Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley

I don't know if I should wait a while and let the impressions from our trip to California age like the wine the state is famous for, or put them down in a hurry before I forget them. Maybe I better start now. I may forget where I left the bottle aging.

If you look at a topographical map of California, there's a huge valley, surrounded on all sides by mountains, running from Redding in the North to Bakersfield in the South. The upper portion of this is the Sacramento Valley and the lower portion is the San Joaquin Valley. Fresno is smack in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley and the geographical center of California itself.

Terrain: Flat, flat and flat. There are mountains in view to the East and West (on clear days), but I doubt that there's a variance of 10 feet of elevation in the Clovis/Fresno city limits.

Vegetation: all dead or green, green, green. Jason pointed out that if it's not watered, it doesn't grow. It does not rain from late April to November. At all. But if you do water, or irrigate, you can evidently grow anything. From the air I saw hundreds and hundreds of acres of orchards and vineyards. Some estimate that 10% of the United State's agricultural production comes from this area.

Inside the Fresno/Clovis city limits: The northern section of town is modern, pristine, and very chic. I'm told the southern section of the city is not so much so. We didn't go south very much. In fact, that seems to be the case for many who live on the northern side - everything they need is near them so there is never a need to go to the southern parts of town. We did go to Old Town Clovis one evening for the Farmer's Market and Track Meet. Yes, smack in the middle of funnel-cake vendors and vegetable vendors they were holding a pole vault meet. Now that's something you don't see in Texas. Even in Austin. Don't know who won the vault but Jason came away with some of the sweetest fresh corn I have ever tasted.

New house: We loved Julie and Jason's new house. Lovely area, beautiful yard, spacious house, cool (literally) patio and pool. I kept telling Barbara we needed one of those - patio with a cool breeze, that is. And they did pick out new drapery material.

Good Eating: In addition to the excellent grilled chicken, sweet corn, wonderful fresh fruit and other good things to eat at the Lockes, we covered all the culinary bases from steak, pizza, Mexican and Oriental to the ever-popular In-n-Out burger. And topped it off a couple of evenings at Yodigitys.

Sightseeing: In addition to the natural wonders of Fresno itself, we took a trip to Yosemite. Julie could get a job there as a guide. More about that later.

College Church: Wow. What a great congregation. Friendly, caring people, a great praise team, and how about that new preacher?

All in all, a great place to visit. And a nice place to live.