CULTURE IN WEED, CA

Is it a shroom?  

Actually, it looks more like a morel.

And now it stands (near Mark Twain) on a high shelf in...

BoHenry's

FOUND IN DUNSMUIR

A miniature oil-on-board, 4.5 x 3.5.

This little gem was painted about forty years ago by an artist named Kela Wyss.

And now it's mine.

ON TO WINE COUNTRY

From the wintry north, through Napa Valley, past Calistoga, and into Healdsburg, home to Ridge Vineyards on Lytton Springs Road...

A tasting to include Monte Bello, their famed "collectible."

SHASTA NOCTURNE

Hidden away by Harley, of Harley's antiques in Dunsmuir, a lovely nocturne that captures the essence of aloneness.

MOUNT SHASTA: AS SEEN FROM DUNSMUIR

In Dunsmuir, Mount Shasta is just the tip of the iceberg.

DUNSMUIR: TRAVELERS HOTEL

Should be a painting by Hopper.

Or maybe a movie.

DUNSMUIR: ANOTHER LAST PICTURE SHOW

Everything else is closing or closed.  The economy is bad.  Some call it progress.

WHIZZIN' SOUTH

Shasta is not the only distinctive mountain in the neighborhood.

MOUNT SHASTA: THE WEED PERSPECTIVE

Although farther from the mountain than Mount Shasta City, Weed offers astonishing views of the Lemurian abode.

WELCOME TO WEED

Ten miles north of Mount Shasta City, just off I-5, lies the laid back town of Weed.

Liberty and tax go hand-in-hand only in Weed.

This is where I feel very welcomed.

MOUNT SHASTA: UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

Mount Shasta is an ancient volcano 14,000 feet high, once home (maybe still is) to an ancient civilization called the Lemurians.

UFOs are said to drop in for a magnetic energy fix, which makes this mountain a sort of service station for extraterrestrials.

Assorted New Agers, Buddhists, and shamans hang their shingles to milk the pilgrims, some of whom never leave.

Shasta is supposed to provide spiritual rebirth, akin to that wooden sign in a North End Boise shop-front:  Begin anywhere.

Kind of like the 1960s hippie adage:  Today is the first day of the rest of your life.  

(Reputedly coined by the founder of Synanon, a drug rehabilitation program.)

A purge of the past, followed by spiritual rebirth.  



Tranquility.  

Serenity.

Sweet.

ROLLING TO SHASTA

Everett Memorial Highway curves up and down and up again around the base of Mount Shasta for about twelve miles, leading to the nearest point one can get to the mountain on normal wheels.

This is where Bigfoot runs amuck.

AWAKENING TO MOUNT SHASTA

Without coffee, and after driving nine hours straight the day before (I-5 is very straight, indeed), everything (including Mount Shasta) looks black and white.

MOUNT SHASTA RESORT

The finest place to stay near Mount Shasta is the Mount Shasta Resort.

With AAA discount:   $99.

No one else around.  Nobody but me and the mountain.

MOUNT SHASTA: NIGHTFALL

At night, Mount Shasta becomes a surreal painting.

SUN-SETTING ON MOUNT SHASTA

Shasta means "teacher" in Sanskrit.

The mountain that takes this name is known by many as heaven on earth.

I arrived on a spectacular day, just after a fresh snowfall.

ARRIVAL IN MOUNT SHASTA

Mount Shasta is a city as well as the name of the mystical mountain that towers over it.

Many people go to India to see the Himalayas and walk the razor's edge.

When they get there, the natives tell them they should have gone to Mount Shasta.

MOUNT SHASTA: FURTHER GLANCES

It is a nine hour-drive from Santa Barbara to Mount Shasta, but worth the haul once this magical mountain comes into view.

MOUNT SHASTA: FIRST GLANCE

Not quite upon the town of Dunsmuir, home to "the world's best water," Mount Shasta makes its first (fleeting) appearance from the road.

THE ROAD TO SHASTA

Once you hit I-5, it is straight as a rod, with only clouds (if you're lucky), you keep you deviated.

A MAGICAL JOURNEY TO MYSTICAL MOUNT SHASTA

Mid-morning, on the first Wednesday after Easter, this road trip begins, as a waning moon remains high in the sky, unwilling to set.