Daily Archives: April 23, 2022

Rocks and Tacos . . .

Jan was getting her hair cut today at 2:30, so we headed out for lunch about 1pm, for our favorite Ultimate Omelets at Denny’s once again, and Angie, our favorite waitress.

Then after her haircut, we headed up to Webster for a quick stop at the office, and then a few things at the new HEB up there, before heading home for the night.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Rob, our park owner, was expanding to the property next door,

He had started clearing it of all the trash and debris.

Petticoat Junction New Addition

And he’s still at work, taking out some of the trees, and trimming others back.

Petticoat Junction New Addition 20220423

We talked to Rob a few days ago and he said he’s going to put 4 or 5 sites in now, and eventually he’ll wants to add sites all the way out to the road, almost doubling the size of the park.

It’s looking good.

Here’s some more of our 2010 visit to the LA area.


April 23, 2010

Esther’s Tacos and Mulholland Dr . . .

Today was a road trip day.

We left the the RV Park up in Lancaster about 9 am headed south to Esther’s Taco House in Placentia, CA about 100 miles away.

On the way I pulled over to take some shots of the Vasquez Rocks. Although they don’t look real impressive here, when you see them in person they really stand out. You’re driving along thru the high desert mountains, with the hills covered in scraggly scrub brush and small bushes.

Then you take a curve on the freeway and suddenly you encounter these massive rocks thrusting up from the surrounding land.

Click to Enlarge!

Click to Enlarge!

Click to Enlarge!

Click to Enlarge!

It turns out that this is the route of the San Andreas fault line, and these rocks have been pushed up from deep underneath the earth.

Named after an outlaw, Tiburcio Vásquez, who hid out here in the 1870’s and 80’s, the rocks have been featured in countless commercials, movies, and TV shows, including a famous Star Trek episode called “Arena’, where Capt. Kirk is fighting the reptilian Gorn. The rocks in the background here are here at Vasquez.

Click to Enlarge!

This upthrust formation also figures prominently in this show, and  numerous others .

Click to Enlarge!

We got to Esther’s about 11 and sat down to a another great meal. We wanted to eat here one last time before we leave on Monday. And as before, it was really good. They make the best Chile Relleno I have ever eaten. And their enchiladas are delicious too.

Before we left Esther’s I called Park of the Sierras RV Park to be sure they would have a space for us on Monday. They said yes, so we’re good to go.

Our next destination was Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles. It’s the oldest remaining part of the city, and some of the buildings date from the 1870’s.

Olvera 1

Olvera 2

Olvera 3

Olvera 4

Across the street from Olvera Street, we found Los Angeles’ famous Union Station train station. Built in 1939, it is known as the last of the great train stations built in the US.  And, built in the Santa Fe style, it doesn’t really look like a train station. Many movies, commercials, and TV shows have been filmed here.

UnionStation 1

UnionStation 2

Coincidently, Union Station figured prominently in last night’s (4/22/2010) episode of ABC’s “Flashforward”.

Next we headed up I-405 and exited at Mulholland Dr.. We wanted to make the famed drive thru the Santa Monica Mountains to get a bird’s eye view of Los Angeles. And we certainly did.

Click to enlarge!

Click to enlarge!

It’s amazing how many homes are built along here, and, considering how many of them seem to be just hanging off the side of the hill, you can see how landsides can damage so many homes.

Click to enlarge!

Seeing how this is California, i was hoping for some nude sunbathing, but no such luck.

Click to enlarge!

Click to enlarge!

Many stars have homes along here, such as Jack Nicholson, Pamela Anderson, Reece Witherspoon and Paris Hilton.  Unfortunately, we didn’t see any stars, but we really enjoyed the drive.

We got home about 4 pm and settled in for the night.

And tomorrow we’re going to do it all over again. We’re going to drive back into LA to Playa del Rey on the coast, and then head north along the PCH  (Pacific Coast Highway) up to Santa Barbara, before returning home.

Then Sunday, we’ll get ready to travel, before heading out on Monday to the Park of the Sierras RV park north of Fresno..

Although yesterday was Earth Day this year, I thought I repost my Earth Day blog from last year.


April 23, 2021

Earth Day Redux . . .

Earth Day Failed Forecasts

From A Coming Ice Age To Famine To Killer Bees, Acid Rain, and Global Warming, 50 Failed Climate Forecasts.

1. 1967: Dire Famine Forecast By 1975

2. 1969: Everyone Will Disappear In a Cloud Of Blue Steam By 1989

3. 1970: Ice Age By 2000

4. 1970: America Subject to Water Rationing By 1974 and Food Rationing By   1980

5. 1971: New Ice Age Coming By 2020 or 2030

6. 1972: New Ice Age By 2070

7. 1974: Space Satellites Show New Ice Age Coming Fast

8. 1974: Another Ice Age?

9. 1974: Ozone Depletion a ‘Great Peril to Life

10. 1976: Scientific Consensus Planet Cooling, Famines imminent

11. 1980: Acid Rain Kills Life In Lakes

12. 1978: No End in Sight to 30-Year Cooling Trend

13. 1988: Regional Droughts (that never happened) in 1990s

14. 1988: Temperatures in DC Will Hit Record Highs

15. 1988: Maldive Islands will Be Underwater by 2018 (they’re not)

16. 1989: Rising Sea Levels will Obliterate Nations if Nothing Done by 2000

17. 1989: New York City’s West Side Highway Underwater by 2019 (it’s not)

18. 2000: Children Won’t Know what Snow Is

19. 2002: Famine In 10 Years If We Don’t Give Up Eating Fish, Meat, and Dairy

20. 2004: Britain will Be Siberia by 2024

21. 2008: Arctic will Be Ice Free by 2018

22. 2008: Climate Genius Al Gore Predicts Ice-Free Arctic by 2013

23. 2009: Climate Genius Prince Charles Says we Have 96 Months to Save World

24. 2009: UK Prime Minister Says 50 Days to ‘Save The Planet From Catastrophe’

25. 2009: Climate Genius Al Gore Moves 2013 Prediction of Ice-Free Arctic to 2014

26. 2013: Arctic Ice-Free by 2015

27. 2014: Only 500 Days Before ‘Climate Chaos’

28. 1968: Overpopulation Will Spread Worldwide

29. 1970: World Will Use Up All its Natural Resources

30. 1966: Oil Gone in Ten Years

31. 1972: Oil Depleted in 20 Years

32. 1977: Department of Energy Says Oil will Peak in 1990s

33. 1980: Peak Oil In 2000

34. 1996: Peak Oil in 2020

35. 2002: Peak Oil in 2010

36. 2006: Super Hurricanes!

37. 2005 : Manhattan Underwater by 2015

38. 1970: Urban Citizens Will Require Gas Masks by 1985

39. 1970: Nitrogen buildup Will Make All Land Unusable

40. 1970: Decaying Pollution Will Kill all the Fish

41. 1970s: Killer Bees!

42. 1975: The Cooling World and a Drastic Decline in Food Production

43. 1969: Worldwide Plague, Overwhelming Pollution, Ecological Catastrophe, Virtual Collapse of UK by End of 20th Century

44. 1972: Pending Depletion and Shortages of Gold, Tin, Oil, Natural Gas, Copper, Aluminum

45. 1970: Oceans Dead in a Decade, US Water Rationing by 1974, Food Rationing by 1980

46. 1988: World’s Leading Climate Expert Predicts Lower Manhattan Underwater by 2018

47. 2005: Fifty Million Climate Refugees by the Year 2020

48. 2000: Snowfalls Are Now a Thing of the Past

49.1989: UN Warns That Entire Nations Wiped Off the Face of the Earth by 2000 From Global Warming

50. 2011: Washington Post Predicted Cherry Blossoms Blooming in Winter


Thought For The Day:


“There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” – Vladimir Lenin

  

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