Archive for the ‘California’ Category

Hidden Surprises

There was a steady hot wind coming down out of the the coastal hills.  As I scanned the hillside nothing was moving save the undulating waves of dried grass.  Earlier I thought that I saw a small deer moving into a brushy area, but now everything was still, not a bird, not a squirrel, nothing.  I began thinking of another similar place when I was walking through buck-brush down a hot canyon, and my canteen was bone dry.  The brush forced force me towards the center of the draw where the walls became steeper and I moved into a deep narrow ravine.  It was shaded with overgrowth and I could feel the temperature drop by several degrees. At that point  I thought that I heard a gurgling noise;  I looked down, and YES  there  was a small stream of water falling into a little pool.  As I reached down to scoop up a handful of the precious stuff  I saw movement beneath the surface.  There were fish!  I saw tiny trout about two inches long swimming about in the cool water.  I am still amazed at what I found hidden down there in the bottom of that canyon on a hot and dry California  summer afternoon.

up, up, and away!

The sun had just come up, we grabbed some coffee, and headed out for a day trip to the Sacramento River Delta. We started south on  county road 98 at a leisurely pace when we spotted some hot air balloons up ahead coming out of the west. They were low and coming closer; we could see that we were going to intersect their path across the road just up ahead. I soon pulled over and we got out to take some pictures. Just then the balloon’s ground crew pulled up right behind us. As we admired the colorful designs* and spoke to the crew, they said that they usually fly out of Napa Valley but that they were fogged in on this morning.
After sharing a few stories we got back on the road going south through farmland, occaisionally spotting a Red-tailed Hawk or two soaring above us. Continuing toward the Delta the wind began to pick up and then, appropriately, we came upon a wind farm. I was amazed at the massive size of those things; all those huge blades rotating slowly in the wind gave a surreal look to the surrounding landscape.
Next we arrived at the town of Rio Vista on the Sacrament River. The area was much the same as I remembered it; Hap’s Bait Shop was still there, and Robin spotted Foster’s Bighorn, a restaurant that she had enjoyed in years past.
Turning back north we went upriver towards Sacramento, driving casually along the levee road through small river towns. But then we ran into a traffic jam; apparently this was the weekend of the Courtland Pear Fair. After a short delay we finally made our way through the area (without getting any pears), and returned home on the last leg of the trip.

*The balloons owned by Balloons Above the Valley are each named after a different Space Shuttle.

photo from noehill.com

Beginning at Putah creek, I’m traveling south through a narrow valley in the Pacific foothills. Along the way I’m passing through groves of oak trees interspersed with the “digger” pine. The hills on the west are covered with “buckbrush” and chemise, along with more oaks and pines. Continuing along, a variety of wildlife is spotted. There are wild turkeys, valley quail, an occasional gray squirrel, and black-tailed deer.

I finally end up in a large valley and come upon a monument  commemorating  a couple of young men who had come up from New Mexico with their families and settled in the area.  With promises to improve the land, they were given a Mexican land grant of approximately 40,000 acres which was called the Rancho Los Putos, a name  taken from the previously mentioned creek.

Nearby there is a restored “adobe” built by one of the men by the name of  Jaun Filipe Pena.  Standing at that spot the imagination is stimulated,  and it brings up images of ” fandangos”, and wild roaming grizzly bears that were once native to the area.

Now, interstate 80 cuts across the northern edge of the valley, and I find an on ramp heading east back to civilization.