Well, I went out for sunset last night (and sunrise this morning). Got some reasonable photos, although the light was pretty ordinary. Had pizza and a glass of wine for dinner, and went to bed. I’m out of here soon, and planning to get back down off the plateau and into better weather, and then stop and take it easy for a day or so. I’m doing fine with getting back to LA in time for my flight, and need to slow down and get some spoons back. But it’s been spectacular!
(Later) OK, that didn’t quite go according to plan. I was heading out of the park when the sun started to break through the clouds, so I turned around and headed back to the rim. Another couple of hours, lots more photos (much better with better light), then in the early afternoon down to a little town called Seligman, where I stayed at the Stagecoach Inn – which the owner apologetically explained hadn’t been renovated since the 1950s. They laughed at me when I told them I needed a room with internet, but that a shower was a much lower priority. So I got internet, a bed, an original ’50s pink bathroom, and a heater that kept me warm after some coaxing from the owner, for the princely sum of $45. What more does a body need?
Well, the drive to the Canyon was almost as spectacular as yesterday’s driving. The only drawback was that most of it was along freeways, so there weren’t many opportunities to stop and take photos. Heading into Phoenix I drove through a huge flat valley, with mountains all around, cacti, you name it – and speed traps every few miles. I don’t know whether they had some special campaign going or whether this is normal for Arizona, but there was an unbelievable number of them. Hopefully I won’t have too many speeding tickets arriving in the mail the next few weeks!
But first I had a problem to solve. Last night I realised I’d miscalculated my Magnesium doses and wasn’t going to have enough to get me home. So job one this morning was to sort that out. How? Well, I pulled over into a rest area along the interstate with good phone signal. I Googled naturopaths in Phoenix, found one that had a pharmacy built in, and told Google maps to give me directions. I pulled up in front of their door and they sold me enough Mg to last me till I get home. It probably added a 20min detour to my day all up. Easy. Without the phone, I reckon it would have taken the best part of a day before I had it sorted out. As Nikki said, the phone just paid for itself!
From Phoenix I headed to Flagstaff – again, on freeways. I hadn’t researched it very much, and it turns out Flagstaff is at a lot higher elevation than Phoenix, so I was back climbing mountains. Bryan, thanks for encouraging me to get the more powerful car – it’s made a big difference. Again, a beautiful drive – with the classic Wiley Coyote and Road Runner cacti everywhere. They’re everywhere – but only on the south side of each hill, they obviously need the sun. Unfortunately I didn’t have the chance to stop and take photos because there was nowhere to pull off the interstate – but it was spectacular. In Flagstaff there was snow everywhere – I’m back in cold weather, which was a bit unexpected. I just kept moving, following signs to the Canyon – which took me up a back road that was just stunning. Over mountains with snow and trees – thankfully the road was dry and cleared, but the snow everywhere was very pretty.
I reached the Canyon about 2pm. Like on the drive up, there’s lots of snow on the ground, but the roads are clear and dry. It’s very overcast, and they’re forecasting rain and snow the next couple of days, so I’ll head off tomorrow, I don’t want to get stuck or have to drive through terrible weather. I bought some postcards, and took my first look at the canyon itself. Despite the weather, it’s still spectacular. Quite a bit of snow on the edges, and the air is very clear so you can see a very long way. Not much colour, though, which is a shame – but I guess with the overcast weather I can’t expect much more. You can walk for miles along the rim, great paths, depending on snow it’d be easy to take Bertha for huge distances. But I’ve pretty much just been driving to lookouts, walking a little way, and getting back in the car, because it’s hovering around freezing – Bertha might survive a serious hike bit I doubt I’d last ver long – and many of the paths are only partially cleared of snow which would make it hard going.
I got a room with a view of the Canyon (only $10 more than one without). The only drawback is that I’ve AGAIN not got internet – so I’m writing blog entries but can’t post them. I’m going to have to make sure I get a hotel with internet tomorrow so I can actually get this stuff out to you all!
I left San Diego today to continue traveling. After a couple of stops for maps and munchies for in the car, I also succeeded in getting a car charger for my phone. I discovered yesterday that its battery dies fast when it’s trying to access GPS and continuously download maps – I didn’t even have enough battery to navigate around San Diego for a few hours.
So now I’m all set – indefinite amounts of music, GPS and Google maps – as long as I have mobile phone tower connection! A few times I’ve had GPS but no mobile coverage – which gives me a blank grid, neatly notating my location (moving according to what I’m doing) but no map, so no info about useful things like roads and intersections. Not much use that way! Having said that, I managed to get lost today, despite having both maps and GPS, but more about that later.
I headed inland from San Diego, aiming for a town called Julian that several people had recommended, on the way to Joshua Tree National Park. Heading to Julian from the coast (literally, Bryan’s place is about 1 min from the ocean) the terrain slowly got more and more mountainous (well, big hills, anyway) and drier and drier. Parts of it reminded me of inland NSW, but much scrubbier. It was fascinating how it got rockier, drier, and more desert-like as I went along (there’s the geologist in me emerging again!)
Julian is an old gold-mining town, and has a small local museum detailing the history. The mining was a bit different here to most old gold-mining in Australia – they mined for a couple of years, then the miners had a legal dispute with the local land-owner (which the miners won after 3 years) and resumed mining. But the gold didn’t last long, and the town diversified to ranching and agriculture (largely apple growing). In Australia when they struck gold there was generally a lot of it and there was huge mining in a large-ish area for quite some time, bringing considerable wealth.
I got chatting to the volunteer running the museum, who was a retired policeman who had fond memories on working with Aussie cops on anti-drug-smuggling in LA before he retired – apparently the Aussies really knew how to party! He refused to accept my donation entrance fee to the museum. There seem to be a lot of people here with fond memories of Australians, who are keen to relive them when another Aussie happens along. Lots of these memories seem to involve how well Aussies can party/drink/know how to have a good time!
Over lunch I did some research and planning – and decided to aim for the Grand Canyon after all. I originally thought I wasn’t going to have enough time or spoons to get there, especially after spending an extra day in San Diego. But considering how well I’m feeling, the condition of the roads, and the amount of ground I covered this morning in just a couple of hours, I’m going to go for it. The only issue is that there’s snow predicted for the Canyon Saturday and Sunday, so I’m going to have to do it NOW, and hopefully get off the canyon plateau before the weather really sets in. I figure if I get close, I can always catch the train from Williams (near the Canyon outside the national park).
Accordingly, I planned my route and set off, thinking I could get at least half way there this afternoon and tonight. Well, that was until I took a major detour. Most of the roads around here go through and around national parks, and aren’t well marked. And, of course, being national parks, mobile phone towers are few and far between. So, guess what? I took a wrong turn somewhere, and it took me over an hour to notice, although I was wondering about the sun not being in the direction I expected!
Apparently I zigged when I should have zagged, and headed southeast instead of northeast. By the time I got back on track I think I did about an extra 150 miles, and unexpectedly hit the 8 interstate freeway again (the one I started out on near Bryan’s place this morning), and narrowly avoided crossing into Mexico by mistake – but it was totally worth it. The countryside I traveled through was just amazing. Hilly, mountainous, flat, beautiful – and repeatedly going from high elevations of about 4000 feet to sea level. Again, amazing how vertical this country is – much more so than Australia.
I found beautiful backlit cacti (I think they were cacti – in any case, gorgeous). Landscapes that continues to get drier and rockier. And then sand dunes, just as the sun was starting to set!
I also got stopped by a border patrol – they’re set up all over, often 100 miles or more inside the border. They were very polite, asked a few questions, and let me go. I must have seemed genuine – they asked my nationality and if I had my passport, but didn’t want to see it!
Tonight I’ve stopped at a motel in a town called Quartzsite. It’s just over the Arizona border from California, and is actually a collection of on-site vans. Fine by me, I’ve got a bed, and in any case I’m planning to be out early tomorrow to keep driving. I decided I’d rather stop early, sleep, and drive early, in an attempt to not drive through darkness too much. Safer that way (especially with the bigger car, and the wrong side of the road). Also, I miss too much beautiful scenery if I drive at night. Tomorrow, presuming I don’t get lost again (!) I should be at the Grand Canyon about lunchtime. That’ll give me plenty of time to find a room, go and oggle at the canyon for as long as I want, including sunset and (if I can wake up early enough) sunrise, and then get out of town before the snow gets too bad – although it’d be cool to see it with some snow on it. Here’s hoping the plan works!
I got to have a good sleep in this morning 🙂 Once I was up and around (at almost lunch time!) I headed off to San Diego Zoo, which I hadn’t got to on my last visit and had been keen to see.
It was a lot of fun, but even steeper than Taronga Zoo in Sydney (which is saying something). Their paths are divided into “wheelchair accessible” and not, but somehow I managed to get off the accessible paths so getting back up to the zoo gates proved to be a challenge for poor Bertha. She’s got quite a bit of power, but steep slopes, with me on board, just wasn’t going to work. So there were a number of sections where I had to hop off, walk her up the next steep bit, and then get back on again. No matter, I still had a good time, and managed to see a bunch of animals, including the pandas (only the backs of their heads, they weren’t in a particularly outgoing mood).
Bryan and I were heading out to go and see Avatar tonight (since I hadn’t seen it yet and he was keen to see it again), so after the zoo I headed out to Mira Mesa and hung out in the bookshop until he’d finished at work. Several books later I emerged (I should have known it’d be dangerous!), and went to buy an aux audio cable for the car so I can listen to music while I’m driving this next week. I struck out on a charger, though – it’ll be interesting to see how long the phone lasts playing music without being able to recharge.
My second birthday for 2010 (is it like the hobbits and their second breakfast?) Yesterday in Australia, today here. The morning catching up on emails and the internet in general. Bryan, you did a good job of hiding from me that you were supposed to be working from home today – you should have just told me, I’d have been fine to keep myself entertained!
In the afternoon I rented a car and then went in to the office for a little while. It seemed a little surreal to go into the office (a) during my vacation, and (b) on my birthday, but it was the only way to fit in a quick meeting with Grace, the intern who’s just started working on a project with me, and Arun, who’s running the project. Working with her the next few months will be a lot easier now that we’ve had a chance to meet and brainstorm a few ideas.
Then out to dinner – surf and turf right on the beach – yet another great meal with great company, despite the fact that the IT guys from work piked out on us. I’m seeing a pattern here – last year the Sydney office piked on Thanksgiving, and this year San Diego IT piked on my birthday.
We woke up late this morning, with the ocean by the door! It was magical to be able to wander down and just see the waves rolling in – but a little odd, still, to be seeing the Pacific Ocean from this side. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but I’m really not – and my sense of north and south are thorougly confused because that ocean’s on the wrong side! We drove back up the coast a little to see and photograph the lighthouse and lion rock (which we’d missed in the dark last night), and then to Hearst Castle. I’d been debating for weeks whether to do a tour of the castle or not. It hasn’t got good disabled access, and would have been very tiring on foot. We also had to get back to San Diego tonight, so we didn’t have a huge amount of time, either. In the end we compromised – went and had a look around the visitor centre, watched the movie about how it was built, and had a look (and took some photos) from the observation deck, but didn’t actually do a tour.
In lots of ways it reminds me of Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. A huge crazy folly built high on a hill in an inaccessible location, by a man with a deep passion for what he was doing, and, maybe, more money than sense, and both are now huge tourist attractions, with more visitors than the site can reasonably handle. But King Ludwig went mad, bankrupted himself and died before it could be finished. Hearst finished his dream, and lived in it (with a continuous stream of guests) for many years.
After the castle we went back and had lunch at the restaurant that provided room service last night – it was so good we figured we wanted to eat there again while we still could! After that, we got moving and drove down to San Diego (about 350mi, 560km), stopping to have a look at some elephant seals on the beach, and also with a brief stop at the pier in Santa Barbara. In the later part of the day it became the first installment of my birthday, as Australia woke up to the morning of the 23rd, and many people sent me birthday wishes – thank you all very much!
We stopped at a random sushi place in Thousand Oaks (just off the interstate north of LA) for dinner – and it was truly spectacular. Great chef, fantastic fresh fish prepared in an amazing combination of flavours. I know, I know, me and fish??? In the past that’s been a flat “no”. But it was great – I think I’ve been converted, at least when it’s as good as this – thanks to Bryan for pulling me out of my comfort zone, although I don’t think he realised he was doing it at the time!
Our highest priority today was to visit the Monterey Aquarium. Bryan had been raving about this place for days (weeks?), and he’s spot on – it’s spectacular. Huge displays of all sorts of fish, jellyfish, rays, sharks – anything that’s living in the water outside, really. Some are displayed en masse, one species to a tank, making amazing ever-moving abstract displays. Others are huge communities of dozens of species in enormous tanks, including a multi-storey tank of live kelp that I could have sat and looked at all day – and in fact we kept going back to it, mesmerised by the movement of the kelp and the huge variety of fish.
This aquarium is the only one that’s succeeded in creating a live kelp exhibition – and they do it by pumping in unfiltered water from Monterey Bay every night to ensure the kelp gets all the nutrients it needs, keeping the tank open to the elements at the top and creating a wave motion in the tank to ensure the kelp gets equal access to nutrients. Apparently the access to that water is critical – other aquaria have tried and failed because they don’t have access to a good source of water. The kelp can grow up to 2ft (60cm) per day, so divers are sent into the tank daily to trim their underwater garden.
After we’d seen our fill in the aquarium, we headed on down the coast, through Big Sur to San Simeon. Again, gorgeous, beautiful – I’m definitely running out of superlatives. Big Sur is stunningly beautiful with deep misty fir forests and gorgeous coastlines. In lots of ways this part of the coast reminds me of the NSW coast – cliffs, lots of inlets, and headland after headland. But it’s subtly different. At home the cliffs are sheer down into the sea, with big sandy beaches between each headland, mostly spaced quite far apart. Here, they’re more steep hills than cliffs, with often only tiny ravines between one and the next, and lots of rocks and tiny islands out in the ocean. The water is much shallower than at home, and the geology is much younger.
The road is mostly one lane each way, with a collection of switchbacks, to accommodate all those ravines, with bridge after bridge to make it easier. It was beautiful, but I was glad I wasn’t driving, although I can imagine it’d be fun. There were a few scary bits where the road was partially washed away by all the rain they’ve had here recently – not good for someone with vertigo sitting on the edge of a cliff in a car! I just kept telling myself “it’s OK, it’s settled all it’s going to, it’s not going to fall away further right now!”
We stopped for the night at San Simeon – just by Hearst Castle. Great hotel room overlooking the beach – nothing like falling asleep with the sound of the ocean! Apparently the hotel had poached the chef when the best restaurant in town shut down recently. Good move on their part – the food was excellent, and we enjoyed my bottle of red from the winery with it.
We spent most of today exploring the coast south of Monterey, with Bryan showing me a lot of his favourite places. We drove 17 Mile Drive, including Point Pinos Lighthouse, Pebble Beach Golf Course, Carmel and Point Lobos – gorgeous scenery, really beautiful. And lots of wildlife! We saw sea otters in the surf, and seals covering a rock out in the bay in one place, and covering the beach in another. I know we have seals in NSW, but I’ve never seen them, and I’m pretty sure they’re in much more remote locations than this – those seals on the beach were directly below a row of houses!
We then drove to Point Lobos. Another beautiful place – and I even had enough energy to have a walk around for the second time today- my health is doing well. I don’t know whether it’s being on holidays, lack of stress or some physical change in the environment (maybe I’m reacting to something back in Sydney?), but my health’s been much better this last few weeks than is has been for months at home – I’m doing more, but I’ve got no pain and much less exhaustion.
We drove through Carmel (of Clint Eastwood as mayor fame) but didn’t really stop. Cute little place, but seemed like it was very upper-class-touristy and shopping, without much soul. Cannery row, however, has much more spirit to it, even though it’s also very tourist-oriented. Funny how they can be so similar to describe, and yet so different in actuality.
Maybe it’s just my descriptions that are a bit lacking! Honestly, I’m running out of words. There’s only so many ways you can describe all this – and it’s all so stunningly beautiful I feel like I’m getting repetitive. But still, you’ll just have to put up with it…
During the afternoon we stopped in to do some wine tasting. They had a bunch of great reds – very different to those in Australia, despite using many of the same (or very similar) grape varietals. We got talking to the staff, discussing how the soil and climate can really change the taste of the wine. It seems that over the years I’ve developed a palate that isn’t half bad – thank you, Vincent! Eventually an older member of staff appeared from out the back, apparently attracted by the talk of Australia and the accent. He explained how he’d been living in Kings Cross in Sydney (for the non-Aussie readers, Kings Cross is the red light district) not long after WWII, and had fond memories of the old diggers (ex-soldiers) who’d taken him home to meet their 18yo daughters. In appreciation of those diggers, he gave me a bottle of wine free of charge!
Bryan has been promising me a good steak dinner since before I left Australia, as we’d had a few good steaks when he was in Sydney in 2008. Well, tonight was our chance. We found a good restaurant inland from Carmel (recommended by the winery) and had a terrific steak. And they even cooked it blue for me!
We headed back to Monterey for the night, and stopped in Cannery Row to take a few photos and have a look at the place at night. Bryan very politely put up with me reading all the signs and plaques, trying to remember the relevant bits of a book I haven’t read in at least 2 decades. We found an alleyway leading down to the ocean between the (current) Intercontinental hotel (converted from one of the old canneries) and the old Western Biological Institute (which features in the book). Right there you’ve got the huge contrast in this place – swanky 5-star hotel right next to a run-down old building that’s been preserved because it was mentioned in a book. But fascinating all around. When we got back to the hotel, I crawled into bed and read some more, trying to refresh my memory. Two minutes later, I was chortling to myself at a bunch of the descriptions – the next page I read was set in that very same alleyway! Strange feeling to be reading that only minutes after being there – yet another version of that feeling I’ve had all these weeks of walking into my TV set, movies, or in this case, a book.
This morning we went to Mirror Lake towards the Eastern end of Yosemite Valley – thanks to my disabled parking permit we have access to a lot of roads that are normally for pedestrians only. The National Parks Service here is very good at maximising the access available to the disabled.
That meant we could see a lot more than I could have coped with otherwise – the walk out to Mirror Lake would have been impossible, and I doubt Bertha would have coped with the distance, slope, mud, and snow. Mirror Lake was gorgeous (what’s new? It’s part of Yosemite after all) – perfectly still, great reflections, and overlooked by Half Dome on one side and North Dome on the other. And yes, Bryan, I looked it up, that was Half Dome, or the base of it, at least – I don’t think we could see the dome itself from the lake. As you were saying, it’s amazing that people have climbed it – even getting up to the base would be a huge challenge!
I’ve spent the last 3 days gazing out the car window and sunroof – to the point where I’ve managed to get sunburnt on days I’ve hardly been out of the car! Not bad going since we’ve had quite a bit of cloudy weather, and it must have boosted my Vitamin D levels – my doctor will be pleased! Bryan keeps telling me to “Look!” in pretty much every direction because he has to keep his eyes on the road. I suspect I’m going to have the same problem next week when I’ll be driving myself – wanting to look in all directions but also needing to stay alive in the traffic!
At one point today I was standing on a bridge over the river, and realised that from that one spot, I had at least 4 picture postcard photos within my view – Yosemite is really that breathtaking. After a final look around, and taking some photos of the Ahwahnee Hotel which we neglected to do while we were staying there, we headed off towards the coast and Monterey. Again, beautiful drive, lots of views, and continuing changes in elevation. It really brings it home to you that this place is tectonically active – the earth’s buckled and bumped up all over the place.
On the way we stopped briefly in Gilroy, the garlic capital of the world. They sell garlic ice-cream (and everything else), and host a garlic festival each year. Driving through, you can actually smell the garlic growing in the fields. Bryan is a huge garlic fan, and had also taken various orders for garlic products from friends at work, so we were determined to stop and do a little shopping. Only problem was it was pretty late, and the stores we were after were all closed. Luckily it’s not far from Monterey, so we’ll come back in the next day or two.
We’re staying at the “Cannery Row Inn” – yep, this is the place of John Steinbeck fame. We’ve got a view over the bay, and are just two blocks from Cannery Row itself. It’s become pretty commercialised and touristy, but despite that it’s got a lot of good atmosphere. And there are plaques, signs, and posters relating to the book everywhere. I’d been meaning to re-read it before the trip – and of course hadn’t got around to more than a few pages. But it’s been lurking in the corner of my suitcase, so I might yet get to it.
First up this morning we bought some munchies, in an attempt to at least make sure lack of food doesn’t make me keel over, even if exhaustion does! Trailmix (nuts, seeds and sultanas) together with the 56oz (1.5kg) bag of M&Ms that Scott bought in Annapolis, and some long life chocolate milk should hopefully keep me going. At home I’m pretty good at matching the food intake to the energy output – not so much here. I’m a LOT more active than usual, and it seems to be throwing my blood sugar levels out of kilter very easily. Surprising, given how stable they’ve been since I’ve been taking the Mg, but I guess my body’s making good use of the fuel I’m giving it!
We then headed to the Ansel Adams gallery – I bought a print of this and Bryan bought a more classic view of the valley (having been to his place since I can see why he chose it, apart from the obvious of it being a beautiful photo – it’ll fit in well with all his other black and white prints), and we wandered through the visitor center before going back outside and being wowed by all the scenery. Yosemite is much busier than Sequoia, and this is the quiet season! I doubt I’d enjoy it as much in the summer, even though more parts are accessible (many roads are closed by snow right now), it must be an absolute zoo when the weather is a little warmer.
There are many very tame deer here – and they look like kangaroos! Every now and again I do a double take because they seem to be built all wrong in the back, while their faces are very familiar. The exact opposite reaction to what the early explorers of Australia must have thought.
Today we were determined to leave the car behind as much as possible, so both of us get a chance to have a good look around – no fair me hogging all the good views while Bryan drives! But after I overdid it yesterday, Bryan suggested we play it safe and we unpacked Bertha, who’s been riding in the back of Bryan’s truck (ute for the Aussies).
We walked and wheeled on a boardwalk through a meadow right in the middle of the valley (lots of great views and photos, of course) and then along the path to lower Yosemite falls. It was fantastic, beautiful, and very peaceful going through the sequoia woods, past the streams consisting of water that had only just come down from freshly melted snow at the top of the cliffs – and then you suddenly come out at the bottom of the cliff right by the waterfall itself – noisy and spectacular, a huge contrast.
Bertha just about made the distance, but her battery conked out just as I got out of the woods. Bryan kindly walked back and got the car and came back to fetch me – it would have been a long walk back having to wheel her instead of her wheeling me!
Look up from wherever you are in Yosemite and there are endless gorgeous cliffs, trees and waterfalls. We were both totally overwhelmed by the beauty and majesty of the place, everywhere you look there’s another gorgeous scene to be gawped at (or photographed).
It got ridiculous – I’d be taking photos and Bryan’d tap me on the shoulder and point in another direction – with yet more stupendous views. It was never-ending. We’ve both got a very similar eye for what makes a good photo, and ended up taking many almost identical photos. Bryan, I think those I’ve posted here are mine, but I know you took some photos with my camera, so if I’m claiming ownership of any of yours, I’m sorry!
I could happily spend the rest of my life there, taking photos every day – I can see why so many photographers have chosen to do so.
We went back up to tunnel view at the entrance to the valley tonight, to try to catch the sunset a bit earlier than we managed yesterday. It wasn’t a great sunset, but there were a few minutes of nice late sun on El Capitan. I’m hoping some of the photos will print up well when I get home – we’ll have to wait and see, but I suspect the living room will be plastered with photos of Yosemite in the near future!
Thanks to Bryan’s insistence on Bertha I actually managed to stay conscious into the evening, so we went out to have some dinner (and wine, of course!) in the local bar. Great company, a good meal and a good glass of wine – a fantastic way to end a great day!
