West Coast

Ellen and I flew to California this past weekend to see my father- and stepmother-in-law. Unlike our last trip to the West Coast, no tropical storms interfered with our travel, and the whole thing went remarkably smoothly. (Ellen is actually still out there, attending a conference in San Francisco.) We hadn't seen them since last December, and it was great to spend a couple days catching up. We don't make it out that way very often, and all four of us are glad we did!

Ellen will be the first to admit that her hometown, Quincy, is a bit on the small side. It might actually be a true one-stoplight town. Regardless, we found no shortage of things to do to amuse ourselves. In addition to just sitting and talking, we went wild Christmas tree hunting (more on this later), walked around Ellen's tiny hometown, attended her longtime church, and Ellen and her father taught me how to skip rocks. By the end of our brief sojourn to the creek, I was really getting it down. Either they're excellent teachers or I'm a quick study. Indubitably the former.

Quincy is closely entwined with the Plumas National Forest. Evidently, you are allowed to cut down Christmas trees in national forests (provided you buy a permit, of course). So that's exactly what we did. The four of us piled into my father-in-law's 1972 Ford pickup and away we went, first to obtain a permit and then off into the forest. When we found one that had just the right height, width, color, and shape, Ellen's father went to work. Armed with an axe and a bow-saw, the poor tree never stood a chance (although it took its best shot at revenge against my shins as we dragged it back to the truck). It was, I have to say, a lot more fun than simply going to a lot and pointing to one.

I'm back on the East Coast now, bracing for the 2-6 inches of snow predicted for tonight. I don't mind the coming snow at all (although I have been delighted by how late the temperatures have remained in the upper 40s and 50s); I just wish Ellen were here too. Only three more days!