When Nagging Memories of Mistakes I've Made Appear in my Mind... I Intentionally Recall Wonderful Times... There is NO CHANCE that I will be able to Change History... So Why Remember it again and again and again? I Focus My Attention on Positive Events...

SO... I must say THIS, while we're still alive... I'm Glad I Met You, All of You...

[The Secret Trick is Not to Read This Story But to Write Your Own! - Use Your Mind to Inspect Your Own History]

We had some amazing times together... Hiking to the Top of Yosemite, Nevada & Vernal Falls high on LSD ; the Boat Ride at Niagara Falls; Tripping at Grateful Dead concerts; swimming in Chico Creek, Butte Creek, the Pacific Ocean at Santa Cruz and at the AAU Far Western swim meet at Foothill Junior College; soaking at the hot tub in Big Sur; cross country skiing at Lake Tahoe; Marching In anti-war protest marches at the White House & San Francisco & Eureka & Los Gatos & Laguna Beach; riding the Giant Dipper roller coaster at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk; chanting OM at the Rainbow Gathering, playing the guitar and singing in public; Meeting "Mescalita" and Performing my Peyote Song with her for the entire tribe; Working as a Fire Tender at the Welcome Home Kitchen at the Rainbow Gathering - I was responsible for keeping the fire burning all night long and not smoking/annoying the campers and offering any new arrivals coffee or water or to just sit down and rest; Sailing in a sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay during a storm; Riding a bicycle on Highway 280 at the Grand Opening celebration; Riding a Bicycle from New York City to Washington DC with My Wife... playing the Analog Synthesizer in an outer space Jazz improv band for 8 hours on a Saturday night every weekend for years; Playing the Analog Synthesizer on the Banks of the Potomac River at Night Right Across from DARPA Headquarters... Making "Space Ship Taking Off" Sounds... Playing the piano in the history room at the Cal Neva Lodge Lake Tahoe - the same piano that Marilyn Monroe sat on; Making over 100 YouTube music videos of me singing and playing the guitar; Going to the Exploratorium in San Francisco during the 1960s; Skin diving in Florida; EPCOT; Fireworks on the 4th of July; Whitewater rafting down the Shenandoah River; Going on a hike with the Save the Redwoods League at the "Grand Closing" of the Mill Creek property... It was to become a human free zone; Going to the Smithsonian Institute about 25 times; Joining Alcoholics Anonymous and quitting drinking; Winning money at a Casino in Nevada; Dancing with a Half a Million people at a Beach Boys concert on July 4th at the Washington Monument; Visiting Bumpus Hell bubbling mud pots at Mount Lassen Park; Dancing at a disco where the floor lit up with blinking lights; Designing computer equipment for the United States Air Force. The job required I have a Secret Clearance. To this day I can't talk about what we did; Operated a laserium machine at a show; Surfing in Hawaii; Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll; Driving around the Western United States in a Van with a bed in the back; Living life as a turtle! Bringing my home with me wherever I went; I built an online business and I'm selling original art and slogans printed on t-shirts and hats and buttons; I spend a lot of time at the computer science laboratory at Humboldt State University when I was going to college there... It's quite an experience to be working with 20 other geniuses designing programs and websites... And when I got stuck... I just asked the person sitting next to me for help and they often could do it; Sweating in an American Indian sweat lodge at the Rainbow Gathering; Piloting an open cockpit airplane; Riding a zipline at summer camp; Visiting the Kinetic Sculpture Race in Eureka, CA... 

What a time to be alive! I've actually been to Paradise (California) and played the drums...

Maybe we'll be reincarnated as dairy cows and get to spend a lifetime together in the Eel River Valley... An ideal place to live if you're a cow... Or a hippie... Or a redneck...





Photo taken by my wife at the Beach. Eureka's North Jetty

<~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~>

I do have a couple of regrets...


Somebody asked me if I wanted to go soak in the hot springs at Tasahara in Big Sur... He said that after midnight you could go for free... And I said no thanks... Big mistake...


I had the opportunity to chat with Ram Dass... But I couldn't think of anything that I wanted to say...





Halloween at Work. Deal or No Deal Show.





My Ford Windstar Van in Chico, CA



 

When I can't sleep because my mind is racing, replaying mistakes that I've made, I force my mind to think of some of the wonderful events that I experienced!

Walking near The Waterfalls of Yosemite... Swimming in Butte Creek... The Hot Spring in Big Sur... The Grateful Dead Concert at Winterland - Wall of Sound... The Boat Ride at Niagara Falls... Playing the Guitar and Singing in Public... ETC...

Then Instead of Replaying Horrible Memories, I'm enjoying FUN TIMES!

Recently, I've been Paying Attention to My Breathing... I take a Large Breath and say a word or two in my mind... then I Exhale and Complete the Concept... By Repeating these breaths I get a LOT of Oxygen in my Body... and Mind... Clear Thinking...

I often ask "What Should I Write?" or "What Should I Create in My ART PROGRAM."

Then... If an Idea Pops Up... I Get Up and turn on My Computer... and WRITE, DRAW or Whatever my Idea Required...

Other Things I Say While Doing Deep Breathing... "God, Keep Me Healthy" or "God, Help Me Talk to Aliens" or "God, Help Me Talk to Animals and Trees" or "God, Help Me Learn ESP" - It Would be Excellent If I Had the Talent to Move Objects Far away using only my mind... It Would be Excellent to Sabotage Trump's Airplane in the Middle of the Ocean... cause a crash!

I read somewhere that People Chant "OM" but I do Not Speak that Language and so that word is Meaningless to Me... So I Chant "God" because that's a word in English... I Say "God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God..."

Or "Open Your Mind" like the Movie Total Recall... That Phrase comes with a Visual Image.. Kuato... https://youtu.be/9ZorCgfpxhY?si=JeNLSretlGIyf0AA

It's Quite Fun to Write The List of Excellent Experiences... Riding the Giant Dipper Roller Coaster at Santa Cruz, The Laserium Show at a Planetarium, Going to the Art Gallery and Inspecting Paintings by Dali (The Last Supper), Picasso (The Tragedy) and Silverpoint Drawings by Da Vinci... Skin Diving in Florida with Hammerhead Sharks, Seeing a bear in the Sierras, doing Computer Programming in the Lab at College and Having TIME Behave Strangely... I'd work for a few moments and look at the clock to find that an couple of hours had passed... Marching in Anti-War Protest Marches... It is Soothing to Realize that I've Been on the Right Side of History My Entire Life... 

OH What A Lucky Man I AM...

Moonrise Over The Pyramids - Javascript Pattern Art

UFO over Humboldt County

<~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~>

LINKS TO ZEN STORIES:

https://youtu.be/ZQXXHb4_sH0?si=e1Rx7ef3C1QGTSFW

The Diamond Sutra for Sleep.

Buddhist Teachings & Stories for Deep Peace.

https://youtu.be/E-jNzakUsAQ?si=DFIyWVtD-WrHoXVQ

The Peace of Wanting Less

Sleep to Buddha's Teachings on Contentment

https://youtu.be/xGQCDixmhzg?si=P9hnd-5Wtnzies_f

Buddhist Stories to Help You Let Go and Fall Asleep

Zen Buddhism for Rest

Fun Things to do in Eureka and Arcata California - The Tallest Trees, The Finest Weed, Humboldt State University and SIX, Count 'em SIX Rivers... On Highway 101 Near Oregon... SAMBA!

Samba Parade at Humboldt State University

My Brother and I at Woodley Island Marina in front of

The Maritime Memorial for Sailors Lost at Sea.

The Madaket was a ferry boat that retired when they built the bridge to Samoa... Now it has narrated cruises exploring Humboldt Bay... The captain tells us the history of what we see.

Bliss Couple standing in the Bow of the Madaket

Scenes photographed from the boat...

We discovered a "secret" beach in Fairhaven that no one ever goes to on a boatride. As we passed Fairhaven on the North Jetty, I saw the beach and a road... later I looked it up on Google Maps and figured out how to get there. We were all alone except for a man in a kayak cruising by.

LINK: https://www.zazzle.com/store/gregvan/products?qs=hate

Other places to visit:

The North Jetty itself. Bring sensible shoes so we can walk to the end where the dolos are... be aware that sometimes the waves are so large that it would be dangerous to walk on the jetty... but you can watch from the top of the sand dunes.

Giles by the Bay restaurant in King Salmon. It is at the end of the small peninsula that is right next to our house. The restaurant is not spectacular but I often park there to walk around and look at the house, bay, boats... There is a good swimming/wading beach there. In the afternoons in the summer the water is warm enough to swim in... It's a bay... The Ocean is simply too cold.

Trinidad: Pier, Beach and the fabulous restaurant. There is a marine life museum and classrooms from Humboldt State. A great trip as they have working example of the Hydrogen Fuel Cells invented at Schatz Laboratory HSU. They are participating in radioactivity monitoring from Fukushima. In co-operation with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

 http://www.humboldt.edu/marinelab/

(Take the Trinidad exit off of Hwy 101, head west on Main St., turn left on Trinity St., right on Edwards St., and right on Ewing St. as the road veers left.)

I looked at both active tree-sit ecology actions. Too long of a hike to get to where they are... and in my humble opinion... How can I really get excited about protesting logging way off in the woods? It is delicate balance between providing boards for construction and saving the trees... This ecology action does not motivate me.

Mattole: There is a great drive to the end of the road... but... it's trespassing for a mile or so... and that's too far. The drive goes from the Avenue of the Giants towards the Mattole river and The Lost Coast... Ending in Victorian Ferndale. This is a road that is NOT visible on Google Streetview.  Bull Creek Flats Road... in Humboldt Redwoods State Park... to Mattole road and the town of Honeydew... Out there is a Sobriety Retreat on top of a mountain with a giant cross made from two large trees... I took a picture there and captured the spirit of that moment... close to the clouds in a big wind...

The other Tree-Sit is at Strawberry Rock near Trinidad. Take the Trinidad exit and instead of turning left and going to Trinidad, go straight  ahead at the end of the off ramp and follow the Frontage road that parallels Highway 101 all the way to the end... That's where the trail starts... Link to a map.

http://goo.gl/maps/bIkAO

Mount Saint Mercy Retreat

click on the images to see them bigger

Here in Eureka, CA there is a zoo in the middle of a redwood forest. There are wild bears that live in the forest and there are bears in the cages at the zoo... If someone would just let the caged bears go they could live in the woods with the other bears... unless they have been so institutionalized by convict life that they can't survive outside of prison. Sequoia Park Zoo.

Where are the really great parties? 

Free and Wonderful Events? 

Please add your favorites to Comments section...

I would like to promote events that are free and wonderful. For Example: The Rainbow Gathering, Kinetic Sculpture Race, North Country Fair and Humboldt Folklife Festival. All we need to know is a date and a location. Please share info and I'll blog the fun things to do. If you know of an event, please comment or email me... gregvan@yahoo.com Thanks.... Here is a Link to What I've Collected So Far!

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2017/06/where-are-really-great-parties-free-and.html

My College Painting Class on a Field Trip to Woodley Island Marina.
We took our easels and paints and created ART.

Free Concerts On HSU Campus at Noon by the Clock Tower.

"Jammers League" every performance had different players

This is a historic train in Scotia, California. A beautiful town completely owned by MAXXAM. [until they went bankrupt] Sort of like a stage set, it is entirely built of redwood lumber with columns made from entire trees with the bark intact. Come visit sometime and be sure to go on the factory tour. It is the largest building in California. MAXXAM did a corporate raider takeover using Michael Milken junk bonds and is proceeding to cut down old growth redwood as fast as possible and take all the profit and move it to Texas. After all the profitable trees are gone then it's time for bankruptcy... Just like they did with Kaiser Aluminum. and that's exactly what they did... now it's all owned by the Fisher Family [most famous for The Gap clothing stores]

Kinetic Sculpture Race. June Moxon's Cat

My Truck and the Magic Bus

near Lolita, CA

These pictures were taken behind the Bayshore Shopping Mall. Where there is a huge abandoned building that has been decorated by grafitti artists... It made me think of the CyberPunk science fiction novels by William Gibson where all the action takes place in San Francisco after the collapse of western civilization due to lack of oil. These machines would fit perfectly because they are entirely bicycle powered...

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Other Journeys

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Virtual Journey: Canada Tourist Guide & Autobiography. We Went on our Honeymoon to Vancouver, BC. We Rode a Bicycle built for Two in Stanley Park... and Many More Wonderful Places to Visit.

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/05/canada-tourist-guide.html

Virtual Journey: Eureka, Arcata, Trinidad - Visit Northern California's Coast. We Have Our Own Little World Here Behind The Redwood Curtain! https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/05/eureka-arcata-trinidad.html

Virtual Journey: Trinity Alps, CA, USA - Drive the Bigfoot Highway (299) From Arcata on the Coast to Redding in the Central Valley. White Water Rafting! Gold Rush Ghost Towns!

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/04/highway-299-virtual-journey.html

Virtual Journey: to the Star Wars Flying Motorcycles Redwood Forest on Hwy 36 in Remote Humboldt County, CA, USA - and the Bridgeville UFO Festival, The Town of Mad River. 

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/03/virtual-journey-hwy-36-remote-humboldt.html

Virtual Journey: Lost Coast, CA, USA on Highway 211 - From Victorian Ferndale to The Beach, the Mountains of Mateel to the Avenue of the Giants. Humboldt County. 

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/03/a-virtual-drive-thru-remote-humboldt.html

Virtual Journey to San Francisco - Boat Ride on the Red and White Fleet. Under the Golden Gate Bridge and Around Alcatraz Island... and MORE!

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/04/journey-to-san-francisco.html

Virtual Journey: The Smithsonian and Washington DC. Instead of Buying Gasoline and Driving There, Take this Magic Trip Instead! A Guided Tour to the Places My Family Wanted to See... 

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/05/virtual-journey-smithsonian.html

Photographs of Elfin Glen Gift Shop - Chainsaw Carvings of Redwood Trees - on Highway 101 Just South Of Eureka in Northern California - and Pictures of Antique Logging Equipment at the Timber Heritage Association Show

Gift Shop Sign Elfin Glen
on Highway 101 in Northern California

Eagle Sculpture

Eagle and Bear

Bear Chainsaw Carving

Seahorse

Sculptures of Lumberjacks Climbing a tree.

Photographs of Antique Logging Equipment in Eureka, California - Steam Driven Machines used in the Timber Industry. Including the Dolbeer Steam Donkey.

An Exhibit by the Timber Heritage Association

https://timberheritage.org/

Antique Tractor used to Haul Logs

Buffalo Springfield Paving Machine
The Band Named Themselves After a Tractor...
I Guess That Made Sense in the Sixties...

Machine designed to Pick Up a Log

Chopping Competition - Hand Ax

Dolbeer Steam Donkey
a Machine designed to haul logs out of the forest
replaced animal power

Steam Train used to haul logs

Dolbeer Steam Donkey

Let's use The Bark from Redwood Trees to Prevent Weeds instead of RoundUP! We use Bark in our garden and it works great. AND! It doesn't kill people... It's a One Time Cost for the Farmer and the Money is Kept within the State of California... Currently, a Giant Barge of Redwood Bark and wood chips Leaves Eureka, California Every Week headed for China... We also ship entire logs... They don't want the logs sawed up into boards because they have their own sawmills... and it's cheaper to employ Chinese Slaves to do the Work. 

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Farmers have to pay for RoundUP every year and The Costs of all those Lawsuits MUST be passed on to the Farmers and the people that buy the Food. AND! We Eat That Poison! We could have healthier Food if we just used Redwood Bark and Wood Chips to Prevent Weeds. 

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

BIOMASS Electric Power Plants Could Dispose of the Millions of Dead Trees in California that are a Fire Hazard. Before we have another Disastrous Wildfire like we had in Paradise last summer, we could remove the fuel from the forests and use it to generate electricity. 

"The number of biomass plants, another option for disposing of trees, has fallen to about two dozen from 66 in the 1990s, in part due to the expiration of government price subsidies." - according to the California Energy Commission.

Why not REOPEN those unused BIOMASS plants and clean up our forests before we have a Disaster? 

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Photographs of the Avenue of the Giants - on the Eel River Humboldt County California - Chainsaw Carving of Bigfoot - Dolos make the Harbor Jetty

Mom's Car under the trees

Eel River

Chainsaw Carving of Bigfoot at the Elfin Glen Gift shop on Highway 101

July 4th Carnival

Dolos - giant Concrete Shapes
used to Make The Jetty Protecting
the Channel into Humboldt Bay

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue OX
at the Trees of Mystery
On Highway 101
in Del Norte County

Mural of St Francis of the Redwoods
 in Willits - On Highway 101 South of Eureka

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox Sculptures at the Trees Of Mystery - Roadside Attraction - Highway 101 Northern California

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue OX

Mural of Salmon at
The Forest Cafe across the street

Redwood Trees 

https://www.treesofmystery.net/

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