BY THE WATER

 

I took this picture of the Roman Baths when we were visiting Bath, England.  They’ve been around for a while – about 17 centuries.  Very pretty.  I could almost imagine the people, here, standing around beside it dressed in togas. J

The Ring of Brodgar on Mainland Orkney, Scotland.  These stones have stood here beside the sea for 4000 years.

Skara Brae – the ancient 4000 year-old homes by the sea of the people who raised the stones of Brodgar.  Their homes were built of stones, turf, and animal skins low in the ground as protection against the fierce winds and weather in colder parts of the year.  

A depiction of the ancient homes of Skara Brae and the people who lived in them.

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk amusement park has been standing here beside the sea for 117 years.  It opened in 1907.

1974:  The picture window in my room in the maternity ward of Seaside Hospital situated beside the ageless sea in Crescent City, Calif.  By the wonderful view, being served breakfast, lunch, and dinner and snacks in between, receiving massages, being asked several times a day if I needed anything . . . I might have thought I was in a resort hotel.  I remember one early morning when a nurse came to wake me up at O-dark-30 in the morning to feed my new baby.  She turned the little light on over the head of my bed, turned around, said “Oh my.”, and promptly sat down on the foot of my bed.  Curious, I looked where she was looking – out the window – and said “Oh my.” myself!  It was still dark outside.  The moon was full and low and shining over the water and three fishing boats were headed out with all their lights on.  It was the most spell-binding sight.  We just sat there without saying a word for a bit until the nurse finally sighed and said she guessed she’d better go get my baby. J  Unfortunately this hospital with its beautiful views of the ocean was replaced by a new hospital built farther inland.  I’m just glad I gave birth to all three of our children here in this beautiful place!  What a treat.

The ocean side of Seaside Hospital in Crescent City, Calif.  The maternity ward was in the lower section on the left.  Sadly, the hospital, which opened in 1931, was demolished in 1992.  But for 61 years it gave its patients one heck of a beautiful view – that is if they had a room on the ocean side. J  After the hospital was removed, a hotel claimed the site – a Hampton Inn.  It didn’t do well, however, and was taken over by another company and renamed the Oceanfront Lodge.  I checked “Trip Advisor” online and it seems, as of 2024, the 3-star Lodge is yet open for business. 

1963:  Having lunch at the Continental Alta Mira Hotel beside San Francisco Bay in Sausalito, Calif.  The formation of the bay began around 560,000 years ago when the earth’s tectonic plates slowly shifted.  The land sank and the southern end of Lake Corcoran – an enormous inland sea equal to the size of Lake Michigan – rose.  Water spilled over the western edge and the lake drained completely carving out what today is known as the Carquinez Strait and began to shape the basin that would become San Francisco Bay.  The bay as we know it today, however, is only about 10,000 years old.

Sunnyside hotel and restaurant with a large deck overlooking Lake Tahoe – a natural lake measuring 22 miles long and 12 miles wide at its widest point, and estimated to be two million years old.  Sitting beside a two million year old lake munching on bacon cheeseburgers, fries, and Hula Pie (an ice cream confection) feels pretty good on a warm summer evening.

My husband, brother-in-law, brother, and younger sister playing cards beside 55-year old Pine Mountain Lake.  The lake was created by building a dam across Big Creek, but the creeks that feed it – Big Creek and Garrote Creek – are much older. I know for a fact Garrote Creek was around 150 years ago in 1874 because that’s when my Great Grandfather, J.K. Smedley, and his traveling companions stopped to take a drink from it on their way to Yosemite. J

Here are some fun little falls.  I passed by these cheerful little trickling bubbling falls all the time in the early 1970s on my way up & down the hill from our cabin in Gasquet, Calif. to JoJo’s Café on the highway where I’d have an afternoon cup of coffee and friendly conversation with the owner of the place, then pick up our mail at the post office and head home.  It made a nice break in the day.  At first I just had our son with me – either in a buggy or I’d hike down there with him in a back carrier.  Then it was with son walking beside me and our second child either in the buggy or on my back.  But when the third child came along only 18 months later, the walks were fewer.  I found it just a tad too much trying to push the newest member of our family in the buggy with the 18-month-old on my back and keeping track of the 5-year old walking beside me, so eventually I began driving down to the café instead.  One way or another I wasn’t about to miss that reviving afternoon cup of coffee and friendly, sanity-saving chat with a friend!  Luckily the kids were well-behaved when we got there.  I still drove by the little falls, though. I have no idea how old they were/are?  They dried up in the summer but reappeared in the fall & winter when the rains came, and we got a lot of rain up there in northern California!  Average in Gasquet was 120” a year.  

Lastly, a gentle creek flowing through “Fern Canyon” near Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in Orick, California.  Fern Canyon is a narrow opening between two high fern-covered walls.  The opening comes to a close at one end, but is open to the ocean on the other end.  The canyon walls are nearly 80 feet high and completely covered in various species of ferns and mosses estimated by scientists to date back a million years.  Walking along beside the creek, especially the farther in you walk, you can almost feel like you’re in the original Garden of Eden.  I was here twice in 1968.  It’s a beautiful, amazing place.  One visitor said: “They filmed scenes from ‘Jurassic Park 2’ in this canyon and once you are in it, you can see why!! You just keep expecting a raptor to jump out from every turn.”

:->

La Nightingail