On Monday morning the rain let up a little, so we walked over to our local beach - which happens to be one of the top beach spots on Oahu, Kailua Beach - for a bit of paddling in the sea. We toughed it out for an hour till the weather overcame us. Dr Mom stood in the edge of the waves in her rolled up jeans and green anorak, looking properly British. The other three pranced in and out of the waves, getting steadily wetter and wetter. When the rain started to pour again we retreated to the house to clean up.
At 11:30am, we got in the car and headed over to Honolulu, for the day's adventure: lunch at Benihana's followed by an underwater trip on the Atlantis Submarine. It turned out that we should have left a lot more time to get there. Half an hour turned into an hour in the snarly Honolulu traffic. In fact, our overall impression of Honolulu was of a fairly average looking city with rather more palm trees than usual, terrible traffic, and a lot of hotels. We didn't feel inspired to visit again.
We arrived at Benihana's with only 45 minutes before check in time at the sub; so our leisurely lunch, with chef entertainment, didn't quite come off. In the end we gobbled down our food in about 15 minutes and raced out of the door into the pouring rain. I think our jolly chef didn't quite understand why we weren't more receptive to his jokes (which he clearly thought were pretty funny).
At the pier, we took the Atlantis boat out to the sub loading area, about 10 minutes, on a fairly choppy sea. We looked for whales but didn't see any. At the sub, you climb off the boat onto the deck of the sub, then down a vertical ladder comprising about ten rungs, into the seating area. We were on the sixty-four passenger sub, which has bigger windows. Every passenger gets their own window, pretty much. The Japanese family of five next to Dr Mom began to throw up into their little white bags as soon as they were on board. It was, admittedly, rather bouncy as we waited at the surface. Hubby says he was feeling quite green at this point. Then the sub dived, eventually reaching a depth of 110 feet. We spent 45 minutes working round several artificial reefs - two sunken ships, an airplane, some concrete pyramids, etc. I have to confess to being a little disappointed by what we saw. There was a school of eagle rays that was undeniably impressive, but other than that the fish seemed a bit thin on the ground...or should that be water.... The kids were impressed though.
The Japanese family continued to throw up noisily throughout the voyage, reaching a climax as the sub resurfaced to return us to the boat. At this point, Dr Mom was unable to resist the sensory pressures any more and also had a small, but perfectly contained, barf into a little bag. The trip back to shore was uneventful. We rewarded ourselves for a job well done by having giant ice creams before going back to the car.
Guess what - it was bucketing down with rain again.
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Oregon Caves and Applegate River
Yesterday, no Shakespeare, but we went on the cave tour, walked in the surrounding woods, and drove back through the Applegate Valley (lots of horse farms and vineyards, plus the Applegate River). Overall, the trip confirmed that Oregon has endless hills and forests. I guess this is not news.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Grizzly Peak
Today we walked 5 miles up and around Grizzly Peak, about 15 minutes from Ashland. The guides gave warning that the path was half closed, but in fact we met the work crew finishing the path repairs and so we could walk the whole loop. The views were panoramic in all directions, with snow capped volcanoes, views towards the Rogue River, and views across the Ashland / Medford valley. Plus, wildflowers and butterflies were everywhere.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Blown Home by the Wind
The wind continued to roar around the van all night. We didn't actually have a lot of trouble getting to sleep - Hubby told us all to think we were on a boat rocking on the waves, which seemed to help some of the family - but the van was cold in the morning from the drafts finding their way through cracks and crevices. That said, we weren't as cold as the two guys who had pitched tent in the site next door after we'd gone to bed. It was a dad and his son and, boy, did they look cold and miserable putting the tent away at 7:00am. It was not a night (or a location) for tent camping.Everyone got splendidly clean in the campground showers. It was a revelation. Deep Thought had a bit of a problem with her towel and robe becoming soaked because Dad didn't warn her that she had put them on a seat for disabled people in the shower, and not a bench, but apart from that all went swimmingly (if you'll excuse the pun).
We set off promptly for our longest drive, 322 miles north to Merced and the McConnell State Recreation Area.
The kids watched "Guys and Dolls" on the portable DVD player while we drove along I-15 away from Calico, through Barstow - another depressed town going nowhere - and back to Mojave. Our route traversed a stretch of the Mojave Desert. I am glad that I didn't make more effort to find places for us to camp in the Mojave Desert, as we now feel like we've seen enough of it. Dry and flat with a lot of rocks. Impressive for its scale, and the contrast between the desert plain and the mountains, but not a place you'd much want to hang out. Or live. I guess some people choose to, though I'm not sure why... It seems clear from the state of most of the little towns that the young people leave and never return. One day these small towns will fall into the desert like the mining towns that preceded them. Some of them are half way there already. Quite a spooky thought, really.
We backtracked along our earlier route from Mojave through Tehachapi to Bakersfield. The landscape around Tehachapi is appealing, with rolling hills, more greenery, and a winding road that meets and greets the long distance railway in numerous places.
Bakersfield was as lovely as we remembered. This time there were no diversions. We stopped for lunch at the China Town Buffet off I-99 just at the edge of Bakersfield, and it turned out to be just what we needed. Imagine a bland single story building filled with 150 diners of all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages. About 85% of the men have facial hair - something we noticed was a lot more prevalent in the central valley - and everyone has at least three plates of food in front of them. It was a help yourself to everything buffet for $10 each, and we sure did. Little Starlet focused heavily on the meat options. Deep Thought consumed mostly appetizers, though she also tucked into some teriyaki chicken. Hubby ate ribs and shrimps, while I focused on brightly colored food skewered on sticks. It went down very well in all senses.
By the time we'd finished gorging ourselves, the rain had started to fall in Bakersfield. We decided to out run it. The kids armed themselves with "Nanny McPhee", and we set out along the ever-so-slightly-dull I-99.
Reaching Fresno, the rain was really coming down hard. Hubby put forward the crazy idea of abandoning our last night of camping and driving home. We decided to have a family conference in Merced, just short of the McConnell Recreation Area. Fortunately we were able to hold it in a Starbucks! Nectar of the Gods! (Our first sighting of a Starbucks for several days was in Bakersfield, which is how we knew that Bakersfield counted as civilization, and that we'd been experiencing the wilderness before that.)The vote was taken and the decision made to return home. So that is where I am writing now, in our family room with a cup of tea.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Roadrunner Love
On the way to the Visitor Center for the wi-fi experience today, we saw Mr and Mrs Roadrunner doing their making babies thing. As Deep Thought said, And of course this is the only moment we haven't got the camera with us! It may surprise you to learn that roadrunners are not purple and greed. They are, in fact, dark brown with pale speckles, about the size of a chicken, with a nice plume of feathers on their heads. They really do that darting run too.
Salt and Pupfish
This morning I woke up with a cold. I can’t quite understand how that happened.
We went out at 9:00am to the Salt Creek Interpretive Trail about half an hour up the road towards Stovepipe Wells. It’s a half mile loop on a boardwalk, around and across a salt water creek and marsh area. It is reached by another exciting mile of gravel road over which Hubby always enjoys driving the RV. The salt creek was not a knock out attraction, but it engaged the kids for an hour or so. Essentially it is the only habitat of a tiny brown endangered fish called the Pupfish, which breeds at this time of the year and then pretty much dies in the summer. Only the few that make it into the permanent pools survive. At the moment there is a lot of water, and the prickleweed is flourishing. We saw lots of fish and Deep Thought took lots of photos of them. I'm sure we'll post some of them in due course.
At the end of the boardwalk there is a trail heading over the salt flats. We walked out on that for about ten minutes before it became clear that we were going to be roasted. The salt radiates a bright glare equal to any snowdrift and it definitely felt hotter than it had on either of our morning walks in the past couple of days (despite there being a light wind today). We came back, admired the fish some more, then headed down the road to the Harmony Borax Works.
Apparently borax “harvesting” has historically been the most valuable kind of mining in Death Valley, far surpassing gold or silver. Thousands of Chinese workers were brought to Death Valley in the nineteenth century to work in the extractive industry. The Harmony Borax Works is one of the best preserved sites. It has the wagons from a Twenty Mule Train. In each of these trains, two large product wagons and a 1200 gallon water wagon were literally pulled by teams of twenty mules the 165 miles to Mojave. We looked out from the Harmony Borax Works over the white plain where the workers toiled to extract the mineral. It was hot, bleak and depressing. Imagine being the people who came here from San Francisco to do that work. It must have been grim.
This afternoon we are going back to the sand dunes at Stovepipe Wells because the kids fancy running barefoot on the sand (watch out for scorpions!) and tomorrow we head south out of Death Valley, to Calico Ghost Town.
In the absence of showers for four days, the family is becoming increasiyngly fragrant, and you should see Little Starlet's feet - !
We went out at 9:00am to the Salt Creek Interpretive Trail about half an hour up the road towards Stovepipe Wells. It’s a half mile loop on a boardwalk, around and across a salt water creek and marsh area. It is reached by another exciting mile of gravel road over which Hubby always enjoys driving the RV. The salt creek was not a knock out attraction, but it engaged the kids for an hour or so. Essentially it is the only habitat of a tiny brown endangered fish called the Pupfish, which breeds at this time of the year and then pretty much dies in the summer. Only the few that make it into the permanent pools survive. At the moment there is a lot of water, and the prickleweed is flourishing. We saw lots of fish and Deep Thought took lots of photos of them. I'm sure we'll post some of them in due course.
At the end of the boardwalk there is a trail heading over the salt flats. We walked out on that for about ten minutes before it became clear that we were going to be roasted. The salt radiates a bright glare equal to any snowdrift and it definitely felt hotter than it had on either of our morning walks in the past couple of days (despite there being a light wind today). We came back, admired the fish some more, then headed down the road to the Harmony Borax Works.
Apparently borax “harvesting” has historically been the most valuable kind of mining in Death Valley, far surpassing gold or silver. Thousands of Chinese workers were brought to Death Valley in the nineteenth century to work in the extractive industry. The Harmony Borax Works is one of the best preserved sites. It has the wagons from a Twenty Mule Train. In each of these trains, two large product wagons and a 1200 gallon water wagon were literally pulled by teams of twenty mules the 165 miles to Mojave. We looked out from the Harmony Borax Works over the white plain where the workers toiled to extract the mineral. It was hot, bleak and depressing. Imagine being the people who came here from San Francisco to do that work. It must have been grim.
This afternoon we are going back to the sand dunes at Stovepipe Wells because the kids fancy running barefoot on the sand (watch out for scorpions!) and tomorrow we head south out of Death Valley, to Calico Ghost Town.
In the absence of showers for four days, the family is becoming increasiyngly fragrant, and you should see Little Starlet's feet - !
Death Valley - Mosaic Canyon
Still in Death Valley, connected to Internet over something with less bandwidth than damp string, but thought I'd post a picture. Here is the lower, narrow part of Mosaic Canyon; the rock has been scuplted smooth by the intense flash floods.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
All Quiet in Death Valley (Weds. February 17)
Furnace Creek is a very quiet campground. Hardly anyone seems to sit out in the evening. By the time we went to bed at 10:30pm, we seemed to be the only people still outside their RVs. There are also a few people in tents – they seem to go to bed earlier. I guess that people are trying to get an early start, which is highly recommended if you are planning to go for a walk.
This morning we were at the Golden Canyon trail head by 9:00am. Our plan was to walk the Golden Canyon’s interpretive trail, then continue on either the Zabrieski Point spur, or make the walk into a loop by taking the Gower Gulch trail. In the event, 500 feet of climbing persuaded the kids that there was no way they wanted to climb a further 400 feet to Zabrieski Point so we did the loop. It really was pretty steep. The walk was about four miles. I felt very virtuous!
Anyway, Hubby’s photos will no doubt show the glories of the landscape, so I’ll just make a few comments. When we started down the trail it was pleasant and fairly cool. By the time we arrived back at the RV three hours later, we were all very hot. It’s probably in the mid to high 70sF by noon, though the hottest part of the day is actually 2:00pm to 3:00pm. The walk through the Golden Canyon was impressive – that’s pretty much what we say every five minutes: “Wow, look at that rock formation, isn’t it impressive?” – and quite varied. Much of the canyon is mudstone, but there is also a magnificent red cliff – “Red Cathedral” - which looks like draperies and buttresses made of delicately carved stone.
One of the things that has really struck us about Death Valley is how colorful it is. Brought up on Westerns and Laurence of Arabia, we tend to think of desert as yellow sand, but Death Valley is far from that archetype. Every set of cliffs is awash with a wide palette of colors: yellows, greens, pinks, reds, purples, black, cream, even a little blue. The variety is astonishing. Little Starlet is in rock collector’s heaven, though it makes the walking slow (and, of course, we tell her that she can’t keep more than one or two little rocks from the many finds she makes).
After we walked through the Golden Canyon itself, we climbed up to the sheer face of Manly Peak (named after a man called Mr Manly, not a statement of how butch you need to be to get there) – which reminded Deep Thought of Half Dome in Yosemite - and then turned left into the winding, damp bed of the gulch. This part of the walk was rough, rocky and winding. Little Starlet lost the will to live after about an hour, but Deep Thought insisted that the end was “just around the corner” and generally went all girl scoutish on us to keep our spirits up. It made a change from the waves of teenage hormones that have been somewhat evident on this trip…. We passed the entrances to several abandoned borax mines created, it seems, by lone miners mostly in the 19th century. Little Starlet and Hubby went to stand inside one of the most cavern-like, but carefully did not move further than the entrance as we have heard all about the hazardous nature of these mines (hazards which can sometimes include abandoned and, by now, unstable dynamite).
The gulch took us through what is termed the “badlands”. Arid and bleak, very little clings to life here, just the occasional desert holly. Deep Thought saw a lizard on the trail, the first we have seen since arriving. Putting ourselves in the shoes of the pioneers, we felt that if we’d ended up in a place like this, we’d have simply given up hope of survival. Those old timers sure were tough.
At lunchtime, back at Furnace Creek, we spotted a kangaroo rat. This is one of the few mammals that lives around here; the coyote is at the top of the food chain. Kangaroo rats are notable for having nostrils that enable them to reabsorb the moisture that they would otherwise breathe out. Little Starlet said it was like “a big chipmunk with a super curly tail”, which is a pretty good description.
Later in the afternoon we headed out to the sand dunes close to Stovepipe Wells. We left it a little late, so we only had half an hour of the best light. (Hubby was frustrated to be thwarted in his plans to take a hundred photos of sand.) We decided to yomp across the sand towards the highest dune and it was great fun. Deep Thought and Little Starlet headed off in one direction while Hubby and I took another, but it was all very safe as we could see each other (and the many other people) all the time. The sand is super soft, but easy to walk across with a modicum of determination. The walk from the parking lot and back is about a mile and a half. Again, it’s another dramatic but really different landscape. This one fitted better with our preconceptions of what a desert should look like, but in fact sand dunes make up only a very small percentage of the overall acreage of Death Valley.
We were surprised to spot a couple of kids on sleds sliding down one of the steepest dunes. My kids thought they were crazy but they looked like they were having fun. Erosion is not an issue in the sand dunes area, it seems. Visitors are allowed to walk wherever they like, and the wind tidies up and makes it neat again. If time allows, we plan to revisit the dunes on Friday.
This morning we were at the Golden Canyon trail head by 9:00am. Our plan was to walk the Golden Canyon’s interpretive trail, then continue on either the Zabrieski Point spur, or make the walk into a loop by taking the Gower Gulch trail. In the event, 500 feet of climbing persuaded the kids that there was no way they wanted to climb a further 400 feet to Zabrieski Point so we did the loop. It really was pretty steep. The walk was about four miles. I felt very virtuous!
Anyway, Hubby’s photos will no doubt show the glories of the landscape, so I’ll just make a few comments. When we started down the trail it was pleasant and fairly cool. By the time we arrived back at the RV three hours later, we were all very hot. It’s probably in the mid to high 70sF by noon, though the hottest part of the day is actually 2:00pm to 3:00pm. The walk through the Golden Canyon was impressive – that’s pretty much what we say every five minutes: “Wow, look at that rock formation, isn’t it impressive?” – and quite varied. Much of the canyon is mudstone, but there is also a magnificent red cliff – “Red Cathedral” - which looks like draperies and buttresses made of delicately carved stone.
One of the things that has really struck us about Death Valley is how colorful it is. Brought up on Westerns and Laurence of Arabia, we tend to think of desert as yellow sand, but Death Valley is far from that archetype. Every set of cliffs is awash with a wide palette of colors: yellows, greens, pinks, reds, purples, black, cream, even a little blue. The variety is astonishing. Little Starlet is in rock collector’s heaven, though it makes the walking slow (and, of course, we tell her that she can’t keep more than one or two little rocks from the many finds she makes).
After we walked through the Golden Canyon itself, we climbed up to the sheer face of Manly Peak (named after a man called Mr Manly, not a statement of how butch you need to be to get there) – which reminded Deep Thought of Half Dome in Yosemite - and then turned left into the winding, damp bed of the gulch. This part of the walk was rough, rocky and winding. Little Starlet lost the will to live after about an hour, but Deep Thought insisted that the end was “just around the corner” and generally went all girl scoutish on us to keep our spirits up. It made a change from the waves of teenage hormones that have been somewhat evident on this trip…. We passed the entrances to several abandoned borax mines created, it seems, by lone miners mostly in the 19th century. Little Starlet and Hubby went to stand inside one of the most cavern-like, but carefully did not move further than the entrance as we have heard all about the hazardous nature of these mines (hazards which can sometimes include abandoned and, by now, unstable dynamite).
The gulch took us through what is termed the “badlands”. Arid and bleak, very little clings to life here, just the occasional desert holly. Deep Thought saw a lizard on the trail, the first we have seen since arriving. Putting ourselves in the shoes of the pioneers, we felt that if we’d ended up in a place like this, we’d have simply given up hope of survival. Those old timers sure were tough.
At lunchtime, back at Furnace Creek, we spotted a kangaroo rat. This is one of the few mammals that lives around here; the coyote is at the top of the food chain. Kangaroo rats are notable for having nostrils that enable them to reabsorb the moisture that they would otherwise breathe out. Little Starlet said it was like “a big chipmunk with a super curly tail”, which is a pretty good description.
Later in the afternoon we headed out to the sand dunes close to Stovepipe Wells. We left it a little late, so we only had half an hour of the best light. (Hubby was frustrated to be thwarted in his plans to take a hundred photos of sand.) We decided to yomp across the sand towards the highest dune and it was great fun. Deep Thought and Little Starlet headed off in one direction while Hubby and I took another, but it was all very safe as we could see each other (and the many other people) all the time. The sand is super soft, but easy to walk across with a modicum of determination. The walk from the parking lot and back is about a mile and a half. Again, it’s another dramatic but really different landscape. This one fitted better with our preconceptions of what a desert should look like, but in fact sand dunes make up only a very small percentage of the overall acreage of Death Valley.
We were surprised to spot a couple of kids on sleds sliding down one of the steepest dunes. My kids thought they were crazy but they looked like they were having fun. Erosion is not an issue in the sand dunes area, it seems. Visitors are allowed to walk wherever they like, and the wind tidies up and makes it neat again. If time allows, we plan to revisit the dunes on Friday.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Ribbit
There seems to be a large frog somewhere in the campground, giving us its all with the loud ribbits. Ah, the wonders of nature.
Pismo Beach to Mojave Desert via Teletubbyland
We rose early and partook of the communal showers before anyone else was around. It was a blessing to see Little Starlet's feet change color under the water, to say nothing of the children's lovely fragrance... After getting away from Pismo at 9:30am, we made good progress north on highway 101, then east on highway 46 from Paso Robles, then highway 58. This was not the route we had imagined doing, but Hubby was not feeling up to the squiggley drive on the alternate route, so we opted for slightly longer but much straighter.
The landscape, ah, the landscape. It came at us in definite waves. First, east of Paso Robles, lots of vineyards. Large, wide fields of vines, punctuated now and again by small oil fields. (There seems to be a fair bit of oil extraction in this area.)
Following the vines came miles of soft, gentle rolling hills without any trees (though there also seemed to be very few animals, which would have been our guess for why it was treeless). At first it reminded us of Cumbria, but we soon came to realize that it most reminded us of Teletubbyland. Eh oh!
As we drove out of the hilly area into Antelope Valley, we entered a long patch of nothingness: Very flat, no animals or obvious agriculture, no towns, just the occasional house which would make the kids ask, "Why would anyone live here?" Eventually the nothingness gave way to nut orchards, mostly almonds we thought, which were just coming into bloom. In another week or so it would offer a very beautiful display.
More oilfields welcomed us into Bakersfield, and here we all found ourselves wondering why anyone would choose to live there. OK, we only saw part of the north of town, but it presented such an eloquent image of declining middle America that it would have had us emigrating back to the UK before agreeing to live there. Any place where the bill boards on the main highways are neglected is in a bad way. We stopped for lunch at Spencer's Diner, which was packed and hopping but offered only so-so food. Hubby did a spectacular piece of parking, diagonally across two spaces, without any assistance.
As we had made very speedy progress, I suggested a side trip to the Kern County Museum and Pioneer Town. I called their information line for hours etc, and we set off. After a twenty minute diversion we arrived - and it was shut for Presidents' Day. In the Bay Area, the attractions tend to open on the public holidays, including those that usually close on Mondays, so we were a bit surprised by that.
Since there was absolutely nowhere else to visit, we pushed on to our next campsite, Sierra Trails RV Park on Highway 14 just outside Mojave. There aren't many RV campgrounds in this area. I had read reviews of them all, and chose this one as the best of a bad bunch. In the event, we're quite happy with it. (Photo of our site, #19, at left.) You can hear the road noise, but the campground itself is very quiet with a mixture of visitors and long term residents. (And that presents another question: How do you end up living in an RV on a campground just outside Mojave, which is frankly in the middle of nowhere and has nothing much to offer except the desert?) 
For a mere $27.50 we have electricity and water hookups and access to a dump station if we wish. There isn't a fire pit, but Hubby has improvised with logs in the BBQ grill.
(Team G attaching the van to the hookups in photo at left.)
After arriving, we walked out behind the campground into the edge of the Mojave Desert. It is heavily populated with Joshua Trees, begging the question why you would need to go all the way to Joshua Tree National Park to see more?
Naturally Hubby took hundreds of photos, some of which he will post in due course.
The landscape, ah, the landscape. It came at us in definite waves. First, east of Paso Robles, lots of vineyards. Large, wide fields of vines, punctuated now and again by small oil fields. (There seems to be a fair bit of oil extraction in this area.)
Following the vines came miles of soft, gentle rolling hills without any trees (though there also seemed to be very few animals, which would have been our guess for why it was treeless). At first it reminded us of Cumbria, but we soon came to realize that it most reminded us of Teletubbyland. Eh oh!As we drove out of the hilly area into Antelope Valley, we entered a long patch of nothingness: Very flat, no animals or obvious agriculture, no towns, just the occasional house which would make the kids ask, "Why would anyone live here?" Eventually the nothingness gave way to nut orchards, mostly almonds we thought, which were just coming into bloom. In another week or so it would offer a very beautiful display.
More oilfields welcomed us into Bakersfield, and here we all found ourselves wondering why anyone would choose to live there. OK, we only saw part of the north of town, but it presented such an eloquent image of declining middle America that it would have had us emigrating back to the UK before agreeing to live there. Any place where the bill boards on the main highways are neglected is in a bad way. We stopped for lunch at Spencer's Diner, which was packed and hopping but offered only so-so food. Hubby did a spectacular piece of parking, diagonally across two spaces, without any assistance.
As we had made very speedy progress, I suggested a side trip to the Kern County Museum and Pioneer Town. I called their information line for hours etc, and we set off. After a twenty minute diversion we arrived - and it was shut for Presidents' Day. In the Bay Area, the attractions tend to open on the public holidays, including those that usually close on Mondays, so we were a bit surprised by that.
Since there was absolutely nowhere else to visit, we pushed on to our next campsite, Sierra Trails RV Park on Highway 14 just outside Mojave. There aren't many RV campgrounds in this area. I had read reviews of them all, and chose this one as the best of a bad bunch. In the event, we're quite happy with it. (Photo of our site, #19, at left.) You can hear the road noise, but the campground itself is very quiet with a mixture of visitors and long term residents. (And that presents another question: How do you end up living in an RV on a campground just outside Mojave, which is frankly in the middle of nowhere and has nothing much to offer except the desert?) 
For a mere $27.50 we have electricity and water hookups and access to a dump station if we wish. There isn't a fire pit, but Hubby has improvised with logs in the BBQ grill.(Team G attaching the van to the hookups in photo at left.)
After arriving, we walked out behind the campground into the edge of the Mojave Desert. It is heavily populated with Joshua Trees, begging the question why you would need to go all the way to Joshua Tree National Park to see more?
Naturally Hubby took hundreds of photos, some of which he will post in due course.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Beach Day at Montana de Oro
The day began cold and bright. The kids played a practical joke on us, pretending that Little Starlet had gone out to the toilet block and failed to return. In fact she was hidden on the over-cab bed behind Deep Thought. We fell for it totally.
We decided to head over to Montana de Oro (Mountain of Gold), which is about 45 minutes drive from Pismo Beach. All nice and easy, but when we got there the parking was murder. Turns out that a fun run was being held in the park today - the website said nothing about it - so we ended up parking along the side of the road in a space that was clearly too narrow for us; but Hubby did a fantastic job of squirreling us into the space. We had to get in and out of the van through the driver's door, but that was a small hardship.
We walked down to Skooner's Cove which has an attractive curve of coarse sandy beach, framed by sheer, crumbling cliffs. This was not a swimming beach, as the waves were very rough and there was clearly a rip tide at work; but the sea pooled in a small lagoon to one side, which allowed Little Starlet to run in and out of the waves and, eventually, to get wet from tip to toe. Of course, she made a couple of friends and was happy as larry for two hours. Deep Thought lay on a towel with her book, pretty much refusing to get up and certainly not to play with her sister (whose birthday was today).
While I assembled a picnic lunch back in the RV, the weather turned foggy and cold, so we took the hint and drove back to our campground. Hubby did a marvellous job negotiating the very narrow roads in the Montana park. He says that there's no need to find any more challenging drives for him, that will do.
Back at the Pismo Beach campground, we played around videoing ourselves for a project Deep Thought is doing for school (on the patriot hero Molly Pitcher - was she real or legend?); and then we took a walk down to the Oceana Dunes beach to see the sunset. We didn't manage to get run over by any trucks or ATVs on the beach, but we were still pretty offended by the way five miles of beautiful coast has been turned into a road.
Hubby and Deep Thought took many photos, which will be posted later.
Tomorrow, into the Central Valley.
We decided to head over to Montana de Oro (Mountain of Gold), which is about 45 minutes drive from Pismo Beach. All nice and easy, but when we got there the parking was murder. Turns out that a fun run was being held in the park today - the website said nothing about it - so we ended up parking along the side of the road in a space that was clearly too narrow for us; but Hubby did a fantastic job of squirreling us into the space. We had to get in and out of the van through the driver's door, but that was a small hardship.
We walked down to Skooner's Cove which has an attractive curve of coarse sandy beach, framed by sheer, crumbling cliffs. This was not a swimming beach, as the waves were very rough and there was clearly a rip tide at work; but the sea pooled in a small lagoon to one side, which allowed Little Starlet to run in and out of the waves and, eventually, to get wet from tip to toe. Of course, she made a couple of friends and was happy as larry for two hours. Deep Thought lay on a towel with her book, pretty much refusing to get up and certainly not to play with her sister (whose birthday was today).
While I assembled a picnic lunch back in the RV, the weather turned foggy and cold, so we took the hint and drove back to our campground. Hubby did a marvellous job negotiating the very narrow roads in the Montana park. He says that there's no need to find any more challenging drives for him, that will do.
Back at the Pismo Beach campground, we played around videoing ourselves for a project Deep Thought is doing for school (on the patriot hero Molly Pitcher - was she real or legend?); and then we took a walk down to the Oceana Dunes beach to see the sunset. We didn't manage to get run over by any trucks or ATVs on the beach, but we were still pretty offended by the way five miles of beautiful coast has been turned into a road.
Hubby and Deep Thought took many photos, which will be posted later.
Tomorrow, into the Central Valley.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Climbing the Cinder Cone
Sunday morning - We set out on the 4 mile round trip to Cinder Cone and back. The walking is very hard underfoot, like marching across sand dunes. The cinders range from gravel size to sandy and are soft. We passed along part of the California Trail (Deep Thought studied the 1850s emigrations in school this year) through the pine forest and along the side of the “Fantastic Lava Beds.” They’re really called that: They are huge piles of basaltic lava rocks that were spewed from the Cinder Cone in about 1650, its last eruption.
Reaching the base of the Cinder Cone, you look across an almost dead landscape – there are a few new pine trees creating new life here – towards the “Painted Dunes”. These are cinder dunes that were oxidized during the eruption process and so have red lines and patterns on them.
We set off up the steep slope of the Cinder Cone itself (with a bunch of other people, including a family with a 3 and a 4 year old). The walking is even harder going here, and it really is steep, about a 35 degree slope. After about 100 feet, I could not manage any more – it was the combination of steepness and loose cinders that put me off – so I retreated to the base. Heroic Hubby and the Terrific Twosome continued upwards, about 1000 feet altogether, to the rim of the cone. It took them quite a while, and they felt the climb, but they had a great sense of achievement when they got there. While they climbed, I took the “bypass” route around the base of the cone to the point where it veers away into the wilderness. And then I sat on a log and waited for them.
Meanwhile, up the cone, Hubby was taking many photos while the twosome were groaning and eating pretzel rods. They walked a little way into the cone itself, then stopped before they had to retrace too many steps up yet another steep incline. The view from the rim was, apparently, quite spectacular. Deep Thought reports that you could see both lakes (Butte and Snag); Lassen Peak (which last erupted in 1914); the Painted Dunes and Fantastic Lava Beds, and various other volcanic peaks and lots of small trees. She was impressed, though Little Starlet was more concerned about the state of her legs and her shoes, which did indeed prove to be full of rocks.
Speaking of shoes, at the start of the descent, Hubby’s right hiking book fell to pieces. The sole became detached, and he walked back on the inner sole alone. Little Starlet brought the sole down the cone, brandishing it like a trophy in a big game hunt. They laughed at him a lot, and I laughed some more when they reached me on my log.
Most repeated sentence of the day (to Little Starlet): “You can do it!”
Reaching the base of the Cinder Cone, you look across an almost dead landscape – there are a few new pine trees creating new life here – towards the “Painted Dunes”. These are cinder dunes that were oxidized during the eruption process and so have red lines and patterns on them.
We set off up the steep slope of the Cinder Cone itself (with a bunch of other people, including a family with a 3 and a 4 year old). The walking is even harder going here, and it really is steep, about a 35 degree slope. After about 100 feet, I could not manage any more – it was the combination of steepness and loose cinders that put me off – so I retreated to the base. Heroic Hubby and the Terrific Twosome continued upwards, about 1000 feet altogether, to the rim of the cone. It took them quite a while, and they felt the climb, but they had a great sense of achievement when they got there. While they climbed, I took the “bypass” route around the base of the cone to the point where it veers away into the wilderness. And then I sat on a log and waited for them.
Meanwhile, up the cone, Hubby was taking many photos while the twosome were groaning and eating pretzel rods. They walked a little way into the cone itself, then stopped before they had to retrace too many steps up yet another steep incline. The view from the rim was, apparently, quite spectacular. Deep Thought reports that you could see both lakes (Butte and Snag); Lassen Peak (which last erupted in 1914); the Painted Dunes and Fantastic Lava Beds, and various other volcanic peaks and lots of small trees. She was impressed, though Little Starlet was more concerned about the state of her legs and her shoes, which did indeed prove to be full of rocks.
Speaking of shoes, at the start of the descent, Hubby’s right hiking book fell to pieces. The sole became detached, and he walked back on the inner sole alone. Little Starlet brought the sole down the cone, brandishing it like a trophy in a big game hunt. They laughed at him a lot, and I laughed some more when they reached me on my log.
Most repeated sentence of the day (to Little Starlet): “You can do it!”
If You Go Down to The Woods Today...
Writing on Sunday August 30...
No bears so far. No mountain lions either. Deep Thought and Little Starlet found a frog in the water fountain this afternoon. We haven’t seen much else in the way of wildlife. There are hardly any birds: perhaps there isn’t any food. The Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels are here in abundance, as they were at Crater Lake. The kids were thrilled to see them, though I dampened their enthusiasm by reading them the sign saying the local critters are probably carriers of the plague.
No bears so far. No mountain lions either. Deep Thought and Little Starlet found a frog in the water fountain this afternoon. We haven’t seen much else in the way of wildlife. There are hardly any birds: perhaps there isn’t any food. The Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels are here in abundance, as they were at Crater Lake. The kids were thrilled to see them, though I dampened their enthusiasm by reading them the sign saying the local critters are probably carriers of the plague.
And the Award for Most Isolated Campground Goes To...Butte Lake
Just before arriving at the turn off for Butte Lake campground (in the Lassen Volcanic National Park), I mentioned to Hubby that we had a six mile rough gravel road before us. He was thrilled. It was another bone-shaking, teeth- jarring experience that surpassed the previous winner of the wreck-the-RV competition in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
After crawling along at 15 miles per hour, we finally arrived. No ranger in the ranger station and, indeed, hardly anyone in the campground. Butte Lake has over 100 sites. I reckon about 10 of them were filled this weekend; and in our loop, we were the only people. It was actually a bit weird. It was super quiet. We couldn't see or hear any people, tents or vehicles from our site, so the net effect was that we had a rather splendid campsite with as many bear-proof food lockers and picnic benches as you could desire. We also had the toilet block to ourselves. The “beware the bears” signs were much fiercer in this campground – you are instructed not to leave any food around unattended for even a few minutes – so by bedtime on Saturday I was quite freaked out by the atmosphere. And, once again, the kids insisted that we lock them into the RV for safety after they’d gone to bed.
It’s clear that next weekend (Labor Day weekend) the atmosphere will be very different: Every camp site is reserved. It will be heaving here. Butte Lake itself is a very short walk from our site, and is lovely, though rather buggy.
Ironically, while this place was easily the dirtiest we’ve been to on this trip, the campground did not have any showers. The place is situated on grey powdery volcanic cinders. There is very little grass, though plenty of trees (Ponderosa pine mainly) providing pleasant shade. But you do get very dusty and grey whenever and wherever you walk outside (and that’s even before the huge fires constructed by Hubby and Deep Thought start to blow their smoke over you). Little Starlet only had to look at the ground and she was black from head to foot.
After crawling along at 15 miles per hour, we finally arrived. No ranger in the ranger station and, indeed, hardly anyone in the campground. Butte Lake has over 100 sites. I reckon about 10 of them were filled this weekend; and in our loop, we were the only people. It was actually a bit weird. It was super quiet. We couldn't see or hear any people, tents or vehicles from our site, so the net effect was that we had a rather splendid campsite with as many bear-proof food lockers and picnic benches as you could desire. We also had the toilet block to ourselves. The “beware the bears” signs were much fiercer in this campground – you are instructed not to leave any food around unattended for even a few minutes – so by bedtime on Saturday I was quite freaked out by the atmosphere. And, once again, the kids insisted that we lock them into the RV for safety after they’d gone to bed.
It’s clear that next weekend (Labor Day weekend) the atmosphere will be very different: Every camp site is reserved. It will be heaving here. Butte Lake itself is a very short walk from our site, and is lovely, though rather buggy.
Ironically, while this place was easily the dirtiest we’ve been to on this trip, the campground did not have any showers. The place is situated on grey powdery volcanic cinders. There is very little grass, though plenty of trees (Ponderosa pine mainly) providing pleasant shade. But you do get very dusty and grey whenever and wherever you walk outside (and that’s even before the huge fires constructed by Hubby and Deep Thought start to blow their smoke over you). Little Starlet only had to look at the ground and she was black from head to foot.
Down the Tube
We drove from Crater Lake to Lassen Volcanic National Park on Saturday.
At Old Station, where we needed to turn from 89 onto highway 44, we saw a sign for the Subway Cave. (This had also been mentioned to us by the nice lady at the drive through coffee shop in Weed, just moments away from the Pizza Factory, Ray’s Food Place, and the Shell garage: a very handy stop.) The Subway Cave is actually a lava tube that you can walk through, about 1500 feet long. You need your flashlight and jacket but no hard hat, as the roof is high. It was a welcome diversion for half an hour. We took spooky photos of each other, and admired the different lava features helpfully pointed out by the National Park Service. Another first for the Tin Can Crew.
At Old Station, where we needed to turn from 89 onto highway 44, we saw a sign for the Subway Cave. (This had also been mentioned to us by the nice lady at the drive through coffee shop in Weed, just moments away from the Pizza Factory, Ray’s Food Place, and the Shell garage: a very handy stop.) The Subway Cave is actually a lava tube that you can walk through, about 1500 feet long. You need your flashlight and jacket but no hard hat, as the roof is high. It was a welcome diversion for half an hour. We took spooky photos of each other, and admired the different lava features helpfully pointed out by the National Park Service. Another first for the Tin Can Crew.
I Didn't Know the Romans Reached Northern California
Experience is showing that hops of between 150 and 175 miles are ideal. Unfortunately, our round trip has included three hops of 250+ miles. Well, you live and learn. We would have benefited from an overnight between Humboldt and Ashland. The leg we did on Saturday wasn’t quite so bad though. We came out of Crater Lake on highway 62, then transferred to highway 97 which proved to be very straight – I mean very, very straight – through open landscape with background mountains. No stopping points either, so the journey was fast. After a short stretch of I-5, we moved on to highway 89, which also proved to be quite straight, and a generally easy drive. To our annoyance, we got stuck behind a big truck (and it’s mostly a single lane road), but we survived.
As the road passed through Hat Creek Valley, it became obvious that there had been some big wildfires in the area. We saw many acres of blackened forest (and there were still some intrepid campers dotted among them, though they had clearly arrived later than the fire….).
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Passing Mount Shasta
Writing this from the car park of the Pizza Factory in Weed, CA, about to join I-5 for a short way until we turn off on Highway 89 towards the Lassen Volcanic National Park.
We came down Highway 97, which was very straight. Ranching seems to be the main business around here, and the "towns" are very tiny. The landscape is flat with large volcanic mountains to all sides. We were close to Mount Shasta with its impressive glaciers and, of course, stopped to take photos. Our route took us along side the Upper Klamath Lake, which is enormous and beautiful, but the beauty is diminished by the rail-track and phone lines that go along the shore. No stopping points - Hubby was visibly irritated by being unable to stop to look further...
No further connectivity expected till Monday.
We came down Highway 97, which was very straight. Ranching seems to be the main business around here, and the "towns" are very tiny. The landscape is flat with large volcanic mountains to all sides. We were close to Mount Shasta with its impressive glaciers and, of course, stopped to take photos. Our route took us along side the Upper Klamath Lake, which is enormous and beautiful, but the beauty is diminished by the rail-track and phone lines that go along the shore. No stopping points - Hubby was visibly irritated by being unable to stop to look further...
No further connectivity expected till Monday.
Photographing Crater Lake
Friday morning, we drove up to Rim Village from the Mazama Campground, about 15 minutes. The regular parking lot was very full but there were many spaces in the RV parking. We presumed that this was a busy visitor center because Crater Lake is essentially something you experience through driving, which makes it accessible for elderly and disabled people, and for families with small children.
We spent an hour doing the Discovery Trail from Rim Village to Discovery Point. Discovery Point was the place where John Wesley Hillman saw Crater Lake for the first time in 1853. The walk was described as “moderate” but really was easy except for a few vertigo inducing sections of trail – places where I held on tight to Little Starlet, much to her great annoyance (“I’m not a dumbo!”). Though it was only a two mile round trip, it took us some time because of the many photos that we all took.
After the walk we ate our picnic lunch in the RV in the parking lot - a true road trip experience - and then we went on the 30 mile Rim Road drive. Needless to say, Hubby took lots and lots of photos. The whole drive took several hours. The kids' patience had worn very thin by the end.
The Lake is impressive - high caldera cliffs leading to still blue waters - but I don't think we'll be trying to get there again any time soon. There really isn't anything to do apart from a couple of little walks and the drive.
The campground is also probably a zoo in the high summer, though it worked just fine for us. We showered in the coin showers, ate dinner in the Annie Creek Restaurant, dumped our black water ("Smelled like wee," says Hubby) and our grey water, and filled up with fresh.
We spent an hour doing the Discovery Trail from Rim Village to Discovery Point. Discovery Point was the place where John Wesley Hillman saw Crater Lake for the first time in 1853. The walk was described as “moderate” but really was easy except for a few vertigo inducing sections of trail – places where I held on tight to Little Starlet, much to her great annoyance (“I’m not a dumbo!”). Though it was only a two mile round trip, it took us some time because of the many photos that we all took.
After the walk we ate our picnic lunch in the RV in the parking lot - a true road trip experience - and then we went on the 30 mile Rim Road drive. Needless to say, Hubby took lots and lots of photos. The whole drive took several hours. The kids' patience had worn very thin by the end.
The Lake is impressive - high caldera cliffs leading to still blue waters - but I don't think we'll be trying to get there again any time soon. There really isn't anything to do apart from a couple of little walks and the drive.
The campground is also probably a zoo in the high summer, though it worked just fine for us. We showered in the coin showers, ate dinner in the Annie Creek Restaurant, dumped our black water ("Smelled like wee," says Hubby) and our grey water, and filled up with fresh.
Highway 62: An Official "Scenic Byway"
After Medford, Highway 62 takes you through a wasteland of RV vendors, chain fast food restaurants, places to rent cranes and boats, and many opportunities to buy rocks, boulders and plywood. It was really very horrible. The landscape is flat and dry, with the mountains in the background. It could be lovely, but I guess they have to put the electrical substations somewhere. Our overall impression of Medford and environs was of a fairly tatty, semi-industrial town with the obligatory giant lumber mill and Veteran’s Hospital. A bit like a macho Coventry with mountains.
After Shady Cove, everything changed for the better. The landscape isn’t as breathtaking as our route through northern California, but it has pleasing mountains in the background and a lot of trees. As Hubby said, “Aren’t there a lot of trees in the world….?” These ones are a variety of pines and spruces: Juniper, Ponderosa, and Lodgepole, to name just three. They are a bit scrubby looking, but then you can’t have majestic 350 feet high redwoods everywhere, it would just get boring, wouldn’t it? The land further up Highway 62 seems to be used for ranching: We saw horses and cows, and there were even some vineyards. At times the road ran high above the Rogue River, which was obviously popular with kayakers for its white water rapids.
After Prospect, we found ourselves back among the trees, as the road winds through the Rogue National Forest. At Union Creek, we took a short diversion to see the Rogue River Gorge – much tutting and sighing from the kids - and it was spectacular. Congress has determined that this should be preserved as an official “Wild Scenic Place”. I’m not sure whether the ashphalt path and the chain fences help meet that desire, but they did enable us to get close to the edge of the Gorge and have some wonderful views of the rapids and waterfalls. The Gorge was created by a combination of the collapse of lava tubes (lava from the Mount Mazama eruption about 7,000 years ago that is), and the force of the Rogue River water. Over a distance of some 500 feet, the water cascades in impressive leaps and eddies through a chasm probably no more than 25 feet across.
Once again, the kids had got out of the van with their best “This is boring” sighs, and by the end they had really enjoyed the stop. And, of course, Hubby was able to get his camera out again and take several hundred photos of the water, many of which are very good. (Got to give him his due…)
Best Things So Far
Asked Deep Thought and Little Starlet what they had liked most so far about the trip. Response:
(1) The swimming pool at the Jackson Wellsprings campground.
(2) The Shakespeare play. (Little Starlet is now sure she wants to be an actor when she grows up.)
(3) The big redwood trees at Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
Hubby says he likes being able to visit the beautiful places. I liked the big trees too.
Also asked DT and LS what they had liked least about the trip:
(1) The smell of the water at the Jackson Wellsprings campground.
(2) Worrying about bears at Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
(3) The campground at the Bothe-Napa State Park. It was a bit dusty and cramped.
(4) The bumpy and twisty roads, when the RV feels very big.
Hubby says the only thing he hasn’t liked was the smelly water. I wasn’t too sure about being in a “home away from home” at the start – it didn’t feel enough like camping – but as we’ve been able to run the AC when it’s been hot and wrap up in the warm when it’s been cold, I’ve got used to the civilization of it all.
Best things about being in an RV:
(1) Not having to walk around in the dark outside to go to the toilet in the night.
(2) It stays warm when it is very cold outside (like at night).
(3) When it rains you don’t get wet.
(4) It’s easy to go further.
(1) The swimming pool at the Jackson Wellsprings campground.
(2) The Shakespeare play. (Little Starlet is now sure she wants to be an actor when she grows up.)
(3) The big redwood trees at Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
Hubby says he likes being able to visit the beautiful places. I liked the big trees too.
Also asked DT and LS what they had liked least about the trip:
(1) The smell of the water at the Jackson Wellsprings campground.
(2) Worrying about bears at Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
(3) The campground at the Bothe-Napa State Park. It was a bit dusty and cramped.
(4) The bumpy and twisty roads, when the RV feels very big.
Hubby says the only thing he hasn’t liked was the smelly water. I wasn’t too sure about being in a “home away from home” at the start – it didn’t feel enough like camping – but as we’ve been able to run the AC when it’s been hot and wrap up in the warm when it’s been cold, I’ve got used to the civilization of it all.
Best things about being in an RV:
(1) Not having to walk around in the dark outside to go to the toilet in the night.
(2) It stays warm when it is very cold outside (like at night).
(3) When it rains you don’t get wet.
(4) It’s easy to go further.
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