Kickin' it in Our Sagebrush Sandals (Cascades:Crater Lake)

Crater Lake, California
Click on the illustration above,  to really enjoy the details

While we were walking along the rim of Crater Lake, I was already planning a return trip back to see more of that incredibly clean, blue, blue, blue water in the high, dry air.

I particularly liked reading the informative little sign about a pile of ten thousand year old  sandals an Oregon researcher found beneath volcanic ashes, demonstrating that people were probably living in this area before, and possibly during the eruption that created the crater that makes the lake basin. 

They were made out of sagebrush. Liiiiike, how comfortable would THOSE be to hike in?

There were dozens of pairs of shoes left. How come? Didn't somebody miss them? Could it be an ancient days Cinderella story?

A spot of time travel to solve this little mystery is definitely in order.

Perhaps an ancient Cinderella, ran off and left her sagebrush slippers behind

That Burning Ring of Fire: Crater Lake and Annie Creek (Cascades: Crater Lake)

What is more traditionally Californian than an old-style driving vacation?

In early August we took a trip through the Cascades. Heading up the mountain to Crater Lake, we stopped off to see Annie Creek.  

A couple of very macho looking motorcyclists stopped off at the viewpoint near us.  One of them shook his head in wonder, A heck of a view of somethun! he remarked before hopping back onto his bike.

Annie Creek reminds us westerners that we're all sitting on top of that burning Ring of Fire, a great big circle that overlays Mama Earth's volcanic hot spots. 

If we peer to far over the side, might we just sliiiiippppp under the edge of one of her tectonic plates?

California Summertime

Summer time is dry
Baking Edgewood wildflowers
Deep below seeds wait

Friends of Fennel

Please click on the illustration above

to fully enjoy this postcard

I always feel a little guilty when I enjoy this invasive survivor. Fennel is certainly no friend to boosters of the California Native Plant Society, but it's still a gorgeous invader in the scruffier parts of town.

Postcard from San Luis Obispo: SLO Time Travel Via The Amtrak Station

The Amtrak station in San Luis Obispo (SLO) is one of my favorite time portals. How about hopping aboard a Period Pilots time travel flight to... visit the Southern California citrus groves in 1933?


Your time travel tour allows you to checkout acres of lovely scented orange and lemon trees beneath the towering San Gabriel Mountains before the development that followed World War II. Take a Model T over to Malibu for a spot of horseback riding along the beautiful uncrowded shoreline. Your day will end with a campout on the slopes of that grand patriarch of mountains Old Baldy.  

By the Waterfall: Late Blooming Honeysuckle

There are a few stray blooms of honeysuckle blooming in latish June near the waterfall on the Sylvan Trail in Edgewood Park. This is one of my favorite spots for a bit of time travel. You just couldn't find a better time portal than a shady glen like this.

It's the spot where I took a short trip back to visit with an Ohlone Rumsen family group last fall. Remember? Here's the story

        - Indian Summer at Edgewood (No. 1) Creekside 

        - Indian Summer at Edgewood (No 2) : Oak Apples

       - Indian Summer at Edgewood (No. 3): Rose Hips

(Co-Published with my newest blog Hiking Edgewood.)

A Neighborly Act

My very neighborly chicken Phoebe is a Millefeuille. Thanks for breakfast Phoebe!