The weather here has gone from raining and 50 to sunny and in the upper 70's lower 80's over night. So naturally I've been getting outside as much as possible. It's too gorgeous not to. I've been walking the dogs on a daily basis which is good for everyone.

The California Poppies are so beautiful.

The ducks are out...ducking or whatever ducks do.

The turtles have been sunbathing.

I love spring time.

On Veterans Day, Hubbs and I decided to make a day of it. We so rarely ever get the chance (or are willing to spend the money) to go to the movies. We got popcorn, candy and huge sodas and laughed our butts off to Due Date staring Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis. It was so funny and a great way to spend the morning. Plus as a bonus the theater wasn't packed so it was really nice.

After the movies we decided to spend the afternoon at Sutters Fort State Historic Park in downtown Sacramento. It was a beautiful fall day, perfect for exploring Sacramento.

I work my Coffee with Cream Jacket that I finished at the beginning of October. This jacket has gotten a lot of wear since I finished. I wear it at least a couple of times a week.

Naturally I was fascinated by the huge spinning wheels and the yarn swifts on display.

And the wool carders.

The walls were very thick and high. But because the fort is now in the middle of the city it was hard to imagine what it must have been like for the people that lived here. I can't imagine what it would have looked like outside of the walls with nothing but wilderness for hundreds of miles.

My favorite part (after the spinning wheels) was the duck pond outside of the fort. I loved this turtle trying to sun itself in the weak fall afternoon sunshine.

The ducks seems to be enjoying the water.

I dared Hubbs to try to catch one of the ducks but the ducks were having no part in it. After about 1 second Hubbs gave up and the ducks went back to cleaning themselves.

I really enjoyed finally getting to see Sutters Fort. It's only a few blocks from my old office building but I never got the chance to get there to to see it. I moved to Sacramento almost 7 years ago. I guess I just get around to seeing things in my own good time.

Since Hubbs and I have been visiting a lot of state parks this year, I really need to print out a list and cross them off as we visit them. Maybe we can see all of them sooner or later.

Today Hubbs and I headed up to the Sierras to Calavaras Big Tree State Park. It's in the Sierras, east of Arnold in Gold Country, about an hour and a half away from us. It has stands of giant sequoias that are just amazing in size. I've seen lots of big trees, even Muir Woods but they don't even begin to compare to the size of the trees we saw today.

Beaver Creek Bridge

Beaver Creek.


Howdy shadows.

The water was so clear you can see everything below the surface.

Hubbs pretending to be a bear. He said he wouldn't do it unless I did but you notice that I don't post the picture of me. He's too cute.

We saw lots of animals, birds, squirrels, chipmunks and butterflies but this is the only critter that would hold still long enough to me to take it's picture.

Finally the giant sequoia. So huge that pictures don't do justice. The largest one in the part is over 26 feet in diameter at 6 feet above the ground.

The closer you get to the trees the more amazing they are.

Looking at them straight up from the bottom blows your mind.

Huge right? Hubbs is 5'10" and this tree dwarfs him in both height and width.

The five mile hike was worth it to see these trees.

This tree had been hollowed out by fire and then it fell over. Standing inside of it I didn't have to duck at all.

These amazing pink flowers were growing besides the trial.

This is the Palace Hotel Tree. It burned a long time ago but is still alive. The fire hollowed out a hole that goes all the way to the top like a chimney.

The chimney out all the way out the top.

On the trail with Hubbs.

We took the Subaru, I just love this car.

We arrived at the park around 9:30 and started hiking by 9:50 and were back from our 5 miler at 12:30. By 1 the thunder headers were building. We never saw any lightening or heard any thunder but we figured it was time to head home.

Now we're home and watching John Wayne movies on TV. Tomorrow morning we're going to headed off and do some fly fishing about 45 min's away from home. Hubbs is going to fish and I'm going to knit or read or day dream...anything that involves me being relaxed.

I was able to snap a few pictures of the quail that live in my grandmothers garden when I was there last week. It's a mated pair, but I didn't get a picture of the female. The male kept calling four hours on end. It's a beautiful sound especially when you live in a neighborhood that basically has no living wild life of any kind. It's one of the many things I miss about my old neighborhood, before I moved to Sacramento.

When I still lived in the Napa Valley, even though I lived in town, I only had one neighbor. I was surrounded on three sides by vineyard and from the porch I had an amazing view of Mount St. Helena. On any given day I could see tons of rabbits in the vineyards and in the evenings Coyotes would come up to my back fence. I didn't like the coyotes coming right up to the fence but they were wild so there wasn't much I could do. I'm an outdoor girl so I loved it, it was a great place to live.


I love this picture. You can see his little top knot so clearly. I wish I had a camera with a better lens so I could have gotten some much closer pictures but these aren't bad for a little point and shoot. Maybe if I'm a really good girl Santa will bring me that Nikon D90 I've been drooling over for the last few months! Here's hoping!