Tag: drawing in campgrounds

There Are Bugs and They Will Eat Your Face.

I don’t know if you’ve seen those bad National Park reviews made into posters; the girlchild got me one that said something like all there is do to here is walk around, which kind of defines all our park experiences, and we’re totally fine with that (you can find them at this website). That said, Lassen Volcanic National Park has some seriously nasty biting bugs and we both have some serious welts from them. I’m not sure where we saw this comment, but it seems relevant.

We left Sacramento Saturday morning and headed to Lassen. We couldn’t camp on this trip because I needed to carry some art stuff, and the car is full when we bring the tent and everything, so we sort of are glamping. We waited too late to get in the actual park, but were 15 minutes outside in a cabin with a bed, fridge, tea kettle, but also an outdoor picnic table and fire pit. Not big enough to really hang out inside, hence the bug bites.

I’m writing this in the car as we leave Lassen, but don’t have enough bars to add photos yet. So I’m adding the photos this evening at our cabin in Oregon. Not the one in the photo above.

We drove through the park on the way in but didn’t stop except at the visitor center. Also came to the realization that my height-induced anxiety has not improved. Don’t look down!

We did dinner, a fire, and drawing in the dark. My favorite.

The next morning, we had decided to at least hike TO Cinder Cone, although probably not UP it. We got to see the lava beds, which did not look like I expected them at all.

Plus a deer and a lot of people in inappropriate shoes. Hiking on cinders is a challenge. I did go part way up, and realized the bigger issue for me (and my decrepit knees) would be coming back down, so I quit. I was right…the down was painful. Sliding rocks galore.

See where the trail curves? I got maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up from the curve. We did about 4 miles total at 6300 feet elevation, in the heat, and that pretty much was the day. That and 12 miles on a washboard dirt road. Nice lake though and beautiful view of the cone. I think I had it a lot easier than the Man…his ears weren’t popping like mine the day before, but the elevation seemed to affect him more.

We also saw some cloud iridescence near the cone…

Showered (lovely), read, embroidered.

Drew by the fire…

( I really need a better picture of that one).

The next day was Monday and we were hoping there’d be fewer people (there were) than when we drove through on Saturday. When most of the park is closed except for the summer months, everyone comes in the summer. So we did the west drive through, after meandering through the countryside for 90 minutes to get back to the beginning. We saw (and smelled) Sulphur Springs…

Then headed out for Bumpass Hell…this hike was harder and felt longer than we’d thought, mostly again probably elevation related (8300+), but was definitely worth it.

Fumaroles, bubbling mud, stupid tourists stepping off the trail…all the good things.

Loud too. And then we hiked out to Cold Boiling Lake, which might be bigger and more impressive? Some time? Unsure. But we saw another deer and a chipmunk taking a dirt bath, which was cute as hell. Plus a baby chipmunk.

And a lot of burnt trees. The Dixie Fire did a lot of damage.

We skipped another hike (gotta leave something for next time), but did do the Devastated Trail for info about the 1915 eruption. You know, I used to teach volcanoes when I taught 7th grade, and we labeled them as active, inactive, or extinct. All through the park, there’s nothing about the status of the volcanoes. There’s obvious geothermal activity everywhere…

Then we walked some more (the Man under extreme duress) but we saw a fawn and mom…

And then got most of Lassen Peak with Manzanita Lake…

Apparently the extra 1/4 mile (plus round trip) to get a better photo wasn’t happening (next time!)…we had been gone 8 hours at that point and needed to stop. Back to camp, shower (bliss!), reading, stitching…

Although I missed 2 1/2 lines of instructions, tried to find them online, failed, and made shit up. Then found the instructions and ignored the fact I used the wrong thread (it’s still green; it’ll be fine), then drew again.

(Another blurry photo).

We left this morning for areas north…more on that later this week. We did things today too. Can’t handle that right now. It’s hot and humid and I’m in a house with A/C, a bathroom, and no bugs. Life is good.

Drawing on Vacation

I’m back! I haven’t had WiFi for a week, obviously. I had enough cell coverage to post Instagram photos, but then my phone died and refused to charge for a bit. There’s so many photos and stories from the last week that I can’t even deal. Maybe a little at a time. Let’s start with the drawings…because I basically did one a day. That’s the best part of being away from the house on vacation…I can’t distract myself with the to-do list that’s here. I can read, I can stitch, I can hike, or I can draw. So I draw mostly at night with a headlamp while the Man builds (and stares deeply into) a fire. It’s my form of staring deeply into a fire, I guess.

The first drawing is actually from the trip to Boston to see the girlchild. She needed a nap and I needed some down time, so I went back to my AirBnb and drew and watched some Marvel movie I thought I hadn’t seen (I think I only hadn’t seen the beginning…like I was grading during the beginning of the movie?)…

When I’m really tired, just drawing concentric or parallel lines is one thing I can do.

Then I was home for about 36 hours (max) and we left to go camping. The first two nights, we were in Ojai, California.

Everyone asks why Ojai? I don’t know. It was on the map and had hikes and campsites. We are short on money right now, so no fancy restaurants and wine tastings. Well, we did one, but not in Ojai. I used the ridgeline to start her back and then filled in from there.

This was the second night in Ojai, after a particularly difficult (it shouldn’t have been, but it was) hike…

I drew a bunch of the stuff I’d seen on the hike, plus the campfire and the mountains and the oaks.

The next night, we made it to Paso Robles and our one stay inside. The first night, we went to see Sensorio (more on that later). I didn’t actually draw that night…this was the next day, when it was a bit drizzly in the morning and we decided against the hike we’d planned.

Then later that day, we headed out to a winery with a bunch of sculpture and had a (very expensive) wine tasting.

Still focusing on the landscape; lots of trees and grapevines in this one. I didn’t finish this one, actually, until later in the day. We headed over to Tin City, which has lots of winery tasting rooms. We picked a brewery instead, because it had a food truck, and we hung out there for a while, watching the people (some) and dogs (mostly). I finished that drawing and started another…

Although I did most of the embellishment on this one the next night in the campground at Pinnacles National Park, after a 6-mile afternoon hike (mostly flat).

The next night, I drew this one…

After seeing condors just sitting on a rock and in a tree. Amazing stuff.

From there, we drove through Morro Bay and down to Pismo Beach, where we stayed in the Oceano Campground. Another fire, another drawing…

The sea otter showed up from hanging out by the bay. It’s a relief to be able to just draw and draw. My school days have been so full and heavy that drawing for no purpose but to draw is just not happening. I’m too tired and have no mental energy, unless I’m working on a specific project. Then I make written lists of things and figure out how to fit them in a drawing. It’s not like these, where I just doodle my brain out on the paper.

The last night in Pismo Beach, we had talked about my leaving the Man in Kennedy Meadows the next day to avoid the snow that was supposed to be coming in. Plus honestly, I was tired. I don’t sleep well with weird noises, and we had two nights of frogs, really loud, inconsistent frogs, and then one night of some big squawky birds (heron, egret, or cormorant…not sure which), and my foot had been hurting and I was tired of not eating enough vegetables. Seriously. I just had a salad. It was delightful. I think I just wanted to be home and sleep in a bed. I wasn’t ready to camp in snow and wind.

So I drew this…

Which was literally us sitting around the campfire. I knew he wanted me to stay another night in Kennedy Meadows, but bad weather and driving alone stress me out, and I need to be back at school on Monday, and there are a bunch of things that need to happen before then. So I made the decision to drive home yesterday. I’m still exhausted today, and probably will be tomorrow. And there wasn’t as much snow up there as predicted, but I know I wouldn’t have slept for yet another night. So I made the best decision I could.

I’ll be back up there at the end of May to pick up all the equipment he doesn’t need on the PCT, so I’ll get to camp there then. I am hoping to find some drawing time between now and then, but going into the end of the school year is not usually an easy time no matter what. We’ll see how it goes. Why did I leave him there? He’s working up there until he hikes, trying to put away some money so he can hike further. Potentially he’ll be gone through the end of July, knock on wood and barring any injuries.

More tomorrow, assuming I can get my head around it.