State Park Access Pass – Ask for It

Posted on June 18, 2009 by jackiep

The budget committee voted to remove General Fund support for state parks. Yikes!

That means that incredible lands like the photo shown above may be closed to public access which deprives us all of two benefits: 1. Access to affordable, wholesome, uplifting fun at a time when families may not afford other recreation and 2. Erodes the protected status of these precious open spaces.

The good news is that there is an alternative to sitting back and letting our wild lands be taken from us (and I fear eventually turned into some form of development):

The budget committe also voted to recommend a new State Park Access Pass which would give a year’s unlimited access to state parks for $15 per vehicle — an outstanding deal! This proposal needs to pass a final vote of state legislature. Please nudge your representative – click here for an automated form.

Then reward yourself by visualizing your last fun trip to a CA state park…either hiking, camping, or maybe a beach. Better yet, treat yourself to a visit to a state park this weekend.

(Photo Credit: Montana de Oro State Park – California Poppy by docentjoyce)

Henry Coe State Park Hike June 20

Posted on June 15, 2009 by jackiep

Henry Coe State Park is a rare and precious combination of wild lands on the doorstep of a major metropolitan area. Its been one of my favorite places since a backpacking trip deep in the park when a rottweiler-sized cat came down to the stream across from camp to get a drink…and ran once it realized people were about. Watching the big cat drink was a wonderful sight to behold — and not one I’d particularly expect to see at park headquarters.

Unfortunately, our access to Henry Coe State Park is threatened by the CA budget crisis withdrawing funding for state parks. I’m not only concerned about not being able to use Coe — I’m also worried that a closed park is less likely to be preserved as it becomes an easier target for development.

SOS is an organization committed to keeping our state parks open. They have called for a show of support for the parks in the form of visiting a state park sometime on the weekend of June 20-21, 2009 and taking photos of ourselves with banners for a video they are producing.

I plan to be at Henry Coe State Park Headquarters to take the photos and I want you to join in. Everyone is welcome for the photo.

Henry Coe State Park HQ is off 101 near Morgan Hill, 60mins from Redwood City. Click for general directions. Click for google map The HQ has restrooms and drinking water available.

If you want to be photographed with a sign, you can print your favorite of the signs on the SOS Weekend page. If enough people RSVP by Thursday 6/18 to say they’ll be there, I’ll have a larger banner made up.

If you would like to coordinate carpools, feel free to leave comments on this post. Please understand that this website is open to the public and I won’t necessarily know everyone who comments. I’m already in a carpool down and will meet y’all there.

We do plan to hike after the photos. If you’d like to hike too, please bring water, decent shoes, snack/lunch and your sense of personal responsibility. This isn’t an organized event, but I’m happy to have new friends and acquaintances share the trail.

Hope to see you Saturday!

(Henry Coe photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nkinkade/)

An Evening in Arcadia, CA

Posted on June 7, 2009 by jackiep

While at the LA Trader’s Expo, I stayed in Arcadia. Now melded into LA, Arcadia used to be its own distinct town on Route 66. I spent one evening walking around and marveling at Arcadia’s most surprising residents: hundreds of wild green parrots. Parrots are not natives of the region and no one knows for sure how they came to roost in Arcadia. Rumors has it that a fire in a pet store decades ago prompted the release of a few parrots and nature took care of the rest.

I also came across an intriguing example of the great melting pot on the Pacific rim: on El Dorado St (a Mexican name), is a drive-in diner (a US thing), featuring bento boxes and sushi (a japanese food).

Windy Day on Windy Hill

Posted on April 26, 2009 by jackiep

Gorgeous spring day for a hike up Windy Hill. Here’s a couple nice shots.

Eagle Rock Hike at Little Basin with Sempervirens Fund

Posted on April 19, 2009 by jackiep

Great 7 mile hike yesterday up to Eagle Rock in Little Basin for Sempervirens.

Thanks to Emmanuelle for leading the way.

Check out Rick’s awesome photos by clicking here.

Here’s a few shots I took along the way:

Joe spotted Venus in daylight.

As you can see from the logo on the signs at the entry, Little Basin used to be Hewlett-Packard’s corporate retreat. They sold it to Sempervirens and POST, who must foot the bill until California can afford the gift of Little Basin as an extension of Big Basin state park. Meanwhile, its open to HP, Sempervirens and POST.

The thing I like best about hiking with Sempervirens is all the neat people I meet. If you would like to join us on a hike, click here. Please consider joining in the preservation of these very special redwood forests.

Heavenly Spring Break Skiing

Posted on April 2, 2009 by jackiep

lake_tahoe_morning_mountain Here’s a few photos from my last ski trip of the season. Spring break in Heavenly started out with a huge storm on Sunday Mach 22. It dumped over 18″ of powder. I was too busy skiing to take photos. Not much visibility that day anyway. The good snow did last through the week, but was about skiied off by the time I got around to pulling my camera out. The clear skies made for spectacular views of the lake.

Viral Mktg and World Wide Rave Video

Posted on March 5, 2009 by jackiep

David Meerman Scott made a promo video of his World Wide Rave book. Yours truly shows up at about 1:07

Aside from the gratification of finding myself on YouTube, I post this because I’ve been meaning to comment on the fact that another of David’s suggestions is working out well.

David set an example of giving away totally free content in a blog post earlier this year. He advocates just letting it rip, no registration required. Contrast this with advice aplenty around internet marketing circles that one has to collect contact info from a giveaway download. Conversely, so the common wisdom goes, one must offer t to indhe giveaway to induce people to give up their contact info.

I admit to a little trepedation when I posted the first issue of BackTesting Report as a totally free download. Now, one month later, I can compare the two tactics: totally free vs sign-up required. In January 2009, I offered an excerpt of the same document for anyone who gave me an email address and first name.

The results are stunning. Downloads of the totally free document soared 1100% in free Feb vs registration-required Jan. The thing that really blew me away is that roughly the same percentage of site visitors added their contact info to the mailing list. This is despite the fact that there is no longer a ”bribe”, simply an offer to keep the list informed as new BackTesting Reports become available.

Clearly, a free download gives the material greater circulation and people will still sign up for a mailing list if they want news on a topic that interests them.

Thanks David!

Dipper Line at Heavenly Ski Area

Posted on March 4, 2009 by jackiep

Trying out the new QuickPress feature in WordPress 2.7.1. by uploading some favorite ski pics from the last trip. These two were taken on the Dipper Line run under the Dipper Express chair at Heavenly ski resort in South Lake Tahoe. The bottom one is a view of the very calm lake from the top of the Nevada side of the resort.

under_dipper_top_uphill_view under_dipper_top_downhill tahoe_calm

Updated 04/03/09: Turns out that leaving the pics unsized wrecked the formating with some browsers. Should be fixed now.

Views of Lake Tahoe from Heavenly Gondola

Posted on March 3, 2009 by jackiep

I’ve always thought this was one of the prettiest sights. I try to get even non-skiing friends up the gondola just to see it. Now, here’s the views coming to you in a few videos from a ride down the Heavenly gondola.

This is the best way home after skiing for me. I’d rather ski all the way down but skiing to the base lodges ends up in a bus ride. As you will see, the last stretch of the gondola is over flat land with little snow to boot, so I don’t ski down this slope either.

Anyway, I get to enjoy the breathtaking views of the lake and surrounding mountains while I loosen my boots.

Here’s the first part of the ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLk9L3g9uFk

The second part is where the scenery cranks up. Its also where I had the not-so-bright idea to rotate the camera for portrait shots partway down. The car didn’t go spinning like that but its kind of a fun effect.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2DmnS5d-qU )

Here’s another, lower down the mountain in the trees:

One more in the trees: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdK0oYc7U6k

Here’s the flat “home stretch”…well I put my camera way before we sailed over the little motels and into the main plaza. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0HcBjIUGgM

There you have it. My little collection of Heavenly Gondola videos

3 Heavenly Ski Lift Rides

Posted on March 2, 2009 by jackiep

Just for fun, take a look at these lift rides at Heavenly ski resort. If you’re stuck at the computer too much this will give you a good feel for the great outdoors in a mountain setting.

The first is on a snowy day. Note the boader making a little jump right at the beginning.

Then check out this sunny day – same lift, same runs:

Finally, here’s the expert section of the ski run, further up the mountain:

UnIncorporated

Tales of Adventure and Musings by Jackie Ann Patterson