California Dreamin'

(Yes, the sign says "Entering Tsunami Hazard Zone.")

After an arduous drive up and down many mountains, I finally arrived yesterday at my destination: Fort Bragg (not the Army post), California, on the coast again. And again, it is foggy here. My hostess tells me that it will be like this as long as the temperatures inland are so high: the heat draws the fog in from the ocean. Turns out, the best time to be here is Fall, when the breeze blows the other way. Oh well. It's lush and green, and the temperature this morning is about 59 degrees. SO much better than the 100 degrees folks are experiencing just across the mountain from here. I'm all cozy in my sweatshirt and slippers.

I'm going to try to upload some photos but the reception is really poor here and it might not work. Last night I couldn't download even an old B&W movie: broadband modem too slow. Oh dear.

Sorry Minnesota, you don't have a corner on Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. In fact, Bemidjians, the cojones on the Klamath, California bull are very impressive indeed.




This is my first view of the Pacific when I came down the last mountain. It's a bit more what I expected the coast to look like (those birds are pelicans, a flying squadron that reminded me of my stay in Florida last winter).

Boy, was I glad to get out of that vehicle. Coming down the mountain is more stressful than going up because I have to try not to ride the brake, which means playing with the gear ratio and trying to keep out of the way of folks in sports cars and motorcycles who want the thrill of going fast: not my thing in a vehicle where the sway causes everything I own in the world to slide around, audibly.

This is a pretty lousy photo but I just had to show you the cows. Why don't they fall in?

Here's the home and barn that I couldn't fit in the cattle shot. Who knew you could raise cattle so close to the ocean?






I tried like crazy to get a decent shot of these immense redwoods and this is the best I could do, through the windshield as I passed through the really old, big ones in the protected area. The ones around here are tiny in comparison, at only a yard in diameter and 50-60 feet tall. The biggest one I found in these parts (right here in the yard) gave up the ghost a while back and now serves as a great playhouse.




Well, that's enough for now. Let's see how this formats with the photos. More later.