The State-of-the-art Surfer

From the Beach Boys' ode to surfing:

"If everybody had an ocean
Across the U.S.A.
Then everybody'd be surfin'
Like Californ-i-a
You'd seem 'em wearing their baggies
Huarache sandals too
A bushy bushy blonde hairdo
Surfin' U.S.A."

Back in the sixties, the surfers I knew crammed their woodies with waxed-down wooden surfboards and headed out to the beach. In southern California where I lived, there was usually no need for wet suits, which were then considered kind of sissy.

How things have changed. The above gear, including the car, is streamlined and trendy. And there are bikes, too!

Prehistoric

Like many people, when I see a pelican (especially in flight), I am reminded of pterodactyls. These are amazing birds; I never tire of watching them, even when they're doing nothing. This fellow (or gal, for all I know), was one of at least 50 in a line on the rooftop of a fish restaurant in Avila, California.

Chew, chew.

Here's a close-up of gum along San Luis Obispo's Bubble Gum Alley. Kim of Seattle Daily Photo recently posted a full shot of this landmark, so have a look. Naturally, I chewed a piece of gum and left it there. It's the whiter-looking one to the lower left of the red piece on the lower left of the wrapper someone stuck on the wall, if you're interested....and I know you are...

Read more about Bubble Gum Alley.

Skywatch Friday--The Flying Shark

I bet that a flying shark photo is some sort of first for Skywatch. The photo is actually of a kite in the shape of a shark, and it definitely stood out from all the other kites flying over Grovers Beach in California. The bottom photo is NOT of the kite that fell into the ocean, nor is it even a shark phot. It's a dolphin...I saw them leaping, but was unable to capture a leap, so I settled for the 'unsettling' fin.

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The Madonna Inn

Depending on your tastes, the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, California, is either the height of gaudiness or a really classy place. This is a photo of the main dining room, in "Pepto Bismol pink," as my friend put it.

The Inn is a California landmark. Its first 12 rooms were completed December 24, 1958, and an additional 28 rooms were quickly built. One hundred ten unique rooms now exist, each decorated differently to suit many individual tastes, like the Barrel of Fun, Antique Cars, Buffalo, Caveman, and Matterhorn rooms, some with waterfall showers, rock fireplaces, European fixtures, and fine furnishings to name a few.

Read more about the Madonna Inn Go to this link, and under accomodations, click 'room features grid' for a sneak preview.

Gaudy or classy, I think I may stay there on my next trip....

ABC Wednesday "C" is for "chocolate-covered..."

Ah, California.... (Another "C"), home of the wacky and wonderful. In this shop they were selling chocolate covered candies of all kinds, including these chocolate-covered scorpions. They also had dried salted scorpions, worms, and crickets, along with the chocolate-covered ones.

Would you try one?

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The Jollier Jolly Roger

This Jolly Roger has been made even jollier by the addition of the Smiley face flag on this boat docked at Morro Bay. Almost makes you welcome pirates aboard your ship!

Welcome to California! Surf's up!

I went to visit a very dear friend in San Luis Obispo, and we made some short side trips. These two surfers are carrying their boards toward the ocean on Pismo Beach. I graduated from high school in southern California in the '60's at the height of surfomania, and whenever I return, it's a major case of nostalgia for me. I couldn't get Beach Boys' tunes out of my head....nor did I want to.

How do YOU roll 'em?

I'm always fascinated by the different ways cultures stack their hay. Sometimes hay'stacks' are just that--stacks; sometimes they're very conical, sometimes in bales.... Here in this Pennsylvanian field the farmer has rolled them into cylinders.

How do they roll 'em where you are?

Theme Day "Night"

Not quite night, but close enough. This is where I slept at night when at my cousin's place. He and his wife have a lovely log cabin home not far from Harrisburg in Mount Gretna, a woodsy resort where we used to go swimming as kids.

Isn't this just the cutest room?


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SKYWATCH FRIDAY - A Kiss in the Sky

People in Hershey, Pennsylvania, get 'kissed' every day, if they look up and see these overhead street lights. They don't melt, either! (These aluminum foil-covered candies are called 'Hershey's Kisses.')

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