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 19-May-2009
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Candace I headed over to Cronan Ranch Regional Trails Park in Pilot Hill for a little mid-week hike. It was a very hot day, but we took the Ranch Road down to the South Fork of the American River and the Long Valley Trail back. We saw buildings which I’ve heard rumored were built as a movie set. Spring is still in the air, we saw plenty of wild flowers and butterflies and the river is still flowing fully. The trail map still shows other trails in the park that I need to explore some day.
GPS Stats: • Odometer: 4.83 miles • Total Time: 2:21 • Moving Time: 1:45 • Moving Average: 2.7 mph • Overall Average: 2.0 mph
Posted by Karen on 10-May-2009
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The golf course at Wawona had been calling Vic’s name since our visit last year, so he went to play a round of golf this morning and we girls went and checked out the Yosemite Pioneer History Center. I’ve been to the history center before, but can visit it many more times. It’s a really lovely and peaceful setting next to the river and the buildings on display are all in really good condition.
After golf and lunch, we saw a truck drive over a road that cut through the golf course and we wondered where it went, so we went that way too. The road turned out to be the Chowchilla Mountain Road, a former stage coach route, now a rutted, dirt road that takes out out of the park. We followed the road over hill and over dale, next to the flowing river and finally made our way to the summit of Devil’s Peak. Only a couple of tough spots where there was still snow on the road, but we made it. We met a bicyclist at the summit and while we marveled at his strenght to peddle up here, he was surprised we made it in the SUV… LOL! There is a fire watchtower at the summit, but it was still closed and nobody was home. There is also supposed to be a geocache up there, but we all looked and couldn’t find it. 
Back to the valley and pizza at Curry Village (yumm).
Posted by Karen on 04-Jan-2009
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Tersha, Vic, Brianna and I headed out early in the morning and drove over to Natural Bridges State Beach to see the monarch butterflies that winter there. According to the website,
The park’s Monarch Grove provides a temporary home for over 100,000 Monarchs each winter. From mid-October through the end of February, the Monarchs form a “city in the trees.”
and I’ve seen pictures of the butterflies clustered in trees, and was hoping to see that that sight. Unfortunately, we didnt’ see any clusters, but we did see Monarch butterflies holding perfectly still while it was too cold still for them to fly. On the path, we met a researcher that was doing a count of the butterflies and he explained how the death of the pine trees in the refuge were affecting the eucalyptus trees that the butterflies nest in, so the butterflies weren’t coming there in droves anymore *sad*. Next we walked over to the beach and checked out the remaining natural arch that gives the beach its name. Herons, seagulls and cormorants were also hanging out on the beach. After lunch, we drove north to the Año Nuevo State Natural Reserve for our elephant seal tour at 1pm. This is my third time here and I have yet to see the bull fighting that I’d like to see in action… oh well, maybe next time. There were a few seal pups on the beach, but they weren’t in full force yet. It was a nice sunny day, so the seals weren’t too terrible active today. On the way out, we decided to walk along the beach instead of the trail and we did get to see a couple of elephant seals close up on the beach. Everyone kept a respectful distance and didn’t disturb them. After watching the surfers for a bit, we started home, but we just had to pull over to enjoy the gorgeous sunset in Half Moon Bay.
