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).   

Tags: arcadia, parrot

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

Tags: hiking, windy hill

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.

Tags: hike, little basin, Sempervirens Fund

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.

Tags: gondola, heavenly, lake, lake tahoe, mountain, skiing, snow, south lake tahoe

Someone clicked on Amazon that they found my Garmin nuvi 760 review helpful so I will repeat it here:

Great Navigation but Useless Features and Broken Button, February 26, 2009

I really like the Garmin GPS navigators and wouldn’t take a trip without one anymore. I got this particular model free in a promotion from TD Ameritrade. Its got more features than I need: haven’t used bluetooth. I did try the traffic reports during the free trial but found it sometimes reported jams that weren’t there so I dropped it.
My biggest issue is that the power off button doesn’t seem to work. Usually it will ask to be powered off when I shut off the car which is an ok backup. Trouble is, it sometimes just stays on until the Garmin battery dies.
I also wish it had a volume knob accessible to the driver. As it is you need to use the touch screen which is a no-no while in motion.

Click here for all the Garmins

Tags: gadget, garmin, gps, nuvi

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.

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

Tags: heavenly, lake tahoe, ski

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

Tags: gondola, heavenly, lake tahoe, mountain, ski

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:

Tags: heavenly, lift ride, ski

Check it out!  The makers of upcoming movie “The Graduates” are offering free mp3 downloads of the soundtrack.   See http://thegraduatesmovie.com/music and enter coupon code “GOGRADS” to get the 2 disc set without entering your credit card info.

I watched the trailer.  It looks like a good after-high-school summer fun movie.  I’m enjoying the fresh music as I write this post.

The songs on the playlist are:

1 Lazing By the Swimming Pool by Kojo
2 Lazy Guy by Kudabins
3 I Went Out by The Mad Tea Party
4 Every Way by The Mad Tea Party
5 Show Me a Love by Maurice & The Cliches
6 Your Room by The New Rags
7 Lawnchairs by Our Daughter’s Wedding
8 Just Impolite by Plushgun
9 Here Kitty Kitty by Seth Freeman
10 Get Offa My Case by Seth Freeman
11 White Surf Trash by Sex with Lurch
12 Learning To Sing by Sonia Montez
13 Surf The Seven Seas by The New Rags
14 Peace of Mind by Uncle Mountain
15 Tokyo Cowboy by Sex with Lurch
16 Wasteland by Andy Morris
17 Drinking Alone by Promis
18 Move You by The Mad Tea Party
19 The Garden by The Smittens
20 Kind of Zero by Joe Moore
21 A Vision of One by Seth Freeman
22 I Never Was A Cool One by The Mad Tea Party
23 Planes in the Sky (Bonus Track) by Vagina Water Park
24 Graduation (Bonus Track) by The New Rags

Tags: mp3s, music, thegraduates

Stainless steel and BPA-free water bottles are all the rage and I too want to avoid the harmful effects of BPAs.    So I was delighted to receive two new water bottles as gifts: one stainless and the other BPA-free plastic.

The stainless bottle looks very rugged.  Too bad it turned into an unstoppable fountain in the car on the way to Tahoe!   Its really amazing how altitude and hence air pressure change got this little bottle to soak my car interior before being brought under control by my passenger.   I’m curious to know the physics behind it, but don’t have time to find out.  I did however find the time to write a one-star review for the product on Amazon.

The BPA-free plastic bottle was cool-looking too and I like that its nozzle only lets out water when you bite to open it.  So if you’re in the market for a new water bottle, I’d recommend this one:

You can check out all my Amazon reviews here

Tags: camelbak, water bottles