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Greetings from the 2009 edition of Becky's travels. I missed the boat with my Denver vacation-- I never got things posted. However, for our quick family trip this year, I resolve to rekindle the blog. This year's adventure takes us to Lake Erie. We're now in Port Clinton, Ohio. It's a little town, just to the west of Sandusky.

Tonight we drove into Sandusky and decided to see a movie. It's pretty hot and sticky here- the air-conditioning in the theater felt good. We saw 'The Proposal ' with Sandra Bullock. It was actually pretty funny. Betty White was the surprise show-stealer. Tonight's plan was just to get here and meander-- getting the lay of the land.

It's beautiful here- the lake is just across the street. When we drove inot Sandusky, we crossed over the bay and could see Cedar Point in the distance. However, with June and the lake come the creatures from the blue lagoon-- mayflies. Have you ever seen these puppies? It's like an alien invasion. They swarm to the lights and cover the surfaces of buildings and cars. Supposedly they're harmless, but let's discuss how this girl doesn't want to find out. A few years ago, I drove through swarms of these crusty creatures on the way home for Detroit. I dared to exit the car to get gas-- and I was instantly covered. Repulsive. They turn out street lights and store signs because these little buggers can conduct electricity and cause a host of problems, from car accidents to power outages.

So, I'll work on my strategy for fending off the pests tomorrow night-- more to come tomorrow. Good night!

A Quick Post

Good morning everyone! We are now in San Francisco, and it is beautiful here. We are all going through temperature shock, since we have been in the high nineties most of the week and now it will only be 65 for a high today!

We drove in over the Bay Bridge (the one that collapsed during the earthquake in 1989). That was very scenic. We eventually wound our way down to Fisherman's Wharf.

We had a quick bite to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe, then went to get tickets for a evening bay cruise. BRRRR!!! It was very interesting. Then it was dinner, a quick side tour to Ghiardelli Square for chocolate, and back to the hotel. Today will find us doing more sightseeing (and I'm sure a little shopping!) More to come, friends.....

Yosemite

Like I said in the previous post, words can hardly describe the absolute perfection of Yosemite. You have to understand, though, that in order to see all of this beauty, you have to drive over the mountains to get into the park.....it was some of the most beautiful and terrifying driving I have ever done!! I would like to suggest that if you ever do visit the park, you only consider taking the Tioga Pass from east to west----at least then you get to hug the mountain and aren't on the outside of the switchbacks when there aren't any guardrails!

We were surprised to find that at 11000 ft. there were meadows and lakes. We had to do a temperature check of the lake at that elevation-- and guess what, folks....it was COLD!! Here's a picture of a couple of bathing beauties checking out the lake and one of all of us. See the gorgeous scenery?!

Sarah made it through the mountains pretty well. She even looked out the windows a few times!

You just can't describe Yosemite. The best we could come up with was that it was like driving through a postcard. For two days, the van was filled with Ooohs and Ahhhhs....it was unreal. We visited the Yosemite Village for souvenirs, and I got to see the Ansel Adams gallery there. Needless to say- I am bringing home a beautiful reprint of one of his images. We also saw lots of wildlife- elk, mule deer, and even bears! We ended our stay in Yosemite with a tram ride through the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoia trees. I'm going to let the pictures below tell the rest of the story.....I hope you enjoy the sights as much as we did.

Today we're off to San Francisco- so hopefully I can blog more tonight--which means you'll be sleeping and I'll be up typing away. Until later, friends!

Looking Around in Lone Pine- Tuesday, June 24 2008

Words can hardly describe the pure beauty of Yosemite National Park. It is truly a place of preserved splendor, where time seems to have stood still in many places for thousands of years. But before I get to Yosemite, I need to back up and cover our stay in the western movie location town of Lone Pine.

They filmed literally thousands of movies in this sleepy small town at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Not only were movies by Hopalong Cassidy and Gene Autry filmed there, but also more modern films like Tremors and even Ironman did filming in this area. We visited a small museum about this small town, as seen below. I even found a friend there!

We headed out into the Alabama Hills, a place that has been used for everything from westerns to Afghanistan and Egypt. These rock come from seemingly nowhere, then blend into the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Mt. Whitney is right behind them!

The Lone Ranger ambush rock

We made an important discovery while driving out through the hills: minivans are NOT made for off-roading! We bumped and banged down a few trails, but soon decided that pavement was best. We found a cabin once owned by Hoppy, and uncovered some beautiful scenery. We went back into town, and in a moment of misfortune, I managed to lock the keys in the van!! It was taken care of quickly, so we were fortunate.

We stayed at a real throwback in time in this small town. It was called the Dow Villas, and was one of those motels where you park your car right outside your door! While the decor was undoubtedly chosen by a penny-pinching granny (the bedspread, curtains, and shower curtains were all a matching yellow and pink floral motif) it was extremely clean and comfortable. We girls wrapped up the evening by taking a soak in the hot tub with the mountains in the background.

From Santa Monica to Magic Mountain

"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." --Forrest Gump

We started out the day with a visit to the Santa Monica pier. It was absolutely beautiful along the coast, but the early morning temperatures signaled that the day would be more than toasty. We had planned to have breakfast at a little restaurant about a mile from the pier, but Forrest Gump changed our plans. Ok, not literally Forrest Gump, but we were pleasantly surprised to see that the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant was open and serving breakfast. We were able to watch the ocean as we had breakfast. It was beautiful, and we didn't have to wait!

From the pier, we headed through downtown L.A., and finally managed to locate Dodger Stadium and Chinatown. Then it was back to the car rental company. Why? The check engine light had been on in the vehicle we rented for over 50 miles. We exchanged it for a roomier minivan, and went through the insanity of getting it changed. THEN we noticed that there was something that resembled chocolate ice cream all over the third row seating and the third row stow-n-go didn't work. One more trip to the parking lot yielded a van that SEEMS to be in working order. Total time spent at the rental company-- 2 HOURS. Ugh.

After that, we were craving a Pink's hot dog-- lunchtime was upon us. As we headed up LaBrea, our mouth were watering. And they stayed watering. We pulled into the Pink's parking lot, and saw a LONG line waiting in the sun. We debated staying and asked the parking attendant how long a line like that usually took. He told us an hour and twenty minutes! It was 95 degrees, and we decided that we didn't want to wait in the head that long. We headed on up to Hollywood and had a nice lunch at a restaurant called The Pig and Whistle (Chris, it made me think of Faith!!).

Michelle, no hot dog pic, but here I am chowing down on a filet mignon cheesesteak!

MMM...tasty.

You never know what you're going to see in Hollywood. The night before we saw Yoda, Cookie Monster and other assorted celebrity impersonators wandering near Mann's Chinese Theater. Sunday Elmo was out....and so were two guys rolling a casket down the sidewalk!! It was a real casket...we're hoping it was for a movie set. There were rollers attached to the bottom and it was held closed with tarp straps!!! Wow.

We headed out of Hollywood for Chatsworth and the famous Iverson Movie Ranch. After some careful sleuthing, we found the rock that Johnny has been searching for for more than 20 years-- the Devil's Doorway. He was soooo excited! We also saw some of the other famous movie location rocks like Indian head and the Lone Ranger Rock.

FINALLY!!

After that, we went to Vazquez Rocks, another famous movie locale. You might recognize it, as it is used a lot in commercials. I had a moment of brainless bravery and decided I could probably climb up one of these rocks and have my picture taken. I made it up; but someone should have warned me I would slide back down....ouch! No worries, though. I'm just fine. Nothing wounded but my pride. These rocks were really neat-- they reminded me of Pride Rock from the Lion King movie.

Vazquez Rocks Cuties

Gotcha!

Then we went movie ranch hunting down a little side road, found the Walker Ranch park, and headed for a swim at the motel. It was a good day- but long. Today will find us wandering more inland, skirting the edge of Death Valley, and ending up in Lone Pine. I don't know how the internet availability will be there, but if possible, I'll post again tonight.

Love you all!

Late Night Memo

Hi all...I know you are looking forward to reading more about the trip, but it will have to wait until tomorrow morning....it's after 2 a.m. your time, and I am ready to get some sleep. I will write when I wake up in the morning, so check back later in the day, and there will be more.

I'll leave you with a picture of the four of us from today. We're at an old movie location called The Walker Ranch. It's now part of an L.A. county park. It's been well taken care of, and Johnny was thrilled.

The Big Day

Los Angeles, CA

The City of Angels

The big day has finally arrived!! We are, as I write, sitting in the hotel room in Santa Monica. My three traveling companions are having a little snooze....believe me, we need it! We started our day around 3:30 this morning-- it's now almost 7:00 for those of you in Indiana. Unfortunately for us, it's only 4:00 here....so we have a bit of a day ahead of us yet.

The plane ride was fairly uneventful, unless you count Johnny's suspender popping antics...poor guy. But after two failed attempts, we did figure out how to put up his armrest without popping the suspenders.

After landing in LA, we got the rental car and started sightseeing. We hit one of the main highlights first thing. Indeed, it was Randy's Donuts. And let me assure you, they were TASTY. Below are a couple of pics to back up our story...

It's a California classic tourist site- I saw at least two other people with cameras.

Sarah took on the tough task of having a donut for Jim. By the way, Jim-- it was delicious!!

After that, we stopped at the Farmer's Market, and were greatly surprised at how much it had changed. It used to be just that- a market with a few eateries and small shops. Now, it has been expanded into a mega-mall. There are still elements of the old Farmer's Market there, but I think we were all a little wistful for what it used to be.

Fire up the air conditioning, folks. It is HOT here, so the rest of the day (to this point) was spent riding around in the air-conditioned wonder of our rental car. We did a lot of from-the-car sightseeing...we drove through Hollywood, along Mulholland Drive, and came out of the mountains into Beverly Hills.

After a few driving faux pas (who knew that the Beverly Hilton had 3 entrance drives? By the way, for those of you who need to know-- it is possible to use all three as an exit....)

Beverly Hills is renowned for two major things....huge movie star houses and Rodeo Drive. We saw a both today. We aren't sure who lives in the houses, since no one puts their names on the mailboxes, but for sure, some house we saw today is owned by an actor! We also had a celebrity sighting! Too bad I had to use the internet to find out for sure who it was-- it was a hip-hop artist named Brisco. He had quite an entourage with him-- several security types and possibly more rap stars. It's a sign that I am out of the hip-hop loop-- I don't know who they were.

We have dinner plans for the evening at Musso & Frank's. It's an old-time Hollywood Hangout (think Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles), but was also in the movie Ocean's 11. For you movie trivia buffs out there, it's the scene in the beginning where Brad Pitt and George Clooney are first discussing the heist. After dinner, we'll head off to cover parts of Hollywood after dark, including a shopping center and an after-dinner beverage at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Look for more tomorrow, friends. Love to all our friends and family. See you again on this page real soon!