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Your One Stop Shop For Bad Grammer!
11/20/04 Had a really wonderful afternoon. For starters, Saara and I went up on a hike to the Gaviota Wind Caves. I’m not really sure how I let her talk me into that since when I use the word “hiking” it is generally in the same sentence as the phrase “to the back of the parking lot to get the car.” Somehow though, she said “they’re carved out of the sandstone by wind” and I, envisioning caves that were, I don’t know, on flat land for some reason, said yes. We drove up to Gaviota on the 101. It’s the same area where the fires in June leapt across the freeway, charring both sides. The terrain was fascinating. About half of the mountain was burnt soil and blackened, twisted trees overlaid with a carpet of new emerald green leaves. The other half, abruptly, was rocky, unforgiving soil still looking at though the fire had passed through there just last week. The fires made the ground so interesting. For instance, when we were taking a break on the side of the trail Saara reached over and peeled off a layer of the rock next to us that was exactly the shape of Africa. She peeled rock, y’all. I couldn’t believe it when Saara pointed out from the bottom where we were going to. The trail, I later found out, went up about 500 ft. in elevation which is nutso considering that I sometimes get winded climbing the stairs to our apartment. Nonetheless I did make it all the way up. We stopped at the lower cave first which was this amazing series of interconnecting mini-caverns blown into the side of a giant sandstone boulder. The insides of the cave boasted this beautiful, smooth, sweeping look. There were formations that reminded me of underground caves with their dripping stalactites. I found it hard to believe that wind, not water, had made them. The upper caves were a bit disappointing, mainly because they were so literally on the side of the mountain that we couldn’t quite get over into them. The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking though. We could see all the way back down the ravine to the 101 and the ocean with the Amtrak lines snaking their way up the coast. The only living things in sight for the entire time we were out there (a good 3 hours) were a hawk, floating high above, and a handful of Monarch Butterflies. Those monarchs were the most surprising thing of all to me. What were they doing up there, 500 feet from anything they could eat? You never think of butterflies as long distance fliers but they were riding the air currents on the top of the mountain as surely as the hawk. Lovely spots of orange in a world of charred brown rock. Saara: “I feel sorry for all those people who never go outside, never see things like this, because they would prefer to stay inside and be lazy or watch TV.” 10:52 a.m. November 24, 2004
“Y’all aren’t from around here, are ya.” - August 21, 2005 |
The Many And Scary Ways They Get Here Quote of the Day
"They have lots of disturbing cross sections of animal reproductive organs"
Worried by The fact that I just walked upstairs and saw one of my new housemates standing on her desk chair slowly revolving in circles for no apparent reason. Good Reads
Tomato Nation Fun
Television Without Pity Games
Copter Game Useful |
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