Where I come from

The boy and I decided to take a drive today seeings how it's like 90 degrees here in the Sacramento Valley and everything is in bloom. We loaded up the bastards in the back of the truck and headed North West into the coastal range towards East Park Resevoir and Indian Valley (Carina, that's the lake you and I went boating at with my aunt and uncle). Andrew wanted to show me some roads that he used hunt off of instead of taking our normal route through Maxwell so I said sure. At first it was just another bumpy country road and then when he pointed out a particular ranch I realized we'd taken this road before and I hated it because it was in horrible condition and it was extremely narrow along a canyon (as most roads are around here) and he drives entirely too fast for my taste. But it was far too late to turn around so we plugged along. The good news is that the last time we took this route it was summer time and it wasn't nearly as green and pretty as it was this time of year. I have to admit it was gorgeous!

One of the things I love most about where I live is that even though the city of Woodland is getting far too out of control population wise the country is right in our backyard. And save for the scary wild animals that live in the country it's where I much prefer to spend my time during day light hours. I have an unnatural fear of the country at night time because I think a bear/mountain lion/coyote/rattlesnake is going to eat either myself or my dogs. The town where I grew up is at the base of the hills that are at the base of the coastal range. And by the base I mean that the town of Esparto is all mostly flat land but if you drive 1/4 -1/2 mile west you started gaining elevation. Most of my best friends growing up lived in the hills known as the Capay Valley and that's where I spent alot of my time until just recently.

I always love a drive into the hills because it reminds me that the country still exists in this nation. It seems to me that cities are growing at unnatural rates anymore and I fear that my children or grandchilden won't be able to see the beauty of nature the way that I did. I know that even since my parents grew up that sooo much as changed. My dad remembers when there wasn't a freeway that ran through Woodland at all and if you wanted to go to Sacramento (a short 20 min drive these days) you had to drive your car onto a ferry that would transport you across the river. My mom remembers when the highway that is the heart of Yolo County used to be on the other side of the cache creek canyon and when deer outnumbered residents. Even Andrew remembers when he first came to California at age 10 (he's Canadian) that the deer and pigs and ducks where plentiful and now they've been hunted so much that you're hard pressed to find one at all. All we saw today is 5 hours is 1 deer, 3 turkeys, a handful of quail, and a million squirrels. And we went so far up into the mountains that we literally had to turn around because there was so much snow on the mountain still that we couldn't pass through. Crazy!

So here are some pictures of the America that is in my backyard. The sun was high and bright when I took them so it washed the color out and the pictures do not do the landscape justice AT ALL. Notice how the California flower, the poppy, grows like crazy up there! For those of you who have never seen a California poppy they are the prettiest, most vibrant orange you'll ever see. And here's a fact for the day: It's illegal to pick a poppy in California. Looks like these folks better invest in a goat!