My little family and I took an extended weekend away from the Valley to stay with some friends our ours up in the wonderful woods near Shaver Lakeabout forty miles east of Fresno, CA. We left on the Friday, July 18th, heading south on 101 and then across on 152 through Hollister, Los Banos and on through to Fresno before starting the ascent to Shaver Lake.
I love these trips. One gets a glimpse of the vast grandeur of California on such a trip as one leaves behind the congestion of Silicon Valley and it's rolling hills, and one heads into the vast flat plain that is the Central Valley. Having grown up on a farm, I find it fascinating to see endless miles of orchards, corn, dairy farms, huge aqueducts, sweeping reservoir lakes and associate dams. It is quite the flat oasis that has been carved out of what was presumably and endless dry plain. 
The one crop that struck me as most interesting was the corn crop. It seemed liked ever farmer had decided to grow corn this year. Now, for those folks unaccustomed to large scale agriculture on an industrial scale, one has to realize that it is possible to drive three or four miles flanked by head high stalks of corn on either side, where irrespective the horizon you choose to look over, only the verdant green of the corn crop can be seen touching the blue of the sky. It is immense. Contemplating this vista, it dawned on me that this was far too much corn for any populace to consume and that here on either side was another symptom of what I've come to call the maize malaise - that being our need to supplement our foreign oil imports with home grown ethanol production that uses the corn as raw material. It seems farcical. We've millions of acres of sun drenched parched land and we pipe millions of gallons of water onto it, and expend millions of gallons of diesel cultivating it only to have it consumed again as more fuel - while all the while we could probably get the same energy from the sun as converted electricity. Anyways....
Leaving the flatlands of the Central Valley we headed up into the windy treacherous roads to the lake. As one climbs one can hear the engine of the car work harder, and with each passing marker 2000ft, 3000ft, 4000ft, the air changes, the temperature changes, the smells change and the dryness of the valley gives way to a lush greenness of 'Waltons-like' pine forests. It really is quite beautiful to behold all of this.
The cabin itself is essentially a large comfortable house with all the usual amenities, but the outside is done is a 'cabin' style with lost of wood paneling and such. A very comfortable stay to say the least. Upon arriving, we were greeted by our friends who had already arrived and were pretty much settled in already.
The next day was spent by the lake chilling out. We rented a wave runner and all of us got to take turns. My good wife and I headed out first in our family and did a lap of the lake, and later in the day she took our youngest 'F' after which I took our eldest 'N'. It really is quite a site to behold - a dark blue lake surrounded by a forest grown upon glacier smoothed rocky outcrops on a glorious summer day.
The next day we stayed in the cabin relaxing with some music, food, wine, and lots of reading and guitar playing. An interesting game that emerged was to do with iPods. We each took turns choosing songs from each others ipods. It really brought home to us how much we all love our iPods and how much songs we had to choose from. Every conceivable mood, style, genre of music was chosen through the day - all in all a very positive celebration of music and technology.
Having cleaned the house on Monday morning, we all packed up and left one by one on the descent down the Sierra Mountain foothills on our route back to our respective homes. Nearing the Hollister junction on 152, we noticed smoke in the distance and were strangely fortunate to see first hand the trouble this state has been having for the past few months. A brush fire has sparked off by the side of the freeway and were were there to witness it. As we approached the blaze, the smoke drifted higher and higher into the sky. In the distance we could see two fire fighters disembarking from their brilliant red fire truck and frantically prepare to tackle the blaze.
Given the remoteness of the location, these guys would be on their own for the next twenty or thirty minutes until help arrived. As we passed the place, we lowered the passenger window so we could take some photos. The heat was phenomenal and hit us like a blast from a furnace. Needless to say, we didn't delay, but it was certainly a little unsettling to be so close to such a rapidly growing fire with little or no fire department support near by. The one thought that lingers on from this many weeks later as I review the photos is just how much for granted we seem to take the men and women who assume the role of fighting these fires. It certainly takes some mettle to walk anywhere near the inferno we 
beheld on that fine summers day. Here's to those on the front lines, who just like that particular day and in almost a thousand other instances across California that same month, stood against the fires and held strong. 
