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Saturday, October 31, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
A Day at Schooner Gulch Beach
After our busy day yesterday we thougth we would spend the whole day at one of our favorite beaches. Schooner Gulch Beach is great.
It is always warm and there are never very many people there. We are able to go and relax, play and explore with no one to crowds on the beach. We played cards, 
built sand castles, 
and walked on the beach and only saw two there people all day. What a perfect beach day.
It is always warm and there are never very many people there. We are able to go and relax, play and explore with no one to crowds on the beach. We played cards, 
built sand castles, 
and walked on the beach and only saw two there people all day. What a perfect beach day.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Exploring Mendocino County Part 2
Our next stop was at Point Cabrillo Lighthouse built in 1909. 
This light house was built due to the increase of ships in the sea, because of the demand for redwood. This lighthouse served as a beacon to navigate through the dangerous waters. We took a 1/2 mile walk out to the light house. 
On our right as we walked there was a great big field and in the field we saw deer.
The girls got a kick out of that. Then we took a walk through one of the light keepers houses. It was pretty neat to see how the families lived in the 1900s. The girls thought it was so cool.
Then we walked into the lighthouse. We were unable to take a walk up to the tower because they only do that 4 times a year, but we were able to see how they have been celebrating the centennial year. 
Our last stop took us up to Fort Bragg where we went to glass beach. We had a lot of whining from the girls at this point. They were tired and walking to another beach did not sound fun, but once they saw glass beach they loved it. We had to pull them away from it. This beach used to be the dump. The towns people saw that it was polluting the ocean and stopped the dumping. Over the years the pounding waves have smoothed and polished the glass. They are like colored rocks. 
The girls loved looking through all the different colors of glass and collecting some too.
The rock on the beach had metal, glass and all sorts of debris attached to it. It was pretty crazy to see how the all the garbage made a beautiful mess out of nature.
On the way out of town we ate at Noyo Harbor. We stopped at this little restaurant at the end of the harbor called Heron's by the Sea. 
It was small inside and we were pretty much the only ones eating,but the food was excellent and we had an amazing view of the sunset. We stopped at Cowlicks for yummy handmade ice cream. What a fantastic day,
This light house was built due to the increase of ships in the sea, because of the demand for redwood. This lighthouse served as a beacon to navigate through the dangerous waters. We took a 1/2 mile walk out to the light house. 
On our right as we walked there was a great big field and in the field we saw deer.
The girls got a kick out of that. Then we took a walk through one of the light keepers houses. It was pretty neat to see how the families lived in the 1900s. The girls thought it was so cool.
Then we walked into the lighthouse. We were unable to take a walk up to the tower because they only do that 4 times a year, but we were able to see how they have been celebrating the centennial year. Our last stop took us up to Fort Bragg where we went to glass beach. We had a lot of whining from the girls at this point. They were tired and walking to another beach did not sound fun, but once they saw glass beach they loved it. We had to pull them away from it. This beach used to be the dump. The towns people saw that it was polluting the ocean and stopped the dumping. Over the years the pounding waves have smoothed and polished the glass. They are like colored rocks. 
The girls loved looking through all the different colors of glass and collecting some too.
The rock on the beach had metal, glass and all sorts of debris attached to it. It was pretty crazy to see how the all the garbage made a beautiful mess out of nature.
On the way out of town we ate at Noyo Harbor. We stopped at this little restaurant at the end of the harbor called Heron's by the Sea. 
It was small inside and we were pretty much the only ones eating,but the food was excellent and we had an amazing view of the sunset. We stopped at Cowlicks for yummy handmade ice cream. What a fantastic day,
Exploring Mendocino County
We have never been up to Mendocino or Fort Brag area before and heard there is a lot to see and do there. So today we thought we would go exploring and see all that Mendocino County has to offer. We drove up the scenic coast line stopping at a few of the state parks along the way.
The 1st one on our list was Van Damme State Park, then we went to the pygmy forest to take the short self-guided tour. 
The Pygmy forest is an area where poor soil and highly acidic soils create a clay hardpan. The area is a marshy ecosystem of stunted rhododendrons mature, cone-bearing cypress and pine trees that stand just six inches to eight feet tall. The trees in this area are over a 100 years old and only grow and inch per year. One really cool facts that Noah shared with us was how Walt Disney wanted to use miniatures trees for his story book ride. He did not want to use fake plastic trees and real trees would get to big. He had heard about this area and had his people recreate the soil condition and bring a few of the plants to Disneyland for that particular ride. 
So the next time you go to Disneyland check out the storybook ride. 
In the picture you can see the tall pines in the background but the area we were looking at only had the stunted trees. Our 2nd stop was at the small town of Mendocino itself. We drove down main street and stopped at the Ford House which is now the visitor center. 
The Ford House shows Mendocino's early settlement era. There is a small display of Native American artifacts and a scale model of the town as it was in 1890. Throughout the house, old photographs, tools and relics relate the saga of the telling of the redwoods to the shipping of the lumber aboard the legendary doghole schooners. 
As we continue up north we stopped to eat lunch and explore Russian Gulch State Park. 
We took a walk out to the headlands and walked out to another Devils punch bowl. 
It is being eroded by the ocean waves, but still looked pretty cool. 
On our way back we took in the breathtaking views of the ocean and the state park. You couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. Its not everyday that sun is shinning on this part of the California coast.
The 1st one on our list was Van Damme State Park, then we went to the pygmy forest to take the short self-guided tour. 
The Pygmy forest is an area where poor soil and highly acidic soils create a clay hardpan. The area is a marshy ecosystem of stunted rhododendrons mature, cone-bearing cypress and pine trees that stand just six inches to eight feet tall. The trees in this area are over a 100 years old and only grow and inch per year. One really cool facts that Noah shared with us was how Walt Disney wanted to use miniatures trees for his story book ride. He did not want to use fake plastic trees and real trees would get to big. He had heard about this area and had his people recreate the soil condition and bring a few of the plants to Disneyland for that particular ride. So the next time you go to Disneyland check out the storybook ride. 
In the picture you can see the tall pines in the background but the area we were looking at only had the stunted trees. Our 2nd stop was at the small town of Mendocino itself. We drove down main street and stopped at the Ford House which is now the visitor center. 
The Ford House shows Mendocino's early settlement era. There is a small display of Native American artifacts and a scale model of the town as it was in 1890. Throughout the house, old photographs, tools and relics relate the saga of the telling of the redwoods to the shipping of the lumber aboard the legendary doghole schooners. 
As we continue up north we stopped to eat lunch and explore Russian Gulch State Park. 
We took a walk out to the headlands and walked out to another Devils punch bowl. 
It is being eroded by the ocean waves, but still looked pretty cool. 
On our way back we took in the breathtaking views of the ocean and the state park. You couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. Its not everyday that sun is shinning on this part of the California coast.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Point Arena Lighthouse
This morning we set off to go tour and see the Point Arena Lighthouse and Museum. 
It is the tallest Pacific Coast Lighthouse at 115 ft. built in 1908 and has over 100 steps that we all climbed to get to the top. The first lighthouse was built in 1870, but was damaged so bad by the April 1906 earthquake it was rendered unsafe. 
It used to hold a 1st Order Fresnel Lens, that's over six feet in diameter that weighs more than six tons. The lens is made up of 666 hand-ground glass prisms all focused toward three sets of double bulls eyes. It is these bulls eyes that gave the Point Arena Lighthouse its unique "light signature" of two flashes every six seconds. 
Before electricity, the lens had to be rotated by a clockwork mechanism. The Keepers, or "wickies" as they were called, had to hand crank a 160 pound weight up the center shaft of the lighthouse every 75 minutes to keep the lens turning. Light was produced by a "Funks" hydraulic oil lamp, that needed to be refueled every four hours, and whose wicks would have to be trimmed regularly. Later, two 1,000 watt electric lamps were installed to replace the oil lamp, and a 1/8 horsepower electric motor was installed to replace the clockworks. 
The view from the top is amazing and was extremely windy today, so windy we could not go on the outside of the glass. They said it would have blown us off .
We could see where the beautiful, but treacherous waves crash into the coast and has been eroding the land around the lighthouse. We got a great view of what devils punch bowl looks like now and the air strip where the plane landed from the movie Forever Young. 
We all really enjoyed taking a guided tour to the top of the Lighthouse and learning the history of it. After our tour we ate pizza at one of our favorite spots at the Point Arena pier. Noah treated us all to some yummy ice cream afterwords. 
As we got back to our cabin the girls talked us into renting a 4 seater bike that we squeezed Aubrey on.
We got an hour rental for $10. It was a lot of fun! I would have payed money to see Noah and myself struggle to pedal the girls all around the KOA for the hour. Towards the end we let the girls pedal the bike and ride around. They had a blast.
It is the tallest Pacific Coast Lighthouse at 115 ft. built in 1908 and has over 100 steps that we all climbed to get to the top. The first lighthouse was built in 1870, but was damaged so bad by the April 1906 earthquake it was rendered unsafe. 
It used to hold a 1st Order Fresnel Lens, that's over six feet in diameter that weighs more than six tons. The lens is made up of 666 hand-ground glass prisms all focused toward three sets of double bulls eyes. It is these bulls eyes that gave the Point Arena Lighthouse its unique "light signature" of two flashes every six seconds. 
Before electricity, the lens had to be rotated by a clockwork mechanism. The Keepers, or "wickies" as they were called, had to hand crank a 160 pound weight up the center shaft of the lighthouse every 75 minutes to keep the lens turning. Light was produced by a "Funks" hydraulic oil lamp, that needed to be refueled every four hours, and whose wicks would have to be trimmed regularly. Later, two 1,000 watt electric lamps were installed to replace the oil lamp, and a 1/8 horsepower electric motor was installed to replace the clockworks. 
The view from the top is amazing and was extremely windy today, so windy we could not go on the outside of the glass. They said it would have blown us off .
We could see where the beautiful, but treacherous waves crash into the coast and has been eroding the land around the lighthouse. We got a great view of what devils punch bowl looks like now and the air strip where the plane landed from the movie Forever Young. 
We all really enjoyed taking a guided tour to the top of the Lighthouse and learning the history of it. After our tour we ate pizza at one of our favorite spots at the Point Arena pier. Noah treated us all to some yummy ice cream afterwords. 
As we got back to our cabin the girls talked us into renting a 4 seater bike that we squeezed Aubrey on.
We got an hour rental for $10. It was a lot of fun! I would have payed money to see Noah and myself struggle to pedal the girls all around the KOA for the hour. Towards the end we let the girls pedal the bike and ride around. They had a blast.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Camping at Manchester Beach
This fall break our family voted to go camping for a week. Well they actually voted to go to Disneyland, but we were unable to do that so we talked them into going up north to camp on the coast. The girls were really excited and I was too when I found out we would be staying in small two room cottage with a heater. Our choice location was Manchester Beach. 
This afternoon we arrived at the camp just in time to set up, get settled, cook dinner and watch an amazing sunset on the ocean. The best part about our site was that we were pot right next to the park. We could sit right outside our cabin and see the girls playing. We could not have been set up in a better location.
This afternoon we arrived at the camp just in time to set up, get settled, cook dinner and watch an amazing sunset on the ocean. The best part about our site was that we were pot right next to the park. We could sit right outside our cabin and see the girls playing. We could not have been set up in a better location.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Our Annual Apple Hill Trip
For 8 years now we have been going up to Camino aka Apple Hill to visit all the different apple farms. This year our 1st stop was Apple Ridge Ranch (used to be Pluebells). We saw the farm animals, played on the swing, tractor, and took a few fall pictures.
Our next stop was Larson Ranch for Apples. I bought a 40lb. box of apples, 4 bags of 3lb. apples and 3lb. of pears. The kids tasted various types of apples and helped me pick out which ones to buy. Our 3rd stop was lunch at Honey Bear Ranch where we always order the Apple Chicken Strudel with apple slaw, and a slice of apple pie. After lunch we let the kids feed the fish and took some more fall pictures. 
Our 4th and 5th stops were at High Hill for their variety of apple donuts and Ables Acres for the best apple fritters, and fudge. Sometimes we stop at other farms to check out what they have, but theses always seem to be our favorite ones. What a great way to spend a fall day.
Our next stop was Larson Ranch for Apples. I bought a 40lb. box of apples, 4 bags of 3lb. apples and 3lb. of pears. The kids tasted various types of apples and helped me pick out which ones to buy. Our 3rd stop was lunch at Honey Bear Ranch where we always order the Apple Chicken Strudel with apple slaw, and a slice of apple pie. After lunch we let the kids feed the fish and took some more fall pictures. 
Our 4th and 5th stops were at High Hill for their variety of apple donuts and Ables Acres for the best apple fritters, and fudge. Sometimes we stop at other farms to check out what they have, but theses always seem to be our favorite ones. What a great way to spend a fall day.
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