Walking Amongst Giants (and Junk)

Oh my goodness, it's almost been a month since I last wrote a blog post. I'm officially not a very good blogger. Well if there's anyone out there left reading this, I apologize! I sort of wait until a post forms itself in my mind and then write it and that just hasn't happened lately. That is, until last week.

So, when you think of California, what comes to mind? Seriously, I'm curious what sorts of words pop into your heads. Maybe warm weather and beaches? Celebrities and beautiful, shallow people? Horrendous traffic? Well how about breath-taking scenery and natural phenomena? Did you know that California is the home of the following: the oldest living tree, the tallest tree species, and the biggest tree in the world?

Well I saw the General Sherman, the biggest tree in the world last week. We went on a road trip to Sequoia National Park. Words seriously can not describe how amazing the sequoias are. David keeps making fun of me because I'm obsessed with these trees. It's not just that they're so big but that they're really, truly beautiful.

                                          I mean, are you kidding me?! They look like two
                                          giant dinosaur feet! P.S. I finally figured out how
                                          to insert pictures! Yay!

The main reason that the sequoias are so big is that they are pretty much immune to the things that kill other types of trees. Guess what the top killer of sequoia trees is? Bugs? Nope. Fungus? Uh uh. Forest fires? We saw a cross section of a tree with 80 fire scars! Nope, the number one killer, and really the only thing that kills these trees is... toppling over. They get so friggin' big that they can't hold themselves up anymore. And one of the things that makes them so beautiful is also what protects them. They have excessive amounts of tannin in their bark which gives them their beautiful red colour but also makes them unpalatable to insects and fungus.

General Sherman, the biggest sequoia of them all is not actually the tallest or the widest but it has the most volume because it tapers very little toward the top. It's volume increases by the equivalent of another very large tree every year. As we walked toward the grove of sequoias and they came into sight my mouth was literally hanging open. I was like a cartoon character who sees a beautiful girl with my eyes bugging out and my tongue lolling. I felt like I was suddenly thrust into world 4 of Super Mario 3, minus the giant fish trying to eat me, of course.

     Sorry that this picture is so annoyingly big but I'm trying to give you a sense of the scale here.
     Can you see the people standing in front of the tree in the middle?

There was one tree that had fallen down and was completely hollowed out so you could walk down the length of it. This tree had been used as a shelter, a saloon, and a horse corral. The trees were once logged but now they're protected. We saw one stump of a tree that took 13 days to cut down.

These trees are also incredibly old. General Sherman is about 3,000 years old. So it was a pretty old tree already when the bible was being written.

So anyway, I'll stop obsessing about the sequoias now. All I will say is that every single person should see these trees at some point in his or her life. The shocking thing is that not a single person that I have talked to in L.A. about our trip has seen the sequoias. The world's biggest tree is less than 4 hours away and they haven't even seen it?!!

Another cool thing we did on our trip is a cave tour. We were there during the off-peak season so we got our own private tour (which was good because she was able to answer ALL of Asha's many questions). The cave is in a mountain made of solid marble. The formations inside are formed by water making its way through the mountain and leaving behind calcite deposits. The formations were truly breath-taking. Asha liked them because they were all named after food (stack of pancakes, popcorn, lasagne noodles). Nia was completely mesmerized and kept pointing all over. I wonder if later in life she'll have crazy dreams about wierd, wavy rocks and gigantic trees!

As we were walking through the cave a drop of water landed on my head, what is called a "cave kiss". The tour guide told us that it takes between 500 and 800 years for the water to make its way through the mountain into the cave. So the water that fell on my head had rained at least 500 years before!! Isn't that amazing!?

 

Well now I'm just going crazy with the pictures!

The cave formations are hard to capture on film

but here you go!

At the end of our trip we decided to head out west so we could drive back down the coast. Most people visit the Cambria area to see Hearst Castle. It has been dubbed "America's castle" and was build by William Randolph Hearst, the publishing bagillionaire. It's supposedly very extravagant and opulent. A couple of people told David we shouldn't miss it. Well, it's not really our style so we skipped it.

We did, however, go to a place called Nit Wit Ridge. It's a house that was built by a guy named Art Beal. He bought the land for $500 and built the entire house out of repurposed items (also known as junk). He did all the stonework, plumbing, and wiring himself. He was the town garbage man and rumour has it he didn't actually take anything to the dump but kept ALL of it. He has picture frames made out of toilet seats. The handrails are functioning pipes that water runs through. 

                                                                       Nit Wit Ridge

The guy was a total nutcase but it was pretty amazing how industrious he was and how he found beauty in unusual items. He has integrated into the stonework hundreds of abalone shells that he got from the plant where they removed the meat and threw out the shells.

The residents of the town are divided between folks who think the house is a heritage site that should be preserved and people who think it's an eyesore that should be torn down. Our family was also divided. I thought it was fascinating and a testament to what can be done with stuff people throw away, some ingenuity, and a whole lotta time. David found the entire tour uncomfortable and couldn't get past the glaring building code violations. I suppose it's like if there was a person who didn't know how to fix speech and language problems but they got a bunch of kids and tried to give them speech therapy. Then someone put on tours so people could look at all the screwed up little kids!

So, that's our little road trip in a nutshell. We successfully logged many hours in a car, minus a DVD player I might add! After 4 days we were more than ready to go home. Once again, the term "home" was confusing because we alternately called our hotel room, Los Angeles, and Edmonton "home". I have a new obsession with sequoia trees and renewed sense of awe for nature. 

Now for the super fun job of packing up our house!