Andrew Molera State Park

Here are some images of a trip down to Andrew Molera State Park. It is names for the gentleman who brought Artichokes to California in the early 20th century. This is also one of the few places where you can get your feet wet on the Big Sur Coast.

Let's head on down!

A stop most everyone has to make when on the Central Coast of California is Bixby Bridge. Here is the view from Bixby Bridge looking south.

A few more miles down Highway 1, one actually reaches Molera State Park. Originally, this property belonged to a man named Cooper who traded this property along Big Sur for the holdings of Andrew Molera in the Salinas Valley. It is the largest State Park on the Big Sur Coast, and one of the few places on Big Sur where you can get your feet wet, without a Kayak or Boat. We just simply went down to the beach and back. There is a fairly famous loop trail here that is nearly 9 miles in length that is simply gorgeous. However, we know three pregnant women right now who would kick our butts on this loop. We would be huffing and puffing, while they would be finished with the trail!

A foot bridge over the Big Sur River. This is taken down during the Winter as the River runs a bit too deep.

Looking up river.

Rock-strewn bottom of the river.

The trail to the beach is one mile each way, but it is well worth the walk.

This walk along the beach goes on for a bit, but during high tide, it is not possible to go too far as the tide goes all the way up to the cliffs.

Rocks and boulders all over the place.

Some people camp out on the beach, and even make these huts out of the driftwood and rocks. The Park Rangers tell you not to go into the huts as they are unstable, but some people really do sleep in them.

Here is an attempt to built a hut.

Still going! Looks more like a fence, though.

Rocks all over the place!

Gotta stand in the middle of the river if you can. She's on the Island! No Smoke Monster, though.

Hope you enjoyed a trip to Andrew Molera State Park!

Washington 2005: Or How We Killed Our Van

Here are some pictures from our trip to the great state of Washington, home of the Hanford Nuclear Facility, the World Trade Organization Riots in 1999, Birthplace of Starbucks (Thanks, Michael!), neighbour to our enemy to the north, Grunge music, and Jimi Hendrix.

We saw none of that.

We instead went to go see some of the family we have up there.

Off we go!

The kids in the back of the van. Look how small they are! Hey, can someone smell ham?
Stopped at Our Lady of Peace to offer a prayer for our trip, and buy books.
Stopping yet again, this time in San Francisco.

A rare cloud-free day in San Francisco. I can see Nancy Pelosi's house from here!

Yet another stop! This time in Vacaville at the jelly Belly factory. Here is a custom Motorcycle done up in the Jelly Belly scheme.

People waiting for the tour of the factory.

Kids love being on the border! Welcome to the People's Republic of Oregon! Don't bother pumping your own gas!

Wow, we just blew right through Oregon. We did go to Mass at the National Sactuary of Our Sorrowful Mother in Portland. The setting was beautiful, and Mass for the most part was alright.

We stopped at the Visitor's Center for Mt. St. Helen's.

You can see the part that blew off.

We finally meet the family up in Washington State!

They took us to this beautiful area nearby called Larrabee State Park. Throwing rocks into the Sound.

This is Lummi Island in the background, part of the San Juan Islands.

Ew! Crabs!

Not enough for a Crab Cake.

Off with Uncle to see the Tide Pools.

Her Uncle sure knows a lot about the Tide Pools!

We also went to another State Park, this called Deception Pass. It is just north of Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.

Why do we live here on Whidbey Island, when we could live in Tahiti?

Walking with her Aunt.

Helicopter from NAS Whidbey Island.

Throwing rocks in the Sound.

How could we be these close to our northern neighbour and not find out the answer to our question: Canada, threat or foe?

(Attention les lecteurs forment le Canada, c'est une blague!)

You know you are in Canada when the local money has Hockey on it.

Somewhere, DaVinci's Inquest is being filmed nearby, or perhaps an Episode of the X-Files from the first 5 seasons, or just about any random show from the Sci-Fi Channel.

The hotel where we had our Honeymoon, the Vancouver Pan Pacific.

Holy Rosary Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Vancouver. This Cathedral is beautiful on the inside, and has been host to the Traditional Latin Mass at times.

The very day we were in Vancouver, we happened to turn onto a street that looked like it was blocked off for some reason, but no one stopped us. There was a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Live Truck in front of this building that turned out to be a specially built Courtroom for the Air India 182 Bombing Trial. When we got back to the United States, we picked up the CBC Channel, and it turns out we were on TV nation-wide in Canada.

The Peace Arch on the border between Canada and the United States.

Making a run for the border. If you look in the background, there are houses on the Canadian side on the left that go right up to the border. Seems if you lost a ball throwing it to Fido, it could go into the United States.

Another sunny day in the Pacific Northwest. This picture was taken one minute...

...and literally two minutes later, the sky had started turning very dark.

Last visit with the family.

Stopping off at world famous Powell's books. This place is huge, and they don't mind showing you rare books, even if you look like you cannot afford them. Too bad the area around the Bookstore made Fallujah look appealing.

So off we went back to California. Nice trip, even if one of the kids had left their favourite pillow in a hotel in another state. Got to meet some nice relatives who put up with us, and they barbecued some awesome food. Now it was time to home, and make a brief stop in Sacramento to a party that my Compadre was having for the Feasts of Ss. Patrick and Joseph.

We did not know that our trip was about to come to a crashing end.

We had stopped for the night in Yreka, and were on our way to Sacramento to the aforementioned party. Just outside of Lake Shasta, the van started shaking, and slowing down ever so slowly. All of a sudden, we could see that the rear window was coated in what looked like oil. So we gradually came to a stop, and were able to make it to Lakehead, just north of Lake Shasta.

Here is our van being put on the Truck. the kids thought this was great!

Yeah, our van was getting a ride!

The people who towed us were kind enough to bring an SUV that was able to haul the entire family on down to Redding.

We spent then night then in Redding, which we had not expected. Try finding a room for 6 in a hurry! What we did then was to get two rooms, one of which was the kid's room, and the other our crying room. We ordered out food from one of those services that delivers from different restaourants, and had a an overall good night. The van was towed to the local Ford dealership, and we thought we had seen the last of this van. The van had a broken Transaxle, which we thought was the end. Funny, the van had been checked out by our local dealership before we left on this trip!

From there, we called my Dad, who came the next day to pick us up, and drive us all back to Salinas.

At least Redding had these amazing clouds from an imcoming storm.

The van did make a reappearance. It seems like the Transaxle was able to be fixed, and we had it back three weeks later.

Overall, a really nice trip, one we would like to make again. Maybe visit Seattle, more of Portland. Maybe a National Park, like Craker Lake.

the best part of the trip was getting to see my Grandma, and having the kids meet her.

Please pray for the soul of Eleanor Ingram. Beloved Wife, Mother, Grandmother, and Great-Grandmother.

Eleanor Ingram

Requiscant in pace 1914-2007