I had a nice ride down to Fresno and back, yesterday, to spend the afternoon with Mom. My birthday is roaring up (they practically knock me down when I'm not paying attention, these days!) and we wanted to hang out a bit to commemorate.
I'm getting to know that stretch of 99, now. As opposed to I-5, there's much more "activity" along the way--towns, trees, and trains and, during the holidays, amazing (and very distracting) Christmas light displays. They're obviously oriented toward the road and I bet there's some secret competition to see which Griswald extravaganza causes the most traffic accidents in a given season.
The night before last, I inadvertently (it's always inadvertent) stumbled across yet another Huell Howser California Road Trip Conducted In The Most Embarrassing Manner Possible (I think that's the whole title of the production series--something like it, or should be) that happened to focus on finding the geographical center of California (how many H.H. programs has he produced? Must number in the thousands, by now). There's some dispute, apparently, but it's somewhere north of Fresno and south of Madera off of I-99. I won't get me started on Huell Howser, for the time being. But, while we (yes, "we") wince and cringe all the through every single show of his we've ever seen (don't ask how many), I usually learn something kind of interesting or even more than kind of interesting. Somehow. It's a high price to pay, though...
Anyway, somewhere on the I-99 median, north of Fresno, he and his crew stopped to look at a pair of trees. A palm tree planted adjacent to and just south of a pine tree. Turns out, it's supposed to represent the official dividing point between NorCal and SoCal. So, I looked for the trees. And spotted them! How could I get so happy about that? They are about 10-15 minutes north of the Fresno/Madera County line. Only, the pine tree looked newer and smaller than the one Huell saw (a few years earlier, according to his hair). The pine tree there, now, is supported by a lot of guy lines and is only about as tall as the palm. But it's the same place. Check it out, when you're in the neighborhood!
Other things that keep me occupied during the 3 1/2 hour, 230-mile one-way trip are NPR (three different station along the way), chatting on the phone, figuring out the EXACT half-way point (not sure, yet, but it's in southern Stockton, somewhere), and wondering about any number of things I see, such as what all those huge yellow machines (about 40?) were doing to the railroad tracks near Fresno. It appeared they were replacing the old ties, or some such. Must know.
Anyway, Mom is doing fine, and we had a lovely afternoon,munching lunch at Cheesecake Factory. The plan I follow, there, is to get an appetizer, instead of a meal, so there'll be room for cheesecake. I chose White Chocolate/Caramel Macadamia--not on the printed menu, yet. The Godiva Chocolate or the Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple were runners up. Bit of a weakness, cheesecake.
So, here's a quick snap of us at lunch by Amber, our server. I had forgotten to pop up the flash for her, so it's a bit blurry. Blurry is our friend, though, at our advanced ages...
