Gold Rush People

The Marshall Gold Discovery State Park in Coloma, California is a place I’ve visited several times. It’s the spot where in 1848 James Marshall found some shiny flecks of gold in the river whilst working for his boss, John Sutter. As they say, the rest is history. People came from all over the world to look for gold hoping to get rich quick. (Not many actually did.) Those folks were called “49ers” and they later founded a professional football team.

The park is a magnet for school field trips and there were several going on when we arrived. At one point I found myself surrounded by a gaggle of 5th graders. It was slightly discombobulating.

Oh, My Darling, Clementine

Dad is back in town, so we spent the day together hiking and just goofing around. We started at the confluence of the North and Middle Forks of the American River near Auburn, California, which is a great spot. We then hiked up the North Fork to Lake Clementine. As we were watching the water spilling over the dam, Dad was humming a silly song about a Gold Rush miner’s daughter tragically lost in the river. He assures me it is not based on a true story.

In real life, please don’t go in that river, especially in early Spring. That water is cold, fast and dangerous!

Reunion

It was dreary foggy morning in Sacramento. Suddenly, Dad and Pam showed up to wisk me off to Point Reyes National Seashore. When we got to the beach it was (sort of) warm and very sunny. This is that time of year when sometimes the Central Valley is colder than the coast.

It was great to see them. I look forward to the next time.

This Is Not My First Rodeo

Well, I’ve never actually been to a rodeo before, but I’ve been to the hospital several times to have my teeth cleaned. I think I know the drill by now (that’s a bad dentist pun). The part I don’t like is going under general anesthesia. It makes me nervous thinking about it. One good thing: it’s nice to have clean teeth.

Dad and my care team always tell me how brave I’ve been after it’s all over, so I feel good about that. Maybe I can attend a rodeo sometime to see if it’s more fun than going to the dentist.

Going To California

This summer’s epic road trip is almost over. We’re driving from Ashland, Oregon to my home in Sacramento, California. Back to my “normal” life.

Here’s the stats from this trip:

56 days

12,491 miles

5 time zones

30 U.S. states

3 Canadian provinces 

15 National Parks and Monuments (including 2 in Canada)

16 state and provincial parks

14 family members visited

0 Starbucks visitations

What can I say? It’s been fun to experience so many places. Dad and I make a great travel team.

Until next time…

The Wizard

Crater Lake National Park. We were stopped at an overlook when a random child asked Dad how Wizard Island got its name. (I think the kid thought Dad was his father.) Without missing a beat, Dad explained that the cinder cone looks like a wizard’s hat. This seemed like a satisfactory answer to all concerned.

Nice job, Dad.

The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood

Two of my favorite people met us on the Oregon Coast for a couple of nights of camping out together. My brother Jackson and my sister-in-law Wendy. I don’t get to see them very often and this was the longest time we’ve hung out together in quite a while. One of the fun things we did was to visit a really cool aquarium in Newport. One great idea the curators had was to make sculptures of sea creatures out of random plastic found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The message was pretty clear: take better care of our oceans, folks.

Thanks for making the time to be with me and Dad, you guys. I love you both so much.