Sherry, If you go to see the giant redwood/sequoia trees, please realize that there are dozens of places worth seeing them along the coast from the CA/OR border to central California and in the Sierra Nevada Mountains along the CA/NV border that each have their own unique appeal. It would take a week just to explore all of the big tree NP's, SP's, SRA's, SNR's and Monuments in CA alone. When I lived in San Francisco, Russian Gulch, Big Basin SP and Mount Madonna were favorites, but after I moved to Carmel it was all about Polo Colorada Canyon and the many spots around Pfeiffer Big Sur. I'll have to tell you about my very rare and unique coffee table made from a Polo Colorado Cyn giant and Bixby Creek driftwood sometime. Yes, "mesa" is a term loosly applied to any landform in the arid west with a flat top and verticle cliff sides, and they are quite common. They are also referred to as table mountains, buttes, potrero or tuya depending on how they were formed and their characteristics and can vary from small ones like those in the BDW to the Grand Mesa in CO which is the largest in the world at around 500 square miles on top. Sometimes plateau is also used wrongly. They don't always have the verticle sides and are much bigger covering huge areas up to millions of square miles. Yes I could move back to St.George I guess, although in many ways the cost of living is higher there than Vegas. I'm sure some of my old friends are still there and kicking. But since my Dad lives there now I wouldn't even consider it.

I found another close up photo of the Picea abies 'Kornell's Dwarf Yellow' on this forum from about 2 years ago. Take a look at the buds and make your conclusion... Here is a link that might be useful: Picea abies 'Kornell's Dwarf Yellow'

There's nothing quite as cool-looking(temperaturewise) as BLUE flowers. I grew Phacelia a few years ago, best blue i ever saw, next to cornflowers. The bell-shaped blue flowers with icy-white anthers were beautiful, and stirred up images of cooler weather. They do have a short bloom time, hot weather just about stops the show, cutting back helps somewhat. Give 'em a try, i believe there are 2 or 3 varieties. Good luck, and enjoy.

When i was a kid, we had a board game that sent cargo ships to foreign ports, and a ship would pick up a cargo and drop one off! I used to know all of the foreign ports where my ships would go, and even now, if i hear "Bolivia", i think of tin, which is the cargo we'd pick up there! I don't remember how the game was won, but i think it was better than geography class in school! And it made me want to travel the world! So, upon hearing that my Uncle Sam would send me off to exotic places, i signed on for one of his cruises! Of course, i had to go thru some indoctrination before setting out! Uncle warned me that there were some "unfriendlies" out there, maybe i'd better brush up on my gun handling and shooting, maybe learn how to dig holes in the ground, and he told me i might have to do some long walks, so i got used to that too! Any way, after the training, i joined a large group of fellows who were going on the cruise offered by Uncle Sam! I never thought there were so many guys interested in traveling the world! Oh, we sailed the briny deep for a week or more, then had to stop in Liverpool, England, to take in fresh supplies! While waiting for that, we boarded a nice passenger train and went thru England, south, to Warminster and Trowbridge, and then into a nice hotel there! (The main hotel was full, so we used some large tents instead!) Later we toured Bournemouth, and Southampton. We got to see a different type of ship there, and while we were on it inspecting it, the ship pulled out, with us all on it! WHOA!! We didn't expect that! And the next thing we knew, the sky was filled with the most fireworks any of us had seen in our lifetimes! I think the Captain of the ship was angry with us--he had us dumped off onto a beach filled with blown up tanks, ships, trucks---WHAAAT?? Soon, trucks came and took us to a large wooded area where they gave us firearms and ammunition, new clothes, a blanket, a gas mask, and new boots and a steel helmet! And, then, we got to where the other people were shooting at us!! In spite of all this, i did manage to walk most all the way across France! Well, sooner or later most everybody either got killed or wounded, or went nuts, but, like Uncle said, it would be like this, so don't complain! I managed to get wounded badly by a German land mine, so that ended my cruise, and Uncle managed to find a boat to have me sent home! And, i have never wanted to go on a cruise ever again!! It would be o.k., as long as the boat didn't leave the dock! And, if i could keep one foot on shore! (Some wag told me to leave my wooden leg on shore, and i could go!) by: Rustyj