Snow on Breckenridge!

I haven't posted in a while but I just had to upload these shots taken today. Notice the snow on the pine in the foreground...

Live Oak

I didn't go to the SSP this weekend. Instead, I went to a place that looks a lot like it. Live Oak Music Festival is a yearly event held for three days on Father's Day weekend. The campground is by Lake Cachuma, north of Santa Barbara. Here are some pix of this happy event. Click here if your browser doesn't show images or to view them larger.


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Always more to discover

'Tis the season so I got a crew to come up to the Super Secret Place with me: my son Evan, his buddy Ryan and my trusted friend Jorgy.

Waiting to cross the tracks at the gateway, we noticed for the first time all the crates on the train with "China Shipping" written on them. I wonder if they have trains with "USA Shipping" or "Euro Shipping" containers in remote areas of China... Speaking of trains, here's a great photographic essay on hobo youth. Keep clicking on the photo for a journey you won't forget.

Anyway, just down the road from there, we saw our first calf branding. I had seen pictures but never seen it in person. What's different from the photos one may see is the crying of the calves being a little freaked out, the mothers being really freaked out and the smell of burnt hair. Other than that, I saw the cowboys give the calves a shot before being branded so I assume it was a pain killer.



There was a small crew of younger cowboys and cowgirls catching the calves with lariats. The best one was a cowgirl.



As a kid, I loved Westerns and cowboys. Now I know that cowboys are cool but so are cowgirls. : )



We took the creek road on the way to the SSP and Evan noticed a few waterfalls on the way. Of course, he and Ryan had to go investigate and they found another waterfall higher up the hill feeding the one we saw from the road. Jorgy, as always, was concerned: where are they going? Is that safe?



There are a bunch of things of interest on the way. Here's a cute stone cabin of yesteryear, a rarity in So. Cal. where everythign over fifty years old gets bulldozed (as for example my neighborhood being demolished to make way for... McMansions!)


I had a request so we stopped at the mine, the guys went up and I took a couple stills just for fun. Some of you may not appreciate graffiti art but I think there's a lot of talent out there. That said, it's another thing to spray paint "Shaka" all over town. That's not art, that's defacing.



I had gone up 2 or 3 weeks before and wasn't sure if the landscape got greener or browner so I didn't know what to excpect. I keep an eye on the webcam pointed toward the SSP but it is a little blurry. Driving up we had a surprise however: a pretty carpet of yellow flowers everywhere.



Here's a close up of the yellow flowers. I don't know what they're called so if someone does, let me know.



There were also little purple flowers, taller purple ones and some California poppies. The poppies had their own area. The point is, beautiful wild flowers everywhere. Below is a general view of the SSP.



Rain has been sparse so the creek is unfortunately starting to dwindle already. Too bad. We went down and saw all kinds all life there. We even found a Hillbilly Wally playing his Strumstick. Weird looking creature with odd-looking hairy legs... I guess the hair is an evolutionary thing to protect from ticks and mosquitoes.



We unpacked the multitude of necessities we're accustomed to, settled, ate our sandwich and went on a walk around the neighborhood. The roads are not paved which is nice, it makes for smooth walking. There are horses everywhere so the guys petted and fed the friendly ones who got close to us with the green grass on our side. Yes, the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.





Jorgy went along and he was quite taken by these big creatures. There were lotsa doggies too, all barking as we walked by. Good doggies doing their job but with their tails wagging, a sure give away. Oddly, two young dogs were chained together at one place, a simplified Cerberus version. We later met two nice ladies who told us they had shown up at their place like that. I helped unchain them and Jorgy had two friends to play with.



Of course, Evan wanted to adopt them both but... The two nice ladies had three llamas; two white females and a black male. They told us they were the original lamas, not messed with genetically or bred for traits. They were very distinguished and quite interested in us. I was afraid they would spit on us and kept my distance but we were told that they only do that when people lack respect, for example overburdening them. The black one took a particular interest in Jorgy and followed us all the way around the property. He made a big impression on me because he came to me in my dreams that night and talked to me (I swear, I didn't do drugs.) He said something about respecting animals. Here they are:



The place is very pretty, pastoral as one would say, Here's a pastoral scene I took for my friend Michael, from Tennessee, who loves tractors:



And of course, this is the West so you see this:



We went back, I barbecued thick pork chops and veggies, and watched the sun go down as the frogs in the creek were having a party. It was another full moon but we could still see the gazillion stars in the sky (sorry, no photo.) Funny thing about the outdoors, our natural rhythms come back quickly; we must have gone to bed early, close to 9.

The next morning the guys wanted to check out Lake Isabella so up we went. We stopped in Havilah at the courthouse and spoke to a local historian. Apparently, the town had in its heyday over 3,000 people, 3 hotels, a hospital and a couple bars. Mind you, the courthouse was THE Kern County courthouse, not Bakersfield. The place was full of memorabilia, photos and more. The historian showed us a model he had built of the town and shared what he knew for the little time we were there. I could have spent all day hanging out with that guy but we went on. I showed the guys the lake, we had lunch in Kernville and went to the river. Some folks were having fun in the water.





We went back to the SSP and hung out.



The guys took out the guns, lined up some Coke cans and executed them. Jorgy gets a little freaked out by the sound but he was OK. We made sure he stood behind the line of fire, we ain't no Dick Cheneys.



Here's the crew minus the photographer; aren't they handsome?



I went around and took some photos of the oaks. I love trees.





We packed everything, it was time to go. We said bye to the place,



and drove back via the Lion's Trail. The hills and mountains by the trail are spectacular and it was all vibrantly green. It reminded me of France.



We saw a mama cow with two calves and a bunch of other cows on the road. One has to drive carefully because the road has many hairpins, steep terrain on the sides, squirrels and cows.



The blue rock marks the entrance to the Central Valley.



'Til next time!

Early Spring

I went up to the Little Palace this past weekend. Just me and my dog, Jorgy (forgive my vernacular use of the English language.) I had been keeping an eye daily on the webcam pointed toward the area. There had been a couple storms, I had seen snow on Mount Breckenridge and things looked a little greener. We're at 20% rainfall this year with no storms forecast for the rest of March; a first in recorded history. Anyway, I was excited about seeing the Super Secret Place in the Spring.

I drove up and got to the gateway to the SSP, passed the train tracks,



and it looked like this:



Looks purty, huh? I'm not a Native but I admit that Southern Cal is incredibly beautiful.

We got to the place after driving the beautiful Lion's Trail. The whole family had gone up in February and the place looked like this:



A few drops of rain and it looked like this:



Goes to show you what a few drops of rain can do. Mother Nature rules.

I set up camp: gas tanks in place, check. Bed made, check. Generator hooked up, check. CD player loaded with the Stragglers, check. Open-tuning resonator guitar ready to play, check. Jaw harps ready to Boing! check. Water bowl for Jorgy, check. Airstream windows open for ventilation, check, Food and beer in the fridge, check. A bottle of Bordeaux ready to be opened, check. Chairs out, check. BBQ ready to light, check. OK, all systems go, R & R time.

I spent the day playing music, listening to music, reading and just enjoying life. I ate early as I wanted to be done with dinner before sundown. After dinner, Jorgy and I went for a walk around the lake. There's a tiny lake about 1/2 mile from the property. It was almost dusk and we heard many noises. There is so much wildlife by the water: all kinds of birds, bunnies and I saw a few wild beast tracks. No Yeti tracks though. Silly me. I forgot the camera but here's a picture of Jorgy. Isn't he handsome?



He had a good time with all the smells and made sure to leave his scent on every bush. He likes taking walks there because the soil is mostly decomposed granit, very sandy and the roads are soft dirt. Nothing is paved over there. Many folks have horses and I'm sure the horses like it that way. Speaking of which, after we got back, Jorgy saw his first horse up close and he didn't know what to make of it.



We went to bed early, I tried to read a little, Jorgy got on top of my bed and we fell asleep with an interesting chorus of frog vocalizations coming from our creek.

The next day I wanted to check out Lake Isabella so we got in the car and drove north. We passed Havilah, gateway to Sequoia National Park.



There's a lot of history that way, as illustrated by this 1860s courthouse. I love it. The road is very pretty and we got to a point where we could see the lake in the distance from a high vantage point. I was very careful driving down; it's probably a drop of over a thousand feet and the road has no guard rails.



The town itself is somewhat stuck in time; I'm just not sure what time. Folks there seem quite nice though, based on the few folks I talked to at the gas station. Never judge a book by its cover. We first went on the southeast side of the lake. It's quite dry but looks pretty nice with the boulders.





Few folks were camping, others boating, a peaceful, sunny place.

I was curious to go up to Kernville to see the river. It turns out it's only ten minutes north of the lake. On the way there I stopped to check out Tillie Creek Campground, near Wofford Heights. The west side of the lake is more wooded for some reason. I love proximity to a body of water but I need shade so I liked this place.



Kernville is a tiny, Western-style town with a few cafes, the river and the Kern River Brewing Company.





It may not be the great Mississippi but don't let this river fool you, people die rafting it every year. Like Ali G would say: "Respek." We walked around, sat by the river for a while watching people fishing, we ate lunch and took off. I saw a bit of interesting architecture in the town of Lake Isabella driving back.



Back at the SSP, we hiked around for a while and I took a few photos of the black oaks that are on the property and the occasional "street" sign.







And of course, the Palace:





A weekend is only two days, a pitance. It was time to pack and go back to LA. I took some photos as the sun was setting of more oaks and the Tehachapi Mountains.





That's it, a beautiful and peaceful weekend like we all need.

Peace to all, and don't forget: Respek to Mother Nature and all the living creatures she sustains.