Point Pinos Lighthouse

On the Wednesday before our wedding anniversary, we did a drive around in Pacific Grove (where the Monarch butterflies assemble in the winter) to avoid the traffic jam to and from Carmel Valley Ranch, where we were staying.

One of the things I always wanted to do was visit Point Pinos Lighthouse, where I could wander the grounds, take pictures of the historic lighthouse, and visit the little museum it houses.

The lighthouse has been in operation since 1855, and sits at Asilomar Boulevard, near the northwest terminus of Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove.

As usual, I forgot to do some research on Google. Guess what. Remember when the Pacific Coast Air Museum in Santa Rosa was closed during our visit there last year? Remember when the Sonoma County Museum in Santa Rosa was closed as well?

Well, I did it again. Point Pinos Lighthouse is closed to the public on Tuesday and Wednesday.

All I could do was take a picture between the links of the fence barring our entry and commiserate with the elderly couple that also was stymied by the closure.

Bummers!

Now I have to wait until the next time we take an overnight trip to the Monterey Peninsula area and expose ourselves to the constant traffic jams in the area.

Pacific Grove Natural History Museum

I'm a sucker for museums, natural history museums in particular.

So it's no surprise that one of the places I wanted to see on my next trip to the Monterey Peninsula was the Pacific Grove Natural History Museum.

Pacific Grove, aka "Butterfly Town USA," is the little city (population 15,500 or so) where Monarch butterflies gather en masse during their annual winter migration down south. Like by the millions.

It was the wrong time of year to see them, but that’s okay. Two places I’d had on a “To See” bucket list were the Point Pinos Lighthouse and the Pacific Gove Natural History Museum. I finally got a chance to see them last month.

Built in 1883, the museum is about the same size as the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. Most of its display area consists of birds, more than 400 specimens are displayed, including the formidable-looking California condor, and an extinct passenger pigeon.

‘Nuff talk. It’s time for photographs, a few of the many I took.

The Back Yard

It’s also got a back yard with more than 100 plants native to Monterey County, and a huge piece of jade:

Cross this one off my bucket list!

Mission San Jose

In the three years I've been visiting my grandson in Fremont, California, I've always said I was going to visit Mission San Jose, which is located Fremont, just a couple of miles from my son's house.

Of course, a good intention always seems like forever to fulfill. But not this time. I made it a point to visit the historic mission.

Just arriving there and parking was interesting. The wife was driving there for the first time ever, and she did a good job. I didn't have to squinch my butt even once. We parked on the street in front of the mission, but wondered if there was a parking lot. It turns out there was one, but it wasn't the missions ... it was for the nunnery.

After driving all over the place behind the mission, we ended up in the very same parking space on the street.

Entering through the gift shop, one encounters all kinds of religious items on sale – crucifixes, prayer beads, books, Biblical statuettes, cross pendants, St. Christopher medals, Bibles of course, shawls and kerchiefs, ornaments, Virgin Marys ... what you would expect.

Step through a small doorway (they sure we're short then) and take a self-guided tour. There are a number of rooms filled with Ohlone (oh-LONE-nee) Indian cultural items, missionary artifacts, old furniture, religious icons and more and more historical stuff than you can shake a stick at.

Then, return outdoors and take a walk over to the mission chapel itself. It's as dark and reverent inside as it is sunny and bright outside. Just what you'd imagine an old Spanish church to be – dark pews and walls punctuated by an occasional mini-altar, dominated by the main altar on the opposite side of the entrance.

Step back into the daylight through a side door, wander the garden, toss a few coins in the fountain, say hello to Father Junipero Serra, and there you go, all done ... we spent a good hour or so nourishing our souls.

The Treasures of Egypt

Co-sponsored by the State of Nevada, the Mirage Hotel & Casino, the MGM Hotel & Casino, the Luxor Hotel & Casino, and the Engelstad Family, "The Treasures of Egypt" is the featured exhibit at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum.

Stepping through the door entrance is like taking a step into the past, the days of pyramids, pharaohs and hieroglyphics. Displays and art works show you what life was like back then during the Bronze Age.

A special segment of the display features King Tutankhamun, the "boy king" who died at a very young age. The replica artifacts never fail to amaze me, and cause me to regret seeing the real thing when I was in San Francisco while the King Tut Exhibit was open at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.

But that was then, and this is now. Wanna see some of the photographs I took? Here you go:

Wall Carving

Wall Carving

Wall Carving

Wall Mural

Cartouche-Shaped Box

Triple Lotus Oil Lamp

Royal Necklaces

Vulture Collar

Royal Funeral Boat Model

Tutankhamun Coffin

Tutankhamun Sarcophagus

Tutankhamun's Head

Small Horny Ungulates

In the main hallway of the Las Vegas Natural History Museum are a number of glass cases displaying small ungulates. Y'know, deer ... from Africa, mostly. All of 'em have tiny sets of horns, and to be truthful, if a bunch of various species came bouncing around me at the same time, I couldn't tell a Suni from a Dik Dik from a Grysbok.

But that's okay. Because the museum did the identifying for me.

Check them out:

Suni

Oribi

Klipspringer

Steenbok

Salt's Dik Dik

Blue Duiker

Harvey's Red Duiker

Royal Antelope

Cape Grysbok

Tomorrow, the last of the Las Vegas Museum pictures. Tomorrow, we visit Egypt.

Las Vegas Natural History Museum

I See YOU! C'mon in!

On my last day of a recent trip to Las Vegas, I had beaucoup time before my plane flew out in the late afternoon to take me back to Hawaii.

So, I spent much of my day wandering around the Las Vegas Natural History Museum on Charleston, next to Cashman Field, where the Las Vegas 51s Triple A (Pacific Coast League) baseball team plays its games.

The Las Vegas Natural History Museum is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.

It's a great little museum, not real big, but full of interesting stuff - like taxidermy animals, water life, birds, reptiles and emphibians, dinosaurs, dioramas, fish and water life, a children's science area, and a terrific display of Egyptian artifacts and the life of King Tutankhamun - The Treasures of Egypt.

It's easy to forget the time and immerse yourself in history and our world.

Galleries include Prehistoric Life Gallery, Wild Nevada Gallery, Marine Life Gallery, Young Scientist Gallery, African Savanna Gallery, the African Rainforest, the International Wildlife Gallery, and an Early Man Exhibit.

They do change their exhibits every now and then, so if you only frequent Las Vegas once or twice a year, it won't seem repetitive to you. In fact, I go about every year and although some of the displays and exhibits look familiar, I still walk through with a grin of awe and wonder on my face.

I took a couple hundred pictures this last time; here are a few:

Aviafauna

Rams and Antelope

Peccaries vs Rattlesnake

Ferocious Polar Bear

American Bison

Lion Taking Down a Wildebeest

Gigantic Alligator Jaw

Comparison: Great White Jaw vs Megalodon Jaw

Prehistoric Allosaurus

Ankylosaurus and Babies

Rocky Mountain Sheep

I'll show you pictures of some horny little animals in a few days.