Florence Avenue, Sebastopol, CA

11/30/14 Patrick Amiot's Sculpture Art


When a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go on an art tour while walking around her neighborhood in Sebastopol, I wasn't sure what to expect. Art tour in a neighborhood? I'd absolutely like to see it!!
















We arrived at Florence Avenue after a short walk - I was amazed at the cool sculptures we walked past. Front yards were all so much more fun with these art pieces - very unique, and different from any other neighborhood I've walked through.

The creative pieces recycle old material and are all sculpted by one artist and painted by another. Dogs, trucks, mermaids, and my favorite: an A's baseball player - plus many, many more through Florence Ave and around town. You'll be able to quickly figure out the artist's house - it's the one with a TON of sculptures out front!

Glass Beach, Fort Bragg

6/10/13


SEA GLASS SHARDS

You can walk for hours on some beaches and not find a piece of washed up sea glass. So it's pretty shocking to stop here and see it all over the place. Very small shards of softened sea glass from Fort Bragg's former sea dump site.




It reminded me of a remarkable beach in Connecticut that was made of softened shells, rather than sand (or sea glass, in this case).

We had planned a trip north and this stop was on our way. Glad we stopped, but it was too cold to swim so it's not like it was a day at the beach, just wanted to check it out.








Filling up large bags of sea glass

Posted signs say not to take glass, but we talked with a local resident who also accepted the idea that each person taking a couple pieces is not nearly as overwhelming to the site as the people filling up bags. Granted, we were there on a holiday weekend, but we saw several people stealing more than their fair share.




Likely to profit from it; sea glass jewelry can be expensive - if you find big enough pieces (and certain colors).



We walked around and sat for a while. The coastline is pretty here but we definitely found nicer beaches to walk along. Really glad we made the stop.

Thanksgiving 2014 Turkey Trot 5K, Walnut Creek

11/27/14

 
 
 
Team Hot Trotties!!! I can't say that I'm happy about adding 3 minutes to this year's time since last year's race, but I can say that no matter how long it takes to get from start to finish, I felt really good about doing this run on Thanksgiving morning.







2013 was my first year doing the Turkey Trot. My husband and I hadn't picked up our packets in advance so we had to show up and find parking and get in line before the early morning race.  I planned 2014 a little bit better! My husband didn't run with me this year, but he did pick up my packet at FormaGym the day before the race.  Forma Gym had bibs available for pick-up all day the two days before the race until 7pm, which was really convenient.  I received a t-shirt with my registration (and I upgraded to the nicer quality shirt for about $10 - good deal!) However, I made matching shirts last year, which I sported again this year instead of the provided shirt.

A few friends picked me up half an hour before the race this morning. We had a guaranteed parking spot - I would recommend getting downtown really early if you aren't so lucky. Parking can be difficult.  Thousands of people took off running and walking to the sounds of MC Hammer at the start of the race. Hammer himself did the countdown - pretty legit! (But not TOO legit).  :D










A lot of people run, but many more jog, and tons of people walk the 5k. Dogs and strollers are allowed and this is definitely a family-friendly event.  About 2/3 of the way into the race there was an aid station with water and Gatorade - I was really surprised this was so close to the end of the run. At the half way mark I would have really appreciated it more, but regardless, it was really appreciated.  The course is well-marked and there were lots of volunteers and policeman keeping people on track.  Thank you to all the people who volunteered and made this event possible!









37 minutes after 8 a.m. I crossed the finish line with my friends only a couple minutes ahead of me.  We ended at Civic Park and there was water being passed out, as well as a few EZ-up tents promoting local businesses. I grabbed a couple of citrus Cuties and took a red-faced picture with Miss Contra Costa County - then I went home and didn't feel even slightly guilty about over-eating at Thanksgiving dinner.  More gravy!

Tree House, Piercy

6/11/13


TREE HOUSE OF AWESOME

I have great memories of tree houses from childhood. I climbed a lot and so it was necessary to make perches. Plus, shows like "The Simpsons" forever etched memories of tree houses in my mind. Their Halloween episode "Tree House of Horror" is a classic!

We have a friend that builds extreme tree houses for adults
danielswoodland.com

I LOVE them. So OF COURSE I'm going to stop if I see a sign for a tree house. The tallest house in the world! Sweeeeet.



Next door to the tree house is a station of Chainsaw Carvings. Also pretty awesome! These are located on Highway 101 and it's an easy spot to pull in and out of - totally convenient and worth stopping!

For us adults, how amazing would one of these be?
http://www.buzzfeed.com/stacylambe/17-treehouses-for-adults

Veteran's Day Volunteering

Happy Veteran's Day 2014!

It's no wonder Blue Star Moms (http://amy81yelp.blogspot.com/2014/11/contra-costa-blue-star-moms-concord.html) did a Veteran's Day 5k after many successful years of the Stars and Stripes 5K on 4th of July in Concord (http://www.yelp.com/biz/stars-and-stripes-5k-concord?hrid=aVrY-VVM4k_l6DN8c-iQLA). 2014 was the first time my husband and I ran the Stars and Stripes, and we also volunteered to help with the Veteran's Day run a few months later.


Linda Grahm coordinated our volunteer shift and made sure we knew where to go and what time to be where.  We even received great long-sleeve shirts for volunteering. Casey and I were placed near each other on a 10k portion of the course.  Everything was well-organized and the event seemed to go really smoothly, especially from a volunteer perspective.

This was my first time volunteering with a  5k event - it was really nice to have snacks and drinks provided to the volunteers and participants.  I'd love to run the race next year, but also really enjoyed helping out - it'll be hard to make that decision!

Town of Niles (Fremont)

July 13, 2014 - The Niles District of Fremont; Northern California's Hollywood

A trip to Niles with our friends from Yelp left me wondering how I'd never visited this town before. Nestled in Fremont the little town sits quietly with it's silent film museum and railway. The tight-knit community welcomes visitors and hosts many town events like "a night at the movies", holiday parades, dog shows, and flea markets.  The main street is lined with antique stores, restaurants, and other small businesses.

After a picnic in the park, we received a tour of the Essanay Silent Film Museum and learned about Charlie Chaplin's presence filming early movies in this small town. Bronco Billy (1880-1971) was also a very significant member of Niles and its film history, and we enjoyed eating a giant slice of pizza at the pizzeria named in his honor! After the museum tour, we walked through neighborhoods and were given a wonderful history lesson on some of the homes and residences and how the town has changed over time.

The Niles Canyon Railway was constructed in the 1860s and is still operational. It runs between Sunol and Niles. We didn't get to take a ride on the day we visited, but we will certainly come back during the holidays when we were told the town and train are festively decorated for Christmas.

Lots of beautiful pictures from our visit below! Check out Niles.org for a listing of their upcoming events and come explore this terrific town.