Posted by Karen on 24-Dec-2009
(Click photo for all 170 photos)
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-Nov-2009
(28 photos)
Lori and I took a drive to the south wetlands and went pretend “snipe hunting“. The Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival was last weekend, so we figured that viewing spots wouldn’t be overcrowded today. We first drove to the Cosumnes River Preserve and decided to keep heading towards Lodi since it wasn’t near sunset yet. For sunset, we settled in at the Isenberg Crane Preserve (also known as the Woodbridge Ecological Reserve) to watch the Sandhill cranes arrive for their evening roost. This was the first time watching the cranes for both of us and we didn’t know what to expect really. It’s a very peaceful way to enjoy the sunset. Various types of birds fly into a wetlands field for the night; we saw the cranes, tundra swans, ducks and other birds that I didn’t hear the birdwatchers identify. We had a spectacular sunset and I learned that bird photography is really really hard and I’ll have to retry it again many more times in order to get some decent non-blurry photos. <grin>
Posted by Karen on 25-Oct-2009
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Lori and took a cruise down to explore some of the little towns of the Delta. Our first stop was the historic town of Locke. Locke was built and established in 1915 by Chinese and until recently, almost exclusively inhabited by the Chinese. The Delta is fertile farm ground and many of the Chinese were farm workers here along the Sacramento River. We started with the old boarding house, which is now a museum and the Chinese school, which is also a museum. The rest of main street is occupied by various stores, business and residents, except for that building leaning precariously to one side. They have a very nice new granite memorial dedicated to the Chinese pioneers. Our next stop was the town of Isleton, home of the Crawdad Festival, which I’ve never been to , but I hear is fun. The last stop was the Old Sugar Mill winery in Clarksburg, where we met a very friendly dog that wanted a little attention while we photographed the building.
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.
