Richard Hayden and Jill Sarick Bow To Cafrodite in Ventura
Richard Hayden, APLD Greater Los Angeles District President, and Jill Sarick, G3 Qualified Trainer from the City of Ventura, Environmental Services Division, put on their best traveling face. We made our early-morning rendez-vous at Cafrodite, where the Berkeley-bound adventurers got their caffeine fix from Michelle, the java goddess herself, before hitting the 101 North. After days of precipitation, the crystal clear skies were a welcome change. The Coreopsis gigantea (Giant coreposis) and Dudleya (Could those be Dudleya verityi?) greeted us all along the way, brightening the green and brown hillsides. Native dudleya in natural habitat are threatened by air pollution, and seeing them perched on the stone walls cut for freeways and knowing the incredible amount of air pollution given off by automobiles leaves me in no doubt that they will lose their battle.
G3 Dreams The Impossible Dream
The first rest stop found us tilting at windmills, an apt metaphor for our journey to a workshop on sustainable landscaping. We wound our way northward through cultivated land and oak savannah; During the swaths of oaks and bunchgrass meadows, Jill spent most of the time exclaiming “This is so gorgeous! Why isn’t there more of this?”
Lunchtime brought us to the famous Gilroy Bowl and Coffee Shop. The intrepid travelers sought refuge in this “local” diner offering Hawaiian, Japanese, and breakfast fare.
Bowling For Scholars
Finally, the group arrived at our destination in Berkeley at the Doubletree by Hilton Berkeley Marina and met up with G3 Associate and APLD maven, Maureen Decombe.
Now the preparation for the next day’s training could begin in earnest!
