More about Arcata

This town has a community forest where we wandered for hours today. It was established in the 1950s to promote education and recreation, I guess there is some logging to give the park financial support.We saw no sign of logging. The forest was wintry and fine today. The redwoods cast a deep shade that was full of the color of redwood's copper bark and the dark emerald of sword ferns. Big leaf maples' still held some yellow leaves that hadn't fallen since Autumn. Wild fungi were everywhere- gold and crimson waxy caps, pale gray oyster mushrooms and yellow/tan sulfur tufts growing on dead branches, and many more. The only sounds were the ravens' distant "Awks!" and glockenspiel rumbling from the many streams. A fine day.

Evening was unique. There is a theater that shows '50s science fiction along with old previews, shorts, etc. The movie is free if you have food, and they make  very fine samosas. We saw previews of "Earth Vs. the Flying  Saucers", "It Came From Beneath the Sea", "I Married a Gorilla" (no, I am not making that up) and other oddities. The feature, "War of the Worlds" from the 50s had its moments, but the sound track was hard to hear, and we tired of the battle scenes so we left early. But it had been a strange and interesting evening.

Again, this is an interesting town, a forward looking place. It's slow between the holidays, good chance we'll pass through here again. On to Oregon tomorrow.

Arcata

Well, here we are in the town time forgot. Not really, Arcata has a reputation  for being hippie heaven. This is true to a point, sometimes the scent of sweet herbs flows throughout, But it is more than that, there are really innovative, forward looking projects here. Today we visited Arcata Marsh, a restored wetland that is home to an ecologically based waste water treatment plant, the prototype for the one where I teach in the Bay Area. Very interesting talk with two volunteers.The marsh abounded in birds - black scoters, egrets, ruddy ducks, avocets flying in a huge flock, grebes, and many more. A red shouldered hawk circled and called to us, "Pew! Pew! Pew!"The avocets flowed like a great water wave, Very interesting place. We are again on the road looking for options for the future. Stay tuned, more to come.

Pt. Reyes

Thanks to Kate for posting the picture of the quails who shared our campsite last weekend. This was unusual behavior by these birds. They are usually known for running quickly away from People, vanishing into the coyote bush. They are also known for a loud call that many claim sounds like "Chicago!". but Kate decided it sounds more like "What of it?" I agree. Pt. Reyes is a beloved spot in northern California. It is a peninsula that is actually on the western side of the San Andreas Fault, sliding slowly northward, while the rest of our region moves slowly to the south. THe bedrock is granite, meaning there are Douglas firs rather than redwoods in the canyons. The geology is amazing.. rugged Sculpture Beach, where the wind and surf have cut sandstone cliffs to resemble wild artwork is one of our favorite spots. The wildlife is incredible. We saw a pod of dolphins off shore, also probably hundreds of brown pelicans, several ospreys (fish hawks), surf scoters (sea ducks), black oystercatchers (shore birds with long red beaks), seastars and green anenomes and much more. A great trip, we will be back there twice this fall. Expect more posts, the rambling continues.

 Shoreline, Uvitas, Costa Rica

Boquete, Panama, a lovely town in the northern volcanic region. Great hiking!

Old Town, our happy home on Basimentos Island, Panama. NO CARS!!!

 Sloth, Cahuitas, Costa Rica. These endearing critters move slowly, and only come out of trees once a week to use the bathroom, shall we say.

 Volcan Arenal, Costa Rica.

Children's Eternal Rain Forest, Monte Verde, Costa Rica. Children around the world raise funds to keep this lovely preserve alive. The idea came from some kids in Sweden several decades ago.

ictures from Central America

Bijuaga, Costa Rica. A town in the northern Volcanic region

Volcan Tonario. We saw this from a path near our cabin at Casitas Tonario,

Gtanada, Nicaragua

Las Islettas, a chain of islands in Lake Managua, Granada, We kayaked here, Some islands have farms.The shot below this this is Volcan Concepcion, Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua.

I will post more later today.

We were delighted to have a covey of California quail nestled down for a while behind our tent at Point Reyes. We're back in California but hope to continue our adventures.

Back to Kerouac

Trip is winding down. We are in Pittsburgh, dealing with some tough family situations. Pittsburgh, again, is a good town. We are hanging out in my brother's back yard.Summer rain in Pittsburgh is very nostalgic, and very soothing. Cardinals are singing their little hearts out- "Birdie! Birdie! Birdie!" Kate is reading a book about peace activists during WW1. I am coming to the end of Carlos Fuentes A CHANGE OF SKIN, a strange and very powerful novel, maybe a touch too long. We have kayaked on the Allegheny River, visited the town of Emsworth where I grew up, joined my great niece and nephew and their parents at the Aviary, Children's Museum, etc. Nice trip, again, with some tough situations. Tomorrow my sister in law will drive us to her daughter's house in Mt. Lebanon, Kristen will take us to a hotel near the airport and we will fly home on Tuesday I started out writing about ON THE ROAD, which I finished some time ago. Again, quite a book. A movie version will be released in the US soon, it has already appeared in Europe. Kerouac was, I think, a misunderstood writer. His focus really isn't on carousing and wild sex so much as for a search for a deeper sense of life and meaning for it all. Travel, again, was a search for epiphanies, something to root him. He found it all to be transitory, in a Buddhist sense, but his awareness of this helped him appreciate the AHA! experiences when they occurred, and the melancholy aspects of their fleeting nature. His descriptions of people and places were fabulous when his character Sal Paradise traveled alone. When he traveled with Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassidy), their pace was frantic - Dean moved too quickly to focus on anything outside of his own desperation. These sections are also fascinating, in a very sad way. But it raises the question, what is travel for? Kicks? Rushes? Epiphanies? I'd say no. The real reason for it is to experience the unfamiliar, both with people and in natural settings. Kate and I like to place ourselves in situations where we compare ourselves and our lives to other peoples', or to compare different ecosystems with ours. Hopefully these experiences broaden us, help us take a range of perspectives on life, and see the world as much huger than our day to day realities. There are epiphanies, to be sure, but sometimes the drudgery is just as important... everything fits together. I hope I have expressed this. This is it from the road, I will probably make connecting comments from Oakland.