Dörte, Celso, and Rebecca - Our intrepid adventurers.
Death Valley National Park
We had heaps of fun. We left here, went through the Hoover Dam, where we didn't take the tour because it was $8.50. We went through Vegas, and I lost $2 on quarter slots at Caeser's Palace (I hear the casinos are removing all the nickel slots, darn).
We spent that first night just outside Death Valley. But the night was pretty & temperate. Gosh, it was nice to be out of Flagstaff.
We spent that first night just outside Death Valley. But the night was pretty & temperate. Gosh, it was nice to be out of Flagstaff.
There was an absolutely beautiful sunrise the next morning.
We went to Death Valley and did a hike there that was about 4mi each way through narrow canyons. At some points you could almost reach the rock on both sides which made up 100'+ cliffs. PLUS, it was a warm 80 degrees! We didn't bring much food, but brought plenty of water.That evening, we ate dinner in the sand-dune area at sunset. The sunset was pretty quick, and there wasn't too much color on the dunes, but it was still pretty ... and of course, we all got sand everywhere.
Sequoia National Park
That night we camped west of Death Valley in what seemed to be a wind tunnel-- it blew straight down all our sleeping bags. I'm so glad I have that monstrous mummy bag. We also got sprinkled on.We woke up and headed to Sequoia. That was my first opportunity to try out "chains" for the truck. I had two VERY scared passengers as we headed up & down the mountain in snow & ice & slush. My truck didn't like it one bit, but we all survived, and now neither Dörte nor Rebecca flinch during normal mountain driving. :)
We were going to go back the next day to snowshoe, but the drive (and the fact snow level was falling so quickly) convinced us to keep going. That night we stayed in a hotel in Fresno.
Point Reyes National Seashore
Monday, we made it to Pt. Reyes National Seashore. Very pretty. We hiked in all our car-camping gear to a campsite on a hill that overlooked the ocean. We got there just before sunset, and frolicked in front of the waves a bit. I noticed just as it got too dark that some sea-lions or seals or something were also there, just beyond the waves. Also, we saw some fallow deer -- that is, white deer found only there-- and some elk.No, the pictures of the deer didn't really come out. I couldn't get close enough.
San Francisco
Tuesday, we went to San Francisco along hwy 1 (along the coast). Rebecca and Dörte were green, but survived all the hairpin turns. We stayed with a friend of Dörte's, in an apartment 3 blocks North of Golden Gate Park. It seemed we couldn't stay there because the landlord was around, but the landlord turned out to be a San-Fran native who took us in. She then gave us some home-collected nori seaweed to munch on as we left - we have tried it, but can't quite bring ourselves to snack extensively upon it.
It sprinkled all day as we wandered through Golden Gate Park and Haight-Ashbury (The ex-hippie center o' fame) I bought a Grateful dead CD. Then, as we approached the apartment, the sky opened up and I found the end of my rain-tolerance. That night, we ate Ethiopian food & met a buddy from Yellowstone.Wednesday, I woke to beautiful weather. By the time we got up & going, however it was raining & cold.
We took a cable-car to the cable-car museum.
I tried to take a picture, but the cable-car started leaving without me.
It cleared somewhat as we walked to the Exploratorium, where we spent a very happy several hours. Afterwards, we split up, and I drove off to meet with cousins for dinner.
Highway 1
Thursday, we headed down highway 1 along the shore until just past Big Sur. The weather was nice again & we were feeling good as we listened to our Grateful dead CD.For a while we just hung out by the ocean and watched people hang-glide. The ocean was putting on a beautiful show, and the planets seemed to be in harmony.
A 200' section of hwy had washed out somewhat south of there, so we turned back & camped at Andrew Molina State Park.
Friday, I took a shortcut to get to hwy 101. Hmm.. According to the map we should have come out farther south than we did, but have no Idea what happened.
Pismo Beach
Anyway, we made it to Pismo beach, where we caught a sunset & ate fish & chips. Mmmm...
Southern California
Saturday morning I did calculus on the beach & collected rocks. Then we drove past LA and kept going until we got to Joshua tree. We camped outside Joshua tree in nice, warm weather.
Sunday, we tooled around Joshua Tree and climbed some rocks. After lunch, we made our way back to Flagstaff.
What a good trip!
