Anyhoo, one reason I'm a little more pressed for time is that I've been trying to crank out more artsy stuff. Next post, I'll begin to catch you up with that whole ball of wax.
This time, though, it's more about the day trip to Oroville we took last Sunday. It's about, oh, 1 1/2 hours from here.
We were just curious to see the reservoir--the 2nd largest in the state (Shasta is bigger). A couple of years ago, in the middle of the drought, we checked it out for the first time and it was pathetic-looking. Seriously. Near as I can figure from online sources, it was about 250 feet below "full" at that time (first photo).
On Sunday, it was only 15 feet below capacity (tree line) due to their having let it drain down to that level a couple of months ago so that it wouldn't overflow. Feels like a different place, now (second pic).
We didn't drive over to the bridge to take pictures from the exact same location. Instead, we parked on the road and hiked up to the cool visitor's center they have there. We are connoisseurs (OK, I didn't know how to spell that until just now--missed the "is" in the middle) of visitor's centers. Ask our kids. I think they eventually developed a"VC allergy", or at least an extreme sensitivity. It's nearly as much fun for Tom and I to explore a visitor's center as to actually experiencing the parks, themselves. Almost. So much cool info!! Love the exhibits!This one was great! From the natural history to the original inhabitants (Maidu--same as around here) to the gold rush to the building of the "largest earthen dam in the US". Well. So much of it is predictably sad, of course. The Maidu were killed off/chased away by miners, for the most part. The post-49ers ruined the river habitat with their giant dredges. The area now covered by the water in the dam obliterated 145 village sites of the native people. And then there's the Ishi story.
I had read about him many years ago, but had forgotten that this was where he "surfaced". One hundred years ago, in 1911, he walked out of the backcountry up the Feather, hungry and utterly alone, the last survivor of his people. He had been hiding for years after his family had died. Briefly, he was handed over the University of California, Berkeley, to be studied, where they treated him as well as could be expected for those times. He learned some English, wore a suit, and taught people his ways as well as he could. Five years later, he passed away at approximately age 54 from TB , which was still incurable in those times. It's a fascinating story, if you have some time to check it out. That's Tom reading the Ishi exhibit.
There's a cool tower at the VC and that's me studying the interpretive plaque. Yeah, my hair hadn't dried by the time we left home that morning. That's the sorry result.On our way back to the car, there's this amazing grinding rock (below). Without a plaque (!) I couldn't discern exactly where they'd found it, but it was obviously used for many generations. I've seen others with many fewer holes and not nearly so deep. I love that it (probably) represents not only food culture, but a social one, as well. I can imagine several women grinding acorns simultaneously as they chat about life.
Next time, because I won't be able to help myself, I'll post some photos of the Draft Horse Classic over at the Fairgrounds. Tom and I will, as usual, attend the first competition this evening, then I'll go over for awhile to gawk at the horses tomorrow. I'm inexorably attracted to the magnificence of these wonderful animals.
Til then...
