Spin class...

California... Day 4... Part 1 of 3...

I told you I have a lot of shots...
And I told you she was showing dogs... every day... dogs...

"Just a leeeetle bit closer and your soul will be miiiiiine!"


I just couldn't get over this wonderful eye.


Ok, so we were on the road by noon and heading toward Joshua Tree National Park. Maybe someone can shed some light as to why there is a Mammoth on the side of a mountain. I'm assuming that fossils are found in them thar' hills...


Everyday, up until now, consisted of clouds.


I wish they would set these up in the Long Island Sound already. I found them quite relaxing.


The park is beautiful and caters to rock climbers.


There are trails to wander on and many sights to see. Unfortunately my wife feared having to drag ourselves out if the desert with rattlesnake bites... so we didn't wander to far. (The day after this trek a woman at the dog show with a dalmatian was telling me that her dog was bit by a rattler... while we were out on our hike. He was given antivenin and was ok. It was actually the second time the dog had been bit in two years!)


Waggy leaves one behind for Hollywood. Take that!


Even in this arid land the ground is teaming with life. I wish we could have stayed till dark to see some REAL wildlife.


I was told that these Joshua trees only grow in this area of the world at around 2,000-6,000 feet above sea level. They thrive in the area that is the park.


Enjoy the desktop image...


Our vacation starts to look up.


Come again tomorrow :)

Memorial park... or WTF?

I took a walk to a local park because our Village taxes have been paying for a wonderful Memorial section with benches and a little rock stream. On a Saturday afternoon I find this...



MY TAX DOLLARS!!! And they fence off the park and padlock it! I am PISSED!


I stepped up on to the fence and snapped a few pics of the areas I could not get to.


Maybe one day I'll find it open. :(

Do you swing?...

One of my favorite things to do at the playground. I used to try to go all the way around and at times got pretty high. Growing up... before we actually spruced up my parents backyard with a patio... we had a dirt yard with a VERY BIG oak tree. We attached a long rope and a tire and I used to get a good 15 feet or so in the air. I used to love jumping off and rolling into the dirt... much to my mother's hitonium.

Our local park had swings with extremely long chains on them. those got good height and were great to sit on and twist up so you could spin REALLY fast and get dizzy. It sucked getting your fingers caught in those chains though. I've been back to that park recently and all the chains have a rubber coating to prevent that from happening now. It seems that everything that was good enough for us has been sanitized in this day and age. Helmets... body padding... rubber coated equipment... God forbid a child should get a scratch or bump...

I saw an episode of Myth Busters where they ended up using rockets to propel a body with enough force to complete a full rotation on a chain-link swing... I'll leave that feat to dare-devils and circus performers.



When did you last swing? Do you protect your children too much? Or do you let "life lessons" happen?