Day 3: Tuesday June 5th 2007 |
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Driving to Calistoga |
Story of this Forest |
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How trees become petrified |
A petrified giant redwood |
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Santa Rosa was interesting but only Mildly so. There seemed to be all kinds of eateries and lounges however my timing to visit these was off. So, I found a cool little coffee joint amongst the one way streets of the downtown and ordered my nickname sake of a chai latte. the Lonely Latte Lappin Lunatic with a chai headed out towards the petrified forests and scalding hot water geysers on the back roads near wine country. Things I missed:John Medica's Castles, The Charles M Schulz Peanuts Museum, The rolling hills of Sonoma were just absolutely gorgeous. Wineries proudly boasting their wares with signs enticing tourists to wine tastings lined each side of every highway around. I was on a mission, so I noted the wineries and kept on truckin'. I arrived at the Petrified Forest of California in Calistoga and decided the $6 entrance fee was worth it for this interesting roadside attraction.Inside the building that guarded the entrance, I was rewarded with a museum and gift shop lined with pretty rocks and minerals (none of which were from this location) and wonderous displays of petrified wood from all over the world. Once inside the garden, I walked the nearly half mile long trail and saw interested petrified trees. They were turned to stone over a long arduous process of replacing the wood with sand and ash from nearby volcanic activity. Robert Louis Stevenson had visited this very sight more than 120 years before, but I am sure it was no less impressive today. Then I headed up the road to another roadside attraction, Old Faithful Geyser of California. |
Another petrified giant redwood |
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The Robert Louis Stevenson Tree |
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Napa Landscape |
Napa Landscape |
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After leaving the Petrified Forest, I entered Napa county. Napa is famed the world over for its adult beverage industry. The fuel of duels, seductions and revelry all of which I have experienced in excess at some point. I wasn't interested in the wine tours or tastings today. I wanted to see what most people don't or simply pass by on their way from winery to winery. The old faithful Geyser was one of those. Upon entering the building that served as the entrance to the Geyser, i noticed the place served multiple purposes. It was all at once a Gift Shop, an seismic monitoring station, a weather outpost, and local tall tale exchange. It also had some interesting displays about geothermal energy. I had to move aside as a professional film crew made their way out from the geyser area. Apparently they were filming nature's fireworks for some kind of show which i would later discover was some sort of motorcycle touring show for television. I payed my $5 (a one dollar discount for having AAA, although i don't have triple a yet, the greeter was very insistent that i was a member) and strolled inside. Before i arrived at the geyser area itself, i found a pin full of fainting goats along the path. Adding yet more quirkyness to an already strange stop. I arrived at the lake sorrounding a mound of rock with steam rolling out of the top. It looked like a geyser!! The literature and signs indicated that the geyser would blow its top every 20 minutes or so and this is what made it an old faithful geyser. I enjoyed a smoke, lamented my broken heart some more and waited for the show to begin. A few minutes later I heard and felt grumblings within the earth and shortly was rewarded with a few brief but vigorous spurts of boiling water shooting straight up into the air. This show lasted about a minute and was gone. I was impressed but wished for more. Liberals and only children always wanting more!!! As I gathered the motivation to exit the attraction, i noticed yet two more weird quirks, a carnival mirror which had once been on the Santa Cruz Boardwalk in the 1930's and a sketch of the Geyser eruption by Charles Schultz famed peanuts illustrator. Apparently he had visited the Geyser years ago and produced a drawing which found its way encased in plastic and hung on the side of an outbuilding. Definately a worthy stop. |
Old Faithful Geyser |
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Snoopy at the Old Faithful |
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Fainting Goats |
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California 29 near Middleton |
Clear Lake |
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Lower Lake Jail |
Big Canyon Rd, Near Clear Lake |
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Upon arriving in the town of Middleton i found a geothermal visitor's center. I thought for sure they would have the downlow on some good hot springs in the area. My excitement turned to disappointment when i found that they were closed on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Just my luck. However near the entrance was a map showing area attractions and other points of interest. The map also showed places to find minerals within the county. One of the places just happened to coincide with the drive I was taking to Clear Lake. It said i could find Serpentine along the drive. I had no idea what serpentine was nor what it looked like but it sounded fun to try to find some cool rocks.As I approached the town of Middleton, I noticed some blue looking rocks on the side of the road which I now beleive to be lapis lazuli. I had never before seen blue rocks in my life. I stopped and picked a few up. I am not sure if this was serpentine or not. In the mineral identification guides i have found, it shows serpentine as having a greenish color. |
Big Canyon Rd Near Clear Lake |
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After picking up some fascinating rocks i moved along to the town of Clear Lake. This was a very sleepy little town. I stopped by the lake, the largest freshwater lake in California, for a break from the road, took some pictures and some deep breaths of the cool clean air and went back to Lower Lake just a mile or two from Clear Lake and ate lunch. I visited the Old Jail in Lower Lake. It sure would be terrible to be put in there. It seems they had to build it because of the popularity of local mining had brought an increase in miscreants and law breakers. My self esteem would not let me entertain thoughts that i somehow belonged in there. Built in 1876 by a local stone mason with local materials the jail is one of the smallest in the United States. |
I then took a drive along Big Canyon drive a poorly maintained yet beautifully scenic road that doubled back to Middleton. I was hoping to find some rumored hot springs along the route, but ended up with just as rewarding amazing vistas, gorgeous postcard quality photo ops, and some more of those blue rocks which i had only seen in one other place so far. A little bit down the road there was a telephone pole with a board with a heart painted on it. I found love on the road, one piece of my broken heart. This totally anonymous piece of cheer certainly brightened my day. I wondered if the person who made it would ever know that they made someone just a tad bit happier? I never found the hot springs.... Other historic points of interest in Lake County can be found here. |
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Bear Creek Vista |
Cache Creek |
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After finishing the big canyon drive, I started to head towards the central valley and further beyond to the sierra mountains. I encountered a landslide along the way at the lake colusa county line. I then made stops at the Bear Creek vista, Cache Creek, the cowboy camp, and took in the scenery between cortina and blue ridge. It looked like a John Wayne movie and except for the roads and occasional power lines, was untouched from the days of the wild wild west. Learn more about Colusa County here. |
Cache Creek |
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Cache Creek Cowboy Camp |
Blue Ridge Near Williams, CA |
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Farm Country Next Left |
CHERRIES!!! |
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I then Emerged into the central valley near Williams, CA. I was immediately greeted with a series of signs along the road advertising fresh fruits, healthy fiber, and ice cream with quirky phrases and catchy jingles. I knew I was now in farm country, the "produce basket of the world" and the thought of a bag of my favorite fresh fruit brought a smile to my face and an irresistible urge to stop and pick up enough cherries to make me sick. As I continued across the valley i was greeted with a rainstorm that seemed to line the middle of the valley. The clouds loomed more ominous that the 2000 foot sutter buttes in the distance. I took a photo of myself while driving and eating a cherry. I do not reccommend these kinds of driving habits to anyone but i was having fun and a few rules of driving certainly weren't going to interfere. |
Rainstorm, Sutter Buttes |
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Is this safe? |
Rainbow |
As I approached the town of colusa, I received a phone call from my freind in the Red Bluff vicinity to come up and tour his farm. Just perfect timing, I was less than 5 miles from the 5 interstate and about an hour and a half from his farm. So I headed up and spent the night chatting over old times with a fellow activist from back in the Journey for Justice days. We talked about medical cannabis and the different varieties as well as the best methods for growing. He cooked a wonderful macrobiotic meal for dinner. Just the thing we needed to curb that sudden hunger. I showed him my rocks after learning his interest in gold mining and mineral collecting. He was without knowledge as to the identity of those rocks too. The next morning we got a late start, but after some great conversation and a brief glimpse of his rock maps, I headed out. |
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All in All, it was another wonderful day, filled with fun, beauty, and education covering 186 miles in 8 hours. |
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This page and photos are property of Scott Bledsoe who may be contacted by email at flacan_2000 at yahoo.com |
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