Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Pt. 1

I'm dedicating Pt. 1 of the Santa Cruz Boardwalk portion of our weekend post, entirely to the Looff Carousel and the Giant Dipper. The family photos must wait :) These two attractions alone are not only blog worthy, but worthy of taking precedent over the family pics and having their own post!

To begin with, both the Giant Dipper roller coaster, and the Looff Carousel were declared National Historic Landmarks together in 1987. When you ride them, you're riding history (I love history, btw). The Giant Dipper was built in 1924, and the Carousel in 1911. The carousel also still has its original pipe organ that was constructed in 1894, so not only are you riding history when you're on it, you're listening to it as well.

I first rode the Giant Dipper with my friend Tauna Fudge when I was a teenager. I remembered it all these years until we went as a family to Santa Cruz last year and rode it again. The thing about riding a National Historic Landmark that happens to be wooden roller coaster that is over 80 years old, is that you feel that you are taking your life in your hands when it's your turn to step into its car. Half the thrill of the ride, is realizing the cars didn't jump the tracks and you weren't killed or maimed. Besides that, it's just a great ride!!!

I've been to the Looff Carousel a couple times too, and even have a cute picture of Eva and Sophie riding it last summer. But I guess I'd never been on it myself, or I would have noticed that it's not your ordinary carousel, besides being a National Historic Landmark. I'm kind of ashamed I didn't notice before what's different about it. This carousel has a brass ring dispenser that you can grab a ring from as you ride past, and then you try to throw the brass ring at a giant clown face. The target is the clown's mouth. I was wondering why all these adults were chucking money at the wall kind of violently when the ride started, and I was down watching the kids. Then I peeked around the corner from where I was standing and saw the clown. I didn't realize at first that they were grabbing rings. Well it was all such a surprise - and a pleasant one! To see a bunch of adults taking over a child's ride and wildly throw things at a target was heart warming :) Of course I had to do it myself too! Unfortunately, we were moving on as a group to do other things, or I would have stayed and done it a few more times. You can rest assured, that the next time we go to the Boardwalk, I'll be pushing children out of the way to get to a horse on the outside - my own children if need be :) That carousel is too much fun!!!

This is the ring dispenser and clown face target

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Hangin' With The Berkeley Tree Sitters

On Friday we went to Berkeley to pick up KC Ben (our cousin from Kansas City), who was at Berkeley for a two week summer film camp, so while we were there, we took the opportunity to see the spectical and insanity that is the Oak Grove tree 'sit in'. Ah, Berkeley! There are no words really. Well I guess there are a few, but something like the tree sitters really has to be experienced first hand to appreciate. But here's a small attempt anyway, to convey a little bit of the atmosphere at the Memorial Oak Grove, just west of Memorial Stadium at UC Berkeley, where some tree sitters have been tree sitting for over 600 days to spare The Oak Grove from becoming pavement, or a practice stadium - or something like that. We found out that much more is at stake than just these trees though! Zachary Running Wolf explained to us (it's in my video), that this is about UC Berkeley being a nuclear super power and trying to rule the entire world! So there - take that! ;-)

Zachary Running Wolf

This was like a flash back (and appropriate phrase to use when talking about Berkeley) of the four years we spent living in Humboldt County, California - which I loved, btw :) Oh how I miss constantly hearing about the virtues of hemp and how it can save the world, seeing middle class white kids turned hippie trying their hardest to wear their hair in dreadlocks, and seeing "Save The Headwaters Forest' spray painted everywhere ;-) Well of course I'm being a bit silly, but I do miss those first two things in a strange way. And I especially miss everything being green (I mean the landscape), and the friends we had there.

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Wilipedia link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_University_of_California%2C_Berkeley_Oak_Grove_Protest

Tail end of our trip

We picked up our cousin Ben in Berkeley on Friday, and then had some fun in Santa Cruz, and up the coast. These pics are just from yesterday and today though. The slide show starts out at a beach in Davenport, then at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, and then Emerald Bay and Eagle Falls at Lake Tahoe.

More to follow soon...blogging is so much more fun than unpacking :)

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Randomness Vol. 1

How cute is this? A boy and his bug. Tuesday evening out at the Hamricks in Mogul, RJ (my nephew) brought in a wounded dragonfly and placed it on the kitchen counter for all of us to enjoy while we made dinner.

The dragonfly wasn't quite dead yet, and was still moving its wings ever so slightly. Ella was appalled at its suffering and wanted it smashed with a rock to put it out of its misery. I don't think that happened - no one volunteered for bug smashing duty. The thing was as practically the size of a small bird, but it did eventually disappear from the kitchen, and is probably blowin' in the wind somewhere.

I really like dragonfly art, btw. Stuff like dragonfly garden ornaments, candle holders or jewelry with dragonflies are wonderful, but they're really horrible up close, and you would certainly never want one near your face - unless it was in earring or neclace form.

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This male roosting pheasant (my father in-law Marv informed as to what it is) has been hanging out in the wetlands off of Double R Blvd, just north of Double Diamond Blvd. Ella and I first saw it about three weeks ago. We both couldn't believe our eyes, so I flipped a u-ey (how is that spelled?) and drove past it again. It was a strange sight! Since then, Matt and the girls have seen it on several occasions in the same general area, and yesterday I was finally able to get this picture. Isn't he beautiful? Marv says he used to see these in this area while out surveying, before there were any houses out here. He said there was a hunting club somewhere near the gun club that used to release them for hunting. Hmmmm, maybe it survived some lousy hunters who couldn't shoot straight.

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I was able to revive my latest hydrangea from dehydration, after having taken very good care of it for a couple weeks. It had a near death experience Tuesday morning, but made a comeback that took an hour! My last one died when we went to Idaho, and this one will be dead by Sunday morning- we're going out of town tomorrow - RIP beautiful blue hydrangea

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This is our very impromptu family get together family portrait. It happened that we wanted a picture of all of us (right when I stepped out of the water of course), and when we were looking around for someone on the beach to take it, Robert (in the red shirt next to me in the back) spotted a professional photographer getting ready to shoot the sunset. So he took Janene's card out of her camera, quick thinker that he is, and took it over to the photographer and asked him if he would put Janene's card in his camera and take our picture - and he did :) What a nice man!!! That's how we get stuff done in our family, lol! Never with very much forethought, but it always turns out alright. It was all crazy because we were trying to hurry for him though, and we were running around to get in place so we wouldn't waste too much of his time. Sophie had to be dragged over in the boat because she was too cold from swimming to move or do anything, but it turned out pretty cute I think, for throwing it together in about 60 seconds :)

Wild Horses

For the last few weeks, I've been seeing articles in the paper about yet another plan to get rid of the wild horses. The issue comes up every couple of years it seems like. Usually, the BLM is accused of having managed the wild horses poorly, or they say no one wants to adopt them, the state doesn't have the money to support them any longer, blah blah blah. I really don't know anything about how much it costs the state, who is responsible, or what the answers to the problem are, I just know I'll be sad if they aren't here anymore! Here's one of the latest articles:

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008807200339

The horses come and go in this area. Sometimes they're around for weeks or months, and other times they're no where to be seen. Lately, I haven't seen any. I think these horses belong to what is called something like 'The Virginia Range Herd', and they have a large area to graze and wander. But when they're here, I just love driving down Steamboat, and seeing them dot the hills. It makes me happy! They're easiest to spot while driving down Steamboat in the late afternoon and evening, when the sun is shining from behind as you're going east, and there aren't as many shadows. I look for them all the time coming home this way. And of course I love it when they wander out of the hills, and just kind of meander around and do whatever they want - because they can :) I have a lot of pictures and some video, but not all of it is digitized. Here is what I could whip up though.

Dang, forget about the whales! I live in the desert - save the horses ;-)

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Police concert

Last night we saw The Police in concert with the O'Neils at the Sleep Train Amphitheater outside of Sacramento, in Wheatland. It was a great show, needless to say. It was The Police after all! They did all their big hits, and also lots of lesser known songs, which are just as good and sometimes even better than the biggies!!! My favorite number was 'Wrapped Around Your Finger'. Stewart Copeland had every imaginable cymbal type dangly thing to make noise with, and a huge gong. He's so impressive! There wasn't one song the entire evening I didn't enjoy. They are incredible performers, and Sting's voice is fantastic live!!!

I'm afraid this tour has taken a toll on Sting though. He now looks like a grandpa in his scruffy grey beard, and much older than he did only a year ago when we saw them in June 2007. Chris said he looked like Popeye's dad. That was kind of impressive, because I didn't even realize that Popeye had a dad. But with the help of google - here he is. You be the judge...

Popeye's dad - Pappy

At the Grammy awards in 2007, when they announced they would tour again

But you know, I liked Cary Grant best in his late 50's and 60's! I don't care if Sting is aging. He's doing it well, and he's been my one and only constant celebrity crush since I was a senior in high school (I was already a big fan, but when Sting's 'Nothing Like The Sun' came out, I was completely smitten) - and he still is, even if his last album was 17th century lute music :)

Matt, Me, Nicole, Chris

I love my new Fidel Castro-ish/Police hat ;)

The people watching was fun too.

This was a couple sitting right in front of us, sporting matching his & hers ear plugs. They were deafinitely ready to ROCK OUT! The plugs stayed in ALL night.

A good time was had by all, even the hearing impaired. Actually, that describes us after the concert - the people who didn't wear ear plugs :)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The audio is terrible, but you get the idea

Sand Harbor - another video with our Kansas kin :)

In this video, Ben and Ella jump the 'runway rock'. I don't know what that rock is actually called, or if it even has a name (someone should name and map out all the jumping rocks at Sand Harbor), but it's the one that has to be run down before reaching the point at which you can jump. You can't tell from this angle, but it's only about 3 feet wide at the most all the way down, so not slipping or tripping is critical!!! Ella has wanted to do this for a long time, and it's always made me nervous, but she finally did it on Friday, and so did Ben! There were no injuries sustained, yay :)

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Emerald Bay and Eagle Falls outing

Here's a little video montage of our outing last week with our relatives from Kansas. I already posted a couple pics from this last week. They'll be at my sister Janene's house today, after having been to San Francisco, Berkeley, Napa Valley and Chico - all after leaving Lake Tahoe on Sunday. They can watch this when they finally get home and have recovered :)

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Summer rain

We had an unexpected, but very welcome torrential downpour yesterday. It did cause some flash flooding in the North Valleys, but it didn't do anything here but clear the air :) Yay, we can see the mountains clearly this morning. I haven't heard if it put out any of the California fires though. The smoke will probably be back soon.

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Afterwards, we had some lovely sunlight cast through lingering clouds

p.s. to all my LDS friends who have moved away - I would post some pics from the ward BBQ last night, but I couldn't be there because it was back to school night *SCREAM*.

I just wanted to whine some more about school in July!

And can I just say how wonderful and joyful I felt yesterday, knowing someone else was planning the ward BBQ and worrying about whether or not to cancel it because of the weather?! I think I might have had a heart attach if I had still been the Activities Committee Chairperson when that rain started, which was at about 4:52, according to my video timer. It ended here in our neighborhood at about 5:20, and the BBQ was scheduled to begin at 5:30 out at Bower's Mansion. I can't tell you how overjoyed I was just thinking about someone else having to deal with it :) Matt took the kids and said they had a great time.

We uncovered a hoax at the family reunion

We could have just looked at some youtube videos to figure this out, but we didn't have any wireless service up at the lake. And besides, it was more fun doing it ourselves.

Here's the video Heather saw (I think this must be the one) that started it all

And here's us being gullible enough to think it might actually be true

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Slideshow

Our little family soiree was a huge success. More details to follow soon. But for now, here's a slideshow

They're not in Kansas anymore...

...they're in Reno (right now Lake Tahoe actually) - our visitors that is. Last night, my Aunt Eileen's daughter Gretchen(see earlier post about my Aunt Eileen) and Gretchen's husband Robert and son Ben flew in from Kansas for a visit :) We had a very fun day, despite the smoke stifling us here again in Reno. Wednesday night, after a relatively clear day, it rolled in again in the evening like dense fog spreading itself over a coastal town :( But, they had a great attitude about it, and we decided to just pretend it wasn't happening. It was hard not to be disappointed all day though, that most every beautiful view was filtered through smoke - sometimes even completely blocked. Oh well, what cha gonna do?

After we had visited for a while (with my mom, Janene, Josie, Jamie and Julia here too), and caught up with each others lives and then some, we went to the lake and went to the beach at the end of Ski Run in South Lake Tahoe first. You can walk all the way out to the buoys and never have your head below water. Ben really loved how clear the water was, and he and Ella and I went quite a ways out.

Then we headed over to Emerald Bay. They were all overwhelmed by the beauty of the drive and the views, even though we couldn't quite see anything very clearly. Robert especially loved the part of the drive right before you get to Emerald Bay, and on either side of the two lane road is water. Emerald Bay on one side, and Fallen Leaf Lake on the other. The road is elevated enough that if you were to sneeze violently, or be too distracted by the beauty, you could accidentally drive right over the edge and kill your entire family. There are no guard rails. That's my favorite part of the drive too, lol. I think I'll have to video tape that sometime - while someone else is driving of course.

Then it was getting dark, and we headed back to where they are staying, and stopped at Big Daddy's Burgers for dinner and ate outside in the smoke :)

Sophie, Ella, Eva and Ben overlooking Emerald Bay

Eva, Sophie and Robert

Eagle Falls at Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe

Smokey Sunset at Emerald Bay

This picture doesn't at all do justice to the color of the sun - it was red

Beautiful tree roots at Eagle Falls

Fourth of July weekend

For the fourth of July weekend, we invited ourselves to Joanie's cabin. She's quite a hostess, and even gave us the master bedroom, and we were selfish enough to take it, because that's how we are :) We all had a great time, and the smoke mostly even stayed away until Sunday.

Here's a video montage, my very first, that's not yet finished. I've been waiting for some pictures from Joanie, but she's taking her sweet time, lol. Send them when you can Joanie, and I'll add them. Mostly I can't wait to post this video because I'm anxious to see my superior handiwork on display ;-) I also have some captions, but that feature is a 'premium' feature, and I don't feel like going to fetch my wallet to sign up for the service. So, here is the as yet unfinished montage (I also have to take care of some of the bad wind sound)

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Paradise burning

Paradise, California

Literally, Paradise is burning - Paradise, California. I'm so sad. I lived in Chico for a couple of years and know Paradise well too. It's a beautiful town with lots of tall pine trees, like up at Lake Tahoe. My uncle in Chico called today and said the smoke was the worst he's ever seen. When will these fires ever end???!!! *sigh*

Paradise, California

Some things are just wrong...

Having the first day of the new school year on July 7th is one of them! Year round school is evil and bad. It's just WRONG to take your kids to school in July! And btw, I didn't take all the kids to school today, just two out of three. Ella is in Jr High and is on traditional schedule, so that just adds to the suckiness. But it was very sweet this morning though, when she said she was actually going to be bored without Eva and Sophie around. Hearing her say that was one good thing about this I guess.

And even though Eva and Sophie had to start their new year a day after coming back from a fun fourth of July weekend, and should have been having more fun in the sun today instead of getting up early and sitting in a classroom - they did look cute!

Ode To Sand Harbor

This was going to be short, with only a couple of pictures to show the differing water levels at Lake Tahoe over the last few years. But then I started getting all nostalgic, and got a little carried away :) We have so many great memories of Sand Harbor! The year of all years was 2006, when the water level, after two HUGE snow years, was SUPER high. That may go down as one of the most fun summers ever for me, and for my kids too. It was the 'Annus Aqua Maximus' (I just made that up, obviously). We never knew there were so many rock jumping possibilities, but with the water so high, there were dozens of safe places to jump and dive. 2007 was pretty good for that too, but even after only one lousy snow year, it wasn't quite the same.

We always have a good time at the lake, but I'll really miss all the friends who have moved away in the last few years. I think they really suck for leaving, and I'll never forgive them. They know who they are ;-) They better come back this summer and go to Sand Harbor with us!!!

Here are pics of some fun times, and also the drastically changing water levels. It seems like every year at the lake is different. Along with the kids changing and being able to do more and differnt things each year, the changing water also makes it a new and unique experience every year.

Late June 2003

There was less water than this in 2004, but I didn't take a picture from this vantage point. This is my favorite spot to spend the day at the beach!!!!!! Anyone who's been to the lake with us knows that :)

2006

The change from 2004 to 2006 was dramatic!

The reason I love my favorite spot so much, is because the kids can hunt for crawdads without being out of my sight, and this huge granite wall is a great wind barrier. If the wind kicks up, which it often does, I like to watch how everyone on the main beach is struggling, while we are enjoying the calm in our special spot. Plus, the sun doesn't shine directly in our eyes, and the sand hill that leads up to the boardwalk is a fun place for the kids to bury each other without being in anybodies way.

2003 Valery Olive and Ella

2003

In this picture (that's Sophie, btw), the two rocks circled in white were perfect for diving and jumping in 2006. The highest one circled in pink was also unbelievably jumped by a few crazies (teenage boys). It doesn't look like it, but there was a tiny landing area with a few feet of water.

August 2003 , Josie and Eva You can see how shallow it was, especially for adults. Everyone in this picture would have been completely under water in 2006

August 2003

The tip of the rock circled above, was the only rock poking out a bit by the end of the summer of 2006

2006

You can see here that nothing is breaking the surface

2003 The rock that is circled above, is the same rock Ella and Jessica and Amber Crane are standing on below

2006

2006

This was our combination wind barrier, crawdad haven, climbing wall and jumping trainer all in one

2006

This was the perfect place for the young kids to learn how to be brave and jump in, but sadly the water isn't as high anymore :(

2006

View of favorite spot from above

2006

The main beach in the cove - not much beach that year

Reno Artown begins today!

I love Reno Artown! It lasts through the month of July, and my favorite events are the concerts at Wingfield Park. I've added a link of scheduled events to my side-blog.

Sophie gives a gift

Monday evening was our niece Jordan's little family birthday party - she turned 14 on Sunday. Ella and Eva had made her some cards the other day, and Sophie decided to make one too. After she'd made her card, Ella showed me the envelope Sophie had put it in and told me she had seen her put 50 cents in it. You could see two quarters. I thought that was very cute! She had also gone and found a Wolf Pack Lawn return address sticker and put it on the front of the envelope. She was really excited to give it Jordan.

So tonight, Jordan opened her card and poured out the 50 cents, and then she pulled out the picture Sophie had colored. I thought that was it, but Jordan reached in for more. She then pulled out a 20 dollar bill, and a 1 dollar bill. WOW! Sophie is quite generous! She had gone and found her wallet (we keep it ourselves because she likes to play with her money and leaves it laying around), and used her own money to give Jordan a birthday present. How sweet! Shawna gave me the $21 back on the sly though to put back in Sophie's wallet - but we let Jordan keep the 50 cents :)