Why we were # 5 in the rankings - at least this time

Recently the county where I have lived since 1989, Del Norte County in California, made number 5 out of 3, 111 counties in a list published in the Washington Post about counties ranked by natural beauty.  There was certainly a prejudice in favor of the west coast and away from winter weather, although the county I grew up in, with a lot of snow - Park County, Wyoming - had a high rank as well at 202

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/08/17/every-county-in-america-ranked-by-natural-beauty/

anyway, the conversation regarding the post on my facebook page, made me decide to scrounge up some pictures and show you a bit of the diverse beauty that can be found here, marshland, ocean, redwoods, mountains and farmland.

Del Norte County gets ready for Summer

 I have been feeling less wordy than usual, but getting outdoors with my students and family has allowed me to remember the beauty we live surrounded by. So instead of ignoring this blog any longer, I will just share some of the beauty from the OR/CA border Coast and call it my newest post.

 We have 4 more days of school and then my life should be more my own again and hopefully I will be able to remember something worth writing about. Until next time then, enjoy the Beautiful June.

UCSC Banana Slugs Return to Del Norte for Spring Break

My College Freshmen are my youngest son  and his girlfriend of the past two years.  I got lucky this year, for the first time in seven years my husband and I have the same spring break, and UC Santa Cruz did too.  So the kids flew in to our huge, Crescent City International Airport, where we almost missed them in the crowd



Then they came home where they got to hang out in luxury at our palace with my oldest son,  (just off a crab boat for his first season as a fisherman) and his girlfriend and her daughter, who will be 2 in a few months.





but after awhile the luxury becomes boring and you need to work off some of the brownies and cookies and we headed out to the redwoods.  Not a big deal at all as we were just taking a walk in a grove that is less than 4 miles from my front door.  I was surprised at the kids reaction though.  Growing up here had warped their view on trees for sure, they used to go to Yellowstone and the black hills and laugh at the toothpicks we called trees back where their Dad and I grew up, but when redwoods are just trees to you, you are warped.

But I remember going back to Wyoming after being away, and suddenly it was all beautiful, the golden prairie against the faded blue sky, the purple mountains topped with snow even in August, the red earth.  Mom laughed at how I reacted, I just didn't expect that reaction from these guys because they are still in the coastal redwoods, but they kept staring and taking pictures to text to friends and gasping over how big these trees are compared to the redwoods they live in there.



staring at the twisty tops here

 







 

So we played gawky, fascinated by everything, tourists in our own backyard and it was wonderful, and the weather co-operated. 

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If Light is in your heart, you will find your way Home. (Rumi)

The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth.  Chinese proverb