Correction & Additions

Adding photos: the California coast, vivid California poppies that brightened roadsides and hills all along our drive, and a bull elephant seal.
Also posting a photo sampling of our tour of William Randolph Hurst's "enchanted castle," an architectural marvel on a beautiful, isolated hilltop housing his fabulous collection of statuary, tapestries and art. (Interesting aside - his architect, Julia Morgan was, like her turn-of-the-century peer, Mary Colter who built the harmonious structures in the Grand Canyon, an incredibly talented woman/pioneer in traditionally male field.) The first is a view of the "castle" from the long, winding drive, the next a bit of detail on a facade of carved teak over marble, and the third an alcove of one of the intricately tiled pools. All was donated to the state of California following his death.

Corrections from Nebraska postings: The correct spelling of the Prairie Chicken's courtship and breeding ground is lek. The full name of the Canadian artist/author/environmentalist who wrote Thinking Like A Mountain is Robert Bateman. And while I'm at it, I want to recommend two other books - Michael Forsberg's On Ancient Wings - a great overview of the Sandhill Crane's life and migration from Siberia and Alaska to the southern US and Mexico beautifully illustrated by his outstanding photographs, and Dan O'Brien's Buffalo for the Broken Heart, a good first-person story and introduction to the ecology of the tall grass plains.