Monday, January 24, 2005
Vacation
My last
vacation was at the end of October, 2003. One day after we returned, the
Cedar Fire burned through our property and things have never been the same.
I retired last March (some would consider that the ultimate vacation) but
I've been spending most of that time rebuilding the place.
Last week things
had slowed enough to allow for a few days away from home. Though I haven’t
had a vacation, I won't say it hasn't been on my mind so last month I
purchased a small travel trailer. It's a small, bare bones trailer that has
just enough amenities to keep us comfortable on short camping trips. Most
of our vacations involve back-packing or car-camping and this trailer is my
admission that I was tired of always being cold and wet. Catherine considers
a trailer as kind of wimpy but she’s more of a rugged individualist than me.
Last
Wednesday we went to the desert for a few days of hiking. Anza Borrego
State Park allows remote camping so the trailer worked out well as our home
base while we were out hiking the trails.
The Kumeyaay
Indians were active in the area and most of our hikes involved visiting
their old camp sites. Pictographs and mortero’s are common throughout the
area. Anthropologists attach great spiritual significance to the
pictographs but Catherine is convinced that they were just the spots where
the children were sent to doodle while their mothers did laundry.
The Marshal
South site is the ruin of a homestead started by an eccentric couple who, in
1932 raised two children there. They wrote magazine articles, grew
vegetables and gathered native plants but split up and abandoned the place
after 16 years. Rumor has it that the husband was spending most of his time
up in Julian hanging out in the local tavern.
