Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
What passes for nature, here in Bako.
This weekend, Jake and I went exploring. First we went to the California Living Museum, a small but well maintained zoo that had raccoons and bald eagles and a couple of hungry brown bears, among other things. Despite the fact this was a Sunday and there’s precious little else to do in Bako, there were few people at the park. We were calling it a ghost zoo.
Here’s one of the neater inhabitants, a porcupine who had quite a jones for his zookeeper. He kept trying to get her attention because he wanted to be petted.
He was cuter in person.
Afterward, we drove up the 178 as far as Jake could tolerate. He gets carsick. The 178 is a narrow, curvy two-lane highway that skirts the Kern River on its way to Lake Isabella. Reminded me a lot of the 199, except that the scenery here is rather more Mars-like than it is in the Pacific Northwest.
Odd thing, I never noticed that power line when I snapped the picture. My brain edited it out.
Hot as hell Sunday . . . at least 100 . . . so hot we eventually gave up, turned around, and drove back to civilization, anyplace we could get a cold drink.
I miss redwoods. I miss ocean.
D.
Cute porcupine, nice photo in spite of the power line.
Ooh, now I want a pet porcupine!
Me too . . . although I suspect our cats would object.