Construction costs.

I just spent two days in the Sierra foothills, in a small town called San Andreas, for a conference on SMARA--- Surface Mining and Reclamation Act. Not nit grit details, just the general gist: If you did a big ol' hole, you are going to have to do something with said hole when you are finished digging. Days were beige. Interesting moments during the conference occurred here and there, but mostly it was long drawn out explanations of regulations where synopsis would have done, and pointless descriptions of how NOT to map. The towns, too, attributed to the visit's non-descript nature; they were slow and rundown and the 'for lease' and empty storefronts were overwhelmingly weighted. The economy has everyone bored and lethargic. Granted, I think I may have been in the meth lab and moonshine capital of the world, so that could also contribute to the... weird vibe of the area (hopeless).

Well. That was an uplifting post. Let me make it even better with some awesome destruction of the environment:

San Rafael Quarry

Red Hill Quarry by Dumbarton Bridge (kapChis on Flickr.com)

Malakoff diggings, ca.

yay team.