Tribute to Route 66

Along the road there are Historic Route 66 signs. These first two pictures are of a sign near my old apartment. The weird thing is I never realized it was there until just a few weeks ago LOL!

Here is another sign a bit farther west along Route 66. The pictures aren't that great since it was a very bright (and HOT!) day.

Close up of sign above...

I thought this coffee cup sign was really cute! It was hard to get a decent shot without getting run over, though.

This is the sign that caused all the uproar I posted about a while back. It's a gas station and I thought the sign was kinda cool.

In-N-Out is a great hamburger place. I love it!

Wolfe's Market is right next to the Claremont Colleges and is a popular place to go for sandwiches and such.

More pictures in the post below!

Tribute to Route 66...Continued

Joey's BBQ is just down the street from my old apartment and has *great food*

Photos of the sign at night...

Here is the sign at the entrance to the Vons Shopping Center. The sign is broken so the middle light doesn't light up.

Sign over the gas station section of Vons

I thought the gas pumps were really cool, so I took some pictures! It was a bit hard since it is pretty busy with cars coming and going. Pardon any glare!

McDonald's Classic...There was another sign, but the Route 66 part of it didn't light up so it didn't turn out quite right :(

Moving On...

I'm exhausted! I've been in the process of moving for the last month, but the last few days were crunch time and it's really worn me out. I'm still not done! I have to go finish cleaning and turn in my keys and such tomorrow (well, later today really). For now, I just wanted to post some of the sunset pictures I took last Wednesday.

Tag I'm It!

I was tagged by Stacy to answer these questions, so here you have it!:)

1) When did you start blogging and why?

I started blogging in January of 2006. I had been reading blogs for a little while and decided that I'd like to start keeping an online journal of sorts. I thought it would be a good way to look back at my life. I didn't think anyone would read it, so I didn't even tell anyone about it at first. And after a while, I decided to post some of my photos as well.

2) What don't you talk about?

Well, I'm a pretty open person, so I will talk about most things. I tend to avoid confrontation (it's just my personality), so I tend not to talk about things that are too controversial like politics, religion and such. I *do* have opinions but I tend to keep them to myself:) That's the case both on and off line.

3) Are you and your blogging persona the same person?

Yep! I feel like I'm much more myself online than I am in person...at least when you first meet me anyway:)

4) How do you use blogging to build friendships?

I don't necessarily use it specifically to build friendships, but I've discovered some great blogs and great people through my journeys through blogland.

5) How would you describe your writing style?

Um, random LOL! I ramble on about all sorts of stuff. And pretty informal. Though I do tend to ramble on for ages, I actually don't really enjoy writing that much. I have to be in the right mood to do it.

I'm not going to tag anyone at this point since I'm not sure if there is anyone out there reading this who hasn't already been tagged!

Hot & Stormy Sunsets

I was walking out the door last night to go to dinner with the 'rents when I noticed the amazing sun setting over the roof of the neighbor's house. So of course I ran back inside and grabbed my camera! My parents patiently waited in the air-conditioned car for me to take my bazillion photos:) They don't quite capture the sun the way it was in person. Oh well.

I'm also posting some photos of the sunset that I caught while driving around Friday night in Claremont. I'm so glad I had decided *not* to go to the movies that night!

Claremont Sunset photos below (the focus may be a bit off in a couple of them)...

Stormy Weather

The weather has been big news all over lately it seems. It's been much hotter than usual. We've had power elerts and emergencies; all without Enron's help this time! Anyway, we've also had thunderstorms around as well which have made for some interesting cloud formations and sunsets.

Here are some of the cloudy skies from both Claremont & Bonita.

Childhood Memories

Some of you may know that I’m moving back to my hometown (and back in with my parents temporarily) to teach. I’ve actually been living in two places for the last two months since I started observing a class where I’ll be teaching. Being back on a more permanent basis has brought back all sorts of memories. I actually was going to blog about it a while ago, but I got busy and didn’t get a chance.

Things have really changed in the areas surrounding my hometown. Where there used to be a hill where cows grazed on the grass, there is now a sea of houses. They are even putting in a new freeway! It’s kind of sad to drive around and see some of the changes.

At the same time, some of the things I loved growing up are still here. I’ve wanted to take pictures of things around my hometown for a while, and the other day I finally decided to do it! It’s been on my mind more lately since I saw a post at Heather’s Blog that reminded me of my grandparents and Lucy Monroe asked about childhood memories at her blog .

Of course there are some things (like the Christmas Tree Farm) that I think are better to photo during a different time of the year and some I just haven’t gotten to yet. I’ve actually been thinking of starting a Daily Photo Blog, but as I’m not sure how long I’ll be living in the area, I’m not sure.

Anyway, I’ve posted some photos below along with some of my memories. I hope you enjoy!

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I love the horse trails that go throughout the housing development. In fact, the entire development is horse-centric; all the street names are related to horses in some way. We used to hike all over the place without even going too far from home. In fact, the trails actually run right behind the homes. And people *do* actually ride horses along them. They even have horse-crossing signs to warn cars that there may be people on horseback crossing the street.

Here is the view from one trail that is literally just up the street from our house.

My bus stop for kindergarten was just across the street at the other side of the trail. The family that lives in the house next to the trail had a horse that I used to visit. In fact, I once got in trouble for going to visit the horse instead of going home after getting off the bus!

I took a few pictures looking down the trail as well as toward the street. I violated my parents’ #1 rule, though, so shhhhhh! The rule? Always wear long pants, socks, and sneakers when on the trails in case of snakes…eeek! I was wearing cropped pants and flip-flops since I hadn’t actually planned to walk down near the trails.

We used to hike up that hill you can see in the distance in the middle shot. Back then there were no homes at the top. In fact, a few times, those hills caught on fire!

Here are a couple of other photos from a street that has seen increased traffic because of the new freeway and a nearby hiking trail park.






The increased traffic has resulted in quite a few changes. They took out a two-lane bridge near the Christmas Tree Farm and made it wider. I wish I had before and after shots!

They also took out local convenience store and replaced it with a 7-11. It’s progress, but not quite the same Bonita as it was when I was growing up. Seeing all the changes makes me quite nostalgic…