(no subject)

[elainegrey]

Laura's flight got snagged, and she spent a night in Minneapolis. She arrived Friday morning at 9:30-ish and i picked her up with a car ready for a road trip. It had struck me we could be in the Sierras in three hours, and she thought that sounded great. I think it's a fascinating roadtrip, to cut through the landscape changes of the state, coastal range, central valley, foothill, and summit.

I didn't make very good time going uphill in Hélèn the Accent, and when we finally reached a well-marked day use area it was much later than i expected. I did recall reasonable geologic landmarks from roadtrips long ago, especially the inverted stream near Oakdale. Table Mountain is where a lava flow from the Sierra flowed down a river valley and, in the subsequent ten million years, the rest of the landscape has eroded away leaving the lavaflow a high flat wandering mountain.

We picnicked and walked around an overlook, ancient volcanic cones in the distance, the granite batholith of the Sierras visible around us. "What tree is this?" Laura would ask of the mixed conifers around us, and i realized how much i've focussed on geography.

I do have a tree book i could study.

Yesterday we hung about the house, with an outing to the used bookstore, and a dinner outing to Half Moon Bay via Skyline Drive in Josie. Today, Meeting and then to the city while Christine rehearses, and then she's on her red-eye flight back east

Comments

[laughingrat]

That sounds like a pretty pleasant visit, all told.

[elainegrey]

It's been a delightful visit. We're about 11 years apart in age, but it gets less and less significant. We both are intentionally recovering from our upbringing. While our career paths have been different (she's at home with little kids), we still find much in common.