Christmas Comes But Once A Year

It's December 25th once again. Time to celebrate with my family. I hope everyone out there is enjoying the holiday season. The weather in California is beautiful today.

We'll see what 2019 has in store for us very soon.

Bree-Oh-Knees

What a nice Thanksgiving weekend I had with my family!

Today Dad and I took a beautiful hike in Briones Regional Park in the East Bay and then went to visit my grandmother in Berkeley. I helped her out around the house.

Life is good.

Paradise Lost

They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot...

Then Mother Nature reared up and burned down the parking lot.

Yesterday Dad and I went for a hike in Chico Canyon, a place that was just barely spared by the devastating Camp Fire that swept through the area two weeks ago. On the way home we drove next to a part of the burn scar, and it was bigger than anything like it I had ever seen.

I feel sorry for those who lost their homes and even sorrier for families who lost loved ones in the disaster.

Best Buddies

Today I attended the Best Buddies Match Party and got my wish by being matched for a second year with Katie and Paola. They're both UC Davis students who volunteer for the program and they're both really cool. I look forward to a fun year.

Team Davis Banquet

We had fun at the banquet tonight. Team Davis is the greatest organization!

Birthday Blues

No, I'm not sad... It's the color of the new t-shirt I got for my 25th birthday which is today. I also received a book, a homemade shaker and a phone call and it's still only morning. Thank you family!

I'm at Journey Coffee in Vacaville, California en route to Pt. Reyes National Seashore. It's gonna be a good day.

It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

It seems like every summer at the end of a road trip when we return to California the place is burning up.

There's a huge fire in the foothills southwest of Williams, California. I hope it doesn't become as destructive as some of the ones of recent years.

Stuck Inside Of Medford With The Ashland Blues Again

For our last night on the road we stayed in a hotel in Medford, Oregon. The next morning we hightailed it out of there and went straight to the Greenleaf Restaurant in Ashland for breakfast, followed by a walk in beautiful Lithia Park. No disrespect to the good people of Medford, but what else could we possibly have done?

In a previous post I extolled the virtues of the marionberry pancakes they serve at the Greenleaf and this time they did not disappoint. If I knew of a Shakespeare sonnet about excellent food, I would quote it here.

Failing that, I hope Bob Dylan won't mind a slight rewrite:

Shakespeare, he's in the alley
With his pointed shoes and his bells
Munching on some pancakes
He says they're really swell

Back To The Family

Yay! My family is awesome!

We spent a day with my brother Jackson and my sister-in-law Wendy. They live in Portland, Oregon. We had a great hike and picnic lunch in the Columbia Gorge up the river from the city.

I'm very fortunate to have a family of people who love and care for each other so much.

Roll On, Columbia

The Columbia is a great big wide river, full of water from five U.S. states and one Canadian province. It's been thoroughly tamed by dams such as the Bonneville and Grand Coulee, so it's truly a working river, providing electricity, transportation, commerce and recreation.

Even though the Columbia is not Wild and Scenic, it's still a beautiful place.

Back In The U.S.A.

We crossed the border into northern Idaho and we're back in my home country. We had lunch at a lovely spot on the Pend Oreille River.

We timed things exactly right because when we returned to the U.S. we had exactly one Canadian dollar left (worth about 77 cents at the current exchange rate). Dad let me keep it as a momento of our trip.

Monster Truck

According to the sign in Sparwood, British Columbia this is the world's largest truck. It can carry 350 tons of stuff. I'm glad it didn't squash Dad's car.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site

Of all the places I've visited on my travels, this one has by far the coolest name. If I ever start a hard rock or heavy metal band, the name of our first album will be Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.

This is a place where First Nations people hunted the buffalo by stampeding herds over cliffs, thus the name. Those poor bison... but they do give lemmings a bad name. Unfortunately, we arrived too late in the day to check out the museum, but we did get to look around the site.

Red Rock Coulee

If you're ever in Alberta, just take a short drive (about 25 km) from the town of Seven Persons, which has apparently increased in population since its founding. What you'll see is really cool: a bunch of large red boulders called sandstone concretions, some of the largest in the world. It was also quite windy. We were too far away to see the Rocky Mountains, but we could see the Sweetgrass Hills just over the border in Montana.

The 49th Parallel

Dad and I crossed into Canada at the Wild Horse Port of entry in southeastern Alberta. It's a little tiny building in the middle of open prairie. It's my second trip to Canada.

The border guards ask a lot of questions and they never smile. But when they were finished they said "have a nice trip."

Patience

The Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center in Great Falls, Montana...

My dad is a major Lewis and Clark nerd... I am very patient with him...

'Nuff said.

Big Sky Country

When you cross the Continental Divide in Montana and start heading east it's a whole new world. The rolling prairies seem endless, the sky huge, and I can almost hear the thunder of millions of ghostly bison hoofs.

Travelers' Rest

When you camp out in Montana, expect any kind of weather and you won't be surprised. A torrential rain storm kept us holed up in our tent for a few hours, followed by sunshine the next morning.

We're continuing to follow both the Nez Perce and Lewis and Clark over Lolo Pass. In early July 1806, the Corps of Discovery rested here for a few days before splitting up their group for the eastbound journey home. How do we know exactly where they camped? Well, historians have long known that the soldiers were supplied with "thunderbolts," a cure-all laxative laced with mercury, by Dr. Benjamin Rush (a signer of the Declaration of Independence thirty years earlier). Within the past few years archeologists discovered evidence of a latrine with high levels of... mercury. So they put two and two together. I never knew that being a historian meant digging around in 200 year-old poop.

I know that by today's standards Dr. Rush must seem like a quack, given his "cures." But just consider that 200 years from now Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the starship Enterprise will be saying the same thing about our modern medical methods.

A River Runs Through It

Idaho has lots of rivers that we've had the good fortune to follow: the Payette, the Salmon, the Clearwater. Fishing seems to be very popular in these parts.

I'm standing in front of the confluence of the Lochsa and Selway Rivers, which come together to form the Middle Fork of the Clearwater. Back in the 1960s a huge dam was proposed for this area which would have rendered the spot where I'm standing underwater. Luckily, Congress put the kabosh on that hare brained idea with the passage of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. (I've been told that back in the mists of time, before I was born, Congress actually did useful work.)

Thanks to the efforts of previous generations I can experience this area much as Lewis and Clark did when they passed through in 1805 and 1806.

White Bird

Part of our trip involves following the Nez Perce National Historic Trail as it winds through several states. The White Bird battlefield in Idaho is set in a meadow in a spectacular canyon. On June 17, 1877 the U.S. Army, still smarting from its defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn less than a year earlier, failed to stop the Nez Perce in their flight into Montana due to their having refused to move to a reservation.

I've always admired the Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) tribe because they prefered peace over warfare, but they were tough when forced to fight. Chief Joseph showed not only military, but moral leadership.

Oh, Why He?

O.K., O.K., that was the best bad pun I could come up with...

We camped at the same spot we chose on a trip four years ago, at the Rome crossing of the Owyhee River in southeastern Oregon. Even though the Owyhee is considered to be one of best (and most remote) rafting and kayaking rivers in America, its waters are calm and placid here.

It's the longest day of the year so we have plenty of daylight hours to use for adventuring.

Behind The Jefferson Curtain

As anyone who has spent time traveling in far Northern California knows, there is a secessionist movement afoot up here. From roughly Tehama County up through (possibly) southern Oregon many folks seem to like the idea of breaking away and forming the 51st state of Jefferson (named after our 3rd president). They even have a flag with the same colors as my Oakland A's baseball cap.

Now California is a prosperous state, but not all regions are faring equally well. Life can be tough in far flung rural areas and many residents here feel ripped off and not listened to by Sacramento.

Though the notion of snagging two new U.S. Senators might be tempting, would a new state government (seated in Redding?) really be able to make a go of it? What effects would statehood have on the local economy (who would pay for roads and schools, etc.)? I dunno... we'll see.

I'm Full Of Surprises

We are definitely taking the slow scenic route on our journey northward this summer. After camping at pretty Blue Lake in the Warner Mountains we took the Forest Service road down into Surprise Valley in far northeastern California. (Fun fact: so far we have logged more miles on gravel roads than on freeways.) The photo doesn't quite capture this, but as we descended there was a stunning view of Lower Alkali Lake with clouds perfectly reflected in its still waters.

We had a nice second breakfast in Cedarville.

Back To The River

It's Day #1 of our road trip and Dad and I have had a very chill day indeed. We decided to camp in the early afternoon on the banks of the North Yuba River in the Sierra Nevada. Nothing much to report here except that it was super relaxing with a refreshing light rain in the afternoon.

Power Spot

Mt. Shasta (14,162 ft.) in Northern California is a pretty cool place.

No, I didn't climb to the top but I made it up to 8,000 ft. on a day hike. We saw lots of people geared up to go all the way to the summit. That looks like fun, but first I need some practice with an ice axe and crampons.

Despite rumors I've heard, we saw no signs of Bigfoot, gnomes, hobbits or extraterrestrials here.

Summertime

...and the livin' is easy.

Memorial Day weekend is one of my favorites because of the promise of many adventures to come over the next several months.

I had a nice camping trip with Dad and Pam Cohen. Nice weather and very relaxing.

Sonoran Desert National Monument

On the way back to California we passed through the Sonoran Desert National Monument in central Arizona, created by the executive order of President Bill Clinton in 2001. There is no visitor center nor even any established trails. Just a chunk of protected land where huge Saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea) hold sway.

The current administration in Washington, D.C. is taking a close look at some of the more recently created Monuments. I certainly hope they don't "review" the SDNM out of existence.

Old Friends

We had the opportunity to meet our friends Mike and Chelsea Scopellite for dinner in Tucson, Arizona. It was really great to see them and catch up. It had been four years since our last visit.

Come see us in California sometime, y'all!

Borderlands

For much of this trip we've stayed pretty close to the U.S.-Mexico border. Our stop in Columbus, New Mexico was no exception.

This is the small town that the Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa attacked in a cross border raid in 1916. This led to a retaliatory "Punitive Expedition" by the U.S. Army that pursued Villa's forces deep into the Mexican state of Chihuahua, although they failed to capture Villa himself. This expedition, led by General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, turned out to be a dress rehearsal for the United States' entry into World War I the next year. We learned all about this at a fabulous museum in Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus.

If you look carefully in the background of the photo, you can see the present day border fence at Puerto Palomas, about three miles to the south. Dad said he could see it clearly through binoculars.

Don't Fence Me In

I think I must have been a cowboy on the open range in a previous lifetime. I simply love the wide open spaces of the American west.

Starry, Starry Night

Unfortunately, we hit West Texas' two nocturnal attractions during the daytime. Bad timing!

The first would have been the famous Marfa lights near the town of the same name. Are they just atmospheric reflections of car headlights, or are they UFOs? Nobody knows for sure...

Secondly, we were unable to catch the "star party" at the McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis. It would have been more scientifically based.

In any case, all those celestial phenomena would have been competing with a brilliant full moon.

I Can See Mexico

If you ever go to Big Bend National Park, do not miss Santa Elena Canyon. We hiked in for about a mile beneath towering cliffs on either side of the Rio Grande. If it were safe (and legal) I would have waded over to the Mexican side just so I could say I'd been there. As it was I was content to dip my toes into cool and refreshing U.S. waters and to bounce my voice internationally back and forth between the rock walls.

Although I've only left the United States once (to Canada in 2015), this is the farthest south I've been in my life so far.

Big Bend National Park

Let me say right off the bat that this is in my Top Ten list of National Parks.

We camped in the Chisos Basin and hiked in the surrounding mountains. It's much cooler than the surrounding desert due to the higher elevation. The Chisos range is a "sky island" with many plants and animals that have evolved in isolation. Biologists worry that as the climate changes many species will have nowhere to live if these areas start to heat up. We'll see...

By the way, we saw several roadrunners but no coyotes chasing them.

It's All George Soros' Fault

We made it to West Texas. It feels like a place I would like to explore since my name means "from the west country."

We stayed overnight in the small college town of Alpine. The next morning at breakfast there was a guy about my age at a table near us quietly playing a banjo and mumbling (sotto voce) his conspiracy theory about a one world government involving George Soros and some lady named Stormy Daniels. He must have been a regular because all the locals in the coffee shop ignored him.

I thought all the loose nuts gravitated towards California, but apparently a few ended up here.

Camping In A Winter Wonderland

Spring Break. It certainly feels like a break, but it doesn't feel very much like Spring. We camped at El Morro National Monument (7,000 ft.) Due to the early season and the high elevation, we knew it would probably be cold at night. We didn't think much of the cloudy skies because it cleared just before bedtime and a beautiful waxing moon shone over the campground.

Now, normally I'm an all-weather shorts and t-shirts kind of guy, but look what we woke up to the next morning...

The Mother Road

Well, the last time I posted on my blog was at Christmas. I took a three month break but now I'm back with new adventures in 2018. We are heading to the Southwest with a first night's stop in Needles, California. It's actually cool here (around 70 degrees). That's a first!