California is definitely a place that anyone who doesn't live here finds...hard to comprehend?
We've got wildfires, drought, mudslides, earthquakes, floods. Was there anything I missed?
We've also got one of the most diverse landscapes, and peoples, certainly in the US, if not the world.
Everything from Hollywood hot shots in Limos to north coast redwood tree-hugging marijuana growers.
As for the landscapes, i would nominate Mono Lake as one that typifies our uniqueness.
Read the wikipedia link - the ragged stacks are called 'tufa'.
The closest town: Lee Vining
Of course i had a good time in the darkroom w/ these negs!
Twilite at Mono Lake
3/25/16
Many good links in this post!
Here we go..........
"Living here means accepting the existential threats. Out on the horizon, beyond the periodic fires, floods and landslides, lies the knowledge that at some point the next great earthquake is going to cause a staggering amount of destruction and, if it damages the water system, could render large parts of the state uninhabitable. But shortly in the aftermath of a disaster, after checking the first aid kit and refilling the fresh water bottles, Californians go back to living".
The road trip.
It's a passion spawned out of the reality that the U.S. was big enough to get lost in, big enough that a road trip from coast to coast -- or even across a state -- was, for most of the 20th century, much more than a trip. It was a journey.
And along a journey of such magnitude, a traveler seeks out sights and landmarks".
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"Don’t trim Grand Staircase. If anything, expand it.
The Utah monument is sustaining small town tourism, a good substitute for extractive industry."
"It had been a decade since our last visit, so I relished every moment in the monument’s otherworldly landscapes. What amazed me most, however, was the increased number — and diversity — of visitors. There were more than 10 times as many people on the trails than I’d ever seen before.'
'So how did all these people from across America, Europe and Asia, find out about this place where I used to hike for days without seeing a soul? Everyone I asked said they “saw photos on the internet.”
“Do not jump in your automobile next June and rush out to the canyon country hoping to see some of that which I have attempted to evoke in these pages,” he famously wrote. “In the first place, you can’t see anything from a car; you’ve got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and through the thornbush and cactus. When traces of blood begin to mark your trail, you’ll see something, maybe. Probably not. In the second place most of what I write about in this book is already gone or going under fast. This is not a travel guide but an elegy.”
The Great American Road Trip: Shorter and More Popular Than Ever
'Seeking convenience and adventure (while avoiding airport security, baggage fees and the hassle of flying with Fido), more travelers are hitting the road......'
The New York Times is best newspaper on the planet, hands down.
