Berkeley, California Foothills

Today I am visiting my son in Berkeley California. While he is at work I have a chance to explore University of California's campus at Berkeley. It is so beautiful. The small river known as Strawberry Creek runs through the campus and there are many tall, old hardwood trees.

I also found out that the Hayward Fault Zone runs right through the campus too.  In fact it runs straight across California Memorial Stadium.

The Hayward Fault is about 74 miles long, and can cause big earthquakes. I notice that there are signs posted everywhere reminding people to "BE PREPARED" for earthquakes.

Berkeley California is filled with amazing restaurants. We have had Ethiopian,  Japanese, and tonight we are having Indian food. We plan to get 'take-out' and watch the Patriots game at home with some other Nantucket friends. Fun!

Ramen Noodles with Duck

Delicious!

Standing on Top of Two Plates: Plate Tectonics Makes for Great Hiking!

38.0400° N, 122.7400° W: Marin Headlands

We spent the morning hiking in the California county of Marin. Marin is just north of San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Mount Tampalias is a well known and much loved landmark in Marin. They call it the 'sleeping lady' because that's what it looks like.  Look at the photo. Can you see the sleeping lady?

The Golden Gate National Recreational Area has beautiful trails perfect for hiking and biking. The hiking trails are quite hilly. One moment you are hiking up a hill and the next moment you are hiking down a steep slope. These rolling hills were caused by the San Andreas fault.  This fault is the slippery yet sticky boundary between two of Earth's tectonic plates. It is responsible for the biggest earthquakes in California, up to at least magnitude 8.1.

Notice how the hills seem to have been pushed together, like the wrinkles in a blanket. It's the movement of the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate that are doing the pushing. They push the land together to make 'wrinkles' that we hike up and down. The San Andreas fault is the land where these two plates meet. 

Missing my students!

On the Fast Ferry with Elizabeth

I'm on my way to San Francisco for an extended visit.  I was lucky enough to run into Elizabeth, one of my former students,  and her mom on the fast ferry. The fast ferry is becoming a great place to catch up with friends and acquaintances, much like the Madaket dump is on a Sunday morning. You can never predict who you might run into for a visit and 'catching-up' session. It was great to see you Elizabeth!

Baby Bananas and Rainbows

These big red blossoms hanging from the bottom of this plant, turn into tiny little bananas. Just above the tiny yellow bananas are larger, more mature bananas, that still have three weeks until they are ready to be peeled and eaten.

Tropical rain showers came and went today, followed by sunshine, We saw five or six magnificent rainbows as a result.

The Pitons of St. Lucia

Today we travelled south down harrowing heights and hairpin turns to reach the Piton Mountains. They are volcanic plugs. Volcanic plugs are created when molten lava hardens in a vent. The photo below is a classic tourist pose and was taken from Tet Paul, nature reserve. We saw pineapples, mangos, bananas, coffee, cocoa, passion fruit, cashew trees, papaya, apricot, prickly pear, sugar cane, nutmeg, and a multitude of flowers. Our guide, MaGyver, was very knowledgable and funny. He was a great guide.

On the way home we stopped and bought casava bread on the side of the road. We are having it tonight with our goat stew for dinner. Casava bread is made from the casava shrub's roots, and is a food staple, throughout the Caribbean Basin.

Sunday Horse Races on the Beach

Sunday afternoon on the beach in St Lucia is the time for boys ages 8 to 18 to race their horses, bareback! Watching bare-back riders gallop at full speed down this half mile beach was thrilling. There were cricket and soccer games going on as well,  on the same beach. Everyone got out of the way as the horses thundered by.

Plantains for Breakfast

We are staying in St Lucia for a much-needed winter get-away. Inspired by a New York Times food article, our travel partner, James McGlynn recreated this delicious breakfast sandwich out of local ingredients we happened to have on hand. The recipe called for plantains, avocado, chorizo (we used bacon ends,) and an egg. The results were delicious! Thank you James and Mr. Hernandez!

Does Latitude Effect Tide Levels?

We notice that the tides do not change the water level as much as they do on Nantucket. We guessed that since we are so close to the equator, it must have some affect. We looked up “Do tide levels vary with latitude?” and this is what we found. 

“Yes, near the equator tidal influence is the lowest. This is related to the geometry of the moon's orbit in relation to earth, and the tilt of the earths axis. 

Consider the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun as a fixed plane. This is known as the ecliptic. The earth's axis is on a tilt of 23.5 degrees to this plane, which is the tilt that produces the seasons. Also because of this tilted axis of rotation, there is a more pronounced effect of both the sun and the moon's tidal force at middle and higher latitudes.”

This morning we walk along the spine of the mountain we are staying on. The views of the Caribbean are breathtaking. The paths and roads are very steep, with deep gullies on either side. 

  

Beautiful flowers in vibrant, almost neon hues, grow all around us. 

We’ve been warned to watch for snakes called Fer-de-lance, which means ‘iron spear’ in French. I really hope I don’t run into one of those! This is our dear friend Jim McGlynn. 

We all grew up together in Montclair, N.J. 

Green Lemons

These green lemons and grapefruit grow outside the house we are staying in. Jerk chicken is cooking in the oven filling the house up with a most wonderful aroma. It seems like this vacation is so much about learning about great food. We found a bottle of banana ketchup in the refrigerator which looks interesting. We’ve also heard about something called green sauce. I hope to find some in the market tomorrow. The photo below shows lime trees in the lower portion of the scene below.

Drive-In Volcano

The drive from the airport to Marigot Bay was a little scary. The road twisted and turned and was very narrow. Our driver, who seemed to know what he was doing, passed many cars and trucks. I had to close my eyes because it was too scary to see if there was an oncoming car.

St Lucia is a volcanic, mountainous, island.  The highest mountain is Mount Gimie, at 3,120 feet above sea level. The most famous mountains are the Pitons. There is a volcano you can drive into. It’s the only one like it in the Caribbean.

This is Marigot Bay. Parts of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed here.

In Miami on the way to St Lucia. Miami is a delicious melting pot of cultures. Besides having the best Cuban black beans and rice this side of Havana, we found a BBQ place that reminded us of Carolina BBQ.

Hey Uncle Jimmy, you've been holding out on us!

One More Hike With Jackson Then Good Bye California

Jackson and I went for one more hike late this afternoon. The ultra-steep climb up Cardiac Hill was worth the stunning view. Birds rode air current as they hunted for food. Coyotes and bobcats can be frequently spotted, but with the quick turn of your head, you are looking at the skyline of San Fransisco.  And in the distance is the Pacific Ocean.

I'll be catching an early morning bus to the airport tomorrow, but I know I'll be coming back here soon.

Rain Helps California Drought

The 'golden hills' of Marin have turned green for the first time in five years due to the much needed recent rain. The 'golden' color of the grassy hills, is caused by grass going dormant because of lack of rain. As this photo shows, the grass has begun to turn green again and the reservoirs are filling up once more.

Hiking To the Pacific Ocean

Today we hiked along a trail that led to the Pacific Ocean. The fog was quite thick at first from the warm air hitting the cold Pacific waters. As we headed back to the car the sun came out, the fog cleared and the temperature warmed up by 15 degrees. 

We noticed that the hills surrounding the beach looked very, very different from the last time we were here. An opening in the rocks had completely closed shut. It may be hard to believe but these big hills are moving all the time. Sometimes they move so suddenly that there is an earthquake. You can see how these big hill of rock are being pushed up from pressure building.

Marin Headlands

38.0400° N, 122.7400° W: Marin Headlands

We spent the day in the California county of Marin. Marin is just north of San Fransisco. Mount Tampalias is a well known and much loved landmark in Marin. The Golden Gate National Recreational Area has beautiful trails perfect for hiking and biking. The views of the Pacific Ocean are breath-taking. This is a wilderness area on the outskirts of an urban area. California has been in a severe drought for five years. I was surprised to see vegetation looking so green after the recent rains.