California Part Deux

Well, as some of you may know, we made it.

But to quickly recap the days before, we left Santa Barbara and continued up the coast, heading for San Simeon. We found a nice campsite just north of Cambria where we set up shop for two days:

If you are looking for a nice town on the California coast to spend some time in, Cambria is certainly a good suggestion. Its out of the way, has great beaches and is just over the hills from central coast wine country. It’s the kind of a place where two folks who just spent a week in the desert would love to be.

So Sunday we woke up to what seemed to be ominous weather. We decided that rather than bundling up and reading on the beach, we’d see a movie. Going to the movies had proven to be a tough activity for us the entire trip. Each place we stopped, we intended on seeing The Kingdom but each time a more appealing option presented itself, usually involving something outdoors. So today was the day we were going to do it. The closest theater was over the mountains in Casa Robles, so we made the drive.

It was during this drive that we realized we were right on the backside of central California wine country. We probably passed 20 vineyards on our way to the movie so it was clear what we were going to do on our way home: wine tasting.

The movie couldn’t have ended fast enough. I had been wanting to see The Kingdom for some time as it seemed like it could have been a cool movie on the Middle East. Turns out, its just a regular action movie with all the predictable scenes, characters and plot twists that tries to disguise itself as a thoughtful commentary on the Middle East through cinematography and profound quotes that really aren’t that profound. It did star Jamie Foxx so this shouldn’t come as to much of a surprise.

Anyway, we left the theater and headed straight for the vineyards we noted and liked on our way into town. If you’ve never done it, get yourself to a vineyard wine tasting sometime. This was my first one and it was pretty cool.

Despite being there late on a Sunday evening, there were still a lot of folks out and about looking to taste some wine and have a good time (such a good time in fact that we found these guys napping outside one of the wineries)...

Also, you can buy really good wine for very cheap which was nice as well. We stopped at three different vineyards, got our taste on, picked up a few bottles for later and headed back for the coast. It should also be noted that the weather in wine country was sunny, dry and warm. We drove ten miles back to the coast and it was foggy, damp and cold. Such is the California coast…

After a nice Sunday of wine country, we decided to visit Hearst Castle on Monday since EVERYONE who has been on the California coast said we had to. For those that don’t know (and I didn’t before I went), William Randolph Hearst was a newspaper baron from the turn of the 20th century who had more money than he knew what to do with. So despite having over 80 estates, most of which he spent less than a week at in his lifetime, he thought he’d build a giant castle on the hills of San Simeon. It’s totally out of control and you should look it up online to get a feel for the kind of excess he put into this place. Totally ridiculous.

What you probably won’t see online is our tour guide who was in more need of a cold bucket of water to the face than anyone I’ve met in a while. You got the feeling that if you went to his house he’d have a portrait of Hearst over his fireplace and replica piece of the castle strewn about the living room. He was a big fan of W.R.

Anyway, he did know a lot about the castle, family and whatnot and painted a pretty good picture of life back then, despite having a creepy way of talking about it. For my money, I don’t think I need to go back and do one of the other five different tours they offer of the castle. I get it: The man had more money than God and spent it on excess. Not a new story.

Coastal shots from the drive to Big Sur...

Elephants seals (they have these huge pillowy looking things growing off their snouts that apparently resemble an elephant trunk (a severed one if you ask me). They are funny - they lie in the sand flapping sand onto themselves.

We left Hearst castle and headed for Big Sur where we had decided to stay in a yurt. What the hell is a yurt? It’s awesome is what it is. It kind of looks like a circus tent but smaller. These yurts were built onto the side of a mountain that overlooked the coast and typically were used for whale watching in the winter when they migrate. These were slightly higher class yurts with running water and heat so it was kind of like staying in a hotel, except you had to walk outside to the bathroom. Anyway, it was fun. We stayed there for a night and relaxed, read and I lost to Ellie in Scrabble. I am awful at that game.

The next day we headed for the northern part of Big Sur and camped there. Nothing really of note. Great campsite, saw a huge steelhead in the Big Sur creek and we got rained on a bit. Here are some pictures from our hike through redwood territory.

The following morning, Wednesday, we headed up route 1 again for the big city and arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge. Upon entering our new city, we did two things that we will probably never do again. 1. We went and took our picture at the Golden Gate Bridge. 2. We ate chowder (not to be confused with chowda) out of bread bowls on Fisherman's Wharf.

We have arrived.

Going, going, back to back, to Cali, Cali

Well we made it. At about 6 PM PST on Thursday the 11th of October a blue Acura TL with out of state plates made its way into and out of Topanga Canyon in Santa Monica, popping out onto Highway 1 and subsequently the Pacific Ocean. Here we are:



We’d actually crossed the California border the day before after leaving the Grand Canyon but this felt much more significant. Borders between states are built by politicians. Oceans are built by something far greater. I’ll take the latter when looking for symbolism in a “finish line” for this trip. Anyway, when we did hit California the day before, we headed for 29 Palms, Ca which sat just on the northern border of Joshua Tree National Park. We arrived in the evening and found a cheap Motel 6 to stay the night. The plan had been to camp in the park but all the guidebooks talked about how there were no facilities to be used except for a couple sites. It was late, we were tired, didn’t feel like planning ahead for a night without water or grocery store so we bailed and went with the $45 Motel 6. (We would regret this decision the next day)

Dinner that night was at the guidebook called “the nicest meal in 29 Palms.” Well as a very wise man, much wiser than this damn guidebook, once said, “It’s all relative.” My steak could have doubled for a flip flop and while the veggies were “from the garden,” I couldn’t tell if it was their garden or Madison Square Garden. Not fresh. Whatever. The drinks were cheap and there was a high school kid making a buck playing Pink Floyd tunes on his Casio keyboard by the pool helping us to tick away the moments that made up a dull day…of driving.

The next morning we went on a pretty cool hike. It was up 49 Palms canyon to what was called a “desert oasis.” From the cartoons of my childhood and whatnot, I had visions of this place being a beautiful pool, surrounded by palm trees and wildlife. Well, that’s actually exactly what it was. Minus the water since it was late fall and the driest part of the year. But you could see what it would have been like. Must have been a nice find for the cowboys who scouted this land…



We also saw a snake which was somewhat of a groundbreaking moment in Ellie and my relationship since to this point I had given her the impression that I am some sort of tough wilderness guy. Well not when it comes to goddamn snakes. They are, hands down, the creepiest creature to roam this planet. They are like some sort of severed alien body part that won’t die, despite being detached from its owner. I don’t know if this thing was poisonous or not (probably not, I know enough to know that 90% of deadly snakes have triangular heads. This one did not) but I was ready to turn the hike right around and head for the parking lot. This is also where I found the stick I was carrying, so I could ward off and serpents that got within my personal bubble. Little did I know that my snake relationship was going to change drastically in a couple days…

Here is a pic of the snake and the weapon I used to defend Ellie and me from it.



After the hike we cleaned ourselves up, changed the oil on the car and hit up the Carousel Diner for breakfast. The guy at the oil change place said they had the biggest omlet he’s ever seen but its delicious so we should just split it. I obviously took this as a challenge to my eating abilities and ordered one for myself. Here it is. I ate every last bite.



From here we headed south into Joshua Tree National Park to actually check out the other parts we didn’t see during our hike. This is when we really regretted not making the effort to camp there the night before. It was like being on a planet where all the people were these strange looking Joshua Trees. Apparently they had been named by Mormon settlers about 150 years earlier because the trees resembled Joshua, raising his arms in prayer to the sky. Well, I guess so. Eitherway, these were some wild looking trees (technically, they are part of the Lilly family. Weird) that filled up large desert plains, surrounded on all sides by these large rock formations. The picture can do the talking…



From there we crossed the rest of the desert and entered LA from the west. Actually we entered about nine different surrounding towns before we hit LA proper. If you’ve never been there, LA is basically like someone took New York and flattened it in the San Fernando Valley, spreading the people and office spaces out into cookie cutter communities, strip malls and office parks, as far as the eye can see. As an added bonus to this obvious beauty, the valley walls hold in the smog generated by such easy-to-navigate highways as the 405, the 5 and the 10 so as you come into the city you can’t help but think that Jimi Hendrix was road tripping to LA when he wrote Purple Haze (not just tripping in general). If you play your cards right in life, you’ll never have to be in LA.


The canyons and beaches to the north are another story though. This is where we found ourselves as we popped out of Topanga Canyon and onto the Pacific. Not wanting to be completely non-tourist, we did go down to the Santa Monica pier and walked around for a bit. From there we headed north to Malibu to find a campsite on the coast.

The next morning we headed north to Santa Barbara to visit my cousin Carrie who is in school there. Before getting there though we stopped for gas and I had a first time experience: a gas station that didn’t take credit cards. This was not a mom and pops station but a large chain and the lady looked at me like I was an idiot when I made her say again that they didn’t take credit cards. How is this possible?

Anyway, we ended up in Santa Barbara later that afternoon and hung out, going down to State Street (the main part of town), getting a tour of campus and then hanging out for the evening back at Carrie’s place. This is where we revisited my fear of snakes. Nicole, Carrie’s roommate and longtime friend, had a ball python pet and they were in the habit of letting Melvin (the snake) roam freely throughout the apartment. Well, with some encouragement from Ellie and giggles from Carrie et al, I made peace with Melvin and the entire (nonvenomous) snake community. Here is Melvin and me. And with El. You can tell how much she likes snakes as well.

PIC

The next morning we had breakfast with Carrie and headed up Route 1 again. (Great to see you Carrie!)

We’ll get the last half of our California coast up soon…

Ain't it Grand

After fueling up at Starbucks in Flagstaff we headed to highway 89A – a winding drive through Oak Creek Canyon, where eventually the Red Rocks of Sedona started poking their rugged edges out of the more forested and lush Oak Creek Canyon.

Both Caleb and I were feeling especially good – perhaps a result of the “energy” that is known to surround the Sedona area (technically called vortexes, Sedona is supposed to be one of the most “charged” places on earth). Sedona is a beautiful, colorful, unique place. The Red Rock formations most of which loom from high above the Canyon all have names that are supposed to be likened to their actual appearance – Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock, Courthouse Rock, Snoopy Rock, etc. Really, I wonder who named the rocks and what state they were in at the time because it’s tough to tell why some of the rocks are named the way they are. I guess it’s kind of like seeing shapes in the clouds – everyone has their own perception. Take a look at this photo – one of the formations is Bell Rock and one is Courthouse Rock – can you tell which is which?

The village of Sedona itself, while surrounded by some gorgeous work by Mother Nature is tourist central. To avoid the tourist trap in town we stopped at an organic supermarket and picked up some cold salads for a Canyon picnic. We drove out to Bell and Courthouse rocks, parked, set up our chairs, and ate lunch with a view.

After lunch we made one final stop at the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It’s a small chapel set in one of the hillsides designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright’s. The position of the chapel itself and the incredible views from its perch are the real highlight.

Oddly, we were also able to see a monstrosity of a house being built in the neighborhood below. Check this thing out:

The drive to the Grand Canyon was pretty uninteresting. There is a smallish town just outside the entrance to the park, but really not much. We arrived in the park and registered at our campground with enough time to set up our tent and head to one of the many heavily populated look outs for sunset. Dodging a million other people I was able to get my first view of the enormity that is the Grand Canyon. We’ve all seen it in pictures, but nothing can capture actually standing at the rim and looking into the gargantuan carving that the little old Colorado River has made (and really I think that fact paired with the Canyon itself is what makes it so incredible).


When you’re dealing with the National Park Service, I’ve learned it doesn’t really leave many options for dining. Within the park there are really only three restaurant options that aren’t cafeteria style. We opted for the Arizona Room in the Bright Angel Lodge. After an hour wait (we played cards and drank 20 oz. beers) we were lead into a dining room, that although it’s situated so that in daylight it’s close enough to the rim to have views of the Grand Canyon, had absolutely no atmosphere (large turquoise cut out horses glued to the walls no doubt contributing to the negative vibes), terrible food, a totally uninterested waiter, and a ring tailed cat running through the dining room (literally it jumped through the rungs of both our chairs). We decided we would rather eat PB&J at our campsite than dine at the restaurants again. On our way back to the car, I was startled by a huge bull elk feasting on the grass outside the Lodge – this not being and uncommon occurrence as we had seen a few others (not bulls) before dinner. These animals were very used to humans. Too used to them. Back at the campsite we redeemed the evening with smores, wine out of paper Pepsi cups and a roaring fire a la Caleb.

The next morning we were up early and getting coffee at the café (literally a senior citizen breakfast scene – besides us there was one person under the age of 35, and she was 6). We then hit the one supermarket in the park for provisions. Kevin and Jermaine were manning the deli where grabbed sandwiches to pack away for lunch. Right away Caleb and I were drawn to Kevin (the guy making Caleb’s sandwich). You could tell he was a cool guy, he gave out a great vibe, felt like someone you would want to hang out with outside of the supermarket deli, he proudly held up Caleb’s sandwich after slicing it in half to display his sandwich making abilities. As Kevin is whipping up Caleb’s sandwich Jermaine saunters over and starts making my sandwich (Turkey, no mayo, Dijon mustard). All the while I am wishing that Kevin was making my sandwich because he just seemed like the better sandwich maker (this long explanation about Kevin and Jermaine will all make sense a little later).

We fueled up on yogurt/granola and bananas and made the last few preparations for our hike (The Bright Angel Trail) at a sunny picnic table. With 12 miles of hiking ahead of us (the first 6 miles all the downhill, the last 6 obviously all uphill) we were told it would take us about 6-9 hours. Somehow (and we’re not really sure how) we did it in 4 hours and 40 minutes (minus an hour for lunch at Phantom Point). We were booking.

The views were incredible. I really felt like we were experiencing the Canyon because we were in it. 4 hours and 40 minutes of – passing people, dodging mule shit (some people ride mules to Phantom Point and back), never-ending switchbacks, dust, echoing voices, blaring sun, and heavy breathing. At Phantom Point we could see the Colorado River including rafters (an 8 day trip that Caleb previously did with his family). We had amazing panoramic views of the Canyon, including where we had just come from.

This picture is from near the top. I am pointing to Phantom Point.

This picture is from Phantom Point. Caleb is pointing to where we came from at the top of the rim:

We settled down at Phantom Point really hungry and excited for our sandwiches. Caleb pulled out his sandwich to find exactly what was expected a perfect Canyon Club made by Kevin. I, on the other hand pulled out a ham sandwich (I had asked for a turkey sandwich), with no condiments. None. A totally dry ham and cheese sandwich. Thanks a lot Jermaine. Is there such a thing as deli meat dyslexia? Very disappointing – but soon gotten over. Anything tastes good after you’ve just hiked 6 miles into the Grand Canyon.

We really set the pace on our way back up the Canyon. Near the top we passed the guy manning the mules (the people had disembarked from their mules at this point), and upon hearing that we had gone to Phantom Point exclaimed, “You’re rolling!”.

We were beat when we finally made to the rim and after stretching and resting a bit we headed directly for the showers. Easily, Best shower of the trip.

Clean and a little sleepy we drank a victory beer at the cocktail lounge in the El Tovar hotel. Learning from our dining experience the previous evening, we stopped at the supermarket to pick up some food for camp side grilling. After a dinner of brat’s, veggies, and smores we retired by nine. We were awoken at one point by the park rangers scolding the camp site next to us for not fully putting out their fire. Other than that little hiccup we slept very well.

The following morning we had a laundry session at the National Park facilities before leaving the Grand Canyon behind for CALIFORNIA.