I Love Little Free Libraries!!

 

Checkout Which USA Airports Contain a Little Free Library!

Last week, I made a post about discovering a 'sharing library' at the Oakland Airport. I found it very cool to see a reading library within a coffeehouse near a Southwest Airlines gate. 

Since making this post, it got me thinking about whether other airports across the nation have Little Free Libraries within them. Sure enough, there are other airports that have Little Free Libraries!

Check out the following article titled, Books Fly Off Airport Little Free Library Shelves by Sarah Nelson to discover which airports contain Little Free Libraries.

Little Free Library in Lockford, California

 

On our drive home from Ione, California, my husband and I made a small detour to find a Little Free Library in Lockford, California. This LFL is adorable! I'm so thrilled we found it. Have you found any Little Free Libraries lately?

Little Free Libraries in Ione, California + Preston Castle!

 

Last weekend, my husband and I visited Ione, California for the first time! During our long weekend visit to Ione, California, we found three Little Free Libraries and we stayed at the cutest AirBnb dueing our stay. The AirBnb was a cute cottage with beautifully landscaped grounds. We enjoyed breakfast and dinner on the back patio.

The primary purpose of our visit to Ione was to take the flashlight tour of Preston Castle at night. Preston Castle "is a Romanesque Revival-style landmark that originally served as the administration building for the Preston School of Industry, a prominent juvenile rehabilitation reform school. Constructed between 1890 and 1894, the massive 50,000-square-foot structure housed young wards from 1894 until it closed down in 1960. Today, it is recognized on the National Register of Historic Places and managed by the Preston Castle Foundation which hosts historic, seasonal, and paranormal tours to raise money for its ongoing structural restoration." 

We enjoyed the 90 minute tour of Preston Castle overall. There were twelve of us on the tour. We learned a lot about the history of Preston Castle including the factoid that country singer, Merle Haggard, once resided at Preston Castle. The only thing I didn't enjoy was seeing real, live bats flying over our heads during the tour. It creeped me out seeing the bats, quite honestly, due to the fact that bats are carriers of several diseases, which are transmittable to humans. My husband, being the scientist that he is, was fascinated by the bats! Otherwise, we had an enjoyable time at Preston Castle.

Preston Castle, Ione, California

Until my next post, happy reading!!

New to Me Little Free Libraries in Las Vegas, Nevada

My husband and I spent nearly two weeks in Las Vegas, Nevada this month. We returned home on Friday, June 19th. My husband visited Las Vegas due to business travel and had asked me if I wanted to join him while he was in Las Vegas. 

It had been almost 24 years since my previous trip to Las Vegas, so I decided to join my husband in Las Vegas. During our time spent in Las Vegas, there was a major heatwave! I don't think the temperature fell below 80 degrees Fahrenheit during our entire visit to Las Vegas.... And the 80 degree temperatures were during the early morning hours. The highs ranged from 95 to 108 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Needless to say, it didn't make being outdoors comfortable due to the heat. We spend most of our time indoors with the air conditioner on.

We managed to visit two Little Free Libraries located near our hotel. We actually stayed at a hotel located off the Las Vegas strip during our visit. We found both Little Free Libraries on a Sunday morning between 7am and 7:30am to beat the high heat as the day went on. Both Little Free Libraries were located in cute, residential neighborhoods. I didn't find any books to exchange at these LFLs, which is fine by me. I didn't need to haul many books home with us on our return flight home. 

As a side note, Nevada is the 3rd state where I've found LFLs!! Hopefully, I will visit more US states and discover other LFLs during my travels to each state when I do.

New to Me Little Free Libraries in Vallejo, California!

 

Yesterday, my husband and I visited Mare Island in Vallejo, California for the afternoon. During our visit to Vallejo, we found two new to us Little Free Libraries towards the end of the afternoon as we began making our way home.

I left a total of five books at two different Little Free Libraries in Vallejo, but only brought one book home with me.

Both Little Free Libraries are cute!

Six New to Me Little Free Libraries in Santa Rosa, California! Plus, Valentine's Day Weekend Fun!!

 My husband and I took a long, four day vacation weekend to celebrate both Valentine's Day and President's Day. 

We decided to stay at an Airbnb in Santa Rosa, California as a way to have a fun, romantic time spent together.

We started our long weekend by visiting the Charles M. Schulz (Peanuts comic creator) Museum and Research Center on Friday, February 13th. 

We'd been wanting to visit this particular museum for probably a decade now. I'm happy we finally made the visit. 

This two story museum is charming! It's small, but still packs a punch in terms of current exhibits, interactive displays, and beautiful outdoor grounds to walk through. We enjoyed reading the various comic strips on display, learning the history of the Peanuts comic strip (last year the Peanuts turned 75 years old!), and more about the life of Charles M. Schulz (like how he got the nickname, Sparky). 

I think I enjoyed the mock up of Charles M. Schulz's office on display within the museum, the Baccarat Snoopy also on display, the architecture of the museum itself, and the outdoor grounds the most during my visit.

Me Outside the entrance for the Charles M. Schulz Museum

Me standing next to the Charlie Brown statue outside of the Museum.

On Valentine's Day, my husband and I found six Little Free Libraries near our Airbnb! In fact, one of the LFLs was a tenth of a mile away from where we stayed in Santa Rosa, which was super cool! We loved finding all six of the LFLs in Santa Rosa. Below are the photos of the LFLs we found. 

We probably would have found more Little Free Libraries on Valentine's Day if the rain hadn't started coming down fairly hard. So, we headed back to our Airbnb and chilled out until dinner time.

This is the LFL closest to where we stayed in Santa Rosa, California.

Our 2nd LFL discovery.

Our 3rd LFL discovery!!

Our 4th LFL Discovery in Santa Rosa!

This was the largest and cutest LFL we discovered in Santa Rosa!!

This was the last LFl find in Santa Rosa!!

On Sunday, February 15th, my husband and I visited Safari West in Santa Rosa, California! Safari West is another place my husband and I've had on our bucket list for a very long time. We LOVED our two hour visit at Safari West and look forward to coming back for a different in person experience next time.

Safari West is a 400 acre "immersive (animal) preserve where people could encounter wildlife, connect with nature, and learn through experience." They offer an onsite glamping experience, dining options, gift shop, safari tours where visitors can view "giraffes, rhinos, zebras, cape buffalo, and wildebeest on an unforgettable open-air adventure.", and several behind the scenes experiences.

My husband and I participated in the Animal Care Enrichment Experience Tour with animal keeper, Kelsey (I hope this is how she spells her name???), at Safari West. While we were there, we made enrichment toys filled with food for the DeBrazza's Monkeys. We learned so much about the Debrazza's Monkeys during our time spent with Kelsey. Kelsey was so engaging, knowledgeable, sweet, and answered our plethora of questions about the monkeys and Safari West. 

After putting together the enrichment toys for the DeBrazza's Monkeys, we were taken over to their enclosure where we were able to see both Meeka (17 year old female DeBrazza's Monkey) and Mojo (18 year old male DeBrazza's Monkey) interact with the enrichment toys we made for them. What fun this was!!

See the following four photos I took during the enrichment experience of Meeka and Mojo.

Meeka

Mojo

Mojo

Mojo

I hope you had a marvelous Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend!!

Two New to Me Little Free Libraries in Rohnert Park, California!!

 

Today, my husband and I made our way home from a four day, long weekend getaway to Santa Rosa, California to celebrate both Valentine's Day and President's Day!

On our way home, we passed by Rohnert Park, California where we found two new to us Little Free Libraries. There were plenty of other LFLs to find, but the rain started coming down harder. So, we decided to stay warm and dry and just headed home.

Rohnert Park, California is also home to CSU Sonoma State.

Another post coming soon, where I share my Santa Rosa Little Free Library finds.

Until then, happy reading!!

MORE NEW TO ME LITTLE FREE LIBRARIES IN LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA!! ROUND TWO!!

Once again, my husband and I found ourselves in Livermore, California this weekend. 

We found five new to us Little Free Libraries while in Livermore yesterday. We could have found more of them, but it was starting to grow darker and colder. We stopped for the evening and enjoyed an early dinner.

We only left and took books from three of the five Little Free Libraries we found this weekend.

Below are our latest Little Free Library finds. Enjoy!!

This LFL seems to be popular with Bookcrossers.

This LFL is cute!

This LFL is cute and had dog treats and a water bowl for dog walkers. Only books for children.

Another cute LFL with nice landscaping surrounding it.

A very small LFL!! Nothing interesting in terms of books to bring home with me.

Have you found any Little Free Libraries lately?

Seven New to Me Little Free Libraries in Livermore, California!!

This was the 1st LFL we found. It had a ton of books, but none that I wanted.

 

This LFL was pretty picked over and had mostly books for kids.

I found 3 books from this LFL to take home with me and left 3 books inside.

This was the last LFL find for the day. Cute, there were no books I wanted.

This was my favorite LFL find for the day! So unique!

This is one of the smallest LFLs I've encountered.

I love seeing repurposed objects being used as LFLs! This one was messy inside though.

Over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, my husband and I found seven new to us Little Free Libraries in Livermore, California!! 

We've found plenty of Little Free Libraries in Livermore over the years the past 12 years (approximately 19 of them). There are still plenty of Little Free Libraries we haven't visited yet in Livermore, California.

So many Little Libraries to find, so little time it seems to find more!! 

Earlier this month, I revisited two local LFLs and  dropped off books for other to find.

New to Me Little Free Libraries in Mill Valley, California!!

 

My husband and I found two Little Free Libraries in Mill Valley, California over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Both LFLs were really cute!

During our stay in Mill Valley, we not only found two Little Free Libraries, but we also made our third visit to Muir Woods National Monument first thing in the morning on Black Friday before the crowds hit. 

There's nothing like being in nature without large crowds to soak in early morning nature vibes, hear the bird calls, smell coastal redwoods, and the sound of water flowing through a running stream to make life better! I call it forest bathing at its finest. 

The day we visited Muir Woods National Monument, it was foggy, overcast, and very brisk. The foggy weather gave us a new perspective/view of Muir Woods. I live in an urban environment, so I am grateful for visits places like Muir Woods National Monument.

Below are some photographs I took during our visit to Muir Woods National Monument.

My husband standing at the entrance to Muir Woods National Monument.

This photo (if I recall) was taken of the stream at the first bridge.

My husband standing at one of the large trees near the Bohemian Grove.

The beauty of nature! The walking paths were almost completely empty upon our arrival.

Large coastal redwoods are so gorgeous!

Are you a fan of spending time in nature? Which places do you visit in nature that fill you with joy? Lastly, have you ever visited Muir Woods National Monument? 

New to Me Little Free Library in El Sobrante, California!

My husband and I found this cute Little Free Library in El Sobrante, California on Thanksgiving day.

We were on our way to Mill Valley, California to stay at an Airbnb from Thanksgiving day through the rest of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

This Little Free Library is in an older neighborhood. It was our second LFL find on Thanksgiving day. This was my favorite LFL find during our four day mini vacation.

New to Me Little Free Library in Pinole, California!

My husband and I found this cute Little Free Library in Pinole, California on Thanksgiving day.

We were on our way to Mill Valley, California to stay at an Airbnb from Thanksgiving day through the rest of the holiday weekend.

This LFL is in a cute residential neighborhood and offers a bench for

readers to enjoy reading books they find.

New to Me Little Free Libraries in Bakersfield, California

 

9909 Mesa Oak Dr., Bakersfield, CA

2408 Mountain Oak Rd., Bakersfield, CA

Bakersfield, California was our last overnight stay before returning home from our eleven day roadtrip to and from Monument Valley. There wasn't anything special we wanted to see while in Bakersfield, California. It was simply a city for us to stay in overnight on our return journey home. 

However, there were tons of Little Free Libraries in Bakersfield, California. We chose to find two of them near the hotel where we'd stayed the night. Both Little Free Libraries we found were super cute and filled with with many books. I loved how the second LFL shown above in my post was decorated for Halloween!

We also stayed in both Williams, Arizona and Kingman, Arizona on our roadtrip journey. Unfortunately, we didn't find any LFLs in either city on the Little Free Library app we have on our smartphones.

We loved Williams, Arizona immensely and we would like to return to Williams another time for a longer stay to see the attractions we missed seeing during our very short visit there. 

Kingman, Arizona offered a decent overnight stay. We made a quick stop to the Kingman Visitor Center before we headed out of town for Bakersfield. The Kingman Visitor Center has a drive through Route 66 sign and a museum attached to it as well. 

It's also worth noting that the Kingman Visitor Center use to be a powerhouse before it was turned into a visitor center. There's also another museum near the Kingman Visitor Center called the Mohave Museum of History and Art that I would have liked to visit during our trip along with the Kingman Railroad Museum... But alas, we simply didn't have the time to visit either museum during our quick stay in Kingman, Arizona.

We saw several places in Williams, Arizona, but the Poozeum museum was a highlight for us. It's a small museum featuring fossilized dinosaur poop. Poozeum offers free admission.

We visited the Poozeum in Williams, AZ. Free admission to see fossilized dinosaur poop!

Interior photo of the Poozeum! Small, fun museum tovisit!

Below are a few of the many photos we took while visiting the Kingman Visitor Center. I liked the drive through Route 66 sign, and the Route 66 gift shop and Arizona themed gift shop inside the Kingman Visitor Center. Plus, displays on the second floor for visitors to see.

Exterior view of the Kingman Visitor Center.

One of two gift shops within the Kingman Visitor Center. This one focused on Arizona themed items.