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Opinion Columns Editor's Note: Long-awaited visit provides new perspective
Editor's Note: Long-awaited visit provides new perspective
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Driving toward the coast on Highway 199, I’ve never been so focused on exactly when the redwoods would start appearing as I was Sunday afternoon. That’s because I was bringing my parents to visit Del Norte County for the first time, and the redwoods would be part of the welcoming party. It’s called the Redwood Highway from Grants Pass on, but it takes a maddeningly long time for the tall trees to materialize when there’s anticipation. First there’s the climb into the Illinois Valley and the series of small towns from Selma to O’Brien. I’m an Oregon native and lived almost three decades there, but I’ve got to say that the California side of the Grants Pass-Crescent City route is where it’s at for scenery. We hugged the cliff sides of Smith River canyons on the slow descent out of the Coast Range, but still no real highway redwood presence even as we passed through Gasquet.
Some thin ones materialized with their trademark gnarly bark, but when
the highway sign said just 10 miles more to Crescent City, we still
weren’t in the land of the giants. Past Hiouchi, the woods finally
started crowding the roadway and we’d hit the redwood corridor, five
hours after leaving their Salem-area retirement apartment.
I’ve been telling my Dad, 88, and Mom, 86, about this place since moving here nearly a year and a half ago. Now Laura and I get to show it to them, which makes her and I the dubiously qualified local experts as long as we stay in our tight little traveling party of four. So far, so good. We had the good fortune to hit the Chart Room for breakfast on its first open Monday, which meant we scored window seats to take in the harbor scene. As I write this near noon (having taken a modicum of flack from Laura for doing something work-related on the first day of a week off), it’s looking more partly sunny than partly cloudy and we’re about to ponder our next move. Could be Howland Hill Road for some more up-close time with an old-growth forest. Could be Trees of Mystery for a tram ride over the redwoods. Could be just bumming around town. Nice to have you here, Mom and Dad.
It was bittersweet when some people said that’s nice, but they’d rather have their favorite comics with a cup of coffee and the rest of their morning newspaper. I’d rather they have it that way too. Here’s why Dilbert and Marmaduke are gone, replaced by a newcomer, Zits, and Cathy, which moved over from the classified ad section: We’ve been buying our entertainment features from three syndicates, and each charges a delivery fee. By dropping just two comic strips, we were able to cut out one of the syndicates. In other words, it’s one more place we were able to save a few bucks as we strive for efficiencies and focus on our core product, local news and advertising five days a week. In a time of widespread belt-tightening, everyone I spoke with about the comics change seemed to understand that. |
