RONALD REAGAN LIBRARY

 After a great weekend visiting cousins and getting to know them better, we decided to visit the  Ronald Reagan presidential library.  President Reagan is one of  our most admired  and successful presidents and we had been looking forward to this visit. Visitors are somewhat restricted in areas of picture taking.

This motto was on his desk continuously during his time in office.  We need some political leaders today with the same attitude and drive.

 This Air force One was in service during his presidency, we were not allowed to take any pics or touch anything inside.

 This is a real piece of the Berlin wall that divided the city of Berlin Germany. We wonder how many people died trying to escape from behind it.  The president's famous speech with the words "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall"  in  his own handwriting is on display.

This beam from the World Trade Centre   becomes   a sacred place for us as we contemplate that day.                                                              

The President's final resting place for his mortal body.  This site faces out over the  Simi Valley and you can see for miles across the countryside.

LOS ANGELES AREA

 Earlier we had driven through Napa Valley wine country and saw mile after mile of grape vines, this picture is of a grape vineyard. You can see them on the hill behind. This area gets very little rain and so there is Irrigation in every field.

 This is the non irrigated field. This past winter rain brought less than half of the normal rainfall so they are worried about forest fires.

 Here we are at Beverly hills,    We drove through the area and most of what we saw were .real nice homes but nothing spectacular.  We did drive up Mulholland  Drive and every home there is behind large bushes and with gates or guards.

 The traffic on Rodeo Dr was really heavy, we did see some really nice cars but didn't stay long.

 We found ourselves on Hollywood Blvd.  and drove the entire length, pass the walk of fame sidewalk and all the stuff movie bluffs want to see and the sidewalk was really crowded with people. 

We arrived at  Diane's cousins  (Ed and Flo)  place on Thursday afternoon and had a great 4 day visit and rest.  They showed us around the area and we took a drive along the route that the Rose Bowl parade travels on New Year's day.
For those of you into base ball Ed and Flo's grandson plays for the Atlanta  braves, The picture above is the jersey the wore on his first day in the majors, the two balls are his  first hit and his first home run and  on the left is the home run bat. On the bottom and hard to see is the official score card and the managers line up signed by Bobby Cox.
On Sunday we worshiped with them and had a great afternoon with the entire family.  Now we turn and begin the long trek  towards the north east  and head towards Las Vegas.

MONTEREY and PEBBLE BEACH

We spend Tuesday morning in the  Monterey aquarium. It was very interesting and a good learning experience, a lot of the pics did not show to well through the glass but here are a few.

 the water off the bay here is about 50* and they change it continually in the aquarium.

  It is a very big aquarium and lots to do ad see including this adorable pair of penguins.  Like most everything else here on the west coast, we think it is over priced.        .  The Monterey peninsula is the home of Pebble Beach. Every golfer knows about Pebble Beach Golf  Links . However Pebble Beach is an area that is owned and managed by the Pebble beach company and has 5 world famous golf courses along the 17 mile drive.

 This green is right on the ocean and you can tell from the trees that the wind blows pretty good all the time. OK golfers, what club do you use in you approach to this green from 100 yards out.

 On almost all of the 17 mile drive you can find some pretty nice real estate like this place we think the servant quarters are over the garage, or maybe the kids playroom.

 we get back on the highway along the Big Sur and again marvel at the beauty of God's creation. 

 It takes a long time to travel this route because of the road that has no straight sections at all and you average 35-40 mph and also because of the need for us to stop and take a few pics. Notice the waterfalls in the background.

The sun had just set over that hill and I snapped this pic. The Pacific ocean is beyond the hill.  The wind blows constantly here, poor trekkie  had difficulty staying in the lane a few times today and  kept us rocking all night.

San Francisco and Alcatraz

After a nice weekend of quiet and rest we were back in SF on Sunday and took in the Golden Gate bridge.  We did not realize that it nearly did not get built, there was so many people opposed to it that there were over 2000 law suits filed to stop it but finally the builders prevailed and it  is celebrating its 75th birthday this year. We drove around the city to some of the touristy places including Battery park and China town.

 On Monday we made the ferry trip over the 1 1/4 mile to Alcatraz.  The saying here was"break the law, go to prison, mess up in prison you go to Alcatraz.

 when a prisoner   arrived and he behaved himself this is his cell. It's the same size as a pool table.

 If he misbehaved then he lost anything that could move and he was here for 23 hours a day.

 If he really misbehaved again he got this, "the hole"  It was bigger that the other cells but nothing it it except a hole in the floor, and then there was a solid door that was closed so the prisoner was in total darkness except when  a small slot was opened for food. A person stayed in the hole for a maximum of 18 days.

As this picture shows it is often cold and foggy around Alcatraz. It is believed that no one ever escaped, although 5 who tried were never seen again but they believed they drowned and were swept out to sea. The city is only a mile and a quarter away and does look like a easy swim.  That is the Golden Gate bridge behind Diane and the current flowing out to the Pacific is very strong and the water temp is about 50*F

ON TO SAN FRANCISCO

 WE continued on along the coastal highway, through forest and farmland and always the ocean views like this one above and the roads climbing and dipping and numerous switchbacks. We stopped for the night at a nice campground in Bodega Bay about 40 miles north of San Francisco but on these roads in is nearly a 2 hour drive.

 WE leave trekkie  at a place called Tiburon and take the ferry to SF and dock at pier  41, the world famous Fisherman's Wharf.  It was just what you read or hear and a whole lot more  The place was pretty crowded and all the restaurants were very busy. 

 There were all kinds of street entertainers like this guy who got his jollies scaring people

and gold and silver man who just stood motionlessly most of the time..  There were guys playing bongos and all kinds of guys playing musically instruments of all kinds and singers.  Of course all of them had the pail out in front for donations.
there were all kinds of  people of all ages wearing the most freakish things you can imagine.
And there were people wearing nothing.  Yup, two guys and one girl totally nude and they were painting each other.  They seemed to be attracting a crowd.  No never got a picture.
We are now back at the same campground for a day or two of R&R, we booked a tour of Alcatraz but not until Monday so this is a  a nice place to stay for the  weekend.
  AS I type this  I am reminded of stories of  SF where the fog rolls in and we are now witnessing that happening.  We are by the ocean and the fog seems to actually roll as in comes inland, not sure how thick it will get but the wind appears to keep it moving.

ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST

After spending the night at a roadside turnout we find in our Parks book  the Oregon caves National Monument.  It was 17 miles off the road on twisty turney  drive up into the mountain to over 4000 ft.  The caves are in the mountain and from the opening you climb up  500 stairs and then begin the  down and up again for about 1 1/2 mile walk, many places you need to crab walk to protect your head and turn sideways to get through.

 There is lots of water  in the caves and from time to time a ice cold drop falls on your neck.  There are several different types of stone and one marble chunk is over 1080 feet long.

 There are thousands of side caverns like this one that range from a few feet long to many hundreds of feet only to dead end.  The caves are a constant 54*F and damp, we were happy to get back in the sunshine and head back the long brake ride down the mountain.

 We cross into California just before two o'clock and arrive at the National Redwood
Forest home of the giant redwoods, and, wow, are they ever big.

 Some of them are around 300 feet high and 40+ feet in diameter, Most are really straight and no branches for 80-100 feet. Sure is lots of good lumber (oops sorry, they're protected.) The one Diane is standing by is called corkscrew tree, somehow 2-300 years ago 3 small trees got twisted together.  There  are numerous tree that have been partially hollowed out and used as living space in the past.

 A few miles down the road we find the "DRIVE THRU TREE"   It was too small a opening for trekkie but the guy behind us did just find.

 Along the California coast we see many sights like the one below.

For mile after mile we parallel the ocean and a never ending vista of sea, sky, sand and rocks.  The drive is very slow going with twist and turns up and down hills and the need to stop and enjoy the  view often.

TOWARDS CRATER LAKE

From Depoe Bay we continued on south down the coast highway. Oregon has hundreds of state parks along the coast and we stopped several times.  The water was very cold about 50 * and only a few brave kids were playing in the waves. 

Diane took several tries to get the waves breaking on the rocks behind and Keith with his eyes open but it turned out great.

 The cliff just a few inches behind Diane drops off about 70 feet to the beach, The Oregon coast is known for the rock formations just off shore left from a volcano  in the distance past.

CRATER LAKE  The crater formed when a volcano blew off the mountain top many years ago. The only inflow of water is from rain but mostly from snow. The mountain gets a average of 44 feet (17 meters)  on a yearly basis. 2011 saw 56 feet or 17 meters of snow. 
 

 It snows every month of the year and because of the height and the purity of the snow it is considered the purist body of water on earth.  We imagine that is what the whole earth was like at creation.

The purity is what makes the water so blue.  It is also the deepest lake in the U.S. at 1943 feet
. Sadly the roadway around the rim is not open yet, it often does not open until mid July and only for a few weeks.  The temperature on top was right at 50* but now 3 hours later heading back to the coast it is 84*  Tomorrow we will cross into California and the Redwood forest.