Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer

Today didn't start out well. I had car trouble which made me late for a 7:45 a.m. doctor's appointment. My car wouldn't start so I had to borrow my sisters car. I was late to the doctor and I knew I had to get my car fixed, so I called in sick to work. Although I really was sick, but that's a whole other post later, maybe.

I went and picked up my battery at the dealership because batteries for my car are made out of solid gold (even though my car is made of Papier Mache) and cost just as much! Ok, so maybe not solid gold, but they are very special batteries that you can only find at the dealership.

Came home just in time to cart my mom off to her doctor's appointment. My son was going to take her, but I figured since I had time I would do it.

Came home and had to wait for the auto club to come out and jump start my car which I then took to the mechanic. Then had to wait there and now...finally I am home.

I have several blogs that I follow and I like to go check out as many as I can and comment and show them some love and I realized that today is Outdoor Wednesday and I thought to myself, "Self, you were outdoors most of the day, why didn't you take some pictures?" So I grabbed my camera and ran outside to take pictures of my bee situation and of course, my camera's battery was dead!!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

But not to fear, I still have something outdoorsy to share with ya'll! I can say ya'll cause I'm joining up with Susan at A Southern Daydreamer and she probably says ya'll right? So after you see my outdoor pics, please click here and go visit all the other outdoorsy folks participating!

A few weeks ago, on the way home from my trip on the Amtrak (hope you aren't sick about hearing about that trip because it was probably one of the most eventful two day trips I've ever taken) I was blessed to see the most beautiful sunset ever. The photos below don't really do it justice as they are taken through a dirty Amtrak Train window on a train traveling pretty fast, but still I thought they were beautiful and wanted to share them with you today.

The train goes through a bunch of dry brush and farming land, so there's not a lot to see, some ranches, farmland, cattle, sheep, horse and homes.

But even the telephone poles look pretty in these photos, don't you think?

If you click on them, they should get a little bigger and then you can see that the land in the foreground is really blurry. So that's it for now. Don't forget tomorrow is Iwanna Wednesday, come back by and see what Iwanna wants this week. It's something a lot of you already have.

A Castle or a Haunted House?

Some of you may remember that a few weeks ago I rode the Amtrak for the first time along with my mom to visit my daughter April. April loves to explore anywhere she lives and she finds the best things in each city. For example, the Hilmar Cheese Company and the Yogurt Mill.

She also found this haunted house...creepy isn't it? I thought it would be perfect for the week before Halloween. This is actually not a haunted house at all as you will see in the next few pictures. It's actually a house someone built to resemble a castle! Complete with moat & drawbridge! I had to take a picture. I got this picture by using some of the Scripting Tools in my Paint Shop Pro program. Neat-o huh?

Here's the actual house without the trickery in the one before it. Isn't it just as neat-o?

Just as I was snapping these photos the owner came home and parked their car in the garage. I was hoping she/he wouldn't be mad at me, but when you purposely build a house this beautiful you have to know that people are going to stop and take pictures. I mean everyone travels around with a camera in their purse don't they? I know I do!

Thanks for stopping by, be sure and comment and let me know what you think of my haunted house!

Yogurt Mill in Modesto, California

When I went on my Amtrak trip a few weeks ago with my mom; my daughter April took us to get some frozen yogurt. She had been raving about how wonderful this place was and how delicious the yogurt was. April isn't really a big frozen yogurt fan. I remember taking her to the one yogurt place we have in Bakersfield and she was more interested in the toppings than the actual yogurt itself, so I was surprised that she was singing the praises of any yogurt place.

This place was called The Yogurt Mill, and it was everything she claimed it to be and more. By sheer luck we ended up going on the day of their 26th anniversary so any anniversary size (small) yogurt was a mere 26cents! They have two drive-thru's on either side of their cute little shop and both drive-thru's had a line of about 10 cars...the place was hoppin!

I'm ashamed to admit that my berries & cream frozen yogurt was so good that I forgot to take a before picture, below you can see the AFTER picture. Yep...after I ate it all up!

So the next day on the way back to the Amtrak station April took us by again. My mom, who isn't a big ice cream fan and totally hates yogurt was the one that wanted to go again, their chocolate yogurt was great.

This time I wasn't just thinking of myself, but of you my dear readers and I took some pictures.

The first picture is of the three separate yogurts we got. They weren't 26cents this time, but it was April's treat :-) so for my mom and me, it was free! Life doesn't get any better than free does it?


I took this 2nd picture just to show you the size of the raspberries they had! April ordered raspberry topping and put one on my berries & cream yogurt, see how huge it is? Just click on the picture to enlarge and enjoy all the berry-goodness of it.


Next time I go to Modesto, I will definitely stop by and try their New York Cheesecake! What about you? Are you a frozen yogurt fan? What's your favorite flavor and are you a topping lover?

Hilmar Cheese Co. at Hilmar, California

As I mentioned yesterday, last weekend my mother and I rode the Amtrak, to visit my daughter in Turlock. We really enjoyed the train as it was the first time for both of us. We also did quite a few things while we were visiting, one of the best was visiting the Hilmar Cheese Co.

Hilmar Cheese Co., is located in Hilmar, CA a few miles from Turlock. In 1984, 12 dairy families got together to create the Hilmar Cheese Co. You can go here to get more information on the history, I'm not the greatest of historians, I prefer just being a humble visitor and photographer, so let's look at some pictures.

The picture below is of the entrance to the visitor's center. As soon as you walk in you are standing in the gift shop; and it has so many beautiful things, cheeses, jams, jellies, cooking supplies, various dressings and marinades and candy. I saw so many things I wanted I could fill up a year of Iwanna wishes at this place! There is also a Deli where they serve pastries, signature sandwiches, gourmet-style pizza, home-made soups and salads and ice cream. They have a full espresso bar and proudly serve Starbucks Coffees, Yum!

Let's go inside shall we?

I wish I had taken pictures of the gift area, but I was just overwhelmed by all there was to see and completely forgot about taking pictures, sorry :-(

Below is the cafe/deli. There was cheese everywhere and the best part was that you could sample every little type of cheese they made and it was so good. In the glass case there in the front under the chalkboard that says "Tri-tip Tacos" (yep people, this is California and we have Tri-Tip Tacos!), is a glass case filled with different types of salads. Macaroni al fredo salad, pasta salad, potato salad, all kinds. If you could see to the left of the picture and around the corner you would find another glass case filled with pastries which is where I scored my delicious Scone.

I have to admit that I let my daughter buy me a lovely Orange-White Chocolate Scone that I carried in my own two little hands all the way back home on the train to enjoy with my morning coffee at work the next day. It was sheer heaven. I love Scones and need to find that recipe. This one was as big as my hand and about two inches thick.

Here you can see their espresso and coffee bar. We had just had breakfast at the Hot Rod Cafe in Turlock (wish I had thought to get pictures. Next time, as it's a very unique little place as well) so we weren't too hungry. But April, my daughter had slept in and missed breakfast so she had a grilled cheese sandwich that was made with fresh Hilmar Cheese Co., cheese and it was so ooey-gooey wonderful that it was like a little bit of heaven in your mouth!


While I was there I had to visit the ladies room. And check out the tile work, isn't it so cute and so fitting?

A close-up, please feel free to click to enlarge and see more detail.


I just love the little cow tracks!

Once we were done with our shopping I had to go outside and take pictures of the outside of this gorgeous place.

This is the the west side of the Visitors Center. You can take a self-guided tour through this place and go through the whole process of cheese-making, but unfortunately on weekends after 11am the second floor is closed for private parties and there happened to be one when we visited, so we didn't get to take the tour, but you can do a virtual tour here. I took the virtual tour because I'm always interested in how things are made and it was interesting to watch and to see how there is no waste; even the water left after processing the cheese is taken to a water facility to be processed and used to water the crops which are grown to feed the cows!

I was a little confused by the fact that they say in the tour video that a cow must be a mother to produce milk. Ok, that makes sense, but then it goes on to say that the cows are milked three to four times a day? So what do the baby cows drink if all their mothers milk is milked out to make cheese? Anyone?

This is the same spot as the previous photo and I had to have a picture taken in such a beautiful spot. We were sitting in what was a little grotto, it was so pretty here and great photo-ops!

Here's another beautiful photo-op, so of course you know what I had to do right?

Why take photos of course. Here is my daughter April and her grandmother and my mom Tomasa.

And here I am standing by the waterfall.


There were a lot of lovely plants, but I especially loved this one. Anyone know what this is?

Here's a closer look.

And here's a parting shot taken from the car window as we leave the parking lot of the Hilmar Cheese Co. Visitors Center parking lot.

Hope you enjoyed the visit and feel free to go and take the virtual tour. It's a little sappy, but still educational. And if you're ever in the area, be sure and stop by and have a grilled cheese sandwich, mmmmmmm!

All Aboard! Our first time ever on the Amtrak!

Last weekend my mom and I went on a road trip...and I didn't have to drive! I was so excited because I always drive. We took off to visit my daughter April who lives about three hours North of Shafter. She generously bought her grandmother and me tickets to ride the train! It has always been a wish of my mom to ride on the Amtrak and she didn't think she ever would. It's like one of those "bucket list" wishes. Something you want to do before you kick the bucket.

We left Saturday morning at around 8:30 from the Wasco Amtrak station.

Here I am happy and relaxed to be going somewhere I didn't have to drive to.



And here's my mom. You can so tell how excited she is!


It was so much fun. There wasn't a lot to see as the train doesn't take the same route Highway 99 takes, it's kind of on the outskirts so you just see farmland, but it was still nice. I was surprised by how many people ride the Amtrak. We went from Wasco, CA to Modesto, CA. The train stopped in Corcoran, Hanford, Fresno, Denair/Turlock, Merced then Modesto. I think I got the order right.

Fresno station was by far the most interesting. Before we got there we passed by a few little encampments of what I believe were homeless people. They were living under several different bridges and they had tent cities set up. Outside of almost each tent was a couch or some arm chairs and people all sitting around drinking morning coffee. It was surprising for me to see that. We usually see homeless people walking around in Bakersfield with their shopping carts and their other worldly possessions, but I guess I just never stopped to wonder where they go when the sun goes down. I wonder if there are tent cities in Bakersfield that I'm not even aware of. It makes you think, doesn't it? I tried to get a glimpse of them on the way back but I had forgotten exactly where they were.

We arrived safe and sound at the Modesto station where my daughter was waiting to pick us up. Ok...maybe not waiting because she was late :-) but eventually she got there and she took us to breakfast.

One thing to remember when you ride the train...take some snacks. My mom and I didn't on the way up and we got hungry. They do have a food car, but I'm sure you can imagine it was expensive. My mom did purchase some chips and soda's, but on the way back we were well stocked! We had a great time and I'll be sharing some of the things we did in later posts, but I just wanted to share this story of my mom's first time on the Amtrak...I'm glad I was there to share it with her.