Posted by Karen on 20-Jun-2010
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Lori and I took a Sunday drive today to Marin County to see what there is to see. Our first stop was at the Marin County Civic Center, which was closed, but the outside of the building is still very interesting to check out. The building was designed by the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957, near the end of his life. The building is huge and hard to get a photo of the entire thing, but there are numerous architectural details that catch the eye and the camera. Our next stop was as the Marin Art & Garden Center, which is a tucked-away jewel of flowers, gardens and art to explore. Our last stop of the day as at the Railroad-Ferry Museum in Tiburon, where I learned that Tiburon, at one time was more than million-dollar views, it was a railroad town. On the hilltop we found Old St. Hilary’s Church, an old church in the Carpenter Gothic style built in 1886. We end our day down to the center plaza and docks of Tiburon, enjoying the San Francisco skyline and the fascinating wave sculpture and fountain named “Coming About“.
Posted by Karen on 06-Mar-2010
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Lori and I headed to the coast for the maiden voyage of my new-to-me Aliner trailer. We camped at Half Moon Bay State Beach, which is camping right next to the ocean. Setting up the trailer was a breeze, even in the ocean breeze. After relaxing a bit, we headed north a few miles to enjoy sunset at the Point Montara Light Station, which was established in 1900. Back at camp, we just hung out and enjoyed a lovely spring weather evening and sounds of the ocean next to us. After breaking down the trailer Sunday morning, we did some tidepooling at the James Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach. Tidepooling is fun because you’ll never know what the ocean will reveal trapped in the rocks during low tide; I found one large starfish, several anemones, and pretty rocks. We enjoyed fresh fish and chips over at Princeton Seafood Company on Pillar Point Harbor and then we headed home feeling rested and refreshed.
Posted by Karen on 25-May-2009
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FOR THE GLORY!! Today is the finale of the Kinetic Grand Championship race and I’ve made my way to Ferndale to enjoy the festivities at the finish line. Ferndale is a charming little city with many Victorian-style buildings in excellent shape. I make my way to the main street and set up my chair on the sidewalk along with a couple hundred other folks, there’s not near as many people here today as there was for the kickoff, but it’s a beautiful sunshiny day. The racers straggle in throughout the afternoon and we’re all just having fun sitting and talking. During a stretch of no in-coming sculptures, I wandered over to the Kinetic Sculpture Museum and check out some retired sculptures from past races. 4:32pm marks the end of the race and most racers have crossed the finish line by then. After mingling and checking out the sculptures one last time, I take a ride over to the coast and find a section of the Lost Coast Trail and I do a bit of off-road exploring. Ahh, the end of a Glorious Memorial Day Weekend.
Posted by Karen on 23-May-2009
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The Kinetic Grand Championship is a 3-day, 42-mile bicycle race over land, sand, mud and water. Many refer to the Kinetic Grand Championship as the “Triathlon of the Art World.”
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FOR THE GLORY!! Today is the start of the 40th anniversary of the Kinetic Grand Championship race and I’m actually here on time for it this year! I was here two years ago and didn’t know much about the race and so I only caught a few bits of it (and then lost my photo memory card!). But this year I know more of how it works and plan on seeing more of it. I’ve scanned in the Spectators Guide and you can view it here in PDF format so that you can have a peek at the rules of wackiness for this race. I arrived at the Arcata Plaza (the town square) around 10am and found a spot on the curb to watch the vehicle inspections and brake tests. Each entrant must pass inspection before the noon whistle signals the race start. The judges blow a whistle and the racers must prove that they can exit the vehicle in a speedy manner (in case it sinks in the bay!). The Teddy Bear Judge makes sure there is the required teddy bear on board. The police make sure the required reflectors and such are attached so that they can be on the public roadway. The racers then peddle as fast as they can towards the Brake Judge and when he blows his whistle, they must stop within a required distance. And if they can’t pass all of these inspections, it is fully expected and encouraged that they will bribe the judges appropriately… LOL! Next is the pageantry portion, each team performs for the judges in a wacky way. Poems were spoken, songs where sung, dancing was erratic and for those teams with limited pageantry ability, bribes were given. The noon whistle blows and the racers, led by this year’s Rutabaga Queen Jermajesty, begin a mad dash around the plaza and after several go arounds, they begin heading 10 miles down the road to the Manila Sand Dunes. I enjoyed the street circus and party atmosphere for awhile and then drive down to the sand dunes. At the sand dunes, there is a band playing while the racers modify their wheels to be sand-worthy. When ready, they power their way over the sand dunes to the ocean; that’s as far as I followed them. The next attraction on the race course is Dead Man’s Drop when they come off the beach, but I didn’t really know where that was located, so I missed that portion. I then went onto Eureka and waiting at the old town plaza square for the racers to arrive. Lots of smiles, lots of fun and lots of “For the Glory” shouts!
KHUM Radio provides total live action coverage of the race, so it’s a must to have your radio tuned to them. And to really capture the flavor of this event, listen live to this eclectic radio station’s live stream while looking at the pictures. 
