Trip 9 - California Dreamin'

On this trip we set out to immerse ourselves in the culture and the nature of California. To discover its textures and see some of its natural wonders. We discover that California is very big. It is not a state that you can just pass through, it is, more than any other place we have visited, more like another country. It is a land dominated by mountains, the spaces between and like nowhere else, water.
Our start in the heavily populated area to the East of Los Angeles, known as the Inland Empire, is crowded into the lowlands surrounded by magnificent mountains. The feeling is of a cauldron which is trying to boil over the mountains to the fresh air of the rest of the state.
To the South is a band of Desert, which is the buffer to Mexico, which we did not explore on this trip.
We travelled North through the mountains (everywhere in California you can see mountains) to the desert, and on again to the huge Central Valley, mile after mile of intensive agriculture. Culture here is dominated by food, flatness, low income and trying to impact on the 'sameness' of the flat lands through music and festival. It is the communication and administrative corridor that links all other areas of California.
To the East is the huge mountain chain of the Sierra Nevada which clearly demonstrates the magnificence of the natural world, both in its geology and nature, reflected in the pysche and pride of most Californians. It is Eldorado, dominated by Gold!
To the West of the Central Valley are the coastal mountains, San Francisco and the magnificent coast. More isolated cultures, from mixed resources, communities seperated by mountains.
To the North of the Central Valley more mountains and a culture which looks more North towards Oregon than South to Sacremento.
This blog details our journey through California, where we pick and choose, or just scratch the surface, of this diverse and beautiful state.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Ride up the Oregon Coast


On Tuesday the sun was shining and the sky was blue so we packed a picnic and drove up the coast to visit the Samuel H. Boardman State Park for the day. This is a 12 mile strech of coast north of Brookings.
The trouble with Oregon Beaches (and I suspect that this is also true of Californian beaches, if not all beaches) is that though they are quite spectacular and special as individual beaches, when you describe or photograph them they all sound/look the same. Having said that we did see many beautiful beaches, some of which were accessible to us. From cliff top headlands we could see sweeping vistas of sandy bays and other headlands, lots of islands, but also some arches that had been created by the waves. . We spent some time watching the waves as there was a nice swell, though it wasn't too windy. Some of the rocky outcrops and islands forced the waves into lovely patterns and we were fascinated by the size and raw power of the waves rolling in and breaking either on rocks or sand.
I tried to gets some photos which demonstrated these feelings/observations, but it is very difficult to do that.
The land is coast was almost all temperate rainforest which comes right down to the cliffs, so many views were found by wlking through the forests, which in themselves were quite spectacular, though not on the scale of the Giant Redwood forests, as usual we were also on the lookout for birds and animals and I managed to get pics of a couple.
This was a great day and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time just wave watching.
Posted by fastrak at 7:46 AM

2 comments:

  1. AMERICAN ADVENTURESNovember 5, 2011 at 8:19 AM

    Stunning photos - great to see that Oregon does get sun and blue skies. We loved it despite it rained every day so you are so lucky to see it at its best. We will return!

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  2. GazNovember 12, 2011 at 2:39 PM

    I echo those comments - its been about 30 years since I was in Oregon. We used to call in at Coos Bay, Eureka and Portland. Hope to persuade my wife to do some similar trips in an RV......

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