| Travel Log | Home Itinerary Travel Log Pictures Map |
| West Lafayette, IN | (Done) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Imperial, MO | Thursday 06-23-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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We slept in just a little bit on Thursday before leaving the house. Our first stop was the storage facility
where Crystal's parents stored some of her things when cleaning out the house. After that we were on our way
to St. Louis and the zoo.
Despite some significant traffic on I64 into the city we arrived at Forest Park about two hours after leaving Columbia. Instead of paying the nine dollar parking fee we parked a block away and walked to the entrance. The St. Louis Zoo is free, and yet is still considered one of the best in the country. We had decided in San Diego that we would skip the zoo there (instead going to Sea World) and come to the St. Louis Zoo. Among other things, we visited the insectarium (including the butterfly house), the herpetarium, the primate house, the big cats, and the elephants. After around three hours we left and headed over to I55 South to the Arnold, MO area. We stopped to get gas and then visited my grandparents and Aunt Judy. Despite it being traffic time, it didn't take us much more than 30 minutes or so to get there. We talked with them for over an hour before heading over to my Uncle Terry and Aunt Diane's house where we were staying the night. They also prepared a delicious meal for us, including barbequed pork chops with corn on the cob. Between this meal and those from Dan and Michaela and my parents we've eaten incredibly well the past few days. Aunt Nancy also joined us for dinner and the conversation following. |
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| Columbia, MO | Tuesday 06-21-2005 and Wednesday 06-22-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday dear Crystal... Happy birthday to you!
On the 21st Crystal turned 22, and for her birthday she got: a long drive to Columbia. We left a very warm Oklahoma City to begin the trek back to Columbia. After fighting through a lot of traffic in the Kansas City area (due to a large number of accidents - including one in which a truck spilled corn syrup all over I70 - it took us over 80 minutes to travel the approximately 30 miles around KC) we arrived in Columbia and headed straight to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and trivia with the people we used to play with when I was still at Mizzou. After leaving BWW we headed over to Bryan's house to hang out for a while, and then on to Crystal's sister Jamie's house to see her. Since Crystal's parents cleared out her house to get ready to sell she stayed over at my parents' house that evening. We got in around 1:00 in the morning and went straight to bed. On Wednesday morning we both slept in before heading over to Crystal's house to pick up a few of her things that her parents had left behind. We then headed to the MU campus where I saw some of my old coworkers and then back home for dinner. Mom and Dad cooked a great meal of paprika chicken over rice with brocolli, salad, and spice cake for dessert. We played cards (Spades and Oh Hell) for a while before going to bed. |
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| Oklahoma City, OK | Monday 06-20-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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So far on this trip we've managed to stay mostly injury free. We've had some mosquito bites and some twisted
ankles from walking on rough and steep trails, but they've been very infrequent. This morning we managed to
both injure ourselves, though not severely. Last night when we got in there was barely any sunlight left but
we were able to get the tent up quickly (less than 10 minutes) and incident free. However, this morning, in
the bright sunlight, Crystal kicked a cactus (wearing sandals and getting some needles stuck in a couple of
toes) while taking down the tent. Somehow, we had avoided this fairly sizable cactus in the dark but couldn't
in the daylight. Then, after helping her with some antibiotic ointment and bandaids for her toes, I managed to
give myself a nasty papercut putting our portable medicine cabinet (a tupperware container) back in the car.
We took this as a sign it was time to go home.
After recovering from our injuries we left the park and headed towards Oklahoma City. We had decided to stop by my brother Dan and his wife Michaela's new house in Oklahoma City on our way back to Columbia and then to West Lafayette. We drove through four states today, starting in Colorado and then going briefly through New Mexico and Texas before hitting Oklahoma. We got in to their house a little before 7:00. It was still hot. We did a pretty decent job of avoiding too much heat by heading south first and then north later in the trip, but coming back to the hot and humid midwest was a bit of a shock. We stopped for gas along the way and stepped into the nasty midwest summer climate for the first time in a while. Dan and Michaela were gracious enough to cook us a delicious dinner. It was most certainly welcome after many weeks of mostly deli or peanut butter sandwiches. We had steak, mashed potatoes, brocolli, and croissants for dinner. Then, as if that wasn't enough, we had apple crisp for dessert. We haven't eaten that well in a long long time. Many thanks to Dan and Michaela for a great time in Oklahoma City (not just for dinner: it was nice to see them since we haven't seen them in a long time). We were also able to meet Dan and Michaela's new puppy, Hailey. She greeted us when we first reached the door by urinating on the floor, and then flinging it around with her tail. Not fun. She is an Akita-lab mix, and at only six months old is already over 40 pounds. That is going to be one big dog. |
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| Lathrop State Park, CO | Sunday 06-19-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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After talking to the park attendant in the morning to figure out how to get a refund for my reservation fee
we headed east towards Cheyenne and stopped to get some ice for the cooler. After stopping there we jumped
on Interstate 25 south and crossed into Colorado. Our first stop in Colorado was Rocky Mountain National Park,
which we arrived at around 11:30 or so. We stopped at several of the lookout points through the main
highway through the park, and even saw a herd of elk cross the road no more than 50 yards from us. We had
seen them trying to cross for a while, but cars kept coming and scared them off. Eventually, another tourist
stopped traffic from one direction allowing them to cross over. Overall, the park wasn't as nice as some of
the others we have seen. Of course, this could also be a case of "scenic overload" as Crystal put it - after
seeing so many nice things over the course of 40 days it takes a lot to really strike you.
We left the park at around 3:00 and headed towards Colorado Springs. We first stayed in Colorado Springs to visit Pike's Peak and the Garden of the Gods in the middle of May. We were also smart enough to leave our pillows at the hotel. So once again we come through Colorado Springs (though this time just stopping in and not staying) to pick up our pillows which the hotel was gracious enough to hold onto this whole time. Getting here took a bit longer than expected. We ran into some significant traffic once we hit I70 west of Denver, and it took us nearly 40 minutes to go the first six or seven miles. We finally got to the city a little before 7:00 and stopped in a Panera so I could update the website. After stopping for 20-30 minutes we continued on towards Lathrop State Park in southern Colorado. We arrived not long before 9:00 in the evening and procedeed to quickly set up the tent as the sun slowly dipped below the horizon. |
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| Curt Gowdy State Park, WY | Saturday 06-18-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Saturday was a driving today. We had no real plans other than to get from one point to the next. We left the
resort mid-morning and headed down towards I80 in southern Wyoming. At one point we were sitting and waiting
for at least fifteen minutes in a construction zone. We've passed through a lot of construction zones on this
trip but it never really seems like anyone is working. It's no wonder how it takes forever to get anything done
on the highways.
Our campground is located right between the cities of Laramie and Cheyenne in the southeast portion of the state, not too far north of Colorado. We arrived at the campground in the evening after stopping in Laramie for some gas and grocery shopping. Once arriving at the campground we ran into some difficulties. I had made a reservation several days earlier through the state's park reservation center. I had told them I had a tent and they assigned me site #1 at the Tumbleweed Campground. The problem is that the Tumbleweed Campground is an RV only campground and that site #1 is no more than a large slab of concrete. Additionally, site #1 is the handicapped-accessible site. Apparently the reservation center either didn't know any of this information or didn't care to look at a map of the site. We were able to find a tent site with the help of the park attendant after several minutes of trying to figure out what we should do. So much for our reservation. |
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| Grand Targhee Resort, WY | Thursday 06-16-2005 and Friday 06-17-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I woke up early this morning to head over to get an oil change for the Camry. Traveling such large distances
really add up; it was only a couple weeks ago that I got the oil changed. I also got the oil changed just
before leaving West Lafayette, and I'll probably have to do it again soon after getting back.
After eating breakfast at the hotel and loading up the car we left for Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was the first national park, established in 1872. It was fairly busy while we were there, but overall it didn't seem as bad as some of the other parks. One of our first stops was at the Visitor's Center at Mammoth Hot Springs, and soon after we were walking through some pretty cool geological formations. Yellowstone sits on top of the most active volcanic region in the United States. This is very obvious walking around. You see boiling water and mud all over, and steam rising from the ground almost everywhere you go. The scent of sulfur and other pleasant smells linger in the air. Boiling water sits in colorful basins (due to the presence of bacteria you see blues, greens, yellows, oranges, and pinks) while steam rises from the top. We stopped by several major geyser and spring areas and walked around: at some the smell was so bad it could make you nauseous. We continued on through the day doing much of the same: walking around trails looking at colorful hot springs and geysers. Towards the end of our day we went down to Old Faithful. It erupted not too long after we arrived (the current time between eruptions is around 92 minutes), but was rather disappointing. We had expected a huge geyser, but this one seemed small. It is certainly possible we just happened to see one of its lesser eruptions. Although we had managed to avoid most rain while we were visiting parks it finally caught up to us. We were dodging raindrops throughout the entire afternoon. The forecast had called for isolated thunderstorms, and while nothing that came over the park was that severe, we did get rained on several times. We were able to see most everything that we wanted, even if it was a little bit wet. Throughout the day we saw many different forms of wildlife. Mule deer and bison were prevalent just about everywhere, and at one time a herd had surrounded the highway and came no more than three or four feet from cars parked on the side of the road. We also saw a few elk, including a couple young males with fuzzy antlers still forming. All of those were nice to see, but the best came just as we were leaving the park via the West Entrance. Up in a tree just off the road was a large nest where a couple of bald eagles were perched. Many cars had stopped to take pictures and watch, and we were no different. Although the bald eagle is our national bird and symbol, it's incredibly rare to actually see one and we considered ourselves quite lucky. We left the park and eventually arrived at our resort after a long drive (including one missed highway adding around 15 miles to our journey) through windy roads and dark towns. The resort is a ski resort located just at the base of some very nice mountains. On Friday we again headed south but this time to Grand Teton National Park. Grand Teton is actually the largest mountain in a range located in western Wyoming and just south of Yellowstone National Park. The park is much much smaller than Yellowstone; Grand Teton National Park is only around 20 miles from its south to north entrance. After stopping by the Visitor's Center we went to Jenny Lake. At the lake we walked along a trail that follows (more or less) the lakeshore out to an overlook of the lake. We estimated the round trip at about four miles - a little bit longer than we had anticipated. We got back to the car and then headed to Signal Mountain. There is a road that allows you to drive to the top of Signal Mountain and a lookout point there that provides nice views of the Teton Range as well as a valley to the other side. We ate lunch at the top of the mountain and on our way back down saw (from a significant and safe distance) a sunbathing bear. We were too far away to tell if it was a black bear or a grizzly bear, but it was huge. After heading back down to the main road we continued through the park, stopping at several waysides to look at the mountains. We started back to the resort around 3:30 in the afternoon, and after being delayed for quite a while by an extremely slow moving bus on the Teton Pass (a windy road through the mountain range) we got back a little after 5:00 for some much needed rest and relaxation. Throughout this trip we've run into quite a few people from the St. Louis area. When were outside walking around I usually wear my hat (a St. Louis Cardinals hat) to keep the sun off. During the past couple days alone we've talked with at least six individuals or couples who have commented on my hat and asked if we were from St. Louis. We even ran into a Mizzou Engineering grad from the 1980s who was visiting Sea World with his family (he had noticed my Mizzou Engineering t-shirt) and a guy today wearing Mizzou sandals. So far we haven't seen any Purdue gear and no one commented on my Purdue shirt when I wore it one day. |
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| Bozeman, MT | Wednesday 06-15-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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We left Kalispell headed down Highway 93 and were quickly slowed down by traffic. There was construction going
on for what seemed to be the entire 120 mile stretch of the highway from Kalispell down to Interstate 90. We
were stopped completely several times and it took us far too long to reach the interstate. Once we hit
I90 we were cruising along just fine. We stopped for a picnic lunch at a rest stop around 1:00 in the afternoon.
We continued on to Bozeman, but made a side trip to the Missouri Headwaters State Park. The Missouri River is the longest river in the United States, measuring 2341 miles long. It begins in southern Montana at the confluence of three rivers: the Madison, the Jefferson, and the Gallatin. It first heads north for several miles before continuing on east and south before hitting the Mississippi just north of St. Louis in Missouri. Each of the three rivers that join are fairly large, probably measuring between 30 and 50 feet across each, and each also quickly moving. The Missouri at its head is actually larger than I thought it would be. When we saw the beginnings of the Colorado River it was rather small; I was expecting similar here. We left the park and continuing on we arrived in Bozeman around 5:30 or so in the evening. We checked into the hotel and then ran across the street to do some laundry at the coin-op laundromat. |
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| Kalispell, MT | Monday 06-13-2005 and Tuesday 06-14-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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We woke up in the morning and enjoyed breakfast at the hotel. We crossed into Idaho not long after leaving the
hotel and then out of Idaho right about an hour later (Idaho is only 70 miles or so wide in the north) into
Montana.
Montana is known as Big Sky Country. Although the states nickname is officially "The Treasure State", I think Big Sky is more approppriate. The entire state has a population of under one million people with the fourth largest area (behind Alaska, Texas, and California) of all states. The visibility is really good and we could see mountains and hills far off into the distance with no significant decline in clarity (at least compared to other locations). On a side note, we're both disappointed we missed the earthquake in southern California. I've never felt an earthquake before, and while I don't want to be around for one of the massive ones that kill a bunch of people and cause a lot of damage, I would like to feel one. A couple years ago we went to one of the most earthquake- prone locations in the world in Tokyo and felt nothing during our week-long stay (one hit not long after we left). We left the southern California area just over a week ago after spending three earthquake-free days. As before, about a week after we left and earthquake hit. I suppose we might be able to feel one in the midwest if the New Madrid fault slips, but that hasn't done much for 100 years. The city of Kalispell is located just southwest of Glacier National Park. In fact, the actual name of the park is Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park - a joint park with Canada. We first ventured into the park briefly late Monday afternoon after checking into the hotel as we had some time before sunset. Our first stop in the park was at a large lake near the entrance. At the far end of the lake rises the mountains of the Continental Divide and includes several looming peaks. We drove up one of the park roads, stopping at several side points and even taking a short trail through a recently (2003) burned part of the forest. We headed back into Kalispell (around half an hour drive from the park entrance) just before sunset. Along the way back we drove through some rain, and just as the sun came out we saw a complete rainbow form just to the side of the highway. It was somewhat small (perhaps a copule hundred feet from base to base) but very bright. On Tuesday we headed back up into the park. We left the hotel before 8:00 AM and were soon exploring the park. Throughout the day we drove the entire length of the main road which includes Logan Pass, the road that goes straight through the mountains of the Continental Divide. Fortunately, the road was just opened again yesterday after being closed for several days due to ice, snow, and falling rocks. Early on the weather was beautiful. Although it was chilly early in the morning, but soon it warmed up and the sun shined down on us in 60 degrees for most of the day. The clouds started appearing in the middle of the afternoon and it started raining around 5:00. We were already headed out of the park by then so it wasn't a big deal. We got back to the hotel not long after 6:30 to eat dinner. Among other things today we saw many mountains and hills, a lot of waterfalls, and we even saw a nice array of wildlife. We saw squirrels and chipmunks, a fox, a snake (non-venomous), several bighorn sheep, and a couple of mountain goats hanging out on the road. |
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| Spokane, WA | Sunday 06-12-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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We left Mount Vernon in the morning headed to Spokane, but first we decided to waste half an hour searching
for a working air pump to check the tire pressure and (if needed) fill them up. We stopped by four gas
stations, but not one had a working air pump. The first we stopped at had a hose but no handle or other
way to turn on the air. The next had no air pump. The third had an air and water station but no hose for
the air. The fourth had a station with an "Out of Order" sign on it. It was quite frustrating. We decided
to just give up after going 0 for 4 and try tomorrow.
On our way east of Mount Vernon we passed through North Cascades National Park, stopping at several viewpoints and traversing one short trail. Heading farther east through Northern Washington we passed through many rolling hills. The scenery reminded me a lot of the default background image in Windows XP (apologies to the non-computer and Mac people who don't understand that). We got into Spokane relatively early and procedeed to do some grocery shopping to replenish some of our food supplies. We ate dinner at the hotel utilizing the microwave in our room and relaxed after several busy days. |
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| Mount Vernon, WA | Saturday 06-11-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Our first stop in the morning was at the Museum of Glass in downtown Tacoma, a city just south of
Seattle. As part of the area's revitalization, the museum opened just a couple years ago and features many
works (not just glass) of modern art. Most of the pieces are rather odd and not that good in my opinion, but
some of them are rather detailed and its surprising that they can make glass look like that. One unique feature
of the museum is that it includes a studio that visiting artists work in during the day that visitors can
watch. We observed an artist who used glass to create lifelike human heads.
After visiting the museum we headed down south to Mt. Rainier National Park. We went through some rain on the way in, and unfortunately, not long after stopping by the Visitor's Center a few miles into the park more clouds rolled in and it started raining even more. I guess we shouldn't have expected any less in the northwest. In fact, it's rained a significant portion of every day we've been in the area. Mt. Rainier is unique is that it rises farther above the surrounding land than (I think) any other mountain in the United States - over 10000 feet above the land. Even though it was very cloudy, we caught a (very small) glimpse of Mt. Rainier towering above us. Because it was so cloudy, we were rather shocked when we saw how high up it really was. Although we saw mountains just as high as the 14400 feet of Mt. Rainier in Colorado, we were already at an elevation of 8000 feet or higher so the mountain didn't nearly as large by comparison. However, our glimpse lasted only a couple of seconds before the clouds again hid our view. After leaving the park we headed up into downtown Seattle. In an area called Pioneer Square (the area of Seattle that the city was first founded) we took a tour of the Seattle Underground. A brief history: Seattle sits at sea level. In 1851 the city was founded and to raise it above the tides (Pioneer Square is in an old tide flat) they built the city on mounds of saw dust. Later, when the city burned down, the city declared that it would need to be built on bricks or stone. Eventually, when the buildings were rebuilt, the city decided to raise the streets higher and actually built roads ten or more feet above the entrances to the buildings. Some time later the space between the street and the buildings were covered (to make sidewalks) creating an underground area. We also learned some of the less savory historical things that went on in Seattle, including the history of prostitution in the area (during the Klondike gold rush it had more prostitution than any other city in the United States). After the tour we enjoyed our free drink at the bar we started the tour at (I had a beer, Crystal an apple martini) we headed up I5 to our hotel. |
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| Seattle, WA | Friday 06-10-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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We woke up in the morning and enjoyed a breakfast of Belgium waffles, oatmeal, English muffins and orange juice
at the continental breakfast provided by the hotel. After eating and packing up the car we headed out towards
the state of Washington and Mount St. Helens in a light rain.
We got to the Visitor's Center of Mt. St. Helens and talked with a lady inside for a few minutes. We left the Visitor's Center and headed toward the Windy Ridge Lookout near the volcano. After travelling for quite some time through windy roads we came to the lookout point and saw... a bunch of clouds. The volcano was completely covered with clouds and we were unable to see much but the base. Fortunately, the surrounding area included some nice features, including many stripped and felled trees from the eruption just over 25 years ago. We left Mt. St. Helens and headed towards Seattle. We passed through several bouts of rain and it never really stopped drizzling until we reached the hotel. |
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| Lincoln City, OR | Thursday 06-09-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Lincoln City is right about halfway between our last stop at Redwoods National Park and our next stop at Mt.
Rainier National Park in Washington state. We left the hotel just before noon, and after stopping to pick
up a few groceries we made it to Redwoods National Park. The redwood tree is the tallest living thing on
the planet - they can grow up to 360 feet tall. They can also live for a very long time; the oldest redwoods
can be up to 2000 years old. It really is quite impressive to see a forest of these giant trees towering
above you. Additionally, it was rather wet and we were often in a fog which produced some pretty cool
effects with the lighting and the trees.
The area of Redwoods National Park also includes several state parks to also help to preserve the redwood forests. After leaving the national park we made a couple stops in these state parks, including one to watch several elk grazing for a few minutes, followed by a stop to walk the Cathedral Trees trail. The main highlight of this trail is the Big Tree, an absolutely massive redwood tree (view pictures here and here). Although the tree was not as tall as some of the others we saw (it was however, very tall) it featured an extremely large base. Walking through forests of these massive trees, and especially when standing at the base of a giant one, really makes you feel quite small. After finishing the trail we continued up the highway towards Oregon. Since US 101 runs right along the Pacific coastline there are some very nice views of the ocean. We stopped at a couple of these, including one called Wilson Creek. We crossed into Oregon around 6:30 in the evening, and when stopping for gas discovered something very interesting (and rather confounding). In the state of Oregon it is against the law to pump your own gas, and violation of this law can be punishable by up to a $5000 fine and/or one year in jail. Additionally, depending on the type of gas station you stop at, the staff either are required to wash your windows are are not even allowed to, even if asked. Tell me how that makes any sense. |
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| Eureka, CA | Wednesday 06-08-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I was awakened early in the morning by the pitter-patter of tiny raindrops dancing on the cover of the tent. We
had managed to avoid most rain on this trip but today it would finally catch up to us. Although not significant,
it did rain mostly continuously from the time we got up in the morning to pack up the car (light drizzle) all the
way along the Us 101, also known as the Redwood Highway (light drizzle to moderate downpour), finally stopping
just minutes before reaching our destination in Eureka, CA.
Before leaving the park we stopped by a couple of locations. First was a creek, but it was actually more like a waterfall. After that, we got some gas near the park exit (and a good thing - the next gas station right outside the park had gas almost a full dollar higher per gallon). Coming out of the gas station parking lot we saw a rather large group of people gathered near a clearing. We parked the car and wandered over... in the clearing was a single bear. In addition to the bear, we managed to see, among other wildlife, a couple of young male deer (just sprouting their antlers) and a fox. It took us almost two hours just to get out of the park (we were camped in the south area, exited through the north). After a lengthy drive through some pretty land we pulled into Eureka around 8:00 in the evening. |
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| Yosemite National Park, CA | Monday 06-06-2005 and Tuesday 06-07-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ralph, we've found a great road for you and your motorcycle. Highway 49 winds itself (literally) south along
the western edge of Yosemite National Park, overlooking scenic mountain ranges and meadows. And it takes
forever to cover the short distance.
Yosemite is cold. Very cold - especially at night. We got into the park not long before sunset and it was already quite chilly. The shorts and t-shirts we were wearing were quickly changed to long underwear with sweatpants and double layers of sweatshirts (at least for one of us). We got the tent set up after starting a fire so we could cook dinner. We enjoyed a dinner of hot dogs followed by a dessert of hot chocolate. Our campsite is located a very short distance (100 yards or so) from a rather loud and fast moving stream. Because of above-average temperatures this spring the snow has melted faster than usual producing much more water flow than normal. This also means much more spectacular waterfalls. On Tuesday we went driving around the park, stopping at many of the vista points along the way. At Bridalveil Fall we stopped halfway up to the view point as we were already getting drenched by the spray. The park was also incredibly busy today, with some areas accessible only by shuttle because of the traffic. We had figured that visiting on a weekday we could avoid some of this, but unfortunately this is not the case. However, we were still able to see everything we wanted to see. After taking a short break at the lodge, we headed out to see Mirror Lake. We stopped by the trailhead and then hiked about two miles to get to the lake. Mirror Lake, not surprisingly, is known for its nice reflections of the surrounding area. There were some nice views, including reflections of some trees and mountains. After hiking back to the car, we spent a couple minutes trying to find our way back to the proper road to get to the campground. As there is a lot of construction going on (it seems to us they're changing a two way road that circles the main area of the park into a one way road) this was not as easy as it seems. Also, in keeping with the California tradition of confusing or non-existent signs, we were mostly left to our own devices. We stopped by a park ranger and he gave us the directions we needed. We stopped at a few viewpoints along the hour-long drive back to the campground, and were a little scared when we saw the forecasted low for the night was 33 degrees. Just above freezing. And we though last night (around 40) was cold enough. Regardless, we enjoyed a nice steak dinner (we figured we could treat ourselves after many days of ham and peanut butter sandwiches and hot dogs) with hot chocolate again as dessert. I was awakened early in the morning by the pitter-patter of tiny raindrops dancing on the cover of the tent. We had managed to avoid most rain on this trip but today it would finally catch up to us. Although not significant, it did rain mostly continuously from the time we got up in the morning to pack up the car (light drizzle) all the way along the Us 101, also known as the Redwood Highway (light drizzle to moderate downpour), finally stopping just minutes before reaching our destination in Eureka, CA. |
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| Napa Valley, CA | Saturday 06-04-2005 and Sunday 06-05-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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We left the hotel in Rohnert Park and went to the campground in Bothe-Napa Valley State Park to get everything set up. That way, we could spend
as much time in San Francisco as we wanted without having to worry about setting up a tent later that night. It
was a short drive over, and it didn't take us long to set up. We left the campground shortly after arriving to
head down to the city.
Our first stop in San Francisco was the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. This area is located primarily on the north side of the famous bridge, although there is a smaller area to the south as well. We took a short drive up a hill, stopping at several lookout points to view the bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge is probably the most famous bridge in the country (and possibly the world). It was considered impossible to build a bridge to span the one mile gap of the San Francisco Bay, but it was opened in 1937 ahead of schedule and under budget. The main span is around 4200 feet long, and currently costs $5.00 to cross into the city - there is no cost heading north out of the city. After crossing the bridge into San Francisco our first stop was Lombard Ave - the most crooked street in the world. This is the famous street so often found in pictures and paintings - a winding brick road surrounded by flowers heading down a steep hill. We went down the hill at the posted speed of only five mph. Not long after, we arrived at Fisherman's Wharf - a large shopping and dining area along the bay. In addition to shops and food, there are several companies that offer bay cruises and Alcatraz tours. We took one such tour, an hour long cruise around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge and back to the port. We saw the bridge from below, the outline of the city of San Francisco, and close-up views (although we did not stop on the island) of Alcatraz. A few other interesting things we saw on the cruise included a sea lion playing in the bay, many windsurfers zooming across the paths of oncoming boats, and a sail boat that looked as though it was about to capsize. The Golden Gate area is known for some of the best (or worst, depending on your point of view) winds around. After our cruise we walked down to Chinatown. We ate (a not so great) dinner at a restaurant there after walking around the area for a while. After dinner we headed back to the wharf area, stopping by to admire some street artists and performers before heading back to the car to return to the campground around midnight. Sunday was our day to drink wine. Napa Valley is famous world wide for some of the best wines (especially Cabernets), and while there are over 300 wineries and vineyards in the area, Napa Valley produces only 4% of the total wine output of the state of California. Arriving in the city of St. Helena in the morning, we walked around for an hour or so, stopping in several small shops and art galleries. Just after noon (and lunch) we stopped by the Tasting on Main shop for a wine tasting. Although they don't produce their own wine, they do have several wines to sample from the area wineries. Our samples included several fifty dollar bottles, and included such varieties as a Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon. After this stop, we headed over to the Niebaum-Coppola Winery. The Coppola is as in Francis Ford Coppola, the Oscar winning director of such films as The Godfather series and Apolalypse Now. Inside the beautiful grounds was a small museum dedicated to the original owners of the winery as well as some of his movies, and included such artifacts as the desk from The Godfather and the Academy Awards for the same film. After leaving the Niebaum-Coppola Winery we headed over to the Mumm Napa Winery, known for its sparkling wines. We took a tour of the grounds and learned about the sparkling-wine making process, enjoying a couple small flutes of bubbly on the terrace after the tour. Afterwards, we viewed some of the winery's art gallery (featuring works of Ansel Adams) and then headed down to the town of Napa for some much needed laundering of clothes. We headed back to the campground around seven in the evening. We were awaken the morning we were to leave (as well as the previous morning) around 7:00 by an incessantly crying and whining child. The campground next to us was very close, and their parked car was probably no more than 30 feet or so from our tent. The following conversation seemed rather typical of what we heard for two straight early mornings for over an hour:
After a while we woke up and loaded up the car. Instead of heading straight to Yosemite, we stopped in St. Helena briefly at a store to pick up a magnet (I've been collecting magnets from our major stops) and a couple of postcards, and then at the post office to send some postcards out and one credit card payment out. We then stopped again in Napa for a little grocery shopping before leaving that town around 1:30 to head to Yosemite National Park. |
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| Rohnert Park, CA | Friday 06-03-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rohnert Park is a small town not too far north of San Francisco and just west of Napa Valley. We basically
just used it as a stopping point after a long drive in from the Los Angeles-San Diego area. We didn't do much
at all in Rohnert Park - just replenished our water supply, showered, and slept before leaving the next morning
to head to our campground in Napa Valley.
We did see some interesting things along the highway up to the area though. First of all, we had to go through L.A. It would have been nice to be able to go around it, but there really isn't any good way to get around Los Angeles. We took Interstate 5 through the city, and while we did get slowed down somewhat, we didn't hit any major traffic. It was probably close to 2 hours or so after we left our campground in the morning that we got through Los Angeles. Driving up I5 we did see a few fires. Both were in grasslands areas (and not forests), but one was pretty large, and very close to the southbound lanes. Fire crews were on the scene, and we even saw a helicopter filling up its bucket with water from the nearby aqueduct. In addition to the fires we also saw a couple significant dust storms, but fortunately none right by the highway. |
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| Doheny State Beach, CA | Tuesday 05-31-2005 through Thursday 06-02-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I've been due for an oil change for a little while now (travelling across the country really puts the miles on),
so we decided to stop in Yuma, AZ to get it changed and to do some grocery shopping. We got into town around
noon and filled up on gas (we figured we'd try to avoid the California gas prices as long as possible).
Stopping by a Walmart, we dropped the car off and then got something to eat. We returned to Walmart, did some
grocery shopping, and finally left town around 2:30 in the afternoon.
We entered crossed the Colorado River and entered California shortly afterward in a 100 degree heat. We passed through an inspection station (looking for produce, plants, and animals, presumably primarily for people returning coming in from Mexico) and then passed by the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area. What we saw was impressive, but we both agreed that the White Sand Dunes National Monument was nicer looking with its bright white sand (Imperial Dunes had the more standard beach-type light brownish sand). We hit the San Diego area right around the after work rush hour. We never went too far into the city, but rather tried to stay on the outskirts as much as possible (we did enter the city limits). We hit some significant traffic, but never really dropped below 30 mph and didn't even stay that slow for very long. We got to the area of California where Doheny State Beach is by around 6:00. We made it to Highway 1 and started looking for signs to point us to the beach. We saw one telling us to be in the left lane, but that was the last we saw. Nothing more. After several minutes wandering, we pulled into a beach area (Capistrano Beach) and asked someone working there how to get to Doheny State Beach. Following his directions we ended up in the same place as before, with the same sign telling us to be in the left lane. At the next intersection, we turned left instead of going straight (there was no sign to be seen). After turning, there was another sign pointing us to Doheny State Beach. It would have been nice to have sign to tell us to actually turn left, not just be in the left lane. Maybe we should have figured it out... We got into the campground and set up the tent. After checking out the beach (the ocean is only about 100 yards away from our campground) we cooked and ate dinner and then took much-needed showers (the campground the previous night had no shower facilities). On Wednesday we headed down to San Diego to Sea World. We spent the entire afternoon there, and saw several of the animal shows, including ones with the killer whales (including Shamu), the dolphins, and the sea lions. We also saw several other animal species, including various types of rays (which we both got to touch and Crystal was even able to feed one), eels, seals, many fish, polar bears, penguins, flamingos and other birds, a walrus, and a beluga whale. We left Sea World and headed to downtown San Diego and the Gaslamp Quarter. This is an historic section of downtown San Diego with many shops, restaurants, and other things to do. We left to head back to the campground, arriving after an hour drive shortly before midnight. Thursday we went to Los Angeles. Our first stop was Hollywood Boulevard. Along Hollywood Blvd is the famous Walk of Fame - the stars on the sidewalks with names of people not just from movies, but also from television, radio, and theatre. We also stopped by Grauman's Chinese Theatre, a location home to many movie premiers. On the walkways in front of the theatre are signatures, hand, and foot prints in the concrete from many famous actors and actresses, including the casts of Star Wars and Star Trek, Frank Sinatra, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Red Skelton, and many others. A few people seemed like they didn't belong, but for the most part it was a lot of major movie stars and directors/producers. We also passed by the Kodak Theatre - the location the Academy Awards are held. From a walkway in a nearby shopping center we were even able to see the famous white "Hollywood" on the hills. After Hollywood we went to downtown Los Angeles. Traffic was significant, but not as bad as we were expecting. We drove through some of the major buildings, passing by the Disney Theatre. We drove through parts of Little Tokyo and Chinatown but neither seemed safe enough to really stop. We then headed out (during traffic time) towards Knott's Berry Farm. Los Angeles is a huge area, a nonstop swath of city. It took us almost an hour and a half to cover probably 10 to 15 miles. The interstates were incredibly slow and the city streets weren't too much better. At Knott's Berry Farm we enjoyed dinner at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant, and then headed back to the campground. We spent some time on the beach in the evening watching the waves and later went to bed. On Friday we had to pack up the car to get ready to leave. We were even lucky enough to get some sunshine - on the day we were leaving. We went down to the beach for a little bit before we left, finally heading out around noon. I have a few things I need to complain about California: |
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| Organ Pipe Cactus, AZ | Monday 05-30-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Organ Pipe National Monument is one of the only locations in the United States where you can find the Organ
Pipe Cactus - a large cactus (the biggest were ~20 feet tall) that along with a central base includes several
arms arcing up towards the sky (something like a bloomin' onion). They are mostly found in Mexico, but can
be found in this relatively small section of southern Arizona.
We got into the campground around 6:30 in the evening after a drive through Saguaro Cactus forests. We actually saw more healthy-looking Saguaro cacti on the drive to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument than we did in Saguaro National Park. In Organ Pipe there were a lot of large and impressive Saguaro cacti as well. We set up the tent and then walked around the campground a bit, checking out the various plants. Not long after we watched the sun set beyond the cacti and the mountains. We got up early in the morning (~5:00) to catch the sunrise over the mountains, hoping to be able to see some of the animals and blooming flowers that only come out in the cool of night. While we didn't see many animals except for a couple of rabbits and a few birds (unfortunately, no snakes, scorpions, coyotes, or anything else exciting). We did walk around for a while and saw a nice sunrise, returning to sleep for an hour or so in the tent until it got too warm to sleep. We got up and packed up the car, stopping by the Visitor's Center before leaving around 9:00 headed towards the beach and California. |
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| Sierra Vista, AZ | Sunday 05-29-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Since we stopped by White Sands National Monument and Carslbad Caverns National Park it seems like we were
driving a lot longer than we actually were. However, 668 miles in one day is quite a bit. We would have liked
to go a little bit slower (maybe splitting it into 2 days) but because of reservations restrictions in Las
Vegas and Doheny State Beach (California) we were forced into a tight schedule for a few days.
Leaving Sierra Vista we first went east to stop by Bisbee, AZ. Bisbee is an old mining town, from which thousands of tons of material (primarily copper, gold, and silver) were removed from the area. If I remember correctly, at its height there were over 90 active mines and 2500 miles of tunnels in the area. We took a tour of the Queen Mine, a mine that shut down many years ago (in the 1940s). We were each given a jacket, helmet, and light with a belt attached to a belt. We started off going 300 feet into the mine where we stopped for several minutes to observe a mining room complete with some equipment (drills) and many supporting structures composed of very strong wood (8x8, 10x10, and 12x12 posts). We continued into the cold (47 degrees) mine to a depth of 1500 feet from the entrance. Here, we observed some more materials used in the mine including carts to carry the rock and a 100 pound bicycle used by the boss to travel along the rails to check in on all of the miners. After the tour, we stopped briefly to check out the Lavender Mine (named for a person, not the color), a large pit over several hundred acres that was used primarily for mining copper (and still gets over 10 tons of coppper each day through a leaching process). After Bisbee we headed up toward Tucson, AZ and stopped into Saguaro National Park. It was actually quite disappointing - many of the large cacti seemed sickly (brownish and very holed). We didn't stay long, leaving in the middle of the afternoon toward Organ Pipe National Monument in southern Arizona. |
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| Alamogordo, NM | Saturday 05-28-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Since we stopped by Petrified Forest National Park it seemed as though it took a lot longer than it actually
did to reach Alamogordo. It was actually much closer to seven hours so as we spent several hours in the park
and lost an hour going into New Mexico (most of Arizona, like Indiana, remains on the same time year-round).
Along the way into Alamogordo we saw some pretty cool stuff. We passed by and through some storm systems and were able to see some nice lightning and cloud formations. We did drive through some rain (and even some hail) but nothing too severe. Near the intersection of highways 380 and 54 (the same 54 as in MO) we passed by the Valley of Fire - a section of land covered in volcanic lava flow and surrounded by old volcanoes. Additionally, we passed by the V.L.A. - the Very Large Array of satellite dishes the USA uses to receive astronomical information from its satellites orbiting the Earth. Near Alamogordo is White Sands National Monument - a fairly large area consisting of dunes of white sand. We stopped by the park on Sunday morning on our way towards Calsbad Caverns. We got to the park just after 8:00 in the morning, expecting to be able to check out the Visitor's Center before exploring the park but instead the Visitor's Center didn't open until 9:00, so we first explored the park. We took a couple of small trails through the nature area before heading to the recreation area. This area includes a bunch of picnic tables and huge dunes of sand that you can climb on, play in, and sled down (just like snow). Some of them are pretty large, by my estimate 30 feet high or so. The sand is also incredibly fine and the park impeccably clean - there were no worries at all walking through the sand without shoes or sandals. It's just like a hilly beach, only without an ocean. Since we were also there fairly early in morning the sand was still nice and cool. We left the park around 11:00 to head southeast to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Carlsbad Caverns is known for its impressive cave system. We arrived around 2:30 or so after a longer than expected drive though twisty mountain highways (climbing up to over 8500 feet elevation before falling back to around 4300 feet at the Caverns). We took a couple of self-guided trails through the caves. There were a lot of interesting features, including many very large stalagmites and stalactities, as well as soda straw features (the thin rocks hanging from the ceiling that resemble thin icicles). We left the park at just after 5:00 in the afternoon and headed towards Sierra Vista in Arizona to stay the night. On our way to Sierra Vista (just southwest of Carslbad Caverns) we passed by Guadalupe Mountains National Park in the north of Texas with some beautiful rolling hills and towering mountains in the background. We caught a bit of rain a little further on, but most of the storms were off in the distance. We pulled into the hotel in Sierra Vista around midnight local time (gaining an hour going west into Arizona). One thing you really notice about the national parks is the different groups of people that you see. Especially at the Grand Canyon, but to a lesser extent at the other parks as well, you see a great diversity in the people there. There even became a time where we were a little surprised to hear others speaking English. By far most of the other visitors are speaking Spanish (and in fact, almost all of the parks in the Southwest have everything listed in both Spanish and English), however there are a great deal of others. Besides English and Spanish, I would have to say that Japanese, German, and French are the most common (in that order). Another thing that you notice is the lack of respect a lot of people have for the parks. The rules are very clear, but you see a lot of people just ignoring them. You might think that inability to understand English may be the primary hindrance, but we hear a lot of people speaking English (both with and without an accent) that ignore the rules. Is it really that hard to not climb all over the petrified wood? Or to not use your flash on your camera in the caves? We have a pretty nice national park system here, and for only fifty dollars (the cost of an annual pass to the national parks and monuments) Crystal and I will be able to visit some of the best parts of our country (and the world). I'd like it to be there, as the park ranger said today, for my children to be able to enjoy them as they look today. |
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| Holbrook, AZ | Friday 05-27-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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There isn't really anything exciting about Holbrook, AZ. In fact, the only reason we stayed here is because
it's a good stopping point on the way to southwest New Mexico, and its only half an hour or so from Petrified
Forest National Park. We got in Friday evening and just basically relaxed. After several days of walking
miles and miles in Las Vegas it was nice to take a break. We replenished our supply of water on Friday night
and got ready to head out the next morning.
We left the hotel at not long around 8:30 in the morning and arrived at Petrified Forest National Park at around 9:00 or so. At the north end of the park is the Painted Desert area (named thus by a Spanish explorer in the 1500s - desierto pintado); the petrified wood is mostly towards the southern end. You (as I did before coming here) might think that petrified wood isn't all that exciting, but there was some pretty cool stuff. What makes it better is that the wood is not just petrified, it's crystallized and colorful. It was formed when large pine type trees were felled by water and sank to the bottom, eventually covered by layers of ash and other sediment. Silica rich water seeped into the wood and over time formed quartz crystals. The presence of other minerals (including iron and manganese) helped produce colors including yellows, reds, and purples. In the park we stopped at several viewpoints and walked a few of the shorter trails. We left the park at around 12:30 in the afternoon headed to Alamogordo, NM. |
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| Las Vegas, NV | Tuesday 05-24-2005 through Thursday 05-26-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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We decided to take a different path to Las Vegas because of construction and security checkpoints near the
Hoover Dam. We both figured it would probably be faster to go a bit farther in distance but avoid the
construction. Driving in we went through quite a few elevation changes. We started at a little over 7000
feet near the Grand Canyon. At Bullhead City near the border of Arizona and Nevada we had dropped over a mile
to just around 500 feet above sea level. Las Vegas sits at around 2000 feet, which meant a 1500 foot climb.
We got into Las Vegas in the middle of the afternoon and checked into the Stratosphere. One
unfortunate setup of Las Vegas hotels/casinos is that to get to your room you typically have to walk through
the casino. I know that is the point - but it's still very annoying to have to drag all your luggage through
the casino.
Another annoying thing happened. After we had dropped off some stuff in the car we went back for some more. When we got back to the room, our keycards wouldn't work. We called the front desk, and they sent a security guy up to check it out. His master key wouldn't work. After sitting around for a few more minutes, it was determined that a locksmith would be needed to drill out the lock - of course this also meant that we couldn't get to any of our stuff in the room, which included Crystal's ID (very important in a gambling town) and all of our clothes. We were given another room to stay in until we could get our stuff out. Two hours later we were finally able to get all of our things. I talked to the manager and we were upgraded to a nicer room and given a mini fridge for free (nice for all of our cold-needing camping food and drinks). That night we went out and did a little gambling (only a couple dollars) before going to bed pretty early. Several days of getting up and going to bed early has taken its toll. On Wednesday we decided to head downtown. We stopped into several casinos, including the Horseshoe (where the World Series of Poker is held), the California, Fremont, 4 Queens, and Lady Luck. Crystal won some money, and while I came out down I did manage to hold my own at the blackjack table for almost an hour. After a quick workout at the gym at the hotel we headed out to Ferraro's where we had dinner reservations. Wednesday night, after getting back from dinner, we decided to walk the strip. We went through quite a few casinos - not gambling but just looking around. A few we visited included Circus Circus, Treasure Island, Caesar's Palace, and Bellagio. We stopped to see a short circus show at Circus Circus, a pirate show at Treasure Island, and the fountain show at Bellagio (we actually saw two). We were getting pretty tired and walked back to the hotel, arriving near midnight. On Thursday we decided to see the rest of the strip, but first we headed to the top of the Stratosphere Tower. For staying at the hotel, we were "given" (after paying a required five dollar "resort fee") tickets to be able to go to the top of the tower. The Stratosphere Tower is like the Seattle Space Needle for Las Vegas - only the one in Vegas is actually taller. The views were okay, but we both agreed that the views from the Tokyo Tower in Japan (we saw in our trip two years ago) were definetely better. Instead of walking the entire distance of the strip twice (down and back) we took the trolley to the far end, intending to walk back. It was hot and sunny, but we were in and out of air conditioned casinos and other buildings all day long so it wasn't too bad. We visited, among others, Mandalay Bay, the Luxor (the big pyramid), New York New York, the Venetian, and the brand-new, billion-dollar Wynn Casino (in which we got lost for a while trying to find our way out of). In the Venetian we checked out the waterways in which they run the gondolas (complete with singing gondoleers) and then enjoyed a few minutes of an opera singer (who finished her short set beautifully with Time to Say Goodbye) followed by a trio of musicians. At first, there was just this single elderly man (I'd guess at least 75 years old - possibly more) playing the accordian. It took me a couple moments, but I finally recognized he was playing the theme to The Godfather. He was soon joined by a cellist and a flutist to complete the trio. After walking back to the hotel (our hotel is at one end of the strip - overall it's probably near five miles or so from one end to the other) we changed clothes and headed downtown to Freemont Street. Freemont Street is a unique experience. For those of you unfamiliar, Freemont Street is a street in downtown Las Vegas. What I'm actually referring to is the Freemont Street Experience. It's a long section encomposing entrances to many casinos and other locations and is completely covered by what is essentially a giant (think of an inverted half-pipe several hundred yards long and 50 yards wide) big screen television. Every hour or so they show short (5-10 minutes) presentations on the big screen. We saw two while we were there - one about aliens attacking the Earth and the Earth defending itself and the other a patriotic show. It's pretty impressive to see the entire sky light up. After leaving Freemont Street we headed back to New York New York. We had a couple of free tickets to the Coyote Ugly bar (the original New York City bar made famous in a movie a couple years ago was the model for this one) and decided to check it out. We stayed for about an hour or so before heading back to the hotel and going to bed. Friday morning we packed up and loaded the car. Instead of heading straight out back towards Arizona, we stopped by Ethel M's Chocolate Factory and Cactus Garden. After a short self-guided tour of the factory we saw the Cactus Garden - a collection of cacti and other desert plants from all over the world (including South America and the Middle East). We decided to pass on buying some chocolate - typical prices were almost thirty dollars per pound. We left shortly after noon in a warm 100 degree heat. A few observations from my first trip to Las Vegas: |
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| Grand Canyon, AZ | Saturday 05-21-2005 through Monday 05-23-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Since we had a short drive (it's less than 150 miles from Flagstaff area to the Grand Canyon) we decided to
take a side trip. We drove southwest of Flagstaff through Sedona, Jerome, and Prescott. We didn't do much
in Sedona or Prescott, but in Jerome we visited an old mine and ghost town. It was somewhat interesting, but
seemed to "perfect" to really be a ghost town. By that, I mean it just seemed too purposely put together
that it seemed almost fake.
We arrived to Grand Canyon National Park on Saturday evening. We needed to do some laundry and take showers (the last campground we were at had no shower facilities) so we headed to the laundromat/showers (same building) and spent a couple hours getting everything done there. When we got back after dark, we set up the tent by using light from the car's headlights. On Sunday we headed out to see the actual Grand Canyon. We caught the shuttle in the morning (there is a free shuttle bus that takes you to the major points) and headed to one of the major lookout points. This day we were pretty much on the east side of the South Rim. To be honest, neither Crystal or I were very impressed. The visibility wasn't that great, and we just didn't think it was all that great. We did come back out for a nice sunset that evening. On Monday we got up very early in the morning (approximately 4:00 AM local time) and headed out to Yaki Point (the far east of the South Rim area) to catch the sunrise. We saw a nice sunrise over the canyon, and got back to the campsite around 6:00 or so and slept for the next couple hours. When we woke back up we packed up a bunch of gatorade, water, and some food, and headed out to explore the west section of the South Rim area. We caught the shuttle, and then walked from the first point to the other (not quite 1 mile). We both liked the west side much more than the east side - it was just a lot nicer. We ended up stopping at all of the lookout points, walking another mile or so along the rim from one to another. We went back to the campsite and spent some time cleaning up the car and getting everything together. During our time at the Grand Canyon we were fortunate enough to see some nice wildlife. There were plenty of lizards (almost like squirrels in the midwest), some chipmunks and squirrels as well. We saw some different birds (some more colorful species), and we even lucky enough to see two elk one afternoon. It's quite rare to see elk out during the daytime, especially as hot as it was (there were record temperatures set). Unfortunately, we did not get to see some animals that I was hoping to be able to see, including a scorpion (not in a sleeping bag or shoe), a rattlesnake, and a mountain lion. |
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| Sunset Crater, AZ | Friday 05-20-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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We left Utah to head down south to Sunset Crater National Monument in Arizona. We hadn't planned on doing
much there - pretty much just to use it as a stopping point - but it turned out to be a great place. Sunset
Crater is located in the Coconino National Forest in northern Arizona, just northwest of Flagstaff. It's
located in the San Francisco Mountain Range (named long before the city in California). That range, and
basically the entire area of Arizona, is just a bunch of old volcanoes.
Sunset Crater is named because of its coloring. Because of the colors of the dirt and ash it has a yellowish/ reddish glow near the top. Surrounding the crater are fields of ash and dried lava. The mountain itself was formed very quickly, rising over 1000 feet into the air over the course of only a year, sometime in the eleventh century AD. We took a couple hikes around the area, including one that was virtually straight up a steep hill for half a mile. We were treated to a lovely view of Humphrey's Peak (the highest mountain in Arizona at 12633 feet) and a sunset across rolling hills. It was a lot of work though - hiking that way at 7000 feet elevation is not an easy chore. We got back to the campground just after sunset and set up the camp in the near dark. We had it up very quickly, and soon ate dinner. Temperatures during the day were very nice - nothing hotter than 86 degrees (very nice in a dry heat - the lack of humidity makes a huge difference), and the night termperatures were nice as well - not too cold. |
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| Green River, UT | Tuesday 05-17-05 through Thursday 05-19-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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There is absolutely nothing in eastern Utah. You can go 50 miles without seeing signs of civilization with the
exception of the highway. Green River, nearly 60 miles into the state, is the first city you come across.
The campground is situated in what seems to be the middle of a golf course on the Green River. It's a nice campground, with plenty of green grass and tall trees. Temperatures while we were here couldn't have been any better. Most days were in the mid 70s with nights in the upper 40s. On Wednesday we went to Arches National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park. The weather was perfect. The high was around 75 degrees with mostly clear skies and a slight breeze. We spent most of the day at Arches, hiking around and looking at all the scenery. Dead Horse Point is a park which basically includes a bunch of overlooks over a canyon area. Some very nice views from there. On Thursday we went to Canyonlands National Park. All three parks are typically within an hour drive from our campground, but due to some construction the trips often took up to 50% longer. Canyonlands Park is similar to Dead Horse Point, but with more hiking. We spent quite a bit of time hiking looking for some ancient Pueblo Indian graneries (which we eventually found - on the top of a butte) and took some other trails to other points in the park. We probably hiked at least 7 miles or so. The temperature guage on my Camry read as a high of 88 degrees, but it sure didn't seem that hot. Maybe it was the dry heat - I would have sworn it wasn't much over 80. Again, we had crystal clear skies. So far we've spent quite a bit of time in the sun and camping, but for the most part have avoided bug bites and sunburns. Right now, I've got a couple bites on my left arm, but not much more - Crystal has a few as well. As far as sunburns go, I am slighly burned on the top of my right calf (back of my leg) and a little on my forearm - plentiful and frequent application of SPF 45 has helped with that. Crystal is a little burned on her shoulders. We head down to Arizona on Friday. Hopefully this nice weather can continue. |
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| Breckenridge, CO | Monday 05-16-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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We left Colorado Springs early to get to Breckenridge to go rafting. We were told to be in Breckenridge by 11:15 in
the morning. We arrive at around 10:15 only to find out that instead we were supposed to be at a different location,
over an hour away. We quickly got checked in and got directions and arrived at the correct site only a few minutes
late.
The rafting was a lot of fun. We floated for about 13 miles on the Arkansas River starting near Buena Vista, CO. It took around 4 hours of float time for the entire trip. We got a little wet (the water is runoff from the mountain snow and was quite cold) but the weather was beautiful - mostly sunny and pleasantly warm for most of the trip. The rapids were rated as class 3 so they weren't too violent. We got stuck several times, but never flipped the raft and no one fell out. Since we were in a hurry to get to the rafting site in the morning we took extra time heading back to Breckenridge to take in the views of the mountains. We stopped on the side of the road (there are many pull-off locations available) several times to take some nice pictures. We finally got back to Breckenridge around 7:30 or so in the evening |
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| Colorado Springs, CO | Saturday 05-14-05 and Sunday 05-15-05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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It took a little bit longer to get to Colorado Springs than planned as we stopped for longer than usual twice. First
was to fill up on gas not far from the park along I-70 and to rearrange the car. Second was for lunch at the welcome
center in Colorado.
When you think of Colorado you probably think of mountains - at least I do. So when we crossed over into Kansas we looked around and saw... nothing. Flat farmland, just as boring as western Kansas. In fact, you don't even really see many hills until a hundred or more miles into Colorado. There were storms off in the distance for a while along highway 24 connecting I-70 to Colorado Springs which darkened the skies and limited viewing distance for a while. Eventually we were able to see the mountains off towards the horizon and the snowcapped ranges near Pike's Peak. Hit some rain outside of the city but got in safely a little after 4:30 PM local time, gaining an hour from the time zone change. We got up fairly early on Sunday to get out to the Garden of the Gods near Pike's Peak. It was a georgous day, highs probably 75°, or so with plenty of sun and a light breeze to top it off. We spent several hours at the park, hiking both on and off the trails, taking in the scenery. After we left we spent some time looking for (but not finding) the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. The streets here in Colorado Springs are confusing: there are roads named Cheyenne Blvd, Cheyenne Mtn Blvd, and Cheyenne Road, all fairly large and all within a half mile radius. It's like they're trying to make it difficult on people from out of town. Regardless, we stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up some things and came back to the hotel. |
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| Wilson State Park (Kansas) | Friday 05-13-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Driving through Kansas wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There actually are some pretty rolling hills and land
in eastern Kansas. Getting through Kansas City wasn't an issue at all - there was almost no traffic.
Wilson State Park is actually quite nice. It's a lake made by the Army Corps of Engineers with a dam of the Saline River. Think something like the Lake of the Ozarks but with more focus on nature/hiking instead of business/partying. We didn't know exactly where the campground was and ended up driving around half the lake in search of it. Eventually we came across the right turn and found the park. It was rather windy when we arrived, and getting the tent up was a bit of a challenge in the wind but we succeeded after not too long. Overnight the winds died down and it cooled off - but it wasn't too terribly cold. In the morning it was really windy again, and taking the tent down proved somewhat difficult. We got everything loaded in the car and took off around 11:00 AM. |
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| Columbia, MO | Wednesday 05-11-2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The drive until we hit Missouri was rather uneventful. However, throughout most of Missouri (from highway 54
near Louisiana, MO to I-70 at Kingdom City) we were going through or near thunderstorms. The lightning show was pretty
enjoyable to watch. We only hit some hard rain a couple times, and each time for no longer than a couple of minutes.
In Columbia we just pretty much got ready to leave. Did some shopping to pick up some supplies we didn't get in West Lafayette (some more camping equipment and food mostly). I (Andy) spent some time with my parents and Crystal cleaned up her house some. We both enjoyed happy hour with Bryan and Chris at Flat Branch. I needed to renew my license plates so I got a copy of my property tax receipt and an inspection done Thursday. Friday before leaving I enjoyed an hour in line at the DMV. We finally left just before 1:00 PM. |
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© 2005 Andrew W. Scharlott