Lava Beds

Hey! We finally visited the famous Lava Beds. Strangely enough, we never did it in California. Looking at the map we realized that it is actually closer to Oregon than to any big town in California. We also made several visits to this place. 

This park is great to visit. It is not crowded as all even during high tourist season because it is so far off the beaten track. It is rather hot in the summer and not many good short trails to walk. But it has a great drive with several view stops.

The main attraction of this park are caves formed by lava. We actually visited several, all the easy ones. The caves are roughly subdivided into three categories: easy, medium and hard. As we had neither equipment not desire to crawl through the hard ones we just chose the easy ones. After the while they all start looking the same. The vexing part was climbing down the long, narrow and very steep stairs only to be confronted with a dead end. Of course we never saw any bats. They make a big deal about bats and some disease was rampant during our visit.

To explore the caves one is required to carry a flashlight and we got a couple of really nice ones. One cave is illuminated and paved: it is a good introduction to the caves in general. The hard one actually require a map which you can buy at the visitor's center.

The Lava Beds are full of desert plants and is a nice place to view a wildlife. We saw a coyote and a hawk carrying a small animal in its claws on the way to the park. 

Black basalt field

Schonchin Butte

Crater Lake Revisited

Crater Lake

Well, we actually visited Crater Lake again. And again some time later. The second time was not too good as it was the 3d of July and you can guess what that means. Yes, it was a zoo. Why everyone suddenly decided to go to that park on a certain national holiday is still a mystery to me. The park was very crowded and it was not much fun. We got to see the lake and hike part of a trail.

The next visit was much better. It was still high summer, July but it was a far better experience. Some roads were still closed but we managed to hike a wildflower trail and get a glimpse at one of the waterfalls (Vidae waterfall is right next to the road. And we finally saw the famous Phantom Ship. Well, it's actually just a rocky formation sticking from the ground, too small and too rough to be called a proper island but the shape indeed resembles a ship if you don't look too close. I especially liked that there were some tree growing on that rock.

Phantom Ship

On out next visit all the roads were finally open and we took a drive around the whole caldera. We saw Pinnacles: the long rocky formations that stick out of the ground. Unfortunately that day a wildfire started and thick smoke very quickly covered the whole lake so we did not get to see the view from different viewpoints. Nevertheless we saw the only trail that goes to the edge of the lake. It was crowded. Part of the reason no doubt was that they have summer boat tours so some people came for that. The trail was very steep and we did not feel like climbing a mile on a steep slope only to have a view of a smoke. Of course it would be fun to take a boat tour but again it should be done on a clear day.

Pinnacles

 Vidae Waterfall

Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake in the winter

One of the things we decided to do while inn Oregon is to visit its numerous national parks and forests as we enjoy occasional outing. We are not hardcore outdoor camper types though and prefer to travel by small car and spend night in a motel. To our joy we found out that Crater Lake was only an hour drive from KF.

On the way there we saw snow on the sides of the road. If you used to living in California seeing snow can be quite exciting but to tell you the truth I did not miss it. It was also high enough in the mountain to feel some chill in the air. But the drive was surprisingly easy with no traffic whatsoever all the way to the park.

We only saw cars and lots of them when we reached the lake. Some out of state licenses and even a few foreigners. The short climb to see the lake was extremely slippery and we did not have the proper shoes. But no matter.

The view, of course, was spectacular. The crater lake is not really a lake but a caldera formed when water fills a collapsed volcano. Some secondary cones form island the most famous of which is Wizard island. There is also a Phantom Ship but we have not seen this one yet. The view was pretty much like they show in documentaries and in the postcards. You can even get a license plate featuring Crater Lake and as a matter of fact we got one for our car. They are quite beautiful.

The park feature the usual activities: snowshoes tracking, skiing and similar stuff. However some roads are closed during the winter and some activities are limited to fair weather. They say even viewing the lake is not always possible as sometimes a thick fog cover the caldera and thus hides it from view. They recommend you phone in advance to find out about the weather.

By the time we arrived the visitor center was closed so we did not get any information except for the little newspaper featuring the park info.

As the ground was still covered with snow it was not a good time for an amateur botanist to do her thing so we plan to return in the summer and compare the summer view with a the one in the spring.

So if you happen to be in KF or Medford, visit this park. The view is quite spectacular and the drive is fairly short, about an hour or two.

Oregon

So here we are in Oregon. Surprisingly it took us only 2 days to drive all the way from Paso Robles to Klamath Falls with a stop for the night in Los Banos. We were surprised at how big Los Banos looked but I think it is because the town is mainly stretched along the highway. It is 5 miles to the east of major freeway but it has several small neighbouring communities.

By the time we reached Klamath Fals (KF for short) it became dark. As usual we got lost like one often does in a strange city without a map. We had a reservation for a motel and an approximate idea where it was but like I said we usually get lost. So when we saw motel 6 we decided to stay there for a night.

Downtown street in Klamath Falls

Motel 6 is a typical cheapskate motel that offers only the very basic amenities. The interesting thing about is that no matter where you are the faucet never seem to work well. The showers are barely functional and the sink is just a disaster. Of course do not expect any luxuries like a mini fridge or a microwave. But it is okay for what is is.

This particular motel 6 was right next to a restaurant called the Black Bear. Now it is a pretty good restaurant serving typical American food, whatever that is. We went there and by accident discovered a secret of Black Bear that make it look much more attractive than other restaurants. And I am going to reveal this secret to you.

The secret is this: you can order just one portion on the menu and share it (I presume you don't go to a restaurant by yourself). The portions are really just that huge. If you share a dish you get just enough food for half the price. As their prices are average, imagine that you paid half and for two people it makes a much better deal. We went there a few more times, always shared and never left hungry. There is plenty on one plate for two. And coffee refills are unlimited too.

America's Best Western Inn

So the next day we went to the motel for which we had reservation, America's Best Value Inn. The place was run by Indians. We actually came a day earlier but they did not care. They gave us a room with even a bigger bed and a very nice room it was. For only $5 bucks more than Motel 6 you get to enjoy a much nicer room with a fridge and microwave, a real breakfast and the best shower and sink faucet I have seen in any motel so far in this price range. The front desk people were very helpful and cancelled my reservation as I did not know how to do this. The breakfast was terrific: cereal or toast, coffee or cocoa. Good tea was available all day long. The only thing that was not true in their little advertising was a lake view. That view was blocked by another motel and storage place (which we used) across the street.

 The "lake view" from the motel

It is possible that there was a view in the old days. Garden setting was a bit of an exaggeration too unless a parking lot can be considered a garden. In general we were very satisfied and would definitely recommend this motel for passing through or staying for a while.

Frog

Egret on the Marsh

Egret

Lagoon at low tide

Marshes

We live fairly close to the marsh that is a great place to walk on trails far from any kind of traffic. The trails are unpaved. There are lots of plant and animal species. This particular march is bird watchers paradise and they even have their godwit days. In case you don't know, godwit is a bird. What was surprising to discover was that lots of plants that I though were suitable for dry climate really strived in these wet lands. Poison hemlock was especially abound.

How to delete a folder in Windows Vista

Browsing through my folders today I have noticed some files that I don't want to have anymore. So I tried to delete them. To my great surprise the system said that I need permission from Alice to perform the action. I am Alice. Needless to say I log in as administrator, I tried to change ownership to myself (it was already set that way anyway). Useless. I tried a couple of third party utilities. In vain. I tried command prompt line. Futile. I tried to change attributes but it did not let me.

But I don't give up easily. I knew there must be a way short of reinstalling the whole system. Well, I found it though it is quite roundabout but that problem was driving me crazy. I hate it when the machine tells me that I am not a master of my computer.

The solution is to download Ubuntu system and burn it on CD. I already happened to have a CD from previous experiments with Linux. Nice thing about it is that you don't have to install Linux if you don't want to (I didn't). You just boot "try Ubuntu" option right from CD, open Linux correspondence of explorer and voila! Problem solved.

The file was not system file, in fact it was created by me, there was no reason to behave like that whatsoever. Anyway, if that information helped someone, it was worth writing this post.

Google and the others

Lately you hear about Google does this or Google does that. Quite often it sounds like people are talking about some omniscient being named Google. One might think Google is God Almighty.

Well, I am here to burst this silly bubble. Google is just a search engine, nothing more, nothing less. It's been around for 10 years now and it sure has changed since it first appeared, though it seems mainly for the worse. Yet, I repeat, Google is just a network of robots, machines. Machines don't think.

All the results you get in Google are the results of its algorithms run by robots. That's why I always knew that any statement about Google made in absolutes is usuaaly wrong. Google does not show duplicate results? Wrong. Google does not show sites without backlinks? Wrong again.

Let's just face the truth. Google tries hard to clean the web of immense junk that now invades our virtual space and of course a job of this magnitude is impossible with any half-decent results. But they try. Unsuccessfully. The web-masters try to game Google. Google tries to clean up their act. It's constant war. Nobody is ever going to win.

Also remember that nothing is eternal. Not even Google. Some day Google will be replaced by something better. Or worse. But eventually it will be replaced. Though it's staying power is amazing, I think its end is near precisely because it's been around for too long.

As I am typing this page I notice the words are disappearing. No! No!!!! Almighty Google found out what I am writing and erased half of my essay..... The keyboard gets stuck. Google... is... watching you.......

More about Medicine

Well, look like my tale of woe is not ended. I had to get TB test in order to have my job application processed. The skin test they administered was on the borderline but they eventually decided that it was positive. I had to check with all the nurses at the clinic. Anyway, one of the nurses tried to scare me into taking some kind of medication for TB. I don't even have TB! Why would anyone wanted to treat some latent decease that your own body successfully conquered, assuming you even have this latent form of the decease?

USA Medicine

Well, we avoided it for a long time but unfortunately last month we had to deal with the phenomenon known as American healthcare system. Healthcare? How about calling it sickcare instead? We knew what we were getting into but it still left us shocked at the stupidity and enormous power of the thing.

Last month my husband got an infection. We were able to diagnose it ourselves. We tried the usual home remedies like cranberry juice and baking soda. Nothing worked. However the pain was becoming too intense so he really needed antibiotic. Well, the doctor asked the usual questions, gave us a prescription. The jerk at the reception refused to quote the price. Can you imagine going to the grocery store and the clerk refusing to give you price for your purchase?  Or ordering something from catalogue without knowing the price? Yet American doctors and their minions allow themselves to render services without telling you in advance the price of these services, meaning they can charge whatever they want. Those bastards!

The medicine itself was only $15. I am all right with that.

Unfortunately we had to go back as the medicine did not take desired effect. The second time they made us wait for an hour and then a nurse, not a doctor showed up. She did not do a damn thing except being surprised that the pain was still there.

One month later we got a bill. Then another one. Than we got too more bills. They add up like to a $900 dollars. Nine hundred dollars just to get a prescription for an antibiotic that cost $15. I expected it to be high but I though more like in the range of $100. Because that's what they basically did: jut gave us a prescription for antibiotic.

I won't even start talking about insurance companies.

Oh, and they refused him MediCal because evidently we are too rich to qualify. Never mind we worked hard to save this money. The way they try into your private life is disgusting. And they also encourage poverty mindset. Well, hopefully we will never be dealing with them again.

This madness has to be stopped.

Unfortunately we all know that it won't be. Not anytime soon, anyway.

P. S. The moral of the story: never ever go to hospitals or emergency centers, they will drain you out of your money. They really don't give a damn about you or your trouble. Forget the whole concept that "doctors want to help people". But in case you do need to visit a doctor, go to a private practitioner. They depend on returning patients so their prices will be much more reasonable. It's not to their advantage to rob you blind as they will only get you once. And that is not a good business model.

Rain

So we finally hit the rainy weather!

The problem with living in the desert is that you get tired of high heat, especially if you don't run air conditioner. Walking outside can be a drag. So it's relief to have some coolness for a while.

Of course the same can be said about the rainy weather. When it rains every day, eventually you get tired of rain. So far, we've been lucky. So the ideal weather is in the middle coast of California, like San Francisco. I've been there but only for a short visit.

In one part you have dry chaparral with few trees. It can be attractive. In the North you have redwood forest that likes to eat fog. I wish we had pine forest here too. 

Presumption of Dumbness

Lately I have been thinking of getting  some "eddication". Since university is out of the question due to financial reason, I have been researching community colleges. Well, as you know, community colleges are not very high on the scale of "respect" but they are comparatively cheap and you will get the degree you want, which is just as good as the one from the university.

So what are the requirements? Well, it turn out that you have to prove with your official transcript in the sealed envelope that you got your high school education. What is even more insulting is the fact that if you happened to have a degree from some other college (not the one you are applying to) they will equate college with high school diploma!  I shudder to think what kind of hoops you have to jump through if you happen to have a university degree from another country. Do you have to take GED test?

In this system you are presumed stupid until you can prove that you are average and can at least read and write. But wait, isn't everyone supposed to have at least high school education? That's right but have you really graduated from high school?

This kind of stupidity permeates the whole system. If you are a teacher, for example, you are presumed to be a criminal, a child molester a fraudster and what not. So you have to pass a  fingerprint test to prove that you are not before starting a job. Why sealed transcripts? Dob you have to ask? You are presumed to falsify your records to make you look good on paper. Funny it's never even occurred to me to do that.

This whole educational system is designed to take as much money from you as possible. You have to pay to take tests that prove that you are not as dumb in order to get certificate for some stupid job that any trained monkey can do. In other words

Presumed Dumb until Proven Average.

The Salton Sea

The Salton Sea is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) inland lakes in California. It is salt water lake and it appeared more or less by accident when the waters of Colorado rivers broke a dike and eroded two watercourses whose waters eventually filled the Salton Basin. The Salton basin is one of the lowest places in the United States.

So we had to see this famous sea. One can imagine a nice beach community with shady palms, luxurious houses and clean sparkling sand. Imagine the yachts sailing in the distance and gay Mexican music in the air. The streets are bursting with tourists who have hard time to decide which Mexican restaurant to choose: they all look so inviting with their bright colour facades and salsa music. You get the picture.

Well, as you have probably guessed the reality was pretty disappointing. There was a Yacht Club Drive there but no yachts in sight. Not even a former yacht club building: how did they get a street with the name like that? The brightest building in town was a high school: painted in garish yellow colour with a picture of a wild cat. I could not read their motto.

Well, Salton City is located right in the desert so the plant life there is minimal. A little bit of chaparral. And, no, they have no palms there to speak of. A few we saw at the beach looked very pathetic and a few were burnt. There was one Mexican restaurant but it looked spooky. Very few people outside but that is pretty much a norm for any California town, especially desert towns.

It seemed somebody had high hopes for a real estate boom in that area. For example the aforementioned Yacht Club drive had two lanes separated by the inner strip. There were quite a few new looking houses, new but very ugly. But I saw some ads advertizing cheap houses, like around $100000 which is more than anyone should pay for that area.

Probably the most shocking part about this "sea" was fish. The beach was covered with dead fish. It seems that it gets so hot here that tilapia does not have enough oxygen to breath. They grasp for the oxygen in the air because the heat does something to the water that deprives fish of oxygen. Once the high wind actually revived them. It looks like now they have the annual fish die-off. There were also lots of birds who evidently were not interested in dead fish but preferred them alive.

The general impression of the place was rather dreary and the opposite of the picture I described above.

Thomas Aquinas College

As we drove out of Ojai by the scenic route among the hills past the ranchos we saw a sign for Thomas Aquinas College. We thought it was rather a curious place for a college, it not exactly in the middle of nowhere but certainly off the beaten track. The drive-in was kind of hidden but we foundit way and drove right in.

The first unpleasnt surprise: it turned out to be a private school so not only one could not drive in but one is not even supposed to park outside the gate! We did  so we got out to take a quick look but the security guard told us that we were not supposed to park there. But when he found out that we just wanted to take a quick look around this unusual place he said it was all right. So we went in.

So as the name implies it is a Catholic school or rather college for high school or even graduates. The complex is located right at the foot of a mountain and it has magnificent view. The buildings have kind of old fashioned look not like these awful-looking modern day institutions.

 We visited a chapel: it was quite big, more like a church than a chapel with Vatican style altar. They were some workmen outside taking a break. Right outside the chapel you get a splendid view for what ordinarily would be considered a backyard.

The complex behind the main building had Spanish mission style architecture with its signature arches. The whole place was spacious and open, the atmosphere was quite relaxed. One could tell it was an expensive school. Well, it was fairly close to Ojai.

Krotona

 Toms and Gerry

We visited old friends in Ventura and found out that the city has grown a lot in the 10 years since we've been there last.

The changes were small but perceptible. Ventura is one of the old mission towns with narrow streets so it does not yield itself to growing graciously. As a result we have jammed streets, shabby houses and overcrowded parking lots. It is right on the sea coast so in a way it is a beach town, which means expensive but scuzzy houses and apartments.

But all that is just too depressing. We drove around the town and went to visit Krotona gardens. Krotona is a Theosophy headquaters situated in a small town of Ojai near Ventura. Theosophy is kind of a "new" religion based on the writings of H. Blavatsky. Well, as expected that place was empty. It has a nice cozy library with its perpetual guardian from the old days.

Sedona, AZ Chapel

Sedona Az. Chapel. (Tomasito photo)

Yes, it is just this pretty.

Its small--and there are tourists--but it is well done in every way. I am glad some people have expressed their religious emotions in art and architecture and this is a fine example of the best that some creative people can invent.

...

Sedona, AZ

Red Rocks, Sedona,AZ. (Tomasito photo)

We visited Sedona--one of the most unusual small towns in Arizona--which probably means in the world--on our recent "Journey to the East".

It had been some years since I was last there and Sedona has changed a LOT.

In fact--the little village  of Sedona I remember has completely disappeared.

The area has always been known for beautiful red cliffs and rock formations--nicely set off by intense blue sky and the elegant green of the pinon and other pine trees. But it sure has filled up with new highway round-a-bouts, motels, gift shops, fast-food restaurants, houses and tourists.

Well, what else is new? Flagstaff is a rapidly growing university town a few miles to the  north and Phoenix---a mega-city now--is just a few miles to the south.

...

Two Arizona Wonders

Saguaro Forest

The awesome saguaro forest near Tucson, Arizona, is home to these beautiful gigantic plants--some are two hundred years old. The saguaros have somehow evolved to thrive in this arid climate and are one of the many life-forms which live together here--often depending upon each other in amazingly complex ways.

They are are an inspiration to visit and see.

Nice Lake Havasu

The above photograph is of Lake Havasu from the Rotary Club Free Public Park just a few blocks from the London Bridge.

In  this blog a few days ago I made a bit of fun about the famous  bridge, but the lake itself is an unexpected and beautiful  large body of fresh water out in the desert between Arizona and California.

Since we visited on Easter Sunday there was a lot of motorboat noise but the park had many cool shade trees and green lawns and we even were observers of a pleasant  family Easter-egg hunt.

...

San Xavier del Bac

 Mission San Xavier del Bac

The famous mission San Xavier del Bac is located on the outskirts of Tucson and one of the the sights that you will probably want to visit. I read in a magazine that it is the most photographed building in Arizona or Tucson. It is quite spectacular.

Now I don't know much about Arizona missions though I visited every mission in California. San Xavier was one of the early missionaries in India and China. Inside there is a replica of his body. Actually I am not even sure if it's replica of Xavier or some other saint.

 This must be San Xavier himself

Surprisingly the place was not as crowded as I thought it would be. The lot in front of the mission was unpaved. There was a little plaza with gift shops on the side but it was barely making it. Hmmm... pretty sad for a famous tourist place. Right next to the mission you could see a bunch of Indians selling fried bread and other snacks. Again, no customers.

There are other missions in Arizona too but this is probably the most famous one.