California's Newest State Symbols

I love the concept of state symbols. Whether it's a native tree, a homegrown dance, a descriptive song, an iconic sport, a vital crop, or whatever else, I love when states declare, "This is who we are." 

My home state of California has 47 state symbols. The newest three California state symbols were adopted in September 2024. We now have a state crustacean (the Dungeness crab), a state slug (the banana slug), and a state seashell (the black abalone). 

Source for all photos

All three are iconic in California and are great additions to our large collections of state symbols. Earlier in 2024, we added a state bat (the pallid bat) and a state mushroom (the California Golden Chanterelle). 

Other California state symbols include a state fabric (denim) and a state sport (surfing). Based on my lifeguard training where you had to wear a pair of jeans and jump into the pool, then remove the jeans and fashion them into a makeshift floatation device, I don't recommend combining those two. Wet jeans are uncomfy, difficult to remove, and a far less effective floatation device than a life jacket. 

California has an official State Silver Rush Ghost Town (Calico), which I've visited and an official State Gold Rush Ghost Town (Bodie), which I haven't. 

You can check out all of California's state symbols at the Capitol Museum website, which is an excellent resource. Enjoy!

The License Plate Challenge, Part 3

This is the third and final part of the License Plate Challenge. See if you can identify the remaining 17 plates!

 

Click the link when you are ready for the answers!

The License Plate Challenge, Part 2

Here is Part 2 to the License Plate Challenge. Good luck! 

 

Click the link when you are ready for the answers!

The License Plate Challenge, Part 1

Anyone remember Bumper Stumpers? If you weren't watching TV in the 1980's, you can see what you missed here. I didn't watch it religiously, but when it was on I enjoyed trying to solve the puzzles before the contestants did. 

I recently gave myself a fun challenge: make up a Bumper Stumpers style license plate puzzle based on each of the 50 states and Washington DC. I limited myself to 7 characters, the maximum number of letters and numbers allowed on a license plate in California. I tried to make it so each plate could only be one state. For example, PACIFIC is 7 characters long, but it could refer to California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, or Hawaii. Likewise, MIDWEST or POPULAR or BEACHES would not work for my challenge because the answer could be multiple states. 

I've divided the challenge into three parts, each with 17 license plates. See how you do with today's batch. 

 

Click the link when you are ready for the answers!

My Most Popular Posts

It's been a long time since I've shared a current list of the most popular posts at My Creative Life. I thought it had been four or five years, but the most recent list of popular posts I could find was from 2015! A lot has changed in ten years, so let's take a look.

Coming in at #10 is the DIY Light-Up Ratatouille Costume and an Eyeball Mocktail. As cool as the Eyeball Mocktail is, I know that it's the costume tutorial that is driving the traffic. I've made affiliate income from dozens of chef coats and hats over the past six Halloween seasons. 

The 9th most popular post on my blog is the Native American Stick Game. Kids love this game and it's fun for adults, too. I played it with 11 years' worth of 5th graders and several years' worth of Cub Scouts!

The 8th most popular post is another project inspired by Native Americans: Cardboard Tube Totem Pole Craft. This project originally came from the Little Passports Alaska Journal. 

The 7th most popular post is my Cardboard Tube Opossum. I never would have guessed it would be this beloved. And it was a complete shock that a Portuguese magazine published it!

My 6th most popular post is called Another Use for Foam Dots. It's from 2011, my first year of blogging. It shows how to get more value out of something most people throw away. This post has been really popular with cardmakers in particular. 

The 5th most popular post is my Boston Tea Party Drawing. Seeing it brings back a lot of happy memories from when I taught history to Trevor's 5th grade class. 

The 4th most popular post is Another Creative Way to Give Money. Like the title implies, I have many ideas for money gifts besides this one. Check them out!

The 3rd most popular post is the most recent among the Top 10. It's Sesame Street Characters Ranked and a Cardboard Tube Guy Smiley from 2020. Considering it has had 8+ fewer years to generate traffic than the two posts ranked above it, I'm impressed that it's doing so well. It turns out that people have really strong feelings about Sesame Street characters. 

The 2nd most popular post on my blog held the #1 position until just a year or two ago. The World's Best Classroom Birthday Treat has really resonated with people over the years. If my story stopped just one parent from being That Mom then I've done my job. 

Are you ready for most popular post on my blog, the one that unseated the World's Best Classroom Birthday Treat? It's the German Bells Christmas Card Ornament. 

What do you think? Any surprises on the list? Do you have a favorite or two amongst the ten? Let me know in the comments!

Fairfield's Taste of Downtown

On Thursday, our town hosted a really fun event called The Taste of Downtown. 

 

For $30, each participant got an identification badge and a passport with maps to 11 downtown restaurants to try during the 3-hour event. There was no requirement to visit them all, but anyone who did was entered into a raffle to win one of four $50 gift certificates to downtown restaurants. We would have visited all 11 without the incentive; we were really excited about trying some new-to-us places and hopefully discovering some new favorites. 

Our first stop was at Casa Agave. Like every other participating restaurant, we had never been there. 

We walked in and the friendly staff greeted us and led us to a table. That was a surprise! I was expecting to collect a tiny sample at the door. Within a minute or two, they brought out their chicken fajitas. They were fantastic. We will absolutely, definitely be returning to Casa Agave. 

Next up was Pizza Twist. They serve Indian fusion pizzas, traditional pizzas, and Indian sides. 

We each got a slice of pepperoni pizza from the counter. It was pretty good; in particular, the crust was fantastic. I do wish they'd served their fusion pizza. And I also wish they'd given out smaller slices. This was a very generous portion, considering we still had nine more restaurants to visit!

Our next visit was at Saffron. 

This time, we were led to a buffet and told to serve ourselves as much as we wanted. I took a tiny amount of rice (delicious), a single piece of butter chicken (fantastic), and a triangle of naan (yum). 

Restaurant #4 was Cedars Corner. 

It's a bar first and a restaurant second, but the food was very good. At least the food that I tried (fried chicken and french fries). Steve said the catfish bites were the best catfish he'd ever had. 

At this point, I was having serious concerns about being able to eat at 7 more restaurants. But I certainly wasn't ready to give up. Especially since the next place was a bakery, Famous Creations. 

The chocolate salted caramel cupcake was fantastic. And there were so many tempting options in the bakery cases!

Time for Restaurant #6: Million Thai. 

Our go-to Thai place closed recently, so we've been hoping to find a new one. Based on the amazing Pad Thai that they served us, I think we've found our new place! We will definitely be back to try more dishes. 

Next up was El Pitayo. 

We were very surprised that, instead of being served a ready-made sample, a waitress took our order from a list of options. The upside is that the food was hot and fresh and delicious. The downside is that it took a very long time for it to come out - almost 30 minutes from when we'd arrived. The restaurant was only 1/3 full, so concerns about the wait time will probably keep us from returning.  

Restaurant #8 was Baja Ice Cream and Bionicos. 

We learned that a bionico is a Mexican fruit salad. I wasn't a fan, but I LOVED their ice cream. It was absolutely delicious. They also serve crepes - we'll be back! 

Next up: Alejandro's Taqueria. It smelled amazing. 

We were invited to load up on food, but we were so full it was out of the question to have more than a tiny taste. Steve and I split a single taquito, plus I had their hibiscus drink (which was great). I'd like to return to sample more from their menu. 

There was a sign on the door at Restaurant #10, El Caracol, saying that unfortunately they were not able to serve food for the Taste of Downtown event. I'm not sure what happened, but we were actually relieved. 

Our final restaurant was China Palace. 

We were invited to take as much as we wanted from a buffet. We shared the smallest amount possible that still gave us a good idea of the food. The veggie chow mein and the fried spareribs were both excellent. 

We waddled back to the Farmer's Market where we'd picked up our empty passports two hours earlier and turned in our completed passports. What a fantastic event! I'm so glad we participated. I can't wait to return to try some of the restaurants again... on an empty stomach!

Travel Adventures in Denver, Part 7

This is my seventh (and final) post about our recent travels to Denver. I suggest reading the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth posts before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I received media passes for some of the places I visited during this trip, and I paid full price for everything else. What I paid has no bearing on my reviews, as I only share what I honestly recommend.

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Travel Adventures in Denver

 

The Open Source Summit had ended the the previous evening, so Thursday, June 26 was a day of fun and team building for Steve, Kerry, Patrick, and Joseph, as well as any family members who came along (aka, me. I was the only one). The first item on the agenda was the second of two Urban Adventure Quests in Denver, this one in the LoDo neighborhood. 

I had already spent a fair amount of time exploring LoDo, but the guys hadn't. It was fun watching them work through the Quest challenges and discover the neat features of the neighborhood. 

  

As always, the Quest challenges were interesting and taught us a lot about the area. The second half of the Quest went beyond where I'd visited, so it was especially fun to see areas I hadn't already explored. 

  

The Quest brought us to Confluence Park, where Cherry Creek and the South Platte River meet. 

  

We were working on a Quest challenge when a train went by. No surprise there. The surprise was that it was carrying multiple airplane fuselages. 

  

After the Quest, we said goodbye to Patrick, who was headed to the airport. The remaining four of us headed to lunch at an iconic location: Casa Bonita. 

  

Casa Bonita is a Mexican restaurant, which opened in 1974 and closed in 2020 due to the pandemic. It reopened in 2023 with new (famous) owners after a major remodel. While it is a restaurant, it is so much more than that. 

The Casa Bonita experience starts out like a typical restaurant. (Well, other than going through security first.) You check in, they take you to your table, you order, you eat. When you're done eating, you raise the flag on your table and they bring you sopaipillas. You pay your bill and then you leave the table. 

But you don't leave the restaurant. Instead, you start exploring any of the 52,000 square feet that makes up Casa Bonita. 

You can head to the arcade and shooting gallery...

... explore Black Bart's cave...

  

  

... watch musicians, magicians, sorcerers, or a puppet show...

  

... watch a volcano erupt...

... and watch the famous cliff divers perform in front of a 30 foot waterfall. I saw the show three times from three different locations and it was a completely different performance each time, all equally impressive and entertaining. 

  

You can walk behind the waterfall for a different perspective. 

  

There's a museum at Casa Bonita, with artifacts from the original version of the restaurant. That was neat. 

  

And that's not all. There are costumed characters, a cantina, gift shops, and more. 

  

Casa Bonita is an experience that you should not miss if you're in Denver. We all had a great time. 

We went directly from Casa Bonita to Dinosaur Ridge. 

Dinosaur Ridge is part of the Morrison-Golden Fossil Areas National Natural Landmark. It's considered the top dinosaur tracksite in North America, and one of the top such sites in the world. 

You can explore Dinosaur Ridge on foot for free, but I highly recommend paying for a guided bus tour. Our guide was outstanding and I am certain that we learned and saw far more than we would have on our own. We were on the Apatobus. 

We made three stops during our tour. Can you see the tracks, moving from the bottom right diagonally toward the left? 

  

It was really interesting seeing how the different the tracks look in the various locations. Those rounded bulges that you see below are the tracks. 

By the way, that's Red Rocks Amphitheatre off in the distance. 

Our guide taught us how to spot rusty red dinosaur fossils in the rock. 

  

After the tour, we went to the Exhibit Hall. It's included with the price of the bus tour. It's ok, but the real treasure at Dinosaur Ridge is the bus tour and the ridge itself. 

The iguanodon's thumb spike was considerably larger than my non-spiky thumb.

There are several dinosaur models outside at Dinosaur Ridge, so we took a peek at those. 

Bunny! We saw several rabbits and quite a few prairie dogs at Dinosaur Ridge as well. Kerry is a fellow house rabbit person, so the three of us pointed out every rabbit to each other. 

We had a fantastic time at Dinosaur Ridge. We headed back to the hotel for our final Denver activity: dinner. We ate at the hotel restaurant, Former Saint. They have an open kitchen, which was fun for us foodies. 

The food was outstanding. This was my tomato carpaccio (partially eaten before I remembered to take a photo.) It was so good. 

And that was the final activity of a fantastic week in Denver. Steve and I headed to the airport early the next morning and had an uneventful (and non-turbulent) flight home. If you're looking for a vibrant city to visit, with tons of things to do, great food, and heavy emphasis on art, Denver should be at the top of your list. 

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I will be taking the rest of this week and all of next week off from blogging while I travel for my dad's memorial service. I hope to be back to blogging on July 21.