Golden Gate Bridge

This year happens to be the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge. Be it far from me to tell you anything about it other than...I am so impressed. Whenever we drive on dirt roads, for goodness sake, I am impressed by the labor that went into building that road. Same thing for railroad tracks, snow sheds, the Chinese wall, the Timpanogos Cave Trail, and yes, the Golden Gate Bridge. I learned on this trip that the average depth of the water in the San Francisco Bay is 18 feet. Ships have to go through a very narrow channel so they don't beach themselves on a sand bar. We also learned about all the hidden missiles and the whole defense system put in place before World War II. Everything's amazing in San Francisco!

Marin Headlands

On the Marin County side of the bridge, there's an NPS site called Marin Headlands. Beautiful! K got a back country permit and camped there once. I had been once before as well, but this was our first time visiting together. We stopped in several places, but we also drove down to the lagoon and Rodeo Beach.

Looks like your basic beach scene, right? Brown sand, white foamy water...but check out the brown sand a little more closely...

So pretty! And yet...looks can be deceiving...there was a sign here advising us to avoid touching the water. They say there's a high concentration of harmful bacteria in the water at this beach. So what does my cute husband do? He runs right out and picks this thing up:

Although they call it Rodeo Beach, to me, it will always be Bacteria Beach.

We were lucky enough to catch a little synchronized water ballet at the lagoon on the way out.

Seagull Portraits

Poor guy. I noticed his feet right away. Is that a prosthetic device, diabetes, or what? It does look like he's been tagged, so I hope someone is looking out for him. He may be a panhandler.

This other seagull is a little cheeky if you ask me. I decided to snap, step, snap, step, snap, step...just to see how close I could get. The thing dropped off like some base jumper and enjoyed a little free falling until it caught a wind current. Please pardon my childish amusements.

See Sea Lions

We went to Cliff House because we read somewhere that you can see sea lions there. Not true. We knew about the sea lions at Pier 39, but we thought we could see them more naturally on the beach or whatever. We asked about them at the visitor center and the lady said, "They moved over to Pier 39 after the earthquake back in '89." Oh. Even though it was raining, it was still a lovely day. Californians really complain, a lot, about the rain. I guess they hardly ever have it so when it shows up, it ruins their whole day. Not us! We just come prepared with rain coats, rain ponchos, and umbrellas. So good to get back to the sea!

Someone figured out back in '89 that when the sea lions showed up at Pier 39, they should build docks for them. It keeps the tourists coming around and spending money. Just like last time, I couldn't tear myself away. K knew what he was dealing with this time, so he was more patient and just let me have my fill. This is actually a really loud scene, so it cracks me up that so many of them are able to sleep, sleep, sleep right through the ruckus!

Part of the ruckus is the fighting. Most of these sea lions are young males. It's just never going to be quiet when you have a bunch of teenage boys hanging out together. Sometimes they growl and snap at each other. Some of them are prone to grumpiness. The fellow that has a whole dock to himself is likely sick or injured. Every time someone else tried to jump aboard, that fellow would let them know in no uncertain terms to "get off my dock!" I don't know if that standing up position is defensive or restful.

This next photo depicts a wet, shiny guy who just landed. I loved watching them in the water as they approached a certain dock--similar to jets taking off and landing. Or maybe it would be a better visual if I suggested the high jump or pole vaulting. Of course, some of the guys already on the dock would see another dude approaching and vehemently suggest they change their plans. All this "asserting my authority" and "I'm the boss of you" stuff was going on as they learned what sea lions must learn.

Loud mouth!

Honestly, I could have stayed all day. In the rain. Dear Santa, Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy, I really, REALLY need a zoom lens for my camera (or a new camera that allows a zoom attachment?). I need to get closer to wildlife!

Ghirardelli vs. Jelly Belly

We hit a few outlets on this trip. With insider information from Kristen, we stopped in Lathrop, California at the Ghirardelli Outlet Store. Things are less expensive there than they are in downtown San Francisco. Case in point--a hot fudge sundae is only five dollars! So of course, I ordered one, with two spoons. K did not even take a bite. He wasn't "in the mood." He did, however, select five chocolate bars for himself because they were "on sale."

On another day, we were in San Fran and actually parked at Ghirardelli Square, so there you go, my resolve crumbled, and I ordered another sundae after briefly considering a hot chocolate. I had the Presidio (strawberry with hot fudge) and K had Butterscotch.

We did take the opportunity to stop off at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, California. They had already finished tours for the day, but the sample counter was still open. We ended up buying a couple of bags of Belly Flops to share with Spike Rangers and fifth grade students. I am so mad I didn't know sooner about the Lychee flavor! I would have tried that one for sure.

In Sacramento, we made a point to visit the Blue Diamond Almond facility. They are also generous with samples and we obligingly dropped another twenty bucks there. The lady who checked us out spoke with some kind of accent and asked if we had been to the Jelly Belly factory. She said, "I took my keeds ovah dere and we ate too much sugah. We bought one mistakes bag and wi' dat, you don' know wha' da hell you ah eating!"

And in other Spring Break Food News, I must say that K made an excellent choice when he decided to take me to Mizu, a Japanese restaurant in Sacramento. They had all this sushi...and I confess I ate more than what you see on the plate. By the way, for us, Ghirardelli WINS!

Ode to the Railroad

We do Spring Break a little differently than most...this year's break was somewhat dedicated to the history of the Railroad. Yes, my husband works at Golden Spike National Historic Site and therefore, many of our trips focus on famous railroad sites and museums. When he worked at the cave, we visited a lot of caves. I can hardly wait to find out what his next park will be!

We looked into taking the TRAIN to San Francisco, but it was more expensive in time and dollars than we had anticipated. However, one of our first stops was in the Sierra Nevada. K wanted to hike to some tunnel and/or bridge, but the road to that place had four feet of snow on it. We had to settle for Donner's Pass and the Chinese Wall and the snow sheds built by those amazing Chinese immigrants right through granite and blizzards. The thought makes reason stare.

We stopped in Auburn, California and took a little hike to see the Bloomers Cut. This was another incredible push through tough rock which is still in use today! Nothing was more important than getting the tracks laid! These photos don't do it justice, but trust me, a train can barely fit through there!

Domesticity

Often, I lament that I am not more domestic. When one is consistently away from home, in fact, not just away from home, but grounded inside the walls of an elementary school (no, there is no time to run out and get something for lunch, or run and get my hair cut in the middle of my work day as I remember my roommates doing in their non-public school jobs) eight to twelve hours daily, there isn't a lot of leftover time for the domestic arts. I'm already sleep deprived as it is. However, last weekend was General Conference, so I found time to borrow the electric flour mill owned by our ward in order to grind some wheat. Yes, we actually have wheat, both red and white. We also have a hand grinder, but the electric one is so much better, even if it does sound like a jet is taking off from the kitchen.

I also made bean flour. Ssh. Don't tell my husband. I use it to thicken soups. I used some of the freshly ground flour to make Cornbread Supreme and then I soaked some beans and got to making my first pot of pasta e fagioli. I had a recipe to go off, but doctored it up to my liking. And...all of the ingredients came from stuff we already had on hand. No trips to the store for this soup! Although suspicious, K ate everything without complaint and then got seconds. He said, "Wow!" A supreme compliment!

News flash! We officially have a garden plot over behind the church for the summer! Yessirree--Plot #D-25. We've been growing peas and tomatoes on our porch our whole marriage, but this is our first garden together. We'll get this Iowa boy back to his farm heritage.

And if that's not enough domesticity all at once, get this: our class made a QUILT!

Yes, I have been known to quilt, even all by myself. But it's been years and I wasn't up to this project. However, a wonderful room mother, Mrs. C., WAS up to the challenge and this is what she pieced together from the scraps the children donated. Everyone tied at least one square! It was Art Week at school and the "artist" we chose for fifth grade was "American Quilting." So there--milling my own flour, starting a garden, and quilting all in one week!

The domestic life is a good one, but I think my heart will always belong to the great outdoors. I can't help it. I HAVE to play outside. A faculty member told me on Friday afternoon that she had never been to American Fork Canyon. I gasped. I offered to take her straight there right at that very moment, but she had plans. So we went yesterday morning. She loved it! She couldn't get over it. And neither could I. I mean, will you just LOOK at Mount Timpanogos?

The ducks were putting on an Easter Parade. It was all that it should have been. It was glorious!