Yosemite and Moving On
Last week I spent four days hiking through the incredible landscape of Yosemite National Park. The autumn colours were out in bloom and the weather was beautiful, so I took the opportunity to climb mountains and enjoy the nature and fresh air. The only think was that there was no water for the waterfalls, as Yosemite is famous for these. Still it didn't matter because you could imagine where the water would be coming from, and I did see a small bit of water after I climbed to the top of Nevada Falls (which took me about 4 hours). I got to see coyotes and deer in their natural environment and alot of beautiful birds. I even got to hear a squirrel sing, I didn't know they could! I had a Northern Exposure moment, a deer was wondering down the main street of the village, minding its own business whilst everyone else had to move out of its way. Yosemite Valley is surrounded by sheer cliffs which in the summer turn into waterfalls, so everywhere you look there are granite mountains towering down on you. Photos and words cannot do it justice, its a beautiful part of the world.
Rhonda, Jerry and I also visited Alcatraz Prison which is on an island in San Francisco Bay. Its a fascinating site and very eeiry. Alcatraz was horrendous prison, its cold and windy and the prisoners could even here people partying in the city when the wind was blowing in the right direction. The interior of the prison was incredibly small as you could imagine and the solitary confinement cells were claustaphobic. The prison held some of America's most famous criminals before it closed down in the 60's including Al Capone. After the prison closed down it was occupied by the North American Indians who claimed it as their land for nearly 3 years. The occupaation is known as the begining of the political movement for American Indians in this country. It put a different light on the prison which is famous for its harshness.
I have also been in America at the time of the World Series Finals baseball which fortunely or unfortunately San Francisco was in. So I have watched quite a few games and got to know some of the players. Its an interesting sport and the many years I played softball as a kid came in handy because it basically has the same rules. Interestingly its the world series finals and it only includes teams from America or Canada, I think that says alot about the way this country sees itself in the world.
America is a huge country with a huge population, its not really surprising that so many strange and awful things happen here. There is atleast one serial killer a year and since I've been here there have been shooting sprees killing a few people every other day. Everyone goes on about defending democracy, yet only 40% of the population vote during elections. They talk about how important defending freedom is yet if you borrow a book from a library about terrorism or fundamentalism you can be arrested for being one (the government now has the right to access personal library borrowing records). If that was the case in Australia half of the library borrowers at Stanton would have been suspected terrorists. This country is full of hypocracies, but its a great country to visit. I am told that Canada is completely different again, here they call it America Light! So it will be interesting to note the differences.
So tomorrow its off to Vancouver and the start of my new life. I will send you all my address and phone number when I finally find a place to live. I'll be staying in a hostel probably for the first few weeks until I get a job.
Stay safe and well.
Last week I spent four days hiking through the incredible landscape of Yosemite National Park. The autumn colours were out in bloom and the weather was beautiful, so I took the opportunity to climb mountains and enjoy the nature and fresh air. The only think was that there was no water for the waterfalls, as Yosemite is famous for these. Still it didn't matter because you could imagine where the water would be coming from, and I did see a small bit of water after I climbed to the top of Nevada Falls (which took me about 4 hours). I got to see coyotes and deer in their natural environment and alot of beautiful birds. I even got to hear a squirrel sing, I didn't know they could! I had a Northern Exposure moment, a deer was wondering down the main street of the village, minding its own business whilst everyone else had to move out of its way. Yosemite Valley is surrounded by sheer cliffs which in the summer turn into waterfalls, so everywhere you look there are granite mountains towering down on you. Photos and words cannot do it justice, its a beautiful part of the world.
Rhonda, Jerry and I also visited Alcatraz Prison which is on an island in San Francisco Bay. Its a fascinating site and very eeiry. Alcatraz was horrendous prison, its cold and windy and the prisoners could even here people partying in the city when the wind was blowing in the right direction. The interior of the prison was incredibly small as you could imagine and the solitary confinement cells were claustaphobic. The prison held some of America's most famous criminals before it closed down in the 60's including Al Capone. After the prison closed down it was occupied by the North American Indians who claimed it as their land for nearly 3 years. The occupaation is known as the begining of the political movement for American Indians in this country. It put a different light on the prison which is famous for its harshness.
I have also been in America at the time of the World Series Finals baseball which fortunely or unfortunately San Francisco was in. So I have watched quite a few games and got to know some of the players. Its an interesting sport and the many years I played softball as a kid came in handy because it basically has the same rules. Interestingly its the world series finals and it only includes teams from America or Canada, I think that says alot about the way this country sees itself in the world.
America is a huge country with a huge population, its not really surprising that so many strange and awful things happen here. There is atleast one serial killer a year and since I've been here there have been shooting sprees killing a few people every other day. Everyone goes on about defending democracy, yet only 40% of the population vote during elections. They talk about how important defending freedom is yet if you borrow a book from a library about terrorism or fundamentalism you can be arrested for being one (the government now has the right to access personal library borrowing records). If that was the case in Australia half of the library borrowers at Stanton would have been suspected terrorists. This country is full of hypocracies, but its a great country to visit. I am told that Canada is completely different again, here they call it America Light! So it will be interesting to note the differences.
So tomorrow its off to Vancouver and the start of my new life. I will send you all my address and phone number when I finally find a place to live. I'll be staying in a hostel probably for the first few weeks until I get a job.
Stay safe and well.
posted by Paula at
2:24 PM
