Goat Rock!

We've passed this sign numerous times on our way to and from Sea Ranch.

This time we decided to see what was there!

It was a scenic drive from Highway 1 down to the beach area.

We could see this amazing arched rock:

And then Goat Rock.  Before we got to this view, it looked like the rock was an island but now you can see that it is connected to the beach.

  They think it got its name  because some say goat herders used the grassy, flat rock for goats as few other animals could make it up the steep sides.

The mouth of the Russian River is at the northern end of the beach area.

We always see lots of signs for different state beaches as we are driving up the coast so it was interesting to learn on our visit that Goat Rock State Beach is part of  Sonoma Coast State Park which spans 19 miles from near Bodega Bay to Jenner.

"Sonoma Coast State Beach is one of the most visited parks in California.  It is actually a series of beaches separated by rocky bluffs and headlands.  It is known for its rugged shoreline, sandy coves and sweeping ocean vistas."

We're glad we stopped!

Christmas Gift Outing #3: California Naturalist!

We've had this on our list to visit for a long time.

It's in the city of Martinez.

"John Muir was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, glaciologist and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States."

The mansion was built in 1883 by Dr. John Strentzel, Muir's father-in-law, with whom Muir went into partnership, managing his 2,600-acre fruit ranch. Muir and his wife, Louisa, moved into the house in 1890, and he lived there until his death in 1914.

After watching a 20 minute film about his life, we were able to tour the home and the grounds.

This is his study with the his original desk where he did much of his writing.

The grounds were very pleasant!

John Muir studied botany and geology in college.  He eventually ended up in San Francisco and he walked to the Sierra Nevadas, spending a lot of time in Yosemite.  He felt a connection to nature and became nationally famous through the articles he wrote.   He settled in Martinez where he helped his father-in-law  develop a profitable orchard business.  Later he traveled to wilderness areas and was one of the earliest advocates of the national park idea, and its most eloquent spokesman.  His writings brought attention to and helped establish these as national parks: Glacier Bay, Mount Rainier, Sequoia, Petrified Forest, and the Grand Canyon.  A camping trip with Teddy Roosevelt was extremely successful when he was able to convince the President to make Yosemite a national park.

I love our National Parks and we got this puzzle on our trip and have enjoyed putting it together:

Also on the property is the Martinez Adobe. Don Vincente Martinez, son of the commandante of the Presidio of San Francisco, built this house of adobe bricks around 1849. 

The inside commemorates the 1,800 mile journey lead by Juan Bautista de Anza from Mexico to the San Francisco Bay Area 1775 to 1776. 

He lead 240 settles and soldiers to explore and colonize the area.

Learning about John Steinbeck, John Muir, and Juan Bautista de Anza, gave us a theme for a very educational, interesting and fun day!

Christmas Gift Outing #3: California Author!

 We spent the morning learning about John Steinbeck!

 (1902-1968)

He was born and grew up in Salinas, California.

We enjoyed visiting the National Steinbeck Center in downtown Salinas.

We watched two movies about Steinbeck and the area. 

A painting of the Salinas Valley at the museum:

The main exhibition hall had areas respresenting his most famous books.

This is from The Grapes of Wrath:

 Travels with Charley, a book about the 1960 10,000 mile road trip Steinbeck made with his dog, Charley in this camper:

 East of Eden:

Steinbeck is the author of 27 books.  Other familiar titles include: Of Mice and Men, Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row, The Red Pony and The Pearl.

Many were made into movies and plays.

This is the Steinbeck House, 2 blocks from the Museum.

Steinbeck was born and grew up here and wrote a couple of his books while living in the house.  

This Queen Anne victorian has been made into a restaurant and is staffed by volunteers where they serve only lunch 5 days per week. 

The house has many of the original furnishings and other period pieces.  

We loved eating here!   Everything on the menu is from the family cookbook and they use fresh produce from the area.  

Our "waitress" was also a docent for the home and she stopped by often to share tidbits about Steinbeck and the house.  

 "I think I would like to write the story of this whole valley of all the little towns and all the farms and ranches in the wilder hills.  I can see how I would like to do it so that it would be the valley of the world."

Sleepover!

Hannah is in year round school and she has the whole month of March off.

We invited her to spend some time with us.

It was fun!

Lunch at Wendy's:

Getting in a little piano practicing:

We did some baking:

She got to use Grandpa's ipad and had fun connecting it to the TV screen:

She helped with our puzzle:

And she helped make dinner:

We had fun playing Tenzi:

She knows the sign language for "Choose the Right"

and showed us during Family Home Evening:

Our activty was Phase 10 Twist:

The next day I started teaching her how to knit:

 She got to watch a couple of episodes of Saved By The Bell:

 And she even worked on some of my indexing batches:

 It was great spending time with our granddaughter!

Now see if you can guess who we spent time with on Day 2 of our last outing?

Two famous Californians!

Christmas Gift Outing #3 Part 1: Pinnacles National Park!

We decided to visit the newly created Pinnacles National Park.

It was formerly a National Monument.  It's located in the Salinas Valley of California about 80 miles southeast of San Jose.

It is a very interesting place!

 "The park's namesakes are the eroded leftovers of the western half of an extinct volcano that has moved 200 miles from its original location on the San Andreas Fault, embedded in a portion of the California Pacific Coast Ranges." 

It is a popular place for rock climbers:

We decided to go on one of the hikes, but I only made it part way.  Dan went on ahead and took lots of great pictures.

The hike involved going through rock tunnels and talus caves.  Talus caves are formed  when steep, narrow canyons were filled with boulders, leaving passages between the larger rock.  (Too much claustraphobia for me!)

Here is one of the tunnels...

...and a narrow part of the trail

Now into the cave!

  Dan said the cave was very dark and the light you see in these next two pictures is from the flash on his camera:

Below is a professional picture from inside the cave: 

(FYI: Dan said he would never go in that cave again although he was glad he did it once.  He was on his hands and knees part of the time and twisting and turning in the dark.  He said if he had had a thicker shirt on, he would not have been able to squeeze through!)

 Just coming out of the cave are these steep stairs:

At the top is Moses Reservoir...

...and some other beautiful sights...

...including lots of wildflowers...

Looking down on some of the pinnacles:

Later we went on a walk I could handle:

It was a fun, scenic and perfect Spring day!