Friday, August 30, 2013

Kayaking the San Andreas Fault

The San Andreas Fault in California is 810 miles long, stretching from way down south, terminating in what is referred to as the "Mendocino Triple Junction" where three tectonic plates come together. Part of the fault is under the water of Tomales Bay north of San Francisco. Tomales Bay, 15 miles long and approximately 1 mile wide, separates the Pt. Reyes Peninsula from the mainland and opens into Bodega Bay. This inlet of the Pacific Ocean is perfect for kayaking.

I thought I would kayak 5 or 6 times while staying in the town of Pt. Reyes Station but didn't get out onto the water until the very last day. A bug that was circulating felled Steve first then knocked me off my feet for 24 hours. I wasn't feeling too great but I jumped at the chance to try the water before heading back to Colorado.

It was fantastic out there. The weather was perfect and there were very few other crafts on the water. Steve and S.S. were in the canoe, and my sister was in her new kayak. Seals would surface all around us but never got too close. The wind came up, as it seemed to do every afternoon, but we spent at least an hour and a half on the water. I know I have to go back and spend more time kayaking that famous fault. Maybe I'll be kayaking the San Andreas Fault when the tectonic plates slip. The "Big One" is coming as surely as the wind blows. There are worse ways to go.






Thursday, August 22, 2013

Taking a Left Turn

It's been a good family visit/vacation but, as it sometimes happens, things go wrong. We have seen lots of natural beauty, enjoyed great weather, gone swimming every day, and walked. Our bonfire on the beach last night was fun even if we couldn't see the full moon because of the fog, then several people started feeling sick. Now we have three very sick adults and two sick children. I haven't slept at all as I worry about them. It will be getting light outside soon. I'm hoping the situation will seem less grim in the daylight.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Waldo's Ranch

I still don't know who Waldo was, but this house was once part of a large and prominent dairy in Pt. Reyes Station.  The pastures have now been restored back into wetlands, and the bird and deer population is impressive. I've been watching a couple of white-tailed kites hunting around the marsh and mudflats for quite a while this morning.

The great egrets are so tall that I can see them without my binoculars. The bird song is continuous and full of variety. This is a perfect August morning. And it doesn't hurt that Steve is clanking around the kitchen making peach cobbler.

The large yard has a deep border of lavender. There is a constant hum and drone around my chair as the bees visit the flowers. I can't describe how wonderful it smells here. The air is so clean on the coast.

So this is day one of a vacation we've dreamed about for years. I've written, in the past, that the anticipation is often the best part of a trip but, this time, the location exceeds my imagination.


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

On the Road Again

We're hitting the road tomorrow morning at 4 AM. It's an awful time to have to wake up, but I had the bright idea to try to miss Salt Lake City traffic by leaving at the buttcrack of dawn. I'm not a rocket surgeon. (a sort of malapropism I stole out of the comics today, but I like it) If you don't get the joke, send me a comment and I'll offer a lengthy convoluted explanation. I promise.

I'll try to blog while exploring both the coast, while practicing the art of creating family harmony. It's a lot like drinking beer while practicing yoga. Harmony is easy if everyone wants to be copacetic about it. Dude.


I want to get this for Meghan's baby shower.
Does that make me a bad person?
Of course not.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Heading West

Thank goodness another trip is upon us. I love to go places, but getting ready for a vacation really brings out the crazy in me.  I have a house/pet sitter who is way too qualified for the job, the truck is being serviced today, bills are paid, I'm trying to pack without taking every item of clothing I own, and it's all coming down to the wire. Blast off is on Wednesday, so I still have 42 hours to fret over getting everything to my liking. We're driving to Cali so we can take the kayak and canoe to Pt. Reyes National Seashore and Tomales Bay. This area of Northern California was my idea of heaven when I was growing up. The redwoods are close by, Tomales Bay is an estuary with great bird watching, and it's cheese country. We're fond of cheese. San Francisco is only 30 minutes away and my family lives about an hour and a half away.



Alas, E's new teacher is visiting in less than an hour and I need to tidy up. Wouldn't want to scare the woman.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Someone Who Thinks About Writing

I'm reading Verlyn Klinkenborg's new book titled " Several Short Sentences About Writing", and decided to write a short post about it to see what it's like to try to post from my phone. 

First, I have big peasant fingers that can't seem to get used to the little keyboard.

Secondly, it's an entire book of short sentences,about writing, most of which are worthy of stopping to think about.

I think I could manage a short post occasionally if there wasn't a three-year- old ten feet away holding both a garden hose (turned on) and a golf club (plastic).

In closing, I highly recommend this book to writers who are sick of the ridiculous and prolific "rules" for succeeding as a writer. We need to stiffen our backbones and claim the same authority in our writing as what I witness in the artistic community at large. Sure, there's conformity to the current styles even in painting and such. Go to the sculpture festival in Loveland to see what is the trend in home decor. Last time I went, it was Indian maidens with European faces.

This would be a great book for a writing discussion group.

Enough rambling. The cicadas and the warm sun are making me drowsy.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Boulder County Fair Parade

The Boulder County Fair has started in Longmont. I don't have much use for the fair, such as it is, but the parade is a lot of fun.


Let the parade begin.


Many floats


The Rodeo Queen


Farm equipment galore


Goats on parade!


Horses


Truck and cow. (and people)


Lovely dancers


Dressed up children


Many firetrucks that were on display afterwards.


More great cars than I could count


Ronald McDonald (?)


Lovely horse


Another lovely horse


Draft horses hard at work


The Rocky Horror float singing Time Warp


Did I mention I'm partial to horses?


Can't have too many horse pictures


The drivers of the street sweepers were waving to the crowd.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Friday Night Burn Out

We've been jumping through hoops with the historical preservation people because we want to replace some windows in the room we call the sunroom. This addition was built in the 60s and has no historical value, but we still have to get permission to make any changes that are visible from the outside. We went to the public hearing last night and managed to get approval after some hemming and hawing that seemed more for show than anything else. Now we can order the windows and wait 6 to 8 weeks for their arrival.

The rest of the meeting was more interesting than our replacement windows because it concerned a building called Johnson's Corner (but not the truck stop with the cinnamon rolls on I-25). This building was moved into a new development called Prospect New Town that is Colorado's first New Urbanist community. I'm told Johnson's Corner is mentioned by name in Jack Kerouac's book On the Road. The building, to put it kindly, has problems. The idea of restoring it to some useful purpose has problems. Does anyone have a spare $770,000 to restore it?


Some new windows would be helpful next winter.


Flamingos at the Denver Zoo. 

The Grand Danger of Flash Floods

I saw a flash flood once while I was in Utah. I was on my way to Moab with a friend, but stopped off to see the pictographs at Big Thompson Springs. A flood came down the dry wash you have to cross to get to the rock art, just ahead of our arrival. This friend got really mad at me for refusing to drive through the water in my Jeep Cherokee. The water began spreading out across the desert on both sides of the dirt road so I made an executive (and reasonable) decision to turn around and get out of there. Despite my traveling companion's pouting, which was a foreshadowing of her attitude for the rest of the trip, the flash flood ranks up there as one of the top ten things I've ever seen in the great outdoors.  I'll never forget the beauty, nor the amount of water flowing on a sunny day underneath a cloudless sky.

Here's a video of another flash flood someone just sent to me: