The following is a piece of my catalog of travels from the great state of Virginia to the great state of California, up the coast to Washington (also great), and then back east, back home. Nothing in this account has been embellished and/or fabricated. It all really and truly happened. For real. Seriously. I would not lie to you.
Thursday, June 15, 2006CALIFORNIA
CALIFORNIA REST IN PEACE SIMULTANEOUS RELEASE CALIFORNIA SHOW YOUR TEETH SHE'S MY PRIESTESS I'M YOUR PRIEST - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Fire and Brimstone and LavaWe left Reno in the morning and headed up Route 89 to Lassen Volcanic National Park. I've never seen a volcano before. Have you?
We were over 10,000 feet above sea level and the temperature dropped dramatically at the top. I never thought I'd see snow in California in June, but that's exactly what we saw. And there was a lot of it. Probably about four feet on the side of the road at one point. Kinda weird.
Dan has a thing about heights. He didn't want to drive to the top so I left him on the side of the road and kept going. Ha!
At the top, I didn't stay long. Just long enough to have some dude take my picture, look around, inhale the mountain air, and smile.
After picking Dan up, we drove back down and stopped to check out the sulfur springs. It stank like rotten eggs. P.U.! Gross! Still cool though.
Redwoods National ForestWow wow wow wow wow! We arrived at the Redwoods National Forest around 7:00 p.m. The sun was going down and we had been rushing to get there in order to absorb the precious few minutes of daylight that were left. As Dan drove down the virtually deserted road through the forest, I was staring up through the sunroof. I couldn't take my eyes off the top of the trees. This was because I could barely see them!
We stopped in a small parking lot that was announcing "The Big Tree". We got out and walked into the woods and came upon it. Calling this marvel of nature "The Big Tree" does not do it justice. 340 feet tall, with a 27 foot diameter. I was in awe. The sign said that the tree was "circa 1500 years old"! And not only that, but the sign looked faded and aged itself. So I deduced that "The Big Tree" was really circa 1,530 years old. Boo yah!
What a tree, man. Seriously. If you're ever in Northern California, you have to check this thing out! I'll be angry at you if you don't. Go see "The Big Tree". Go! And while you're there, you can walk down any number of paths through the forest and breathe the trees' air. It's incredible.
Next stop ... Washington.
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