oh, and we can't forget the young, healthy poison oak EVERYWHERE. . .
my favorite plant . . . NOT!

. . we also saw this cool dude sunning himself on a rock . . .

. . . and explored Balconies Caves with teensy flashlights.

Must admit, though, that this next photo was my absolute fave of the day:

Mike, who looks so cute, and my CAR waiting patiently for us at the end of a long, hot & dry, nine-mile hike. Ahh, the pleasure of moving from one place to another while sitting still!

Amazingly, we neither of us had blisters, but I had aching hips and knees, and my feet were so tired they burned. We didn't take quite enough water but at least I did have sunblock for skin AND lips, and we wore good hats.

And you can bet the pool at the campground felt AWESOME.

American Canyon Bike Ride

Mike didn't work today and he developed cabin-fever very quickly, so we loaded up the bikes and headed out to a small farming community in American Canyon. I'd driven through here briefly last week when I went to the new super-Wal-Mart on Hwy 29 (for you non-northern Californians, Hwy 29 heads north, from where we live, into Napa, and along the way is the small city of American Canyon). The above building was one of the features I'd wanted to photograph last week but didn't have the nerve to get out of the truck by myself. Honestly, I think I never should have seen (or read) "Deliverance!"
After all, these houses (above) were nearby and clearly they are all (except the white one in the very back) old, falling down, and unoccupied! In fact, the day I was out there by myself I'd swear I could see a man sitting in front of the only occupied building, tipped back against the wall in a straight-backed chair, arms folded, and a baseball cap low over his eyes. Yeah, I drove right on out of there.

Luckily, though, I made a mental note to remember this area next time we wanted to go for a bike ride somewhere new. I figured a couple people on bikes wouldn't draw as much attention as a strange vehicle in the area, and even if we did surely no one would suspect we were up to anything more than just a nice bike ride out in the country.

We were only a few minutes drive off busy Hwy 29, but this area is so quiet that it's easy to imagine you are miles out in the country. Here are a couple photos of what some of the "roads" we were riding on look like:
Yep, sometimes it was just a track in the grass. Other times paved, sometimes just dirt or gravel, and once an old road, barely used anymore, of broken up concrete, rocks and other rubble. Hooray for mountain bikes with fat tires! Don't even THINK of bringing your skinny-wheeles touring bikes out here.

Don't you love the street sign in this next pic?
Zorro Road?? It appears to head out to pretty much nowhere but into the middle of the vineyard, but we found there were houses hidden among these hills, presumably people growing grapes for the wineries in nearby Napa Valley. Here's one:
Another photo of the early-spring grapevines, and there's the farmer on his tractor between the rows:
Later we saw him again, near the road we were bicycling on, and got this photo as he was heading back up the hillside. Dang, I'd hoped for a ride on that tractor.
Below: the two tall silos in the distance were what I'd seen last week, and what I was trying to get to. Unfortunately, every road that seems to go their way is blocked by a gate or dead end or a new housing subdivision. Even on bikes we weren't able to find our way out there. Well, one of these days we may just have to hike across the fields and climb a couple of barbed-wire fences! There are a number of old buildings out there and I'd love to explore them.
Oh, and that's a train on the right side of the same photo. We were standing next to three tracks, the middle one had an idling train on it. I wanted to look into all the boxcars for hobos, but Mike said no. Bad enough, I guess, that we'd walked on by several "No Trespassing" signs, heh heh.
A little later we got to see that idling train on its way north (above). Reminded me of when I was young and my family lived in Redondo Beach, CA. There were train tracks fairly nearby and we kids loved to go over there and watch the trains go by and wave to the engineers. The engineer of this today train waved at us, too. Awesome.
Hm, farmers must be rolling in money if they can afford to leave perfectly good farm equipment standing out in the fields long enough to get this covered with weeds and bushes!
Wow, they don't bother taking care of their cars either! Two old Ford Fairlanes, the one in back is a convertible.
One last photo of another barn. What can I say, I just have a thing for old barns. Maybe I was born in one?

Mom?

Wordless Wednesday

Just Couldn't Stay In . . .

. . . on a day like this.

Mike got an unexpected day off so we loaded up the bikes in the back of the truck and went to the Benicia State Recreation Area. Just look at that sky.

This guy was browsing for lunch in the marshy grass. We're never sure if these are herons or egrets. Either way we enjoy watching them walk ever so slowly, or standing completely still, eyes sharp and on the lookout for the tiniest movement of a tiny fish or frog.

Blossoms are everywhere this time of the year and I decided to practice my skills with a macro shot. This is the best one I got. Mike is better at flower photography than I am. This next one is his shot:

Awww, he found a different pretty flower to photograph, ha ha!

This photo is for my friend, Linda, who always tells me to be sure to wear a helmet when I ride my bike, and she's right because I am notorious for falling off it at least twice every summer. It's also for my son, Michael, because that's Michael's helmet that he left in our garage for "safe-keeping." Sorry, Michael, but I'm getting very attached to your helmet. I love that it's pre-scratched and dented and I think it makes me look cool!

This shot is from 9th street, looking toward Glen Cove. There's a boat launch here and also a nice little park here with play equipment for kids and a huge lawn that attracts migrating Canada geese like this pair:

Benicia is probably their favorite stop on their route.

By the time we got back to the truck the clouds were beginning to get darker and the temperature was dropping. We were lucky to get out during the nicest part of the afternoon. It may be Winter again tomorrow . . .

. . . but today it was Spring.