Wow! Our bus went right by the site of that natural gas explosion South of San Francisco the day before it happened.
Meanwhile, we were merrily on our way driving through some of the most beautiful scenery on earth; the Pacific Coast Highway. It’s often called the most spectacular meeting of land and sea in the world. Who could argue?
Yes Sir..it's Big Sur
Poor Linda (right) didn't see much of Hwy 1 because of height fears
Speaking of heights, some of these Redwood Trees in Big Sur State Park stand 300 feet tall
We were lucky enough to see several rare California Condors perched atop one of the big trees
Pretty dizzying when you stand back and look up
"Those big trees started from this little seedling," says our bus driver as tour member, Roger, looks on in disbelief. Although the forest floor is covered in them, it's against the law to take souveniers.
Ah, the Hearst Castle..a celebration of greed and gawdiness
Okay, everybody out of the pool!
The view from William Randolph's personal and favorite cottage.
Our tour of Los Angeles included a stop at the Le Brea tar pits. Like the geysers of Yellowstone, new tar pits are bubbling up all the time.
Of course no trip to Hollywood would be complete without a stop at the Chinese Theatre to look at all the movie stars hand and foot imprints in cement.
Next door is the Kodak theatre where the Oscars are held. Just think, movie stars walk up these very stairs.
Seems ironic that I can't use my Kodak camera to take pictures "inside" the Kodak Theatre itself.
Our tour did include a stop at a lovely little winery called Gainey Vinyards
A goodbye California toast from a great group of people.
Okay, that’s enough vacation photos for awhile. Time to get back to more meaningful stuff like what part of “NO” doesn’t our mayor and a majority of Sioux Falls City Council members understand about building a new events center at this time? Also, how does Jim Belushi keep finding work in Hollywood?