Ready To Head North
Before we left our hearts in San Francisco (most everyone does) we took one last trip down to the Golden Gate and Crissy Field. Getting down there from Pacific Heights is quite the hair raiser with the streets literally falling out from underneath you as your car goes down the very steep hills. The video below demonstrates the vertigo..........ladies and gentlemen, hold on to your hats!
We were so lucky to have the sun come out for us as we stood there and looked at one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world.
The Golden Gate Bridge is truly a gateway to the world. A huge, and I mean HUGE cargo ship came right by us as we stood looking out over the bay. The ship was like a skyscraper passing by us just off of the beach.
A perfect view of Alcatraz from the beach.
A little natural history of the area: We need to remember this land was taken from these Indigenous People.
Our last most important thing to do on our way out of SF and the Bay Area was to spend some more time with a couple of dear friends. Our buddy Charles is a never ending bundle of hysteria. He just happened to be home in SF from his world travels our last weekend here. He and Tony came to our place for dinner and of course laughter was the main course. HA! The aliens are back!
There is never a dull moment when we all get together. We figure we need to practice being aliens so that we can be on the first ship out of here to another planet! Things seem to not be going very well here on earth.
We said our goodbyes to San Francisco and headed to the east bay hills to spend a couple of days with our friends Tim and Dave. We always head right to their backyard when visiting to take in the spectacular views of the parkland surrounding their home.
Springtime is definitely in full swing now in California with everything coming into bloom, the hills a green usually experienced only in Ireland.
Tim and I have a long history of getting into mischief together. Looks like he has that look on his face right here :o)
Trouble with a capital T!
Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge
We left the Bay Area and many old friends in mid March to head north through the Central Valley on our way to Redding to visit our cousin. On our way through the Sacramento Valley we saw signs for a wildlife refuge so we decided to stop and have a look. The refuge offers hiking and a 6 mile self-driving auto tour through the vast marshes.
A bit about the refuge: Historically, the Sacramento River flooded in the winter and spring. The floods created vast seasonal marshes. Beginning in the late 1800's, most of the Sacramento Valley was converted to farmland. The marshes of the refuge have been created to provide homes for animals that need wetlands. Water is drained from the marsh in late spring so a new generation of marsh plants can sprout in the warm, moist pond bottoms. In the fall, when the seed heads ripen, the marshes are re-flooded to bring an abundance of food within easy reach of many birds.
Wildflowers in bloom across some of the grassland
Part of the vast marshland
We observed many different kinds of wildlife around the reserve - Black-tailed deer, jackrabbits, egrets, heron, wood ducks (lots of ducks), turkey vultures, pheasants, red-tailed hawks, snow and ross' geese, western pond turtles, western sandpipers, western meadowlarks and many, many different kinds of songbirds.
In this video you can hear the riot of songbirds in the background. Turn up your volume.
Redding and the far north coast of California is next!
