Mammoth Mountain

Another picture of Mammoth Mountain area. The mosquitos were hungry here.

Mammoth mountain, CA

Here is a picture of Mammoth, CA. I was traveling back to OR.

Juneau, Alaska

I just took a job teaching in Juneau, Alaska! I will be teaching in an elementary school and I will have two assistants. I am looking forward to heading back to Alaska after the heat of Southern, CA. I will go spend some time in OR before heading to Alaska. I think I will go Bellingham, WA and catch the ferry to Juneau.

Southern CA creek

This is a nice creek. It has clear water and 4 to 6 inch fish. Nice Place to hang out on a hot day.

San Anonio Creek

There is a creek here. There are also RATTLESNAKES. One person was over at this forest service shed and a rattlesnake jumped at him. The fellow walked back and the snake went under the shed to get away.
NOTICE THE ROCK WALL UP ON THE HILL! To be there and to see it is great. Some folks did a very fine job with the rock work.

Old Ranch house

DID YOU KNOW: The US military uses 70% of the gas and diesel used by the US every day!
We got into Iraq with distortions and lies but it sure uses up a lot of oil and fuel. It also drives up the fuel costs to consumers. Did GW and Republicsns ever find the WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction? Did GW give up on Bin Laden?)

This is an old ranch house from the Spanish days.

(Yes, I am a veteran.)

Hike overlooking the ocean

This is part of an old Ranch from the Spanish days. It is now a State Park. It is by San Diego.

Cactus Anyone

Cactus by San Diego, CA

Southern CA

I escape the desert every week to cool down at the ocean. I go from 100 degrees to 75 to 85 at the coast. As soon as you go inland the temperature increases fast.

california beach

typical beach scene in Southern CA

4th of July, 2008

We were 2 blocks from the fireworks, great view. 80 degrees too. Banning, CA

Happy 4th of July

From Banning, CA

Historic Freighter and Submarine

This is an original historic freighter. There are not many left now. It has been rehabbed and still use it for training. In the background, you see a soviet submarine. You can pay to tour all of the boats.
I GOT 57 MPG ON MY HONDA CIVIC HYBRID! I went 60 MPH instead of 70 MPH! The next trip I got 50 MPG at 60 MPH.

Historic Ship, San Diego

This one was built for and used in a movie.

Historic Ship, San Diego

You can find 5 or 6 historic ships on the San Diego waterfront.

Gliders at Torrey Pines

Another Para Glider over Torrey Pines. This is where the gliders take off and land. There are only a few places in the US where you can take off, glide and land at the same place. There have been cases where the glider lost his updraft and landed on the beach. They then have to walk up a steep trail to get back to his car.

Para Sailing - Torrey Pines

The dot above the hills is a para-sailer. The wind off the ocean hits the hills and goes up creating a steady updraft. People launch from the park and glide back and forth and then land back at the glider park. If the winds are right, a person can stay up a long time. At times, there can easily be 20+ gliders in the air.

Coronado Hotel

This is the Coronado Hotel which is on Coronado Island. You can see Coronado Island from downtown San Diego. It has a great beach. The hotel was built at the turn of the century.

There are stories of ghosts in the old hotel for ghost buffs. Lots of wealthy people in Coronado. In Tijuana I saw lots of poverty and moms and kids selling candy to just survive for the day. In contrast, In Coronado I saw a lady with a fancy Ferrari Stroller and I looked inside and she had a poodle dog in it. It would be nice if all kids could get the same comfort and care as that dog.

Coronado, CA

This is Coronado Beach and Coronado Hotel which is by San Diego.

Leaving Mexico

There is no traffic problem going into Mexico but getting back to the US can take time. Waiting an hour, two or three is normal unless it is past midnight. Lots of people walk along the traffic and sell things.

TIJUANA, MX

Downtown Tijuana, Mexico. I walked across and spent the day in TJ. Lots of Poverty and barkers telling a person to go into this place or that place. I saw lots of little kids asking for money or selling candy.

Sunset - Torrey pines

The Hybrid has made the travel possible. I have the Honda hybrid but I am hearing good things about the Prius too. The civic is a little larger.

Torrey Pines sunset

I have more pictures coming up soon - maybe tomorrow.

Sunset at Torrey Pines

What is on the other side of this ocean?

Beach at Torrey Pines

The US Open took place above the hill here. Tiger Woods won. The path down to the beach is a good workout.

Tiger Woods, US OPEN

This is Black's beach which is the beach beneath Torrey Pines. The US Open was held here a week ago. I was here two days after the Open ended. They were still tearing down the tents, etc. It is a good hike down to the beach. Tiger won the US Open but has to take a few months off for knee surgery. It was only 95 degrees here but the humidity from the ocean was noticable. This is just outside of San Diego.

Wind Mills by Palm Springs

The wind always blows here so there are about 1000 of these wind mills producing electricity. It was 115 degrees the other day in Palm Springs. It is kind of like living in an oven. When you turn off the air conditioning or are working outside you bake. 100 is a cool day here but the evenings can be pleasant.

Honda Civic Hybrid

I bought a Honda Civic Hybrid and with gas prices of $4.75 a gallon in CA, it is a good thing. I am getting 40 MPG with the air conditioner on and going 70 miles per hour. It is a smooth running little car. I could not have afforded this trip with my old Jeep. I park this one when we go camping in the back woods.

Hemet, CA

This is the Inland Empire. It is about 100 degrees daily. It cools down to about 75 to 80 at night. The sage brush is drying out. Did I mention that it is hot.

111 degrees

I drove to Palm Springs and it was 111 degrees. I then went back to Banning and it was a cool 104. The hills are drying out fast. The spring was wet so there is quite a bit of grass to dry up and create a fire danger.

hiking scene

This is a typical hiking scene in our camp area. We hiked up the stream bed so it is green. We had a 3 year old and a 5 year old hiking with us and they did the entire hike by themselves. They needed help over big logs and massive rocks but the kids were great troopers and took it one step at a time. I am quite impressed.

No desert camping!

We decided not to camp in the desert - too hot. It was 110 degrees at 10 AM when we did a temp check of Anza. That is way too hot. Remember: I spent 3 months recently in below zero temperatures. Where we camped the low was 65 and the high was 85 - tolerable.

We camped by this little town.

They had a festival too. We got some ice cream and ice and headed back to our little hiding spot.

Mosquitos

There was a big enough stream and stagnant water to produce lots of mosquitos. We had to put on anti mosquito juice again and again. The mosquitos are small compared to Alaska mosquitos. The CA mosquitos do eat well though. This picture is looking west to LA.

Camping in Southern CA

This is a daughter and a grandson when we were camping and hiking in Southern California. We were about 90 miles from LA. We got a site with no other people around - pretty amazing.