California Dreaming...

So many of my favourite things, places and people come from California, permanantly fixed in my pysche from long hot summers in the central valley.  In the same way Mummies were left food and objects to take with them on their long journey to the afterlife, if I found myself in a small boat on the styx I'd happily settle for somewatermelons and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  My grandparents old house in Davis, California, is made of Redwood, the outside was aged and dark until recently when the new owners painted the whole outside cream.  But I just discovered that the google streetview footage was taken before this - it's a timecapsule of how I always remembered it.  Have a look.

Here's a couple California landscapes.  First from just outside Ferndale an old Victorian farming town that prospered from butter production, then almost vanished before being reclaimed and now preserved as it once was in former times of glory.  Friendly place but there's something just a little spooky about it.  It's also incredibly wet and the grass is greener than you could imagine! 2nd photo is from Bumpass Hell in Lassen Volcanic National Park, it's named after a cowboy, the amazingly named Kendall Vanhook Bumpass who literally stumbled into the hot springs.  After nearly burning his leg off he crawled miles back to the nearest town and then later returned and again fell in.  What a guy.