Heading home

Heading toward home, I think fondly of the places we’ve been. We’ve seen glaciers, sand dunes, waterfalls, jagged peaks, prairies, rivers, beaches, rainforests, and rolling hills. We’ve walked in the snow, kissed on the sidewalks in San Francisco, ridden in a skypod, watched the foliage turn, enjoyed romantic meals together, crossed a suspension footbridge, hugged a redwood tree, and gazed through a glass floor at the city below.

We’ve seen elk, deer, mountain sheep, coyotes, bald eagles, Canadian geese, hawks, ravens, magpies, a white peacock, pelicans, dolphins, rabbits, chipmunks, and black squirrels, all in the wild. We also saw farms with llamas and ostriches. At the aquarium we watched sharks, bat rays, sea otters, and a number of sea birds, including puffins and others that dive for food.

We’ve watched the foliage change across the continent, and back again. The east coast's brilliant crimsons and fiery oranges gradually give way to shocking yellow... this fades to be replaced by green pines striped with dramatic white cedars. The tan and brown skeletons of other trees take over from there. Finally, even the hardiest trees surrender and the landscape is dominated by grasses and plains. Then as you approach the mountains, the process begins in reverse. Of all of these, first prize goes to the maples, found especially in Canada, who have apparently decided to specialize in scarlet. Every stunning shade of red imaginable is represented on their boughs, and they sparkle like rubies in every forest and town. Second place goes to a type of tree we saw only in and around Santa Rosa, California. Rather than sticking with one color, they’ve chosen to represent the entire continent in each tree. Topped with a vivid red, the shades gradually change through the brightest oranges, yellows, and greens before their full branches yield to the brown trunk. This makes for an opalescent rainbow effect that is, like the maples, a sight to behold.

It’s been a spectacular journey! Thank you so much for sharing it with us!

I'll load our pictures to an online photo album for easy viewing, and post the web address here.

Nickie has some thoughts she would like to share about our trip. Keep an eye out for this, coming soon. Her writing is exquisite, regardless of what she may tell you!

Too much development

While traveling south through northern and central California, in areas where we haven’t been for many (16-30) years, we noticed that huge amounts of development had taken place. What was once beautiful open hillside or stretches of sandy beach or a serene lookout point has been obliterated by a jumble of tightly packed houses and condos.

One day, when every place of beauty has been covered over with houses to such an extent that the original reasons for moving there are long gone, and the only such places we can turn to are in crowded, heavily trampled national parks dotted with litter, we will regret reproducing like wildfire without regard for the limitations of the planet and then selling every conceivable inch of its most beautiful places to the highest bidder.

Solvang, California

Just passing through but I couldn't resist commenting. Solvang is "the Danish capital of America." Danish architecture, complete with windmills, is adorned with decorative lights year round. Doubly so near Christmastime. They have Danish cuisine, crafts, and cultural events. It's such a lovely quaint little town, it's worth coming back again and again.

Random observation

...So that Nickie never has to wonder again why, for nearly 10 years, I've compared her eyes to the deep, rich color of the redwoods.

San Francisco, California - the Bay Bridge

Sunrise at the Bay Bridge





The Bay Bridge has two levels. Traffic goes one way on the top level, and the other way on the bottom level.

Solvang, California

Passing through Solvang on our way home.

San Francisco, California

Lombard, America's crookedest street. This section consists of around half a dozen sharp hairpin turns zigzagging down a steep hillside. After deciding that there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity, I was unwilling to attempt this in our rental car.



Pier 39

Pier 39 is the home of Bubba Gump Shrimp. That's right, like the movie Forrest Gump. (Far be it from me to burst your bubble by informing you that Bubba Gump Shrimp came after the movie, not the other way around.)



San Franciscans have some interesting and unique ways of getting your attention. :)



Street performers are ever-present at Pier 39 on the weekends. Everybody wanted to see this one do his fire-eating routine. But for some reason, lots of people left when he started pounding a 4-inch nail up his nose. Hehe.



The Bay Bridge

San Francisco, California - the Golden Gate Bridge

Plaque reads:

To span the Gate, Chief Engineer Joseph Strauss had to contend with wind, fox, ocean waves and tidal currents, and a 19th century fort located where the south end of the bridge should be.

Construction began January 5, 1933. Strauss spared Fort Point by placing the South Pier 1,125 feet from shore in 65 feet of water.

Golden Gate Bridge opened to traffic on May 28, 1937, but the work is never finished. To prevent corrosion, the steel has been painted continuously since opening day with the reddish hue known as International Orange.

Length of main span: 4,200 ft.
Length of suspension bridge (including anchorages): 6,450 ft.
Total length of bridge and approaches: 8,981 ft.
Height of towers above water: 746 ft.
Depth of tower piers below water: 110 ft.
Number of main cables: 2
Diameter of main cables: 36 3/8 inches
Number of wires in each cable: 27,572
Total length of cable wire: 80,000 miles
Weight of cable, wire and fittings: 24,500 tons
Total estimated weight of superstructure: 83,000 tons
Maximum height (under bridge to water): 220 ft.
Roadway width: 60 ft.
Traffic lanes: 6
--------------------------------------
On its broad decks in rightful pride,
The world in swift parade shall ride,
Throughout all time to be;
Beneath, fleet ships from every port,
Vast landlocked bay, historic fort,
And dwarfing all - the sea.

From The Mighty Task is Done, a poem written by Chief Engineer Strauss upon completion of the bridge in 1937.