Life of Wry

Another spectacular day for looking at clouds.  Looks like a bunch of cotton balls, huh?

Clouds.. cotton balls..  such the clever analogy.

Reminds me of dinner tonight.  Peter, looking at a pile of glistening deep-fried orange chicken nuggets, says, “Oh, look! this one looks like Argentina.”

(Which…. don’t they all?)

Ok.  As you’ve no doubt noticed, I’m not finding any time to write these days.. all having to do with the fact I’m getting ready to leave in a week and I’m preoccupied with trip prep.

So… today, just a photo essay of a gorgeous hike on an unexpectedly sunny day.  Forecast was for rain, and when it didn’t, I took the opportunity to head back out to Mt. Vaca for a short but useful trek training hike.

The journey starts with the freeway onramp… heading west toward Vacaville.

We are between storms and the sky’s amazing.  This is shot out the passenger window (while my eyes are on the road, of course), somewhere near Dixon.

Got off at Cherry Glen, right on Pleasants Valley, and headed down the road about 5.5 miles to Mix Canyon Road.  Pleasants Valley is one of the sweetest country roads around.  Must return with more time for picture taking.

(Returned to Davis via Lake Solano and Winters, but I think the I-80 way might be faster.)

Started up Mix Canyon Road.  I don’t think that’s Mt. Vaca, but somewhere a couple thousand feet up and 5 miles down the road, one gets there.

Whatever creek this is, it’s seriously flowing.  You have to watch out for poison oak along the edge, however.  Tons of it.

Due to limited time, I turned around at the 2.5 mile mark, just halfway to the top, but it was still a great, fast hour and a half. Well, well worth it.

And this is the end… car’s around a bend or two.

For the record, this is the photo-of-the-day.  I’m so impressed with my phone camera.  Plus, this area makes a photographer out of anyone.

I believe this is a hackberry tree crashing into that nice Smooth as Silk on C Street, where I go, if infrequently, to get pedicures, facials and expensivo moisturizers.  The tree was formerly rooted behind Burgers and Brew and the news crew estimated it to be about 80 feet tall.  And heavy.

Here’s the roof close up.  Youch.

Meanwhile, over on Third, between B and University, another hackberry (I believe) has fallen, this one landing on Ciocolat.  We saw people inside, however, drinking their coffees and eating their scones… not as much damage was done here… just a road closure.

Here’s what that tree looked like, as close as they’d allow me to get.

The 10-day outlook is for more rain.  And probably more wind storms.  More canceled practices and more canceled Little League games.  A big messy mess.

Five days ago, I was scrambling around on the banks of Putah Creek to get a shot of the beautiful redbuds in bloom (that gorgeous tangle, above)….worth the scramble, I thought.

Then, I crawled close to the water’s edge to shoot a rabbit across the creek.. a little muddy, a little slippy, had to grab a few branches to keep from tumbling into the water…and you can’t even see the rabbit.

And somehow came home with a case of poison oak.. which showed up a couple days ago.  And itches like mad.  Could not have imagined I’d encounter poison oak.

Consider yourself warned…

Trying to get in a little hill work before a trip to the biggest hills in the world.  I’m a little worried that life at sea level in our flat valley will not be adequate preparation for a Himalayan trek.  Earlier this week, I hit the railroad overcrossing over by the Davis Little League fields and ascended that, what, 60′ hill twelve times.  The Sierra are covered in snow, and too far away anyway, so that leaves valley mountains like Mount Vaca, if one is looking for a climb.

Wasn’t the best day for a hike, but then again, it was a great day for testing my foul weather gear in foul weather–something we may get a lot of in Nepal in mid-spring.

Still…. it was WET.  The worms and salamanders were out in force.  This little guy (see above), unlike many of his buds, made it all the way across the road.  There aren’t a lot of cars on this road, but enough to flatten a good many salamanders and worms, we noticed.

Anyway, we began the hike on a morning that looked like this.  Very pretty, very green, very rural.  Our destination is not visible; it looms far beyond, and was hidden by heavy clouds.

It was dry when we started.

But it didn’t take long before the weather, as predicted, turned into this.  It is sleeting.  Yes, sleeting.  Here’s Lorilyn, all smiles.  Always eager for a hike, that girl.

Later, after four and a half hours in this, she was still smiling, but there were plenty of reasons not to: her gortex had failed her, her clothes and boots were completely soaked, her granola bars were drowned in standing water at the bottom of her backpack (but we ate them anyway) and her phone had completely died (due to water damage).   Meh.

Two things: 1. that’s hail that’s gathered in clumps by the side of the road.. we also saw snow and lots of slush, and 2. that creek is raging, but nothing like it was on the return trip.  After a few hours of relentless rain, the creek was torrential and was a swollen muddy brown.

After 2.25 wet hours, and 5 steep miles, we got to the top of Mount Vaca: 2819′.  At least we think this is the topmost point; it was hard to tell for all the clouds.  No promised views of the Sierra, or Mt. Diablo, or Mt. Tamalpais, or the Golden Gate Bridge…

…still, it was a good destination and a nice hike.

Irish Soda bread, an extra hot cafe au lait, a sunny, cold morning between storms on the corner of 3rd and B.

This very exciting thing arrived today: a map of the Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal…. aka the Mt Everest region, and more specifically: the hike to Everest Base Camp.  Love maps, and have been staring and staring at it.

This is where we will eventually end up… before turning around to go back, but not before we get a good look at Mt Everest.  The elevations are in meters, by the way.  The EBC’s 5364 meters translates to 17,598′.

En route to EBC, we’ll climb the Cho La pass: 18,668′ and get one of the best views of Everest from a point of sorts: Kala Patthar: 18,176′

That will be amazing, if I’m not barfing all over the place.

And, of course, here’s Mt. Everest: 29,035′ (gasp).

Was having trouble deciding on a picture for today.  But, really, if there’s one thing that defines March in Davis this year, it’s rain.  So as I sat at the corner of 3rd and C, waiting for my turn to pass through the intersection, I snapped this pic…

…and thought a little about Spring:

Headlights blurred through wet and steamy windows.

Trees in mid-transition. Flowers shiny and heavy.

Splashes of mud dotting my legs.

Carpenter ants seeking refuge in the warmth and dryness of my office.  I guess.

Ginger lemon tea.

So many canceled baseball games.

More days driving Peter to school than I can ever remember.

Entry hall turned mud room.

And today especially: dramatic downpours that we rarely see.

 

 

The destruction from this tsunami is just mind-boggling.

This is a photo of my computer screen, of a video shot and uploaded to Facebook by a guy who’s in Japan, standing on the landing of a building surrounded by raging, rising water.  There. Coverage of the tsunami is NOT brought to you by any commercial sponsor.  It’s just like there–video shot by that guy.  The whole thing becomes a far more raw and human experience, and the tragedy more knowable.  I just can’t imagine it.  But this guy’s in the moment video helps in a big way.

Another thing about news distributed through social media… it becomes such a shared experience.  As people witness and share and respond and converse, there is this sense of collective shock and collective grief.  It’s pretty interesting to be readily in touch with so many others who are learning about and processing the information right along with you, which makes it all the more real and personal.  Nevermind that news travels faster and is less edited.

Anyway..it’s all pretty amazing.

I heard a statistic this morning about the deaths in just one part of the affected area–the toll was estimated at over 10,000… TEN THOUSAND.  And that’s just from earthquake and tsunami damage–collapsing buildings and unrelenting water.  No way to know yet the impact of the damage to nuclear power plants and the effects of radiation, both short term and long term.

So sad.

We can keep the people of Japan in our thoughts and not forget that there are now a whole lot of people whose lives will never, ever be the same.  They are not going about their daily lives like they were a few days ago, not like us, whose lives are not affected at all.  We can remember that.  It’s also good to remember how delicate and fragile it all is.

And then there’s Haiti, and Katrina, and of course others.

So, hold people in your thoughts.  I guess that’s what we can do.  Help as needed.  And be grateful.  We’re ridiculously lucky.

Anyway, sorry.  Not a lecture.  Speaking for myself.  Just trying to get my thoughts around it all.

Between springing forward and an early baseball tournament, there is no time for breakfast (or blogging).  Instead, Starbucks to go.

And a little Camice pear.