EOY Slideshow

Christmastime @ The Hotel Formerly Known As The Ahwahnee

The new concessionaire can call it The Majestic Yosemite Hotel, but it will always be The Ahwahnee to TSG. Thankfully the vibe remains the same.

(Seen On The) Road Dawgs

Yosemite/Oakhurst CA

Tonight's Soundtrack* Courtesy Of Seuss, Stirling & Carpenter**

 Seen at Christmas in the Park

 and various shoppes, storefronts and

 boy's reformatories in the Gold Country.

*soundtrack subject to change if we get a nastygram from UMG
**we chanced upon Lindsey and Sabrina's jazzy version(from the album Warmer In Winter) randomly, seemed like a perfect fit.

Pete The Cat And His Four Groovy Buttons

There's gotta be a story to go with this, but the artist was not available for comment.


Update: Pete The Cat turned out to be the star of a popular kid-lit series.  

Speaking of literary icons...

Oh, Rob

We recently binged on A&E's latest celebrity-searches-out-the-unexplained-reality series, "The Lowe Files".  Viewers get to tag along with Rob and his sons hitting the road to see what's out there.  It's a typical cable channel ghost/alien/bigfoot expedition show. If you're a fan it's worth checking out...otherwise, maybe not so much,

Anywhoo, episode one of The Lowe Files took the guys to Ione, CA to do some ghost hunting at the old Preston School of Industry (aka The Castle).  Preston Castle was a large boy's reformatory school -- a dreary, stark gothic institution opened in 1894 and was abandoned in 1960. A pretty spooky place.  Outfitted with an assortment of paranormal detection devices they spend an entertaining evening in the old place.

Inspired by the show and the imposing and semi-derelict building, TSG hit the road looking to follow in the footsteps of Matthew. John Owen and their dad.  We even got a snap of Fancy Donuts in Galt, where Rob and the boys stopped for a bite to eat on the way. 

Tomorrow: TSG Goes Lowe / Tonight: Zoomy Lights Redux

Wood Eye?

As Seen @ Burning Man

Fresh from the Black Rock Desert, the sound and light installation "The Sonic Runway" is on exhibit on Santa Clara Street in front of City Hall for the season.  

Videographer: EC

Video editor: DC

Animal Assortment

Pretty Funny

As we are wont to do, spurred by idle and random curiousity about Peter Sellers' character in Being There, TSG googled "Chauncey Gardener" a few minutes ago.

The search results page proved to be quite humorous. To us, anyway:

In case you're wondering, this image is an un-retouched screen shot.
Your mileage, should you attempt the same search from wherever you happen to be, may vary.

Time Is On My Sidewalk

Couple Of a) Random Spacey (Not Kevin) Photoshopped Images And b) Movie Trailers

Laziness abounds in The Grasshopper household this eve o' Halloween.

Our apologies for not putting more effort into the week's offering. 

So it goes.

We do have a little something extra for you though, a Halloween film recommendation. If you're looking for something to eat popcorn by tomorrow night, check out Night Of The Creeps. 

If you haven't seen NOTC before, you're in for a treat...as long as you like horror/sci-fi/comedy B-movie homage mashups. If you have seen it and have access to the DVD, do yourself a favor and watch it with the commentary. It's a hoot--Jason, Steve, Jill and Fred have a blast getting back together to talk about a film they obviously had a lot of fun making.

ps: It has come to our attention that Caltiki, The Immortal Monster has recently become available on various streaming services.  That's an excellent choice for H'ween viewing as well.

Gateway To Seven Mile Beach

Unfortunately the tide was a little high (and the surf a little too big)

to pass through the portal when we were there. 

 More about Seven Mile Beach (and the infamous "Secret Cave" thereof)
 later when TSG can return during a low tide.

TSG Pays A Visit To The Saratoga "Scarecrows"

The third annual "Village Scarecrow" event is underway in Saratoga, so TSG decided to go check it out.  No offense to the good villagers, but we found the offerings (except for a few notable exceptions) kinda meh.  It's all good though...because TSG found the perfect song to go with this week's slideshow. In fact, we think the soundtrack brings the production to a whole 'nother level. See if you don't agree: 

Fake Woman Sitting In Circular Patch O' Shade

Manchester CA

Bonus Dendroid Content:

Gnarly Oaks near Pt Reyes Visitor Center

At Bodega Bay Today

Bear Valley Trail And The Imagine/Fish Van

Well-graded trail through several stretches of deep forest...nice!

 Imagine/Fish Van @ Pierce Ranch(above) and Bear Valley parking lots

           

Beach, Chicken Ranch

Not a particularly appealing nom de plage, but certainly a pleasant enough spot to hang out on a Friday afternoon. 

TSG Visits Mount Umunhum

Thanks to a lot of hard work by Conservancy and Open Space folks, the peak and the cube(outside only) are now accessible to John Q. Here's what it looks like through the TSG lenses:

Things You Might See @ The S' Cruz Co. Fair

Whole Lotta Boids[sic] Off In The Distance

Must be something good to eat out there!

Last In The Series: Curious Fauna Of Mendocino And Sonoma Counties

Large Metal Porcine Sculpture

Bohemian Hwy outside of Occidental CA

Fake Spider Blocking Putt

Pee Wee Golf / Hole #17 / Front Course

 CA 116 @ Russian River

Medium-Sized Pink Elephant

Seen outside Jerry Knight's River Theater 

Guerneville CA 

Odd Cool Godzilla/Santa Hybrid Plus Citizen Advisory

Fort Btsgg CA

Rubber Chicken Purse, Mendicino CA

Also known as a "Hen Bag", you can find this at any purveyor of rubberized poultry products.

Lightly Tossed Word Salads

METHODOLOGY:

1. Grab a bunch of signage pics
2. Crop out a single word from each photo
3. Plug cropped words into collage application
4. Hit the "shuffle images" button 
5. Look for humorous juxtapositions
6. Create collage

Lousy Eclipse Photo Using a Crummy Pinhole Device

As the appointed hour approached, TSG grabbed the first piece of heavy-stock paper we could find, punched a hole in it with a mini-screwdriver, and went outside to grab this image:

Not too impressive. But...take note of the piece of heavy-stock paper that we used. Ha!

Okay, now that the whole 2017 eclipse thang is over we can move on to the next super-hyped-up cultural event.

Patriotic Wookie, Shark PJs And Other Random Stuff

Lions And Salmon* And Bears Oh My

[* And Beaver]

Seen on the Los Gatos Creek Trail this week:

1. Big cat advisory between 85 & Lark 
2. Just-finished Clean Creeks Coalition mural underneath Leigh
3. Ohlone village mural beneath Main 

Uppa(?) The Coast We Must Go

Hmmmph...it seems the real line is "Off to the coast", but TSG likes our ms-remembered version of the lyrics better. As in the images represent a day's journey "uppa" the coast from Malibu to Pismo.

Collapse Of The Sand Dragon Heads