Ah! At the last minute we decided to head over to the Golden State. And golden it is. It is soo dry here that all the land is completely layered with yellow grasses. It's a different kind of beautiful. But the drive over - um - not so much. If you ever thought Wyoming was desolate - try Nevada. Oh. My. Gosh. Up one mountain range and down another, then repeat that about 11 times all across the state. All the while fighting 30 mile an hour winds and nothing - absolutely nothing around - anywhere. Not a tree, not a bush, not a living creature except big black crows the size of a great dane. I do not relish going back through there - but through there we must go to get back. First Nevada, then a bit of a reprieve through Utah, then through nowhere land of Wyoming. Oh brother. I'm ready for that hover craft my son Ezra plans on building!
There was one cool thing about Nevada. The Bonneville salt flat was interesting, I'll admit. A literal sea of rock hard salt, with holes dug in that were filled with water - just like an ice fishing hole. One guy was try to sail across the salt on a sailing craft with wheels. Crazy.
We did go to Antelope Island in Utah before we left. Gary had to go float in the Great Salt Lake or his vacation would not be complete! The rest of us hiked a bit and found some cool boulders to climb on and take pictures. We didn't see any antelope, but we did see one buffalo!
We explored the city of Chico, CA - very nice town. There is a huge park - 6 square miles - or 3500 acres - right in the middle of town! It's long and narrow and filled with trees. It's like a dense forest with biking and hiking trails and a swimming hole and nature. In the middle of town! Amazing. We hope to explore that more before we leave.
Strange to see palm trees and almond trees and kiwi, figs and avocados growing right before your very eyes. They grow just about everything here in the Sacramento Valley. We hope to get to a farmer's market today to check out the local produce. MMM.
One funny thing - as I was walking into the local health food store - I walked under this mist of cool water that just floated down upon me. It was piped all along the entrance to the store, and just felt so great in the hot temps. So refreshing. What a novel idea - eh?
Well, more news later. We're off to Paradise - beautiful Paradise, CA. Sounds great, doesn't it??! Now who wouldn't want to live in a place called that?! :)
jill and all
No comments:
Post a Comment