Birthday Trip, part two

You have been very patient. Unfortunately, I have a lot of pictures, but some fuzzy memories about why I took those pictures. I'll do my best.

Each part of this post could be its own post, but here's the short version of our second day.

As I write this in the heat it is hard to remember cycling in the drizzle and fog and being cold, but it was still a good ride. I am guessing the views would have been great if it had been clear.

After the ride we headed to the public library, which I make sure I visit each time I am in Redlands. 

I love the Leo Politi mural

and stained glass windows.

We visited the Friends bookstore for the first time.
Of course, I had to support them by buying some books.

We visited the heritage room to learn more about Redlands

and found information about the original water
station for dogs (seen in the first Birthday Trip post).

Right outside the library door was an arts festival. 

We did not buy anything, 

but enjoyed seeing the Mona Lisa-themed art contest.

Other highlights of the day were 

"The Lincoln Memorial Shrine is the only museum and archives dedicated to the study of Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War west of the Mississippi River."

house tour by bicycle

Finish line of local bike race

We had an early dinner at a Thai restaurant and enjoyed 

some great shave ice, which was new to me.

We did have a couple questions.

Why does the city have so many logos?

What do the numbers on the old lampposts mean? I thought they were locations, but they were inconsistent from to the next.

Half-Day Outing

 

The morning started at one of the 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles, according to this article.

From there it was a short drive to Griffith Park and I wanted to go up the Fern Dell Stairs just because they were on the map.

The Leif Erickson statue is on the map, too.

The three-mile hike to the observatory and back was a bit steeper than I expected, but the views were fantastic.

Not a natural stream but still nice to be by the water.

Imagine you can see the Hollywood sign

And then back home to avoid the Friday rush hour traffic. It was a good to go and good to get back.

Fall Break, Part Two

 Sometimes it feels like trips are mostly sitting around. This time it was easy to get out and about. 

After watching the eclipse we visited friends in Los Osos and stayed so long that it was dark by the time we checked into our hotel. The shortest way to the Mexican restaurant and ice cream place was along the beach. I had forgotten how dark places are without lights from cars or other sources.

It was also a mile to dinner.

The next day we met family at the UC Santa Cruz arboretum.

It looks like we just meandered,
but we used the map a bit.

Before we met up with more relatives I had a chance to see the Santa Cruz boardwalk for the first time.

Later in the afternoon we made our way to Natural Bridges State Beach

and saw a newly formed bridge!

This time we made sure to leave early enough to ride to dinner in the daylight, but I forgot to record it.

The highlight of the ride was the corner of Short and Granite, which had treasures on each corner, including bonus treasures on one corner. It must be fairly new since the map app does not show any of it.

On the last day we walked to the butterfly sanctuary, lighthouse, John Denver memorial, along the coast and then on a converted railway track.

Such a great vacation!

More noticing

I thought I had been clever to notice house numbers and write about them.

I had no idea that there were books about the topic.

I learned about it from this post. The author walked every single street in one ZIP code 

and created a map noting the percentage of serif and san serif house numbers on each block. I found it fascinating and was a little jealous I had not thought to do it. On the other hand, I am content to notice and not always take action.

Stay tuned for the next photo collection.