California has taken a lot of hits lately: horrific budget problems, paralyzed government, terrible housing market, a battered educational system, and a couple of earthquakes, but...I look at all my geoblogospheric friends living in the path of that horrendous snowstorm sweeping across the eastern U.S., and I think to myself that California is not all that bad a place to live. In fact it is a wonderful place to live! I have to drive through the tule fogs sometimes, and it is dry, dusty and hot in the summer, but it is not far to the beach or to the snow. I can visit the snow if I choose to. I walked out of the house this morning and smelled chlorophyll in the air. The daffodils in the picture are from my front yard; they bloomed yesterday.
Back to the Other California soon. In the meantime, Nevada has some very interesting hidden places, and Silver Fox at Looking For Detachment has been exploring some of them in a nice blog series; this is a good place to start, a compendium of posts on Caliente region. The latest series is an investigation of the Jarbridge region, a very isolated corner of an isolated state. I spent several years at the University of Nevada, Reno, and grew to love this fascinating state. Check it out!
To those friends back east, good luck in the storm. I will be thinking of you all; be safe and warm!
They're beautiful and I'm jealous.
ReplyDeleteIf we have any grape hyacinths that have come up, they would probably be buried in the snow - a little too early.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the links! :)