And Then There Were Two

We just spent a few lovely days in Redwood National/State Parks. Why the confusion in title? The Redwoods started as a few scattered plots of land that eventually became different state parks, and finally some of the surrounding areas were filled in with national park. This made it a very different experience from the other parks we've visited, but we enjoyed it all the same.

We arrived late, so we set up the tent in the dark. After all the practice we've had, this was not hard. We spent the next day driving around from various view points, nature trails, and ocean vistas. It was very foggy, so most of what we saw of the ocean was from on the beach itself. Oh how we love the ocean!

The redwood trees are fairly similar to sequoias, so we had fun walking through the groves of giants, and comparing. In our very scientific opinions, we like the tops of redwoods, and the trunks of sequoias. No matter which tall trees you are surrounded by, it is very peaceful to walk through these old growth forests, watching rays of sunlight filter through, hitting ferns and moss and the occasional flower. Lovely.

The most awesome part of the Redwoods was a walk through Fern Canyon. Our guide book said Fern Canyon was worth seeing, but didn't explain much, so we were a little dubious on the drive there. It was the end of the day, and Fern Canyon was at the end of 8 miles of very dusty dirt road. And as we discovered, you also had to ford two streams by car. Oregon Trail anyone? We finally made it, and it was amazing! You know me - I love ferns, ivy, green walls, water, etc, so this was paradise. Fern Canyon was exactly like it sounds; the path literally goes up a creek, through a valley with vertical walls, every inch of wall covered in ferns. The path is marked by the occasional boardwalk to help visitors cross the deepest parts of the creek. It was quiet and still, interrupted only by the trickling of the brook and the drips from tiny waterfalls along the walls. I'm not making this up, it was wonderful!

We spent a couple of lovely hours reading and enjoying Dutch Bros Almond Joys, watching waves crash at the beach, and a lighthouse fade in and out of the fog. Sigh.

(If it wasn't so foggy, this would be a beautiful view of the ocean!)

Today we hit the road early, to arrive in Redding, California, home of Lake Shasta, by noonish. Lauren begins work with Sonshine Ministries tonight, which means that we have to leave her here. It will be weird to not have Lauren with us, but she's super excited about working on a house boat for the rest of the summer. I know, life is rough. We did laundry, and Em and I will soon hit the road, to be in Crater Lake, Oregon, by this evening.

I Was In San Francisco... In February...

Apparently I was so excited to write about Monterey that I totally skipped the fact that before that, we were in Yosemite. It was quite the experience, and definitely deserves its fair share of blog, so it will have to share the spotlight with San Francisco.

Yosemite was busy. And beautiful, but it took us a while to get over the busy-factor, before we could appreciate what we were seeing. To get a campsite in Yosemite during the summer months, you can call for reservations up to 4 months in advance. And apparently you need to call at 7:01 AM on that day, 4 months in advance, because by 7:03, they're all booked. When I tried to make reservations months ago, I made the mistake of calling at 7:05, so we were out of luck. Em found a campground in the Sierra National Forest that was a mile outside of the south entrance of Yosemite, which turned out to be really perfect. There was a bit of a mix up when we tried to check-in, when the camp host told us that someone had already checked in for us, and had already set up the tent. Great, wonderful, we'll just go catch up with the rest of our party! Hmm. After several minutes of confusion, and a few switches of campsites, everything was cleared up, and we found our site at last. We were right next to a burbling creek which ended up serving a dual purpose: sleep machine and free shower!

Probably the biggest bonus to this campground was the lack of bear boxes. It was fine to store stuff in the car, instead of hauling everything with even a slight scent into a metal box the instant you are done using it. Everything means toiletries, lotions, chapstick, food, water jugs, that hand sanitizer from the bottom of your purse, etc. We had to use bear boxes in Sequoia, and as you can imagine, this got old very quickly. The campgrounds in Yosemite had bear boxes, so I think we actually lucked out with our location.

Like all national parks apparently, Yosemite was in the middle of some road construction, so there were some delays. On our first day, we did the Yosemite Valley area. We were all a little thrown off by the sheer volume of people and cars and attempting to use the free shuttle. We also had some time constrictions, because I had to be near cell phone coverage by 4:00 for a job interview (no news yet). The best place for this turned out to be the old cemetery in Yosemite Valley, because it had service, shade, silence, and a seat! That wins as the weirdest job interview I've ever had. All that to say, it was a strange day. But, we saw Yosemite Falls which were beautiful, and walked through the Ansel Adams photo gallery. Em fell in love with a beautiful mobile made out of gorgeous hand-dyed silk leaves. Anything with the words "hand-dyed silk" is clearly beyond our budget, but it was great inspiration, and I foresee some good projects in our future.

On the next couple of days, we drove into areas of the park that are further from Tourist Central (aka The Valley), so we weren't battling throngs of people, which made it all instantly more pleasant. Yosemite was gorgeous, with all the beautiful rock formations. I think we took about 80 pictures of Half Dome from about as many view points. We cooled our feet in Lake Tenaya (while reading of course!), and did a couple short hikes. We saw some pocket gophers sunning on rocks, and learned a lot about John Muir. It was great!

For the last few days, we have been madly hopping on and off buses, exploring San Francisco. Lauren was the only one who'd been to San Francisco before (hence the blog title, a quote from Lor that I think the Winters will appreciate), so she helped us figure out where we wanted to be and all that. We made the usual observations of the city: it is full of hills, the houses are all unique and full of character, and there are lots of good food choices here. Really though, the houses are adorable! They all run into each other and no one has yards or parking, but they're all different and fun. We tried a variety of transportation systems; public buses, cable cars, and hop on/off tour buses. With lots of walking in between them all! And believe it or not (really, I know this may come as a shock), we made lots of movie quotes. Seriously, do you know how many movies have been set here? Just ask, we made a list.

The Golden Gate Bridge was pretty awesome, and just to prove it we walked across both ways. Slight mix up with the tour bus, but we figured it out. It has been pretty cold and incredibly foggy since we got here. Apparently San Francisco is always foggy in the summer, and clear in the winter. Another thing we didn't know - you have to buy tickets to Alcatraz about 2 weeks in advance, so we didn't experience that part of San Francisco. But we did experience the food. Clearly we had clam chowder and fish and chips, and lots of sour dough bread, and Chinese food in Chinatown. And chocolate - we may have made one or two trips through Ghiradelli Square for the free samples. And hot cocoa. We also had to try the ice cream at Norman's, reported to be the best in town.

It's been an enjoyable couple of days here, and I think we will be sorry to move on. Tents are great, and we love camping (no sarcasm here), but its been really nice to have beds and showers and Internet and TV all at our finger tips these last few nights. As we look ahead though, this trip is coming quickly to a finish. Tomorrow we move on to Redwood National Park, and then we drop Lauren off to work on Lake Shasta for a few weeks. Em and I will continue to Crater Lake and the Oregon coast, a quick night on the Olympic Peninsula, and then we'll be home. Wow. This has been such an amazing trip, its hard to think that its almost over. But, there are still a few more adventures to come!

Let's Go Back To Monterey!

What to say about Monterey? It was wonderful. Such a delight because of the city itself, and because of the wonderful hotel we stayed in!

Hitting California city traffic on our way in to town was a bit of a shock. We crawled along at about 3 miles an hour for far too long. But once we hit downtown Monterey, we were in love! We found the aquarium, our whole reason for visiting Monterey, and went from there. We drove along the water, passing quaint little houses with beautiful yards on one side, and beaches full of lounging seals on the other side. What fun! It was surprisingly foggy, and a little on the cold side, but it felt familiar and comforting.

Then we checked into Gosby House Inn - an adorable, historic building, built in 1887 (think Mary Daheim novels). The chintz was a little much to take at first, but we quickly adjusted to the cuteness level. I think there were probably 10 rooms in the whole inn, and each was named after a classic author. After almost 4 weeks of sleeping bags and only occasional showers, we felt absolutely spoiled in a hotel room. I guess all the perks were pretty nice too - turn-down service, chocolates on the pillows, aquarium tickets available at the front desk, breakfast buffet in the morning, free sodas in the fridge... the list goes on. If you're ever in Monterey, definitely stay there. The Festival of Lanterns is coming up soon, so the trees down the median of the street out front, Lighthouse Avenue (I know, it's really just too quaint), were all lit up and full of Chinese lanterns. We went to a movie at the theater down the street, and had a late dinner. It was so nice to walk home along a street full of twinkling lights.

This is our cute little hotel - we stayed in the room on the second floor with the open curtains.

Then today we did the aquarium, and I do mean all day today. What a spectacular place! Most of the animals and fish were similar to those in the Seattle Aquarium, but there were a lot more interactive exhibits at the Monterey Bay aquarium. And not surprisingly, a huge focus on reducing our carbon footprint, saving the earth, recycling, etc. At one of the interactive booths, we all got to make pledges about how we are going to make the earth greener. Then the booth took a picture of you, put it into a video, and emailed it to your address. It's cute - I now have a little cartoon video of me using a reusable grocery bag. Just what I've always wanted! I'll show it to you all when I get home. It was fun to see the pink flamingos, the penguins, and the beautiful sea horses and sea dragons. In another interactive booth, we got to send e-postcards to Governor Schwarzenegger encouraging him to save the endangered seahorses. Below are some of the beautiful jelly fish and a weedy sea dragon featured in the exhibits.

We took a little break in the middle of exploring the aquarium to walk down Cannery Row and grab lunch at an Indian restaurant. I was so excited for Indian food, but I soon realized that what I really wanted was Taste of India, and this place was definitely not that. Oh, how disappointing this lunch was. I miss you dearly Taste of India!

Finally we hit the road and sat in more California traffic, and stopped for dinner at In'N'Out. Haven't been there since high school, and it was just as good and cheap as I remember. And now we are sitting in our hotel room in San Francisco, enjoying all sorts of luxuries like a TV and couch. What a happy life!

Marge: Travel Planner Extraordinaire

As we left the Grand Canyon, and made our way to Sequoia (a lovely 12 hour drive), our only regret was that we didn't get to do Zion National Park. Marge must have known, because the route she chose for our journey led us straight through Zion! We'd been on the road for a few hours by the time we arrived at Zion, and Emily woke Lauren and I up with "Erin, did you set Marge to go to the right park?" What a happy surprise! Zion was neat, and definitely worth returning to at some point in life. The rest of that 12 hour drive was long. We watched the crack in our windshield grow longer. We saw some Joshua trees, which look like stange, half-dead cacti. We sweltered and were incredibly grateful for our AC when we drove through the Mojave desert, a pleasant 116 degrees. Yuck. And most informatively, we drove the Las Vegas strip. While it was neat to see these huge casinos from some of our favorite movies, I have no desire to return.

Finally, we reached Sequoia National Park. We were a little miffed at first, because as far as we could see was scrub brush, dessert, and no trees taller a house. Assuming the park is named after the giant tree, this didn't make any sense. As we continued driving up into the hills and eventually mountains, the name began to make sense. The park newspaper warned us to be cautious of fleas, ticks, rattlesnakes, hypothermia, drowning, dehydration, falling trees, Hunta Virus, and West Nile. Do we really want to camp here? But it was worth it, and we didn't experience any of the above. We loved seeing the giant trees, which are really almost unbelievably large. One tree weighed more than 2 jumbo jets put together, another was longer than a football field. One took up more than 3 lanes of traffic at its base. Giants. So amazing. We walked through another tree that had fallen over 100 years ago, but because of the tanin in the wood, it hasn't decayed, and is still big enough and stable enough to walk through. Lengthwise.

We did a historical tour of Crystal Cave, which means that instead of high-powered Maglites, we used lanterns with candles to experience the cave. I have done underground city tours before, but this was a full-on cave, complete with stalactites and stalagmites, and all the other crazy formations. Wow! The lanterns we used are the same design as the ones that helped the cave's first explorers in 1918. It was so cool! The gate that closes that cave at night was put up in 1939, and is now a historical landmark. Yes, it is shaped as a spider's web, complete with a black widow in the middle. Apparently this design was chosen to let bats in and out when it was closed, without allowing anything else to pass through.

King's Canyon was very similar, with lots of big trees, and a raging river. It was hot and muggy out, so we decided to read by a river for a few minutes. While we were sitting, the clouds rolled in and it began to thunder and rain. It was just barely raining, so we put the books away and went on a walk. I have decided that I really like "nature trails" because the name usually implies that it is fairly flat, and passes by some pretty unique and beautiful scenery. Walking in the rain was food for our souls. Plus, this nature trail went around a beautiful green meadow, surrounded by trees and mountains and river.

It has been a peaceful time here in Sequoia and Kings, surrounded by big trees and calm forests. And the odd bear or two.

"Close Your Mouth Michael, We Are Not A Codfish"

Jaw dropping is the best word to describe the amazing parks that we have just been through. Arches was stunning and gave Glacier a run for its money as our favorite spot so far. We arrived at the park at sunset, the most glorious time of day there. The sun lights the tall, red rocks on fire and they glow orange and deep red. The formations are incredible - fins, valleys, hoodoos and cliffs, are all different from each other. (I will go ahead and name-drop here - it reminded me of Cappadocia, Turkey.) The campground was incredible. I don't think you could get a better view or be more a part of the park if you paid hundreds of dollars. We were literally camping in and among the rock formations. The heat was intense for us Seattlites - no shade to be found.

When it cooled off that evening (to about 80 degrees...) we took a long hike/walk to Sand Dune Arch and it was incredible! Because we left around dinner time, we were almost the only ones out. We walked between large fins of red rock, reminiscent at this point of Indiana Jones in Petra, and out into a field, to another set of rocks in the distance. After weaving through the rocks, wading through cool, red sand, we arrived at an archway. It was so awesome and wonderfully cool because the sun never reaches deep between these fins. Our own private arch!

We left Arches early to hit the road for Bryce Canyon National Park, which turned out to be a good decision. It was only a four hour drive, but Bryce campgrounds don't take reservations, so we wanted to make sure to get a spot. Now let me remind you we are on a roadtrip - and what makes every roadtrip complete? That's right, a flat tire. We more than met the requirements, with holes all over the tire. God was with us all the way because as soon as we heard the sound, there was a pull-out on the side, and almost before we had even assessed the damage, another car pulled up to offer help. Our good samaritans were a Dutch couple on vacation here. We got the tire changed pretty quickly and were back on the road. Luckily, there was a tire shop 20 miles ahead, on the route to Bryce. To think, we could have been in the middle of nowhere! So we got new tires (not wanting to go through this experience again!) and hit the road.

Even with the delay, we were still in time to get a campsite and do some exploring before dark. Guided walks with rangers are so informative! We got up early the next morning to watch the sunrise over Bryce Canyon, which is not a canyon in the true sense of the word. It's a sort of cross between Arches and Grand Canyon, because it is full of hoodoos (tall, naturally carved stone towers) and gorgeous red-layered rock. We walked down into the canyon to see a hoodoo that looked remarkably like Queen Victoria sitting on a throne. The hike back up was killer!

From Bryce to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon was only a three hour drive, and as we pulled up, we were wondering if we hadn't gone the wrong way and arrived at the wrong park. We almost doubted Marge! (Have you all met Marge? Marge is our faithful friend and GPS system and she has guided us thoughtfully on this trip.) Here we had to pick up our jaws again because instead of a campground that looked like Arches or Bryce, we were in the middle of lush green grass, evergreens, and lupines. Apparently the North Rim is about a thousand feet higher in elevation, so the vegetation is much more alpine than we had expected. What a wondeful suprise to camp in a cool, shady space surrounded by aspen trees and fields of wonderfully scented lupines! The Grand Canyon was pretty neat too. =) So amazing to see such a huge cavern created by such strong natural forces! Tomorrow we will take a mule ride to see more of the rim, and do a hike down into the canyon. (Maybe just a very short one...)

The Magic School Bus Visits Yellowstone

Did you know that the McDonalds in Utah have Wi-fi? They do, which is a great and joyful suprise for us on this holiday Sunday, when everything else is closed. Happy Fourth! Unfortunately, they do not have electrical outlets, and as this computer's battery is running short, this will be a short entry, for a park that deserves a lot more.

Yellowstone was awesome! We spent the first three days at Madison campground, on the western half of the park. This half of the park was mostly devoted to geysers, hot springs, and mud volcanos. We saw lots of all of the above, which were mostly smelly, weird, and beautiful! Who knew that bacteria could grow into so many different colors and shapes, or that sulfur could smell so many different kinds of bad? In all honesty, they were all really cool and strange and wonderful. Old Faithful was exciting, couldn't imagine it in the height of tourist season, because it was jam packed as it was. We spent about 5 hours waiting for another geyser, the Great Fountain, to errupt. We were given a window of time in which the erruption was likely to occur. It was worth the wait, mostly because we were sitting on spacious benches in the sun, in a beautiful park, surrounded by mountains and a far-off smaller geyser that went off every half hour or so. We saw that one a grand total of 8 times. The Great Foutain finally did go off, and it lived up to it's reputation as better than Old Faithful. We were very close to it, and had to crane our necks to see the top of the water jets.

We spent a second three days in the park at a campground in Canyon Village, on the other half of the park. This half seemed more devoted to wildlife, which was plentiful everywhere! We got up early one morning (5:00AM is too early and cold!) to see animals when they are most active. Which held true for us. A herd of buffalo decided to cross the road when we were passing, and needless to say, our car was stopped for quite a while. I had a staring contest with a bison about 3 feet outside of my car door, until I got scared and looked away. Bison can be up to 2000 lbs, and can run at 30 miles an hour! Apparently their heads are so large because they are built to be a snow plow in the long winters. I think I'll stick to staring contests with squirrels in the future.

We got to see nature in its rawest form - a mother bear and her three cubs feeding on a bison or elk carcass in a stream. The bears were on one side of the stream, while two wolves waited on the other bank, wanting their turn at the buffet. A coyote came too, but the wolves chased the coyote away. We came back to the same sight later in the evening, and the same animals were still there. This time though, there were two coyotes and only one wolf, and the coyotes got their revenge. (Don't worry, we watched all this through binoculars and at a safe, ranger-approved distance.)

We left Yellowstone, and drove the whole hour and a half to Grand Teton National Park. Grand Teton is very similar to Yellowstone, without quite the same numbers of wildlife. I think Yellowstone spoiled us, so that the couple herds of elk and bison were not quite as impressive as they might otherwise have been. The mountains however, were breathtaking. The Grand Tetons look like postcards or movie backdrops. Hard to believe they were real, right in front of our eyes. The campground was not much to speak of, except, drumroll...... SHOWERS!! And better yet, they were free. Up till this point, Yellowstone was the only place that had showers, and they were $3.25 apiece! Needless to say we took great advantage of that.

Arches here we come!

Glacier National Park

The idea for this trip came about last summer, when we all decided that we really wanted to visit some of those national parks... actually most of the national parks. So we dreamed for a long time, and ended up with a 5 week plan for this summer. This summer seemed as good a time as any, since Emily and Lauren both just graduated, and who knows when they'll get a free summer again? Our original itinerary had us gone for several months, and that clearly wouldn't work. So we hemmed and hawed and ended up with 14 destinations on the Western half of the United States. Glacier was our first stop.

After spending the night at our uncle Craig's house in Albion, we drove to Glacier National Park, in Montana. We camped at Fish Creek, which turned out to be right on Lake McDonald, and I think we had the best site in the whole campground, with a beautiful view of the lake. More importantly, the moon rose right above our site, and reflected on the lake. We spent our first day sleeping in (of course!) and then visited the visitor's center and got our barings. The Going-to-the-Sun road just opened, while we were at the center. We did a short hike along Lake McDonald, which also runs along the line of the Robert's Fire that happened in 2003. Everything to the right was green and thick, and everything to the left was dead and brown. Green ferns have filled in over the last 7 years, but its still very obvious that there was a fire. We learned in one of the evening programs at the campground that in that fire 14% of the park was burned in that fire. Wow.

The Going-to-the-Sun Highway runs through the middle of the park, west to east. It only just opened because crews were still working to clear away the snow! Even this early in the season there was a fair amount of traffic, but it was worth it because every view was simply stunning! We hiked up to Avalanche Lake, where three waterfalls lead into a glacial lake. We spent a wonderful day following the road through the park, past lots of indescribably beautiful views. I've never seen such huge cliffs with sweeping views of forest, rock, and snow.

On our last day in the park we drove the Going-to-the-Sun road again to get to the other side of the park, where the entrance to Many Glacier is. Many Glacier is another different landscape, different trees and more flatland, but still gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains. We did a nature trail that looped around Swiftcurrent Lake, near Many Glacier Lodge. Again, beautiful. I was reminded of the movie Man's Favorite Sport, and many jokes were made. With the number of movie references being made on this trip, we are clearly Whitney sisters.

Then we drove outside of the park, down through East Glacier, and along the southern tip of Glacier. In East Glacier we found a bakery with huge chai cupcakes, that I think had about 2 inches of cream cheese frosting. Yum! We also saw the world's largest purple spoon (we're on a road trip, we have to see something goofy, right?!), and visited the wooden spoon shop next door. Lots of beautifully carved spoons (we bought a lovely little salsa spoon) and wait for it... wands. Which we did not buy.

The best part of the day came when we stopped at Goatlick, outside of Walton, Montanna. Apparently moutain goats like the salt naturally found in these cliffs, and they come in late spring and early summer to eat it. We spent a while watching the goats that were hanging out under the the bridge. If you look close, there are about 10 goats in this picture. Dad, your binoculars have come in handy! After observing for a while, we decided they are a lot like dogs, in the way they act. We also got to see a mother goat be territorial, and butt heads with another goat that came too close to her baby. So neat to actually watch this happen!

So after a few days in, we are doing well. Glacier is bear territory, so we had to keep everything remotely related to food in the car at all times. That was a little tedious, to have to take everything in and out all the time. But, the tent surrived the little rain we got, we mastered fires and camp stoves, and played many rounds of Nerts. Life is good.

As I write, we are sitting in Butte, Montanna. Yellowstone here we come!