Coast trip

Our usual summer heat has finally caught up to us. Since it was so hot yesterday afternoon we drove to the northern coast of California to hike, have dinner and catch the sunset. It's amazing the difference that 50 miles and an ocean make. We needed jackets when we got there. We wandered around Crescent City and enjoyed the sights and the blissfully cool, yet sunny day. We went to Point St. George first:Then we went to Crescent City Harbor and watched the harbor seals and sea lions. Lying around. Not doing a whole heck of a lot. Well, some yapping and stinking was going on: A random sculpture: Another random sculpture: The fish commemorative plaque and cement sculpture: It says "Crescent City Harbor District Inner Boat Basin, Dedicated October 5, 1974, To the people of Del Norte County, A project of the Crescent City Harbor Commission". A grand gesture to be sure. Who doesn't want a cement smiley fish in their harbor?I hope you had a good weekend so far. Enjoy the rest of it.

China Gardens

The weather was gorgeous yesterday. We decided to try to find the elusive China Gardens off of USFS Road 4612 in the Siskiyou National Forest. Touchdown! China Gardens is listed as an old mining site but when we got there we discovered what looked like an old homestead. There was evidence of mining, probably by Chinese immigrants, hence the name. Here is what looks like an old barn: The throne room:And evidence of mining: There were majestic Doug firs surrounding the area. You can see me, barely, to the left of the base of the tree:This is a marker on one of the Doug firs indicating the presence of an active red tree vole nest:Old shakes (Shakes are hand-split, shingles are sawn) covering the barn roof:
The California Ground Cone (Boschniakia strobilacea) is popping up all over the forest:We are happy to report that we did not get eaten by a bear. There was fresh bear poop in several locations but we made it out without any canine/bear encounters. Happy Memorial Day!

Walking

Since I sit at a desk all day and commute an ungodly amount of time I decided to add regular walking to my workdays. I walk 3 x a day – 2 ten minute walks on my breaks and another 10 to 15 minutes at lunch time. It helps tremendously. Sitting in front of computer all day is really hard on one’s body and psyche. The walking really lifts my spirits and gives my back a chance to stretch.

Rural would be the word that a real estate agent would use to describe the community surrounding my place of employment. There is a general store a block from where I work and a little cluster of stores and a school on the other end of town. Not much else. No ethnic restaurants. No cute little shops or thrift stores. Nothing to part me from my money. So walking I go. This little lane provides the perfect 10 minute stroll:All the fenceposts along the lane have been excavated by Acorn Woodpeckers. The weather is so amazing right now- ranging from the 50s to the low 70s. I love these cool spring days. I dread the coming of summer. It gets very hot during the day. But for now, I'll enjoy the perfect weather.

Waldo Cemetery

Since I moved here almost 6(!) years ago I've been hearing about the Waldo Cemetery. It's an old graveyard and not easy to find since the town of Waldo is long gone. You have to hike around for a bit to get to it. It's a small cemetery with a handful of markers (some are missing but are marked with posts) and all the graves are pre-1930s. Most markers are from the mid 1800s. I can't help but wonder- who were these people? What did they look like? What did they care about? What did they dream about? Were they loved and missed by family back east? What was their life like in the southern Oregon wildlands in the 1800s? They couldn't just trot over to Shopsmart or Dairy Queen when they needed a bite to eat or pop on over to the clinic when they were sick.
We can read history books and go to reenactment villages but I don't think we can ever really understand what life was really like for anyone in the past. There are so many complicated layers to a society at any given point in time that I think it's not possible to really know. I wish someone would invent a time machine!