California to Colorado

 

Friday, June 22, 2012

Catching up on my flight to Denver. I guess I left off in Redding, CA where I was couch surfing with Steve…..

On Tuesday Steve again was our personal tour guide. He took us for a hike along a railroad track to a beautiful waterfall. It was pretty cool when we had to stand back and let a train pass by. I don’t think I’ve ever been so close to a moving train before. After that hike we drove to Mt. Shasta where we went to the headwaters of the Sacramento River and filled our water bottles. We then drove up the mountain as far as we could to a place called Panther Meadows. I had a strong desire to go to Mt. Shasta after hearing that it was a magical mountain and there is special energy there. It’s true. It’s true of mountains in general though. I am overwhelmed with emotion when I see these majestic mountains; they are breathtaking.

It started on this trip when I left Seattle in Jimmy’s truck and Mt. Rainier first came into view, then in Portland when I saw Mt. Hood, then of course the magical Mt. Shasta. I get the same feeling too when I hike on Jones Mountain and many others in the Blue Ridge. The mountains have a spirit about them that I connect with. When I am away from them I feel out of my element, not quite whole. So, while I am enjoying my time exploring these cities, I am really looking forward to seeing and hiking in the Rockies when I get to Colorado.

After having lunch on Mt. Shasta, Steve drove us to Castle Lake where the girls relaxed at the lake while Steve and I hiked about an hour to another lake above Castle Lake. The smaller lake is called Heart Lake. It was absolutely gorgeous. We had a great view of Mt. Shasta and all over the area from there. We sat and enjoyed the peacefulness for a while then hiked back down to Castle Lake where we, along with two of the others, went for a dip. It was cold! I didn’t stay in long, but got out and enjoyed a couple beers. We drove back to Steve’s house and had some leftovers for dinner, and I pretty quickly went to bed while everyone else got in the hot tub. After my early awakening and busy day, I was ready for sleep.

Around 1:00 on Wednesday, my driver, Barbara showed up to drive me to San Francisco. Oakland actually. She was heading home from Eugene. We first went to a gas station where I put $40 in her tank for the ride. It was about three hours to Oakland where she dropped me off at the Bart station and I rode the train into San Francisco. It was a short walk then to the framing shop my friend Chris owns with his partner Reinhold.

I hadn’t seen Chris for 30 years. Since high school; wow! It was so awesome to see him and to reconnect after all these years. We easily fell back into a beautiful friendship. I’m not doing facebook anymore, but one of the good things to come out of my short time on it, was to reconnect with this special friend. After a short walk on the beach with Chris, Reinhold, and their two dogs, Freddie and Nelson, Chris fixed a wonderful lasagna dinner for us. We didn’t want our visit to end and we stayed up too late, then up and into town the next morning for Chris and Reinhold to go to work and for me to explore the city. I enjoyed walking all over the place. I don’t know how many miles I covered, but I went from Market St. down Powell to China Town, to the business district, back to China Town for lunch, to Fisherman’s Wharf, to Fort Mason, and back to the shop. My legs were feeling the crunch from all the walking on concrete. I’m used to dirt trails on mountains! At the Chinese restaurant for lunch there was a couple in line ahead of me. They invited me to sit with them. It was really nice to have the company. Stu and Kay were in San Francisco visiting their son and his family. They live in upstate New York most of the time.

I skipped the walk on the beach with the dogs that evening and instead stayed home and made a salad to have with the leftover lasagna. After another wonderful meal, bottle of wine and conversation, I went upstairs to repack for my flight the next day and to prepare for another segment of this adventure. I spent Friday wandering around again. This time down Hayes Street to Alamo Square where Thomas lived many years ago, then through The Haight and into Golden Gate Park. San Francisco is a cool city. Much diversity. And its share of homeless people. When I arrived in Golden Gate Park, I turned around to take a picture of a group of homeless folks. One guy yelled at me for taking the picture and said I should give a dollar for that. I too felt that it was pretty tacky of me to take the pic so I gave him a buck. I walked over to their group and said, “since you asked so nicely and said please, here’s a buck.” He didn’t ask nicely or say please, but it still seemed appropriate. He said that yesterday was his birthday and he had just turned 21. I told them I have a 21 year old son and I think they appreciated that. I said that I wish I had a dollar to give to each of them, but that I had just lost my job. I think they just appreciated the attention, to be treated as human. After a short walk in the park I walked back to the shop and Chris, Reinhold and I went to their favorite Vietnamese restaurant for a bowl of soup for lunch. It was delicious and very hearty!

It was hard to say goodbye to Chris when he drove me to the Bart entrance. We had a good long hug and a promise to stay in touch and to visit again soon. Bart (SF transit system) took me to the airport where I got on a flight to Denver, and that’s where I am as I write this. I’m so looking forward to this visit with my aunt Gerda, whom I have not seen in four years.

Then a P.S. to the above…. I have arrived in Denver and am at Gerda’s house now.