Touched down in the pouring rain...
We're heading out from Brinkley, Arkansas towards Graceland and of course it's pouring rain. We already listened to "Walking In Memphis" and noted the comment about pouring rain. Now we're listening to Paul Simon's "Graceland", although I'm thinking more and more I may not even be getting out of the car because damn it's raining hard. We don't really have time to go in anyway, I just wanted to see the gates - but I hope I can get some kind of decent photo. At least maybe the rain is washing the dead bugs off my car.
-- So apparently Graceland does not open until 9. It's 8:15. We were going to just park and take a photo of the gates except the gates are open and there are a bunch of cops around - there was a tent out and it looked like there was something going on. The biggest problem for me is the rain. It's absolutely pouring and in combination with everything else it just seemed ridiculous. So we saw the gates, snagged a couple postcards at a gas station and took a photo of the more official looking sign across the street. And now we're driving through the rain to Gatlinburg. I really hope it stops raining by the time we get there because I'd really like to see the town. Memphis I could give or take - it seemed silly to not try since we were passing through - but we're staying in Gatlinburg and I've heard so much about it from Matt I've been kind of excited for this all week.
We missed the Tennesse State Line because it was in the middle of the Mississippi River and I wasn't paying attention. We've missed other state lines so I guess it's okay, but I was on a role this half of the trip so it's a little sad. Ah well. Maybe we can get it on the way out or something.
-- drove through a crazy rainstorm in Tennessee... but it cleared up almost as soon as we entered town... and boy what a town.
I describe Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge as Las Vegas, the New York State fair and a Renaissance Faire all rolled into one. Bright flashy signs and lights, tiny little shopping villages and mini golf/arcades/haunted houses etc etc etc galore. Tons of Old Tyme Photo stands, fried dough and corn dogs for sale and a Ripley's museum or two. Thankfully the rain ended as we checked in so we had a wonderfully perfect evening walking around town and looking in shops and playing mini-golf with a wonderful view of the mountains. The weather was perfect, I wore jeans but didn't need a coat. Here's hoping we get good weather for tomorrow too... maybe the storm is done.
There are also - we counted - 9 Pancake houses within a 3 minute driving distance on a main road through Pigeon Forge. There are more we missed, we're pretty sure. But try to go to these pancake houses and you discover that they are only open until 2pm. Had to go to this fantabulous 50's diner for some pancakes as it was after 9pm. They were aaaamazing though.
signing out for the night - back home soon, :(
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Tucumcari to Brinkley from Lindsey
Day 10 - Technology Rebels
Yesterday we had continuing problems with Jareth (the laptop) who refused to turn on because the battery was dying and we kept turning off his power source. Today I ran out of battery for both my cameras and ran out of room on my camera cards. I need a CVS and we're in the middle of nowhere - having just entered northern Texas from New Mexico. I also noticed this morning that the "F" key on my keyboard is missing. I'm not sure if it ran away in the hotel or in the car, so we'll have to do a quick search for it later, or when we get home.
We stayed in Tucumcari New Mexico which was supposed to have like 5 Route 66 roadside attractions to photograph, but we only saw two. Route 66 is running parallel with the interstate 40 that we're traveling on, so occasionally we see signs for things like Meteor Craters and Native American Travel Plazas and Dinosaur Museums. We haven't seen anything that sparks our interest enough yet, but we're also kind of on a tight schedule. It's sad. Someday I think I'd like to just drive Route 66 and see everything I want to on it. Take the time to stop etc. We're seeing a few things, but not as much as I think I'd like to.
It's really bright out and we're driving East again - so right into the sun. Thankfully we're past the snow and hopefully past rain for a little while. Our next stop is supposed to be 70 and beautiful, but we're not getting there till after dark so we'll see how the day goes.
-- Didn't really type much today as we were constantly on the move - only stopped for gas and postcards today and it worked in our favor because we got in early for us. It'll be good to get a little more sleep.
Yesterday we had continuing problems with Jareth (the laptop) who refused to turn on because the battery was dying and we kept turning off his power source. Today I ran out of battery for both my cameras and ran out of room on my camera cards. I need a CVS and we're in the middle of nowhere - having just entered northern Texas from New Mexico. I also noticed this morning that the "F" key on my keyboard is missing. I'm not sure if it ran away in the hotel or in the car, so we'll have to do a quick search for it later, or when we get home.
We stayed in Tucumcari New Mexico which was supposed to have like 5 Route 66 roadside attractions to photograph, but we only saw two. Route 66 is running parallel with the interstate 40 that we're traveling on, so occasionally we see signs for things like Meteor Craters and Native American Travel Plazas and Dinosaur Museums. We haven't seen anything that sparks our interest enough yet, but we're also kind of on a tight schedule. It's sad. Someday I think I'd like to just drive Route 66 and see everything I want to on it. Take the time to stop etc. We're seeing a few things, but not as much as I think I'd like to.
It's really bright out and we're driving East again - so right into the sun. Thankfully we're past the snow and hopefully past rain for a little while. Our next stop is supposed to be 70 and beautiful, but we're not getting there till after dark so we'll see how the day goes.
-- Didn't really type much today as we were constantly on the move - only stopped for gas and postcards today and it worked in our favor because we got in early for us. It'll be good to get a little more sleep.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
April 18th
Drove from Tucumcari New Mexico to Brinkley Arkansas, took about 11 hours with stops and things to refuel and get post cards and all that. The change from Oklahoma to Arkansas seemed pretty dramatic, like from basically flat flat farmland to a hilly forested landscape, kinda like New England. the spring is in full force down here though. I don't know what its like at home. It was about 70 most of the drive.
From Vegas to Tucumcari was ok, not too much too look at. We did stop by a place that had petrified wood and we got a free sample of it. Also saw alot of fake tee-pees outside "trading posts" along the highway. Oh yeah, we've been riding along side rt. 66 for a long ways also... yesterday and most of today. We went to a small rt. 66 museum yesterday also.
So now here we are toward the end of Arkansas. On to Gatlinburg TN tomorrow and the Smokey Mountains. Too bad we can't stay longer there. Missing everyone back home... sorry I didn't call today, was driving most of the day... Only like 2 hours off today. Tomorrow is a short driving day though so I'm looking forward to that. Tell you about Vegas when I have more time. Mattavina, out!
From Vegas to Tucumcari was ok, not too much too look at. We did stop by a place that had petrified wood and we got a free sample of it. Also saw alot of fake tee-pees outside "trading posts" along the highway. Oh yeah, we've been riding along side rt. 66 for a long ways also... yesterday and most of today. We went to a small rt. 66 museum yesterday also.
So now here we are toward the end of Arkansas. On to Gatlinburg TN tomorrow and the Smokey Mountains. Too bad we can't stay longer there. Missing everyone back home... sorry I didn't call today, was driving most of the day... Only like 2 hours off today. Tomorrow is a short driving day though so I'm looking forward to that. Tell you about Vegas when I have more time. Mattavina, out!
a couple of days behind
Didn't have internets in Vegas and forgot to post last night. Here is what I wrote on the way to Vegas:
April 15th.
I'll just say that yesterday was really, really amazing! Lindsey wrote more on the subject so I'll just do a little synopsis here. First off, we left San Francisco. It was nice and I was sad to see it go. But we had the Pacific Coast highway, which is Rt. 1. but before that we wanted to see if we could see what kind of redwoods we might be able to see below San Francisco. We saw some Parks while we were looking online that said there were some Redwoods around there. Since it wasn't in Redwoods National Forest, I figured we wern't gonna see much. But we started driving up the Mountain and the Trees were getting bigger and bigger looking. Finall we got to the park and the headquarters we were astounded by the trees. There was no doubt that these were certified redwoods, and it blew us away.
Next we went down the Coast Line almost instantly after and were then, once more blown away, this time by the pacific ocean and its deep blue aquamarine color and the size of the waves crashing against the rocks and cliff walls. I can't imagine seeing so many majestic and beautiful things in such a short period ever again.
Now, after a quick stay at Bakersfield, CA, we are on our way to Las Vegas. We will be getting in around 2. So I imagine when we get there, it will be absolute insanity in the middle of the desert, which we are currently driving through. The desert isn't just flat and boring though. There are pleanty of mountains and clouds and distant rains showers to look at. Its actually quite beautiful in it's own right. Ok I'll post later and let you know what I think of Vegas.
April 15th.
I'll just say that yesterday was really, really amazing! Lindsey wrote more on the subject so I'll just do a little synopsis here. First off, we left San Francisco. It was nice and I was sad to see it go. But we had the Pacific Coast highway, which is Rt. 1. but before that we wanted to see if we could see what kind of redwoods we might be able to see below San Francisco. We saw some Parks while we were looking online that said there were some Redwoods around there. Since it wasn't in Redwoods National Forest, I figured we wern't gonna see much. But we started driving up the Mountain and the Trees were getting bigger and bigger looking. Finall we got to the park and the headquarters we were astounded by the trees. There was no doubt that these were certified redwoods, and it blew us away.
Next we went down the Coast Line almost instantly after and were then, once more blown away, this time by the pacific ocean and its deep blue aquamarine color and the size of the waves crashing against the rocks and cliff walls. I can't imagine seeing so many majestic and beautiful things in such a short period ever again.
Now, after a quick stay at Bakersfield, CA, we are on our way to Las Vegas. We will be getting in around 2. So I imagine when we get there, it will be absolute insanity in the middle of the desert, which we are currently driving through. The desert isn't just flat and boring though. There are pleanty of mountains and clouds and distant rains showers to look at. Its actually quite beautiful in it's own right. Ok I'll post later and let you know what I think of Vegas.
Las Vegas TO Tucamcari, New Mexico
Day 9 ? Friday April 17th, 2009
Amusingly enough the most high class place we've stayed yet and we didn't have internet - except it was because it cost $14 a day and it really didn't seem worth the money. Hopefully we'll be good tonight in some cheap hotel in New Mexico.
Tuesday night we drove into a pre-chosen but also slightly random town in California and found a place to sleep for the night. We had breakfast for dinner at a place that was across the parking lot, but service was terrible. It took at least 40 minutes to get our food and we were starving by that point because we hadn't eaten for a while that day. Checked the car oil and stuff in the morning and headed off to Vegas for our shortest drive yet, only about 5 hours. There was a crazy amount of construction to drive through going in to the city and we couldn't seem to find the Welcome to Vegas sign, but once we got ourselves situated we checked in with my parents and crashed for a little bit. A couple showers, a short walk around a few hotels and dinner later we took a taxi down to Freemont Street.
Las Vegas essentially has two sections - the Strip and Freemont Street. They're about 6 miles apart and sort of very different worlds with similar elements. The Vegas Strip is all the casino/hotel's you've heard about - Bellagio, Monte Carlo, Luxor (the pyramid), etc. it's a bit classy in parts and trashy in others, but that's Vegas. Freemont Street is Old Vegas - the Golden Nugget is one of the main casino hotels there and everything is neon and bright. What makes it seem brighter than the strip is that they put a half tunnel across the top of Freemont Street covered to the brim with LED Lights. Every hour or half hour they have shows on this giant screen above the street. That night they played Don Mclean's American Pie and illustrated it with photographs and illustrations and dancing girls. Later they had a tribute to Queen which wasn't quite as impressive, but was still cool. The last time I was in Vegas they had this weird animated Alien thing. The aliens were like looking down on you with their experiemental tools and stuff. It's really a cool experience no matter what they're showing.
Back at the strip we crashed for the night. We were up at a decent hour and went walking down the strip and in and out of more hotels. Hit up shopping centers in Planet Hollywood and Caesars and had an amazing lunch at a restaurant called Serendipity 3 in the courtyard at Caesars. We must have walked a few miles in just the morning, so we took a break and hit the pool at our hotel which felt really really good until you got OUT of the water and then the wind hit you. At the Venetian I bought a mask from Venice that I had wanted to buy the last time I was here and it's beautiful. It's one of the smaller ones that I could afford, but it'll look great hanging. Next we saw Sigfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage. The animals were beautiful but I couldn't help notice that they were in very small spaces and the cats were pacing a lot. It made me a bit sad. There's so much space behind all these hotels, I feel like they could have given these animals a lot more space.
Finally, what I've been waiting for for probably a year now - we went to see the Cirque du Soliel Beatle's show LOVE. The theater was in the round and incredibly small - all the seats were great no matter where you were. Everything was amazing. The sets and costumes were so incredible and detailed. The acrobatics were amazing - a lot of aeriel work as well as roller blading and awesome awesome use of trampolines. The songs were beautifully interpreted and I was singing and dancing the whole show on the edge of my seat. Favorite bits include these little kids wearing blank face heads with mop tops and the 1964 suits, also pulling a huge sheet of white fabric over almost the entire audience and shaking it so that the bed at on top looked like it was floating on the clouds. Simple dancing and aerial work with the help of a ladder attached to a giant wheel during Lucy in the SKy - when they could have done a lot of visuals they stayed simple it was good. They also had characters for Eleanor Rigby, Father Mckenzie and Lady Madonna that were featured and also on stage at other points. During Lady Madonna there was a cool video of rain boots dancing in the rain. And the people on stage had TAP DANCE YELLOW RAIN BOOTS. .. they were awesome. Everything was amazing and made me so so happy. It was too short.
We saw the Bellagio fountain show twice - once during the day to "Lady Luck" and then again at night to "Viva Las Vegas". I love watching that - it's always fun. We tried to find fuzzy dice to add to the mirror after Vegas, but the only ones we could find were too big. We got a small keychain with dice in it instead and it's hanging with my crystal currently.
Today we started out from Las Vegas and saw the Welcome to sign... well, the thanks for coming part anyway, and i got a photo of the welcome part through the back window as we passed. We noticed somewhere in Arizona that our camera had stopped working, so we pulled off the highway - and as fortune would have it landed at the Route 66 Museum! I bought postcards and Matt bought a travel mug and we both chatted with the older gentleman manning the museum in the middle of nowhere. It was awesome.
Back on route, we're still driving through Arizona towards New Mexico.
-- Hit a bitty snowstorm in the upper elevations of New Mexico, of course just when I needed to get out adn get gas. But we got here okay and the room is really nice so we're going to figure out tomorrow and crash for the night.
Signing off till next internet time :)
Amusingly enough the most high class place we've stayed yet and we didn't have internet - except it was because it cost $14 a day and it really didn't seem worth the money. Hopefully we'll be good tonight in some cheap hotel in New Mexico.
Tuesday night we drove into a pre-chosen but also slightly random town in California and found a place to sleep for the night. We had breakfast for dinner at a place that was across the parking lot, but service was terrible. It took at least 40 minutes to get our food and we were starving by that point because we hadn't eaten for a while that day. Checked the car oil and stuff in the morning and headed off to Vegas for our shortest drive yet, only about 5 hours. There was a crazy amount of construction to drive through going in to the city and we couldn't seem to find the Welcome to Vegas sign, but once we got ourselves situated we checked in with my parents and crashed for a little bit. A couple showers, a short walk around a few hotels and dinner later we took a taxi down to Freemont Street.
Las Vegas essentially has two sections - the Strip and Freemont Street. They're about 6 miles apart and sort of very different worlds with similar elements. The Vegas Strip is all the casino/hotel's you've heard about - Bellagio, Monte Carlo, Luxor (the pyramid), etc. it's a bit classy in parts and trashy in others, but that's Vegas. Freemont Street is Old Vegas - the Golden Nugget is one of the main casino hotels there and everything is neon and bright. What makes it seem brighter than the strip is that they put a half tunnel across the top of Freemont Street covered to the brim with LED Lights. Every hour or half hour they have shows on this giant screen above the street. That night they played Don Mclean's American Pie and illustrated it with photographs and illustrations and dancing girls. Later they had a tribute to Queen which wasn't quite as impressive, but was still cool. The last time I was in Vegas they had this weird animated Alien thing. The aliens were like looking down on you with their experiemental tools and stuff. It's really a cool experience no matter what they're showing.
Back at the strip we crashed for the night. We were up at a decent hour and went walking down the strip and in and out of more hotels. Hit up shopping centers in Planet Hollywood and Caesars and had an amazing lunch at a restaurant called Serendipity 3 in the courtyard at Caesars. We must have walked a few miles in just the morning, so we took a break and hit the pool at our hotel which felt really really good until you got OUT of the water and then the wind hit you. At the Venetian I bought a mask from Venice that I had wanted to buy the last time I was here and it's beautiful. It's one of the smaller ones that I could afford, but it'll look great hanging. Next we saw Sigfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage. The animals were beautiful but I couldn't help notice that they were in very small spaces and the cats were pacing a lot. It made me a bit sad. There's so much space behind all these hotels, I feel like they could have given these animals a lot more space.
Finally, what I've been waiting for for probably a year now - we went to see the Cirque du Soliel Beatle's show LOVE. The theater was in the round and incredibly small - all the seats were great no matter where you were. Everything was amazing. The sets and costumes were so incredible and detailed. The acrobatics were amazing - a lot of aeriel work as well as roller blading and awesome awesome use of trampolines. The songs were beautifully interpreted and I was singing and dancing the whole show on the edge of my seat. Favorite bits include these little kids wearing blank face heads with mop tops and the 1964 suits, also pulling a huge sheet of white fabric over almost the entire audience and shaking it so that the bed at on top looked like it was floating on the clouds. Simple dancing and aerial work with the help of a ladder attached to a giant wheel during Lucy in the SKy - when they could have done a lot of visuals they stayed simple it was good. They also had characters for Eleanor Rigby, Father Mckenzie and Lady Madonna that were featured and also on stage at other points. During Lady Madonna there was a cool video of rain boots dancing in the rain. And the people on stage had TAP DANCE YELLOW RAIN BOOTS. .. they were awesome. Everything was amazing and made me so so happy. It was too short.
We saw the Bellagio fountain show twice - once during the day to "Lady Luck" and then again at night to "Viva Las Vegas". I love watching that - it's always fun. We tried to find fuzzy dice to add to the mirror after Vegas, but the only ones we could find were too big. We got a small keychain with dice in it instead and it's hanging with my crystal currently.
Today we started out from Las Vegas and saw the Welcome to sign... well, the thanks for coming part anyway, and i got a photo of the welcome part through the back window as we passed. We noticed somewhere in Arizona that our camera had stopped working, so we pulled off the highway - and as fortune would have it landed at the Route 66 Museum! I bought postcards and Matt bought a travel mug and we both chatted with the older gentleman manning the museum in the middle of nowhere. It was awesome.
Back on route, we're still driving through Arizona towards New Mexico.
-- Hit a bitty snowstorm in the upper elevations of New Mexico, of course just when I needed to get out adn get gas. But we got here okay and the room is really nice so we're going to figure out tomorrow and crash for the night.
Signing off till next internet time :)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Day I Don't Know: San Francisco to Bakersfield, CA
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.
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.
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 :)
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