January 21, 2003 San Jose CA Hi Everyone, I am currently in San Jose, California, staying with a friend from Belchertown for a few days.I haven't been able to make it to a computer for a while, so I've done a lot of travelling since I last wrote. I made my way up to Seattle where I was fortunate to get three, sunny days in a row which is extremely rare for Seattle in the winter. The first thing I did was go to the top of the Space Needle which provides a panoramic view of the area. To the west are the Olympic Mountains and to the east the Cascades. The city stands in front of you, but looming in the distance, sitting on the shoulder of the skyline is Mt. Ranier. He sits in majestic silence as though he is saying "You can build cities and skyscrapers, but nothing can top the wonder of nature for I am the king." And so he is. On my way back to Portland I visited Mt. St. Helens, the volcano that blew its top in 1980. I only saw Mt. Ranier from about 70 miles, but I drove to witin a few miles of Mt. St. Helens. You cannot begin to grasp the enormity of these mountains until you are there, gazing at their splendor. You are but a spec of dust in the presence of these natural wonders of nature. I could still see entire forests laying on their sides, like match sticks, having been blown over by the force of one, powerful blast of the mountains fury. I returned to Portland, visiting with another friend from Belchertown. We took a hike in the Mt. Hood National Forest to a place called Bagby Hot Springs. You hike a few miles into the woods until you come upon this natural hot spring. There are some crude cabins built with hot tubs inside and some old logs carved into bathtubs outside. The naturally heated water runs down wooden troughs past each tub. You just pick one, divert the water into the tub and presto, you are hot tubbing with moter nature, in the forest, on top of a mountain, outdoors, in the middle of winter with the snow falling on your face. It doesn't get any better than this. I then headed for California. I travelled down Rte. 199 which brought me through my first Redwood Forest. Trees that are larger than your car and larger than life. It made me think of the apple trees in the "Wizard of Oz" that didn't want to give up their apples. They had a life ot their own. I continued down routes 101 and 1 along the California coast. It is so different from the east coast. The shoreline is laiden with cliffs. Some areas have forest that lead right down to the water. Some places have pastures that stretch right down to the sea. I have pictures of cows grazing in fields 30 yards from the ocean. Imagine, the cows live on property with with a coastal view most of us only dream of. It made me think of that famous 60's movie, "Beef Blanket Bingo." (: I was cruising down 101 where I was stopped by a rockslide caused by water running off the mountains. Crews were working to clear the road, but I was going nowhere fast. I got out of the car and started talking to a young lady who was behind me in the line, Katie. It turned out she was a poet, so we had a wonderful conversation about writing, philosophy and what we want to do when we grow up. This, to me , is the best part of the trip, learning not to take a trip, but let the trip take you. If it hadn't been for that rockslide we never would have met and had that conversation. But fate put us in each others path. Even if it was for only 45 minutes, it was 45 minutes well spent. I guess I did go somwhere fast. Well, enough of my philoshpical rambling. I hope all you who come to read this are doing well and I hope I have more stories to tell in the near future. Cheers, Peter