This is the stuff American Summer Nostalgia is made of. It's National Ice Cream...

When I was a girl, my dad always tried to teach me about cars.  He pointed to what this thing was and he explained how it worked.   And I remember none of what he tried to teach me.  I remember looking at his tan, scarred hands, that grime under the nails that would never come out.  I can close my eyes and smell the mix of diesel fuel and cigarette smoke. That was the smell of my dad after a long honest day's work in the shop.  The literal blue collar with his name stitched across his chest.

The melted water travels across the desert, picking up dust and gravel and reaches the Flagstaff lava field and then falls. Ultimately it ends up in the Colorado River and Grand Canyon. It was beautiful to see so much flowing water and rainbows in the water too.

Have a wonderfully socially distanced Christmas, this year, welcome to the quarantine holidays. Wow. When I wrote last year's blog Celebrating ALL Christmas in Los Angeles, I had no idea that, well, 2020 would happen, resulting in a Covid Christmas. No one did. And now, the happiest time of the year is...not so much. But, there is holiday spirit to be found in Los Angeles. I present to you (pun intended): A Drive-Thru Christmas.

Not many people realized Hetchy Hetchy is another option when visiting Yosemite National Park....

I never thought I would be hunting Thomas Dambo's famous giant wooden trolls in a forest, but here I am.