One of my favorite things to do in the spring is to drive down interstate 5 and take the exit at Patterson. Going east on J17 is a little tricky because you have to negotiate a left, right turn to get where you want to go. But it’s worth it because you pass through an avenue of beautiful palm trees the whole way. As the highway heads away from Patterson, the street has the very appropriate name of Las Palmas. For some reason, after a while, the arcade of palms makes a jag toward the left and the palms fade into the distance after that.
I’ve always been tempted to make that curve to the left and enjoy the palms a bit more but continuing straight gets you to Turlock and that’s certainly a great place to be every year right around Palm Sunday, (more or less depending on how the liturgical calendar shakes out that year).
Go get your tent or RV set up and enjoy some music:
Palms of victory. Crowns of glory
Palms of victory I shall wear
I have always been a huge fan of palm trees. The state tree of my home state of South Carolina happens to be the cabbage palm, known to most as the palmetto. Thus “The Palmetto State”, South Carolina’s nickname. Palmettos don’t grow everywhere in the state, only where it’s warm enough like the beaches and the southern subtropical part of the state. But I’ve seen palmetto trees near where I grew up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. People tend them with care and they can survive the cold snaps if they’re covered properly when the cold winds blow.
What a joy it is to live in a climate where palm trees can grow! You can camp outside with your friends, play music and enjoy a taco dinner while serenaded by A.J.Lee and her band. They were so good! Solid back up from Mom, a fiddle player that’s just as good on the banjo and a guy I have to confess I had my doubts about because he was wearing a Lynnard Skynard tee shirt but who played some good bass and did some fine singing.
My favorite tree on our property in Sonoma County is a palm tree my wife bought for me as a birthday present. She had it planted where I can see it every day when I drive home. She knows that after too many cold lonely years in various places in the northeast, I have a need for warmth. I once told her that if we ever moved anywhere else, it would have to be a place where you could grow a palm tree.
Thank goodness for warm sunny places where we can live, work and play music together. And thank goodness for palm trees. All we need now is some rain for our beautiful palms. I hope you made it to Turlock for the campout. And if you didn’t, or if I missed you, I hope to see you at Grass Valley. They don’t have palms there but it’s still OK.
