This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land, From East I-80, To West I-80, But No Tress-pass-ing, On That Private Pro-per-ty, Because That's The Man's Land, And Not Your Or My Land

It's been awhile since I've done a travel post; maybe because travel doesn't turn me on like it used to, or maybe because the places I've gone for work haven't been worth hitting the 'new post' button for. Maybe it's trying to keep a blog going with YouTubes, rants, and silly pictures that has me down. Well, whatever the case may be, this morning I've decided to throw one out there. It's not that I haven't been traveling. I've actually been quite busy at work. But the travel hasn't been quite as exciting lately.

Indianapolis. I spent a couple of days south of Indianapolis. If Sarah Palin's claim that that's the type of place where the real Americans abide is true, then I am certainly not, nor ever will be, a real American. For one thing, I went to a grocery store in Odon, Indiana, to find some food for a couple days. There was a whole aisle of marshmallow fluff and snicker doodles and the like. Lot of frozen dinners. Meals in a box. But, for a farm state, surprisingly limp-looking produce. And aside from this sad produce, not much else in the way of actual food. And this was a real grocery store; the only one for 30 miles in any direction, in fact. The countryside reminded me of a bad set from an M. Night Shamalamabing-bang movie. Indianapolis was pretty sparse as well. It's major attractions were an elevator ride to the top of a 150 foot Civil War monument in the center of town, and the shopping mall.

I also just got back from an overnight in Columbus Ohio. I stayed in the downtown area. Lot of Insurance companies in Columbus. And people who work for Insurance companies.

But before that exciting trip, I did spend a few nights in northern California. That was very cool. I spent a day and night in Calistoga, in Napa Valley. Did some wine tasting. I'm pleased to announce my pick of the year: Bennett Lane Winery's Maximus red feasting wine. Disclaimer: I am partial to red wine, and Maximus feasting wine? Impossible to resist a name like that. And it tastes great too. It's a mix of reds, is great with Roman-style overeating, and is a favorite at Calistoga's best wine bar, the Bar Vino. Could I write for wine aficionado rags or what?

The best part of that trip, however, was that I got to knock another item off of my childhood list of things I've always wanted to see, the Redwoods. There is a section of the Redwood forest about an hour drive away from Calistoga called the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, and it pulled me to it like a wooden magnet. Uh, with enough bits of metal in it to actually have magnetism. Yikes, bad simile. Anyway, that place was awesome. I wish my camera had smell capabilities; the Canon Smellshot 1000 or some such, because I've never smelled anything so good and Grove-alicious. I'm still learning how to use my new camera, and although I'm getting better, there's still nothing to shout about. But anyway, it would be hard to capture the awesomeness of Redwoods without a person standing in the shot to give a size comparison, and even so you can't fit a whole tree in a pic taken from ground level anyway. But here are my best shots. To save you from squinting, the sign says:

Colonel Armstrong
Height - 308 Feet
Diameter - 14.6 Feet
Approx. Age - 1400 Years

Colonel Armstrong? Sounds familiar, like something I saw in some book or toy store once... Oh. Never mind. Don't know what I'm talking about. Carry on. And this sign says:

Parson Jones
Height - 310 Feet
Diameter - 13.8 Feet
Approx. Age - 1300 Years

This is an obligatory picture of an upended redwood stump.

And here's a part of the redwood trail that got flooded by some earlier rains. I'm a sucker for reflection, of late.

So that was really gorgeous. I've always wanted to see a Redwood, and it was worth the wait. It was beautiful and exhilarating, but it also made me sad. It was such a lush grove, the smells were amazing and the colors and fresh air vivid, but I've read that the whole of the American continent was once like that. Not so much covered in Redwoods, but lush and smell-erific with other vegetations. It makes it even more depressing when you travel around and see what "real Americans" have done with the land we've taken custody of. Not to get all Native American philosophic or anything, but.

SO, on my last day in California, I flew out of San Francisco. I didn't get to spend much time in the city, because I really had wanted to do Napa and the Redwoods, but I drove through Berkley and Oakland, and wandered around Pier 39 for a bit. I didn't have time to do Alcatraz, dammit, but I got a picture anyway.

 

So that's that for now. I think I have a job in Cleveland in a few weeks. Rock-n-Roll hall of fame, here I come!

Comments

[Gary]

I think the middle of the country is going to turn into a kind of Mad Max type wasteland. Of course the big cities will be like Escape From New York.

Cool trees.

[messiestobjects]

If everybody in Mad Max were near-retarded fat people, then I'd say the mid-US is already there...

[kc]

"...Roman style overeating..."

I've been watching the show "Rome" for the past week. They sure do eat a lot. Especially the higher up in the army. I love that you have your water mark/copyright on the Indianapolis photograph. Very necessary.

[messiestobjects]

I loved 'Rome'! Really well done.

I know, I know. That watermark thing is going to get me picked on... but I've been advised to do it anyway; I'm going to start showing my pictures around and they say even talentless amateurs need to protect their junk, just in case so... all part of the fun.

Besides, I might be the first person who ever bothered to photograph the very blah downtown Indianapolis, so you know, had to own it.