THE OTHER WEST COAST & THOUGHTS OF A DEBT CEILING

SUMMER FUN

California friends said "Florida in July?!"

We told them we'll survive just fine.

A visit with our eldest and a family wedding 

brings us to the other west coast, along

the beautiful Gulf of Mexico.

This is where summer fun means the beach.

The gulf also provides a canvass of relaxing scenes.

And as you can note, changing cloudscapes.

A tropical summer offers a vast change from

the central coast.  Stay tuned.


AS THE DEBT CEILING DEBATE CONTINUES

Here's an interesting perspective from
James Surowiecki in the New Yorker
The truth is that the United States doesn’t need, and shouldn’t have, a debt ceiling. Every other democratic country, with the exception of Denmark, does fine without one. There’s no debt limit in the Constitution. And, if Congress really wants to hold down government debt, it already has a way to do so that doesn’t risk economic chaos—namely, the annual budgeting process. The only reason we need to lift the debt ceiling, after all, is to pay for spending that Congress has already authorized. If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, we’ll face an absurd scenario in which Congress will have ordered the President to execute two laws that are flatly at odds with each other. If he obeys the debt ceiling, he cannot spend the money that Congress has told him to spend, which is why most government functions will be shut down. Yet if he spends the money as Congress has authorized him to he’ll end up violating the debt ceiling.
Interesting eh?
You can read more of an illuminating article
in the August 2 New Yorker.
 See you down the trail.

A SIDE TRIP

WHEN SNOW CLOSES THE ROAD

        As noted in an earlier post, our mid July trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park

was punctuated by the closure of about 5 miles of Highway 89, the road through the park.

Snow, said to be like steel, was still being cleared, so to see the northern portions of the 

park, we took a side trip. 

      We had the chance to explore areas of northern California, when we went "off the map."  

       It is a beautiful area and by lacing through back roads, county roads, and local routes

we were able to work west and then north to get into the north entrance without driving

all the way to Redding and Red Bluff.  It gave us marvelous views and a chance to see places like Manton, Shingletown, Old Station and Mineral.

      After passing through Mineral, we took Lanes Valley Road to the north.  There we saw a beautiful stone wall, the stones probably a product of volcanic earth activity.

       The area is called Soap Butte, south of Black Butte and Wildcat Road.

The topography was changed and the area was more arid.

      I was struck by the solitary quality of a standing chimney, from a long lost outpost of life.

      A magnificent side trip inside the park, from the north entrance, was Summit Lake North, as far as the road had been cleared of snow.  It was an enchanting and relaxing  find.

       A snow blanket beneath the pines at the edge of brilliant blue, sparkling and clear alpine lake.

      Then as we left the park and continued the wide loop taking Highway 89 North

we found a place that is little publicized. The lava tube Subway cave.

This is the environment of the cave.

Even though the National Forest Service, not the National Park System sign says it is easy,

one needs a strong beam flashlight or lantern.

Footing is a little uneven, it is cool and damp and very dark.  Native tribes

discovered the tube, made by lava flow thousands of years ago.  The walk

puts you in touch with a deep history in geologic time and with

native tribal superstition or lore.

I urge people to visit Lassen Volcanic National Park, one of the least visited.

It is a remarkably beautiful, intriguing, educational and fascinating piece of

the United States.

See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) BLUE GRASS ON THE RIVER

A KENTUCKY STORY

LAID BACK INDEED

I recently received this forward and

was immediately fascinated by the 

humor, music and well, just what it is.

In the spirit of The Weekender :)

enjoy and relax.

See you down the trail.

FLYING ROCK(s) & ROLL BY THE VOLCANO

EXPLOSIVE POWER

       The explosive history of Mt. Lassen has changed the earth.  Now the center of Lassen Volcanic National Park, the volcano, one of the Pacific Ring of Fire in the Cascade Range,

has left a legacy that displays the power of a still cooking earth.

       Areas of the national park are testament to what happens when a volcano begins

reshaping the contour of the land.

       400 to 600 thousand years ago, ancestral Brokeoff Volcano erupted. It changed the mountain range profile.  In May of 1914 one of the vent mountains near Brokeoff, Lassen Peak, began three years of sporadic eruptions.  President Teddy Roosevelt and the US Congress made the area a national monument and then National Park in 1916.  

       This is Hot Rock-a 300 ton rock that was part of a 110 mile per hour avalanche that followed the May 1915 eruption.  This rock rolled 5 miles after the explosion. 

      This is in an area called Chaos Jumbles.  These rocks and stones were also blown or scattered by avalanche.  The peak is a plugged dome volcano.  As magma pressure welled up, the crater was plugged, so pent up gas shattered the lava cap and sent mountain, rock and debris flying in an extraordinary explosion.  Ash and debris reach 30,000 feet into the California sky.

       After almost 100 years, you can see that here in Chaos Jumbles, some life is returning.

     Pictured below is an area on the mountain side at a lower elevation called The Devastated Area, miles of devastation. In some of the lower areas also life is coming back.

     But much of the peak is still barren.

     Elsewhere you see other large boulders that were moved by force.

       The BF Loomis Museum and Visitors Center is a beautiful construction of local

rock.

     The stones and rocks are just one more resource and bit of wonderment available

at Lassen Volcanic National Park.

See you down the trail.