From paradise to devastation... the beautiful Lassen National Forest surrounding the Hat Creek Rim fell from grace in August 2009, a painful reminder of the power of a lightning bolt. The instantaneous flash of electric light that destroyed a forest thundered to earth on August 1 causing one of 43 fires in the area that Saturday evening. Three large fires and 34 smaller ones joined to become what was known as the Hat Creek Complex Fire.
Hat Creek Valley - blackened by fire in August 2009.
We went to Reno, Nevada to see if it is recovering from the recession.
It isn't, so far as we could tell.
Back in 2008 we considered moving there, but that was just before the recession hit and suddenly we saw news accounts of Reno tent cities, casinos laying off workers, and hundreds of painfully unemployed former workers. We figured it was no place to move to.
Since we're looking for a new home, my partner suggested we check out Reno again. I hadn't been there in many years. He was there about ten years ago.
I was surprised to find a labyrinth high on Mt. Shasta when I went there in 2009. Labyrinths are ancient meditation walkways, usually created in a circle. I don't know who created this on Mt. Shasta, or why, but I felt the peaceful, clarified breeze and noble mountain peak were perfect complements for the meditative journey of labyrinth walking.
To find the Labyrinth, take the Everett Memorial Highway from Mt. Shasta's high school up the mountainside to the end of the road. There's a parking area, a place to hike, and the labyrinth. This is one journey you'll remember forever.
New California travel writers are always welcome at Journey! California. You don't need a lot of travel writing experience, and you don't need to commit to traveling long distances from your home.
You will need:
1. A love for travel and sight-seeing.
2. A love for writing stories about your travels.
3. A love for all things "California."
Helpful:
1. An AdSense publisher's account and number so you can be paid.
2. An Amazon affiliate account.
3. A digital camera.
A drive along Klamathon Road beside the Klamath River to the Iron Gate Dam and Recreation Area. This is in the far-northern section of California, only a few miles from Oregon, near Interstate 5 and the town of Hornbrook.
The UK (Upper Klamath) in Siskiyou County. Here you see Klamathon Road.
On November 11, 1999, my children and I packed all we owned into a U-Haul truck. It was expedient that we leave the Bay Area because of all the problems my kids were having where we lived in Pittsburg. I can't go into details, but just will say that interpersonal relationships between kids are not always ideal... and in the city where there are so many kids and so many opportunities for trouble, it seemed worse. I decided it was time to move my darlings to the countryside, to give them a little room to run around without serious neighborhood repercussions.
I was surprised to find a labyrinth high on Mt. Shasta when I went there in 2009. Labyrinths are ancient meditation walkways, usually created in a circle. I don't know who created this on Mt. Shasta, or why, but I felt the peaceful, clarified breeze and noble mountain peak were perfect complements for the meditative journey of labyrinth walking.
