Liberty Lake Regional Park, Liberty Lake, WA

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Liberty Lake Regional Park consists of 3, 591 acres of wetlands, lake shore, montane forest and irrigated lawns. This is a photo of the lake and swimming beach. All photos were taken by me. Join me on this walk!

There is a grassy area, next to the parking area, that has a playground, picnic shelters and BBQ areas.

There are many miles of trails, including the 8.3 mile Liberty Lake Loop trail.

There is an RV site, with hook ups, as well as regular campgrounds with showers and restrooms. These are in two different areas of the park.

There are even a couple cabins to rent.

As you hike on the trails you will pass wetlands.

You will pass by several beaver dams.

A turtle on a log.

Some pretty wild plants. I don’t know the name of these. If you do, please share in the comment section below.

Next to the large park, there is a 350 acre off road vehicle park with 16 miles of trails. Memorial day through Labor Day, there is a $2 per person fee for ages 6 and up. Children 5 and under are free. You can also purchase a Family season pass and non-profit rates are available, too. The campgrounds are open in a pre-season and post season, along with the summer season and reservations can be made for RV, tent and cabins online. This website has all the details:
https://www.spokanecounty.org/Facilities/Facility/Details/Liberty-Lake-Regional-Park-39
So if you are in the area, please check it out. The park is close to Liberty Lake town, with supplies available. It isn’t far from the I-90 freeway.

Thanks for joining me on the walk and taking the time to visit my blog!
Love, katelon

Viola!

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San Diego Natural History Museum Films

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Last Tuesday I went to see the three films at the San Diego Natural History Museum, located at Balboa Park in San Diego, CA. I had already been through the museum but hadn’t taken the time to see the films so went back specifically to do that. On Free residents Tuesday, the first Tuesday of the month, the cost is $5 for all three films.Otherwise it is the normal admission rate. If you go on Free resident Tuesday you have to stop and pay the $5 to get your ticket for the movies. We had to exit the theater after each movie then get back in line and wait 30-40 min. for the next seating.

Two of the three films were 3D films. So we all got to wear the silly glasses.

The first film I watched was one about Dinosaurs, a 3D film, about Dinosaurs in the Alaska area. At times there were violent moments with Dinosaur fights and T-Rex opening his big mouth in 3D so you might consider before bringing very young children. It was a very lush and informative short film.

The second film I saw was called “Ocean Oasis” about the magical and prolific Baja California ocean area. The film was beautiful and described why the ocean life and bird life is so plentiful there. It was lovely to see huge manta rays, various unusual forms of jelly fish, sharks, and many other different sea creatures.

The last film was fascinating. It was about Mummies. The film explained why it took so long to figure out how mummies were formed and how this research is used now in hopes for medical cures. It talked of how the famous mummies were uncovered, why they were created in the first place and how they have been brought to safe places for all to see. I especially enjoyed the views of the various temples. This film was 3D also.

So if you happen to be in San Diego, come check out this wonderful museum and the movies. This website lists more about the museum, its ongoing research, what exhibits and films are presently being shown, prices, etc. There is a lovely gift shop there and also a snack bar.

http://sdnhm.org/

March 3, 2015 Museum Day, Balboa park, San Diego, CA

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I was very low energy this museum day so I wasn’t as engaged and energetic as I usually am during these walks/tours. Today I visited the San Diego Natural History Museum and the Railroad Museum. I walked into and quickly out of the Fleet Science Museum as I knew my foggy brain that day was in no way ready to engage in hands on science displays 🙂

I did enjoy the Railroad museum as it was filled with both interested adults and squealing excited children. I love miniature houses and buildings, enthralled by the details put into the smaller replications. The Railroad museum has displays of various railroad cars in different scales, plus several display rooms with realistic landscapes including mountains and canyons. There is one room that is multi-tiered with steam engines and various viewing places spaced throughout. The other displays have benches to sit on for viewing and raised walkways for children to stand on.

Here is the photo of the stairway that goes down to the Railroad museum:

Here are some photos of the various displays. I loved the buildings made to look like drive in’s, old stores with neon signs, an old diner. One street has cars stopped at the red light forever. The black engines were actually blowing steam. I thought the carnival was cute. I wish the photo had turned out more clear but the museum lights made the picture quality challenging.

Here’s the cars stopped at the red light forever:

And here’s the old diner with the poor person who looks like he/she got hit by the car backing up into his/her bike:

Here’s the pretty front of the San Diego Natural History Museum:

This museum was also filled with children. There are many learning stations throughout the museum and you could spend a lot of time here. The King Tut exhibit is there into April, for an extra fee. It is requested that you buy tickets for that ahead of time and call to set up your desired viewing time. There are three movies showing there now…one on Walking with the Dinosaurs 3D, one on Mummies; Secrets of the Pharaohs 3D and the other, Ocean Oasis. These films are included in the price of admission or at a reduced rate on the residence Free Tuesday, the first Tuesday of the month.

I only took a few pictures in this museum.

A dinosaur skeleton:

A very large and wonderful hunk of Jade (so nice to feel, as I love stones):

A California Sonora King Snake. There were three lives snakes that I saw and all three were in small box displays, so sad, just as the gecko below was also in a small space:

Gecko:

And lastly, a view from the third floor looking down. There is a wonderful photo display right now on the third floor, of birds around the world:

If you’d like more information about Balboa park you can go to their website:

http://www.balboapark.org

There is so much to see there in the museums, puppet theater, various other theaters, restaurants, stores, a zoo, the Spanish Village artist galleries and shops, trails to walk, various gardens, classes, displays, dances, organ concerts, weekly Sunday concerts at the International houses, and so much more throughout the park. You can be involved as you want or just take a book and a picnic and hang out on the grass and relax! On different weekends there are often special events on some of the lawns as well.

Thanks for joining me today on my walk!

Feb 24, 2015 Museum Day at Balboa Park, San Diego, CA

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Ok….thanks to lovely WordPress, this is take two. I was 1/2 way into writing this post and uploading pictures when the picture wasn’t loading and I couldn’t stop and get back to my post, so closed the screen, which normally saves a draft of the post and this time didn’t.

So this is the shortened version!

I went to 3 museums on this day and liked the Automotive Museum the best. I grew up loving road trips, with a family who loved cars of all kinds and took lots of local and long distance trips.

So most of the photos will be of the Automotive museum. I wasn’t happy with the photo quality but the light was bright and I was using my phone camera. But you can get an idea of the wonderful exhibits.

1931 Cadillac 452 Roadster V-16

1929 L-29 Cord Brougham

1977 Sachsenring Trabant 601. Body made of recycled plastic, in East Germany. These cars were only sold in communist countries, including Cuba.

1914 Ford Modelo T

1966 Bizzarrini P538 Lamborghini V-12 engine. One of three built.

Lamborghini in foreground. 1973 Dino GTS Ferrari. The engine was designed by Dino Ferrari before he died at age 24 of muscular dystrophy.

1960 Alfa Romeo Sprint. Alfa Romeo was an employee owned factory.

1981 Delorian with a stainless steel body.

Tango electric car. This car is designed for one person, built with reinforcement up to 4X that of normal cars and designed to only take up 1/2 of a lane.

1929 Ford Model A Coupe, similar to the one my Father owned.

1926 Harley Davidson motorcycle.

1928 Guizzi motorcycle.

1916 Harley Davidson motorcycle.

Display honoring actor Steve McQueen for his car and motorcycle racing careers.

There were several Indian Chief motorcycles, some with side cars but my photos didn’t turn out well.

Front of the Automotive Museum. It presently has a special display, too, featuring San Diego vehicles and displays for the 100th anniversary.

The Air and Space museum. This is the only building left of the original Ford Pavillion, built for the 1915 Balboa park exposition. The pavillion was built to display cars and also had roads around it so people could test drive the cars before purchasing them.

Capsule of Apollo 9

Fleet Model 2 1929

Lincoln standard J-T barnstorming plane

Replica of the Lockheed Vega 5 B, made for the movie “Amelia”. This is a replica of the one Amelia Earhart flew to win many records.

Bowlus SP-1 Albatross glider that set many records.

Pitts Special aerobotic plane used for aerobotic trick flying.

San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum.

This museum honors San Diego athletes in High School, College and Professional, as well as the local professional sports teams. I’m a Raiders fan so the only display that caught my eye was the one for the great Marcus Allen, who played for the Raiders when they were based in Los Angeles.

I also wandered past the Balboa Park club, which was originally built in 1915 for the Panama-California exposition as the New Mexico Building. It was inspired by a 300 year old Acoma Pueblo mission church. In 1935 it was remodeled for the California Pacific International Exposition.

I hope you have enjoyed our walk for today. If you are in the area, please take the time to come visit Balboa park!!!