A break from a break

In less than 24 hours I'll be dropping Ju-Hui off at the Phoenix airport. Before then we'll be stopping by the Grand Canyon and possibly a few national monuments (or Petrified Forest NP.) In the last week we've gone to:

• Salt Lake City
• Arches National Park
• Canyonlands National Park
• Natural Bridges National Monument
• Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
  
• Capitol Reef National Park
• Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
  
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Zion National Park
• Las Vegas
• Hoover Dam
• Lake Mead National Recreation Area

In retrospect we probably should have been a bit less ambitious and therefore less rushed. But when are we/I going to have an opportunity like this again? Anyway, I will likely take a few days "off" in the Phoenix area to recharge (and likely catch up on my posting.)

Some pics from the California coast to tide you over.

Back from Black Rock City

Ju-Hui and I survived Burning Man. There was an impossible amount of interesting things to see and do. It was a lot of fun but it is nice to be back. And clean. And cool. And clean.

It is really great to be clean.

I'll post pics and stories when possible but with a with a whirlwind tour of Utah and Arizona national parks on tap for this week, they will be sporadic.

Next Stop: Burning Man

Ju-Hui (the woman formerly known as Natasha) and I have bid farewell to Yosemite and are on our way to Burning Man. We should be there in three or so hours and will be there until Labor Day. I've got a large backlog of pictures to sort and post but that will just have to wait until we get back; both power and internet will be fleeting if they are available at all.

Ju-Hui is pronounced "roo way". I used to use her anglicized name, Natasha, when talking to others but will just use Ju-Hui for now on.

Here's the plan for after BM.

The promised land

So I'm driving along, minding my own business when I see a divine apparition. A sign for the Ace-in-the-Hole Cider Pub. I could hardly believe my eyes. After years of suffering under the cold fascism of the Beer Hegemony, I found a place where my kind can feel safe and accepted. To my delight they took To-Go orders so I stocked up on all five flavors of brewed-on-the-premises cider.

On my way out the door I saw a man enjoying his cider in front of his laptop.

They have wifi here!

Truly this is the promised land. So I went out to my car and got my laptop and now sit here enjoying some fish and chips with my pear cider.

Partner in crime

Hello from Bodega Bay on CA-1. Later today I pick up Natasha at SFO. We'll spend a couple days in the Bay Area and a couple more in Yosemite before heading up to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada for Burning Man. After BM we'll do a tour of several national parks in Utah and Arizona. On the 9th I'll drop her off at the airport in Phoenix and decide where I want to go from there. It was nice being alone for a bit but I'm definitely looking forward to having a fellow traveler again.

I'll have some pics from the coastal highway soon.

Pics for Redwood National and State Parks and Oregon Caves National Monument.

Late night in the Motel 6 parking lot

Stumbled on this. Hilarious.

Oregon Caves National Monument

I'm sitting at a hike-in campsite on the Pacific Coast somewhere in the patchwork of parks comprising the Redwood National and State Parks in California. I'm not on the beach but I can hear the waves roll in down at the bottom of the bluff, Heaven forbid I break the rules and actually sleep on the beach. I'm actually a bit paranoid I'll have a ticket on my car in the morning; I don't think I'm allowed to park overnight where I picked up the trail. Sometimes I wish I could turn off the hyper-conservative, risk-averse part of my brain. Oh well, that's me.

Around the corner is a nice family who seem to be something between hippies and gun-toting survivalists. They have a young child of unknown sex digging in the dirt in a pair of briefs. Other than that it is just me and the waves. No stars tonight...I think there might be a semi-permanent cloud bank in this part of the world.

I actually haven't been in the area long enough to scout out the beach. On a whim I went to Oregon Caves National Monument and spent the bulk of the day there. I ended up pitching my tent here in the last bit of dusk.

I'm so glad I went to Oregon Caves. The cave was cave-tastic, made even better by the enthusiastic tour guide and the rugrats in our group who were absolutely delighted. The kids would would see all sorts animals and faces in rock formations that just looked like, well, rock formations to us adults. I love kids...other people's kids.

The pleasant surprise for OCNM, though, was the hillside trails through old-growth forest. Everything was damp and green and alive. The place was crawling with big snails; apparently they thrive in mineral rich areas like the park where they can soak up the raw materials to construct their shell. It makes sense in retrospect. The main attraction was the huge, mist-shrouded trees. The effect was as strong for me as Crater Lake but without the advance expectation.

Alright class, who can tell me the difference between a National Park and a National Monument? I thought it was a matter of size, but this is wrong. A National Park is created by an act of Congress, while a National Monument is created by the President. Perhaps if President Bush can take a break from suspending habeas corpus, pardoning political cronies and tearing up portions of the constitution he finds inconvenient, he can create more of these wonderful places. OCNM was created by President Taft.


The next morning...err afternoon.

I've been sitting in a cafe for several hours today waiting for pictures to upload. Apparently they don't have a cable modem. Anyway it is nice to sit for a bit. The OCNM pics will have to wait and by then I should have some Redwood N&SP pics as well.

Camping has turned me into a bit of a morning person. Today I had a nice beach walk, broke camp and hauled the stuff back to my car all before 9am. I'm not even cranky.