Castles

Friday, June 22 - Happy Birthday to Godfather Paul!

What an exciting day!  On our way to Hearst Castle, we pulled into a turn off to take a picture of the Pacific Ocean and what did hear??  The bark of several seals - that was cool.  We saw a few of them swiming around but they were so far away our pictures are not so good.  A little farther down the road we pulled off to see what all the excitement was about, and found millions (just kidding, probably 100s) of elephant seals.  It was so cool!  Aunt Amy got out her Ipad and got video of the seals waddling around and what they sounded like.  Could our day get any better?

A little farther down the road was Hearst Castle.  WR's ranch was like a small town, with his beautiful three story home with small guest bungalow's surrounding the home, 2 pools, tennis courts, a private zoo and a ton of land overlooking the ocean.  It was amazing.  We took a tour of the home and our guide led us through the home like we were one of WR's guests.  We went in the morning room, into the entertaining room where all his guests including Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Barbara Stanwick, Charlie Chaplin and Cary Grant would sit around, play cards or games and then through to the dinning room where you would be interested in where you were seated because the longer you visited, the closer to the fireplace you sat - and it could get hot!  To the billards room and then to the movie room  - a room in the house to rival the Kentucky Theatre!  Aunt Amy was very jealous of the movie room.

From the Hearst Castle we went to building castles in the sand at Pismo Beach.  Some Pismo yogurt to top off our day - a great way to spend a Friday.

A regal good night to our loyal Brown Girl Followers!

A tragic slip of the foot...

Bundles to Bathing suits

Today we rose bright and early, took a to go breakfast from the hotel and headed to San Francisco.  Most of our drive in we debated on whether we should wear our tennis shoes or sandals and Jess was wondering if she should change into her pants.  It was still a little chilly outside but we figured it would warm up pretty quickly.  Well, that was our first mistake of the day!  We arrived to a cold, 57 degree, misty day.  We bundled up the best we could and went to go get tickets for Alcatraz - there were no more tickets available until NEXT Wednesday - crazy.  So we went to Fisherman's wharf where we looked around and decided that we were definately doing inside activities the rest of the day. 

After finding our car, we drove down - literally straight down, Lombard Street - the most crooked street in the world.  How fun!  I was sure glad our car had good brakes!  From there we drove through China Town and then off to the Golden Gate Bridge.  Our loyal followers will be glad to know that we left a lasting impression on San Francisco as we sang at the top of our lungs with the windows down while crossing on the Golden Gate Bridge - I Love Rock and Roll!  San Francisco will never be the same.

We took a scenic trip down HWY 1 - I think we saw a whale!  We got to our fabulous hotel, did some swimming and then off to bed for another day of adventure.

aww, man!

To all our loyal Brown Girl Followers we wish you a warm goodnight!

Bumpass Hell

Really - that was the name of one of the trails at Lassen National Park where we spent our entire day today.  We had an early morning wake-up and off to the park, we wanted to be the first ones there!  We went to the visitor center, watched a short film on volcanoes, got some advice from the Park Rangers about what we really needed to see while we were there and found out what trails and places were closed due to snow.  Yes, you read it right, closed due to snow.  One of the trails, the Bumpass Hell Trail was closed due to snow, that was one that we were really interested in going on - getting an up close and personal view of the volcano and the hot springs - bummer.  Although we were not the first ones, we were one of the first ones on the Mill Creek Falls trail.  One thing that the Forest Ranger neglected to tell us was that this trail was a strenuous one.  It was only 3.2 miles roundtrip, somehow they found a way to make the trail 3.2 miles uphill - both ways.  It took us about 2 1/2 hours to walk to the falls and walk back.  The views were amazing and worth the sweat and the strained muscles (at least I can say that now).  We dragged ourselves into the visitor center where we purchased a delicious lunch, some souveniers and ice cream - a yummy way to start our driving tour of the Park.  We saw the devestation that the volcano left, played in the snow and met some great people along the way.

We left the park, had some Subway for dinner, went for a swim and off to bed.

We learned from the Volcano that is ok to let off a little steam every now and again - so to all our Loyal Brown Girl followers, here is hoping you get to let off a little steam every now and again.

Our Short Day

Tuesday, June 19
There's Gold in them there hills!  After a quick stop at the 711 for snack and a stop for some gas and to wash off the hawk poop from the windshield - gold mines, here we come!

We learned that there is two basic types of mining gold - in the mines like at the Gold Bug or Placier mining (nuggets) like at Sutter's Mill.  Both types are hard and dangerous!  At the Gold Bug, we took a tour of the mine and low and behold - we struck gold!  Jessica and Katie pushed the heavy wagon out of the mine, full of gold!  We are rich - oh, rats, it is only fool's gold...  We visited the mill and learned how the gold was extracted from the quartz - what a long, involved and dangerous process.  Then off to Sutter's Mill to see the other method of mining gold and to pan for gold.  A few flakes we found but not enough to retire on, bummer!  A lovely lunch and then back to the hotel for a little swimming and to rescue my hairbrush from Jessica's head!

To all our loyal Brown Girl Followers, a gold lined Good Night!

Waterfalls, Ghosts and scary Motels

Dear Loyal Brown Girls followers,
So sorry about not posting last night, sketchy internet! 

Monday, June 18 -
Up bright and early to head for Yosemite.  What was supposed to be a quick trip through the park ended up being almost an all day visit for us because we were so enamored by the beauty of all that we saw.  We drove through Mariposa Grove - amazing, the tall trees, the fallen trees - we decided that God does good work!  From the grove we went to Bridalveil Falls.  The sun was so bright, we could not get any really good pictures of the falls, but that was OK because we went down a little lower and Katie and Jessica climbed all over the rocks and fallen trees, posed for quite a few pictures and then - well, you guessed it, we couldn't get through a climb up the falls without stepping straight into the water!  We laughed, posed for more pictures and then went in search of some lunch, we were hungry!  We came up to Vernal Falls before we found any food so we scrounged through some of the illegal stash we had in the car (no, not because of bears but because we are in a rental car) and scarfed down some potato chips and melted granola bars and set out for the next set of falls.  On the hike to the falls, we bought some lemonade from some kids who were camping in the park and then Amy, Katie and Jessica hiked up .8 miles - both ways - up to the mist trail and left Aunt Becky behind to wave as they floated by - if they happened to fall in!  Red faced and worn out, they returned about 50 minutes later.  After Vernal we finally found some lunch, and then went driving through Yosemite Valley where we say El Capitan, the Half Dome and Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls.  Then we started the long drive up and down the mountain on the way to Bode Ghost Town.

Bode Ghost Town was cool, although we were not sure that we were going to make it with all our body parts in tact - the unpaved road was rough.  Bode closed in 1942 with gold still in the hill!  The Delapitated buildings still had furniture, newspapers and household items left just as the families left them.  We had a good time wandering through the town and talking about how life must have been in Bode.

Our drive back was quiet - not because we were tired (which we were) but we were listening to the exciting conclusion of Chasing Vermeer - our second book on tape for the trip.  The story took us to our next evening hotel - oops, motel - the El Dorado.  Quite an experience for us, we wore shoes in the shower and socks on our feet while walking on the carpet.  This place reminded us of how grateful we are that Peter uses his points to get us decent places to sleep - what happened this time, Bro?  We decided even Daniel Craig in his chap swiming trunks wouldn't get us into the pool! 

June 17, 2012

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's we know!  We started our Sunday morning going to Mass at St. Anthony of Padua church in Fresno.  It was a HUGE church with beautiful stain glass windows, incredible paintings and an amazing carving of the Last Supper.  It was a great way to start the day.

After Mass we headed to Sequoia National Park, I think we got our exercise for today and tomorrow.  We drove to where the General Sherman tree is - the largest tree in the world.  We walked down the amount of feet to the tree as the tree is tall - 275 feet.  All along the trail there were markers that indicated that we had climbed up a quarter of the tree, half way up the tree - and then finally to the top!  After some great photo ops, we took the Congress trail and walked two miles through the forest.  Then we had to walk back up the height of the tree.  All along the trail there are warnings that the climb is steep and the air is thin - good thing Aunt Becky had Jessica to shove her up the hill - she wouldn't have made it without the power boost!

After lunch at the Lodge Pole Visitor Center it was off in search of the Black Bear.  We saw black snakes, black birds, squirrels and even a deer, but no bears.  If only I had my box of curiously strong cinnamon altoids then I could have called a few bears forth for anothe photo op, it worked before...

Back to the hotel for a little swimming and some fun girl time and off to bed - we have an early morning tomorrow, off to Yosemite and then a ghost town.

To all our loyal Brown Girl followers, a warm (over 100 degrees here) good night!

California or Bust!

We are in, as Grandpa used to say, "in the land of fruits and nuts!"  We are excited to finally be here, it was a little bit of a hectic start since we battled with Air Force One and understandably, lost.  When traveling for our connection through Chicago, we tried to land at the same time and it didn't work, our plane was delayed and although we (people) made our connecting flight, our luggage did not.  It became a comedy of errors as we tried to rent our car, find our lost luggage and get to our hotel - all of this concluded at 2 am CA time - yikes!

We were greeted early this AM with a lovely sunshiney day.  Aunt Amy and Aunt Becky drove to San Jose to pick up Katie and Jessica and after our traditional beginning of the trip picture and a quick trip to McDonald's with Mom and Dad, we were off to the Mystery House.  The Mystery House belong to the Winchesters - yes, the gun people!  After a tragically short life for both Mr. Winchester and baby Winchester, Sarah Winchester went to a psychic to find out why the people in her family had such a short life.  Sarah was told that she would live as long as her house was under construction - this lasted for an additional 38 years, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  The changes/additions that Sarah made to the house were amazing, and a little strange, from stairs and doors that went nowhere to beautifully ornate fire places and windows.  One important piece to note - there were 160 rooms, 2000 doors, 13 bathrooms, 10,000 windows, 47 fireplaces and 40 staircases!  The house was so complex, the servants and the owner had to have a map to get around.  Look how happy this made Jessica!

From the Winchester House we left for the Wild Animal Refugee where animals that had once been in movies or had been a part of the circus went to retire.  We saw lions and tigers and bears - oh, my!  Along with yellow snakes, huge turtles, alligators (I tried to feed Katie to the alligators, but they were just not bitting!) and some red butt baboons!  It was 99 degrees outside but with the lovely breeze, you would never have known how hot it was.

We left the refuge and headed to Fresno, had a little Italian on the way, tried to swim in a pool that was just too crowded, watched a quick movie and off to bed.  It is going to be a busy day tomorrow as we head to Sequoia and we Brown girls need our beauty rest. 

To all our loyal Brown Girls followers, we wish you all a good night!