Lessons learned in California!

I thought I would write about a few things I learned while on my vacation in California! Some simple, some profound (at least to me)! You'll have to chose which is which! I wanted to get these down before I forgot, so here we go!

• Alot of Central California from LA to Visalia is BROWN! It's still beautiful, but BROWN!
• Visalia is HOT! I mean really HOT!
• The happy cows from California are not found in Visalia! There are alot of cows there, because it's a huge dairy farm community, but they definitely do not look happy! Now the comes in the foot hills with lots of land to roam, they look happy!
• People in California, especially Visalia get used to the high temps and think it's cool to keep their air at 85 degrees! They think we're wimps! I may have to agree!
• California is a big state that takes alot of time to travel from one area to another.
• Mountains have very curvy roads! I mean really CURVY!!!
• There is not as much oxygen in the mountains as down below! It takes alot of effort for an incredibly out of shape, heavier woman to make it up the sides of mountains!
• I can Kayak and have fun while doing it! This has become a new family outing! Anyone have any kayaks they'd like to see for cheap?!
• Sequoia pine cones only open due to fire! There is a great spiritual lesson in that don't you think?! The seed cones are 4-7 cm long and mature in 18-20 months, though they typically remain green and closed for up to 20 years; each cone has 30-50 spirally arranged scales, with several seeds on each scale giving an average of 230 seeds per cone. The seed is dark brown, 4-5 mm long and 1 mm broad, with a 1 mm wide yellow-brown wing along each side. Some seed is shed when the cone scales shrink during hot weather in late summer, but most seeds are liberated when the cone dries out from fire heat and/or insect damage
• The sequoia's are amazing! There is just no describing them!
• The inside of a sequoia can completely burn, but it the membrane stays in tack the tree continues to grow! God sure has a great plan doesn't he!
• Yosemite is breathtaking! Everywhere you look you just can't believe the beauty! Only 5% of the park is ever seen! Can you imagine the part that most people don't see! Oh how I wish I had the time to hike it!!!!!
• Yosemite is also a big vacation spot for Europeans. Just like in Napa I told Steve I felt in the minority.
• It doesn't matter where you are in California, like Squaw Valley, you can still get a good expensive cup of Joe'!
• The mountains can hold back clouds! We've seen it! We will have beautiful cloudless sky over us, but when you look towards the mountain range you see huge clouds on the other side that never make it over!
• Elephant seals stink! But are very cool to watch!
• Napa is not California's only wine country. The central valley going to the coast has alot of wineries! We couldn't stop though!
• Even though I grew to like the smell of the ocean I still prefer my big lake smells! I love how God plants you just where you fit best, and that he transplants to better suit who you are!
• Sea shells are very hard to come by!
• In california (at least Calabasas) you can get Gecko's in your house!
• And don't let you cat out at night otherwise the coyotes will get them!
• Even though we were in an earthquake, California did not fall into the sea! At least not yet!
• Steve's sister Mary like to eat late, like at 8:30pm, but that never seemed to bother us!
• I love the fresh fruit you can get, right out of your yards!
• LAX wasn't that bad!
• Driving wasn't that bad!
• California is a wonderful place to visit! We hope to go back someday, but I love my Michigan!