Friends Far Afield

July 23, 2010

We spent time in Bellingham, WA with TX friends, Ryan and Julie. We felt like we were in our own home, or one as hometown-relaxing as we could dream up, anyway. We talked to neighbors who maintain wildflower gardens for a living. We watched sea otters roll around in the tides. We went, with everyone else in the town it seemed, to sit on the grass in the town square and watch Casablanca, curled up in sleeping bags. We ate incredibly good ice cream. We talked about life while we played “Life” the board game (which Mark had never played before, incidentally). All in all, we'd say that we'd do it again in a heartbeat!

The Grind

July 22, 2010

We did a challenging hike in Vancouver. The Grouse Grind, as or “The Grind”, as it was called by the disc jockey on the radio, is a Vancouver staple. It's a 1.5 mile hike, straight up, to the top of Grouse Mountain.

Lindsay and I hiked straight up it, and straight down it. I was proud to make it to the top in 60 minutes. The Grind is an interesting way to see the city. At the top, there's a perfect view of the city, and the wide expanses of water that surround the city on each side.

On the way up, though, there's a fairly even mix of intense exercise buffs in spandex, locals who bring their friends from out of town, and tourists.

While we were there, we stayed in the biggest hostel we've been to, with around 200 spots for travelers. HI Jericho Beach was a big enterprise.

The nice part, it was right by the beach and the water. The last night we were there, the city was beginning an international fireworks “competition” downtown. Fireworks teams from the US, Canada, France, and China were putting on weekly shows. We'd missed fireworks on the 4^th of July because we'd been camping in a national forest. Almost exactly one month later, we ended up listening to swing music and seeing a huge fireworks show over Vancouver, synchronized to the swing music and just a 5 minute walk from our hostel. We loved it.

A bit of trivia: One of our main aims was to see downtown, see the harbor, and see Stanley Park. We ended up having to pay $29 for a single day of parking – the most either of us had ever paid.

And finally, a building Mark liked. The soil and the grass create fine insulation, and look beautiful. A leak in the roof could create a bit of work, though :).

Back to Austin

July 19, 2010

Well, not really, but Porltand certainly felt like Austin! The two major differences were the weather (it's at least 20 degrees cooler in Portland), and the lack of smiling faces of friends to greet us. We know three folks who live in Portland, but they all happened to be out of town during our two-day visit. So, we stayed in Portland's Hawthorne hostel.

This old "green" house welcomed us warmly Sunday evening (July 18th). When we say "green", we mean it literally...the roof has plants growing on it (to moderate the temperature within and to aid in the collection of rainwater, which they use for the toilets within!).

During our short time in Portland, we spend several hours in the famous city block-sized bookstore: Powell's bookstore.

From their website, here are a few facts about the bookstore:

• 68,000 square feet packed with books.

• We buy 3,000 used books over the counter every day.

• Approximately 3,000 people walk in and buy something every day.

• Another 3,000 people just browse and drink coffee.

Crazy, eh??

After having lunch at the wide variety of street vendors in downtown Portland ($5 for a whole tub of mango coconut chicken curry!), we headed to the Rose Garden, which is home to an international test garden (testing site for new varieties of roses). Wandering through the garden, you will see all colors and smell varying scents. With the sun setting, and the city below as a backdrop, photographers take advantage of the perfect lighting while locals perused the various types of roses.

After a relaxing stroll, we headed to Laurelwood Public House for dinner, where Mark discovered one of his favorite brews: Space Stout. From the website: "Space Stout is dominated by rich coffee and chocolate malt flavors. Nearly opaque, his is a creamy full-bodied ale. Our stout finishes dry and roasty." It won a gold medal in the 2004 World Beer Cup, and was an excellent finish to our day.

The next morning, we headed to the Columbia River Gorge, just east of Portland. The 80-mile stretch forms the border between Oregon and Washington. History says that glacial floods carved the 1200-mile Columbian River. On either side, cliffs rise as high as 4000 feet. Along the way are breath-taking waterfalls, pouring into the river. Oregon's beauty gave us a nice farewell, as we headed north.

Technology: -2

The story of the lost laptops is not as dramatic as it could be to justify losing technological instruments. None-the-less, here it is:

Mark and Lindsay were sharing a campsite with newly-met friends. One afternoon, while packing the car for a trip to the library, Lindsay placed the laptop bag next to her new friend's SUV and informed her of its position. Conversation with this new friend was quite engaging, and continued, as the sun heated up the campsite. Prior to departure in the SUV, Lindsay requested to move her car into the shade so that it didn't get too hot during the outing. (Temperatures in the park reached the 100's during the day.) Her friend offered to move the SUV so Lindsay had more room for her car. Lindsay pulled her car up, and watched as her friend reversed, bumping extensively. Lindsay thought: "Gosh, I hope her nice offer didn't result in her driving into a ditch." Shortly after, Lindsay's friend walked over to her, carrying the laptop bag, which had a few extra tire marks.

Mark's laptop held up relatively well, considering. It turns on, but the screen is destroyed. Lindsay's laptop, on the other hand, is kaput. Fortunately, we found a temporary replacement in the form of an Acer notebook. With Taiwan doing 70% of its manufacturing, Acer keeps their prices low, which suited us perfectly.

Now, we're on to Portland!

Lindsay's Favorite Stop

We said farewell to our cushy bed and headed up California Route 1: a winding road up the coast. It was beautiful, and although we snapped pictures, the crisp humid air and chilly breeze simply could not be caught on film.

Along the way, we stopped at a road-side BBQ tent for a sandwich for Mark, which he nicely shared with Lindsay. The juicy meat ran down the sandwich (and our arms), dripping onto the paper wrapper. The crisp bread was crunchy on top, having been brushed with water before placed in the oven - an interesting idea, with a tasty result. The sandwich was an unexpected, delightful treat.

The Redwoods National Forest was a planned stopped, but it's experiencing its intense magnificence was not planned or expected. Walking through the Lady Bird Johnson Grove (just north of Orick, CA), we felt like dwarfs beneath the towering trees. These Coastal Redwoods were narrower and taller than their family-members, the Sequoiadendron giganteum (Giant Sequoias) that we had enjoyed in Southern Yosemite, and appeared to climb higher than any other tree we had seen. Giant Sequoias are the largest trees in terms of mass in the world, and Coastal Redwoods are one of the tallest.

Our last stop before departing California was Fern Canyon. The link provided describes it as "a narrow canyon where the walls are completely covered by luxuriant ferns. and mosses and are dripping with moisture," which is pretty accurate. The Lost World: Jurassic Park was filmed there. For Star Wars fans, it is rumored that part of the Ewok village was also filmed there. At any moment, we anticipated seeing a dinosaur turn the corner, or Luke Skywalker go flying by.

Moving north...but before we do, the laptop story is up next...

Wine Country

Heading towards the Pacific Northwest, we stopped in the San Francisco area and enjoyed an authentic, delicious lunch at Vik's, a recommended Indian restaurant in Berkeley. In a cafeteria setting, surrounded by Indian folks, and listening to music in Hindi, Mark felt like he was back in India.

After lunch, we walked around the UC Berkeley campus where we read a few international newspapers that they had displayed outside the Student Center. It was fascinating to see what was happening in the world on Friday, July 16th.

In the afternoon, we headed to the Wine Country Inn, a precious bed and breakfast in Somona County (Napa Valley-wine country). As a generous gift, we had received a night stay there, and the wine-tasting and appetizers welcomed us warmly! We were so relaxed, we forgot to take any pictures, but you can get a feel for the place by clicking on the "Wine Country Inn" link above.

Half Dome

If you saw the title ("Half Dome") of this blog entry and did not know to what we were referring, let us introduce you to magnificent Yosemite Valley.

Yosemite National Park is complete with waterfalls,

the Giant Sequoias,

and beautiful hikes.

Mark's folks had flown out for a vacation in California and met us in Yosemite for 4 relaxing days. We rented a cabin in the woods

and hiked each day. Mark's mom's favorite end-of-the-hike activity was a stop at a nearby stream to soak our tired feet. It was bliss!

After saying farewell to Mark's folks, we headed out to the backcountry in Yosemite to camp in solitude for 4 days.

Alive in Death Valley

California is amazing because in a mere 80-mile stretch are the lowest (Death Valley) and highest (Mount Whitney) points in the continental U.S. We were blessed to see both from the road.

We reached a negative 41-foot altitude as we crossed Death Valley. Then we climbed to around 4ooo feet and observed the 14, 505 foot-peak of Mount Whitney. Incredible!

We found a National Forest land campsite, which was free. The downside was the fact that we failed to noticed the stagnant pool about 10 feet away. Needless-to-say, the mosquitoes were numerous and persistent; however, we learned new ways to avoid them and dive into our tent before they had too much time to follow.

The Quietest 4th of July

After adventures in Zion, we headed to Bryce Canyon National Park to camp in a nearby National Forest and rest for a view days. Our first morning was the 4th of July and was the most silent 4th of July each of us had ever experienced. Though, we greatly appreciated the rest time!

Bryce Canyon with all of the Hoodoos, was amazing!

No, Lindsay! Don't push it!

After a few days, relaxing, followed by hiking, we headed to Nevada

for a quick stop at the Hoover Dam,

Then, it was off to Las Vegas, where we cleaned up and enjoyed an evening out.

Where Are We Now?

We suppose you have been wondering this...We have so many fun adventures about which to blog, but we had a bit of a snafu with our laptops...they got run over. We'll divulge the story another time, but for now, we simply wanted to let everyone know that we are visiting the Redwoods National Forest today (Sunday), then head north. Over the next two weeks, we are off to Portland, Vancouver (BC), Bellingham, and Seattle. Then it's off to Glacier and Yellowstone! We'll update with pictures and stories as soon as possible. Hasta pronto!

Zion (in Utah)

Zion National Park is so breath-taking, we thought it deserved a post of its own. We headed into Utah, knowing that the Zion Canyon and a short back-country trip awaited us.

After securing our back-country pass, we headed into the Canyon to hike two trails:
Angels Landing (pictures to come) - involved hiking a very narrow rim to the summit
Emerald Pools (pictures to come)

The next day, we were off with newly-met friends (Bob and Dawn) to hike into the back-country. We chose to hike The Narrows from the top (a 2-day trip). We had reserved campsites a 1/2 mile apart (#5 & #8), so each couple slept to the sound of a rushing river, chilly canyon weather, and solitude.

Day #1 was wet to our waists. Day #2 involved swimming with our packs on. As the tallest in the group, Mark often went first to test the depths, and in several cases, simply decided to float his pack as he waded through the water.

After two very long days, energized by Mountain House meals and peanut butter & jelly, Lindsay started to think she was smelling chocolate. To her, the red and green pebbles beneath the water began to look like tiny M&Ms. So, after a celebratory dinner out, we ended our day with a piece of rich, chocolate cake. Yum!

We cannot wait to share pictures because the trip was wet, narrow, and thrilling! For now, please click on The Narrows for Zion National Park pictures of The Narrows.

On Friday (July 2), Mark went rappelling with Bob, while Dawn and I rested. It was a great day for all of us!

Saturday (July 3), we depart Zion so that we may explore several of Utah's many fine parks (Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef, Arches, etc.), then it's off for a night in Las Vegas. Stay tuned!

Grand Things in Arizona

After our NM stops, we headed to Mesa, Arizona where we visited with Mark's Uncle Harold. Uncle Harold welcomed us graciously into his home. We shared conversation and learned that we had quite a lot in common with this fit great uncle, from healthful eating habits to staying physically fit (although Uncle Harold has us beat right now because he lifts weights regularly, including dips!). Mark assisted Uncle Harold with several computer questions he had, and Uncle Harold shared stories about his life in Arizona. We were fascinated to learn about his being a vegetarian for over 50 years, his time as a Marine, his work in construction, his life as a father, among many more topics. Needless-to-say, we were reluctant to leave, but the Grand Canyon awaited, and we headed on.

We camped for two nights at the South Rim, which we enjoyed. We hiked the Hermit Trail and the South Kaibab Trail.

Our favorite, though, was the North Rim, where we had booked a short 1-night stay. Lindsay's favorite hike became the North Kaibab Trail. Pictures to come!

We headed to Lake Powell (on the Arizona-Utah border) for one night because we had booked a flight lesson to get a bird's eye view of this unbelievable landscape. On Monday morning, Lindsay was back in the left seat of a Cessna 172. Our flight instructor (Dan) from American Aviation was kind enough to take pictures, so Lindsay could fly the whole time. Pictures to come...

Roadtrip, Off to NM

We have finally headed out on the U.S. portion of our travels. First stop: Carlsbad, NM where we hiked into the immense caverns.

Then, it was off to White Sands, NM, with an overnight camping trip in the National Forest around chilly 8000' Cloudcroft, NM. It was an amazingly beautiful spot, complete with serenity. Of course, the wildlife (coyotes) made themselves known with a few howls in the middle of the night, making us feel a part of nature!

Our morning visit to White Sands was a take-your-breath-away experience. The white sand with the mountain backdrop was surreal.

We have not been able to upload pictures, or get on internet very frequently, so please click on the links above to see pictures of these amazing creations.