Goblins in a defensive position on a small hill facing Elven cavalry
Chris Palmer and I (ably assisted by Kurt Schlegel) ran a large (14-player) Bear Yourselves Valiantly: Look, Sarge, No Charts: Fantasy, Ancients, and Mediaeval game at Historicon Saturday morning. We ran the large game partly to expose people to the still under development rules and also to demonstrate (to ourselves at least) that the rules could support a game that big without bogging down. I think we accomplished both objectives while also providing a fun game for the players.
The forces approaching each other
We were running this large fantasy game back-to-back with our battle of Laon Napoleonic game (see previous post), so for the fantasy game we used the same scenario; we ran Laon with Elves and Goblins.
A long shot of the table early in the game
In this scenario the Elves were trying to keep a road open while the Goblins and their undead allies were trying to cut the road. There was lots of room on this 15-foot table for maneuver, so this was not your normal lines of troops packed in across the table game.
The rules worked really well for this large game. Except for a couple of folks from our local club (the HAWKs), none of the players had any experience with the rules. They quickly picked up the mechanics and could largely play the game without us after a couple of turns.
The fighting shaping up near the Elven town
The goblins tried to work their way around the Elven left flank while also fighting tooth and nail for control of this town. The town had no impact on the victory conditions, but like moths to flame the two armies converged on it. I guess they liked the blue roofs.
Opposing forces joining battle
I brought all my troops, but we mainly used just Chris’ troops. Apparently we have enough between us for an even larger game in the future!
A view of a section of the battle
My wife had the good camera, and the room was pretty dim, so many of these pictures turned out very dark.
Elves on stags crossing a stream
In the end, the Elves held about two more feet of road than the Goblins and were declared the winners.
A long shot of the table
I like this picture, because the guy closes to the camera is obviously enjoying himself.
Early stags of our 10mm Fate of Battle 14-player game
Dave Wood and I ran several Napoleonic games using Fate of Battle at Historicon. Dave ran his games using his 25mm figures, and I ran a large game using my 10mm figures.
25mm Fate of Battle game run by Dave Wood
To show that the barrier to entry to Fate of Battle isn’t nearly as great as people think, Dave continues to run games using his Empire-mounted 25mm figures. Many of us have those in boxes somewhere. He has mounted his 25mm figures on “sabot” bases with the labels. It works quite well, and for smaller battles you can still have a nice game on a standard table.
Another view of Dave's game
Dave ran two scenarios from our under-development 1814 Campaign scenario book. Both games went quite well — in fact better than the play test games.
On Saturday afternoon Dave and I ran a large 10mm game with 12 players. This was partly to show that you could run a 12-player game with these rules without bogging down. It was also to play a large game that you generally only have room to play at a convention.
The scenario was the Battle of Laon from our under-development 1814 campaign scenario book. In the book Laon will be two separate scenarios. We were playing the eastern half of the battle. In this scenario the French are trying to keep their retreat rout open (far end of the table in the above picture). The Prussians under Kleist are trying to cut the road. In the above picture you can see there are two major roads that meet in a “Y’ about two feet from the far end of the table. The French were trying to remain in possession of as much of these two roads as possible.
There is a town in the middle of the table astride one of the major roads. The town itself is not worth any victory points and could be bypassed; however, if makes a nice defensive position for someone. It was hotly contested during the game.
Two young men on the French team (on the right of the above picture) did a terrific job of maneuvering to thwart the enemies’ plans. As the Prussian cavalry maneuvered to go around the French left, they kept readjusting and filling holes created by aggressive Prussian attacks. In the end, they only gave up a couple feet of table while pushing across toward the stream, keeping the road open. The Prussians pushing from the close end of the table in the above picture were quite aggressive, but the other Prussian corps much closer to the French end of the table were not aggressive enough to cut the road before the game ended.
Victory was determined in a unique way. I measured the number of feet from the French end of the road (far end of the table) to the farthest point of the two roads they controlled. (This meant that the one little section in the back corner was counted twice.) Then I measured the number of feet along the two roads from the close edge of the table to the farthest point controlled by the Prussians. The winner is the side with the most feet of road. In this case the French won by about two feet. (The table was 15 feet long.)
James “Tank” Nickle ran two ancient games, featuring Romans and Carthaginians, using the under-development Bear Yourselves Valiantly: Look, Sarge, No Charts: Fantasy, Ancients, and Mediaeval rules. Both were hugely successful.
Elephants! Tank made up some interesting rules about elephants going on a rampage that we’ll incorporate into the rules.
Most of the development is done. We just have a few odds and ends to address. I hope to begin writing the first draft around Christmas. The process of writing, editing, photography, and layout usually takes me about four months. Then off to the printer. We hope to release them in time for Historicon 2014.
People have told us that these rules are the most fun they’ve ever had playing ancients games. While the rules have a point system that is used to help figure out how many units a player should control, it is not meant to be a bullet-proof system for tournament play. These rules are meant for scenario play.
I really like the look of the table with these rules. Each Roman base represents a maniple. The table looks like how I envision an ancient Roman battlefield might look.
I ran two GASLIGHT games at Historicon 2013 set in my representation of the town of Granville, IL. The first was a Pulp game in the continuing saga of Duke Morrison and his companions thwarting the plans of the evil Venusian invaders and their gangster minions.
Granville: The quiet before the storm
The town of Granville is composed of several Litko buildings, some “scratch built” buildings made of something called War Foam, and Plasticville buildings. The overall effect is good. I wanted something that actually looked like a town. Litko just released six new Pulp buildings. I picked up three of them at Historicon and intend to pick up the last three by Christmas. There are a half dozen Plasticville buildings that I need to put together and paint, like the school, church, fruit stand, etc. I also need to cut some MDF into sidewalks. The ones pictured above are made of grey craft foam.
The gas pump kid in front of the Sinclair station before the fighting began
This is another view of the town, focusing on the gas station. I’m looking for a small brontosaurus to either go on top of the station or set out front as something for kids to play on, but I haven’t found just the right thing yet.
Police facing off against Sky Masterson and his minions at the Granville Motel.
I used the rules from The GASLIGHT Compendium that were originally published in To Be Continued… by GASLIGHT. Each player had about four or five figures, usually two Main Characters and one or two extras. The sides consisted of:
Player 1: Cpt. Duke Morrison and soldiers
Player 2: Sgt. “Wrench” Web and soldiers
Player 3: Lieutenant “Boats” Morgan and sailors
Player 4: Crash Corrigan and his rocket infantry
Player 5: MacDuff, Hallihan, and the rest of the Granville police
Players 6 – 9: Venusians with either ray pistols or ray rifles
Player 10: Horseface Harry, Smilin’ Jack, and his minions
Player 11: Big Hans and his bruisers
Player 12: Sky Masterson, Nathan Detroit, and his minions
Player 13: Torpedo Brooks, Society Max, and his minions
Player 14: The Slasher, Angie the Ox, and his minions
Player 15: Bonnie, Baltimore Bennie, and her dolls
Player 16: Professor Nannini, Gianna Nannini, and some lab workers
Those in bold are good guys. In this scenario, Professor Nannini has been brainwashed by the Venusian amnesia ray and is actually helping the Venusians. Gianna Nannini is NOT helping the Venusians, but she is being held captive and can’t perform actions until rescued.
The Venusians have an anti-gravity ray created by Professor Nannini, their unwilling minion. They landed in Hopkins park, loaded the ray on a truck, and are heading into town when Morrison arrives and the game starts. Their mission is to extract the rest of Nannini’s equipment. The challenge for them is that they don’t know where the lab has been moved since their last outing in Granville.
Venusians closing in on Jacobson's department store.
While it may look like the good guys are hopelessly outnumbered, in this scenario the gangsters were wild cards. While they’ve been doing the Venusians’ dirty work through six previous convention scenarios, the Venusians have refused to pay them. In this scenario, the gangsters begin scattered around town and are trying to find loot in compensation for services rendered. Only one gangster faction, consisting of two players’ worth of gangsters, can win, so they are competing with each other for the most loot. This puts the gangsters at odds with each other and creates opportunities for Venusians to trade any loot they find while searching for lab equipment for help.
Venusians continue to search the town for Professor Nannini's lab.
The good guys have to stop both the gangsters and the Venusians.
The fight in the lab
The game was the typical GASLIGHT Pulp rollicking affair, which was enjoyed by all the players. There was lots of shooting, a big melee in the lab, and some use of cars as weapons. It’s never a good idea to stand in the street in Granville!
Gangsters running amok with a stolen car
The second GASLIGHT game in Granville also involved many of the usual suspects. In this case, the Venusians, tired of their plans being disrupted by Duke Morrison, Boats Morgan, Wrench Webb and the rest of the gang have created a ray that turns humans into zombies. Duke and his buddies must get into Granville, rescue as many of the townspeople as possible, and gather up Professor Nannini’s equipment to be used to figure out how to defeat the zombie ray.
Zombies begin to invade the town
I used the rules from the free Zombies by GASLIGHT supplement that can be downloaded from gaslightrules.com and RPGNow.
Zombies on the edge of town
In the first turn, there were only a few zombies on the table. The humans/survivors thought they could easily knock them out with well placed gunfire. The problem is that whenever humans make noise, a noise marker is placed on the table. At the end of each turn, zombies are generated at each noise marker. After the first turn of shooting, the town was swarming with zombies. I didn’t tell the players what I was doing, and it took them a couple of turns to figure it out and act more quietly.
Police attempting to rescue civilians in a "borrowed" truck.
One of the players found a truck and quietly loaded supplies on it inside a well-protected garage (bottom right of picture above). While he was doing this, the other players were busy in hand-to-hand combat with zombies and trying to rescue civilians. Several of the rescuers were infected and became zombies. When he broke out of the garage and headed to town, he had his men fire small arms out the back of the truck. This generated lots of zombies in his wake that ensured that few other humans would make it off the table behind him, so he won the game by a large margin. Victory was determined by 2 points for each human and 1 point for each unit of supplies take off the table.
Zombies chasing Duke Morrison into an abandoned house.
In the end, I think both games were successful and that the players had a good time.
After spending a little time walking around all the little shops in Estes Park, we bid farewell to sunny Colorado and headed for Nebraska.
The Buffalo Bill Trading Post and Museum in Kearny, Nebraska
On the way to the booming metropolis of Minden, Nebraska, we stopped in Kearny for dinner. Just off I-80 was the Buffalo Bill Cody trading post and museum. The museum consisted of a few small displays toward the back of a 60’s-style souvenir shop. They did have some interesting clothing and weapons as well as a 1:16-scale replica of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The souvenir shop had all the goofy stuff I remember in souvenir shops as a kid. It was a nostalgic break from the long drive.
Model A's in front of our hotel in Minden, Nebraska
When we arrived at our hotel, the only hotel in Minden, we saw these and several other Model A Fords in the parking lot. A group of old car collectors was meeting in Minden to participate in a car rally in Kearny the next day celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Lincoln Highway. We spent more than a half hour talking to a couple of nice antique car enthusiasts. Now Tommy wants us to buy a Model A.
Pioneer Village Entrance
The purpose of stopping in Minden was to see the Pioneer Village. It was created by Harold Warp, who made his fortune in plexiglass in the 1940’s. When the one-room school he attend as a kid was about to be torn down, he bought it an started Pioneer Village. This was a terrific, family-owned museum that is every bit as good (perhaps better) than the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. There were 30 or so separate buildings, many the size of warehouses, full of antiques. One of the things that made Pioneer village interesting was that all of the antiques were arranged in chronological order. There was a building full of Chevy’s from the earliest cars to the 1970’s.
A very small sample of the collection at Pioneer Village
Most of the displays had nice, descriptive signs in front of them. I learned a great deal in the short time we were there. We spent four hours in the museum, but we could have easily stayed for two days.
Sam and Tom learning how to make a broom
In one building they had some docents who showed the kids crafts, like baking on old coal stoves, making lace, or (as above) making brooms. The gentleman working with the kids was personable and informative.
A kitchen from the 1950's
One of the more interesting displays showed kitchens, living rooms, and bedrooms from 1830 to the 1970’s. These displays, again in chronological order, were separated by about 30 years, so it was a nice way to see how technology developed over time.
An old car (I don't remember what kind) with a primitive air conditioner
This was an interesting display of an early car air conditioner. Imagine attaching this onto the car window (in some cases it was displayed on the driver’s side)! None of the vehicles were restored, being in the condition in which they were acquired, but most of the vehicles were in running condition.
The lunch counter at Pioneer Village
There was a reasonably-priced snack bar where we got hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch.
An old rocket ride (foreground) and one of the original Link Trainers from WWII (background)
I found these two displays very interesting.
The first jet airplane made in the US
That night we stayed in a ho-hum hotel in Minneapolis. After an ordeal returning the rental car to the airport and taking a combination of light rail and taxi, Sam and I returned to the hotel for bed. The next morning we were up early to pack and take the shuttle to the Amtrak station — just in time to find out the train was almost two hours late.
Waiting for the train in Minneapolis
We barely made our connection in Chicago, but once on board our sleeper car, we enjoyed a relaxing journey from Chicago to Harper’s Ferry, WV.
Playing Phase 10 in the lounge car
On the train from Minneapolis to Chicago we adjourned to the club car and played a game of Phase 10 while enjoying lunch.
Tom and Sam in their "roomette"
We had two “roomettes” on the train. A roomette could seat two people very comfortably. At night the seats were made into a lower bunk. The upper bunk folded out of wall/ceiling, just like in old movies. The kids deemed having their own roomette as “awesome.”
Getting ready for bed
Food on a train is quite good. Meals in the dining car are included in the price of staying in the sleeping car. Unlike on airplanes, where you get fed extruded meat paste if you get any food at all, on the train you get real food. We each had steaks, vegetables, and baked potatoes. Service was slow at dinner, so we’re not sure if the steaks were really excellent or whether they just tasted good because we were VERY hungry. When we returned from dinner, our beds had been made up. We had brought our desserts (cheesecake with strawberries) back to our rooms, so we ate dessert while watching a few Mickey Mouse cartoons on my laptop.
Sam and me at breakfast in the dining car
The next morning, after Tommy and I had hot showers just down the hall from our roomettes, we all went to the dining car for omelets and French toast for breakfast.
The discerning foodie
Our train arrived in Harper’s Ferry about 30 minutes late, where my parents picked us up. Our car had been cluttering their driveway while we were gone. After a nice lunch we headed home, our vacation completed.
We only have about eight states left to meet our goal of visiting all 50. Planning is underway for next year.
After a short drive from our hotel near Aspen, we arrived at the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.
I-70 paralleling the Colorado river heading toward Rocky Mountain National Park
The views along the highway during our drive were impressive. Though shot through the windshield of the car, you can see in this picture that I-70 running eastward was at one level and running westward was at another level. At some points this height difference was as much as 100 feet. At one point, we went around a mountain, but I-70 westward, high above us, went through a tunnel.
We had actually visited this park three years ago, and we’re trying to not repeat sites until we get to all 50 states; however, Rocky Mountain was on the way home from Arches. The last time we visited we hiked sites on the eastern half of the park. This time the plan was to drive the western and northern roads, ending in Estes Park on the eastern side.
The upper half of Adams Falls
We began our visit with a short hike to Adams Falls. The picture shows the upper half of the falls as they approach the overlook. The falls then curve 90 degrees and continue to drop.
Looking at small fish in a mountain meadow near Adams Falls
We could have continued this hike another five miles to some mountain lakes but only took it as far as this first mountain meadow. We wanted to get up into the mountains.
Tom, Sam, and a moose
On the way up the mountains from the visitors center, we saw quite a bit of wildlife. Like in Yellowstone, it’s easy to determine when someone has spotted an animal, because a traffic jam forms. In this picture you can see a moose grazing in the meadow.
A moose
Moose are typically active at dawn and dusk and tend to stay in tall foliage. The other moose we saw on this trip were standing in tall grass and were difficult to see. This one was right out in the open.
Elk by the side of the road
Not far up the road from the first moose we encountered this pair by the side of the road. While they did not seem overly concerned by the cars passing them, they did keep a wary eye on us.
Inspecting water to see just how cold it was
We took a nice short hike through another mountain meadow. There were nice descriptive signs along the marked trail that explained different aspects of what we were seeing. In this picture, Tom, Sam, and Candy are testing just how cold this mountain stream really is.
Mountain sheep
Along the road we passed this group of mountain sheep. They were actually quite some distance away, but I happened to have the long lens on the camera.
Panoramic view from Gore Range
Along the drive we stopped at a number of scenic overlooks. This one, at Gore Range, is soon after we crossed the continental divide but just before we reached the highest point along the road. We had just passed a sign saying that we were two miles above sea level.
Climbing the rock at the end of the trail
We stopped at a parking area with a trail that led to this rock formation. It was a short, but surprisingly difficult, walk at that altitude. The marked trail passed through terrain classified as arctic tundra. We saw a few large marmots running across the path during this walk.
At the top of the mountains
At the top of the rocks we found this dial. The marks on the dial are used to aim your view in a particular direction and then indicate the number of miles (sometimes several hundred) to another mountain peak. We were at 12400+ feet above sea level. Note that even in late June, we could still see snow.
Panoramic view from 1200+ feet
While we certainly weren’t at the highest mountain peak, we were at the highest easily-accessible peak. The views were terrific.
After a couple more hours at Disneyland, we got on the road for a grueling drive through the Mojave to Moab, UT, to see Arches National Park.
Tom and Sam enjoying the scenery in the Mojave
Along the way we passed by Barstow, CA, the site of the National Training Center, and Victorville, the site of the DARPA robotic car Urban Challenge. We also had a chance to overdose on chili dogs at Weinerschnitzel, one of our favorite fast food restaurants when we lived in Texas.
The Mojave Desert
Despite a very late arrival in Moab, we get started bright and early at Arches National Park. This was the first stop on this Summer’s trip where we had a lot of heat.
Entrance to Arches National Park
The famous arches of this park are formed by snow and rain eroding the sandstone of the mountains and hills. Over time, “fins” are formed in the mountains. The fins often erode to from arches, and then over time the arch becomes so thin that it collapses. The park offered several opportunities for short hikes (1 to 3 miles) as well as longer, more-serious hikes. Due to the heat, we only took the short hikes.
A view of part of the Park Avenue hike
One of our first stops was the trailhead for a short hike through the “Park Avenue” formations. They have this name, because the series of rock formations look a little like a city skyline. This one looked to me a little like an Easter Island head.
Along the Park Avenue hike
This was a one-way hike. Candy dropped off Tommy, Sam, and me and then drove to the other end of the hike to pick us up.
Balanced Rock
One of the more famous formations in Arches is the Balanced Rock. You can walk pretty close to this formation, but there are signs everywhere to stay on marked paths. What looks like just sand and gravel is covered by a microscopic “biocrust” that is damaged by footsteps but is essential to minimize soil erosion and as part of the food chain in the region.
The Three GossipsA view of the North and South Window Arches from Turret Arch
We took at short walk to see the North and South Window arches. Not far away are two more arches, called the Turret Arch. A disappointing aspect of this park was the huge number of people. It’s not too obvious from this picture, because I waited until the crowds had passed to snap the shot, but everywhere we went, we were fighting crowds. We did take the “primitive trail” around the back side of these two arches. That might have been the only time all day that we weren’t in a big crowd. The people in this picture help provide some sense of scale for the size of these arches.
Seeking shade during the hike to view the Delicate Arch
After a picnic lunch we took a short hike to the observation point to see the famous “Delicate Arch,” the unofficial state symbol for Utah. The walk was hot and dusty. The arch itself was a bit of a disappointment. While impressive, unless you want to take a six-mile hike to its base, you cannot get very close.
A distant view of Delicate Arch
I think what makes Delicate Arch interesting is that it seems to be standing all alone. The other arches are still part of massive fins.
Skyline Arch
While driving to see the Landscape Arch, we passed Skyline Arch, which might have been the most picturesque one we saw all day.
Landscape Arch
Landscape Arch (toward the left of this shot) has an interesting story. The arch stretches over 100 yards across. In 1971, when tourists were allowed to walk up to and under this arch, tourists heard cracking sounds and pebbles began to fall. The cracking provided warning for the tourists to flee just before 180 tons of rock fell from the underside of this arch. This is as close as you can get now. At its thinnest, Landscape Arch is around six feet thick now, and it’s unclear how long it will remain an arch.
About 1600 we got back in the car and headed to Colorado to position ourselves for touring Rocky Mountain National Park the next day.
Entrance to Disneyland resort as you walk across Harbor Blvd.
After a short interlude in our vacation for me to attend a work meeting, we continued to Anaheim, CA, for a couple days at the Disneyland resort. While Walt didn’t like the hotels, t-shirt shops, and other commercialization that built up around Disneyland (which is why he purchased so much land in Florida), a nice aspect of Disneyland is the ability to stay in a hotel right across the street from the parks and walk. You can walk from our hotel to Sleeping Beauty Castle in about 10 minutes, depending on the number of people waiting to get through the turnstiles.
Entrance to California Adventure
The first day we spent the morning and a little of the afternoon at Disney’s California Adventure park. While this park has a few interesting rides, it just doesn’t seem “Disney.” The whole Paradise Pier area seems more “Three Flags” than Disney. We really enjoyed the Toy Story attraction (hitting it five times), which is like the one at Disney Studios in Florida. We also enjoyed the Grizzly River Rapids raft ride. New since our last visit to Disneyland was the Cars Land, themed on the Cars movies. The Radiator Springs Racers ride combined aspects of Test Track (Epcot) and Splash Mountain (all the Magic Kingdoms). I thought it was a little short for the amount of time spent waiting. Disney seems to be spending a lot of time developing splashy rides that are too short and are not “people eaters.”
Looking at Paradise Pier at California AdventureRadiator Springs in Cars Land at California Adventure
Then we went over the the Magic Kingdom for the rest of the day. We had intended to just hit a few rides this first partial day, knowing that we had a whole day the next day.
The Matterhorn Ride
We beelined for The Matterhorn. This has always been a favorite of mine, being one of the many rides at Disneyland not found at Disney World. It was closed during our last visit.
Two handsome fellows
The next day we went to The Magic Kingdom as the park opened, heading straight for Fantasy Land to hit all those rides before the crowds got bad. We also had a chance to see all the new parades and many of the new shows. We stayed late for the fireworks. Sam really wanted to go on Splash Mountain, which was closed all day. It opened about 2130, and after a 20 minute wait we were finally able to go on this ride. We finished just in time to watch most of the Fantasmic water, light, and fireworks show and then hit a few more rides before the park closed.
Tom and Sam enjoying short movies at the penny arcade
The third day we spent just a couple of hours in the parks before beginning our death drive to Utah through the Mojave Desert. We took this time for a little last-minute souvenier shopping and to hit the Toy Story and Indiana Jones (another Disneyland exclusive, deemed “awesome” by Sam) rides before bidding a sad farewell to the “happiest place on earth.”
Waiting for the Mad Tea Party to begin
One last note. The last time we visited Disneyland and sat through Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln we were sorely disappointed. They had modified the show — not for the better. In fact, I wrote a letter to the company, entitled “Cheap Technology Tricks at the Expense of Mr. Lincoln.” Great news! They have gone back to the original show and added the most advanced animatronic figure to date. The show was terrific, and Mr. Lincoln’s words about the nation only being defeated from within, not from external enemies, is a poignant and timely today as they were when he first uttered them. I wish our national “representatives” could watch this attraction and take his words to heart.
We began this leg of the trip with a visit to Cape Meares state park in Oregon to get a view of the Pacific ocean and to see a light house and the Octopus Tree.
"Goonies Rocks" at Cape Meares
From this view, we were all convinced that this is where they filmed a couple of the scenes from the movie Goonies. See those rocks in the background. Well, we were close. The movie, including all of the exterior scenes, was shot in Astoria, OR, which is about 25 miles north of here. According to a Web page we found, only one of the rocks in the movie was real; the other two were added digitally.
The Octopus Tree
At Cape Meares there was also this eight-trunked tree a short hike from the parking lot.
Sign for the Octopus Tree
We spent all day in Oregon and California (the next day) on Highway 101. A few miles south of Cape Meares we stopped at the beach to stretch our legs. The views of the Oregon and California coasts were really impressive.
Sam at a stop along the Oregon coast
Just about every time we could see the Pacific Ocean, we could see huge rock formations near the coast. Here the kids put their feet into the frigid water.
Sea Lion Cave
On these trips we like to mix national parks with old-time tourist traps. Once such tourist attraction is the Sea Lion Cave, which has been operating since the 1930’s. Here Tom and Sam took a tour down an elevator to a naturally-formed cave where seals and sea lions gather.
Inside the Sealion Cave
Sam’s verdict: the sea lion cave was “awesome.” In this picture you can see a bunch of sea lions gathered on one of the rocks in one of the caves. Screens were used to keep the sea lions from traveling up the pathways built by the owners — and to prevent idiots from going for a swim with the sea lions.
Jedediah Smith Redwoods Oregon State Park
The next day’s journey began in northern California at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. This state park, which is full of giant redwoods, was where the speeder bike scene in the Star Wars movie, Return of the Jedi, was filmed.
Redwoods at Stout Grove
We took the hike around Stout Grove at around 0700 when there was only one other person there. It was quite, peaceful, and amazing.
Walking among the giants
This picture gives you some sense of scale.
Wow!
I thought we might see a few redwoods, like in Yosemite, but there were thousands of redwoods in this area and the combined redwoods national and state parks that travel at least a hundred miles down the California coast. In this view, just about every tree you see is a giant redwood. Here we learned a couple of interesting facts. When a redwood grows a branch, that branch remains at that height as the tree grows; all the growth is from the top. At some point, those lower branches no longer catch light, so the giant redwood self prunes those lower branches. That’s why the redwoods have few branches at the lower heights. There are at least two species of giant redwoods, one that grows very tall and the other that grows less tall but much thicker diameter. These woods are full of banana slugs that are about six- to eight-inches around. These slugs eat everything except redwood seeds and seedlings. These redwood forests actually need forest fires from time to time. Those fires do little or no damage to the redwoods, but they clear out the underbrush and small threes that compete with the redwoods.
Testing a redwood for size
Did I mention that these trees are big?
The Grandfather Tree
Continuing down the California coast we stopped at a couple of tourists traps to look at things carved from fallen redwoods (e.g., bird houses, wind spinners, picture frames, book marks, coasters, etc.) and other stuff. One place we stopped included this huge redwood, called the Grandfather Tree and the One-Log Home. The one-log home is a mobile home trailer built from a single, hollowed-out redwood log. You could see the Grandfather Tree for free and were invited to visit the nearby gift store. The one-log home cost a dollar, and you got to it through the gift store. It was lunchtime so we had a couple of one-log home burritos and hot dogs before continuing down the road. I bought a coaster made from a piece of a redwood, and we squished a couple of pennies for the kids’ collection.
Sign for the Grandfather TreeThe "One Log" House
It’s hard to tell from this picture, but the roof with the words rests on a single redwood log that was hollowed out to make a trailer home. The trailer is still under the home, making it possible to move it again if desired.
Inside the one-log house
The interior is very 40’s or 50’s, adding to the charm of this one-of-a-kind vehicle.
After these stops we continued southward on 101, stopping seldom along the way. About 60 miles from the San Francisco area the terrain along 101 changed from amazing, continuous, primeval forests of redwoods to terrain that looked more like North Dakota. We got caught in terrible, rush-hour traffic in the San Francisco area and didn’t get to Gilroy until around 1900. Gilroy is the garlic capital of the world, so loving garlic, I stopped at the Garlic City Cafe for roasted garlic, garlic soup, and an entree with lots of garlic. The food was quite good; although, the service and ambience were only passable. We finally arrived in Santa Barbara a half hour after midnight. It had been a grueling day.
In Santa Barbara, I reverted to work mode for a three-day conference while Candy and the kids relaxed at the beach and hotel pool — but I did get to have a burger from In and Out Burger for dinner the first night of the conference! This is my favorite burger joint and a must-do every time I’m on the left coast.
