Day i don't know Tuesday April 14th
Losing track of days, which is fine. I know it's Tuesday and we've been on the road a week tomorrow. We left San Francisco behind around 9 this morning and started our drive south. We took this amazing road that curved up a mountain for something like 12 miles. It was an incredible experience and the trees just kept getting bigger and bigger. We reached a vista point and stopped the car for a breathtaking view of the mountains from the top of one. There was a quirky dirt trail that we both kind of really wanted to walk on but we didn't have time really to explore just then. We continued our curvy route up the mountain and eventually entered Big Basic Redwoods State Park just south of San Francisco California.
Driving through the park we both kept getting distracted because the trees were just so big and so so beautiful. Arriving at the Headquarters we saw that they were having a controlled fire which smelled amazing. From there we took their shortest path through the woods - Redwood Loop - which took us maybe half an hour to 45 minutes including the billion times we stopped to take photos. While this wasn't the main northern redwood park, these were pretty incredible in and of themselves. We also were able to see the biggest trees in that particular state park which are the biggest both around and height wise that I've ever seen. It was awesome. While it wasn't a hike, in fact the path was completely flat, it was a really nice walk through the forest and the redwoods were awe inspiring. I want to take of one of the photos of us there and write across it " On Endor, lookin fur ur Ewoks" because after being completely in awe and fascinated by the sheer size of everything around us, we realized that we were totally on Endor. I feel like, in this particular case, photos can tell better than words how incredible this was, but basically we were just grinning ear to ear the entire time and I was jumping up and down a lot. I'm so so glad that we were able to take that path and see the Redwoods.
From there we went down the mountain, found some lunch at a local place and continued south. We're currently on Rt 1, or the Pacific Coast Highway - which will soon start to directly follow the ocean and is supposed to be an incredibly beautiful drive. So far we've caught glimpses of the Pacific Ocean, but we're still kind of driving through towns. I think a little ways after Monterey we'll hit the actual coastal drive which is supposed to be incredible. We both changed into pants for the chill of the forest, but hopefully we'll hit warmer weather soon. I think it's around 55 still right now. Just saw a boar crossing sign :) I think so far we've seen horse crossing, goat, bull, cow, tractor, deer, elk, and I think that's it.
We just got our first space to pull over and view the ocean and it is incredible. The wind is really high so it's cold out, but the waves are crashing and the water is so so so blue/green. I've never seen water that color really. I think the closest I've come is Cape Ann which has pretty water tendencies. This is going to be such a beautiful drive. I just hope it gets warmer.
This drive is more incredible than I ever imagined. We are driving on curvy roads on the edge of a mountain - we go up and down alternatively as we drive the coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It's beautiful and sort of terrifying. There seem to be a lot of "falling rock" areas that make me nervous - especially when I see the rocks in the middle of the road that fell. There are a lot of stopping points by the side of the road to stop and take pictures but we've only stopped once or twice because the wind is so ridiculous. Occasionally there are random houses perched on the cliff below us. Sometimes all we can see is the mailbox. There are also occasional inns and lodges, and I would totally add one of them to the list of off-beat places to stop on another road trip - along with that place by Walker Lake in the middle of nowhere Nevada desert. All slightly scary places to stay - but beautiful nonetheless.
Also of note - there are farms on this cliff as well - some including cows. Just grazing by the side of the cliff overlooking the ocean. It's bizarre. At the end of the route is Cambrai - which has this little street full of everything you could imagine a small town needing. Right at the bottom of another mountain cliff where I think I saw houses perched. There are art galleries, ice cream parlors, restaurants, gas station, book store etc. Tiny little seaside type buildings. It was really cute. The only downside to all of this is the crazy wind and the fact that it's still 50 degrees. We want to know what the hell is going on if California is cold and windy. But we're heading to Vegas which should be 70 and beautiful.
Every day competes with the day before for amazing things that we've seen. Best idea we ever had, I'm loving every minute.
----
Found a hotel for the night, walked across the parking lot for a late dinner and almost fell asleep during the 35 minutes it took to get our food. Going to set up the route for tomorrow and get some sleep.
Showing posts with label california. Show all posts
Showing posts with label california. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday April 13th - San Francisco
Monday April 13th - San Francisco
Deciding to stay a full day in San Francisco was a good decision. We started our day with a walk up the steepest hill that one can drive up I've ever seen in my life (I like to say it's another World's Largest even if it might not be). Discussing it later, we think that it must be at least a 45 degree angle, it's ridiculous and very hard to capture in a photograph though we certainly tried. Next we encountered the Crookedest Street (I also like to consider this a World's .. in this case Crookedest Street) which was windy with hedges around the curves and brick laid. Very beautiful and also very steep.
We continued our journey towards Pier 39 which is like a cross between Savannah's waterfront and the New Jersey boardwalk. A lot of touristy shops, some art galleries and a ton of restuarants start off your journey down the road. Once you hit the piers there is also a slew of museums (ripley's, a wax museum and i believe more intellectual ones as well) and I think an aquarium though I didn't see the entrance anywhere.
From there is a boardwalk type path that runs towards the water, not along it with more shopping, restuarants and entertainment including a carousel. I found a store called Lefties that has stuff made for left handers in it and thought of my parents who are both left handed. One of the coolest things, though, was the sea lions. Apparently sea lions just started showing up and now camp out on rafts in the bay by the boats. We saw several of them fighting over a certain spot and there was a lot of sun bathing going on as well. Kind of awesome to see them in a more natural environment in a way. They are there by choice.
But, the thing that beats out the sea lions has to be the Musee Mecanique. We discovered this completely by accident and ended up spending at least 30 minutes inside, maybe more. It's a warehouse FULL of original working mechanical attraction things. Like fortune tellers and video games. From the 1800's through now - everything was represented but the pure scope of seeing all those early 20th century coin operated mechanicals was so so cool. And what was cooler is that they all worked. You could put in a quarter and see "what the belly dancer does on her day off" or an English Execution with puppets or a Barber Shop Quartet with puppets. There were some of the creepiest puppets I'd ever seen in these machines and I think Matt captured the creepiness perfectly. I kept getting a glare, and getting freaked out. We even found an old photo booth and now have a set of 4 black and white photos of us 1930's style. So so cool.
After a brief return to the hotel we drove to Golden Gate Park and from there a new adventure started. Golden Gate Park is harder to navigate than Central Park in my opinion. It has a lot more major roads that run through it and everything is guarded closely by a wall of plant life that you can't see past. It makes it hard to see where you are and where you are going. There are also a strange lack of street signs, though street names are carved into the sidewalk. Other than that the park was pretty and there were some interesting flowers (some of which ended up in my hair, because we sort of had to, this being San Francisco and all). There were also bizarre crooked palm trees that sort of fascinated us.
From the park we walked up Haight street to the famous cross-street of Ashbury. I imagined Haight Ashbury to be more musical, I guess, more creative considering it's history as a center for hippies and music in the 1960's, but I saw a scant 2 guitarist panhandlers and the street was pretty sketchy to walk down. A lot of panhandlers, some more brazen than others, a lot of people too. Some shops looked
interesting, but by that point it was getting late and the area was kind of getting to me. I took a photo of the street signs, but I'm not sure if it came out very well. The sky was very white and there were people in my way sort of. Either way, I went and I can say I've been, but I wish that the area had stayed creative and not become a sort of ghetto for the desperate.
On our way back into the park a youngish guy asked us if we wanted any herbals, at which point I realized the experience was complete.
We walked back through the park, retrieved the car and headed back to the hotel. Another short break later we were out and about in search of dinner back on Pier 39. I bought a SF shirt because it kind of called to me despite the colors, or perhaps because of them. A final stop at Ghiradelli's for an amazing chocolate chip cookie sunday completed a long but amazing day.
We did a lot of hiking up and down a lot of hills. You can't go anywhere in SF without going up or down a hill and it's going to be extreme either way. My feet sort of hurt and I think I got a small tan if not sunburn, which I wasn't expecting until Vegas. Guess we'll have to invest in some suntan lotion soon.
My posts just get longer and longer. I feel like maybe I should compile all this into a book with my photos and have it made. I would probably extend the entries more too. Okay, time to figure out tomorrow so we can get some sleep.
Scroll down for more from Matt as well as a few photos :)
Deciding to stay a full day in San Francisco was a good decision. We started our day with a walk up the steepest hill that one can drive up I've ever seen in my life (I like to say it's another World's Largest even if it might not be). Discussing it later, we think that it must be at least a 45 degree angle, it's ridiculous and very hard to capture in a photograph though we certainly tried. Next we encountered the Crookedest Street (I also like to consider this a World's .. in this case Crookedest Street) which was windy with hedges around the curves and brick laid. Very beautiful and also very steep.
We continued our journey towards Pier 39 which is like a cross between Savannah's waterfront and the New Jersey boardwalk. A lot of touristy shops, some art galleries and a ton of restuarants start off your journey down the road. Once you hit the piers there is also a slew of museums (ripley's, a wax museum and i believe more intellectual ones as well) and I think an aquarium though I didn't see the entrance anywhere.
From there is a boardwalk type path that runs towards the water, not along it with more shopping, restuarants and entertainment including a carousel. I found a store called Lefties that has stuff made for left handers in it and thought of my parents who are both left handed. One of the coolest things, though, was the sea lions. Apparently sea lions just started showing up and now camp out on rafts in the bay by the boats. We saw several of them fighting over a certain spot and there was a lot of sun bathing going on as well. Kind of awesome to see them in a more natural environment in a way. They are there by choice.
But, the thing that beats out the sea lions has to be the Musee Mecanique. We discovered this completely by accident and ended up spending at least 30 minutes inside, maybe more. It's a warehouse FULL of original working mechanical attraction things. Like fortune tellers and video games. From the 1800's through now - everything was represented but the pure scope of seeing all those early 20th century coin operated mechanicals was so so cool. And what was cooler is that they all worked. You could put in a quarter and see "what the belly dancer does on her day off" or an English Execution with puppets or a Barber Shop Quartet with puppets. There were some of the creepiest puppets I'd ever seen in these machines and I think Matt captured the creepiness perfectly. I kept getting a glare, and getting freaked out. We even found an old photo booth and now have a set of 4 black and white photos of us 1930's style. So so cool.
After a brief return to the hotel we drove to Golden Gate Park and from there a new adventure started. Golden Gate Park is harder to navigate than Central Park in my opinion. It has a lot more major roads that run through it and everything is guarded closely by a wall of plant life that you can't see past. It makes it hard to see where you are and where you are going. There are also a strange lack of street signs, though street names are carved into the sidewalk. Other than that the park was pretty and there were some interesting flowers (some of which ended up in my hair, because we sort of had to, this being San Francisco and all). There were also bizarre crooked palm trees that sort of fascinated us.
From the park we walked up Haight street to the famous cross-street of Ashbury. I imagined Haight Ashbury to be more musical, I guess, more creative considering it's history as a center for hippies and music in the 1960's, but I saw a scant 2 guitarist panhandlers and the street was pretty sketchy to walk down. A lot of panhandlers, some more brazen than others, a lot of people too. Some shops looked
interesting, but by that point it was getting late and the area was kind of getting to me. I took a photo of the street signs, but I'm not sure if it came out very well. The sky was very white and there were people in my way sort of. Either way, I went and I can say I've been, but I wish that the area had stayed creative and not become a sort of ghetto for the desperate.
On our way back into the park a youngish guy asked us if we wanted any herbals, at which point I realized the experience was complete.
We walked back through the park, retrieved the car and headed back to the hotel. Another short break later we were out and about in search of dinner back on Pier 39. I bought a SF shirt because it kind of called to me despite the colors, or perhaps because of them. A final stop at Ghiradelli's for an amazing chocolate chip cookie sunday completed a long but amazing day.
We did a lot of hiking up and down a lot of hills. You can't go anywhere in SF without going up or down a hill and it's going to be extreme either way. My feet sort of hurt and I think I got a small tan if not sunburn, which I wasn't expecting until Vegas. Guess we'll have to invest in some suntan lotion soon.
My posts just get longer and longer. I feel like maybe I should compile all this into a book with my photos and have it made. I would probably extend the entries more too. Okay, time to figure out tomorrow so we can get some sleep.
Scroll down for more from Matt as well as a few photos :)
Monday, April 13, 2009
Slight Change
We've decided to skip the Grand Canyon and stay longer in San Francisco as well as pass through Los Angeles which wasn't really on our trip plan. Well, okay that's not entirely true, we debated it back and forth a lot one day but eventually cut it. Now it's back in, just for a pass through probably though since neither of us have our hearts set on LA for some reason.
There's too much we want to see here in SF and the Grand Canyon while I'm sure fabulous also involves a lot of long driving days on possibly more deserted roads as well as a lot of back and forth since we would be going to Vegas afterwards. And the Grand Canyon probably deserves more than just the glance that we would have time to give it.
While sad, we're very excited about being able to see more in SF tomorrow and about a supposedly beautiful drive down the coast of California towards LA.
time for bed as we have a lot of uphill walking ahead of us tomorrow.
There's too much we want to see here in SF and the Grand Canyon while I'm sure fabulous also involves a lot of long driving days on possibly more deserted roads as well as a lot of back and forth since we would be going to Vegas afterwards. And the Grand Canyon probably deserves more than just the glance that we would have time to give it.
While sad, we're very excited about being able to see more in SF tomorrow and about a supposedly beautiful drive down the coast of California towards LA.
time for bed as we have a lot of uphill walking ahead of us tomorrow.
Day 5 - Tonopah to San Francisco
Driving through the Nevada desert is intimidating and humbling. There is absolutely nothing for miles and then random little ghosty type towns that look abandoned but aren't. We just passed through one called Luning and let me attempt to describe this to you. You're driving for 50 miles or so through absolutely nothing - desert and mountains and flatness as far as the eye can see. All of a sudden in your path on the sides of the road you see broken down wooden buildings and old faded signs. A few trailer homes, an RV park. Everything looks abandoned until you see a shiny new truck parked outside one of the structures and three people in hats walking casually down the road. Literally 1 minute later the "town" is behind you and there is again nothing for miles and miles.
It's a good idea we're being pretty vigilant about filling up the gas tank.
We stopped by the side of the road in the middle of this nothing to take photos of each other, now I wish we'd stopped in Luning for a shot of those buildings. There will probably be another similar town, however, so maybe we'll stop when we see one. Just for a moment. It really gives you a sense of history in a sense to see these things. Who knows, years ago maybe these were thriving towns. Maybe they were founded when non- native-americans were still truly discovering the American West. And fell into disrepair once towns like Reno appeared. :D We're heading by Reno by the way. We have to to get to San Francisco.
Today has been a little slow going. Tonopah is everything we could ever wish of it, however we discovered today that we didn't even have to go to Tonopah because the road from there to Yosemite National Park is still closed for Winter. The only other way to the park from here is way too far away for us to take, which makes us a little sad since we won't get to see Yosemite now. But we've seen so many incredible things and still have a lot more to go that we're taking everything in stride as much as possible. We'll plan another trip out to see Yosemite or Yellowstone in the future, and remember to come after April. Either way we experienced Tonopah, which was kind of awesome in it's own way.
Left a little later than planned because we spent some time trying to see if we could still figure in Yosemite and then having to find an alternate route to San Francisco because the route Wilma had us taking was right through the park - on the closed road.
We're about to approach an Army Ammunition Depot and there are a lot of mounds in the desert that look like super secret Army things. We don't know what they actually are, but we like to think they're something super secret.
-- Okay must talk about what we just encountered. Driving straight towards the mountains after miles of nothing and ghost towns there is a oasis that is called Hawthorne. More than just a one street town it has actual street signs, a McDonalds, a small casino and a couple gas stations. This is home to the Army Ammunition Depot and it is the only gas for seriously like 100 miles. We filled up and it was too expensive but they can charge whatever the hell they want because there's nowhere else to get gas for 100 miles or whatever. We've decided that Hawthorne is actually Radiator Springs.
We're driving around this huge lake, Walker Lake, and it's very beautiful. There's a tiny community on the hills by the lake and I'm thinking that an awesome longer trip would be to do another cross country roadtrip and stay in the little places like this town by Walker Lake in the middle of nowhere and the tiny village we found in the Rocky Mountains. It would be an incredible experience to do that. Maybe someday we'll have the time and money. It would have to be longer than this trip, I think, in order to fully appreciate everything. But so worth it.
Middle of the desert and temperature is 61 degrees - the warmest we've had yet. Note for anyone thinking of travelling in this area - is extremely hard to judge distance on a straight road through the desert.
signing off for now - too much to look at.
-- later --
Crossed the border into California and promptly entered another mountain range, I think part of the Rocky's again. It's beautiful and this time we have blue skies. No clouds in sight. Driving curvy mountain roads once again is nice.
Later in California, the terrain started to look more like home. Except flatter with palm trees. And a lot of fruit trees and farms. But sort of like home. With 6 lane highways. We really are seeing every possible kind of landscape you could possibly imagine.
From San Francisco Hotel -
Arrived in San Francisco via this absolutely beautiful drive that for some reason made me think of Fiji. I've never been to Fiji, but I imagine huge green mountains by water and that is exactly what we saw coming in. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge which was awesome as well but I loved loved the curvy roads through the green hills that we took to get there - even if we were stuck in some traffic getting to the bridge.
The city is beautiful and very different from New York or Chicago. Most of the building are only a few stories and the city is set on a hill so everything is kind of staggared. There is a massive hill on the street next to our hotel that .. just baffles the mind. I couldn't imagine driving up and down that every day. It's very very steep. We wandered around Fisherman's Wharf and then some streets nearby and Ghiradelli Square - but it was after 8 on Easter Sunday so almost everything was closed.
We'll wander more tomorrow - and I want to see Haight Ashbury and we were talking about a park that's near there too. Hopefully we'll have time. I feel like I could be here a week and still not see everything I'd like to. We'll definitely have to come back some time for a longer time period.
We're both taking hundreds of photos but haven't really had time to sit and figure out how best for you all to see them. We'll hopefully figure that out in the next day or two.
It's a good idea we're being pretty vigilant about filling up the gas tank.
We stopped by the side of the road in the middle of this nothing to take photos of each other, now I wish we'd stopped in Luning for a shot of those buildings. There will probably be another similar town, however, so maybe we'll stop when we see one. Just for a moment. It really gives you a sense of history in a sense to see these things. Who knows, years ago maybe these were thriving towns. Maybe they were founded when non- native-americans were still truly discovering the American West. And fell into disrepair once towns like Reno appeared. :D We're heading by Reno by the way. We have to to get to San Francisco.
Today has been a little slow going. Tonopah is everything we could ever wish of it, however we discovered today that we didn't even have to go to Tonopah because the road from there to Yosemite National Park is still closed for Winter. The only other way to the park from here is way too far away for us to take, which makes us a little sad since we won't get to see Yosemite now. But we've seen so many incredible things and still have a lot more to go that we're taking everything in stride as much as possible. We'll plan another trip out to see Yosemite or Yellowstone in the future, and remember to come after April. Either way we experienced Tonopah, which was kind of awesome in it's own way.
Left a little later than planned because we spent some time trying to see if we could still figure in Yosemite and then having to find an alternate route to San Francisco because the route Wilma had us taking was right through the park - on the closed road.
We're about to approach an Army Ammunition Depot and there are a lot of mounds in the desert that look like super secret Army things. We don't know what they actually are, but we like to think they're something super secret.
-- Okay must talk about what we just encountered. Driving straight towards the mountains after miles of nothing and ghost towns there is a oasis that is called Hawthorne. More than just a one street town it has actual street signs, a McDonalds, a small casino and a couple gas stations. This is home to the Army Ammunition Depot and it is the only gas for seriously like 100 miles. We filled up and it was too expensive but they can charge whatever the hell they want because there's nowhere else to get gas for 100 miles or whatever. We've decided that Hawthorne is actually Radiator Springs.
We're driving around this huge lake, Walker Lake, and it's very beautiful. There's a tiny community on the hills by the lake and I'm thinking that an awesome longer trip would be to do another cross country roadtrip and stay in the little places like this town by Walker Lake in the middle of nowhere and the tiny village we found in the Rocky Mountains. It would be an incredible experience to do that. Maybe someday we'll have the time and money. It would have to be longer than this trip, I think, in order to fully appreciate everything. But so worth it.
Middle of the desert and temperature is 61 degrees - the warmest we've had yet. Note for anyone thinking of travelling in this area - is extremely hard to judge distance on a straight road through the desert.
signing off for now - too much to look at.
-- later --
Crossed the border into California and promptly entered another mountain range, I think part of the Rocky's again. It's beautiful and this time we have blue skies. No clouds in sight. Driving curvy mountain roads once again is nice.
Later in California, the terrain started to look more like home. Except flatter with palm trees. And a lot of fruit trees and farms. But sort of like home. With 6 lane highways. We really are seeing every possible kind of landscape you could possibly imagine.
From San Francisco Hotel -
Arrived in San Francisco via this absolutely beautiful drive that for some reason made me think of Fiji. I've never been to Fiji, but I imagine huge green mountains by water and that is exactly what we saw coming in. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge which was awesome as well but I loved loved the curvy roads through the green hills that we took to get there - even if we were stuck in some traffic getting to the bridge.
The city is beautiful and very different from New York or Chicago. Most of the building are only a few stories and the city is set on a hill so everything is kind of staggared. There is a massive hill on the street next to our hotel that .. just baffles the mind. I couldn't imagine driving up and down that every day. It's very very steep. We wandered around Fisherman's Wharf and then some streets nearby and Ghiradelli Square - but it was after 8 on Easter Sunday so almost everything was closed.
We'll wander more tomorrow - and I want to see Haight Ashbury and we were talking about a park that's near there too. Hopefully we'll have time. I feel like I could be here a week and still not see everything I'd like to. We'll definitely have to come back some time for a longer time period.
We're both taking hundreds of photos but haven't really had time to sit and figure out how best for you all to see them. We'll hopefully figure that out in the next day or two.
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