PT 235 - Letters, Words, Characters . . .

Amazing what a vacation can do for having something to blog about.

It also helps to have a day off and not be sick - southern pollen is a killer, be forewarned should you be visiting.

Back to the theme!

Carmi, the host (here), has provided a theme of Letters, Words, Characters

I thought the Balclutha was quite fitting for this! I knew the roman numerals were picture worthy!

The Balclutha is a ship on display as part of San Francisco's Maritime Museum, set around Hyde Pier. This ship is now in her 4th career - being a museum.  She started out as a cargo ship that ran between San Francisco and England.  She was used for awhile just on the West Coast - forgive me, I don' t recall exactly what function she served - I think it was Salmon and I believe it was between Alaska and California. Her third career was carrying timber from California to Australia. Another one of those things in life that make me go hmmmm... I would never have dreamed that Australia would need timber all the wayyyyyy from California. But they did!

While standing on board, listening to the docent share the history and some of the stories of the ship, I realized something: The bigger the boat, the less I notice the motion. Hubs has been telling me, if we had a bigger boat, I would not get sea sick.  Maybe hubs will have even a bigger boat one day!

Play along or take a journey through all the posts on Carmi's site...

Smiles!

Go West!

What a grand way to begin a new year ~ with a vacation!


We took a real one.

By real, I mean: not work training; not for a child's play or activity; not to help out with maintenance and upkeep somewhere else.

Not that any of those reasons are not good, and do not make for a good trip or vacation. They are. But to just play? Just the Hubs and me? Priceless!

The furthest West I have been is Colorado. And this trip took us further to California. And did we make the most of it.

The first two nights in Carmel with my husband's Aunt and Uncle - unbelievable hosts; and the next 3 nights in San Francisco. I won't bore you with a lot of words, but I just HAVE to share some of the pictures of the beautiful sites we saw.

Having never seen the Pacific, I don't know if I had given much thought to the possibility that it might be different than the Gulf and the Atlantic.

It was! I was amazed at the blue. The deep blue that it is. Absolutely breathtaking.

 

I am amazed, even though I do not know why, that the Gulf, the Atlanta and the Pacific can each have such different shades of color in the water that laps at each shore. There is no reason why not, especially when we think how each individual is unique. But it still amazed me. And amazed I wanted to be.  

Our first Pacific stop was Carmel Meadows. A little neighborhood with a beach access.  We found out later, when we made it Paul and Sue's, that we had not been far from Betty White's home.

Now that would have been a treat too.

But the treats were not over for the day. As Paul and Sue spoiled us with their tour of the area (day 1 of the tours), we were all treated by an unanticipated show of nature.

We stopped at Monastery Beach, right around from where we had first touched the sand of the Pacific.

We were about to walk back to the car when Paul spotted something.

We turned and watched and after a minute or so we saw it...

A whale siting on our first day, without having to board a whale watching vessel.  Not bad, not bad at all!

And it wasn't just one, there were two.

... And a smile for the road.

Our first day was fueled by less than two hours of sleep - we had an ordeal with a flight canceled and trying to get to Atlanta for our morning flight - but I think regardless of the fatigue, this was a day fully appreciated and we were fully washed with treats.  As dinner cooked, we watched the above sunset from the porch of Paul and Sue.   A wonderful ending to an amazing day!   Smiles!