We went on a boat ride in Newport, Oregon and we caught 6 crabs! Charlene was not too sure about holding a live crab as their claws and legs are still moving!!I thought this was a beautiful bridge in Newport!!As we were working our way out to the Pacific Ocean, this powerful Coast Guard boat zoomed past us. Their wake was fun to ride!!I loved all the arches in the bridge! It was cool and windy on the boat, so we were all bundled up to stay warm!Charlene is pointing to a tiny jellyfish we found when the boat simply running a net type filter from the back of the boat. A woman on the boat named him “Grape,” short for grape jelly!!As we rode along in our boat, I was amazed and the dense green trees along the way. Beautiful and rugged!These were the crabs that we caught!! On the ride out, we left two crab traps. On the way back, we picked up the traps and found all these different types of crabs. It was quite amazing to see them move around and maneuver on the table in the boat!!
This gentleman told everyone how to safely hold the live crabs. Charlene was not too comfortable with this experience!!It was amazing to catch live crabs!!These flags on our boat were whipping around vigorously with the moving boat and windy day!!After the crabs were caught, we had 8 hours before they needed to be thrown back into the water. The two biggest male crabs were kept.These male sea lions were LOUD!! We could hear them barking from quite a long way away!!People were gathered on this bridge to watch a group of noisy male sea lions!!We later went to an aquarium and were amazed at the size of the megalodon shark!!
We arrived in Portland, Oregon and had the opportunity to see some of the roses growing in the city. Portland has a well-deserved reputation for being an ideal location for roses!I loved the bright color of roses in the sunlight!!I liked the morning dew shining in the sunlight on these roses!!I absolutely love the colors of this rose!!This orange rose was beautiful in the light!!I enjoyed looking at these young roses!!I loved the delicate rose petals in this yellow rose!!This bee was certainly enjoying the roses too!!The Yaquina Head lighthouse was beautiful!! Charlene sure enjoyed the area!!The Yaquina Head Lighthouse is the tallest in Oregon!!The circular stairs going up inside the lighthouse were quite interesting!!The storm along the Oregon coast was interesting to watch!!Charlene found found a fun otter to play with!!
We had a wonderful time in San Diego visiting with John, Michelle, David, and James!! It has been at least 15 years since I have been to Sea World.Sea World is an amazing place!!It was a beautiful day to enjoy watching the animals!!Dolphins are incredible creatures!!They are so graceful!!I was amazed how fast they swim!!The dolphins work well with their trainers!!The orcas were huge and amazing to watch!!Compare the massive size of the orca to the size of the people!!The orca colors are truly amazing!!It was truly amazing to watch this massive orca jump all the way out of the water!!Orcas are massive, talented creatures!!Orcas are incredible!!I loved watching the orcas swim!!
I was excited to see Kenny Chesney in concert. I have heard his music for years, but never seen him in person. However, I was a bit unsure about an outdoor concert in Phoenix in July!!This is an outdoor venue with most seating in the open. It was a nice layout, but the weather was hot. It was 112 degrees when I first arrived at my seat.Megan Moroney started playing first. I knew her name, but could not have said what her songs were. I was quite impressed with her talent. Many people wanted to buy merchandise with Megan’s name on it!Megan is very talented and I thoroughly enjoyed her singing!!Her singing is wonderful and she related well with the audience!!Her sparkly guitar was fun to watch glitter with the lights!!As soon as Megan finished singing a huge monsoon storm moved in with lightning, wind, and later rain. Everyone was hoping the storm would quickly blow through and the concert could keep going. However, sadly, after waiting 2 hours, the concert was cancelled.Here I am waiting the the concert to resume. There were 20,000 people in attendance and everyone was patiently waiting to see Kenny Chesney. It is sort of funny because I brought this umbrella for shade from the sun (in addition to my big hat) and I ended up using it when it started pouring rain. Incidentally, I bought this umbrella years ago in Scotland. It is similar to the Armstrong plaid and it has sentimental value to me.The concert was rescheduled for the following night and I think almost all 20,000 people returned to see Kenny Chesney play and sing. It was a great concert. He is very high energy and kept everyone in the audience engaged with him.The bass guitar player was a woman from Austin, Texas. She was extremely talented!!Kenny’s songs were wonderful!!I really enjoyed seeing Kenny in person!!They played one hit song after another!!The drummer is from South Africa and I loved watching him play!!All the guitar players were fantastic!!After his last song, the band kept playing and Kenny signed items from the fans. I was sad when it ended. Two hours went by very quickly.It was fun to watch the band play as Kenny was signing items from the audience. This is a very talented group of people!!
Today we went to the farmer’s market in Santa Barbara, California. I loved all the colors and shapes of the flowers, fruits, and vegetables!I enjoyed seeing all the colors!!The strawberries were wonderful!!Gorgeous flowers!!
I loved the light and textures with these flowers in the morning!!The sunflowers were bursting with color!!The vibrant colors were explosions of beauty!!Many sunflowers were available with different vendors!!
This amazing owl has decided to live near our backyard in Anthem. This photo of him is on our back wall enjoying the shade of our next door neighbor’s tree. I love his huge yellow eyes!
Redding has an awesome Sundial Bridge right in the middle of town. It crosses over the Sacramento River.I enjoyed the sundial structure with its shapes and clear glass over the bridge.The sundial shape actually worked along the ground. The shape of the dial and cables was interesting.It is quite tall rising into the sky!The size of the people at the base of the sundial show how tall the bridge is!!The bridge is also quite wide!!
John and I drove 45 miles north of Redding and found this wonderful view of Mount Shasta!! It is a spectacular mountain and reminded me of the mountain north of Flagstaff.I love the contrasting colors of the blue sky, white snow on the mountain, and the green trees in the forest.
Today was another wonderful day traveling!! I drove to Monterey and had fun walking through many shops in the Cannery Row district. There were many t-shirts to choose from, but I resisted the urge to buy any more :).I next visited the world-renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was extremely impressive. I wish the grandsons were with me to enjoy it too.I loved seeing so many species.It was amazing to see so many fish!Many children were at the aquarium and they loved seeing these fish.This shark looked hungry and on the prowl.These “tentacle” structures moved as the water flowed around them.I think I ate one of these last week in Santa Barbara while visiting Elizabeth!!This bright-eyed bird was staring into the water for his next meal!!I drove south on Highway 1 and really enjoyed some spectacular scenery!!I loved seeing all the colors of the water and rocks!!The waves made loud crashing sounds as they came down on the rocks!!I love the colors in this photo!!Indescribably beautiful!!Spectacular!!I simply love these scenes!!
The fee was $30 to see the grand rooms and the outside gardens. It was amazing to see!!The castle was on a hill and you could see all around it and along the nearby coast.There were multiple buildings and sculptures everywhere!! There were a total of 165 rooms!!This pool was incredible!!Amazing!!A spectacular scene!!Gorgeous setting.
This was an amazing design!!It has an amazing front door!!Artwork is everywhere, inside and out of the castle!!There was a tremendous attention to detail throughout the castle.It is difficult to imagine sitting down for dinner at a table that holds so many people!!The inside Roman pool was absolutely amazing!!I was amazed at the intricate design of the pool. Above the pool are the tennis courts.Just a few miles from Hearst Castle are the elephant seals resting along the beach!!The elephant seals seemed to be quite content being nestled together and sleeping.This elephant seal seemed to be watching me closely as I photographed him.These two elephant seals were quite loud!!This guy was especially loud!! I am not sure what he was saying, but everyone could certainly hear him!!
Fiesta on Wheels 