Foot over bridge

That structure in the distance is called a foot over bridge.

Without it, how would your feet get you across all this?

Why is there sawdust in my shoes?

 Because I let these two in...

to do a little carpentry repair work on the balcony doors.
And, of course, they felt the most appropriate place to saw the wood was in the middle of the living room.

Barnegat lighthouse

Lighthouses are pretty.
They are often in some of the most beautiful settings with wide seas and wider skies.

The era of lighthouses has passed into history, though.  Modern navigation systems can "see in the dark" and find their way unaided by lighthouses.

The Barnegat Lighthouse hasn't been a working lighthouse since 1927, but the people of Long Beach Island still make sure the light turns on.
It's been there since 1856 and a hundred years later, it was turned into a park area.

Maybe ships no longer need lighthouses, but people do.

Liberty bell

There it is.
Still cracked.

I recently learned that the Liberty Bell didn't actually ring when the constitution was done being written in 1787.
The Bell Tower of the then Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, was considered too rickety and in danger of collapsing if it were rung.
So though the city's bells rung out on that day, the famous Liberty Bell was silent.

Calaveras big trees

When they say "big trees", they mean big trees.  BIG trees. 
This was the first big, sequoia tree found by a man who was hunting on his own.  His friends didn't believe his story about giant trees so he had to lead them back to the tree prove his tall tale was for real. 
Sadly, the first thing people thought they needed to do to such a tall tree was cut it down. 

What's amazing to me about this picture is the "regular" sized trees hanging around the feet of the giant sequoias. 

That joint where these twin trees are joined is already fifty feet high.  These trees touch the rain clouds. 
Amazing.

Fox Theater

Stockton has a fun old theater, restored to its original grandeur of it's opening in 1930. 

It's just the right place to watch an old film like Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein.

Explore at the exploritorium

I had something like half an hour here, but I would recommend much more time than that at the Exploritorium.
Then you can see this toothpick creation of Scott.  It took him 37 years to make.

Or play with the lights and shadows on this screen.

If you go for longer than half an hour, you'll see a whole lot more than these.

Hyde street pier

I could have spent a lot more time at Hyde Street Pier studying its history.  For a thrifty $5, it's possible to step on to a ferry, a tug boat, a schooner, and others. 

Finding the stories of these ships would have been a fascinating study.  It will have to wait for another trip...

Fisherman's wharf

The signs, the sights, the streetcars...the people...
it's all very colorful at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.

Vallejo street stairs

The Vallejo street stairs were reputed to have some dizzying views of the San Francisco skyline.
A person can see a lot from up here, it's true.













There's Alcatraz again...

...and the bay bridge.