We’re now in Plymouth, CA which is just on the edge of the Sierra Mountains. So, needless to say, we decided to take a hike in the forest. We didn’t want to drive too far up in the mountains as it is cold enough where we are. Even though we didn’t gain much in elevation there was still plenty of snow on the ground at the start of our hike.
I wasn’t even all the way out of the car yet when Wazzu started jumping on me and darting off a few feet before coming back and jumping on me again. This is the Wazzu I used to know!
The last few days Wazzu has been acting like the dog we used to know. It has been 11 and 1/2 months since we’ve seen Wazzu so engaged in family life. For almost a year now, Wazzu has laid on her pillow in the RV and not once played with the other two dogs. She hasn’t gotten up off her pillow when the others are getting treats – she just laid there waiting for delivery (which of course she gets).
But the last few days she has been wrestling and playing tug of war with the two youngsters inside the RV! And she has been coming over and waiting with the others for her turn for a treat. Mike and I just can’t describe how good it is to see Wazzu participating in activities in the RV again.
As you saw from the last few days pictures, Wazzu has been running around playing with Sparkie just like in the old days. And today on our hike, Wazzu looked like the youngest dog. She was darting around doing crazy dog and running full speed ahead – not walking or trotting next to me. The significance of this picture is that Wazzu is nowhere to be found. She’s off in the forest bounding around.
Sparkie looked like the calm dog today compared to the speed and exuberance of Wazzu. And she just kept going and going. Mike said his heart felt so warm seeing Wazzu race around like she used to.
After our visit to the vet in Tucson, she suggested we lower the dose of Wazzu’s medication since we really had hit it so hard to begin with. The vet thinks that it was really helpful to attack the Valley Fever so strong in the beginning but that Wazzu might feel better now if we reduced the dosage to half of what we originally started with. It’s been just about two weeks since we started the lower dose and I’m thinking that maybe that is making a difference. Of course, it’s too early to tell for sure but so far it looks encouraging. Oh we’ve sure missed the “old” Wazzu and are so happy to have her back.
The hike was very nice, but chilly. The forest was similar to those in the northwest but just enough different that it was interesting.
And it was so peaceful. In fact, it was a great place for the girls to hike off leash as there weren’t even any signs of wildlife the whole time. Of course that didn’t stop them from running all around – it just kept them from running off for miles chasing something!
All three dogs loved playing in these low bushes – but we have no idea what they are as we don’t have those in the Pacific Northwest. Do any of you Californians recognize this plant?
At one point in the trail we came to a section where both sides of the path were lined with these bushes that have really red bark. Actually it didn’t look like bark as it was completely smooth to the touch.
As you can see, they are much redder than Slugger.
We then came across these three pieces of log. For some reason they reminded me of the things elephants stand or sit on at the circus. So much to the dogs dismay I had them each get on one of the sections of log. Wouldn’t you know, our very own three ring circus! (By the way, this is as close as you’ll ever see me to a circus – I think it is absurd and cruel to put animals through that. Heck even the dogs weren’t too thrilled about this little version of a circus.)
Of course, you have to have a ring leader too. So here is the highly skilled ring leader!
We didn’t make it down to this meadow but it was so pretty.
I’ll bet later in the spring there will be beautiful flowers in the meadow too. By the time we got back to the car we realized we had hiked three hours! And Wazzu hadn’t even slowed down! How fun is that!
Mike then wanted to visit one of the local historic gold mines, the Sutter Creek Mine. So he dropped the dogs and I off back home and went to see if he could find some gold. Well, no luck finding any gold but he did have fun on the tour. Here's Mike's take of the tour.
This area was a major center of mining during the California Gold Rush and into the early 1900’s. The Sutter Creek mine produced millions of dollars of gold in the past, and is still occasionally worked. They mostly run tours and a gift shop now, however.
For the tour you get to wear a hard hat and ride in a long Jeep type buggy down about 500 deep underground.
The main shaft goes down steeply and is just wide enough for the buggy.
The lowest parts of the mine - below where tourists are allowed- are about 1200 feet down. This sounds deep but isn’t really that deep for hard rock mines. There is one in South Africa that is over 12,000 feet (2 ½ miles!) deep, where the temperature is over 130 degrees. The Sutter Creek mine is a steady 64 degrees all the time.
Down in the mine they showed us some of the drills, lights, and carts used in the past for gold mining, and how they tunnel through the rock to get at the stuff where the gold is.
A drill:
A cart:
Gold is found only in the veins of quartz that wind through the hard rock of the mountain, and the miners follow the veins wherever they go, cutting as little of the surrounding rock as possible. They drill long holes in the rock or quartz, fill them with explosives, blow everything to smithereens, haul it all out, and start all over again. The working areas can be very narrow, barely wide enough to walk through.
It was a very interesting tour even though I didn't find a pot of gold.
Debbie & Mike
4/12/07
No comments:
Post a Comment