December 30, 2009
The car trip from Portland to Reno went quite well with Austin. His version of ‘Are we there yet?’ is ‘Are we in Reno yet?’ We had to spend the night in Medford since the pass was closed due to snow. In the morning the glistening snow was gorgeous. The snow in the Sierras was beautiful, too, but the road was totally clear!
Once we got to Reno we had fun snaking up the driveway wih 3″ of snow. The driveway has just the wrong slant to it to get up easily… Austi and Papa played with trains after dinner. Now we make it to bed for a long winter’s nap. In the morning Austin and Papa will snow blow the driveway!
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Posted by mygrandmasue
December 26, 2009
Today I discovered ocean.com as I was researching further online about acidic oceans after I read a newspaper article. Ocean.com has a wonderful free archive of ocean articles and stories. I spent a lot of time watching videos, viewing photos and reading interesting articles.
For more interesting info, check out my website at https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com
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December 21, 2009
Here is a map to check out the holiday lights in the Long Beach area courtesy of the Long Beach Press-Telegram. I still remember getting in the car with Grandpa and Grandma to drive around and see all the houses that were so prettily decorated for the holiday season in the Chicago area. I say ‘still’ because now I can do it with my own grandchildren!
For more interesting info, check out my website at https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com
Leave a Comment » | Places to Explore | Tagged: Chicago, child, children, Christmas Lights, Decorated Houses, family, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, granddaughter, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, grandson, Holiday Lights, kids, Long Beach, Places to Go | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
December 20, 2009
California Christmas Boat Parades have been fun to watch since we have been in Southern California. They are all up and down the coast however. Last night we had dinner at the Crab Pot and watched the Naples Christmas Boat Parade. Naples is a neighborhood of Long Beach, CA. The Naples Boat Parade has been fun to watch for several years because it is right in our neighborhood. We have seen the Huntington Beach, Newport and Oxnard Boat Parades through the years as well. All sorts of little and large boats get all decked out with lights and other decorations and parade up and down the waterways. This link has a list of dates and locations of boat parades in California. The Long Beach Press-Telegram hard-copy said it had photos online, but I couldn’t find anything with yesterday or today’s date about the parade online. If I do later, I might link it here.
For more interesting info, check out my website at https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com
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December 19, 2009
A park naturalist at the El Dorado Nature Center will be guiding a post-holiday trail walk on December 26 from 10 am until noon. The cost is $3/person and you must register in advance. Call 562-570-1745. Walk off some of those Christmas Dinner calories! 🙂
The El Dorado Nature Center is located at 7550 E. Spring St in Long Beach. Here are some Yelp reviews.
The Center is across the street from the El Dorado Regional Park, which has picnic areas, archery range, stocked lakes, pedal boats, physical fitness course, radio controlled model sailboat and model airplane areas, Caboose Corners train ride and other activities.
Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) holds free archery instruction with their equipment or your own. There is a one hour safety/orientation class held regularly. For more information, to confirm class schedule or to schedule groups, call Aletha Donathan, Head Archery Instructor at (562) 688-9666.
For more interesting info, check out my website at https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com
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Posted by mygrandmasue
December 13, 2009
We did not make it out of town today after all. We woke up to a totally white wonderland. The fir trees and evergreens were bending with snow on all their branches. The bare trees were all magically white from the pogonip if not a few inches of clinging snow. Even the weather station was covered in snow. There wasn’t any wind!
Grandpa Ron used the snow blower one more time to get another 9 inches off the driveway! The roads were slushy or icy. All of the roads to get back to LA were requiring chains, snow tires and/or 4 wheel drive. After checking the various weather forecasts, we decided to stay one more night here instead of chancing it on the road as we’ve done before. I think our close call last January made both of us more willing to stay.
So we got the suitcase back out of the car and settled back in. We’ll get out early tomorrow.
Here are four pictures from the gazillion I took. One is from last night (guess which one, ha!) and three from this morning.
Read more of my snowy blogs at https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com
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December 10, 2009
This morning I have been trying to find out how much snow is already on the ground around Bishop, Mammoth, Bridgeport and Walker, CA. Another storm is supposedly moving in today but we are trying to anticipate whether we can romp through the region with a 4-wheel drive or if we should take the desert route of 95 to get to Reno. Anyone have any details for us?
Ah, BIGstLittleCity on Twitter helped me out with the forecast out of the Reno Gazette-Journal! And then I found super info on the NOAA site. You just click on the map and it gives you the 7 day forecast! Awesome!! Here is Mammoth, CA! Grab the map with the hand to pull in various directions along the route! 🙂
Here is the site to check CA Road Conditions (CA DOT).
Here is the site to check NV Road Conditions (NV DOT).
Here is SafeTravelUSA.com which is awesome for showing NV road conditions on a map – Here is the index for getting to other states as well. Looks like the various state departments of transportation map road conditions a variety of very different ways! This site is very useful for checking any travel conditions – well worth saving as a bookmark or favorite!
Read more of my blogs at https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com/
1 Comment | Places to Explore | Tagged: Bishop, Bridgeport, CA DOT, CA Road Conditions, Highway 395, Mammoth, Mammoth Lake, NOAA, NV DOT, NV Road Conditions, Reno, Road Conditions, SafeTravelUSA.com Road Condition Maps, snow, Walker, weather, Weather Report | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
December 9, 2009
This year’s Seal Beach Holiday Parade was just as much fun as it has been in the past. Fifteen reading therapy dogs from Beach Animals Reading with Kids (BARK) participated in the parade for the first time and handed out books to children along the parade route on the beautifully decorated Main Street of Seal Beach, CA. The Orange County Register reported that approximately 8,000 people watched the parade. It was a brisk night as reported in another article in the OCR so people cuddled up to stay warm. It still had lots of fun and enjoyment as the floats, dogs, cars and almost 100 groups participated – along with Santa at the end – in the 29th annual event! See OCR photos by clicking the photo tab here.
Read more of my blogs at https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com
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Posted by mygrandmasue
MyGrandmaSue 