The Untitled Post

Posted on November 1, 2012 by TheJessicaness

Caleb at airport with $3 cart. Green bags weigh 101 pounds total.

Less than 24 hours to go. Caleb has his seabag packed with uniform outfits, another bag with shoes, towels, sheets, etc., and a carry-on with electronics, plane tickets, and deodorant. I am to drop him off at the airport tomorrow with all other information being top-secret for homeland security purposes. In preparation for his deployment we have put a hold on his cell phone, bought some pants more fit for the desert environment, and got me a full power of attorney.

Packing is the easy part; we’ve been on many trips, but the emotions that we are feeling now don’t compare to what we know is coming. This will be our third trip down deployment lane. The first time he was gone for six months, we were dating, and I stayed busy with friends. The second time was seven months, newly weds, and I had a job to preoccupy my days. Now, I can expect him back some time next year; we have been married four and a half years and this will be our first anniversary apart; and I have two dogs to help annoy me all day and cuddle and bark and stomp on me at night.

Caleb will be on and off a boat over seas. His work place will change, his crew will change as people transfer and advance (make rank), and his life in America will continue without him. He hasn’t seen his mom in four years, his dad has been an emotional roller coaster for the last few months, his sister has amazing kids that he will miss hanging out with, and he hasn’t seen his brother since he got married in November 2010.

Sparky has been through one deployment and I’m sure Piggy will be fine. We are debating keeping the house while he is away. I don’t mind living out of the car and it helps us save money on bills, though I’ve been offered many places to visit and after I burden my hosts I can use my rent money towards camping fees. Being gone also makes it easier on my mind than sitting in our house alone, but there is the hassle of packing, moving, and searching for a new place. Though I think it’s something I like – not staying in one place for too long.

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Managing Mania

Posted on October 25, 2012 by TheJessicaness

Oceanside Beach

The dogs were restless last night. There was plenty of wildlife making noise and the temperature was a warm 41 degrees. I get sleep between dogs stepping on my hair and/or bladder throughout the night. Hwy 58 has some spectacular views for our morning drive. In the park is Soda Lake. It looks like a large pool of baking soda. Outside the park we see cows, a future solar panel ranch, oil fields, and the sun lighting the hills around all the beautiful turns.

We stop in Oceanside for lunch hoping to return to Robin’s Nest Cafe. Last time we were here it was sunset and we seemed to have the place to ourselves. Today there are many people eager to eat, shop, swim, fish, sit, talk, and walk their dogs. We join the crowd on the boardwalk and find out the cafe has been closed long enough for another restaurant to take its place. We order some veggie fajitas (comes with corn cob) and guacamole to share at Rockin Baja Coastal Cantina.

me on dock with seal, close-up on Flickr

We get the dogs and head to the beach where they are not allowed, take a picture, and then put them back in the car so I can get a close-up photo of a seal on the dock. We get some gas and then get back into traffic. I’ve been to 47 of the United States and the worst traffic areas are Miami, L.A., and San Diego – and they don’t even have snow to contend with.

Home after 3:00 pm. In the mail – cheap bills, on the answering machine – a threatening call from Geico to be liable for the accident. I will be doing a post on the details of that story soon. We were able to get an estimate appointment, at the same shop that repaired our car two weeks ago, for 4:30 pm. Back home we are able to finish unpacking, do some laundry, awe at the new grass in the backyard, shower, and eat some dinner.

This is the end of this trip – physically, but I still have pictures to add to my posts so I will get to relive this trip for another day or two. Then I have house cleaning, bills, yard work, husband’s deployment, and dogs to tend to. Piggy was carsick more this trip than ever even with Dramamine pills and chamomile biscuits and is loving the non-motion of the bed. Sparky is making high-pitch noises in the windows. Hopefully he is ready for bed soon – it’s been a long day.

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Kings and Queens

Posted on October 24, 2012 by TheJessicaness

a room in the Muir home

Another day to sleep in. I wanted to get up early, but something told me to just lay there. Eventually showers were taken and room keys turned in. Our lateness worked out in our favor. We still get to the John Muir NHS before they open. This gives us time to walk to Safeway, a few blocks away, for breakfast. Besides being a bad ass in the protection of so many parks this guy also had a manly beard, some well written friends, a happy family, and an enormous home full of food and books.

Nice to imagine his heaven on the hill instead of the small sanctuary in a busy metropolis that it is today. Also on the property is a building dedicated to part of the Juan Bautista de Anza trail and the influence the settlers had on the locals as they travelled from Culiacan Rosales, about 600 miles south in Mexico from the border in Arizona, to San Francisco which is the direction we were headed.

The building that once contained the Ford assembly plant is now the address to many businesses – clothing store, restaurant, gym, and Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front NHP visitor center. The park was proposed in 2001 and this VC was established this spring with no permanent displays yet in the museum. I’m happy to learn how so many people were able to work together without prejudice and be so conservative in the products they used.

view from Rosie the Riveter visitor center

The sad part is that it took a world war – a common fear of win or lose for people to act right. There were some similar emotions around the Sept. 11 event spurring people to feel more American, but it also filled them with unneeded hate – something that seems to cause growth for this nation. Outside is the Marina Bay shore trail that we can follow to other historical markers of the park. We also see a soccer game in action, sailboats at sea, an old man feeding the birds, a lady eating lunch with her dog, and the bridge and skyline of San Francisco across the bay.

Leftover pizza and we are back on the road. We debated going to the Fisherman’s Wharf for loaves of bread, but decide against the big city this time. We were going to visit Eugene O’Neill’s final refuge, but reservations are needed and we were unable to make an appointment from the unanswered phone – which is just incentive to return.

Continuing south, we find our way out to Pinnacles NM – a volcano that changed course because of the shifting of the San Andreas Fault. With some help from the elements too it became the pile of spires and caves that it is today. We hiked through the Bear Gulch cave – almost disappointed by a tunnel on the way. It’s so much fun to explore the large rocks and tight spaces of this part of the park. Next time we will hike to the peak. There are plenty of camping spots but we will continue to Carrizo Plains NM where we can see many rabbits and varied species of bird along its dirt roads.

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Piggy, Pete, and Politics

Posted on October 23, 2012 by TheJessicaness

Lake Shasta

We sleep in. The trees help keep the sun from reaching our tent – usually our last alarm if the snooze button was hit or forgotten in the car. The tent was moist inside and out. It had rained all night. The campsite was 30 miles from our morning destination – Lake Shasta Caverns located down a nice road with a “trailer” yacht campsite along the way.

We walk anxiously inside at 9:30 am and find out the first tour of the morning leaves in 30 minutes. Tickets are $24 each. I’m about to decline, but with the ticket comes a boat ride with informative Eric and a bus ride and cave tour by Katie full of jokes and history. We are joined by six other people – a non-talkative couple and two couples that were talking excitedly in another language. The bus ride goes up a 17% grade. Trains can handle 2% and semis up to 8% before their brakes catch on fire.

emergency escape

There are a lot of steps in this cave and plenty left to be explored that hasn’t been found yet. Bears are a popular sight around here, but we will have to be satisfied with a cell phone pic of a fresh paw print that the employees found this morning. We learned that the Grizzly bear – found on California’s state flag has not had a supportable habitat in the state since the 60s. Perhaps it’s just a good reminder of the damage that people have caused to the environment and will help us to do our part to preserve what we have left.

Next stop, Shasta State Historic Park to learn about the people who went from being miners to merchants and how they eventually built their shops out of bricks to help prevent total destruction in fires – a popular disaster still common today. Then we went to Whiskeytown NRA to learn a little more. The dogs were allowed on the trail and joined us on a 1.7 mile hike to Whiskeytown Falls at a height of 220 feet.

a section of the falls

Piggy fell off a bridge, but with her leash on I was able to keep her dry. On the way back down the trail I saw a flash of yellow fur jump up a hill and the dogs wanted to chase after it. I’m not one to stay too long around possible mountain lions but I did take a picture of his paw prints in the dirt… and was secretly hoping to get a photo of one full after a meal. We would only see a gray shape in the bushes for the rest of our return.

Caleb felt like another night of pizza and beer and found Pete’s restaurant in Sacramento to be a popular choice. We joined the trivia night half way through and finished far from winning. We learned that monarch butterflies migrate to the eucalyptus trees in Pacific Grove. We talked with Rachel, our friendly sports-fan bartender; Steve, the college student studying for his psychology exam; and Mike, the guy that had trouble deciding what to put where on his pizza. We talked some politics and then called it a night.

Posted in Animals, Camping, Education, Food, Hiking, History, People, Places, Travel, Water | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Closed Crater Castle

Posted on October 22, 2012 by TheJessicaness

photo by Caleb

We are about 12 hours too late showing up to Crater Lake this morning. We were here May 1st and there was still 20 feet or more of snow. Today there is already a foot of snow, snow plows busy at work, and cars getting stuck in the snow. This time we are able to see clearly across the crater between cloud coverage and snow drifts. We are over 5000 feet in elevation and the temperature is 24 degrees.

The north entrance road and east rim drive are closed. We brave part of the west rim, but the snow is getting taller and the trail is not marked – not even the one by the visitor center. We are not the only people at the park today and we share in the excitement of being able to see parts of this amazing place and learn about its history and attempt at a Guinness world record – if they had a floating log category.

We know we are in a race against winter – fast enough to see its beauty and stay ahead of road closures. We take a detour to Lava Beds National Monument. This seems to be a trip of volcanoes past and present. This park is covered in places to explore and we get distracted at the wildlife refuge outside the park full of migrating birds. The weather is great as long as the wind doesn’t blow.

photo of Caleb

We are able to hike some less challenging caves – no helmet or knee pads required, before dark. We have our headlamps with us, but some caves are closed to protect the bats and we don’t have enough time to see them all today even though we want to. We will make dinner by the visitor center to help block the wind. Caleb did the driving today, but when he saw a sign for elk crossing and the snowstorm ahead he let me behind the wheel.

It was a neat storm to watch from the passenger seat as the snow comes at your face, but as the driver you are making sure you’re on your side of the road. We thought we might stop at a rest stop, but a semi was having a hard time finding the turn that was covered in snow and soon enough the weather cleared up and we were able to make it to Castle Crags state park.

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