Posted by Karen on 24-Dec-2009
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I had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas weekend at Bodega Bay with Tersha and Vic. They invited me the spend it with them at the beach in their trailer and I’ve decided that is a great way to camp! Christmas Eve, we arrived at the Bodega Bay RV Park and set up house for the weekend. Next door to the RV park is the Bell Memorial, which commemorates the generosity Nicholas Green’s family for donating his organs in Italy during an untimely tragedy. In 1994, while vacationing in Italy, Nicholas was shot and killed by highway robbers. His family donated his organs to seven Italian recipients and it helped spur the virtually non-existent organ donation program in Italy and is known as the Nicholas Effect. The memorial contains bells from all over Italy and one large bell which was blessed by the Pope. Donna, a coworker from EDS, and her husband Gary, arrived at the RV park and parked next door, so more friends to visit with. Christmas morning, we walked a couple miles through Sonoma Coast State Park to the beach and enjoyed the solitude of a beach shared only with birds (and one state ranger). After a nice day spent relaxing and talking and getting to know the other RVers, we drove to one of the many lookout spots and enjoyed the sunset over the ocean. On Boxing Day, we took a ride over to the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve for Tersha’s big tree fix. After a few stops at beaches, we turned inland and followed the Russian River to the tall trees near Guerneville. Walking through old growth forest is always relaxing and peaceful, even if you’re being slightly rained upon. After a nice dinner at the Sandpiper Restaurant, it sure was nice to have a dry and warm trailer to retire to! Can you tell how much I liked camping in a trailer? After packing up Sunday morning, we had a leisurely breakfast at the Tides Wharf Restaurant and then headed back home.
Posted by Karen on 11-Jul-2009
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Tersha, Elana, Brianna and I went with the Northern California Photography Group Meetup Group on a trip to Alcatraz Island and had the best day! This was my first time visiting “The Rock” and while we didn’t see Sean, Nicolas or Ed, there were lots of other visitors to the island on this gorgeous day. We arrived at Pier 33 and boarded the ferry to the island, sitting up top to enjoy the view. At the island, we listened to the ranger give the welcome speech and then we started meandering our way up the winding path to the cell house. Along the way, we saw numerous baby and juvenile birds because the island is now a bird sanctuary too. There are lots of buildings in a state of arrested decay and beautiful flowers all over the place. At the cell house, they give you a headset so that you get a guided narrative as you go through the building. The narrators are real guards and inmates from the past and they share stories of what went on there. It’s all very interesting and there is so much to see, that there is still more for me to see next time. Back on the mainland, we enjoyed a nice seafood dinner on Pier 39 and then we watched the sunset from their dock.
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 24-May-2009
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Yesterday was a gloriously full and long day and I decided to sleep in and laze about this morning instead of going down to the cold waterfront and watching the 2nd day start of the Kinetic Grand Championship race. So, to start off my lazy day, I drove over to Palmer’s Point, the southern point of Patrick’s Point State Park. It’s a seal hangout spot and I enjoyed watching them for a bit. I drove to Eureka, listening to KHUM Radio, thinking I might catch up with the race somewhere along the line, but other than the water launching, there isn’t really any spot to sit and watch them, they are racing along the roads and highway today. There was an car accident that they tried to blame on the race, but no sculpture was involved–some yutz decided to just stop dead in the middle of the highway to look at a scuplture and he got rear-ended, which is not the racer’s fault. I didn’t see any of it, but the radio gave excellent play-by-play reporting of the incident. I saw a half-hidden sign for Fort Humboldt State Historic Park, and you know me, I love the historical parks, so off I go. Fort Humboldt was a remote military post established in the 1850’s to help keep peace between settlers, gold miners, and native Indians and to provide protection as needed. The most famous person stationed there was Ulysses S. Grant, famed Union General of the Civil War and our 18th President. Of course, he was stationed there long before he became famous and it is here that he actually resigned his military commission and returned to civilian life until the Civil War. It’s a lovely park, there is a museum, plenty of open space where families were having fun picnics and an outdoor logging museum on the grounds. I thoroughly enjoyed my walk around and chats with friendly people.
