Happy Halloween

Tune in tomorrow for the last vacation post. Today I have a Halloween treat for you.


Trick or Treat
Written by Tyler Wagner

Scream, Scream, it’s Halloween, the night of the year where we like to wear our green, blue, black and white, little trick or treaters will be visiting tonight. Dressed up in costumes scary and fun, with bags of candy that they hope weigh a ton. Chocolate, caramel, candy corn, will come to those with devil horns. Angel wings and cowboy hats, pretty in pink or black like a bat. Painted faces crowd the streets, there’s a knock on the door and all you see are goblins, gremlins, ghouls and ghosts, with outstretched arms all wanting to have the most of the candy, the most of the fright, from the faces of the places that they visit that night. Door to door and home to home, they will roam until they find the bone from a skeleton hidden below, the rug of the house they were warned not to go. But still they went and now they’ve found, they aren’t alone, there are monsters around. Lurking, lounging, and laughing still, after 400 years they sit poised to kill anyone who dares to cross their turf, whether red like the Devil or blue like a Smurf. They don’t care; they just dare anyone to knock on the door of the goriest house on the block. The clock tick tocks as it rocks on the wall, “Happy Halloween, Come One, Come All,” can be heard from inside so the children have the thought, to let themselves in so some candy can be got. They get ready to knock but turn the knob instead, and in that very moment hear the screams of the dead, who were taken from their beds and fed to the beasts, destructive, demonic, and all of them deceased. They’ve increased in number over the years, patiently waiting to fill your body with fear, and your eyes with tears as you cry yourself to sleep, they come from a hole that was six feet deep and they creep in your mind and in the back of your brain, with nightmares that’ll make you go insane. They’ve been drained with pain, trained disdain, the reign of all evil with souls in flames. The kids try to run but their feet stand still, the evil spirits wake and come out to fill the night with terror, torture, treats and tricks; a vampire licks his lips and sticks his fangs in the neck of one of the kids, he tries sucking blood but a black cat appears from under some mud and jumps on the vampire with a sickening thud. The kids pitter-patter and scatter around, then a Goblin head rises from out of the ground. Not a sound can be heard but many terrified screams, from the kids on this horribly haunted Halloween. They all run home fast, as fast as can be, Tonya, Frankie, Sue and little Timothy. Panting and gasping, feeling scared and sober, for they’ll never forget the 31st of October.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

The Vacation - Part 7

Zoe' had been very patient and happy the whole trip but she finally said it was her turn to do what she wanted to do on vacation which was stay and play on the beach.

Her wish was our command so off to Pismo Beach with a room overlooking a beautiful beach.






Once we were checked in Zoe' was anxious to hit the beach.



I was not moving fast enough. She was ready to play.



And play she did for two days.



In Pismo there is a portion of beach you can drive your car on so we took the opportunity to enjoy a drive on the beach.


There were several people kite surfing as we drove along the beach. This looked like a blast as they only needed wind and water and there was an abundance of both.



We had lucked into finding this particular motel as we had been looking in another area of town when we stumbled on this one. The first ones overlooked the ocean but access to the beach was via steep stairs which Zoe' turned her nose up at and she demanded a place with easy beach access.



We couldn't ask for a better view than the one we had from our second floor balcony.




The sunsets, oh the sunsets.





There is nothing prettier than a sunset at the beach especially if you only have to walk out a sliding door to chairs awaiting you on a patio to relax and enjoy the show.

That's it for Pismo as tomorrow we are headed to the final stop.

Tomorrow the vacation part 8

The Vacation - Part 6

Well I tried hard to bore you last week and I am going to do the same for a few days this week as I continue with more vacation pictures.

In the 1800's Eureka, CA, was a lumber town.

The house below was built by the lumber mill owner and has been kept up as a private club. Unfortunately there are no tours.


The magnificent Carson Mansion, is perhaps the most spectacular Victorian in the nation. The home was built between 1884-1886 by renowned 19th Century architects Newsom and Newsom for lumber baron William M. Carson. This project was designed to keep mill workers and expert craftsman busy during a slow period in the industry.


This three-dimensional "pattern-book" took over one hundred men over two years to construct.


In addition to the abundant use of redwood, Mr. Carson imported 97,000 feet of primavera or "white mahogany" from Central America, along with other woods and onyx from the Philippines, East India, and Mexico. The elaborate interiors include stained glass, plasterwork, and carved ornaments in exotic woods.

Other houses in the town.




Eureka provided an amazing glimpse of early Victorian architecture.

From Eureka we were headed to Fort Bragg to ride the Skunk Train through another area of redwoods.


Different trees along our drive proved to be another interesting sight as they created a tunnel-like effect.



After seeing the beauty of the redwoods we were excited when we arrived at Fort Bragg with anticipation of the next day's train adventure riding the rails through more of the redwoods.

Two types of luck happened after we arrived.

The bad luck was finding the scheduled train for the next day had been canceled. The good luck was prior to staying an additional day we learned about the cancellation so we did not waste a day in Fort Bragg as there is not a whole lot to do there.

So what is the next best thing if the train is not running?

Shopping, of course. So the next day we were off to Mendecino, CA.

What a great little town that turned out to be with a huge area of the old houses turned into shops.


This picture was taken from the sidewalk in front of one of the shops. How would working be with a view like that?

Tomorrow vacation part 7

The Vacation - Part 5

It is hard to describe how magnificent the redwoods are. Hopefully our pictures do them justice.









To put the next two pictures in perspective, I am 5' 11" tall.






Truly outstanding scenery and a peaceful experience out among the big trees.

Join me Monday for vacation part 6.

The Vacation - Part 4

As we entered the area of the giant redwoods, Paul Bunyan and his trusty Ox, Babe, greeted us.


Paul's ax is 25 feet long


Paul is 49' 2" tall


Babe is 35' tall


And then there they were....


The grandeur of the redwoods




In the midst of all the giant trees there are meadows.


As you drive through the redwoods you come along an area aptly called Elk Meadows where we were treated with a sighting of a heard of elk resting in the shade.

Tomorrow Vacation part 5