California's Natural Beauties

CEBU, Philippines - New Jersey has malls. New York has skyscrapers. California has trees.

Great big giant trees like the sequoia and redwood. We went on a tree-viewing expedition back a few months ago, first with friends of mine in Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, located in Guerneville, California. As we walked on the trail among the giant trees, my friend said the setting reminded her of Twilight (we pictured Edward scaling the trees) while my other friend said it feels like The Chronicles of Narnia. Meanwhile, the massive trees made me think of The Lord of the Rings.

In Armstrong Redwoods, the oldest tree in the grove is the Colonel Armstrong tree which is 1,400 years old. We humans are lucky if we reach a hundred. Imagine what Colonel Armstrong has seen in the last 1,400 years.

Meanwhile, in Sequoia National Park, we met General Sherman, the largest living specimen on the planet. Though it is not the tallest tree at 275 feet, it is the most massive, with its trunk measuring 36 feet in diameter.

According to the refrigerator magnet I bought (and refrigerator magnets do not lie), sequoia trees can grow taller than space shuttles, and as tall as the Statue of Liberty. Humans are to the sequoia as ants are to humans.

After Sequoia National Park, my husband and I proceeded to Yosemite National Park. I stood at the bottom of Lower Yosemite Falls and felt like a speck in the universe. Meanwhile, the view from Glacier Point was astounding: great wide valley bellow, incredible rock formations across the way including Half Dome, and clear blue sky overhead. In terms of beauty, Nature can kick a Victoria's Secret model's butt.

While driving in Yosemite, we saw a pair of gray foxes crossing the narrow road. One "posed" as I took its picture from the safety of the car. The other disappeared into the trees.

Incidentally, I was reading Jack London's Call of the Wild, where the protagonist, a dog named Buck, revels in being out in the wild: hunting salmon and moose for food, digging a hole in the ground to protect himself from the cold night air, drinking from the stream and running with his wild brother the wolf. The book inspired me to be one with nature and to embrace the outdoors.

But outdoors the temperature was -1 degree Celsius. The Filipino in me protested against the cold. At least Buck had thick fur. I shivered and quickly walked back to the car. I got inside and cranked up the heat.  (FREEMAN)