My Ear is Still Stopped Up. It was Worth It.

See the tufa.

Go to Mono Lake in the crisp beautiful fall and see the towers that rose beneath its akaline waters (by a natural process that my wife, the biologist, will be glad to explain, appointment only) and which were exposed when thirsty Southern California tapped the rivers that fed it and which -- if all agreements are kept -- will disappear once more beneath as the lake regains some (but not all) of the water stolen from it.

Not every environmental battle is a lost cause.

This is some of what you get if you go on through Yosemite to the eastern slope of the Sierras. It's even a little lonesome over there come this time of year. Apparently not everyone understands that it is worth the trip -- and a stopped-up ear from all the up and down when you have a cold.

P.S. Click on the photos and then click again for an even tighter look. I love digital. It's a "blind pig" technology.