Lava Beds National Monument, CA/Crater Lake National Park

We left the wonders of playwrights to explore nature’s beauty.  Lava Beds is a stark but spectacular land at the border of Oregon and California.  The area is also the location of the Tule Lake Relocation Camp created to house Japanese-Americans during WWII.  The camp is only open on Saturdays so we were unable to tour it.

Lava Beds is riddled with more than 700 caves.  These require descending steep steps into cool darkness.

The park makes flashlights available. 

In increasing order of exploration, Anna Lee (1 cave), Jerry (2), and Jeff (more), we all found these fascinating in their stark beauty. 

 Anna Lee got a picture of one of the local cave residents who we think is a cave cricket (Dave?)

We had another disappointment.  We planned to join our friends from Washington and their grandchildren at Crater Lake.  What we did not know was that the park was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Parks this weekend.  The area was very crowded and we could not find each other.  We are sad to have missed them but we did enjoy some easy hikes in the park.  Pinnacles were formed by steam venting through stone and the stone becoming hard. 

 As the soft stone around it eroded away these other worldly formations were left.  The wind around the Pinnacles area produced some interesting photos.

The Castle Crest Wildflower Trail still has some lovely flowers blooming along its stone path.

Oregon

We are back on the road, this time with our son Jeff.  Our trip took a sad turn, not personally but tourist-wise.  The first stage our of our trip was a few days in Ashland, mostly to enjoy the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (you have read about that several times before).  Also, this trip always includes a shopping spree at the Butte Mill in Eagle Point and the Rogue Creamery in Central Point.  After we parked the RV and unhooked the car, we headed to the mill but this is what we found.

The mill burnt last Christmas morning and we also learned the owner lost his wife to cancer last September.  We feel great sympathy for the owner and his family.

Then we went to get wonderful cheese and learned the cheesemaker's son had just drowned.  Such sad news.

While we do feel sympathy for both these families, we did enjoy our stay.  When Jeff hiked up Roxy Ann Peak Trail, Jerry and Anna Lee did a volkswalk through Central Point, admiring the murals,

statues

and mosaics.

But the plays the thing we most came for.  We saw three excellent plays and will each provide a review from each of us.

Richard II by Anna Lee. 

Presented in more recent times, the play was timely for its political bent.  What we lacked was the background to appreciate greater what we were watching.  Certainly, the tale of a weak king usurped by a man who tried to serve him and was banished, has some pertinence for our time but the story lacked the power of some of the other histories of the British monarchy.

Vietgone by Jeff:

My parents are forcing me to do this, which has taught me that you can never get away from Junior High School.

The play is a romance set against the backdrop of the end of the Viet Nam war. This unlikely combination is a far cry from the many presentations of that conflict and yet tells a much more personal take on the meaning of the US involvement. Likewise, the story is told with a significant amount of comic elements interwoven with poignant discussions of the characters’ losses, both spiritual and physical. The romance itself is between a married man with children and an ‘old’ 30 year old woman. It developed from mutual need and ultimately a recognition that the home they had left was no longer available to them. A recurring theme was that, as opposed to public opinion at home, the South Vietnamese looked at the American soldiers with hope and an admiration of the sacrifices they made to save Vietnamese lives.

As for the staging, I will admit the playwright included a number of elements that I would normally not find interesting, including judicious use of swear words and frequent use of rap in the musical elements. Despite my misgivings about this style, I found myself enjoying the presentation immensely, though, I still find the experience of Asian characters rapping as strange as it was when I lived in Korea ten years ago. The only slight difficulty I had with the play was the frequent change in time-lines, occasionally making it difficult to determine what had already happened and what happened in the future.   

Roe by Jerry:

Roe was an excellent history of the case of Roe v. Wade and what happened to the participants years after the decision was issued.  Roe, the plaintiff, thought that, if she went to court, she would be able to obtain a legal abortion in Texas.  Whether it was explained to her that, even if she won, she was too far along in her pregnancy to abort was one of the issues that was addressed.  After she won her case through the landmark Supreme Court decision, she converted to become a Christian and, ultimately a Roman Catholic, and anti abortion spokesperson. She was used and abused by everyone she came into contact with.  A very sad story from her perspective.

The young female attorney who argued the case for Roe was a recent law school graduate who was handling her first contested case all the way to the Supreme Court.  With over 40 years experience, I would not like to go up there and I can’t imagine how she must have felt.  Other characters in the play were the people who supported and used Roe (Norma McCorvey was her real name) including her abusive mother, lesbian girl friend, the preacher who turned her on to religion, and the reporters and personalities who gave her 15 minutes of fame.

The important message of the play was that Roe v. Wade is still the law of the land and should remain so.  This was driven home a few weeks ago when the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that virtually eliminated the right to abortion for no reason other than the fact that they did not want the right to be available.  Justice Stephen Breyer, brother of my high school classmate wrote the opinion and was joined by Justice Kennedy making this a 5-3 vote.   Roe will be showing in Berkeley in March of next year and, if you can, it is well worth the trip there to see it.

Dinosaur National Monument

We have often been asked how we plan our trips and generally we say “loosely” meaning some preplanned stops and some spontaneous.  This trip back from Denver is totally spontaneous.  Before our breakdown, we were to meet our son in Salt Lake City and travel back to California.  That got re-planned.  Rather than drive boring Hwy 80 for four days back home, we wanted to make a trip of it, so our first stop was Steamboat.  Continuing on the Lincoln Hwy, we stopped next at Dinosaur NM.  We have fond memories of being here in a lightning storm many years ago.  No storm this time but what wonderful sights.

We arrived just in time for a brief talk on the pictographs and petroglyphs of the Fremont peoples.  These beautiful paintings and carvings date back to about 450 A.D.

We then drove to Josie Bassett Morris’ cabin.  This remarkable woman was brave, hearty, and able to enjoy a solitary life.  Her family homesteaded here in 1877.  Josie, after five marriages, homesteaded her own land in 1913.  She lived in the cabin for fifty years, sometimes with her son and daughter-in-law and her grandchildren, but mostly working her ranch alone.

In the evening we attended a star party to view Saturn, Jupiter and the Ring Nebula.

We did have a great campsite right next to the Green River.  This is a view of the site from a spot above the campground.

The next morning we went to the Quarry Exhibit Hall.   The building covers the rock wall filled with ancient remains.

 With great foresight, Earl Douglass, a paleontologist at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, discovered and preserved this wondrous place.  He began excavating in 1909.   Five days after his first discovery, people flocked to the area.   He knew he had to protect the land and its treasures.  In 1915 the Carnegie Quarry became Dinosaur NM.  Work on the rock face is being done to this day.

A large section of the Morrison Formation of the quarry, laden with fossils, was distributed to such premier institutions as the Smithsonian, Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, and the Natural History Museums of NY and LA.  Douglass also made sure that fossils in their natural state were preserved on site for visitors to see and paleontologists to study.  And you get to touch a few of the bones.

 The most common fossils are from the Camerasaurus. This is a youngster.

Here is Anna Lee next to an adult's femur

Allosaurus

and Stegosuarus also left good remains.

 Displays show plant and animal lifeforms that were contemporaries of these dinosaurs like this shell of a dinochelys turtle, 149 million years old.

Erosion has carved stone images of the ancient inhabitants into the mountains stirring one's imagination.

Leaving the park we decided to disagree with the GPS and choose our own path, not an Interstate. 
Our drive took us through the blazing Flaming Gorge and past these chalk mountains.

Now, with a reward of dinner at the Red Iguana in Salt Lake City, we take I 80 home to clean up and get ready for our next adventure. 

  

More Steamboat

Answer to the previous blog question: Bud Werner, or Buddy as we who grew up in Colorado called him, was the first American world-class ski racer.  He showed that Americans were headed to be serious competition for the European skiers.  He was killed in an avalanche after the 1964 Olympics.

We spent the day on a scenic drive, though all drives here are scenic.  We drove through lush ranch land stopping at Clark which is basically a general store and post office though the “town” claims 500+ residents.

Then we went to Steamboat State Park where we followed the ranger’s directions to a trail that led us through wild flowers.  Recent rains have lessened their bloom but we still enjoyed them.  The young elk refused to pose for us but the Colorado pelicans paused for a photo shot.

We did get nice pictures of Mt. Hahn.

The state park campground over a lake has wonderful views.  Too bad we didn’t check it out when we arrived. 

Our drive toward Slovakia (Colorado not Europe) took us to more wildflowers, like this wild rose

some more mules ear

sunflowers

and pure Rocky Mountain Spring Water.  

This drive showed us why the area is a hot real estate market.  We saw many “For Sale” signs at the entrances to large properties with lovely homes.  The ranger told us everything is selling for high prices.

In the evening, the Bud Werner Library has a movie program and this week it was a documentary on the making of sake.  This was a preview before it shows on PBS on their show POV (Point Of View) .  We gave it no stars and we actually walked out about 2/3 through it.  It lacked a point of view and a story so save yourselves 90 minutes and avoid it if and when it comes on TV.

Steamboat Springs, CO

We have resumed our travels with a stop in Steamboat Springs.  On our way to Steamboat, we crossed the Republican River which we found to be dry.  Jerry recalls having been to Steamboat Springs before.  When he drove with the best man and a groomsman from San Francisco to Denver for our wedding, his route was US 40 (there was no I 80 in 1963) and 40 comes right through Steamboat.  It was also part of the Lincoln Highway.

Steamboat was a ski town for decades; it is now also a summer mecca for outdoors folks.  Rafters, tubers, bikers, hikers all find the river and trails inviting. 

 We found it a great place for us also.

But first a question: Who was Bud Werner?  He has a beautiful library and a mountain here named for him.

The steampots are characteristic of this area. 

 The medicinal springs were considered sacred to the Yampatika Ute and Arapahoe peoples.  The name was given by French trappers who said a noisy spring reminded them of a chugging steamboat.  That sound disappeared when the railroad changed the rock formations around the spring.        

The Yampa River Botanic Park is filled with lovely gardens all maintained by volunteers.  We enjoyed taking the many paths to find charming sculpture and some nice flowers.  We think recent rains knocked down many of the stems and blossoms but we enjoyed what we saw.

  Below, the Colorado state flower, a columbine.

This pond is based upon the one Monet built for himself.

The garden also has a beautiful collection of metal art.

After lunch we drove up to Fish Creek Falls.  A mildly steep trail led us up to the overlook.

Then we went down to the base of the falls.

The town has a free public bus service so we hopped aboard to see what we could find.  We found tens of thousands of timeshares/condos, some right at the spot to board the ski lift. 

Downstairs from the old Bristol Hotel is the delicious Mazzolo Italian Restaurant.  We debated who had the better meal, Jerry’s cioppino or Anna Lee’s ricotta gnudi with chianti braised lamb.  We did agree that the tiramisu was one of the best we ever tasted.