Chico Vagabonding and Return to Santa Barbara

Having all your gulls in a row at Goleta Pier.

We have returned to Santa Barbara and are staying here in Isla Vista with Emily through the 27th when our next AirBnB is available. We ended up cutting our stay in Chico short by a few days because of effects of nearby fires: we were noticing respiratory effects and becoming concerned about impact on travel routes with evacuations. This year is the worst on record for fires in California and it is very sad; ten people have died since August. Here are a few photos from our experience:

Departure morning in Chico

Images from the drive, about 7.5 hours, north to south

Sadly, climate change deniers still make excuses; however, there is no denying that this is an impact of the choices we have made and continue to ignore. We saw similar effects on our visit to the Florida Keys a couple of years ago, compared to our honeymoon there in 1988.

Because of the extreme heat conditions and occasional fire effects, we didn't do much vagabonding while in Chico visiting our friend Ann. However, we did have some opportunity to get out and experience some of this cute town and area.

One of our first explores, worthy of a re-visit, was to the California State University, Chico Farm. 

The first time we went was on a hunt for peaches. The Farm has a big peach sale every year. Under normal conditions, one goes to pick the peaches, but this was a drive-thru pick-up event because of the pandemic. Good use of humor to encourage mask-wearing.

The variety, Fay Elberta, was very tasty, and we enjoyed them individually and grilled, as well as freezing some for Ann's later use. This is a threatened heirloom variety of freestone peach, and I'm guessing that's why the university focuses on growing it.

On our first visit to the farm, we noticed that there was a store for the school's meats laboratory, as well as an organic vegetable stand, open on Fridays. So later in our visit we returned on a Friday to check that out. On this explore, we also visited several locations selling local products. 

More good humor and our haul from the meat lab and organic vegetable stand. Those sausages were delicious. Talk about farm to fork! What a wonderful resource for this community.

We learned that Blue Diamond Almond is headquartered in Sacramento and has a facility, as well as a products store in Chico. The almond processing facility reminded us very much of the peanut processing facility in Douglas. We found some fun products at the store. It was hard to choose! 

 

A couple of other fun local places we visited were Maisie Jane's and Lassen Cidery. Maisie Jane's seems to be most well known for their various one-ingredient nut spreads; maybe you have seen them in the store? Their gift shop had all kinds of fun products. Again it was very difficult to choose! The cider place was very interesting, with all of their apples coming from within a 160 mile radius, as well as a traditional process of cider fermentation. It really paid off in the taste!

 

We shared the Heirloom Blend cider, garlic almonds, and the local tapenade at a dinner with Ann's friend Chiara and Quinn on Labor Day. Chiara is originally from Italy, and she and Quinn are both professors in film, so we had several common interests to talk about. We were having so much fun visiting with them, that I neglected to take a photo to commemorate our visit! Here's their Facebook profile picture. Fun people that I hope we'll cross paths with again! 

Now, the last stop on our products day was to be a local produce stand in Durham, a small town south of Chico. We never found it, but we did have a very serendipitous occurrence, as seems to happen often in our vagabonding. Our last dental cleaning was a year ago because we had intended to have that done while we were investigating Alicante, Spain. I had been trying to think of how we would get this done, being on the road and not wanting to have an expensive dental bill, assuming we could even find a dentist to work on a non-patient during the pandemic. The produce stand not being where it was supposed to be, we pulled into a parking lot to turn around. On the sign was a dental hygienist in independent practice. Say what?! We didn't know such a thing existed. I said to John, go in and find out what this is about. He returned to the car with paperwork and an appointment for the following Friday. So, we learned that in (progressive!) California one can go directly to a hygienist for cleaning. Independent hygienists take additional coursework and then can go in to practice. The closest comparison might be a nurse practitioner or physician's assistant. Amanda was charming, professional and did a wonderful job. She gave us some great tips for oral hygiene; it was the best cleaning experience I've ever had. We not only got to get our teeth cleaned, but we met a cool person, learned something new, and supported a female entrepreneur. Win, win, win!

Our last explore was with Ann and her nephew Austin. After going to the local farmer's market, we headed over to Bidwell park for a picnic. The park had something I had never seen before: a living pool fed from a creek into a concrete basin. Because the creek is constantly flowing through, the water maintains a cool temperature. Many people were out enjoying this free amenity, which is surrounded by a beautiful tree canopy. 

 

Next, off to Oroville to see the Chinese Temple. While the interior of the temple was closed because of the pandemic, there were many interesting things to see on the outside. This folk temple was dedicated in 1863 and served as a place of worship for 10,000+ Chinese workers. A unique feature is that it has worship places for a variety of Eastern religions. On the National Register of Historic Places, as well as being a California landmark, it is currently a museum, but occasionally is still used as a place of worship.

  

The beautiful gate and an example of a Chinese worker's home from that period

From Oroville we ventured on to our last destination, Table Mountain. I originally thought this flat-top mountain was a butte (being in Butte county), but I learned in my research that it is a mesa (the difference being in size) that was formed by ancient lava flows. It was very interesting to be on top of a flat mountain!

 

Back at Ann's beautiful homestead, we did a lot more R&R. Here's Ann in her noodle chair invention:

Very clever!

While chillaxing, I made some awesome progress on my Seek app challenges. I finally captured that elusive yellow bird to complete my Backyard Challenge! We thought it was a goldfinch, but it turned out to be a Yellow Warbler. There were four that started to visit regularly when the pool fountain was on. So pretty!

 

John and I both worked hard on finishing up the Pollinator Challenge. We had to capture two insects and an arachnid. That took days, but we prevailed and earned the badge! I also got these awesome shots of another dragonfly, another type of flame skimmer:

  

Well, John and Emily have just finished grilling some fantastic salmon and Emily made some artisanal deviled eggs, so I'm off to enjoy with the family! Until next time, kindness, love and peace.