A cooling off trip

Murphys, Ca -- Back home in time for the Fourth of July, and 100 degree heat, I need to share a few items from our recent vacation trip to the California coast.
If you have not been to this part of the world, it is hard to imagine the variety and the beauty of the coast. That's true north and south, but for this trip we went first to the San Francisco Bay area for some sailing, and then drove north for a week or so of camping with friends and family.

Here's a rare photo of s/v Good News with Oakland in the background, heading out for the bay. It turned out to be a lot windier than we expected, so it was more exciting than planned.

The next day I decided to pull down a sail that needed minor repair, and replace it. Bad decision, as we ended up with a jammed halyard that I will have to fix next time.

I did not get our boat problem fixed, but I was able to help out a neighbor who cranked me up his/her mast to retrieve a loose shackle and lanyard. It is easy: all you do is sit in the Bosun's Chair while someone else does all the hard work. Easy in a calm harbor, that is. The top is about 50 feet up.

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We then drove north on Highway 101, aka the Redwood Highway, and made an overnight stop at  Richardson Grove State Park, along the Eel River, the first test of our new "instant" tent. It worked fine and the next day we drove on up through Coastal Redwood forests and along the coast to our destination: Patrick's Point State Park, where we settled in for almost a week with family and friends.

Here's Pat enjoying a bit of sunshine at our campsite. Just beyond the trees on the right is the top of the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, a place we visited for sunrises and sunsets.

 This is the view from just south of the camp area, looking north into the little harbor at Trinidad. Picturesque, and fully equipped with good clam chowder and colorful people.

Pat with daughter Ruth on a hike. The extended family present included 18 people! Ruth and Brian and their kids, Brian's folks and sister Tammy and her kids, his cousin and his family, and our friends and neighbors Gary and Jeri Carson Hull.

Just another stunning view.

Jeri and Gary, probably looking for the warm sunshine.

Agate Beach at the state park. Yes, you can find and bring home agates. 

On the way to and from Oregon we stopped by a meadow at Prairie Creek State Park to share a lunch and watch the elk. The new babies were gamboling on the meadow. Really.

And then to the southern Oregon coast. This is at, you guessed it, Arch Rock, just north of the California border.

Our next-to-last night was spent at Gold Beach, Oregon, where our room balcony overlooked the Rogue River very near where it meets the sea.

We drove through the Trinity Alps area, including Weaverville, spent one night in a so-so motel, and got home about ten days after we left.

The views were obviously spectacular, but the best memories are of the family and friends we were with, the new people we met and simply being together in a wonderful place and time.

We did have one serious discussion with Gary and Jeri, trying to decide what we are vacationing from, since we are retired. Gary suggested we were vacationing from volunteering, which is probably as good an answer as any other.

How we spent our summer (Which was way too short)

Hanging out in a waterfront pub in Oakland

Camp Connell, Ca- As I write this blog, there is new snow on the ground at our cabin home in the mountains, and a bit more in the forecast.
Summer was not very long, but it was busy, and I have been remiss at posting blogs so here comes a recap.

We jumped the season a bit in the Spring by going off to the desert near the Mexican border for an adventure with our friends Gary and Jeri in their BARV (Big-Assed-RV). Here we are sitting and eating after roaming the country in their Jeep, admiring wildflowers and rocks and stuff.Enjoying mild weather at Anza-Borrego State Park

As soon as the snow went away at home, which I recall was June, I started working on The Road Project. Our lane has been so damaged by snow and runoff that we had to have the road repaired, which took a lot longer ($$$$) than you would expect to arrange. I started getting bids in May and the job was finished in September.Zack was one of the laborers hired for the road crew


We managed to squeeze in a few sailing days on San Francisco Bay, after having the boat hauled out of the water at Berkeley Marine and bottom paint applied, and the electrical system worked on. Sailing on a near-perfect day
Me talking.
Pat working.

We also ran down the hill a couple of times to house-and-horse sit for Ruth and Brian and family so they could travel. Pat loves communing with the horses and chickens.Pat, Rocky and Teddi Jackson talking horse talk

Zack's daughter Katie visited her mom in the summer, than came back looking even more grown up than ever and ready for her eighth grade year at Junior High. Ruth's boy Connor is now attending the same school, which is neat, and his sister Delaney is now a High School Freshman at Brett Harte High School. It is great to have all our grandchildren so nearby. Here's some fun with the family.Zack looking good!
Connor, me and Brian at White Pines Lake
Ruth does not like wormsKatie at home during a photo session


We spent a lot of time this summer at Big Trees State Park, and even more time getting over the last hard winter (cleaning up downed trees, etc.) and getting firewood ready for the coming cold season.
A favorite spot along the North Grove Trail


So now Fall is here, the wood is stacked, and the snow has started. So Pat and I are house-sitting for a friend who has gone off to Mexico, at what we thought was below the snow line.

Guess what.

Retirement scorecard -- Give me a B!

Camp Connell, CA - I had simple goals when I retired six short years ago after 42 years working as a journalist:

-- Avoid wearing ties and suits;

-- Read more;

-- Complete a family history project begun in the 1930s by my grandmother;

-- Avoid meetings and committees;

-- Be outdoors more, and --hopefully -- use hiking and skiing as a way to stay in decent physical condition;

-- Go sailing more often;

-- Play more music;

-- Do something positive to protect the environment for those who follow;

-- Watch the trees, and my children and grandchildren, grow.

Here's a report on what I have done, with my wife's help, and the things that still need work.

I rarely put on a tie or suit. Almost never. They gather dust in the closet, and I am glad. I believe I actually am averaging once a year: four funerals and one formal dinner. In our mountain community we wear shorts to church in summer and snow boots in winter. If this were graded, I'd demand an "A."

I have read a lot of books. Currently I am reading two books a week, sometimes three. I was reading five a week but couldn't remember what I was reading! Most are paperback fiction by popular authors. I've read or re-read almost all the Tony Hillerman books about Navajo country, lots of Dick Francis' horsey mysteries and every spy/intrigue/cop novel I can find. I also have read extensively on the history and cultures of Scotland and Ireland, read about the history of the Mother Lode region where I live, and even read about Tristan Jones' sailing adventures, Bill Bryson's travels in Australia, some Leon Uris and MacKinley Cantor and "The Shack." A lot of my books come from the neighborhood used book store, and I have a paper bag full of books on my bedside table. I am currently reading a yellowed 1941 edition of an unusually well-written book called "The Last Frontier" by Howard Fast.
Lots of dead Lamonts in the churchyard near Dunoon, Scotland

My lack of progress on the family history project is an embarrassment. I've done more research, including trips across the country tracking LaMonts from earlier generations, and visited Scotland where the graveyards are filled with dead Lamonts, and Ireland where no one remembers them because they left for America in 1740. But despite good intentions, I have barely begun to write any of this into readable form except for a biography of my father which I posted as a blog. Maybe this winter. (I know, this deserves a "F.")

For the first few years after retirement I did quite well avoiding committees and meetings, and then I started volunteering for things that seemed interesting. At this point I am serving on two committees, two non-profit boards and one search committee, all of which I care about. I have mixed feelings about meetings, but once committed I tend to stay with it. (For mental health, I play poker with friends on a regular basis. We are definitely NOT a committee, though it is a non-profit endeavor.)
Not so hard at work in the South Grove of Big Trees

I have definitely been outdoors much more than in my office-bound days. I did a lot of beach-walking when we stayed in Florida for two years, and since coming home to the mountains hiking is a part of my routine. In the summer I probably hike (or saunter) 12 miles a week, sometimes more, most of it as a volunteer doing patrols or guided walks at the local state park. The average drops in winter when the snows come, but I still manage to ski and snowshoe fairly often. But my manly physique tends to portly, and the only changes I have made is that my belly has moved lower with age, and my butt seems to be disappearing. But I am OK with that.

Our time for sailing has suffered from too much other stuff, and distance. But we still have our sailboat Good News docked in Alameda, and we get down onto the water when we can. It's great therapy.

I am not satisfied with the time I take for music. I am just lazy. Unless I have promised to play guitar or sing somewhere, or attend a music function, the instruments remain encased. I do own three more instruments, having gained a mandolin and a dobro, and a "boat guitar," but I can't claim to have made much progress. This is true even though last weekend I sang "The Mississippi Squirrel Revival" with friends as a warm-up act at a local concert. Progress still needed.

I am spending a lot of time on my local environment, working in different ways to try and make things better. Pat and I both volunteered for six weeks of work in Yosemite National Park with the Yosemite Association after a 30-year love affair with that most beautiful of national parks. And we work regularly as docents at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. I lead guided walks among the Giant Sequoias and break trail for snowshoe walks in winter. This year I began working on the Trail Maintenance Crew. We normally work two days a week clearing trails (neglected for years by the idiot legislators who can't understand the need for park maintenance) and doing minor repair work. We have a great team filled with energy and spirit, and have managed to clean up every mile of every major trail in the 6,000 acre park this summer. It is enormously rewarding and a great learning experience. (Who else gets to see a bear in the wild on the way to work?) Our group includes experts on everything from biology to botany, wildlife to construction, so I learn something new every day I am in the woods. Join us when you are ready.
The work in the park led me to serve as a board member for the Calaveras Big Trees Association, the outfit that raises money for the park (so it won't fall apart due to neglect by the state). Concerns about my neighborhood in the forest also prompted me to serve on the board of a grass roots group called Ebbetts Pass Forest Watch which promotes good forestry practice, not the clear-cutting rape-the-land type practiced by some of our neighboring timber companies. I've learned a bit about Timber Harvest Plans (almost always approved by the state), and biodiversity and habitat protection. I just hope it is not too late.

Finally, Pat and I have had a wonderful chance to watch our grandchildren, and their parents, grow. Shortly after Pat and I moved to the mountains daughter Ruth and her husband Brian and children Delaney and Connor moved only 20 miles away, and we see them frequently. Then our son Zack moved here for a job, and last Spring his daughter Katie came to live with us. Katie and Delaney attend the same school, and Zack and I are co-coaches for Connor's soccer team.
So we now have our own family village.

I hope I have miles to go before I sleep, but I have no complaints. I just hope Grandmother LaMont's ghost will forgive me for not getting on with that family history project.

Not a bad place to do a little "work"