Millard Falls

Yesterday we drove down to La Jolla for some snorkeling, followed by post-convention dinner with Tessa, Anthony & Sam (mmm... steak...). Very fun! We have decided that La Jolla is NOT a place we want to be on a Sunday, ever again. But we had a nice time. The drive home was killer... 3-hours in traffic. Blech.

Today we had a nice tromp back out to Millard Falls.
Saw tons of tadpoles... this one was the most fun, being furthest along. The picture isn't very good, but it was FUN to see! :-D

LEGOLAND!!!!

Theresa, Anthony & Sam came down from the San Fransisco area on Wednesday; they crashed at our place that night after I got home from a late day at work, and yesterday we went to Legoland!
We saw many millions of Legos... in a variety of fun shapes...Hmm... does someone look WET in that last picture? That may just be the result of a direct hit at the water balloon toss... :-D

And... this would be the ride that they did not balance the adults on... which we then had to ride three times before we could get off!

We played and played. Also saw a 4-D show, AND got to ride my very first rollercoaster! :-) Ben is talking about Six Flags now... we'll see. ;-)
I'm so glad we were able to spend the day with you guys--it was so much fun!!!

Where I want to go...

Brian Andreas quote that says it all :-)

map of some places not discovered quite yet because when people get too close it stands up & trots away

Exploring Again

Soph & I took a little exploratory hike today... a new path in a traveled park. So many trails, going so far... we could have walked all day. But her feet needed a break! :-D My goofy pup.

In other news, Ben is somewhere in Utah--parked for the night. Will make the long ride home tomorrow! :-)

Wonders... small and large!

Today I saw both the largest and smallest animals since coming to California! Soph and I took a walk after work, and scared up a little deer on our hike. The first I've seen! And then a little further on, something skittered across the trail--it was the size of a bug, but was a tiny, tiny lizard! About half the length of my little finger, and much smaller around, lol. So tiny and perfect! And moving waaaaay to fast to photograph. Fun.

Random Bird of Paradise in our courtyard....
I had a small orientation group at work today--a fun, chatty group. And partway through, when they were asking rather detailed directional questions and finding that I was new to the area, they asked where I moved from. When I told them Wisconsin, one of the ladies said, "Oh. Yes, that explains it. Why you are different. Yah, ok. Mm hmm." And sat back with her arms folded and a satisfied expression as though she had figured out some puzzle. We had to move on, but I'm not REALLY sure what she meant. I've decided to take it as a compliment and not obsess. :-D

Pining for Home

A year ago at this time, I was on the island. I'm wishing I was there now... bustling around the inn in the morning... playing in the sun and waves during the afternoon, and heading to Karly's for the evening.

I miss the tastes of fresh, clean air and sweet water... the lush green of day and dark star-filled nights... the quiet sounds of birds singing and waves lapping, punctuated by an occasional airplane or laughter from the beach... familiar friendly faces.

Sunny Days

I'm tired and heading to bed... but thought I'd put up these two pictures.

This would be the biggest lizard we've caught to date... which was thrilling until he stressed and let his tail drop as a diversion. Then we felt terrible. :-\

And THIS is a terrible pic... but the log-fetching was cracking me up. So I had to post it, lol.
Ben is in WI... what SHALL I do to his room while he's gone for a whole week? :-D

Yay for a visit!!

I'm going to post this picture while he's still driving back to his hotel... :-D

Jeff was here today!He had the dubious honor of being the first to visit our little furnitureless apartment since Bamberg was here helping us move in. For those of you who don't know him, Jeff is an on-line gaming friend from Orlando who was out here for a work trip. Fun to put the face with the voice/type and spend an afternoon exploring the greater Altadena area. It was way too hot to spend much time outside, but fun to hang out.

Thanks for coming, you. It was really fun to see you!

Escondito Falls

Ah... blessed day off. :-D

Ben, Sophi & I headed out to explore today... we looked through the hiking books and picked a new spot, having a little time to drive somewhere today. We headed out toward Malibu and the Santa Monica mountains, taking a bit of a scenic route. And on high and winding bit we saw a golden eagle! It was perched on a wire over a deep valley and when we pulled off the road to look through the binoculars (thanks, dad!) we could see its golden head. Beautiful.

The trail took us along a road first, winding through what can only be called estates. We did see some gorgeous flowers, and Ben saw a little snake too!

Then the trail left the road and took us down into a little wood, criss-crossing a stream several times before ending at the falls. These falls, like the last one we found, are more of a steady stream of trickles. What a wonderful sound! The dog puttered while we poked about, and got completely covered with stinky mud. But then... so did I. :-\

It wasn't the first slippery rock that was the problem, it was the SECOND one I stepped on to catch my balance. Ha! See my scraped leg? Only a flesh wound, really. Ben was kind enough to be very concerned, until he saw I was laughing. Oh! And on the way back out on the trail, we saw a coyote in the woods!

When we got back to the car we had our peanut butter sandwiches and decided to head to the water for a little bit, as we are infrequently so close to the coast. You know how a regular peanut butter sandwich is good... but when it's tossed in a backpack and rattled about--jostled and smooshed--it gets to be a different consistancy? And then it's reeeeally good? These were reeeeally good. :-D

Sophi wasn't sure what to make of her first taste of the ocean, but the waves were big enough that she wasn't real interested in exploring. So we took turns wading and then headed home through TRAFFIC.

The dumpster in the parking lot near the beach tickled our funny bones. :-D

On the way home--different route now--we saw another coyote! This one was even closer, and trotted down the road for a bit so that Ben was able to lean out and snap a picture. Fun!!Arrived home feeling wind-swept, sun-kissed, tired and refreshed. May you have many days like that!

Millard Canyon Falls

So Ben, Soph & I discovered a new spot on Friday... and of COURSE I forgot my camera. It's a short hike not far from our place, which winds up at this sheer rock face covered with moss and drizzling water. It's cool and shaded and smells like wet green--hard to find that smell out here!

And while we were soaking it all in, we heard this LOUD noise.... Ben eventually discovered the source--a tiny frog with very big lungs!

I took the dog back today, but being the middle of the day it was not good light for pictures. I'll try again soon. Can't complain though--we saw a couple of lizards, a snake, AND our friend the frog! :-D

As soon as we got there, Sophi laid down in the little pool. Can you see what she thinks of the heat?