home town tourist

As summer rolls into fall we are rounding the corner on photography season. Photography season is the magical time when the summer fog lifts and the sunrises come a little later in the morning. This is the time of year where every weekend gets filled with photographic adventures - and some just happen to be right in our backyard.

After our last little trip I left my phone charger in Santa Cruz. So, being left with only a car charger mid-week, we came up a little excursion that required a trip in the car. We hit up crookedest street - Lombard. It's world famous - the Australian woman there let me know she saw this street on TV back home.

We were definitely the only Americans there taking in the review of the city. There was an incident of a lost filter holder in the bushes. The blue light quickly turned to black and we hoofed it back to the car. San Francisco hills demand respect.

The following Saturday, before Hansilly pulled into town for a weekend visit, we woke up early and drove up to the Marin Headlands. The photographer was hoping for some sweeping fog and the opportunity to check out a new-to-us spot. But the fog was thin and high so we stuck around Battery Spencer. I brought the Gorillapod and pretended to be a landscape photographer too.

Want to see the work of the real landscape photographer? Well, you're in luck! We'll be in Pacifica at the Pacific Coast Fog Fest this weekend. Bring the whole family - sounds like it'll be a fun weekend.

The Details

• When: Sat. & Sun. 10am - 6pm
• Where: Palmetto Street, Pacifica

{cream puffs}

Lukas has the ideas and I'm the executioner - well, probably not using that word correctly. His idea for dessert this weekend was chocolate covered cream puffs. Sounded pretty decadent to me. As I began to look up recipes I had a strong recollection I had made cream puffs before, but I couldn't place when. Maybe I'd dreamed about making them?

Either way these turned out to be simple and oh-so-good. No special ingredients to buy, not much active time and no tricky techniques to master. If you can boil water you can make cream puffs!

{waiting to be topped}

garden gems

The tomato experiment of 2011 would get a B- if it was graded. I planted a solitary tomato plant, so I can't say I had much invested. I was worried it would be a complete failure so I just did one plant.

And at first it looked happy in my garden. Even if it was small. But then, it began to look a lot less happy. As my plants were disappearing the little tomato looked about ready to give up. The plant thief spared the tomato plant and a little more watering perked it up. Then over night it seemed to start to grow.

And then I noticed little green tomatoes. They got bigger. And then they started turning golden. When we returned from the long weekend, most of them were ready for eating. I get so excited anytime I can pull something from the garden. Like I've accomplished something amazing. Except, in truth, most of my plants survive inspite of me not because of anything special I've done.

So, with the exception of 3 more little tomatoes still needing to ripen, this was my tomato harvest. It was enough for a pizza and lunch with mozzarella and balsamic vinegar. Yum! I'm learning, just like with everything else in life, you get what you put in. This book has been inspiring me for next year. And maybe I'll even get a winter garden going this year.

Megan Anne{ie get your gun}

As I mentioned, on the way home from Shasta we made a pit stop in Santa Cruz. First, we had to get the kitty. We'd heard he'd had a hard weekend - going to the bathroom behind TVs and such instead of his litter box. Oh the stinker! And usually he's so good at being at "Grandma's".

We also had to pick up all the art show STUFF - grid walls, tent, pictures, prints, the list goes on! Since we've got another show coming up at the end of September. Mark your calendars - September 24th and 25th @ Pacifica Fog Fest!

But the best part of the stopover in SC {aside for the very very yummy dinner Betty made - thanks a million!} was learning how to shoot a {BB} gun. Lukas wanted to find his old collection of pog slammers. He'd found the binder full of page-protected pogs but not the slammers. And in hunting in the closet we happened on a box full of BBs. "I want to shoot the BB gun," I exclaimed. So we did!

I was amazed at how hard it was NOT to point the gun at anyone - rule number one! Seriously, the moment the gun was in my hands I felt like I needed to channel my inner rifle toting bad guy. Instead, while actively trying not to point the gun at Lukas I ended up putting my mother-in-law directly in the line of fire. Ooops - good thing the safety was on.

At first I couldn't hit squat. Lukas was impressed with my inability to hit anything. Really, he thought something might be wrong so he grabbed the gun to check it out. Bulls eye on the aluminum can - first shot. So nothing was wrong with the gun. He asked me how I was aiming and therein was the problem. My first shot after being schooled on the correct way to aim I totally took out one of the old cans. Pop and it fell right over!

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On a different note...

Earlier this week Emily from Blue Corduroy {my cousin! - Thanks Em!} nominated my blog for the Versatile Blogger Award. So, I'm playing a long with this fun chain letter of sorts. Here are the rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them in your post

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Nominate 15 blogs you have recently discovered

Seven things about me?

1. I have been accused of having calf-implants, which I do not.

2. I like to try new recipes for dinner, but usually would be just as happy to make dinner that doesn't require any thinking.

3. One of my favorite parts of writing is seeing the way the words line up on a page.

4. I love writing and reading, but am a horrific speller.

5. I'm finding this exercise to be much harder than it probably should be.

6. I don't sound or look my age.

7. I am most happy when in or near a big body of water - the ocean, a lake, rivers...

Phew, I made it to 7! And now to point you to some of blogs.

1. Biking the Pacific Coast

2. The Nurse and The Engineer

3. Scarlet Fig

4. Little Blue Cottage

5. oversewn

6. Piece and Press

7. Ruffles And Stuff

8. Little Bluebell

9. Stitched in Color

10. Sew This is My Life

11. just showing up

12. Breaking Out

13. Lucy & Norm

14. Honey & Jam

15. Film in the Fridge

Shasta-stic!

The long weekend just flew right by, but that tends to happen when you head out of town. Over the past Labor Day holiday we drove north to the Shasta area. Just long enough of a drive that it makes for a great 3 day weekend destination.

We camped at Castle Crags State Park. {side note - many great state parks are on the list to be closed. Major, major bummer!} Nestled beneath its namesake, the park is tucked in a little valley right off I-5. Right off I-5 means that big rigs drove by all night. We also had the pleasure of listening to the trains roll by. But the campground itself was nice and quiet with clean, warm showers.

In the ranger station while checking in I over heard the ranger talking on the radio with another ranger reporting a rattlesnake at the vista point. The ranger on the other side of the radio confirmed he'd heard the reports too, but hadn't found it. Hmmmm...

After setting up camp we headed up to the vista point. On the little walk out there we met with a couple returning who described where the rattle snake was. And... it was curled up right where they said it would be. I wonder why the ranger hadn't been able to find it. We gave it a wide berth and headed off to our next adventure.

That evening we hiked up to Heart Lake {also possibly called Little Castle Lake} from Castle Lake. It was a heart pounding couple miles up to a nice view of the lake below and Mount Shasta off in the distance. We waited for the sun to go down and then hiked back down to the car. It was a late evening of hot dogs and baked beans for dinner, then showers and to bed.

The next morning we were up early as per our usual. {this must have something to do why we never feel rested after a long weekend} The morning activity was the easy hike out to Middle McCloud Falls. No one was at the lower falls - popular for its swimming hole - when we went by first thing in the morning. Chilly temps don't lend themselves well to swimming.

Middle Falls was similarly unpopulated. The landscape was lush and the falls a bit misty. We hiked up past the falls to get a good look at them from above.

After a nap we checked out the River Trail in Castle Crags State Park. The trail took us under I-5 and then under the train tracks and over the river on a suspension bridge. Lukas called it "the trail inspired by a civil engineering enthusiast". We butt-scooted down to a little spot on the river. I showed my toughness by only taking 3 minutes to dunk myself briefly in the fridgid water. {I know this because Lukas had the audacity to film me - that I wont be posting!}

Clouds in the sky that afternoon meant another trip up to the view above Castle Lake. We thought there might be a different trail up to the top. But that proved not to be the case and instead we got a good "warm-up". Day two and the hike up was still heart pumping. The second trip up the mountain was worth it though! The sky filled with some amazing color.

It was even later when we made it back to the campsite for our standard dinner and then to bed.

Before heading home the next day we woke up at 6am. We parked in the town of Dunsmuir and walked along the railroad tracks to Mossbrae Falls. There were a couple of spots by the tracks where there wasn't a whole lot of space along side should a train have happened by at that moment. We did see one train, but it was at a time when there was lots of space.

The falls themselves were beautiful and unique. Water poured out in streams over mossy rocks into the flowing river running parallel to the cliff face. Spectacularly awesome.

We hustled back to our campsite, broke camp, and were on the road headed home by 10am. With the trip behind us we made a pit stop in Santa Cruz to pick up the kitty and Lukas's art show supplies. Exhausted, we made it home {late-ish} Monday night.

The minor casualty of the trip was the screen of our hiking GPS. Lukas's nifty carrying system of holstering it to the waist belt of his camera bag only worked until he took off the bag and set it down on the GPS which in turn was on a rock. Thankfully we had a screen protector on it. Things could have been much worse!

Happy travels!

"But, I promise I will not kill you until you reach the top"

Just because he's cute...

And it's a good thing he is because all in the last few days he's forgotten the house rules of no kitties on the kitchen counter. He has knocked over my pretty mason jar of sunflowers. And he has revisited his early kitten days by emptying an entire roll of TP onto the bathroom floor. A busy kitty that Inigo Montoya is!