Lassen Volcanic NP History

Lassen Volcanic National Park is located in northern California, and its mountains are part of the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest.  This park is unique in that it is one of the few places in the world where visitors can see all four types of volcanoes; Composite Volcanoes, Lava Domes, Cinder Cones and Shield Volcanoes.  Lassen Peak, the mountain for which the park is named, is the largest plug dome volcano in the world (plug domes are a type of lava dome).  The park also contains thermal features similar to those made famous by Yellowstone National Park, including mudpots and fumaroles.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Human habitation in the area began thousands of years ago, and four tribes lived and traveled in areas of the park.  The Atsugewi, Yana, Yahi and Mountain Maidu all made use of park areas seasonally for hunting and gathering.  They continue to use these areas today to preserve traditions and celebrate their history.  White settlers first entered the area in the 1830s, and Peter Lassen, a Danish blacksmith, settled in the area.  The Nobles Emigrant Trail then was established through the park area, leading settlers to the Sacramento Valley further west.

Lassen’s claim to fame is that it is one of the few volcanoes in the United States to have erupted in recent history.  Lassen Peak began erupting in 1914, and continued off and on with eruptions both large and small until 1921. Thankfully, monitoring of the volcano had already begun and people living in the area had a warning prior to the eruption.  No one was injured or killed, although some homes and buildings were destroyed.  Prior to that, the most recent eruption in the park was the Cinder Cone, which erupted between 1630 and 1670 (mostly likely 1666, according to tree ring analysis).  The area had been designated as a Forest Preserve in the late 1800s, and then Lassen Peak and Cinder Cone were designated as two separate National Monuments in 1907.  The eruption led to the park’s designation as a National Park on August 9, 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson.

Today the park has a lot to see and do; visitors can hike, snowshoe and ski in the winter, camp, and see wildlife.  There are hiking trails up the mountains, in the wilderness, past waterfalls, and boardwalks built around the thermal features.  Manzanita Lake in the northern section of the park has a large campground, a museum and a store.  The southern section of the park has a fairly new Visitor’s Center.  Sadly, some areas of the park were significantly damaged by a fire in 2021, but many sections of the park have reopened since that time.

I spent three days and two nights camping there in 2019; one night in a tent and one in a camping cabin.  I had a great time, and will tell you about my visit next!

Lassen NP

 

Book Review: The Novelist from Berlin

The Novelist from Berlin, by V.S. Alexander

Niki Rittenhaus is a young woman trying to make it as an actress and model in pre-WWII Berlin.  But life is tough, and she has rent to pay, so she uses men to get what she needs.  Soon she meets Rickard Langer at the bar she frequents, and discovers he is different.  He is a producer for Passport Pictures, one of Berlin’s film studios.

Soon Niki has the life of her dreams.  She is acting in a film, with Rickard on her arm, living in his plush, luxury apartment.  They soon marry and have a child on the way.  But her husband is doing more and more to appease the Nazis, making propaganda films to support the Reich.  Niki will not go along with it, so she stops acting, and pursues her passion to write a novel.  A novel that does not align with the Nazis ideal for women.  Even though she writes under a pseudonym, she becomes more and more afraid that they will find her, so she runs away with their daughter.  However, Rickard will do anything to have his child back, and soon teams up with the Nazi thugs to kidnap the child.

Niki is heartbroken, and vows to do anything to get her child back, but times are desperate and her life will be in danger if her identity as the writer is found out.  The war takes her to Amsterdam, and eventually back to Berlin, where she struggles to survive and still maintain her morals.  She will not collaborate with the Nazis, no matter how difficult things get.

This novel was interesting, and covered the realities for the German people before, during and after World War II.  Yet the writing didn’t flow as well as it could, and at times the novel moved very slowly.  There were traumatic experiences that seemed inserted to gain a reaction, but with no lead up to evoke that reaction, nor follow through after.  There were characters that the reader becomes invested in, only to never hear from them again.  Of course, this could be seem as realistic, as many people disappeared without a trace during the war, either victims of the fighting, or the concentration camps, or their efforts to flee war torn Europe.  However, later mentions of these characters seem to be an afterthought.

It was a good book, but not a great one.  I enjoyed the story, and the tension between the characters and their lives in a difficult time in history.  It just felt a bit superficial to me, and the writing style was basic.  The sentences didn’t flow poetically, or trigger the imagination for me. I just felt it could have done much more to capture the harsh realities of the war and her situation.

The book is loosely based on the life of Irmgard Keun, a novelist in Berlin.  Like Niki’s, her books were banned by the Nazis.  A fascinating woman; I wish I knew more about her real life.

3 stars.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from Kensington Books.  My thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

Book Review: The Ghost of Us

The Ghost of Us, by James L. Sutter

Cara hates living in Stossel, a small town outside of Seattle where everyone has known each other since kindergarten, and no one’s mistakes ever get forgotten.  She has just a couple of months left of high school, and then she can escape this miserable place.  The only problem is that she did not get accepted into the college she applied to, so she will have to go to community college.  Her only hope is to make it big as a YouTube paranormal researcher and ghost hunter. 

One night Cara decides to venture alone to the old plant, an abandoned building where Aiden, a senior at her high school, died from a fall the year before.  Things change for her that night, when she discovers that Aiden can speak to her – and only her!  It is finally her chance to prove that ghosts exist, if only he will cooperate with her experiments.  However, Aiden’s ghost has a mind of his own, and he has his own agenda.  He wants to make sure his sister Meredith is happy, and it’s up to Cara to make that happen.  Tit for tat; if Cara does what he wants, then he will help her prove that ghosts exist.

This is a young adult novel, which is outside my usual genre.  That said, it was enjoyable and interesting.  Sutter hits on several themes within the book; teens coming of age and trying to find their place in the world, grief and loss, the dangers of social media, and homophobia.  The pitfall to this approach was that he couldn’t dive too deeply into any one theme, but that also kept the story line relatively upbeat despite the weightiness of the subject matter. 

I was engaged with the story, wanting to see Cara succeed.  I was frustrated when she made mistake after mistake, bumbling her way through life and her attempts to get what she wants and deliver on her promise to Aiden.  I also appreciated that Cara’s best friend was a Christian who showed her love, kindness and support.  So often these days Christianity is portrayed in a negative light, so that was a positive. 

The cons: I thought the sex was a bit overdone, and not really necessary for the plot of the book.  Most of the intimacy in the books I read is more implied than overt, and I thought that would have supported the notion of romance more.  There was also a lot of today’s teenage jargon, which didn’t bother me, but also won’t age well as slang changes quickly.   

Overall, it was well done, and it would interest teens and young adults, especially those who have an interest in the paranormal.

3 stars.

Note: I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.  This is my honest review.

2024 Retirement Diaries: Back from Michigan

My Mom and I got home from our trip to Michigan on Sunday evening.  We were away for about ten days, and had a wonderful balance of doing some sightseeing, antiquing and thrift shopping, and relaxing.

We headed out the Thursday before last, heading out from Minnesota at about 7:30 in the morning, and made the 10 hour drive in one day.  Fortunately, the weather was pretty decent for the Midwest mid-winter, with some rain, no snow and periods of sun.  Traffic through Chicago was light; way better than what I generally experience going through Seattle in the mid-afternoon!  Other than rest areas, gas and a drive-through for lunch, we basically just cruised all day and arrived in Michigan around 7 pm, in time for a delicious chili dinner at my aunt, uncle and cousin’s house!

The next week we kept busy, but not busy at my usual travel pace.  We checked out some antique stores, some thrift stores, and a new rock shop in town.  The rock shop was huge and had so many cool rocks!  It was hard to control myself. 

My cousin and I went to breakfast with her coworker and went to the beach at Lake Michigan to look for rocks.  We were there for about an hour before we were completely freezing, but it was a worthwhile trip.  I found an amazing agate!

We had lunch and dinner with another aunt, uncle and cousin.  I took some walks out in the neighborhood, and one day it was even too warm for my coat.  It is unheard of to be wandering around in the winter in just a fleece!

One afternoon we went to a local high school play and that evening we ate seven layer dip with tortilla chips and watched the Superbowl.  Wow!  The game was mostly boring with a lot of spice thrown in right at the end!  I thought the half-time show was rather meh…

We checked out a local museum in Kalamazoo, which had a small exhibit on the history of the mental asylum in the area.  It originally opened in 1859, and was known as the Michigan Asylum for the Insane.  The hospital is still in operation, celebrating 165 years this year.  Malcolm X’s mother and the inventor of the Gibson guitar were both institutionalized there.  It was an interesting exhibit, and they showed several books that have been written about the asylum and the asylum system.  Unfortunately, the museum doesn’t have a gift shop!

I got lots of reading done, and some writing, and it was nice to spend time with family.  One evening, we watched Oppenheimer.  I know it got mixed reviews even though it has been nominated for 13 Oscars.  For sure, it’s long, and it’s hard to sit for that much time without your butt falling asleep.  Plus it is a complicated story, so you have to pay attention, and it helps if you know at least some of the background for the development of the atom bomb.  But I thought it was a really good movie!  Better than Killers of the Flower Moon, which I saw a few months ago.

On the way home, mom and I did a two day drive and diverted to Galena, Illinois.  Galena is one of the most historic cities in the Midwest, with white settlement going back to the 1820s.  Plus, the Civil War General and U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant lived there for a time!  In fact, nine Civil War Generals are from Galena.  There is too much there for Galena to not get its own post, so watch for that in the future!  It was also frigidly cold while we were there, and some things were closed for the winter, so this is certainly a little town I will want to visit again.

We drove a bit of the historic Route 20 (the longest road in the United States), and the Great River Road (which goes along the Mississippi River) on the way home as well.  We were able to travel through small towns and farmland, and get off the main highways.  Most of the attractions were closed, as we headed through on a winter Sunday morning, but it was a beautiful scenic route!

All in all, it was a fun family visit, with a bit of sightseeing, and well worth the trip.  Hopefully next time I’ll be able to see my family on the other side of the state as well!

 

 

Book Review: Homecoming

Homecoming, by Kate Morton

I was at the library when I saw this book on the Lucky Day shelf.  Lucky Day books, for those of you who don’t know, are books that have a long wait list at the library, because they are brand new, popular or both.  The library will have a copy or two that are designated as Lucky Day books; if you happen to be in the library when they are sitting on the shelf, you can skip the line!  Of course, there’s always a catch.  They typically only have a one week checkout, as opposed to the two or three week checkout period, so you have to be able to finish the book quickly.  At almost 500 pages, I was a little nervous about grabbing this one!  I read fast, but I was going to have to be committed! 

Homecoming tells two stories which weave their way together.  In 1959 in Adelaide Hills, Australia, a mother and three of her children are found dead while on a Christmas Eve family picnic in their yard; the newborn infant is missing.  There are no signs of violence; in fact the family is found looking like they simply laid down on their picnic blanket for an afternoon nap.  The woman’s husband was out of the country on a business trip, and the police investigation reveals no suspects in what is assumed to be a murder by poison. 

Sixty years later, Jess lives in London and has recently ended her marriage and lost her job as a journalist.  She receives a call that her elderly grandmother Nora has taken a fall and has been hospitalized; she’s not doing well.  Jess flies back home to Australia and when she arrives at the hospital she finds her grandmother only semi-conscious, agitated and making strange statements.  Jess has to get to the bottom of what’s upsetting Nora. 

After some research, Jess discovers that the tragic murders in Adelaide Hills were Nora’s sister-in-law, nieces and nephew.  Yet, Nora has never mentioned these family members.  Worse yet, the crime was never solved.  Jess decides to dig deeper into the mystery, to learn what happened to her family long ago.

Morton tells the story alternating between the present and the past, revealing more details of the story in each chapter.  It kept me riveted, wanting to get to the mystery of who would murder a woman and her children and kidnap the baby in a small close-knit community where everyone knows each other.  Her writing style is engaging and descriptive, and it held my interest through the entire book.  There are a number of twists that will keep you guessing.  I couldn’t put it down!

And yes, I finished it with a day to spare!

5 stars.

Book Review: The Eighty-Dollar Champion

The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letts

In 1956 Harry deLeyer was teaching riding lessons at a prestigious girl’s boarding school on Long Island.  He went to an auction in February of that year, looking for a calm, quiet lesson horse.  Car trouble made him late for the auction, and by the time he arrived the only horses left were being loaded onto a slaughterhouse truck.  Instead of giving up, Harry peeked through the slats of the truck, and was greeted by a gray horse’s sweet, calm eyes.

Harry asked the driver to unload the horse, and offered $80 for him, if the driver would deliver him to his farm near the slaughterhouse.  The driver agreed, and the rest, as they say, was history.

Harry’s children took an instant liking to the big gray gelding, and named him Snowman.  The girls at the school loved him too, and Harry could put even the most timid students on him because he was so gentle.  Eventually, a neighbor came along looking for a horse for his son, and Snowman seemed to fit the bill.  Harry couldn’t pass up a chance to double his money, and sold Snowman for $160.

However, Snowman loved Harry, and was having none of it.  He wasn’t going to be sold!  He kept showing up back at Harry’s and it took several days before Harry realized that he was jumping several large fences in order to get across the fields and back to the farm.  It was at that point that Harry recognized that he had misjudged Snowman.  He bought him back from the neighbor and began training him to be a show jumper.

Two years later, Harry entered his first Open Jumper classes with Snowman, and soon was dominating the field, holding his own against purebred Thoroughbreds worth tens of thousands of dollars and ridden by professionals.  The public noticed too, and Snowman quickly became a fan favorite for his calm demeanor and incredible skill, jumping fences as high as 7 feet, 2 inches.

Elizabeth Letts tells the story of this remarkable horse and his kind, caring owner, following Harry from his childhood in the Netherlands, his immigration to the United States after World War II, and his career in horse training and teaching.  She tells the story of Snowman, a grade gelding of unknown origin, who came to Harry’s farm injured and overworked, and the bond they forged.

But most of all, she tells the story about their incredible partnership, and how Snowman was rescued from slaughter to become the nation’s greatest show jumper.  His story was an inspiration to many, a true fairy tale, so much that he earned the nickname, The Cinderella Horse.

This book was well researched and well-written, and I found myself rooting for Snowman and Harry along with the rest of his fans.  Who doesn’t love an underdog story!

4 stars.

Siskiyou County California Hiking (part 2)

Root Creek Trail – Castle Crag’s State Park
November 10, 2018

Castle Crags State Park is a gem that I would like to visit again.  There is a campground and hiking trails, along with views of the Sacramento River.  The Castle Crags themselves are 6000 foot tall granite spires that are over 170 million years old!  The way that they jut out is pretty incredible to see.  There is a short quarter-mile trail leading to Vista Point, and spectacular views of the Castle Crags and Mount Shasta. 

From Vista Point we also hiked the 3.1 mile long out and back Root Creek Trail.  It is an easy trail with a view of Root Creek at the end, and some old mining or logging equipment that was left behind.

Sadly, in 1853, a rumor got started that the Castle Crags area had a successful gold mine.  So many hopeful prospectors clogged up the area and littered the Sacramento River with their debris.  Unfortunately this led to a failure of the fall salmon run the next year, and the Okwanuchu Shasta, Wintu, Achumawi and Modoc people who lived in the area were starved to death by the hundreds that winter.  This led several Modocs to steal flour from the white settlers, and the conflict escalated into the Battle of the Crags in 1855.  Modoc Chief Dorcas Della was killed.  All that bloodshed, and the gold miners left shortly after, because they didn’t find any gold.

Living Memorial Sculpture Garden, Siskiyou County, CA
November 24, 2018

This sculpture garden is located near Weed, California.  It was created in 1988 by a group of veterans, and is maintained with an agreement with the USDA Forest Service.  It honors veterans from all wars with a memorial wall, a Hot LZ wall and sculpture garden.  If you don’t know the terminology, Hot LZ stands for Hot Landing Zone.  However, the wall honors all veterans, not just pilots, and new names are added twice a year.  The garden contains about a dozen sculptures by Dennis Smith, a Marine Corps Sergeant during the Vietnam War.  It is peaceful to walk among the sculptures while you reflect upon the sacrifices made by these courageous men and women.

There is also a beautiful view of Mount Shasta at the Living Memorial.  Of course, there aren’t a lot of places in Siskiyou County where there isn’t a stunning view of the mountain.

 

Pluto’s Cave, Klamath National Forest, Siskiyou County, CA
November 24, 2018

Pluto’s Cave is a partially collapsed lava tube in Siskiyou County north of Weed, California.  The lava flowed from a vent about 8 miles northeast of the cave about 190,000 years ago.  This makes Pluto’s Cave a really old lava tube, as most of them don’t last this long, geologically speaking.  The semi-arid climate of northern California slows erosion.  Pluto’s Cave has a large diameter for a lava tube also, larger than many of the caves on the Hawaiian islands. 

It is a 0.3 mile hike from the parking lot, although honestly it didn’t feel that long.  Once there, explorers can venture about 1200 feet into the cave.  We went in late November, over the Thanksgiving Day weekend, and it was still warm enough that I had to shed some layers!  It was neat to be able to see the evidence of the lava flow, and explore the lava rock in the cave.  This hike was definitely a hit with the kids and the short hike and the size of the cave meant that it didn’t take too much time to visit and see the cave. 

 

Retirement Diaries 2024: Michigan

Since the weather has been so warm and snow-free, Mom and I took a week and headed over to Michigan to see some of the family.  We drove over on Thursday, because we couldn’t leave earlier in the week and miss our book clubs!  We are staying with my aunt, uncle and cousin, in their little hometown near Kalamazoo.

The drive was easy, and we didn’t even have terrible traffic when we were skirting the edges of Chicago!  I say that and will now probably be cursed the next time I drive through Chicago.

So far we have gone to a couple of vintage/antique/thrift shops, checked out a bin store (it was meh…), watched Oppenheimer, worked on a puzzle, taken a couple walks through the neighborhood and eaten some great food.  We also had lunch with another aunt, uncle and cousin!  That was fun!

We even had a little jewelry making workshop!  Mom showed us all how to make some heart earrings for Valentine’s Day.

Today we went to a high school play (my uncle’s coworker was performing).  There were five short productions and then the main one-act play.  The shorts were written, cast, rehearsed and performed for the first time, all within 24 hours!  They were very creative and funny; it was clear these kids worked very hard.

There is more fun on the agenda for the rest of the week.  The Superbowl coming right up, more thrift and antique shops, a rock shop, rock hounding and more great food.  Who knows – maybe we will even find a giant statue on the way!?  For the Super Bowl, I have to root for the Chiefs, because they are the only team that has an animal mascot.  Yes, I looked up the mascots in order to make my choice.

It’s been nice to get away and have some family time. 

Siskiyou County California Hiking

In November and December 2018 I spent some time in Weed, California, and had an opportunity to sightsee in Siskiyou County.  There are certainly some gems here and I would like to see more!  Most of these hikes were with kids, or we were limited on time because the kids were in school, so they were easy enough to do with little ones.

Lake Siskiyou Trail – 6.8 miles
October 18, 2018

The Lake Siskiyou Trail is a flat, easy trail that goes around Lake Siskiyou, a reservoir near the city of Mount Shasta.  You can do the entire trip around the lake for 6.8 miles, or you can do an out and back as far as you want.  The day I was there, we went a couple of miles on the trail, seeing a variety of easy terrain and the Wagon Creek Bridge.  I saw a Great Egret and got some nice photos of him (or her)!  The weather was beautiful, I was wearing shorts on a mid-October day!  If you want to hike here, keep in mind that the bridges over a couple of creeks are removed in the winter, so you can’t walk around the whole lake in winter.

Bonus: Near Lake Siskiyou is the Berryvale Post Office, a historic building that housed the Post Office from 1870 – 1887.  When I visited 5 years ago, they were in the process of restoration; maybe now the restoration is finished.

Hedge Creek Falls, Dunsmuir CA – 1 mile
October 20, 2018

This waterfall just outside of the city of Dunsmuir, California can be seen with a short out and back hike.  The trail has a couple of switchbacks down the hill through the woods.  It is a half mile to the waterfall, which can vary significantly in water flow depending on the time of the year.  I was there in mid-October, and there wasn’t a lot of water flowing.  It is fun to be able to walk behind the waterfall though!  You can also continue your hike a little ways more to get a peek-a-boo view of the Sacramento River, which Hedge Creek flows into.

Fun fact!  On October 25, 1879, Charles Bolton, better known by his outlaw name of Black Bolt, robbed the stagecoach traveling between Roseburg, Oregon and Redding, California.  He is known to have holed up behind Hedge Creek Falls before the robbery.

Dunsmuir is also a cute historic town with several historic buildings dating to the late 1800s.  I didn’t get to spend any time there (because reasons), but I would love to check it out more.

Spring Hill Trail
November 1, 2018

The Spring Hill Trail is a 2.6 round trip mile hike up Spring Hill.  There are switchbacks, and peek a boo views of Mount Shasta on the trail, but you are greeted with a beautiful view of the mountain from the top!  I hiked this trail as I was getting over a bad cold, so it felt a little difficult at the time.  It is an out and back trail, so what you go up you then get to go down!  It was certainly a fun hike!

The city of Mount Shasta is a cute little town with several historic buildings and a thriving downtown with shops and restaurants.  It was a fun little town to check out; I would love to go back and see more.

 

 

 

A Letter on Starting Over…

Author’s Note: A Letter on Starting Over…

Now that I’m moving forward from posts about my huge road trip in 2018, there has been a lot on my mind.  You see, that road trip was my chance to start over, to heal, to move on from personal and career trauma that I had experienced.  And it was successful.  I came home from that trip with a new outlook, having found contentment, joy and a comfort in my own skin.

I also came home from that trip with a boyfriend, a man I had known since we were kids and thought  at the time would be my future.  I was hopeful about the new beginning.  But what I learned with that man and the one that came after, is the reminder that there are a lot of men who are broken and not doing the work to heal.  Instead they bounce through life, manipulating and abusing, blaming anyone but themselves, and they don’t have your best interest in their hearts.  They think more about the “what can you do for me?” than the “how can I be the best partner possible?”.  I deserve to be treated well, and have had far too much experience with the shenanigans of dishonest men.  Of course, I didn’t know any of that at the beginning.

Sometimes it takes a while to carve away the romance and the rose-colored glasses from the red flags and the “oh no you didn’t’s.”  Sometimes once you see the tiger’s stripes, it takes awhile to run.  Because you have a soft heart and you care about that person, and you want them to want to be kind to you.  It takes awhile to find out that the promises get broken, and the “I’ll never do it agains” are lies and “until next times.”  Ultimately, I’m not willing to stand for that.  And yes, I’m aware that there are a lot of women out there who do the same thing, but I’m not dating women so…

At any rate, the reality is that many of the trips I took during this upcoming period weren’t solo trips.  They were trips with a partner, with someone I thought I was making a future with, only to find out that future wasn’t going to be real.  I don’t really want to include those two men in the recaps of the trips after the fact, but it also feels a bit disingenuous to pretend it was a solo trip when it wasn’t.  There was joy and happiness associated with those trips that was different than if I were traveling alone.  Not that I’m unhappy traveling alone, but it is a quieter peace, a more inward introspection, and definitely a less social experience.

Maybe I didn’t need to say anything at all.  Maybe you, the reader, wouldn’t notice, but I have always tried to be authentic.  I want to paint a picture of my life that is real, and accurate, not smoothed over with filters and no mention about the hard parts of life.  I do have a blessed life, but filling it with a life partner hasn’t come easily for me.  My love life has been filled with frogs who never turned into the prince.  Just as 2018 was a “starting over” year for me, so was 2020 and 2023.  I know I’m not the only one with such bad luck or a terrible picker, so perhaps I can help someone feel not so alone in the world.  True love, the kind that is filled with kindness and mutual respect, is worth waiting for and not settling.

So just be aware some of these stories contain a person in the background, whose story might not be told.  Maybe, one day, I’ll be ready to tell those stories; there are some real doozies in the vault…

Onward…