picnic at santa cruz beach

December 23rd and temperature was in the 50s and hardly no one was at the beach. We had picnic on the beach, watching waves and kids shaping the sand. Eventually the kids gathered enough twigs and shaped them in to a shelter. It was the only shelter on the beach.

Baywatch

Mellisa her brother , Chris, and I combed the Monteray Bay state beach for marine lives. I could spent all day in this 9 acre lots. The sea water was cold and the hermit crabs were every where. A few different starfish species were the star of the find. We rescued the dried ones and avoided stepping on any of the enemonies .

Redwood Big Basin near Santa Cruz

The tallest tree in the world is located in northern part of California. In the Big Basin, it was like walking in the sequoia forest. This tree was not the Father tree, which is the biggest, but Melissa and I couldn't even come close to wrap our hands around its trunk. Walking among the giants was great, especially when shared with friends.

Golden Gate Bridge

My first bridge crossing in America was this bridge back in 1982. I was preteen back then. I drove over the toll bridge and walked across in awed of this giant structures.

Yosemite

The Yosemite valley was a nice area, but the majestic view of the surrounding mountains were breath taking. Again, winter season had some pro and con side. The pro side was that not too many visitors were there. The con side was that the highest waterfall in NA was dried up and many animals were not there. Also many of the roads were closed thus, I missed the sequoia tree with a tunnel through it.

Sequoia Tree

Now this park was my favorite place. The biggest tree in the world was very amazing. There were many for giant trees in the area. I was just a flea to them. The pine cones were smaller than my palm and needed fire to germinate. Many of the giant trees had burned scars on them but the 2+ feet deep barks kept the tree well protected; thus this tree is well in the 2,ooo yrs old.

Joshua Tree National Park

The park was way, way out there and I was not very interested after I saw the trees. If I were to explore the area it might have been a more different but it seemed lifeless other than a few shrubs and cacti. Cold temperature discouraged me to stay longer. I camped the night and temperature was below freezing. It was cool that I got to see the Joshua tree (endemic only to North America) of this species in the world.

Friend's friends

I had the privallige to explore around most of the well-known Los Angelas areas because my friend lives there. This picture was taken after our gathering at a Japanese restuarant.

Venice and Santa Monica Beach

How crazy was this, I was biking on Venice Beach in LA, California. It was fun but not too many people like I saw in TV. I was looking forward to see ladies with biki skating on the path ...winter is not the time for that. Nothice, I was the only one in short and temperature was in the 60s.

Going to LA on HWY 1

Going to LA again. I was in LA many years ago. This time, drove on the scenic rout, HWY 1. What a view but slow. There were many place to stop to photograph, which I did. I am sorry that I don't know how to place many pictures on this website. downloaded most of the pictures in my facebook. You have to have your own facebook in order to see mine.

Santa Cruz, California

The Olmsteads and I went to a Light Train ride. Santa showed up and gave each kid a candy. Picture from back of the line: kelly, molly, abby, mike, and henry.