At the mouth of the Columbia river there were many ships and colorful boats. Off the mouth of the Columbia is some of the most dangerous water in the world, it is where the coast guard trains their rough water rescue crews. You see many Coast Guard boats and large ships here. Steelhead streams with eagles abound and you are likely to see some elk in the fields.
As you enter California, you begin seeing giant monolithic rocks standing like castles along the shoreline, waves crashing and splashing up their sides. On the rocky shoreline, you will also see sea lions resting on the beach like giant alien slugs. Suddenly they will rear up and do battle, sometimes they simply roll over or flip a flipper in pure bliss.
Then there is the redwood forest, trees of epic proportion, rising to the heavens above. A place my great grandfather visited in the 1930’s, a place I last visited in 1961. Great mossy monarchs ruling Northern California for centuries upon centuries. It’s a miracle having withstood the march of progress, the roar of chainsaws, and that they still stand tall and proud.
As you enter Southern California, watching wildlife is replaced with watching people, there are lots of people here. Surfers having tailgate parties, who will float for hours waiting for that perfect wave. Fishermen catching surf perch, colorful fish that sometimes remind me of a fish wearing pajamas. Seagulls posing for the camera with their great big mussels.
Then there’s Venice Beach, a people watching paradise! Crowds of people milling about like cows heading for the milking parlor. Hawkers calling out, “The doctor is in, get your legal medical marijuana.” A street musician pounding a piano and a guitar player on roller skates, it really is rock and roll. Food, food, food, everywhere you look there are people and there is food. Colorful stores with colorful people line the streets, and I buy t-shirts for my grand babies from a Korean man who tells me about his own very special grand babies. We may be of different cultures and backgrounds, but all of us are human, all of us are brothers and sisters.
Escaping the crowds, we visit a small organic farm, Love House Dahlias, near Ventura. We are there to see a friend, Fred Owens, who was a member of our “open mike” group back home in La Conner, Washington. Fred joined Worldwide Opportunities in Organic Farming (WOOF) and found a job at the dahlia farm working part time for room and board. He is happy there and plans to stay. You can read about Fred and his farm experience on his Frog Hospital blog by clicking the link on this page.
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