Day 54 - Wednesday, 8/12/09 , SETTLED

There is actually a giant redwood in the woods just opposite our campground. This morning we see it for the first time.

We return to the State Forest to see Big Tree. In the 1920's someone wanted to cut the tree down to make a dance floor out of it, but there were so many protests that it was saved.

Earlier in the week we had been told that there was a local herd of elk, but we had been unsuccessful in finding them thus far. Today we get lucky. We go back to the same place we had been before, and there they are! 20 feet from the edge of the road, they are placidly grazing in the tall grass and eating berries from the bushes at the edge of the meadow.

There are 3 herds, with three males with huge racks of antlers, many females and a few youngsters. We stand in fascination as they completely disregard us and keep on munching.
One stupid observer, though, tries to imitate their call until the other bystanders shush him and remind him that what he is doing could endanger us all.

On our return trip, we observe a toad "walking" in the road. Not hopping, but walking on all fours. That's a first for us.

I talk to my little two-year old grandson tonight on speaker-phone. It was the first time we can actually chat without SKYPE. He knows who I am and who Bob is, without prompting and just by our voices rather than images. It's so exciting, developmentally, and so emotional for us. We miss him so.

He tells us that he had ridden on a fire truck at school but they didn't turn on the siren "No, they didn't did do dat" and that he was going to wear his football shirt tomorrow "I wear pooball shirt" (It's the first game of the playoffs for the Ravens, which his parents are fanatics about).

In the evening, we hear a huge crash down the road. Soon there are sirens and we wonder what has happened. After about an hour, we hear the sound of chainsaws and we are told that a giant old maple tree has spontaneously fallen into the road and blocked traffic completely.