A tourist in my own backyard

Today I felt like I needed to get in touch with nature and my roots...so I took a walk at the Water Conservation Gardens here in Riverside. The main point of the garden is to teach people how to have a nice garden without using a lot of water, since this is a desert. I just liked seeing all of the plants and doing a little climbing to exercise my innate Bearness.

A palm tree just my size! All of that exercise makes me hungry for some hunny!

How do I afford all of these travels?

As many of you guessed, I get to see a lot of neat places, and do many fun things. In this tough economy, travels like mine don't come cheap. It seems like good people have lost money recently when the stock market went down. I used to think the only way to make money in stocks was to buy them and hope they eventually went up. Recently, I met the guys from ELWsoftware.com they introduced me to option trading. With options, there is no reason to wait for stocks to go up. Options allow you to make money even when they go down!

Just like anything else there is a catch. I'm just a bear, and these option guys are very tough competitors. Without help, I would probably lose all of my hunny money. Luckily, I now have some new smart friends that will show me how to trade options the right way.

Miller Park -- Go Brewers!

Today I got to go cheer on the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI. I got in for free because I don't take up a whole seat of my own, you know. I had a beer called Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss -- hunny in beer, what a great idea!

I had a good time watching the game from our Terrace seats -- the Brewers beat the Padres 12-9 and there were tons of home runs -- I think 6 of them? The Chorizo won the Sausage Race. Someday I still hope to meet the Racing Sausages -- a bear has to dream big.

Door County, Wisconsin

Well, my blogosphere friends, no one guessed from my last post, but I am in Wisconsin for the week. I just got back from a few days relaxing up in Door County, enjoying fudge and cheese curds and cherry wine. Mmmmmm :)

Of course, I had to try a Door County fish boil while I was up there. Us bears love fish, you know! However, I'm not very good at catching my own fish -- my arms are just too little, you see -- compared to my grizzly bear cousins. The idea of having a nice fisherman cook up a pot of fish and onions and potatoes just for me was a very nice one. When they threw the kerosene on the fire for the boil-over, the fireball and heat were ridiculous! See how surprised I look? It was a good thing they fed me after that.


The next day, I decided that I should make sure to exercise a little while I was sight-seeing, so we went to Peninsula State Park and did some hiking around. One of the highlights of the park is Eagle Tower, which is 75' tall and lets you see beautiful views of Eagle Harbor. I made sure to take lots of pictures to prove that I did exercise, as my figure is not proving anything these days.

Here is the view of the tower from the bottom, and me halfway up:




It is a long climb for a little bear!







Here I am at the top -- the view was beautiful!And then to add to the fun factor, I decided I was tired of walking. Every now and then I am adventurous -- so I took the fast way down off of the Tower and jumped down to a friend! Wahoo!!!!
More adventures to come soon!

Guess Where I Am?

This is a mystery post... let's see who can guess where I am traveling this week? After a plane trip and spending most of the day smooshed into small space, I unwound with friends and a beer. Not just any beer, mind you, but a special beer that a Bear can only get in this wonderful state I am traveling in. I know I'm originally a California Bear, but this state is growing on me.
More pictures to come from the week ahead...so who knows where I am?!

Hollywood Bowl

Last night I went to one of the historic landmarks of the Los Angeles area -- the Hollywood Bowl! It was a gorgeous night, clear and mild, and you can see the Hollywood sign in the background of my picture -- just over the Bowl. We enjoyed some wine and chocolate, as picnicking is the thing to do. I should have remembered to bring some Hunny! The concert was "The Art of Song" and it featured the Hollywood Bowl orchestra, Michael Feinstein and Jewel. Michael Feinstein sang a lot of classics, and Jewel sang a lot of her older songs with the orchestral accompaniment, which was different and nice.

At the end of her set, Jewel sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and they made the Bowl into a rainbow, which was very pretty! The other icing on the cake was fireworks at the end of the night!

San Francisco!

Sometimes a bear just needs a nice long weekend getaway... so this past weekend I headed up North on a commuter flight to San Francisco to see my friend Katie & see her new city. The San Francisco area is beautiful -- lots to see and do! Here I am at her place in Sausalito -- I love all the houses stacked up into the hills. I should have done some walking up and down the steep streets, but as you can tell from my physique, my little legs get tired too quickly carrying around my body!


Instead of exercising, I did what Poohs do best -- I indulged! We drove out to Sonoma Wine Country on Saturday and enjoyed some samples. I was hoping for a honey wine, but no such luck. I did get a little crazy -- Katie had to talk some sense into me.

On Sunday, we took the ferry to Downtown Sausalito and did some serious walking around the piers, Fisherman's Wharf and headed to one of my most priority destinations... Ghiradelli Square! I had eaten too much sourdough bread at Boudin and could only nibble on some chocolates, though. Next time I go, I'll get the big ice cream sundae...I wonder if they would put hunny on top for me?! That would be fantastic!

One of the nicest parts of my travels is seeing new places and things, but I also like getting to meet nice new people. On the ferry, I met Paul & Carmen on the way to San Francisco, and then we met again on the way home! I told Paul all about my day -- he was very interested in where I had gone. I even got this nice picture of the 3 of us to remember them by -- and I told them about my awesome blog. I hope they enjoy reading about my adventures too!