"Gathering" Treasures - Part I

Sometimes friendships start in odd ways. Meeting a special woman in France last Fall, led to a brief, but most enjoyable meeting with her wonderful mother in a small Northern California farming town.

Heading toward Lake Almanor to spend a few days with friends, we were able to stop here. DH, Jasmin and I waited at Delores Amaro's fabulous shop on the main street of Willows, CA. Being a Monday the shop is usually closed, however Corey of Tongue In Cheek arranged for her mom to open it for us.

Delores and her partner Holly have treasures and then some! Really great stuff, antiques, vintage, rustic, and some new items mixed in, all attractively displayed making one want to hire a truck right there and then and haul much of it home!

I loved the painting of the Granny Smith apples.

These silver ladles looked like something Corey herself would use in her beautiful home in Provence.

Next time we'll step outside into Gathering's pretty garden area, and I'll share our unexpected visit to the charming Amaro farm.

Pacific Ring of Fire - Lassen Peak, and a day in the great outdoors...

Lassen Peak is one of many active, dormant, or extinct volcanoes found around the Pacific Ocean in a Ring of Fire. It formed 27,000 years ago as a volcanic vent on Brokeoff Volcano's northern flank. It is one of the world's largest plug dome volcanoes, rising to an elevation of 10,457 feet. Lassen's last eruption was May 22, 1915 when the peak blew a huge, mushroom-shaped cloud of ash over 30,000 feet into the air and profoundly altered the surrounding area. Congress made this area a national park in 1916.

Mt. Lassen seen from Lake Almanor, Northern California.

As a child I had a pen pal in Vancouver BC, Canada. The main thing that has stuck in my memory all these years, was a statement she made about Vancouver's great outdoor life. She was boating in the warm sunshine in the morning, then mountain climbing and throwing snowballs in the afternoon!

Living on the English Channel I had the water but was far from any mountains. Her description of playing in water and snow made an indelible impression on me and I thought, "I'm going to do that one day".


Jasmin and new friend
Anabel boating early morning on Lake Almanor.

We loved the water and spent a lot of time admiring the beautiful mountains surrounding the lake.


Looking down on Lake Helen from the road's highest point, 8,512 feet.

Come lunchtime, sandwiches were packed and we were off driving up Mt. Lassen (about a 45 in. drive), passing steaming sulphur springs, wildflowers and lakes.

Stopping at the tree line, we set up a picnic and sat looking out toward Lake Almanor in the distance. It was hot, very few tourists, and a spectacular view.

Jasmin found volcanic rocks hard to roll, this one was certainly no pushover.......

Mama deer and her babies eyed us cautiously..........

.............and yes, there was snow at the tree line so we were able to make snowballs..........

......................and cool our hot feet!

On the way down we stopped at Emerald Lake, the prettiest lake and definitely green.

That same evening, as the sun went down, Jasmin took advantage of the water again, kayaking, riding the wave runner with our hostess.......my wonderful longtime friend Paula.........

.......and trampoline bouncing with Anabel. I have my doubts that Camp Kanata was ever this much fun!

A long, busy day.........a very long post........but a day to remember for sure.

Touch of Gold

Out in the West one often finds a bright spot around the bends in the long dusty roads. Sometimes, after looking endlessly at the map, hoping for a place to take a break, you come across a place where history is commemorated.

While continuing through Utah, the Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory Point was another stop we found very interesting.

We arrived in the heavy heat of late afternoon, just in time to view part of the last showing of an informative video in the Visitor Center. Then, watching the demonstration of the Jupiter steam engine before she shunted off to her nightly rest in a round house hidden in the landscape, we sensed how this important day must have been................May 10, 1869.



Spanning a Continent...............................

By the time America's first small railroads were operating in the 1830's, people envisioned transcontinental travel by rail. The Central Pacific railroad from the West and Union Pacific from the East employed 8,000-10,000 men to build the railroad across the country. Irish, Italian, German, ex-slaves, American Indians and Chinese workers were a volatile mix in the "Hell-on-Wheels" towns thrown up near the base camps.
Congress finally declared the meeting place of the two railroad tracks to be Promontory Summit, Utah, and two locomotives - Central Pacific's Jupiter and Union Pacific's No. 119 - pulled up to the one rail gap left in the track on May 10, 1869. With much ceremony, a golden spike was symbolically tapped and the final iron spike was driven to connect the railroads.

The Central Pacific laid 690 miles of track, the Union Pacific 1,086. They had crossed 1,776 miles of desert, rivers and mountains to bind together East and West.

Jasmin and the Golden Spike.


The railroads tied the West to the eastern states. They altered the very pace of life. Politics and the economy were forever changed. Travel into the West became safe and comfortable, visitors from the eastern states and Europe toured the New America.

Have you taken a train across America? Do you prefer trains to planes?

The simple, very simple, life......

Life takes twists and turns, especially when out on the endless roads of the American West. Beauty is lush as roads run alongside rushing rivers and meandering streams. Often it becomes desolate and lonely, scrub and sagebrush undulating for miles before halting at the foot of high, often ominous, mountain ranges.

Following an interesting visit to the Snake River Canyon, Twin Falls, Idaho, after looking toward the gorge from the Perrine Bridge (you may recall daredevil Evil Knievel attempted to jump across on a rocket powered motorcycle in 1974), we headed South again.

Now and then wildflowers helped color the dry Summer landscape.
We always pull over to read 'historic marker ahead' signs, being extremely interested in any depicting the emigrant trails which opened this nation to the West. We took this road because one map stated there was a 'ghost town' along the way.......unfortunately we never found it, so kept going in the heat of the late afternoon.

Whoa! Hold your horses!

It was another of those 'hard on the brakes and make a U-turn' moments!

She sat out there alone, forlorn. Perhaps part of that ghostly town years ago. Just a portion of a little home, now crumbling, but with cedar shakes clinging, vines clambering, and an almost, "welcome, come on in" from the open front door. The sagebrush had not yet encroached on the driveway, and we loved her simplicity.

Perhaps make an offer. A fixer-upper? A little vacation retreat? A chance for a 'bolt hole' as we English call such hideaways?

Don't you wish places such as this could tell their story, whisper in your ear, share the history of the place? There was not another building in sight until many miles down the road. No stores, no farms or ranches, and we were only passed by a few vehicles.

Of course we'll never know the story. The 'Under Contract' board is unlikely to ever be displayed. Who lived there? When? How did they make a living? Did children run through the sagebrush, dodging snakes, huge grasshoppers and unknown critters - the reason I hesitated walking up to the house?Goodbye, farewell................little house that was.

Set against the mountain backdrop and that amazing sky, I hoped that time had been kind to the family who lived there, carving a simple life from the Western land.

Great Salt Lake, Utah

While in beautiful Utah, we viewed the Great Salt Lake from two venues.
In late afternoon (above) from the North, taking a quick side trip down this gravel road........................


..............then the following morning, driving in gusty winds from Salt Lake City to the Southern end where the water was a good half mile from the shoreline. With the wind, and temperature heading toward 100 degrees, we just enjoyed the view and didn't walk out. We also had to get to the airport for our flight home.

I loved all the pictures I took and couldn't just pick out a couple - so bear with me as I'm sharing them all! The effect of the muted colors of the distant island mountains, the sands, salt deposits, and pale blue water, made one think of old faded watercolor paintings.

The interesting vegetation along the shore and the mountainous islands rising from the lake were awesome. Although it has been called 'America's Dead Sea', this vast 1,700 square mile lake provides habitat for millions of native birds, brine shrimp, shorebirds and waterfowl.

The lake has no outlet besides evaporation and has very high salinity, far saltier than sea water. It is fed by three major rivers and several streams.

Because of its unusually high salt concentration, most people can easily float in the lake as a result of the higher density. I remember when our children tried it years ago and, because we couldn't find a shower to rinse off the salt, were red and sore for the remainder of the day, not fun!

How Nature continues to astound, to assault the senses, to take our breathe away.