Astrid watched the landscape through the rain-plashed windows as they drove out of Burbank, California, north on Highway 101. They passed the Ronald Reagan Library. “Travel by Map” is so much faster and easier than wheels-on-the-road, and if you’re not careful, it is easy to plan more than is possible in the time given. But Bjorn had a talent of planning just the right amount of activities for a day.
“What did we do before we had GPS?” Astrid often wondered, especially after making a wrong turn. She knew–you preplanned your route on a paper map with a highlighter, or when map direction programs become popular, you printed out step-by-step directions. You budgeted time in your drive to correct a wrong turn or two.
Lemon groves, pistacio groves, strawberries fields and acres of crops and pastures lined the road through the horticulturally rich Oxnard, CA and the surrounding environs. A few rain-flooded fields shimmered in the muted sunlight.
Bjorn knew before-hand that their Channel Islands National Park stop would be incomplete. The Visitors Center was open, and Astrid bought a patch, but most of the park’s attractions were a boat ride away, on a series of four islands in the Pacific Ocean. The original plan was to go to Santa Cruz Island and hike, but the ocean was too choppy for the boat ride. So they ambled through the visitors center and climbed up the tower to look at where they were not going that day, sifting through the life and laughter of sixty fourth graders on a field trip.
As they continued their drive north, the landscape became even more green and hilly, dotted with scraggly oaks accentuating the bright green hills. Expansive ranches sat safely behind complex gates and fences along the road.
The next stop was at Hearst Castle. William Randolph Hearst owned newspapers in the late 1800s. He started to build Hearst Castle with his inheritance (his father owned The San Francisco Examiner) in 1919, and died with it never having been completed. His name is often recalled when students study “yellow journalism”, or tabloid journalism. Yellow journalism relies on near untruths, unchecked premises, emotional pleas, exaggerations, and sensational headlines. It’s like that one friend who uses a lot of exclamation points and exaggerates all the time. And it sells–an obvious point, as Astrid looked up to what was a “compound” of extravagance on a hill overlooking the ocean.
The La Cuesta Encantada (“The Enchanted Hill”) tour started at the Hearst Castle Visitor Center and continued on a tour bus which drove up the winding road to the castle at the top, the pre-recorded tour guide explaining how the place was built, the herds of animals grazing along the road, the architecture who designed it all, the social scandals, the famous visitors, the owner’s extravagant quirks. It all seemed so meaningless and frivolous in the big wide picture of life. Because it was built between 1919 and 1947, decay was evident in places.
The things humans build never really last, they will always decay. Humans spend their life fixing their creations, fighting Nature to the last. Nature plays the long game and will always win, eventually. Astrid enjoyed the tour, was fascinated by Hearst’s stores of wealth and collections, but felt an emptiness when she tried to find edifying, real meaning in the sprawling estate.
For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Psalm 37:2 ESV
After touring the extravagance of humans, the family drove a short way down to Elephant Seal Vista Point on Highway 1 to see some extravagant wildlife. As they sat in the parking lot, preparing their umbrellas and raincoats (it was raining, again), Astrid watched tourists feeding chipmunks.
Tourist A had been seduced by a cute, chubby chipmunk into feeding it chips. She did not see, or pay attention to a raven nearby who was waiting for a morsel. But when the morsel was not forth coming, the raven took it into its own fruition and started pecking the chipmunk, which struck Astrid’s wry sense of humor and she laughed out loud. Tourist A did not find it funny and shooed the raven away.
Leave No Trace is a good idea #6 Respect Wildlife
Out in the cold rain, Bjorn and Astrid followed a muddy trail along the back of the beach. A little way down Astrid finally saw them: large chunks of naked seal flesh heaped on the sand. They were elephant seals, basking in the cloudy skies, sleeping or grunting or arguing with other seals or fighting for a good spot. After some hasty photos, they hurried back to the car.
Chilled to the bone, they found a restaurant in the nearby town. It was decorated with bicycles. As well as a nice hot meal, Astrid and Bjorn ordered hot tea, unaware of how extravagant they were being until they got the bill. They paid four dollars for each tea. Four dollars for a tea bag and hot water.
Not I 