Redwood Park

The morning was clear and beautiful so it was back to California to finish up my tour of the redwoods. Here's another reason I'm glad I'm in Oregon: I gassed up before I left town at 2.87. Across the border 10 miles the prices are 3.37.

The wind came up quite a bit, making the surf spectacular but the beaches nearly intolerable. Much better touring the old roads and walking the redwood groves. The old roads can be rather intimidating at times, one-lane perched on the side of an uplifted block of rock with an obvious tendency to fall into the ocean, or to be blocked by a blown-over tree. The park service keeps up with repairs, but their idea of an open, passable road is pretty loose. "Passable this morning" means nothing about noontime. But it's fun, and damned pretty, not to mention exciting.

A technical matter. The full name of the park is the Redwoods National and State Park. Back in the old days of "Save the Redwoods" various groups and agencies acquired lands an acre at a time to save the old-growth trees. California pitched in by creating a patchwork of state parks, then the US Park Service came in to get more parcels. They then combined their holdings in a way so as not to duplicate efforts. It seems to work, though as each entity comes under budget pressure, it must be tough to keep things going.

My house and truck are covered with a salt film, and now a yellow layer of pollen. It seems every plant here is blooming. My eyes sting and water, as well as all the other symptoms of pollen.