In Retrospect

Now that I have been home in Maine for a couple of days, I have had some time to reflect on the trip and everything that we did and saw. Before I get to that however, here is a quick recap of what we accomplished during the 80 hours that Ben, Noreen and I spent with Brian and Candace in San Fran.

We drank mojitos and listened to jazz in the Haight; watched the West Coast version of Sox/Yankees by seeing the Dodgers play the Giants; tasted wine and joined a wine club; rode the cable cars (watch your ass if you are on the street side of the car); went hiking up to the top of Mt. Tamalpais, saw the Golden Grate Bridge; walked through the Redwood Forests in Muir Woods, hung out at Pier 39 watching, listening and smelling the sea lions; we played 100 year old arcade games, found the “Full House” house; saw a submarine; drove through the Golden Gate park and saw bison, a windmill and a beautiful tulip garden; drank beers on the sidewalk in The Mission while watching Brian get kicked out of the burrito restaurant; we saw a giant camera at the Cliff House; made friends with cougars in The View and perhaps most surprisingly watched Noreen try Thai food for the first time and enjoy it! And… all of that was only scratching the surface of what the city has to offer its visitors.

Overall, this was one of the best vacations that I have ever taken. Driving across this country of ours is no small feat. It is an endurance test of your sanity and ability to be in a car of that long. One of the things we have talked about is wishing that we had more time to stop and see more of each city and place where we were. However, I suppose that even if you were fortunate enough to take an entire month off, you would probably still want more time. I am not even sure I could pick out what was my favorite part of the drive across to San Francisco – seeing the great plains and the huge farms which were 1000s of acres; driving through the deserts and seeing the canyons and ravines; watching mountain ranges thousands of feet tall rise out of nothing, seeing the mountains turn from brown to green again and the lush valleys of the west coast give way to the deep blue of the pacific ocean… it was all incredible.

Above all one of my favorite parts of the journey was the daily routine of racing the night sky across the country. As we were driving due west down the interstate with the sun setting in front of us, we could see dark night sky behind us racing to catch up. Ahead of us was the bright sun filled sky of day and behind us the eerie darkness of night. It would slowly envelope us in a rainbow of color – light blue to lavender to pink to orange to red to purple to dark blue to the black of night. We would see this parade of colors overtake us as the night came on and we would then be rewarded us by showering us with more stars than I have ever seen before. All that you would be able to see was total blackness and a star filled sky that seemed to stretch on forever in all directions, punctuated only by the occasional light of a farm house 20 miles off in the distance.

Overall this trip exposed me to areas of the county that I had only dreamed of seeing before. We met some interesting people along the way and were able to get the rare opportunity to see, smell, feel, taste and hear parts of the country in a very up close and personal way.

While I am a little sad that one of my best friends now lives 3000 miles away, I am glad that it is in a city which has so much to offer with a lady who I like a lot. I certainly can not wait to go back and see them again and to visit Alcatraz, go camping, visit wine country, see a museum or two, see the Castro, revisit The Mission (and remember it this time), and to experience everything else that the city and area has to offer!

Who knows… maybe I will have to drive out and see them again!

The Best And Worst of Cross Country Driving

Its been about 1 week since I've arrived in San Francisco and I've had a few days to put the roadie into perspective. I know how people love lists, so I've decided to lay out the best and worst of cross country traveling for folks who may or may not want to give it a try someday...

The Best...

5.) St. Louis Arch-Its a big metal arch that sticks out of the ground along the banks of the Mississippi River, but if you haven't seen it its bigger and more impressive than you can possibly imagine. I really hope to visit St. Louis again someday to take the elevator up the arch and scope out the Budweiser factory.

4.) The Change in Scenery-From The Atlantic Ocean, to forests, to wineries, to the Great Lakes, to Farmland, to Desert and mountains, to more farmland and mountains, and finally the mighty Pacific...there sure is a lot to look at while you're cruising across the country. It may not seem like it at the time, but when you step back and put the trip into perspective, there truly is!

3.) Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame-Jim Morrison's cub scout uniform, Michael Jackson's Grammy for Thriller, Elvis' Cadillac, plus lots of stuff for radio nerds like me. We spent 2 hours there and could have spent hours more if we didn't have to hit the road.

2.) The Pacific Coast Highway-Beautiful, picturesque, and legendary. Truly as awe inspiring as advertised, and with tons of camping spots and hiking trails I'm sure to return soon. Also just what you need to see after traveling for day through farmland and desert.

1.) The Grand Canyon-If its not on your list of things to see before you die, stop what you are doing right now and put it on. Words simply can't describe how breath taking the Grand Canyon is, and with hiking trails, mule rides, and great views from behind metal railings at the top there is a GC adventure for everybody.

The Worst...

5.) Niagara Falls-Beautiful and impressive, but after about 30 minutes I found the waterfall thing getting old. I really don't understand why people honeymoon there. I'd have a much better time vacationing in Boston or at a cabin on Lake Champlain.

4.) Oklahoma/Texas-After OK-City its hours and hours and hours of driving and the only cool thing we saw was a brush fire. The largest cross in the Western Hemisphere really didn't do much for us.

3.) Hotels with horrible internet connections-Nothing is worse than getting to a hotel after 8-12 hours in a car to upload pictures and blog, than having to deal with a terrible wifi signal. A process that takes a few minutes max at home can take hours when the internet connection is suspect. And yes, I'm talking about you Vagabond Inn in Bakersfield, CA.

2.) Las Vegas/Hoover Dam-Not boring, just not as exciting as I pictured them. After days and days of driving through nothing, I was disappointed to roll over the Hoover Dam, I found Lake Mead much more impressive and the mountains around it made the dam look pretty small in comparison. Vegas on the other hand was a tiny strip of casinos in the middle of the desert. All crammed together and not as impressive as its legend would have you believe.

1.) Arizona-Home of officer 5920 and his $190 speeding tickets, poor quality jeans that are available at J.C. Penny, and that nasty sugary ice tea. The only thing Arizona has going for it is a giant hole in the desert (see Grand Canyon) that hopefully someday will envelop the entire state.

Friends Gone, Time to Recover

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Sunday we caught the final pre-season game between the Dodgers and Giants at the ballpark across the street. A 3-1 victory. The game was fast paced, the garlic fries were fantastic, and I'm pretty sure everyone had a good time. I'm looking forward to seeing many games this season. I've never dreamed of living this close to a major league ballpark. Wish it was Fenway!

Yesterday we took Noreen on the "Full House" tour of San Francisco then went to the beach, and on to Muir Woods to see some big ass Red Wood Trees. I've seen them before, but they are still as impressive as my first visit. I think Chris and Ben were equally awed by the massive size of the giant sequoias. No uncomfortably tense moments with strangers yesterday which is a good thing because my 3 d-bag friends are now on their flight home while I'm stuck trying to learn the ropes in my new city. The last thing I need is a jacked Australian dude in a wife beater pounding me to smitherines because Ben tells him to "be a man!"

Another thing that I hope doesn't turn into a pattern here is the way the Thai food place around the corner boxes up meals. I had about 1/3 of a plate left at dinner last night and I asked to waiter to box it for me. He only boxed the rice...Where the hell are my chicken and veggies? As delicious as plain brown rice is, I'd be much happier with a little sauce to help it slide down.

Come On, Be A Man

“Oh I am a man”

Such is the exchange that we had with a rather burly Australian man in the beer aisle of Safeway. We were discussing why the hell anyone would ever want to drink Bud Light or Bud with Clamato juice (Clam juice and Tomato juice for those inquiring minds out there). We discussed with this man with Ben, Brian and I trying to convince him to buy it. After Ben leaned in close to him and said “Come on, be a man” he turned and looked at Ben and for a moment we all thought Ben was going to be punched out. Instead of that he responded slowly in his thick Australian accent “Oh, I am a man!” and walked away. Such was our encounter with the “Stranger of the Day”.


Yesterday we were further blessed by great weather. Remind me when I get home to send Mother Nature a telegram thanking her for beautiful weather that we have had since I left Maine over a week ago.

After the Farmers Market yesterday we had a realization session at Candace’s. Powernaps, Tea and snacks while lounging in the sun were on order. After a couple of hours we headed in town to catch a ride on a Cable Car down to Fisherman’s Warf. We all landed spots on the car where you hang off the side while cruising along the streets. Brian, Candace and Nor scored spots on the sidewalk side of the car, with Noreen having the money spot in front. Ben and I on the other hand had the street side of the car. Consider this a fair warning if you ever want to hang off the side of a Cable Car.: Suck in your guts and tuck in your ass cheeks. There were a few times where we almost clipped cars going in the other direction because we were essentially hanging out over the middle yellow lines in the road.

We hopped off the car at the top of Lombard Street and walked down and did the tourist thing of standing in the middle of the road and tying up traffic while taking pictures. We wandered down to Ghirardelli Square after that where after seeing gigantic tubs of chocolate being made. We then wandered over to a wine tasting where after 7-8 generous tastings Ben and I were suckered into joining their wine club. In a few weeks we will be having half a case wine delivered to The Borough!

After the wine, we were feeling pretty smiley so we headed down to the Quarter Arcade and played some really old video games. They had games and amusement machines which were over 100 years old! Some of them were lame, others were fascinating. Some were downright creepy… most notably the 1920s “porn” viewers. We then ambled on over to the Pier 39 Sea Lions where we were greeted by the site of the Sea Lions playing and fighting and barking.

After our adventures out in the city we headed back to Candace’s to cook our fresh handmade ravioli and drink the bottles of wine from the tasting room. A pretty chill day in the city which I seem to like more and more each day. Today’s agenda includes drinking beer, eating food, drinking beer and then heading down to see the Giants take on the Dodges in the final exhibition game of the Spring Training season.

I can not wait to boo the shit out of Manny.

The First 24

Ben and Noreen landed in San Francisco 24 hours ago and in that time we have had quite a whirlwind adventure. We started off at O’Neills Pub around the corner from where Candace lives. The food was so-so but the beer was tasty. We then took off for a drive around the city including a jaunt down Lombard Street and a spin though Chinatown on our way to Golden Gate Park. After that it was a drive up some more of the curviest most dangerous roads that I have ever seen, to the top of Mt. Tamalpais. From the top parking lot a quick ½ mile hike yielded some stunning views of the entire Bay Area. Despite it being windy enough to the point we were looking for Dorothy to come flying in, it was a beautiful day for the walk up the mountain.

We then drove back into the city to the Haight – Ashbury neighborhood for some dinner and jazz. The jazz club that we were at was Club Deluxe and the band was tremendous. The drinks of the night were primarily mojitos and a “SPA Collins”. Both of which were stronger than they were delicious. And they were SUPER tasty. After our first sip, we looked at each other and knew it was going to be one of “those” nights. We met some of Candace’s friends and spent a few hours talking with them and listening to the band. After several more mojitos, G&Ts and a couple of shots, we were off and running. Noreen and Ben had been awake for about 24 hours at this point and while Candace brought Noreen back to the apartment to got to sleep, Ben, Brian and I went to The Utah, a bar around the corner, for a night cap or three. After a bizarre discussion about how good Maine Blueberries are with the doorman, and despite the realization that the ratio of women to men was 1:83 we knew it was time for a drink. We had a couple of beers and listened to some more music while admiring the King Tut bust that had antlers attached to it. After a couple rounds it was about 2:00 AM and we decided we should go back home and call it a night.

We walked back to Brian and Candace’s and introduced Candace’s apartment building to which can only be described as the Drunken Maine Tornado. Stumbling into the apartment like a bull in a china shop, we came across the Flying Monkey on the table which was just begging to be thrown around. If you have never had the joy of shooting the flying monkey through the air, the arms act more or less like a slingshot which catapults the monkey through the air. And as it flies, it releases a screeching howling monkey sound at about 428 decibels for 20 seconds You can only imagine what that sounded like with Ben, Brian and myself launching it around the apartment for 30 minutes… at 2:00 AM. How Noreen did not wake up with a screeching monkey flying over her head, will be one of the great all time mysteries of mankind. I am fairly certain that the Officer 5920 heard it all the way from Arizona and was preparing to write us a ticket for disorderly conduct. Luckily the exhaustion of the day finally took over and we settled down for a few hours of shut eye.

This morning, we decided to walk off the fuzz in our brains by heading to the Farmers Market which is on one of the piers with outstanding views of the Bay Bridge. It was a beautiful morning and after coffee and food we walked around picking out the fresh ingredients to make our dinner tonight. For now, it is off to ride some cable cars, dinner and then drinks in The Mission followed by some relaxing in the hot tub.

I love vacation.

Monkey's Away!

Day 1 in San Francisco, The Golden Gate Bridge, Mt. Tam, and out to the Haight after grabbing Noreen and Ben at the Airport mid afternoon. Luckily we had a perfect sunny day to see the GGB and to drive up and hike the mountain to experience majestic views of the city. Its great having 3 of my best friends visiting my first weekend in SF. I like playing tour guide in my new home and encourage everyone to look me up when they're in town. My cousin Brenda from Michigan will tell you I'm a pretty bitchin' tour guide. I have fond memories of dragging her all over Maine, with her at the wheel, before I had my drivers license.

Club Deluxe is a jazz club with cool music, a bar tender with a killer mostache, and Mojitos that will get you to the altered state of mind you seek in a delicious kind of way. After the club Ben, Chris, and I had a fellas night cap at Hotel Utah, a dive bar down the street. We arrived home shortly before 2am, broke out the flying monkey and decided it would be a great idea to fling him around the apartment at each other, while Candace, Noreen, and Sheridan (Candace's roommate)tried to get some sleep. That alone coupled with the sound of 3 grown men giggling made a ton of noise, but add in the fact that the monkey makes a loud screeching sound when you sling shot him into the air and it must have sounded like a marching band came over for a middle of the night parade through the living room. I still don't understand how the ladies slept through it all.

San Francisco at Last!

We pulled in about 7:00 PM Pacific Time to San Francisco. The home of such things as Alcatraz, the Grateful Dead and most importantly the setting of the hit Robert Redford film “Sneakers” (which was completely robbed of an Oscar by the way). When we arrived we unloaded Brian’s stuff and sat down for a night of relaxation: homemade pizza and wine; followed by a walk down to the San Francisco Giants stadium and McCovey cove. It was exactly what the doctor ordered after the long week. Well that and a couple of swigs of Goslings Black Rum out of our swanky new shot glasses, courtesy of the state of Oklahoma.

This morning was a fabulous breakfast – homemade biscuits (courtesy of Candace), jams and fresh fruits. My body is not sure how to react to the change. For the past week we have been having shitty hotel breakfasts, even worse coffee and the prospect of having to be in the car for 14 hours. Not today though. Today, it was awesome food, great coffee and the joy of knowing that we have arrived and that the rest of the weekend would soon be spent with Ben and Noreen exploring one of the more fascinating cities in the country.

I am not sure what today’s adventures will bring but it will be fun to spend some time in a city for more than just five hours of sleeping. Part of me is a little sad that we will not be partnering up with Hoots and the Maine Train again. The Maine Train has been our home for the last week and at times through the desert, when there was no cell phone coverage for days, Hoots was the only other person that would talk to us. Well, except for the bat-shit crazies that we met along the way That being said to be honest, I am sure as hell glad to not be getting into the car for 15 hours again.. Living your life at 83.2 MPH for days on end (with the occasional burst into the 90s) is enough to a) make you want to choke yourself with the Flying Monkey and b) get a speeding ticket.

Here’s to San Francisco.

Here are the stats from yesterday:

Miles Traveled: 351.7
Overall Speed: 34.6 MPH
Moving Speed: 48.9 MPH
Max Speed: 82.6
Moving Time: 7:11
Stopped Time: 2:59
Overall Time: 10:10
Wineries Passed: 1,328*

*Approximate

Also do not forget to check out all of the pictures from Niagra Falls to Cleveland to St. Louis to the Grand Canyon and everything in between at http://picasaweb.google.com/bpelletier2

Breakfast in San Francisco

After leaving the California Coast we headed through the Artichoke capital of the world, the garlic capital of the world, and steamed The Maine Train up the 101 heading full speed ahead for San Francisco. I love High Occupancy Volume lanes on the highway, pretty much as long as you have a passenger with you, you can buzz right past the bumper to bumper gridlock waving and smiling at all the people traveling solo.

Then we hit the Bay Bridge, the 4 dollar toll was worth the view for a couple of guys who aren't super familiar with the city, but the traffic made me want to jump off the Bay Bridge into the frigid waters below. Maybe Californians have trouble counting to 4, or maybe the toll attendants have a hard time making change in $1 increments. What ever the case I felt like throwing excrement at some of the motorists. It reminded me of baby pigs fighting for their mother's teet. Everyone trying to be the first to push their way through the nipple that is the toll plaza. After making it through the toll, we rolled over to Treasure Island and then into my city. Candace was waiting for us. We unpacked the Maine Train and settled in for the evening.

This morning Candace cooked biscuits. It was the first home cooking we've had in the past week and it was superb. Our mutual friend Ben and Chris's lovely wife Noreen, aka "The Ax", are flying in tonight for a weekend of adventure. Tonight Candace's west coast friends and my buddies from Maine meet face to face. The only thing that would make it more interesting is a dance-off!

Thank Goodness for Pacific Blue

And no, I am not talking about the hit television series starring Mario Lopez and his dimples.

After five long days of driving across America we finally gazed down upon the deep blue colors of the Pacific Ocean. California definitely made use work for it though. From strange discussions with old people, more flat farm land and desert terrain, ridge line after ridge line of mountains… and the ultimate tease was seeing the ocean fog and sea smoke from about 30 miles away. We were so close we could feel it.

We left Bakersfield this morning after a long discussion about the pros and cons of the Canadian vs. United States healthcare systems. No I am not kidding. We were in the hotel lobby with 8 other people with a median age of about 74. Most of whom thought that operating the Belgian waffle maker was akin to piloting the Space Shuttle. Speaking of the Space Shuttle the orange juice that they served this morning was actually Tang. Again I am not kidding. This was especially amusing because 10 minutes down the highway was a farm with hundreds of acres of orange groves. Sadly the hotel did not have any vodka for Tang Screwdrivers, nor did they have the Tang mix handy so I could make a Belgian Tang Waffle – a distant cousin to the Tangcake.

Once outside of Bakersfield we drove through about another hour of farmland. It in fact reminded me a lot of Oklahoma with farms that stretched out as far as the eye can see. The major difference of course is that things here were green, vibrant and growing. Add to that a) there was variety in the farms – vineyards, orange groves, apple orchards, assorted veggies – and b) they have mountains which encircled the valley floor. Everything added up to being pretty spectacular. After we made it through the farmland we again entered into a series of mountain ridges. They first started off in the same vein as the desert in that they were huge and their features were well defined and they had the dessert colors of brown and tan. But as we made it closer and closer to the ocean things became alive again.

The desert like terrain made way to lush green pastures and mountains that had the Happy Cows roaming across them. With every ridge crested the anticipation grew more and more. Hoots only added to the taunting as well because she kept showing us the ocean on the screen and it was moving closer and closer. It was brutal. After 3500 miles and five days… most of which was spent traversing the Great Plains and the Deserts of the Southwest we were ready for the sight of the ocean. The money shot came once we pulled onto the Pacific Coast Highway – California State Route 1 – where we saw it, our first glimpses of the Pacific Ocean.

We pulled into one of the first state parks and got out of the car. After some deep breaths, taking in the cool ocean air that we know so well I was off and running. It was Hasselhoff time. I had been looking forward to the dive into the Pacific Ocean ever since Brian asked me to join him on this journey. So we went on down to the beach, I walked up to the water line where Brian was kind enough to inform that the water was freezing. I waded in a bit to get a sense of what I was getting into and then it was off and running.

I started running into the water ready to jump in headfirst as if I had no regard for human life. However instead of ending up in a smooth Hasselhoff-esque dive into the water, I more or less fell flat on my face. The bottom of the ocean was not the firm sand that I was used to. It was more like loose gravel and instead of propelling me through the air like I was expecting, the foot that I was jumping off of ended up going straight down about a foot so I ended up in a full face plant.

What can I say, no one ever accused me of being graceful. It is okay though… because in just a few hours I will be drinking some wine with one of my best gals Candace and her unemployed beatnik man (and traveling companion) Brian. And then… no more driving.

California Coast

The theme of the scenery over the past few has been desolation, today was just the opposite. We left Bakersfield with a full tank of gas and much like prolific running backs have a nose for the goal line, we had a nose for the Pacific Ocean. We hopped onto Highway 46 and headed toward the coast. We passed wineries, orchards, groves, farmland, through mountains, construction zones and finally after much anticipation, steering wheel banging, and talk about Chris’ first encounter with the “other ocean” we arrived. I pulled off into the first beach access spot I could find and while Byrne slapped on his swim trunks I strolled down to the water.

I rolled up my jeans and stuck my feet in to test the temperature, it was damn cold! I surely didn’t want to emulate what Chris was about to do. Soon he came barreling down to the beach in his trunks, carrying his freshly stolen towel from the Vagabond Inn. It wasn’t long before I snapped a few pictures of him diving face first into the water. I was about the least gracious thing I’ve ever seen. I should have video taped it, but the pictures give his plunge some degree of justice (Unlike the Arizona Highway Patrol).

After snapping off some more photos, and talking a fisherman into taking our picture we were on our way to Big Sur. The drive up was absolutely beautiful. The scenery looked like it was the creation of an illustrator giant 25-hundred foot mountains rising up out of the sea reaching toward a nearly cloudless sky. We stopped for a yummy lunch at Neptune, where a self proclaimed “fat guy”, who was also our waiter taught us that the only way to eat French fries is to dip them into a mixture of ketchup and pepper sauce. I got to admit, it wasn’t half bad.

So here we are, a little more than 2 hours before we reach our final destination and the excitement of arriving is finally starting to set in. I’m excited to reach my new home, hangout with my friends for an extended weekend, and throw my arms around the old lady!

California Dreaming

After we left the Grand Canyon today, we booted on out with destinations set for the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas and ultimately Bakersfield. So far we are two for two. As I begin to type we are traveling down CA-58 en route to Bakersfield about an hour away where I can find me some WiFi and put this day to bed. Literally. I am exhausted and want to sleep for like four days. However, as a good friend of mine likes to say “Sleep is for sissies!”

Today’s theme was desolation. We drove through some of the most barren empty, unforgiving looking landscape that we have seen yet. And that is saying something given some of the shitholes we have been through since Sunday.

Over all today was another good day of traveling. As we stated before hiking in the Grand Canyon was unbelievable. That was definitely the highlight of the day as both the Hoover Dam and Vegas were impressive yet left me wanting more. The bummer about Hoover (the Dam not the vacuum cleaner or the former head of the FBI) was that we were unable to secure a good vantage point for the Hoover Dam with out forking over $12 bucks to park for 10 minutes to take 10 pictures. If we had more time, perhaps we could have spent more time there for a tour, etc. but it was not to be as there was road to be traveled. That being said it was intriguing to see the sheer size of everything and try and picture in my head how the hell they made it and put stuff where it was. And to top that off, Lake Meade looked absolutely incredible.

Next up was Vegas which was about 30 minutes away, mostly due to traffic. Almost immediately after getting out of Boulder City proper you could see Las Vegas down on the valley floor. The casinos stuck way out above all else and we could see them from about 25 miles away. There were a couple of thoughts that I had while driving down The Strip – one, I would like to come back here some day when there is time to explore the casinos, catch a show, etc. Do all of the things that make Vegas – Vegas. Well, everything except the prostitutes, marrying a stranger and seeing Carrot Top. The second thought was wondering what the chances were that we could pull off our own Oceans Thirteen type of heist… it would be Oceans Two. Until I realized that we are not master thieves (unless it is WiFi!), we do not have a knack for dressing in expensive tailored suits and we do not have a penchant for poorly executed dialogue. All in all, it took a little more than an hour to drive down the strip and then we bailed to hit the road.

To help motivate us as we headed to California, we sang Sheryl Crow’s “Leaving Las Vegas” a cappella until we crossed the line. Needless to say it took about 10 minutes because really… who likes that song? After crossing into California we drove through… yep you guessed it…. more desert. Although this time, it was a special desert. It was the Mojave Desert. Which provided some great mountain views and forests of cacti as far as the eye could see. It was kind of fun driving through here however, because it reminded me a lot of driving through Vermont. We drove through ridge after ridge with the highway twisting and turning as it wound itself around the various mountains. The only difference of course is that the deep, lush forests were replaced with barren, brown wasteland.

Overall however, I am glad to be in California finally. At the very least tomorrow will bring a real change of scenery and I am looking forward to diving into the Pacific Ocean.

Today’s Stats:

Miles Traveled: 562.5
Overall Speed: 50.3
Moving Speed: 63.1
Max Speed: 86.7
Moving Time: 8:54
Stopped Time: 2:16
Overall Time: 11:10
Number of Times Pulled Over: 0
Number of other Vehicles Pulled Over: 5
Number of Mule Tours Seen: 4
Number of Tumbleweeds Hit on Highway: 1

California Dreams Do Come True

Driving through the Mohave Desert with the sun in our faces is a great feeling, not because we’re rolling 80MPH and totally blind, but because finally after spending more than 48 hours in a car in the past 5 days, we are finally in California! Only 10 more hours to go till we land ourselves on Candace’s couch for some cocktails and a fine animated feature. As we roll though the cactus filled dessert, I’m thinking Ice Age.

After we said our final goodbyes to the Grand Canyon this morning we successfully navigated our way through Arizona up into Nevada. The highway advisory radio signals were flashing, so we spun our AM dial to 1610-just like in Maine, and we heard about construction on I-93 up to the Hoover Dam. The automated message said expect delays of up to an hour due to spring break traffic. After a short debate about taking an alternate route we decided to stick with 93, the decision payed off. “Smooth sailing” as one of my former radio colleagues used to say.

The Hoover Dam was rather impressive, but the mountains around it dwarf the man made construct. Lake Mead is quite a sight as well. After taking a few snap shots we rolled on up to Vegas. Took a spin down the strip decided that was enough and hoped back on the highway. I decided that I want to do Vegas when I have the means to do it properly. Although the thought of throwing the rest of my worldly possessions on the table for 1 round of craps did cross my mind.

As we were finishing up our drive in Arizona, we had an interesting discussion about how the Village People must have been modeled after the Southwest. We certainly saw lots of cowboys, policemen, Indians, and construction workers between New Mexico and California. If they only wore a little more leather and sang songs together, maybe the ones enforcing the law would not be such hard asses. We’ll see if I buy Arizona Jeans or Ice Tea ever again.

Tomorrow the plan is to leave semi early and roll up the California Coast to what’s left of Big Sur after last year’s fires. It’ll be Chris’s first time seeing the Pacific Ocean,, and he’s promising a dive into the water “no matter how cold it is”. The plan from there to head up to Oakland and over the Bay Bridge to get a great view of my new home! We dine in San Fran tomorrow.

Morning Hike

Hiking in the Grand Canyon was amazing, but totally backwards. You can run down all fancy-free but climbing back up is not as fun filled, not in the best shape of our lives we certainly did some huffing and puffing on the way back. Luckily nobody’s house was blown down. Chris and I arrived early and took in the sunrise before heading down the Bright Angel trail. Watching the shadows slowly recede in favor of the sun’s rays was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. Hiking down the trail though reminded me a lot of Mario Kart…we managed to dodge several slick spots and other obsticles most of which consisted of a mixture of ice and mule dung. Chris nearly slipped at one point, but he quickly regained his footing before doing a header in a pile of dung. I’m glad he wasn’t hurt, but man that would have been funny! We definitely made the right decision to skip Zion this time around. I’ll be out west for a while, so hopefully we’ll be back this way soon.

Leaving the canyon totally sucks, but I’m looking forward to what today will bring. There is something to be said for the bright lights of Vegas following days of seeing nothing, no matter the variety. Also rolling into California for the first time will be a relief, I’ll finally be home!

Reverse Hiking

This morning we woke up at 5:00 AM to go to the Grand Canyon to witness the sunrise and to hit the Bright Angel Trail for a little hiking action. The Bright Angel trail will ultimately take you down to the Colorado River and to a camp ground about 10 miles away. That was a little much for our purposes today. Luckily there are a few different stops along the way that the US Park Service has created which breaks it up. We opted for the short one which is about 1 ½ - 2 miles and drops down about 2000 feet.

This was of course my first experience with what I think of as Reverse Hiking. Having to go down and then come back up. It was harder than I thought coming back up. Combine the fact that we were already starting to come back up at about the 4800 foot mark and also that I was following one Brian J. Pelletier back up (those of you who have hiked with him know how that goes) and I was pretty much sucking wind the entire time. Oh yeah, I am fat and out of shape too. That certainly did not help. Regardless, color me a fan of the good old fashioned “Go up then down” hiking. Score One for Maine.

That being said, the hike was absolutely outstanding. The views were breathtaking and you really felt just how small you were. We passed through a couple of caves in the trail and even saw some ancient glyphs which were on the sidewall of the trail and had been there for 1000s and 1000s of years. As we trekked deeper and deeper into the Canyon, the sun was rising and creating an unbelievable display of color and shadow highlighting different parts of the Canyon and illustrating its depth. The walls of the Canyon kept growing more and more until eventually you felt like you were under the edge completely. You could not make out where the top of the rim was. It was simply unbelievable.

Along the way we saw several asses. Both the large, all-terrain, extra heavy duty beast of burden kind, and the idiots who you can tell are miserable and just looking to make it a miserable for all involved. Luckily the large stinky hairy mammals outnumbered the people. There were several Mule Tour Groups who went down into the Canyon with a destination of the Colorado River. I think that if I ever come back here, I might look into that. It certainly would beat the hell out of hiking back up. Other than that, maybe I can petition the government to install and elevator.

We are now off from one extreme to the next. We are about to head out to Vegas (by way of the Hoover Dam). While there is no Canyon in Vegas, there are sure to be plenty of asses.