Photography by Pearl

Apacheland Days in Arizona

2012-01-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

Today we went to visit the Apacheland Days at the Superstition Mountain Museum here in Apache Junction, AZ. They had actors who were dressed in period costumes.

This Cowboy and Saloon girl are married in real life - so they made a cute couple.


Here we have a Fur Trader and his 'Sqaw' girlfriend.

This cowboy was a handsome and believable sheriff.

These 'Saloon Gals' were a crowd favorite.

They had a gunfight re-enactment which was fun and exciting.

But in the end the women were the tough and rugged winners.

At the same show we also saw the very entertaining Native American Hoop Dancers.

This young man's feet were moving very fast to jump though all these hoops.

He gave a whole new meaning to the term 'jumping through hoops'. He's airborne here.

If you've never seen Hoop Dancers - it's quite a treat to watch them intersect all the hoops all the while dancing quickly to the Native American singing and drumming.

Each group of hoops represents something - the above ended up looking like the world and this one once connected was a bird flapping it's wings.


They had many Native American Artisans and Craftsmen and this woman was one of them... she was weaving beautiful baskets that she was selling and trimming with leather.

We had a great day here at Apacheland Days.....

Happy New Year in the Mexican Riviera

2012-01-14T19:02:00.001-07:00

A bunch of us decided to give ourselves a Cruise to the Mexican Riviera this year as a Christmas gift. We cruised on this ship "the Oosterdam" on the Holland American Cruise Lines.

Our cruise ship left from the port of San Diego, California on Dec 30.

We all stayed over in San Diego the evening before departure.


After a nice dinner out in San Diego we watched the sunset over the skyline.

We boarded our ship first thing in the morning on New Year's Eve - this is our Stateroom.

The best thing about our staterooms was the veranda - our rooms were all joined and so were our verandas which was great fun to all sit outside together as the ship cruised along the ocean.

Every night we all watched beautiful sunsets from our verandas together.

New Year's Eve we celebrated on the ship in the Vista Restaurant - one of the 4 restaurants on board.

The food was terrific - we all had different appetizers - mine was a seafood cocktail.

And we all finished our meals with a different desert - Cheryl's was this Chocolate Tuxedo Mouse.

Yes silly hats and noise makers of course.

The ship was beautifully decorated for the holidays so we explored every inch of it.

We sailed the entire next day making our way down along the Mexican Baja Peninsula

Sunrise the following day found us in the port of Porta Vallarta.

The waterfront area was very busy with other tour boats - here you see a Pirate Ship tour boat.

A few of us decided to wander on our own through some of the areas or Porta Vallarta - along the Malecon where we found this angel outside one of the popular discos.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron saint of this Mexican town and this is her church. (note the beautiful crown on top).

We walked along the boardwalk where many of the popular sights were and of course the beautiful green ocean.

This is one of the many pantomime actors along the boardwalk. This angel appeared to be suspended in air (don't ask me how he did it - I was mystified).

The Diamonds International store is where I bought a beautiful new watch.


And a few of us enjoyed great Margaritas & a yummy Mexican lunch here in Porta Vallarta.

On our 2nd day in Porta Vallarta we hired a driver to take us all around the island. His name is 'Ricky-Ricardo'. He was great! He took us to many small neighborhoods that we wouldn't see on a regular tour.

Ricky took us to the homes of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Unfortunately because of the poverty here - the homes have been left to decay as there is no money to rehab the properties. Liz Taylor named her home Kimberley.

They build this bridge that connected both homes because when they lived here Liz was still married to Eddie Fisher. So they would visit each other via the bridge - and when they had their terrible fights they would tear the bridge down and then rebuild it when they made up. Money!!

As Ricky-Ricardo drove us through the various little neighborhoods we would see the little businesses there - this is a tile maker's shop.

And one of the homes on our drive through another little neighborhood.

From our drive we could see the beach where Hollywood shot "The Night of the Iguana"

And rightly so our tour guide found someone that just happened to have an Iguana.

We took turns touching it's leather hide - but Flo was the only one brave enough to hold it for a photo

Ricky our driver took us down to the beach so that we could take some fun pics with our 2012 NewYear's Eve Hats and signs.

As in most places that we visited the Pelicans came to visit us at the 'Iguana Beach'.

We all wished that we had an extra day to spend swimming and boating here at this beach - the water was so nice and warm and the waves were not too high at all.

Next we went to a location within the rain forests where there was a great restaurant (shown here behind us). This location also had 5 great Zip-Lines and a whole crew to hook you up and help you if you had never done it before. If we had more time I would have signed up to ride the zip-lines. They didn't look too high and looked pretty easy - and it was only $30 for all 5 zip-lines.

The other thing they had here was tons of beautiful parrots.

Next Ricky took us to a Tequila Factory. This was a family own business in the mountain area. These folks used all natural original ways of making tequila.

They grow this Blue Agave plant on their farms in Guadalajara, Mexico. And then they harvest the plants and ship the Agave 'Pods' here to the factory for processing.

The higher end tequila will age in these American Oak barrels 1 to 10 years.

These are the "pods" from the blue agave plant all ready for pressing to become tequila.

Our host and owner of El Baston Del Key Tequila factory was ready to pour us samples to taste.

Though Flo & Co are not tequila drinkers - they were great sports and tasted everything that was poured for us. They enjoyed the flavoured 'after dinner' sipping tequilas - and bought that.

Cheryl enjoyed everything our host poured - but we decided to buy a bottle of the Reposado Tequila to make Margaritas with.

Our tour would not be complete without a little shopping - yes we all bought some of these colorful bowls to take home.

A great choice of hats were available.

Of course I bought one.

And all of the pottery that is made here is so beautiful and colorful. Not enough room in the suitcase.

Driving down from the mountain area - we saw this man working on the gravestones for the local cemetery.

We got out to visit the local cemetery which was just beautiful. Most of the bodies here are buried above ground with very ornate grave markers and statues.


Like all of Mexico it was very crowded - but ornate.

After a long day we came back to our ship to watch the sunset over the water.

As most evenings the setting sun was beautiful over the rolling ocean.

As our ship pulled away - we bid Porta Vallarta a fond farewell.

We woke up the next morning in the port of Cabo San Lucas. It seemed as though the Pelicans had followed us Purto Vallarta to Cabo.

We had to be taken to shore by smaller boats as the port was too shallow for our ship to come in close. So we saw many of our Pelican friends up close.

This Parrot greeted us as we came off the ship.

Cheryl was a little nervous to have this guy on her shoulder.

But not our Flo - she let this guy nibble her eyebrow even.

The waterfront area in Cabo is all about the shopping - lots of jewelry stores

Anyone remember wearing high heels this high? Pretty but deadly for me.

We visited the Mission San Lucas a lovely little church.

The interior of Mission San Lucas.

While in Cabo we hired a boat and skipper to "The Arch" - Los Archos and other rock formations.

No only was Edwardo a great skipper - he took our cameras and snapped photos of us as well. The rock formation behind us looks like the Baja Peninsula.

And of course 'Los Archos' within that beautiful green ocean water.

Our skipper took our boat around the other side of the Arch for a different look at it.


And of course our friend followed us ......

Back on land we dropped into the local pub to have a cool Margarita and listen to Mexican music.

Once back on the ship we went to our verandas and kept watch over The Arch and the waterfront.

As the sun set our ship pulled away from Cabo San Lucas.

And our friends the Pelicans flew along side our ship to say goodbye as we puled out of port.

After the sunset over the Baja Peninsula our ship headed out to sea again to go back home.

The ship had a Mexican Fiesta to celebrate our time in Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas complete with a roasted pig..... eyeeeeeeeeeee

Even the ship's staff enjoyed dressing the part.


We had a wonderful time on our cruise and hope you enjoyed sharing some of it with us.

Celebrating Birthdays

2011-12-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

This is our little birthday group celebrating our Friend Kaye's 80th birthday at our friend Marie & Deidra's place.

As we age we find that celebrating every day is important - as well as celebrating achieving each birthday is important.

From the backyard patio we watch the sunset over the desert.

Kaye - our guest of honor - was completely surprised to find us all hiding in the kitchen.

A great carrot cake awaited Kaye when she arrived.

80 candles would have burnt down the house so we opted for the numbers.

And only 2 candles were easier to blow out for Kaye.

The traveling Birthday Hat was worn by our birthday girl all evening This is Bobbie & Kathy.

Here Kaye stands with Brenda, Pat & Jane.

Cheryl, Flo & I gave Kaye & Pat a big birthday hug.

Kaye is from Canada and so were many of the guests - as were Donna & Lyn.

Dorian & Kim also from Canada dropped in on their way to Palm Springs for the winter.

Our hostesses - Marie & Deidra with Kaye & Pat.

Kaye with her supportive partner Pat.


Just because your 80 doesn't mean you stop having fun Kaye says.	Till the next birthday celebration we say goodbye.

Happy Thanksgiving to all

2011-11-28T19:26:00.000-07:00

Our good friends Co & Flo hosted the Annual Thanksgiving Day celebration for all of us who have family elsewhere.

Our hostesses provided the space as well as all the festive decorations.

Co & Flo cooked a beautiful Turkey as well as a delish' Ham.

Sister-Reverend-Rabbi Sue gave a wonderful blessing from her iPhone.

Ann loved Flo's 'Turkey Hat'.

There were 17 of us for dinner so we had 3 dinner tables - this is the TV room Football gals - left to right - Cheryl - Ann - Susan - Linda & Sue.

Everyone brought a dish for our 'Pot Luck' dinner - left to right here is Jane, Jakota, Pearl, Linda & Annie.

At the main dinner table were the gals from Canada - left to right - Brenda, Kaye, Flo(not from Canada) Marlene, Judy & Pat.

Sue and Linda provided a wonderful after dinner desert wine from Michigan that tasted like apple pie with cinnamon, ginger and essence of apples.

I hope you all had as wonderful a Thanksgiving as we did - and as always - I am so thankful for all of you in my life.... luv Pearl & the girls

The last day on the road for Blanche & Lucy's Great Adventure

2011-10-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

On our way back to our Arizona home we decided to stop in Cottonwood, Az for a few days to relax, celebrate my birthday and relax one last time. Today we went to the Deadhorse State Park here in Cottonwood for a picnic with friends.

It was a perfect day for a picnic or for fishing - as this little fisherman discovered.

The stream was calm and cool on this 80 degree day.

Blanche, Lucy and their pup friends loved thier hike by the river and around the beautiful cottonwood trees.

We had a great picnic together sharing lots of food and fun.

Blanche, Lucy and their friends Luey and Bailey took this time to rest.

That night we had our last hoorah dinner celebration from our summer vacation.

Heading down to Apache Junction from Cottonwood was an easy 2.5 hour drive. Seeing the Red Rocks and Cactus reminded us we were home for the winter.

When we drove through the security gates of our community - we saw a wonderful welcome home sign... a great sight.


Here's Cheryl and Blanche & Lucy saying bye-bye to summer and hello to fall and winter. It was great to walk into our home - after 5 months in an RV this seems like the Taj Mahal! We'll close the Blog for a little while - but would love to touch base with you all this winter now and then to say hi and let you know what we are up to here in sunny AZ....

Celebrating Pearl's 65th Birthday with Friends

2011-10-27T10:52:00.002-07:00

Happy 65th birthday Pearl - Medicare time!! My friends threw me a wonderful birthday party. a fabulous 5star meal - great gifts and fun cards and terrific friends.

A great 'inside joke' birthday gift - tray says "Wine a bit - You'll feel better"

Very funny card of a foo-foo kitty with curlers - me? you betcha!

Another great card - cowgirl up!!

I got lots of great fun cards and gifts - even a card that talked and played music.

A toast to Pearl from Flo "May you die young - Late".

Everyone joined in the toast.

And my favorite part - the birthday cake - I got all the candles out in one puff!

My party girls - left to right: Nancy, Linda, Susan, Flo, Co, Anne, Pearl & Cheryl behind the camera.

Blanche agrees it was a great way to celebrate a birthday - with great friends and great food.

The next morning we gathered for breakfast to say farewell to our new friends - Linda and Nancy. Happy Trails girls -

Blanche & Lucy visit Family in Colorado

2011-10-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

We left California and drove through Las Vegas without stopping (darn!). We headed straight for Denver, Colorado to visit with Cheryl's nephew Nick and his wife Melissa as well as my daughter Denise, her hubby Gary and my grandkids - Tyler & Ethan.

It took us a few nights to reach Colorado and one morning as we headed out we noticed a beautiful rainbow in the sky telling us good fortune and good times were awaiting us.

As we crossed through the Aspen and Vail area of Colorado we were delighted to see the land ablaze with fall colors. Even though New England has some pretty vibrant colors in the Fall there is nothing like the beauty of the dark green evergreens and the blaze of gold from the aspen trees.


Needless to say - I wanted to stop often to view the beauty and take photos.

However the snow was starting to fall in Vail as we drove through and reports were that they were expecting over 8" by that night - so we cancelled our original plans to spend some time in the mountains and just kept heading towards Denver since the RV really isn't fun in the snow.

We decided to camp at Chatfield State Park just outside of Littleton, CO - a great spot to spend the next couple of weeks for visiting family.

Our campsite overlooked the water and we had wonderful sunsets each night.

This is Nick and Melissa, Cheryl's nephew and his wife. They live in Cherry Creek Colorado - a Denver suburb. They got married just one year ago and just recently moved to the Denver area.

And this is Nick & Melissa's new little addition - Zoe - she's a Yorkie-poo a Poodle and Yorkie Terrier mix - she's only a few months old and quite the heart-breaker.

Blanche and Lucy loved playing with Zoe - they ran and cavorted all through Nick & Melissa's condo - they were tons of fun to watch.

Nick & Melissa and Zoe took Cheryl and I as well as Blanche and Lucy to the Cherry Creek Farmer's Market to shop and have a yummy brunch.

Another reason for coming to Colorado was to help my grandson Ethan celebrate his 3rd birthday.

The family gathered around as Ethan looked over his Dinosaur decorated cake.

Every year Ethan & I share a birthday celebration since our birthdays are just a week apart.

Ethan decided to take his dinosaurs off the cake to play with them.

Of course as he removed them he would lick off the icing too.

Turns out the dinosaurs make great icing scoops....

After eating most of the icing off the cake - it was gift opening time.

Most of the clothing gifts were not as exciting to Ethan as they were to his mom.

Though for some reason Ethan got very excited over the new briefs / underwear that he got. (Maybe because he's doing a such great job potty training)

One of his favorite gifts was a set of motorcycles that he played with all week.

When he looked down from the kitchen into the living room area he found a couple of big gifts - his first 'big boy' bike with training wheels and a Basketball hoop and balls.

Ethan immediately jumped on the new bike with the 'Cars' motif and rode it around the living room.

From the smile on his face - it looks like he enjoyed his new bike.

The Basketball Hoop stand is an extension pole so that it will grow in height as he grows - or as his ability to get the ball in the hoop gets better.

Ethan may be a little guy - but his hoop tosses were often right in the basket right away.

We were all surprised at how often he made the basket on his own.

Of course sometimes Cheryl had to give him a little boost to help him out.

It didn't take long for the party to work it's way outside so Ethan could take his first ride.

His balance was already very good because he rides the bikes that are at his Preschool.

Not to be outdone - Tyler took her Princess bike out and rode up and down the sidewalk in front of the house too.

Tyler also has a scooter and like most 6yr olds - loves to tool around on that.

Denise immediately went out and bought the kids new helmets to safely ride their bikes.

The next day the kids put on Halloween costumes and we all went to the Pumpkin Festival.

The Chatfield Pumpkin Festival is held right across the street from where we were camping on the State Park grounds.

Ethan put on his best 'Top Gun' outfit and went as Tom Cruise.

And Tyler was the cutest little witch.

The kids went to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out the pumpkins they would bring home.

Tyler couldn't decide which pumpkin she liked best.

Here are my favorite little 'pumpkins' in the pumpkin patch.

We all went on a hay ride around the festival together.

The festival had lots of rides that the kids enjoyed - like this barrel ride....

And this 'dragon ride' that they took Cheryl and Gary on.

Once they got home they decided that their dog 'Charlie' could dress up too.... she's a pumpkin.

We spent our visit doing lots of fun things with the kids - here Cheryl is playing 'Hop-Scotch' with Tyler.

The kids and I baked Halloween cookies one evening.

We watched Ethan create 'art' on the side of their house.

We had great lunches out at Panera Bread restaurant (one of our favorites).

We took Tyler to the Littleton Historical Museum - which is a great place with lots of fun outdoor exhibits on what farm life was like in 1896 in Littleton.

We watched the kids one day so that Denise and Gary could run a 5k race at Red Rock.

When their parents came home the kids were proud that they had completed the run (they looked tired though).

One day we took the kids down to Old Littleton where the town was having a Halloween Decorating Contest.

The businesses around town built elaborate Halloween creations on street corners that we visited. This one is Jokers Wild.

This was one of the kids favortes - The Cat in the Hat.

In the Cat in the Hat sculpture - the kids loved 'Thing 1' and 'Thing 2'...

We couldn't figure out the title of this one - except 'yuky scary'.

The Skeleton Ghost one was scary and pretty at the same time - but we loved them all.

One of the things Lucy loved most about Colorado was rolling in the thick grass.

Blanche love the grassy areas too - so we took the kids (and the dogs) to lots of playgrounds.

Tyler and Ethan loved the campground too - with lots of trails to hike. Here we hiked down to the waterfront to visit the Marina with Blanche and Lucy.

Ethan liked climbing and sliding at the many Playgrounds within Chatfield Campground.

Ethan would rather climb up the slide than slide down.... more challenging!

While she was on school break, Tyler stayed over with us in the RV and enjoyed camping with her little bunny 'Mikey'.

One evening we had a campfire and the family really enjoyed it because it wasn't too cold to sit outside.

The kids mostly enjoyed holding their own camp lanterns to be able to see everything.

We said a sad goodbye to a great camping vacation visiting family.

The morning we left we watched a hot air balloon drift over the Rockies.

We said goodbye to the Rockies - the balloon and the family till next time.

Blanche and Lucy visit Yosemite National Park

2011-10-23T07:10:00.001-07:00

Do you know who "Flat Stanley" is?....If you don't just ask any 2nd grader - they know. Blanche and Lucy were not the only ones on this trip.... our friend Annie took along Flat Stanley to experience different parts of the country for little Gracie and her school project to help her learn Geography.

Everywhere we went people knew Flat Stanley - all the Yosemite Rangers were very happy to have their photos taken with Stanley for Grace. Here Susan is taking Stanley's photo with this ranger for Annie to give to Grace. Annie keeps a diary of where Stanley is and what he is visiting so that Grace can find that spot on the map and learn about the world.

The first place we visited in Yosemite was the Mariposa Grove to see the giant Sequoia trees.

Here Susan and Cheryl are standing next to a fallen Sequoia tree.

They show you the perspective of how big the root and base of the Sequoia is beside them.

Looking upwards to see the tops of these giants gave us all a 'crick' in the neck.

This plaque talks about the 'Grizzly Giant' Sequoia which stands 209ft tall and is 96 ft in circumference. If you double click on this photo it will tell you more interesting facts about this and other Sequoia trees.

Co and Susan stand in the center cut-out in the trunk of the Grizzly Giant Sequoia.

And of course Flat Stanley stood in front of the trunk too.

You could actually drive a VW through the hole in this trunk.

Next - we visited the Bridal Veil Falls - a short hike to the base of the falls.

This time of year the falls are a bit sparse but still beautiful. I've come in the springtime when the melting of the snow creates a thunderous waterfall that you can hear long before you see it.

Cheryl took this close up shot of Bridal Veil.

On the way back to the car I saw this lovely little water fall crossing the rocks in a stream.

As we turned back every glance was another shot.

In the parking lot near our car were this hungry deer and her fawn munching on a tree. The wildlife here is so used to humans that they don't move along till you are very near to them.

Those of you who love photography - this is Ansel Adams country and every where you look you will recognize places where Ansel shot many of his famous photos - this is El Capitan. It's 3000ft from base to top and one of the most famous challenges for rock climbers.

We are very far from El Capitan (across a stream and meadow) yet look how little we look. If you double click on the image you will see - Annie, Flo, Anne, Cheryl & Pearl, Co and Susan. You can't tell - but there are climbers scaling this rock as we took this photo - they looked like ants to us.

Yep - those little ants are Cheryl, Pearl, Blanche & Lucy. All the dogs loved running in the meadow and playing while we took time to have a lovely picinic here.

Around sunset the more serious photographers among us stayed a bit longer to watch the setting sun on many of the beautiful sights in Yosemite. Reflected here is Half Dome in the distance. This granite dome rises more than 4737ft from the valley floor and is one of the more recognizable rock formations of Yosemite and of Ansel Adams photos. Thousands of serious hikers reach the summit of this rock each year.

Co, Susan, Cheryl and I stayed late on this evening to catch the evening glow on Bridal Veil Falls.

Cheryl took this shot of our photo group shooting the Bridal Veil falls as well as the stream below.

These 3 photos show the light changing as the evening glow plays on the water flowing downstream.

From our sunset vantage point we could also shoot El Capitan mountain as well. As we were shooting we noticed lots of activity around the face of El Capitain - a Helicopter kept circling with a person hanging from a rope tied to the copter.....

You'll have to double click on the next few images to see what's happening - but from where we were it was evident that there was a rescue going on.

Our little super camera with it's great zoom lens was able to get a close up of the hellicopter coming in closer to the face of El Capitan - here you can see how dangerously close to the granite face this copter is as the pilot expertly flies near enough to drop off the rescue guy on the rope.

Here you can see the rescuer being brought in closer (he's on the right) to the climber on the left who is in trouble.

Again our little compact camera's super zoom lens was able to catch the rescue guy on the rope coming in to help the climber in the crevice of the face of El Capitan.

And here you see they have the climber on the rope with the rescue guy lifting him away from the granite face of El Capitan. Sorry for the grain - the little compact camera's zoom is great but when enlarged the little compact sensors don't hold out as much as the big Nikon sensor.

And as we watched this entire rescue unfold - the hellicopter and the rescued climber flew away from the face of El Capitan and the climber was brought to an area hospital. The Yosemite search and rescue team conducted this daring rescue for an Austrian climber who had fallen and in the fall - lost his thumb.... but the happy ending to this tragedy is that the thumb was succesfully reattached due to the quick response of the team - to read about this even long onto this link: http://www.modbee.com/2011/09/28/1881916/climber-rescued-from-el-capitan.html

This plaque talks about the "Prescribed Burns" that occurs here in Yosemite and in many other forests. The Prescribed Burns are to help the forest reseed itself and the Sequoias grow tall and strong.

As we drove back from Yosemite on one or our many daytrips we drove through an area where the rangers were monitoring a burn. It was very eerie.

These photos were taken from our moving car as we drove past ......

I can't imagine what it must be like during a real forest fire - this controlled burn was very frightening to watch as we drove through.

The next evening our photo group - Susan, Co and myself - drove up to Glacier Point to capture the setting sun over Yosemite Valley.

The area we found was packed with people here to watch the same daily event - some with cameras and some just together quietly watching the beauty (though these two were a bit closer to the edge than we all liked to see...ah youth!

In the distance you can see the beginning of the setting sun's glow on Half Dome.

And all around the valley the warm glow lit up the granite rocks.

Half Dome glowed in the last of the setting sun's rays.

A little closer view of the Half Dome at sunset.

This photographer stood behind me and as the sun dipped below the horizon I noticed his form outlined in the sky.

Even after the sun set - the sky just lit up with beautiful colors.

With each passing moment - the view was in the west more so than on the valley as the sky lit up with colors and cloud formations.

And the last rays bid us goodnight.

The next day we all drove to Tuolumne Meadows for a picnic lunch - and of course Flat Stanley came along for the photos.

Here is a view as we look across the beauty of the Meadow.

It was amazing to me to see these little fir trees growing right out of the rock where there was just a crack of soil to feed the trees.

This beautiful lake was peaceful and calm on this lovely warm day.

You can barely see - but there is a little girl sitting on the edge of the water - relaxing with the same view that we were enjoying.

Here is our crew on the last day as we are leaving Yosemite. We stopped at the most popular place to photograph the panoramic view of the Yosemite Valley - left to right - Annie, Cheryl, Susan, Anne, Flo, Co and Pearl and of course Lucy, Luey and Blanche on our laps....

This is the beautiful view of the valley - from here you can see - El Capitan, on the left; Half Dome in the center and the Bridal Veil Falls to the right (you may have to double click to enlarge and see better)

Another view with a warmer sunset glow.

Blanche and Lucy agree - this was a great trip - one they recommend to all of you.

Doing the Madera Wine Trail for Sue's Birthday

2011-10-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

While camping in Coorsgold, Calif to visit Yosemite, we all gathered to celebrate our friend Susan's birthday (she's the one with the 'birthday hat' in the center) - from left rear : Co, Elaine, Ann, Cheryl, Pearl - left front: Mary, Susan, Anne, Flo.

Susan decided to try a new beer while the rest of us tasted wine.

This place had lots of boutique beers to try.

And plenty of yummy wine to taste too.

For Susan's birthday, we decided to do the Madera Wine Trail to do a little tasting. As you can see there are lots of wineries here - each arrow points to another winery - we didn't know where to start. Since we tasted lots of wine while in Napa, we decided to taste what this area is noted for - Ports!

Our first port Winery was the Birdstone Winery. Great Port and tasty and very affordable Chardonay wine..... so we bought both.

Next we went to Ficklin Winery where we had the best time tasting wines and mostly lots of different Ports - even Razbery Port, Chocolate Port, and Black Cherry Port. Needless to say we bought lots of Port here.

This is Ficklin's Port bottling area - small but efficient.

This is where the Port ages to perfection.

Our hostess and tour guide was lots of fun and very informative in giving us the history of Port.

The birthday girl - Susan - decided this was her favorite Port Winery.

My favorite Port was the Award winning 10yr Tawney Port.

As you can see Ficklin has been awarded many many gold, silver and bronze medals for their ports.

That evening we all assembled at the Sweet Water Steakhouse to finish celebrating Susan's birthday.

The restaurant gave Susan a complimentary decadent chocolate cake for desert - gotta love the hat.

As we said goodbye to all each of us left Coorsgold and headed in different directions for the next few weeks of RV'ing fun.

Blanche & Lucy say goodbye to the Bay Area in California

2011-10-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

If you have ever gone to the area north of San Francisco - called Marin County you would have found a little seacoast community called Bodega Bay.


This church in Bodega Bay is one that Ansel Adams made an iconic black and white photo of. So after seeing Ansel's photo we decided to 'channel' Ansel and also photograph it in the same way.

I decided to turn my same image to black and white as well to see if I could feel that same energy that Ansel Adams felt. I do like it better in black and white because it's more about the architecture and light and shadow than just a photo of a church.

If this building looks familiar it's because it's the scene where Alfred Hitchcock's movie - "The Birds" was filmed. This building was the schoolhouse where most of the movie took place. Now it's a private residence so we were only able to look at it from a distance.

Our last visit in the Bay Area of California was to spend a little time with our friends Donna and Saundie in Santa Cruz, CA.

We visited a Farmer's Market one morning and tasted lots of free samples that were offered.

Many beautiful flowers were offered at the mkt as well.

After tasting some yummy samples of these Pluots - a cross between an apricot and a plum - we bought a bag full for the road.

Though these squash look like pumpkins, they are actually Japanese Hokkaido squash.

These tomatoes were the best that I had ever sampled - they were 'Dry Farmed' tomatoes. This is a process where the vegetables are watered very sparingly thus keeping less water to the veggies and more taste and flavor. We bought a good amount that would last about 3 weeks for sandwiches and salads - but wish I bought lots more because I don't think I can find this type of farming everywhere.

We made a day trip of visiting the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and waterfront area.

They were having a regional cheerleading competition at the boardwalk while we were there.

Enjoying the Boardwalk experience - Pearl, Cheryl, Saundie, Donna, Co and Flo.

Viewing the Santa Cruz Waterfront and Amusement Park from the boardwalk.

Carousels are always an enticing thing to enjoy - and this one was a beautiful carousel.

Most of the girls decided to take a ride on the Carousel and try to grab the brass ring.

Here is Cheryl and Donna on the Carousel.

Flo and Saundie say hi as they glide by.

The Gondolas were always my favorite because you get to see the entire park from above.

And though a favorite to many - the Haunted castle is not my fav....

As we walked along the Boardwalk we looked below and saw many kayaks ready to be rented.

The population of seals were lazing in the sun and 'talking' to each other loudly.

This old guy looks like he had been in a few fights.

There was also a T-bird auto Rally that we enjoyed while we were on the boardwalk.

This beautiful old hotel - La Bahia - is now housing for students but is a little gem that should be restored to it's original beauty - a project that may happen in the future.

The waters near the Lighthouse has always been a favorite spot for surfers - as it is today.

Donna, Saundie and their dog Hoola (and the visiting neighbor's dog) bid us farewell as we headed off to Yosemite National Park. We said thanks so much to the girls for spoiling us with great food and fun evening visits.

Blanche & Lucy vist the exciting Bay Area of San Francisco

2011-10-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

One of the areas that no one really ever sees in Napa is the downtown area. They have a great little waterfront area downtown with lovely buildings and great shops.

We walked through a little festival in the Napa downtown area and Cheryl and Flo found Obama.

After we left Napa we stopped into Sausilito to see the little town across from San Francisco - looking across the bay from Sausilito we see the skyline of SF.

As we sat on the waterfront in Sausilito we enjoyed the Paddle Boarders enjoying the SF bay.

More Paddle Boarders and Kayakers in Sausilito.

Next to Sausilito you will find the little town of Tiburon another little gem of a town.

Many of these little shops were once a houseboat but now they are on the land.

Each of the little former houseboats that were now shops were named - this one is called Blue Ark.

This anchor belonged to one of those little houseboats.

If you go to San Francisco, be sure to go to Alamo Park to see the lovely Painted Ladies - these wonderful Victorians that are so well kept up and painted wonderfully.

At Alamo Park while we photographed the Painted Ladies, Luey found a little puppy named Berkley to play with - too cute.

Blanche and Lucy enjoyed both the view of the city behind the Painted Ladies as well as the grass in Alamo Park to play in.

The best view of the Golden Gate Bridge can be found from the Headlands - a turnoff on the left after you drive north over the bridge.

This view of the fog hugging the Golden Gate Bridge is a rare sight that we really were lucky to find.


For the many years that I lived in this area I always tried to get the bridge 'socked' in like this. If you ever go to San Francisco plan to spend at least 3 weeks - there is too too much to see here.

The Best tour in San Francisco - Alcatraz

2011-10-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

We took the Ferry from Pier 33 to Alcatraz on this day for the best tour in SF

When I lived in the Bay area in the 90's I always too friends who visited to Alcatraz for the best tour ever.

This is the view of Alcatraz we saw as we approached via our Ferry ride.

Hands up Cheryl and Pearl - you've arrived - Alcatraz the Island.

As we walked around the island prison, many ships and sailboats toured the waters around us.

This shell of a house is all that remains of the original Warden's house here on the Island.

This is how the prisoner's shoes and linen were laid out for them when they arrived.

The only tour to take is the 'audio' tour because it is the voices of these 'real' former inmates that are speaking to us throughout the self-guided walking tour.

As we walked throughout the prison, we were able to not only look into each cell - but were able to actually walk into the cells to see what life felt like for the inmates.

Everything here was behind bars and locks.

This shows the cell of the only famous unsolved Alcatraz prison break where the inmates who escaped were never found- assumed drowned - but no bodies found.....

Rows and Rows of cells

Cell block A, B, D or D - they all looked the same - but had different 'views' for the inmates.

These were the Guard Walks where the guards kept watch on the prisoners.

This is the 'community' shower area for the inmates.

Everywhere you looked there were bars on the windows - they could see the city and sometimes could even hear the sounds of the city - the worst torture for those behind these bars.

Here is one of the views of San Francisco waterfront from the ferry coming back from Alcatraz.

A view of Coit tower from the waterfront as we rode the ferry back from Alcatraz.

As the sun set over the city of SF, we looked at the Bay Bridge.

Who knew what we would find in Richmond, California

2011-10-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

A fun place that we found in Richmond, CA was the Jelly Belly jelly bean factory. Flo and Cheryl enjoyed the Jelly Belly Volks Wagon car - fun driving for sure.

On 1 Jelly Belly Lane we found a fun and delicious candy factory tour.

Pearl & Co found a place to walk the girls outside the factory tour.

First thing we saw when we walked in was jelly beans everywhere.

Even mosaic jelly bean portraits made with real Jelly Belly beans - these were poster sized images.

The latest one was this one of the Charles and Katherine.

We could buy tons of assorted flavors of jelly beans by the pound - some of the flavors were pretty unbelievable - other than 'chocolate pudding' jelly beans they had pretty funny flavors like 'rotten eggs' - 'barf' - 'booger' 'yellow pencils' (really!!) - even 'mint toothpaste' beans (for after the rotten eggs and others of course).

They had lots of other candies too - like Co's favorite- candy corn.

Here's our crew - Co, Pearl, Cheryl, and Flo among the fun candy.... yes we bought lots of Jelly Belly candy for the road and for gifts (wonder how many gifts will make it to those we bought them for).

The other discovery we found in Richmond, Californai was this great Rosie the Riveter Memorial.

Here Cheryl reads the photos on a steel sculpture. The sculpture is made to look like the beginning of a ship because many of the women worked in the shipyards which helped build ships during World War II

Double click on this image to see a little information that we saw. On the west coast, 25% of all shipyard workers were women.

On the ground were great inlaid cement tiles with sayings, quotes, and facts - fascinating. Double click on this one to read about the chaperones that were assigned to the women who worked in factories and shipyards.

This tile had timeline facts of things that happened during the WWII time that women were working in the factories and steelyards.

I love this engraving, it says " You must tell your children, putting modesty aside, that - without women there would have been no spring". Which I am sure she means that the war would have not ended in the fall as it was because the women made a difference in the defense building of ships.

Blanche & Lucy enjoy Wine County

2011-10-06T14:43:00.002-07:00

This was a familiar site in Wine country - rows and rows of vines with bunches of full grapes ready to be harvested.

One of our favorite places to visit is California is Wine Country. Our timing was great - we were here during "Crush" when most of the wineries were harvesting their grapes. So lots of wineries were having Harvest Festivals. Though many think of Napa as wine country, my favorite area is Sonoma to visit the wineries. Many smaller boutique wineries are there.

A typical road sign on any corner - pointing to the many wineries just around the corner to visit.

One of my favorite sites - plump juicy white grapes ready for picking - Chardonay anyone?

The best white grapes are grown in the Caneros region (southern Napa, and along the seacoast) where your Chardonays, Pinot Grigios, Sauvignon Blancs and Sparkling Wines (Champagne).

These little 'Baby Vines' will grow up to be strong wine producers in 3 to 6 years.

Best know for the red wines, Cabernet, Merlot, Red Zinfendals and more, the red grapes are grown in the Alexander Region - northern Napa and Sonoma.

Though most people come to wine country to taste the wines, I come to view the scenery and the beautiful architecture and art that is plentiful here.

The first winery we visited was Bella Winery in Sonoma where they had 'cave tasting' of their great red wines - where 'Cab is King'.

We met up with Cheryl's family here at Bella Winery in Sonoma for a few days of fun and tasting - Cheryl's brother Fred and his wife Leslie and Cheryl's sister Cindy and her fiance Paul. In this photo they are in the 'Tasting Cave' seriously paying attention to the wines they are about to taste.

I stayed outside with Blanche and Lucy as we enjoyed the sun and sights and waited for the tasters.

After wine tasting - we enjoyed a great picnic outside together. Here we are all enjoying a bottle of the Bella Wine with lunch. Left to right - Leslie, Fred, Paul, Cindy & Cheryl.

We stopped into Francis Ford Coppola's winery where we enjoyed his movie memorabilia (this is from his movie "Dracula")

Paul's favorite winery - Rodney Strong was one where Blanche and Lucy really enjoyed the grassy areas... and we bought a lovely bottle of port.

The grounds at 'J' winery were among those I enjoyed with these lovely lilly pads.

We loved the Chardonay and the Sparkling Wine here. Cheryl bought me one of each for my birthday. I'll save the sparkling wine for New Year's Eve.

Well we had fun indeed - Paul played chauffeur as he held up a card with "Proia" written on it as limo drivers do - so that we wouldn't miss our ride.... ha-ha Paul!

An evening dinner at a great Italian Restaurant was a great time together.

Wilson Winery was another favorite where some of us bought and entire case of their wine.

Blanche and Lucy enjoyed the veranda at Wilson's where we enjoyed wine, free food and great views. Left to right - Cindy, Fred, Leslie, Cheryl and the girls.

Many of our wine tours took us through the wine 'caves' where the barrels of wine were stored for aging for years before they could be sold. Cheryl took this great photo of one of those caves.

Mazzocco Vineyard is known for it's Red Zinfandel wines. It is part of the Wilson family of wines.

We got a great appetizer recipe at the deLorimier Winery.

And we enjoyed the tastings.

Many of the wineries allowed pets so we tried to visit many of those...

Blanche and Lucy sitting on a Soda Rock Winery barrel and look over the view.

Beautiful wineries with rows and rows of vines were beautiful to see.

Domain Caneros in Napa was a beautiful winery and a must stop at the end of the day where the sunsets were beautiful and the champage was tasty.

As we drank our champagne we enjoyed the setting sun over the vineyards.

We had a cheese plate and chocolate truffles with our tasting - yum!

The architecture is stunning at Domain Caneros - reminiscent of a chateau in France.

Sonoma-Cutrer is one of my favorite Chardonays - but they were only open by appointment - boo-hoo!

We took a great tour of the Korbel Winery - we know Korbel for their California Champagnes - but we found that they made a great Port as well - ( of which we had to have of course).

One of the wineries that we visited on our own was this one - Hop Kiln - which was first used for drying hops - for beer.... wonderful tour and great tasting & paring with cheeses.

This plaque explains all about the original Hop Kiln building.

The Artesa Winery has always been one of my favorites - it fits all the criteria that I use to visit wineries..... great architecture, beautiful views, and stunning art - and the wine is great too.

Artesa Winery is built into the side of a mountain in Sonoma and the views from the top of the winery stairs is breathtaking.

Another great view from one of the verandas at the winery.

This beautiful fountain is timed to music and it beautifully lit at night.

One of the beautiful sculptures here at Artesa.

This fountain has beautiful art pieces surrounding the water.

Another perspective of the fountain.

From the top of the stairs at Artesa we are drawn to this fountain.

Many of the wineries we toured with Cheryl's family, some we toured with Co & Flo and some we went to by ourselves.... but we enjoyed each one that we visited and will be back again and again, because there are still so many to visit.

We found a Castle in Napa, California

2011-10-06T13:17:00.003-07:00

Just south of Calistoga, California you can find the Castello di Amorosa (the Castle of Love). Built by Dario Sattui, the grandson of the owner of V. Sattui who traveled throughout Europe studying castles. He brought craftsmen from Europe to build an authentic 18th century castle.

Many of the stones within the castle were brought over from actual remnants of castles in Europe.

Castello di Amorosa produces primarily Italian style wines while reflecting California's unique climate, soil and growing conditions. All of the red grapes are grown in the Napa Valley around the Castle. White grapes are grown in the Carneros district of the Napa Valley or in the Anderson Valley, as both of these cool areas are ideal for white wine grapes.

Dario paid attention to every detail in the construction of his castle.

When we walked around the castle we felt as though any moment Lancelot would walk through one of the many castle doors.

These cast iron dragons are scattered around the castle walls

Interestingly, no two dragons were the same.

I could imagine every little girl would love to play princess in this castle tour.

All the furnishings were created by craftsmen and artisans who specialized in this period.

Our tour guide - Wendy - was amazing in her knowledge and personality and graciousness. Here we are walking through the walkways that surrounded the courtyard.

This is the view while you are standing in the courtyard looking up at the courtyard walkways.

Here we are looking down into the courtyard from one of the arched windows. You can see little bulbs which at night are all lit up to give the courtyard a festive feel for their events.

This is another view of the courtyard walkways.

The Great Hall is where many of the festivities would begin with a wonderful meal.

During many of the special events that they hold here in the castle, this room is filed with people.

Co & I are seated where the hosts (or King & Queen) would sit during the festivities.

Cheryl is enjoying the beautiful fresco paintings that had wonderful stories. These were all around the Great Room walls.

Cheryl took a great photo of these original authentic head pieces that were part of suits of armor that may have been worn by soldiers in those times.

Along with many other items - this complete suit of armor was something Dario brought back from his many travels to Europe.

Of course our tour of the Castello di Amorosa would not be complete without viewing the wines. The wines behind this locked gate are vintage wines which cost anywhere from $500 to $5000 a bottle.

One part of the tour which gave us all the creeps - was a tour of the 'Torture Chamber' which had authentic instruments of torture. This is the Iron Maiden which had lots of strategically located iron points inside that would pierce the body all the while never piercing any organs (ouch!).

This 'victim' watched us as we shuddered as each new torture implement was demonstrated.

On to the 'fun stuff' we said..... so we were brought down one more level to the wine caves.

di Amorosa uses only the finest French Oak Barrels to store it's wine.

One of many wine storage areas.

Now it was time to do some serious 'Barrel Wine Tasting'.

Cheryl, Pearl, Flo & Co tasted the wine right from the barrel before it was bottled (a different tasting altogether).

After the Barrel Tasting - we were ready for the more formal wine tasting from the bottles.

Our tour guide - Wendy - was wonderful in giving us more tastings that we thought we would have - from 'apertif' wines to 'desert' wines - and everything in between.

From vantage points higher in the castle we enjoyed beautiful views of the di Amorosa vinyards.

More beautiful views from a castle window.

On the land in front of the castle we could see more vines ready for picking.

To see more about the castle - visit their web site at www.castellodiamorosa.com And if you ever visit Napa - don't leave without visiting the castle!

Blanche and Lucy discover the giant Redwood Trees in California

2011-10-03T18:18:00.001-07:00

After leaving Oregon - we dropped into California. And the first thing Blanche & Lucy saw was the Giant Redwoods. Of course they were looking for Giant Squirrels too.

The size of the Redwoods was most apparent near the RV.

And the Giant part of that is the height

Our RV looks soooo tiny near the Redwoods.

Even the Shower building looked tiny in the Redwood forest.

Cheryl looks so small near the Giant Redwood tree trunk.

As we drove down the California coast - at first, the view was similar to the Oregon coast.

Next we arrived in Wine Country - watch for the Sonoma & Napa Wine tasting in the next blog.

Celebrating Cheryl's 59th birthday in Oregon

2011-10-01T15:33:00.000-07:00

September is Cheryl's birthday month - and we try to celebrate each birthday with lots of fun and fanfare - so Cheryl's was no different. With a funny hat, lots of funny gifts and fun times with fun friends.

Opening gifts is always fun - this is a Lavendar spray for calming moods and rooms.

Yeah! she likes the t-shirt from Friday Harbor

Celebrating Cheryl's birthday with friends was the best way to mark her 59th year. - Left to right: Barb, Co, Cheryl (the b-day girl) Linda, Flo and Pearl.

Happy 59th Cheryl - say goodbye to the 50's next year is a big one.

Blanche & Lucy play tourists on the coast of Washington & Oregon

2011-10-01T10:15:00.003-07:00

We dropped down into Coos Bay, Oregon from Washington and stayed in the Midway RV park. Here Flo and Cheryl relaxed with the 'girls' - Luey, Blanche & Lucy.

We visited Cape Disappointment in Washington

The Lewis & Clark expedition ended their travels here at Cape Disapointment in Washington.

When we asked why it was named 'Cape Disappointment' there were so many answers that we took the one we liked best: Lewis and Clark were disappointed that they had come to the end of their travels.

Here - Flo, Co & Luey rest on the beach at Cape Disappointment.

Cheryl & Pearl with the girls resting in the sun - with the lighthouse in the background.

This beautiful Mosaic tile was the logo for the Blue Heron French Cheese factory.

While visiting the Blue Heron, we tasted lots of cheese and wine.

And of course Flo & Cheryl had fun on the cut-outs.

Anyone who hears of Tillamook, Oregon knows that's where the best cheddar cheese is made.

We sampled the tastiest cheese and ice cream here at Tillamook.

Their Tillamook Baby Loaf bus will be touring the country this year giving out samples of cheese wherever they go - watch for them in your area.

After taking the manufacturing tour and sampling lots of cheese we stocked up on loaves of our own.

We loved being on the beaches of Oregon - and Agate Beach was one of the nicest - soft sands but a bit chilly on the day we visited.

Here I am with Blanche & Lucy .

And here is Barb with Bailey - the sun was warm and the sand was so nice and soft.

We all dropped in on our friend Michele in Waldport, OR to visit for awhile - Quite a crew of people and pets - left to right: Flo & Luey, Pearl & Lucy, Cheryl & Blanche, Michelle & Lilly, Barb & Bailey, and Linda and Co.

Midway down the coast of Oregon we stopped at Winchester Bay to see another lighthouse.

While there we saw this amazing Humpback Whale's jawbone.

If you double click on this photo plaque it will tell you about the 60ft whale that belonged to this jawbone and how it was beached here on Salmon Bay in 1991.

At Cape Foulweather we saw lots f surfers, kayakers and paddle boards enjoying the 'not-so' foul weather.

Here a kayak tries to stay with the wave he was riding.

And this surfer just wiped out on his wave.

On another day on the Oregon coast we found it a bit cooler and foggy with explosive waves - here Cheryl and Lucy are a little close to pounding surf.

Here near Devil's Churn the waves were huge and the ocean was exciting to watch.

Same day at Devil's Churn with great waves.

Our friends Linda and Barb enjoy the waves with us.

Waves were too powerful to ride but beautiful to watch.

This gives you a feel for how big these beautiful huge rocks were in the ocean - can you see the people walking along the shore? Double click to see closer.

In the little coastal town of Newport, Co, Flo & Luey pose with the Sea Hags.

While in the little Newport coastal town we watched these fishermen on the edge of the ocean as the waves crashed.

Here's another shot of the same fisherman with the pounding surf.

Here's our crew after watching that fisherman - Pearl & Blanche, Cheryl & Lucy, Co, Flo & Luey, and Barb & Bailey....we are missing Linda who is taking the photo.

Still in Newport, OR - we watched in marvel as the fishing & cruiser boats came into the harbor through this little narrow channel while the fast current and waves challenged them.

This is the same boat as above making it through the channel and making the turn quickly afterwards - we are watching from the bridge above them.

A beautiful little harbor in Newport where we all went to dinner.

The name of this boat is 'Last Dance' so I just couldn't resist taking this pic.

Here is one of the last photos I took while we were driving back from day tripping - this Native American was doing a special run with his feathered spear along the roadway.

The Lighthouses of Washington & Oregon

2011-09-29T15:15:00.006-07:00

While driving along the Northwest Washington & Oregon coast, our goal was to visit as many Lighthouses as we could. Cheryl took this great sepia photo of a photo at the North Head Lighthouse in Washington.

This is a Fresnel Light which is the light at the top of all the Lighthouses.

And this is what it looks like when it's lit.

Here is the North Head lighthouse.

And these buildings were housing for the lighthouse keeper and staff - but now anyone can rent either of these homes for an unusual vacation on the coast (only about $6000 a week).

We found this lighthouse that we could only see from a distance.

This is the Cape Disappointment in Washington Lighthouse.

These kids were having a great time at a beach near the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.

Midway down the coast at Winchester Bay, we found the first lighthouse that was built on the Oregon coast - the Umpqua River Lighthouse.

Double click on this sign for the Umpqua River Lighthouse which explains how it was destroyed just 7 yrs after it was built and then how it was rebuilt again.

The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse had a terrific tour inside the living quarters of the lighthouse keeper.

The lighthouse is the 2nd oldest lighthouse - but it was only in original service for 3 years before the commissioning of the brighter Yaquina Head Light nearby eliminated its necessity.

This beautiful staircase leads to the light atop the lighthouse.

This is the original Kitchen in the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse.

And these are some of the original furnishings from the lighthouse keeper.

We were not able to visit all the lighthouses on the Oregon coast and some days it was almost too foggy to even see them - This is the Yaquina Head Lighthouse.

Blanche & Lucy see the many faces of the Oregon Coast

2011-09-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

We discovered that the Oregon coastline has many faces... in this segment we'll show you the variety of coastal scenes that we saw.

This was the first bridge we crossed as we drove into Oregon from Washington.

Foggy coastline and cold sweatshirts were not unusual here

These beautiful huge rocks in the ocean were my favorite sights.

If you double click on this image you will see the a boy and dog in the water and a girl sitting on the rock enjoying the waves - gives you a little perspective on the size of these rocks.

Many areas along the Oregon coast reminded us of the Bar Harbor Maine coastline.

We decided that we wanted to visit those folks in the houses on the edge of the coast.

Here are more of the rocky coastal areas we loved.

This beautiful bridge crossed over the Yaquina Bay in Newport, OR.

This is Agate Beach which had these wonderful sand dunes shaped by the wind.

The sand was soft and powdery and reminded me of a puffy 'pillow top' mattress.

After seeing all the different types of coasts here in Oregon - my favorite was still the beautiful 'sea stack rocks' - like big beached 'dinosaurs' in the shallow ocean water.