Postcards From Far Away (Chris Martin piano instrumental)
Viva La Vida
Lost!
Green Eyes
Sitting on the Dock of the Bay / Death Will Never Conquer (Acoustic, sung by Will Champion)
Billie Jean
Viva La Vida (remix interlude)
Politik
Lovers In Japan
Death And All His Friends
The Scientist
Life in Technicolor II
The Escapist (outro)
Coldplay at The Home Depot Center
This was our first visit to The Home Depot Center. We’d never seen a concert there nor had we seen a Los Angeles Galaxy MLS soccer game with the venerables David Beckham or Landon Donovan. When we first arrived, The Home Depot Center appeared like a very well thought out venue: wide concourses, well placed concession stands and plenty of room to mill about. Upon entering the stadium area, it was apparent that it was not a football or baseball stadium retrofitted as an afterthought into a soccer stadium. The field was wide but still close to the stands – which is not the case in a football stadium. The promoters smartly placed the stage on the field itself a good many feet from the back of the stadium. Two parallel ramps jutted from the stage extending into the audience bringing Coldplay’s music even closer to its fans. Little did we know that at the other end of the stadium, a smaller elevated stage atop the loge seats was set up for Coldplay to perform a few songs in the middle of the show.
There were two back up groups and with our first listen we thought that The Home Depot Center would not be an enjoyable acoustic event. I’m sure that they sound great on a CD but this was not to be their night. The sound was tinny and jumbled, made worse when some of the musicians tried to get the crowd more excited with shouts of “I can’t hear you” or ‘How you doin’ LA?”. Frankly, we couldn’t wait for the first acts to leave the stage. Again, it was not that we didn’t enjoy their music. It was how their music was transmitted that made for an uneasy experience.
But, then Coldplay appeared on stage at about 9:30pm (the concert began at 7:30pm). While the acoustics did not equal those of The Wiltern in Los Angeles or The Colloseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, it was still impressive. From far away, the low setting of on-stage lighting precluded us from making out the figures of Chris Martin (lead vocals, keyboards, guitar), Jonny Buckland (lead guitar), Guy Berryman (bass guitar), and Will Champion (drums, backing vocals, other instruments).
The concert ended up as a brilliant experience. Chris Martin has an easy way about him and is quite comfortable talking with the crowd. He is honest in his singing and musicianship. He will admit when a song is not performed as planned as he did at the end of the song “42″ when he fumbled the timing and the lyrics. During the mishap, he inserted some fun lines of banter and rhyme relating to Los Angeles but then quickly admitted why he was doing so.
Chris Martin seemed to get sronger with each song and the fun he was having infected the crowd, even those of us laying on the grass “12 miles away”, as he remarked.
My brother’s favorite Coldplay song of the evening was Lovers in Japan because of the melody and lyrics but also because he got to witness Chris Martin’s mastery of the keyboards. My favorite tune is 42 and although the end was miscued a bit, the soft beginning, melodramatic middle and rousing end were stunning and moving. The song of the night, however, and as expected, was Viva La Vida, which gave the crowd an instant rise after the more laid back Postcards From Far Away was performed. We also must mention the tribute to Michael Jackson. Coldplay sung their version of Billie Jean – an acoustic rendition. Although the tonalities between Jackson and Martin are different, Martin hit every high and low note with utter dexterity and perfection. The song was performed at the other end of the stadium, up on a makeshift stage directly in front of the grass area where we were sitting. It was one of the highlights of the evening.
All in all, the experience was wonderful. I was introduced to The Home Depot Center, its decent acoustics, the reality that it is not so far away from the San Fernando Valley, and the reality that I need to go see a Galaxy game soon… and more concerts. Most importantly, I was able to witness the musicianship of the second coming of U2 – that is, if Coldplay can continue to record albums with the same quality of lyric and melody as Viva la Vida, X&Y and Parachutes. Studio albums are packaged for the masses. Live concerts let the audience in on a groups’ true interpretation of a song – lyrics and instrumentation included. In this regard, Coldplay did not disappoint.
Lassen Park – Plug Domes, Boiling Mud Pots and Stinking Fumaroles
In June, we traveled to Lassen Volcanic Park in northern California to experience and hike one of the most under-appreciated National Park treasures in the United States. It is perfectly located on what we call the western National Park route that includes Crater Lake in Oregon, Redwood National and State Forest on the California coast and Yosemite National Park.
Lassen Peak at Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA
Lassen Volcanic National Park is commonly referred to as Lassen Peak which is home to an active volcano that had its last major eruption in 1915. It boasts one of the largest plug dome volcanoes in the world. A plug dome, or lava dome, is a circular mound of thick lava that can’t travel far from its vented extrusion. Due to constant extrusions, sticky lava domes are formed that basically cool in place and “plug” the cinder dome.
Lassen Peak is still, to this day, considered an active volcano and traces of such are apparent with close and open views of boiling mud pots (see image), stinking fumaroles (open holes from which sulphur dioxide pushes upward and outward), and bubbling hot springs heated from the crust of the Earth.
Lassen Park's Boiling Mud Pots
Lassen Peak erupted in May, 1914 and continued for 7 years until 1921 with additional major and minor volcanic activity in between. The major eruption took place in 1915 when Lassen Peak blew its lid sending a mushroom cloud of volcanic ash 7 miles into the air.
However, while our Lassen Peak experience was magnificent, it is not Lassen that we want to talk about. We want to talk about our lodging accommodations while visiting Lassen.
St. Bernard Lodge – One-of-a-Kind Bed and Breakfast Hotel Experience
St. Bernard Lodge is just minutes from the gates of Lassen Volcanic Park. Although its address is Mill Creek, CA, the center of Mill Creek is a few miles away. Chester is a few miles in the other direction so the most obvious address for purposes of visitor/traveler convenience is to say it is located in Lassen.
As we all know, a hotel experience can make or break a vacation.
Before we headed to Lassen, we googled the term “Lassen hotel” and found St. Bernard Lodge on the front page of the main listings. The site was attractive, warm and inviting. A lot of effort seemed to go into the site’s design which was reminiscent of what the area looked like 100 years ago: rustic, old west- and country-like. The website was definitely more inviting than the vanilla websites alongside it. You got the feeling that the Lodge was owned by one or two people, not by a hotel chain or corporate-backed investors. So, we called, talked to Sharon, the owner, and immediately felt at home. She was accommodating and friendly. We booked a room night.
All we expected was a decent night’s sleep and a decent breakfast since all we knew about St. Bernard Lodge was that it was a bed and breakfast and was located on a divided highway a few minutes from Lassen.
An Unassuming Lassen B&B? Boy, Were We Wrong
When we first pulled up to the St. Bernard Lodge, it appeared to be an unassuming inn. It didn’t seem to be too big at first. Actually, the low hanging roof above the front portion of the Lodge made it appear small. We didn’t drive up a long and winding driveway to be met by valets. There weren’t any large signs displaying the Lodge’s name, just a modest one over the front door.
When we entered, we were greeted by Sharon and Jim, the innkeepers, who were cheerful, warm and hospitable. Sharon showed us to our room, called Evergreen, a quaint rustic room that overlooked a 10 acre “backyard” that has a stream, trout pond, horse stall, a forest of majestic trees upon which eagles perch and a magnificent view of snow-capped mountains. Oh yes, I even spotted a new hot tub out there overlooking the stream and the mountains.
Jim, meanwhile, went to the kitchen and fixed us dinner.
After we washed up, Sharon took us on a tour of the Lodge. The second floor has 7 rooms total, each with descriptive country names like Sunrise, Wildflower, Autumn and Bluebird. Each room has a sink and towels. There are two common bathrooms, each spic-and-span clean, beautifully appointed and with white walls that glisten in the daylight sun.
On the first floor to the left of the center stairway is a bar that turns your head. They call it a tavern and it reminded us of the Wild Wild West era. The bar is made of thick Cherry wood and extends about 20 feet wide. A new Olhausen pool table adorns the middle of the bar while small cocktail tables for two cling to the walls. The bar itself is long and wide, the seats plush and padded. We could envision many strangers coming through here in days, months and years past and leaving as friends. It had that kind of feel.
To the right of the stairway is the restaurant. It is not a little dining room typical of most bed and breakfasts. It is a modestly large dining room with tables large and small and rustic wooden walls. Lace table cloths and candles adorn each table. Were we in a B&B or in a hotel?
All of a sudden, this unassuming bed and breakfast had become an impressive and inviting place to live in for a few days, not just a place to sleep in on our way to other adventures. We began to think of extending our stay in Lassen.
Lassen’s 5-star Restaurant
When we were served our dinners, our eyes widened and our mouths fell agape. We were definitely not in just any bed and breakfast. We were in an inn with 5 star hotel-like amenities which included one of the best dinners we’ve had in a long time and definitely the best one experienced at a B&B or hotel. We were first served with homemade bread and a fresh salad. Then came the clam chowder which Jim normally prepares each Friday. This clam chowder was reminiscent of the way East Coasters make their own. We’ve traveled all over the United States and no restaurant has ever prepared clam chowder like St. Bernard Lodge’s clam chowder. To top it off, the pork chops and steaks were high quality, thick, juicy and perfectly seasoned.
After dinner, we retired to the bar, enjoyed cocktails and many games of pool, darts and card games as we got to know Sharon, Jim and the other guests. Jim also doubled as our bartender.
Before we retired to bed, we asked Sharon and Jim if we could extend our stay by 3 more days. We would not only hike Lassen but we would enjoy Lake Almanor just down the road, as well.
We were really onto something here. Why hadn’t we heard about this place before? The Lassen experience was turning into the St. Bernard Lodge experience.
The St. Bernard Lodge is not just a bed and breakfast, hotel, inn, bar and 5 star restaurant. It resides on 10 acres of forest, streams and marshlands. We shared our time with couples, a mother and her daughter, and larger families and they all enjoyed watching and following the families of ducks in the stream, feeding trout in the trout pond and feeding the Lodge-owned horses in the horse corral. We don’t own horses but Sharon tells us they will board horses in their stalls. Apparently, Lassen has a lot of trails for horseback riding.
It’s rare that we write about a hotel or B&B experience. For the most part, they are enjoyable experiences. It’s rare, though, when the hotel or B&B experience is better than the actual attraction. These two B&B owners are gems. Sharon and Jim truly care about people, work their tails off, maintain extra comfortable beds, prepare sumptuous meals (order the waffles for breakfast), always have a smile for you and go out of their way to accommodate your needs.
I’m sure there are other areas of Lassen that we didn’t hike. And even if we’d hiked all of the trails, we’d go back anyway if only just to experience St. Bernard Lodge another time.
