Race and Demographics

With the riots in Baltimore and Michelle Obama's commencement speech at Tuskegee University in the news this past week the subjects of race and demographics have been on my mind. I  was wondering  how the First Lady felt when Rush Limbaugh said she was "exhibiting upity-ism." That she was one of her husband's "cronies of color." I wonder if Fox News  ever called Laura Bush George's "baby mama"  like they called Mrs. Obama.

So here I am thinking about race and demographics as we drive through the New California, the one that reflects the changing demography of the U.S. The one where white children are barely 50% of the population under 20. I don't get to see this reflected in Phoenix but I certainly see it here.

We stopped at a food court in a mall in Silicon Valley town named Milpitas. And I noticed that Caucarians were very much  in the minority. Wikipedia says Milpitas is 20% white but at the mall it was more like 5%.  Even the food choices at the food court were mostly Asian- Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, etc. And both the shoppers and staff in the Saks and Neiman's in the mall were mostly Asian and Latino too.  hadn't had this experience before, have you? At least not stateside. But I guess this is the wave of the future. Maybe the next president after Hillary will be Asian.

This is not a great photo, I know, but the only one I took at the food court.

That was observation #1.  Observation #2 is the  greying of America. 12% of California  is over 65. That is one out of every 8 people. I first noticed this a few days aho when we went to a music  festival in Sacramento and almost everyone there was a senior. I didn't really see anyone much under fifty. Or even many folks under 65. Even many of the musicians were older. They played all kinds of music from Rock to jazz to zydeco ( but no rap) so I don't know how to interpret this.

The next day we went to Berkeley. It was a holiday so the university was not in session but there were vendors on the streets. Most of the vendors were seniors. Could these same vendors have made a career of selling stuff on the streets of Berkeley since the sixties????

What I want to know is if 12% of the U.S. is seniors, how come we can't have a few movies or tv shows that star or even include seniors? I tried to watch that new sixties tv show last night, Aquarius, but it was too violent for me. It may be set in the sixties but it is not aiming at an audience of survivors of the sixties.

The other thing I want to know is why my Thai lunch at the mall in Milpitas was so tasteless and terrible?  If 62% of the population of the town is Asian, why can't they have good Asian mall food like they do in Asia? My Spicy Thai  Soup was bland as dishwater.

A last observation is about marijuana. As we checked into our hotel last night the desk clerk reminded us that no smoking in the rooms includes medical marijuana. That's a new warning. At least to me. I will say that I have smelled it in more than one hotel corridor.

So in some ways this trip has been more than a visit to California. It has been a trip to the future.

The Wildlife of Cambria, California

Cambria, is my favorite destination on our California road trip. It's a little beach town about half way between LA and San Francisco and we always spend a few days here for scenic walks on a boardwalk along the beach.

But the real highlight for me is to watch the elephant seals who live about  miles up the coast. If you have read any of my past California road trip blogs you have probably seen a photo or two of the elephant seals.

This visit to Cambria I has offered many peak opportunities for wildlife viewing.during our two day visit we saw two fox on the boardwalk, (quite close up), quite s few sea otters playing, harbor seals lounging on rocks, two or three humpback whales (not that common this time of year),  and several dolphins. I didn't get any photos of any of them, you'll just have to take my word for itThis visit to Cambria I has offered many peak opportunities for wildlife viewing.during our two day visit we saw two fox on the boardwalk, (quite close up), quite s few sea otters playing, harbor seals lounging on rocks, two or three humpback whales (not that common this time of year),  and several dolphins. I didn't get any photos of any of them, you'll just have to take my word for it.

The main event though is looking at the elephant seals, rather preposterous looking seal the size of a small car.

They weigh from 2000-5000 pounds. We usually see a few hundred of them lying on the beach or waddling out into the water. But this time we are passing hogan Calfoenia a month earlier and instead of a few hundred, there must be 5000-7000 of these huge mammals on the beach.

Their size is so huge that getting int and out of the water is exhausting and they need to slide on the sand for a a few feet, maybe 20 or so. Then they lie completely still to rest from the effort that took to move their enormous bodies before they continue their journey. They also make rather rude noises. I can  watch them for hours without getting bored. And just did.