Eighth Anniversary

 

For Nicole's Friday Face Off - broken, raw beauty in the face of devastation

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the Tubbs Fire that in the very early hours of October 9th, 2017 raced through parts of my town and turned entire neighborhoods to ashes. One of those neighborhoods was our old one. We weren't living there anymore at that time - we had moved to our current home five years before the fires - but the devastation and the anxious-filled days following that fateful night are still very vivid in my memory.

I didn't really want to write about this until I saw that today's prompt over at Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date is "fire" - too much of a coincidence for me to ignore.

These are the remains of the Brookdale House, our old home.

We had lived 11 years in this house and we had been very happy in it. Here Kaefer grew from a three-year old to a teenager, important years in our book. Some of our neighbors were more than just neighbors, they had become friends. The husband of the lovely couple across the street had become Kaefer's substitute grandpa. Not much was left of their home.

The couple next to us often barbecued in their backyard and the most delicious flavors were wafting over to our yard. More than a few times they invited us over and revealed some of their "cooking secrets". I am so glad that both Kaefer and I were able to say goodbye to the husband a few days before he died (this was a couple years before the fires). During the night of the fire, his wife (now a widow) thankfully wasn't at home, but staying at her daughter's home in Tahoe. She never returned. 

Some neighbors moved to other neighborhoods or towns, others rebuilt. The good connection that we had with all of them unfortunately didn't last. Every now and then I see some of them, but the bond has certainly loosened.

I went up to the burnt out neighborhood right after the fires twice. Once, to see some of my old neighbors and the other time to take Kaefer up there. She was already studying at UC Davis at the time of the fire. When we got the permission to enter the property, we went to what used to be our backyard. And here a little miracle happened - I found one of the small concrete Japanese pagodas that I had forgotten when we moved because they had been covered by ivy. It had survived the inferno!

On the Way to Bryce

 

Red Canyon, UT Highway 12 

After we had explored Cathedral Gorge in Nevada, we were on the road again for the last leg of our trip that day. We wanted to arrive at Bryce Canyon before dark. We still had to drive about 175 miles to our destination. We took Highway 319 to Cedar City in Utah where we could have taken I-15 North, but it was such a lovely day that we decided to take the backroads and turned onto Highway 14 East instead. I'm so glad we did since we passed through some spectacular scenery.

All the photos in this post except the first and last one were taken out of the driving car.

We were driving up and up until we turned North on Highway 89 at the high plateau. The shadows became longer.

And finally we arrived at the Highway 12 junction. This is one of my most favorite highways. It starts on a high note by passing through Red Canyon.

The canyon indeed is very red, but since the sun was low in the sky and nearing the horizon, the colors were even more intense. We had stopped here several times before, so we decided to keep on driving.

It's only a mile or two through Red Canyon, but these short miles are heart stopping. 

We got further up until we reached the next high plateau. This view always tells us that we're close to our destination. What you see here is the Table Cliff Plateau which is on the North side of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It is a sight that would accompany us for the following few days.

We turned towards Bryce Canyon at the roundabout. It's just a short way from here to Ruby's Inn where we had booked a room for three nights. We always stay at Ruby's when we're in Bryce Canyon. 

And now a drink for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday. Last Saturday we had our good friends Bim and Patti over for dinner and we celebrated the Geek's birthday. For that reason we had some very delicious bubbly that Bim had brought. Spending an evening with them is always wonderful.

Cheers to all of you!

A Cathedral in the Desert

I don't care two hoots about civilization. I want to wander in the wild.

Jane Goodall 

Many years ago, we discovered just by chance a very interesting state park in Nevada, Cathedral Gorge. We had come back several times and when we left for our Southwest trip last December we made sure to stop here again. It was just a small detour on our way from Ely to Bryce Canyon.

However, this was the first time that we arrived along Highway 93 from Ely (usually we visited on our way home from Utah) and we stopped at the overlook. Never before had we seen Cathedral Gorge from above. It was worth the stop.

The weather was splendid and offered a view all along the canyon.

The walls reminded us of Bryce Canyon, even though they aren't quite as dramatic.

Of course the Geek had to take a selfie of us - my contribution to Nicole's Friday Face Off.

Then we went into the long valley. Here is where the real drama can be found. The sheer cliffs from the valley floor.

We didn't stop here, just watching these enourmous walls of betonite clay. We ventured inside - where it was quite chilly, as you would expect.

We felt very snall within these walls - well, we ARE small!

Some of these "chambers" and walkways are very narrow and I sometimes wondered whether I will get out again without getting stuck. Since you're reading this, you know that I made it out safely.

Take a look up!

Time to get out again.

The texture of the clay was interesting and looked different in other places. This was the only decent photo I was able to take of it.

I very much liked this "sculpture" outside.

Of course I wasn't happy with just one photo of it. I had to play around.

We were glad that we had visited this beautiful place again. We do enjoy exploring places off the beaten path when we have the beauty almost to ourselves (there were only two other families visiting besides us).

Dr. Jane Goodall

UN Messenger of Peace and world-renowned ethologist, 

conservationist, and humanitarian

April 3, 1934 - October 1, 2025

source

Ovens in the Desert

 

On the second afternoon of our trip to the Southwest last December we arrived in Ely, NV. Since we had booked our hotel while on the road we decided to go to the Ward Charcoal Ovens first as long as we still had some daylight.

Why charcoal ovens in the desert?

Lots of charcoal is needed for smelting ore. It takes 30 to 50 bushels to reduce one ton of ore.

Beehive-shaped ovens are a more efficient way of reducing pinyon pine and juniper to charcoal than the earlier method of piling wood in an open pit and lighting it on fire. The ovens allow control over how hot and how long the fire burns which is important when producing quality charcoal.

Building the ovens here, close to the source of building materials, the timber needed to make charcoal, and within three miles of the smelters, was a matter of convenience and efficiency.

After only three years of operation (1876-1879), the silver boom waned, the trees were gone, and the need for charcoal ended. People found other uses for the Ward Charcoal Ovens. For prospectors and stockmen, they were shelters in harsh weather. It is also said  that one or two stagecoach bandits hid from the law in these ovens.

(from the information plate of Ward Charcoal Ovens State Park)

We could easily picture the "harsh weather". It was quite cold, there was snow on the ground and the little creek was covered with ice.

On the plus side, we were the only people there and could explore to our hearts' desire. Then the afternoon light started to change.

The sky changed color in a rather dramatic way. It seemed the yellows and oranges got more and more intense by the minute.

We finally left when the sky turned red. By that time, I was already half frozen (the ovens didn't help).

Since this is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday, I need a drink. Last Friday our friends invited us over for a pizza dinner and some delicious wine. Can you see their sweet dog in the background?

Maybe you remember that a few weeks ago I wrote that I had made a raspberry-almond clafoutis. A that time I thought the recipe was asking for too little flour and too much half-and-half which needed a much longer baking time than mentioned. So this time I added another quarter cup of the almond flour and reduced the half-and-half by a quarter cup, scattered some sliced almonds on top and voilà - it turned out perfectly! I was also able to reduce the baking time by ten minutes. I'm glad that I was experimenting with the recipe a bit. This was our contribution to the pizza dinner.

Have a good week, everyone!

Visitors from Germany

 

The weekend before last the Geek received a WhatsApp message from his cousin Matt, telling him that he and his wife will be in our area sometime the following week and whether they could stop by for a day. Of course we said yes - we always enjoy having relatives and good friends come visit. The visit, however, did last longer than just one day because we enjoyed each other so much. They arrived on Wednesday afternoon and left on Sunday morning.

Matt and Bri are on an extended journey through Canada and the US. In May they had shipped their Mercedes Unimog Camper to Halifax in Novia Scotia and had toured Canada for three months before they entered the US about four weeks ago. The Unimog just fitted into our driveway - and we were the talk of the town. 

It is a big vehicle! Of course we had to take pictures of all of us and the Unimog.

Both Matt and Bri are super nice and really easy guests. I often had to smile about the similarities between Matt and the Geek and the Geek's brothers. You definitely couldn't deny that they're family.

One day we took them to our favorite winery in the Anderson Valley, Navarro Vineyards.

We had made sandwiches, meatballs and pumpkin bread for a little picknick at the beautiful winery. Two bottles of wine rounded it out. This is my ticket for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday.

This winery is off the beaten path which means you don't need a reservation and they also don't ask for a tasting fee. Sadly, this is unheard of by now both in Sonoma and Napa County. We bought several more bottles of wine that we took home with us. 

Of course we had to take pictures.

Usually we are at this winery in late spring or early summer when there still aren't any grapes on the vine. This time, however, the grapes were hanging ripe and full on the vine, ready to be harvested very soon.

On another day we took Matt and Bri out to the coast. It was sunny and very warm in Santa Rosa, but when we came to the coast, it looked like this.

A very typical weather pattern in my corner of the world.

But - the fog burnt off and we enjoyed a pleasant sunny day on the beach.

I had never seen that many Brown Pelicans at the beach.

It was truly amazing. We stood for a long time and watched the birds as well as a couple harbor seals playing in the water. It was mesmerizing and we didn't realize how quickly time passed.

I always love to see the Brown Pelicans gliding just above the surface of the water. They are so elegant.

Driftwood could be found all over the beach. This particular one served as the backdrop for Kaefer's photoshoot at the same beach a few months ago.

Matt the rascal has to climb on a different big piece of driftwood.

And reflections in sunglasses are always interesting.

We packed a lot in those four short days. For us it is always wonderful to spend time with people we like AND who speak our native language. The conversations are just different, there is more humor involved and it's just so much easier for us to express exactly what we mean. We shared so many laughs together which we desperately needed. We didn't watch any news, didn't read the paper - it was pure bliss, like a mini vacation. 

Too soon it was time to say goodbye.

And there they go down our neighborhood street, toward their next adventure. They still have five more months of traveling.