Finne's Follies: Hanford Fun... and Jerry

Forestiere Gardens entrance

On our way south to Acton, we stopped in Hanford, CA, a smallish town situated about thirty miles or so south of Fresno. The Hanford area is where Mark's grandson, Arick, is serving his final weeks in the U.S. Navy. It is also the home of his daughter, Melanie's, inlaws, Phil and Judy Bohnsack, who are dear friends of ours.

The only practical RV "park" in the close vicinity is the Kings County Fairgrounds, where we stayed last year as well. Accommodations are first-come-first-served, and we are happy to report that we found a very nice grassy spot to park ourselves for the week.

The day after we arrived, Phil and Judy took us to lunch and then into downtown Hanford for a visit to the Hanford Carnegie Museum, that unfortunately turned out to be closed on Tuesday, along with just about everything else of interest in Hanford. Nevertheless, we had a very nice visit and made plans to get together again before we left town.

Caitlyn & Arick

Practicing our skills

The next day we met up with Arick and his lovely girlfriend, Caitlyn (I hope I spelled it right), and went to the shooting range. Mark and I haven't been shooting since we lived in Chaska -- it's probably been four or five years. Good to know I can still hit the target. We learned something about bullets that day: the empty shells are burning hot as they are ejected from the pistol. For the first time ever, we were both victims of a stray shell hitting us on the collar bone and leaving a painful blister. This is one of the very good reasons that protective eye gear is required at ranges. Turtle-neck sweaters are also a good idea.

Afterward we headed over to a delicious Mexican restaurant at the mall and spent the evening getting to know Caitlyn and hearing about Arick's post-navy plans. Caitlyn is a NICU nurse at the hospital in Visalia near where they live. Because of her work schedule, we weren't able to spend any more time with her, but it was fascinating hearing her talk about her work with critically ill babies. It takes a very special person to do that kind of nursing...any kind of nursing, for that matter.

Caitlyn, Arick, Mark & me at Que Pasa Cafe

On Saturday, Phil and Judy invited Arick and us to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, with a visit to the Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno afterwards. The Forestiere Gardens is like taking a walk through an old Roman town.

This is the summary from the website's welcome page, www.undergroundgardens.com:

"In the early 1900s, Sicilian immigrant, citrus grower and visionary Baldassare Forestiere began turning what was useless farmland into a vast network of rooms, tunnels and courtyards as a subterranean escape from the sweltering Central Valley summer heat.
Using only shovels, picks and other hand tools, Baldassare was inspired to excavate for forty years, going as deep as 25 feet underground and spanning over 10 acres. He grew fruit trees and grapevines underground - many of which are still thriving today!
Today, guests from around the world tour through his grottoes, passageways and underground homes. Although he never officially opened the Mediterranean resort of his dreams, we think Baldassare would be thrilled by all of the guests marveling at his life's work today and finding inspiration underground."

Judy & Phil, and our delightful tour guide

This is one of the most interesting tours I've ever been on. I would love to have been able to explore it on my own, but that wasn't an option.
Still, it was an amazing feat for one man to accomplish, practically single-handed, and well worth visiting if you're ever in Fresno.

Shortly after we checked into our spot at Kings County Fairgrounds, the park attendant informed us, with apologies, that a dirt track race would be taking place the following weekend at the Kings Speedway, which is part of the fairgrounds. And that Saturday, our last evening in Hanford, the time had arrived for the event. About 6:30 we started hearing the engines revving, and I decided to take a walk over to the Speedway, which was all of a couple hundred yards away, and check out the activity. I realized right away I had basically two choices: lemons or lemonade. I could sit in my living room and complain about all the noise, or...

Kings Speedway dirt racing

Back to the coach I went for my lawn chair, which I parked next to the chain link fence giving me a good view of Turn #2. It took about two minutes for the racing authorities to drive over in their truck and inform me I couldn't sit there. "Not safe." Okay, thanks, no problem. I moved my chair back a bit and set it up safely behind a tree. Then I walked back to the fence some distance closer to the bleachers and stood next to a huge steel light post. This should be safe, I thought. Not two minutes went by, and along comes another racing authority. "You can't stand here. Not safe. Watch from behind the tree or in the grandstands."

"How much to get in?" I asked. He thinks for a second and then says, "Come on-- meet me at the gate, I'll stamp you in."

My (probably) annoying persistence saved us $24 in admissions and we had a blast watching the dirt racing until about ten thirty when it finally finished up. Our favorite event was the "Dash" cars. We witnessed a few crack-ups, but nobody got hurt.

Sweetie keeping vigilance

We picked up a tiny grey-haired hitchhiker in Yosemite. I'll call him "Jerry." Jerry boarded without permission, so I suppose that makes him a stowaway as well. It was an unfortunate decision on his part, as it will likely lead to his untimely demise. But so far he's managed to evade capture. Sweetie's no help. Apparently she's also retired. Being the well-fed city cat, she doesn't seem more than mildly interested in Jerry. And Jerry is so far not in the least enticed by our almond butter offerings, but seems perfectly content to live primarily in the "tunnels" of our ventilation system, dining on who knows what... perhaps Sweetie's food and water at night when no one is looking (no proof as yet).

We have ten vents like this

We'll be tackling this unexpected problem on two fronts. Tomorrow Mark will remove all the vent covers and attempt to vacuum out as much of the dirt, crud, and nesting material that he can with an industrial strength shop vac we have borrowed from my son. If we can vacuum up Jerry and deposit him alive in the great outdoors, that would be my preference. In the meantime, if Jerry continues to evade the death traps that have been set for him, we will be purchasing some live traps and some mouse-resistant mesh material that we will install under the vent covers to prevent any future intrusions from mouse-sized critters.

Updates to follow.

More pictures from Forestiere Underground Gardens...