a visit to the final member of aly’s immediate family (her
mother’s youngest brother) and his wife who live in paradise, ca, a small town
of 30k tucked in the ponderosa pines at 1800 feet. our time with uncle bruce, aunt sandy and rudy
roo (an enthusiastic and very lovable chocolate lab trained for search and
rescue) was spent relaxing, catching up on our lives, cooking, tightening all
road-loosened-fixtures (namely the kitchen drain), doing laundry, washing the
van, bathing gravy and adjusting the flame on our frig unit. just what we needed 6 weeks into our trip
with only 3 weeks before we cross the canadian border.
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| uncle bruce and aunt sandy |
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| rudy, cooling off |
from the hills of paradise, we descend into the northeast
edge of the sacramento valley, one
of the richest agricultural areas in the world, and headed back towards the
coast south and west. the drive took us
through lush rice patties, walnut and olive orchards and along the shore of
clear lake which happens to be the largest natural freshwater lake in california and is at least 480,000 years old, believed to be one of the oldest lakes in north america, due to a geological fluke. the lake sits on a huge block of stone which slowly tilts in the northern direction at the same rate as the lake fills in with sediment thus keeping the water at roughly the same depth.
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| clear lake |
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| clear lake |
we camped for 2 nights outside the small town of willits,
the gateway to the redwood forest, on hwy 101 with our wonderful friends
jennifer and glenn. anyone who has been
in our home probably remembers all the knot carvings throughout…that’s jennifer’s
work…she’s a very talented carver, knitter, crocheter, seamstress, cook,
gardener and a remarkable friend. aly
and jenn met in the early 80s and have been friends ever since. while camping we remembered that another old
college friend lived nearby so we called perry to come join us for a couple of
evenings of reminiscing. almost makes
one feel 18 again…almost!
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| perry, aly, jenn and glenn |
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| gravy taking it all in while out on a hike |
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| around camp, jenn knitting, glenn and buddy on their computers (life is tough!) |
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| the gateway to paradise |
we drove up the redwood highway through some awe-inspiring
redwood groves. the 32-mile stretch of
the avenue of the giants which parallels hwy 101 and winds its way through humboldt
redwoods state park, consists of 53,000 acres with one of the largest
contiguous old growth redwood forests in the world, is something not to be
missed. some of these trees are 1,000
years old, 300’ tall and 15-20’ in diameter…enough to build several houses in
today’s world.
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| aly and gravy with the giants |
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| we didn't visit it, but we believe it!!! |
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| believe it or knot!? |
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| downed redwood |
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| buddy and gravy |
the little town of loleta was our next stop…not only because
carolyna, an old college pal of aly’s and her two puppies, frank and mo (two
wire hair terriers) lived there, but we think the cheese factory AND the bakery
were calling our names. you can imagine
dinner and dessert that eve with carolyna were scrumptious.
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| loleta cheese factory with 38 varieties of cheeses--we sampled many |
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| carolyna, mo and frank |
the following day we passed the college campus and the 3 residences
in eureka where aly lived while attending college back in the late 70s and
early 80s. we had a burrito lunch with
carolyna and michelle, a friend who worked with aly at the bulb farm back
during those college summer days. what
fun memories…
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| an alum |
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| michelle, carolyna and aly |
the entire region from san francisco
north is all-encompassing with some of the most magical scenery -- coastline to
meadows, redwood groves to rivers. with
the sacramento, the russian, the eel
and van duzen, the klamath, smith and the rogue…our chosen route took us flanking
each of these magnificent rivers, amid the valleys and through numerous groves
of redwoods, lodgepole, ponderosa, doug fir and several species of deciduous trees, weaving with and away from the coastline.
we spotted our 1st bears of the trip, a small heard of elk still in a lower valley, 3 fox kits playing alongside the rogue river, our 1st bald eagle of the trip and some dazzling spring flowers.
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| eel river |
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| klamath river |
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| meadows and valleys |
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| smith river |
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| our 1st bears...okay, so they are not real, but they are the bears of the klamath river |
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| small elk herd in a lower valley |
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| 1 of 3 fox kits hiding in the bushes |
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| our 1st bald eagle sighting |
mother nature at her finest...
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| foxglove |
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| pine cones |
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| spring flowers |
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| more spring flowers |
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| indian blanket |
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| california poppies |
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| wild sweet peas |
our 26 nights spent in the golden state came to an end while
meandering up the smith river towards grants pass
in southern oregon--some 20
degrees warmer and windless. we camped 2 nights in
the rogue river valley in southern oregon where all the blooming blackberry’s will be a pie makers
delight in a couple of months.
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| our campsite at valley of the rogue |
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| valley of the rogue state park |
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| the rogue |
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| the rogue |
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| bike path along the rogue |
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| taking a ride along the rogue |
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| river users |
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| windmill along the rogue |
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| soon to be pies |
we’re bound for ashland
to visit with friends of buddy’s and will make the trek through oregon
in much less time than that of the golden state.
