Californication & Jeff and Steve's Party

September 1, 2001

About 2 months ago I received an invitation from Steve to come to his and Jeff's BBQ. Since they live near Sacramento, I didn't think I would make it. He didn't either, but wanted to offer anyway. Then about 2 weeks before the date, Vic and I were checking out airfares west and found a good one. I hadn't been asked to do anything else for Labor Day so, in a last minute bit of stupidity I bought the ticket and went. I was in CA almost exactly 36 hours and since I flew out of CRW about 3 hours away, I figured out that I spent about 26 hours driving and flying just to get there. I'm not sure really what the hell I was thinking (especially as I boarded my tiny puddle jumper plane), but I had a great time and would do it again.

I arrived in CA at 8:00 at night and adventure #1 started when I got my rental car. I had never driven in CA before and was pretty nervous. Here when the roads are crowded people slow down some. In CA they just get pissed off. The drive to the hotel wasn't bad and I was asleep soon since my brain was telling me it was past midnight. I awoke at 8:30am Saturday morning ready to see what the area had to offer. The only problem was that it was 5:30 CA time. So I had to stall a little but was on the road before 7:00. I'm pretty easy to entertain and find little things I'm not accustom to very cool. Every time I go to CA I am amazed at how flat the central valley is and how far you can see. Also, this time I could not get over how beautiful the miles of gold grass with the occasional green tree was. You can see I have lots of pics of this. I don't know anything about the area, and had no idea where to go. I picked the Sonora area when I saw that it was close because a friend is from there. I drove east towards Nevada and visited some old mining towns. I saw Copperopolis, Sonora (home of Devin), Coulmbia, and Murphys. All the towns looked like a newer painted version of an old western. If it hadn't been for the paved streets with cars, you could almost see the horses tied out front. Columbia in particular had been an old gold mining town that had not been modernized. When the gold and money ran out back in the 1860's the town was just abandon almost. In 1945 the CA government bought the town and turned it into a state park. The street has only recently been paved I was told. The old Pony Express and Wells Fargo offices are still there, and the horse hitching rails still line the street. It was very cool. I ate lunch in an old saloon in Murphys. Not a fixed up saloon for the tourist, but an original 1800's one that was still working today.

I was pushed for time, but had to run a few miles more into the Sierra to the Calaveras Big Tree State Park. The Giant Sequoias were awesome. Sorry my pics don't show the whole tree, but it was hard to take. I didn't know there are different kinds of Sequoias. The ones on the coast are taller and the ones here are bigger around. A friend tells me that the reason they can only grow in a few places is that capillary pressure runs out in a Sequoia because they are so tall. They have to get their moisture from the moisture in the air. After a quick visit I headed back to Sacramento. I was dirty, sweaty, and sunburned and needed a shower before the party.