Over the Continental Divide

We stayed at a really nice Hampton Inn (I'm being serious) in Craig, Colorado along with a bunch of oil workers.  There were boot scrapers outside all the entrances.  They were fracking.  I really don't know what that is, but let's move on.

There were more lonely roads on this day although, for RBK, one of the highlights of the day was a stop in Kremmling, CO for lunch at the Moose Cafe.  Reaching the continental divide, we hit an altitude of over 10,000 feet at Rabbit Ears Pass.

We cruised into Denver to hang out for a couple of days with RBK's good friend, Bob and his wife, the Mysterious Miss Kathleen, who balked when asked if a photo could be taken.  No worries.  Kathleen was a lovely hostess and it was wonderful to catch up with her as our kids had spent some time together when they were young.  She and I spent some interesting years as corporate wives.  Their marvelously well-trained Rottweiler, Stella, sat for countless hours with us while we sat by the outdoor fire pit and talked.  I have never in my life seen a dog so obedient and happy.  Kathleen and Bob followed Caesar Milan's training methods closely and as a result have a wonderful relationship with Stella.  What a great companion!

Stella the Sweetheart

Dinner at an upscale restaurant with buttonhole napkins.

Bob demonstrates the buttonhole napkin

Bob and RBK love a good cigar and Bob was gracious enough to share some really nice ones as they sat next to their fire pit well into the night and reviewed 30 years of working together.  Kathleen and I loved knowing how much fun they were having together.  Retirement is a very good thing for both of these gentlemen.

I felt a little wistful leaving Denver as I know how close Bob and RBK are and how nice is was to see Kathleen again after several years.  I hope it won't be long before they visit us at the lake.

Dinos, Boots and a lot of Lonely Roads

RBK makes a friend outside FM Light

Johnston Homestead

Dinosaur National Monument is located in an area of the country most people will never see. There's a reason there aren't many people around here: there isn't much to do other than look at dinosaur bones. It's funny how when you drive for hours on deserted highways the smallest things get you excited, like signs for the F. M. Light & Sons western store, established in 1905, in Steamboat Springs. They had worked so hard to earn my business in a place no one else bothered to advertise, I HAD to stop. We were 90 miles from their store! The same was true for the informational turnouts sprinkled through Highway 40. I finally had to ask RBK to stop at one of the turnouts so I could see what type of information was being provided. Turns out it was the remains of a homestead of a former Colorado governor. Getting out of the car and standing there put me in the shoes of a homesteader for a moment or two. It's very, very quiet. I can't imagine living this way with the closest neighbor 40 miles away. Driving 40 East in Utah and Colorado was the loneliest stretch of road I've ever driven through.

Josie Barrett

At the Dinosaur National Monument we learned that this area of the country was one of the last to be inhabited by European Americans and I would say not many have filled in the gaps since they first arrived. There's a section at the beautiful new visitors center devoted to pioneers from the area. One of these is Josie Barrett. There are several pictures of her and the homestead. A local woman near me had brought an out-of-town friend with her and they were perusing the exhibit. Stopping at the photo of Josie she pointed to the photo and said, "I knew this woman here. She was a real mutha. You didn't mess with her."

The rest of the dinosaur exhibit was, obviously devoted to older creatures. As we pulled up to the admission window we were told that since it was National Park Week, we'd be enjoying free admission. Wow! I think this is an idea that should catch on in other places as well. The two facilities near Vernal, UT had just been completed in 2011. One, called the Quarry Exhibit Hall has the only actual excavated and protected wall of dinosaur remains in the country. The excavated stone wall is some 20 - 30 feet high and 150 feet long. Some of these bones were six or eight feet long. There are 1500 fossils and 100 species of dinosaurs there including stegosaurus, allosaurus and camasaurus. The full skeletons were removed in 1909 by paleontologist Carl Douglass with the Carnegie Museum.

Wall of Dinosaur Bones

Tahoe

For three days, I would only drink my carefully collected tap water from Tahoe and cherished it as though it was nectar from the Gods.  I had read about the quality of Tahoe water somewhere and couldn't believe it would measure up against the Fiji water I usually drink 2 liters of each day.  But it does, and it's free (well, sort of, after the hotel bill is paid).  Once I looked down into Emerald Bay on Tahoe's west side from a roadside pull-out, I understood completely.  It's one thing to read that Tahoe's water is 97-99% pure and that in some parts of the lake objects are visible 30 feet below, but seeing is believing.  Emerald Bay is.....pristine.  And every other view I enjoyed from all parts of the lake were equally dreamlike.  It reminds me of a Coors commercial, everything sparkling, fresh, clear and unspoiled.  I guess it's not hard to imagine that I'd want to put all that great stuff into a water bottle and keep drinking it after I'd moved on to another less pristine, may I say, repulsive spot along I-80 where nothing grows and you have to use a pit toilet.  But, I'm off the subject--please excuse me.

We spent one glorious morning driving up the western side of Lake Tahoe to Truckee, stopping at every pull-out until we realized that due to the switchbacks and photo ops we'd only advanced a couple of miles in 45 minutes.  Driving along I suddenly had a thought that the Michael Corleone's Tahoe compound from the Godfather 2 must be somewhere close by.  I did a quick search on my iPhone and realized that, indeed, it was only a mile and half from our current spot.  In a matter of moments, there it was, unmistakably.  The little cove where Fredo was shot in the fishing boat was right before us.

Corleone compound

Donner Memorial

Further north is the site of the Donner Tragedy.  We pulled up to the State Park where there's a museum and memorial but the museum is closed in the winter on Tuesdays so we contented ourselves with a close-up viewing of the memorial.  The story is tragic and known to most but rather than re-tell it, here's a link to the story.
http://www.history.com/topics/donner-party

We had a wonderful Concierge at our hotel who guided us to a great restaurant right on the water in South Lake Tahoe, called Riva Grille.  The temperature was in the mid-50s when we arrived, but we were assured that dining al fresco was completely possible due to the plexiglass surrounding the deck.  I was doubtful, but the sun (which hadn't yet set) is brighter and warmer in Tahoe and we leisurely enjoyed our dinner watching the beach scene in front of us.  An adorable Border Collie was making friends with everyone on the beach who cared to throw a frisbee to her, whether they were skilled and could make it float high enough for her to scamper across the sand and make an athletic catch or they were about 7 years old and shot it directly into the dirt six feet from her.  She must have continued her game for over an hour, hardly pausing for fear she might not make the rounds to the entire beach crowd.  Unfortunately, she was too far away for us to get a picture of her.

Tahoe was our last fun, touristy stop on the trip.  We are beginning our descent into the Kalamazoo region, as the airlines like to say.  It will take us until Monday night to reach home.

Yosemite, scary thoughts, etc Part 1

Yosemite National Park.  What do you think of when someone mentions this name?  A year ago, I don't think I could have named one thing and yet, it's one of the most popular national parks in the country.  What is it about Yosemite that is so mystical, etherial, remote and indefinable?.  The park encompasses 1,190 square miles, much of it inaccessible for most of the calendar year.  And yet....it beckons; it haunts, it changes its face.  150 years ago it was unknown to most US citizens and now international visitors seem to outnumber those from this continent.  Why do they visit?  Who is sending them here?  Why have I, as well, come to this special place where the forces of water and rock collide?

I asked RBK what he thought was the one defining element of Yosemite that set it apart from other national parks.  His answer was Yosemite Valley and the perspective it provides for all the incredible rock formations.  We took a tram ride through the valley with a Yale-educated park ranger.  We visited El Capitan, the soaring, flat-faced rock formation that climbers flock to conquer.  She showed us how to locate them as they made their 3 day ascent to the top.  They were barely visible; the size of a fruit fly.  Only their equipment glinting in the sunlight allowed someone on the valley floor to spot them.  I can't imagine spending the night perched on the side of a rock face, reading a book by flashlight, knowing tomorrow night and the next night you'd be doing it again.

International tourists

There are spectacular waterfalls, lots of them.  And people from all over the planet come to see them this time of year.  The park was crawling with visitors looking for a waterfall in every crevasse of the park.

Earth Day was this week.  Yosemite celebrated Earth Day in explosive fashion and the locals were here in droves.  Volunteers, banners, bumper stickers, hippies, celebrations.   Californians know what matters and they are passionate about all things Earth-ly.

Starting out for Nevada Falls

RBK and I got up early on Sunday morning to hike as far as our 50-something bodies would allow, trying to get a glimpse of the hidden waterfalls.  We didn't hike Half Dome all the way to the top (the chains at the peak will not be in place until the end of May).  We hiked halfway to the top, to Nevada Falls, considered one of the premiere hikes in the whole national park system.  This was enough for us in our current state of physical fitness after five weeks on the road, eating too much rich food, drinking too much wine, logging 4,000 miles in the Ridgeline, and generally feeling a bit road-weary.

The rushing waters of Vernal Falls as viewed from the trail

It took us two hours to reach the top of Nevada Falls, elevation 5960 ft, which provided lots of time to think (and breathe hard). This is a strenuous, 2.5 mile uphill climb, in parts on wet, steep, uneven granite steps with no railings.  I think random thoughts when I hike, such as, how in the world did trail-blazers ever get 600 granite steps in place on this trail.  Or, why are "hikers" bringing small children on this trail and wearing flip-flops and why do they think the stairs are wide enough for two people to pass in each direction.  Or, who takes care of these restrooms way up here. Or, please do not stand that close to take your wife's picture, Mister.  Or, one of my favorites, what if my foot slipped and the rushing water grabbed me.

I love the story of Tissayack, a legend of the ancient, local Paiute people, that tells of a woman arguing so forcefully with her husband that the Great Spirit punished them for bringing anger into a place of peace and beauty and turned them into stone.  Half Dome is the face of Tissayack: tear-stained, angry and sad.  Her husband's face appears in another large rock opposing Half Dome.  They stare at each other from across Yosemite Valley forever, as a reminder that Yosemite should always be held in high honor.

Nearing the top of Nevada Falls where the trail is dry and the water is at a safe distance.

The Ahwahnee, at Yosemite National Park

Each morning there was a beautiful fire to sit next to and enjoy coffee. 

On my bucket list was a stay at one of the premier lodges in a top National Park. I bought a book on National Park Lodges so I would be certain of getting that feel of a traditional lodge-style accommodation. The Awhwahnee fits this description to a tee. Constructed in 1927, it tucks beautifully into a corner of Yosemite Valley as though it's as much a part of the landscape as the soaring granite cliffs and waterfalls in the backyard.

The Ahwahnee, named for a Native American tribe who once populated the area, was built to resemble a country home and furnished in a Native American theme.  I was immediately captivated by it's charm, but it impresses both in and out and is absolutely top-notch.  The design features and period furnishings throughout beautifully reflect the  rustic theme of the property.  The photo below does not do justice to the massive dining room but it's the perfect example of how The Ahwahnee converts voluminous space into cozy approachability.  Our meals here were first-class in service, quality and variety.  Their specialty for almost 100 years is Boysenberry Pie.  I ordered it twice.

Rear-view of The Ahwahnee

The 6000 square foot dining hall was originally slated to receive a flat roof so that a dance
 pavilion could be placed above it.  However, it was soon determined that typical snowfall
 could cause serious damage or worse and it was converted to the 34 foot height shown here.

In the guest room I found a book about the history of the lodge.  Queen Elizabeth and her staff of 44 stayed here in 1983.  The entire lodge was cleared out beforehand.

The only public ladies room is on the mezzanine, which seemed inconvenient.  I later read that this area was once the ladies lounge.  Now tea and cookies are served every afternoon at 4 pm.

 Two weddings were being held outdoors while we were staying at the Ahwahnee.   We were watching from a distance.  One of the guests, a woman in her 20's, was late.  She was flustered and kept asking us, "What should I do?  What should I do?"  We helped her time her dash to the last row after the bride entered and before the service began. I can understand how one could be late to a wedding at the Ahwahnee.  It took us two hours to drive in from the nearest town outside Yosemite.  Traffic was thick and parking scarce.  We thought April would be a quiet time to see Yosemite.  However, we didn't know that Earth Day and spring waterfalls attract big crowds.

Here's a link to a blog on the Ahwahnee which contains vastly superior photos and good historical information:
http://www.thedistractedwanderer.com/2012/03/ahwahnee-yosemite-national-parks.html

The Ahwahnee has three grand pianos original to the lodge (one shown draped with an Indian blanket).  In the 50's when Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were filming a movie here, they stayed in the dining room well past 10 pm entertaining themselves at one of the pianos and laughing loudly.  They were "miffed" when asked to break up the party and retire to their lodge room.

Enjoying dinner and a great bottle of wine, while listening to piano and watching deer out our window.

One of the common rooms complete with a fireplace the size of a bedroom.

Seahorses, Carmel and Being Truly Spontaneous

I'm going to lump three rather unrelated stories together in one post. Please try to follow along. I'm possibly losing my marbles after four weeks on the road.

Yesterday was our day to tour the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Drive the 17-Mile Road through Carmel and Pebble Beach. This was an RBK day, start to finish. I don't have a particular interest in marine life but the aquarium is a top pick for tourists so I figured there must be something to it. I ambled through the exhibits, thinking ahead to Carmel that afternoon. One of the last sections of the aquarium we visited was called "The Secret Lives of Seahorses." I think I had a seahorse when I was really young but I may have imagined I did, because I wanted one so much. At the first tank, I was instantly hooked! They are mesmerizing, elegant and simply fascinating to watch. It looks as though they're motorized because their tiny back fins move 50 times a second and they can move up, down, forward or backward.  See video below.  And that's just the beginning of it!!

Seahorses do a courtship dance before they mate. After the dance, they mate for life and here's the best part!!--the female hands off the fertilized eggs to the male, who carries them to term and gives birth. There was footage of the mating dance and actual birth. And, they had a tank of mated seahorses who twine their tails and float around together.

After the seahorse exhibit, I had my material for the blog but we still had the incomparable 17 Mile Drive through Carmel and Pebble Beach still to come.  The day before we had seen Big Sur.  I was reaching sensory overload, but we forged ahead.  Obviously, the drive is nothing short of spectacular but the best part was seeing RBK's reaction to it all.  Normally, he's pretty low-key but he could NOT hold back.  It was one superlative after another seeing the mansions, the ocean, the unusual trees and greenery...and finally, Pebble Beach itself.  He spent a bundle in the pro shop and came out looking as though he'd had a religious experience.  It would be the same for me, if I'd been to Wimbledon.

It was on to Carmel for a bit of shopping.  Here I was distinctly underwhelmed.  Monterey was much more approachable.  The display of wealth was shocking both on 17 Mile and in town.  The road was beautiful but after Big Sur, the beauty was skin-deep.  I could not identify with any of it:  golf, drippy, ostentacious wealth, superior attitudes in the shops and a general feeling that wherever I went I felt invisible to those around me, maybe even as though I was trespassing.

Today, was a driving day in the direction of Yosemite but the drive was really short; only two hours. We wondered as we got started, how to spend the day when we suddenly drove past a billboard for the Winchester Mystery House.  We had seen the house on TV a couple of times and were mildly intrigued.  It was only 45 minutes off the route so we decided to go for it.  It was spontaneous and we were so proud of ourselves.

RBK enjoys lunch overlooking the 18th green at Pebble Beach

Lone Cypress in Pebble Beach

Winchester Mystery House

Wacky and Welcome Stuff--This Week on the Road

1. Large windstorm + busy seaside restaurant = Belly Laughs
  Old guy with a baseball hat is walking, loses hat, races after hat, retrieves hat, puts hat back on head, loses hat, races after hat, retrieves hat again, heads toward waiting vehicle, secures hat on head next to car, driver decides now is a great time to clean windshield, hits said old guy in the face, wind gust blows hat off same old guy's head.  Repeat.

2. Great lunch of estate-raised organic beef hamburgers and wine tasting at Cass Winery north of Paso Robles.  GPS takes us on a wild goose chase through miles of one-lane dirt roads, back to Paso Robles.

3. Spontaneous trip to San Jose to see the eccentric Winchester Mystery House where we toured with the oddest assortment of characters on the planet including four loud children under the age of three.

4. Seeing the Tiger game at a sports bar in Monterey for the first time in weeks.

5. Tasting wine in the old warehouse district of Santa Barbara on the Urban Wine Trail among the throngs of people on a Saturday night.

6. Great lunch in a courtyard restaurant in Santa Barbara next to a running fountain and trying to make reservations for the Hearst Castle tour on the phone at the same time after two glasses of wine.

7. Checking in at the bustling Monterey Marriott and finding that our reserved dates were for three days before. Nice clerk straightened out everything.

8. Having lunch on a gorgeous day next to the 18th green of the Pebble Beach Golf Course.

9. Reading that there's a Civil War Re-enactment at Yosemite National Park this weekend. Huh?

10. Dinner at a very strange Denny's-like restaurant in Merced, California next to a mother and her 6-year-old son, who had a number of tantrums while either seated or running around the restaurant before the mother threatened to cancel his participation in Civil War Days. (Oh! The re-enactment is actually in Merced, not Yosemite. Makes sense.)

11. Seeing a car go off the highway, through a deep ditch and drive straight into a vineyard, running over four rows of large wood posts and vines before reaching a stop. (Everybody was OK.)

12. Lunch at Rocky Point Restaurant in Big Sur. Amazingly, the lunch, facility and service were just as outstanding as the view.

Big Sur

Sunset at our motel

Spectacular, clear day in Big Sur

Proof that the Ridgeline was here at Big Sur.

I have one written thought about Big Sur:  construction of the "Rain Rocks Rock Shed" near Lucia.  As we drove through the area we were immediately struck by the size and ugly face of this new structure.  It's quite out of character for the area.  Large, artificially-colored boulders frame the rock shed (yes, you read that properly).  I thought, hmmm, I'll bet there's some backlash on the design of this construction project and made a mental note to look it up.  Oddly, what I could find on the internet indicates that locals are most impressed with its design technology.  Falling rocks have been an ongoing problem in the area.  Sections of the Pacific Coast Highway have been shut down and even fallen into the ocean due to debris from landslides and heavy rain.  So, I suppose they're lauding this solution to the problem.  It's the narrowest construction site ever attempted, in an area of unstable land.  I'm glad I didn't know that before we drove through it.  The highway itself is a bit unsettling to drive!

Spring flowers in bloom everywhere

Wild iris

The most picturesque lunch we've ever enjoyed.

Julia Morgan and the Hearst Castle

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of the Hearst Castle this morning, a property which is more of a museum than a home, with its considerable collection of art and antiquities.  Hearst took advantage of a timely availability of crumbling historic European churches and buildings following World War I to furnish an ever-expanding vision of the perfect estate for his family and his legacy.

As soon as we completed our tour of the Hearst Castle I knew I wanted to focus this blog entry on Julia Morgan, chief architect of La Cuesta Encantada, the formal name of William Randolph Hearst's San Simeon mansion.  Morgan was the first female graduate of U-C Berkley with a degree in civil engineering, waited two years to be admitted to the prestigious French National School of Architecture in Paris, and was the first woman certified as an architect in the state of California.  She was well-known as one of the first architects to design with earthquakes in mind, utilizing concrete-reinforced beams.

Neptune Pool

While leafing through a book about her in the museum gift shop, I discovered she and her sister were members of the women's sorority Kappa Alpha Theta, the same sorority of which I am a member. Reading further, I became fascinated with how committed she was to her career, having designed dozens of buildings for women and girls both at U-C (including the local chapter house) and for the YWCA.

Morgan worked on the San Simeon mansion for over 25 years, enduring countless changes Hearst submitted to her due to additional art acquisitions and Hearst's finicky nature, including a complete redo of the 245,000 gallon Neptune Pool three times.  Despite these dramatic shifts in size and style, Morgan was able to retain the most elegant expression of design.  She personally worked on the most minute details: worker camps, zoo structures, grounds.  A shy, solitary person, she was in stark contrast to Hearst's big personality and together they created an unusual partnership with remarkable results.

Channel Islands - Santa Cruz Island

I'm going to admit it--I was a little afraid to go to Santa Cruz Island. It was a combination of a repeated dream of falling over the cliffs and being dropped off by a boat that was immediately heading back to the mainland, leaving us completely alone. I didn't feel a lot better when I saw about 50 backpackers on the island who looked a bit bedraggled, ready to head for home. Where in the world was I?

It turns out that following a choppy, cold 90 minute boat ride from Ventura that included seeing hundreds of dolphins and three whales blow, I found myself in a completely magical place, unlike anywhere I've ever been. I don't want to cheapen my memory of the Channel Islands with superlatives. However, I do want to provide some basic information since most Americans have limited knowledge of its whereabouts, significance and existence.

The Channel Islands, located in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of California, are sometimes known as the Galapagos Islands of North America because like the former, they have remained a separate land mass for thousands of years with plant and animal species found nowhere else on earth. The unique combination of warm and cold water currents and isolation from the mainland provides the perfect environment for marine life who live in the waters around the islands. Unlike nearly all other coastal regions in North America, human intervention has not greatly affected these regions, although heavy fishing has occurred at times over the last couple hundred years.

coastal live oak

The same cannot be said for the interiors of the islands, having been trapped, ranched and hunted from the 1700's until mid 20th century. Gone are the sea otters, seals and sea lions, which are almost extinct. During the ice age, the islands were one land mass and home to a variety of animal life. 11,000 year old remains from a pygmy mammoth have even been unearthed there.

I found the topography of Santa Cruz fascinating. There were deep canyons, dizzying rock cliffs, immense meadows, dense forest. We hiked through all of these areas in awe, mile after mile with very few reminders that humans inhabited the space. As is often the case on long hikes, nature called for me and my small, insistent bladder. Due to the wide, open spaces, finding a private spot is difficult. So, RBK was my spotter. He said, "Our code word will be 'tippie-toe'" however, he didn't even finish the Seinfeld quote when over the rise appeared a couple of hikers. He yelled out, "Tippie-Toe, Tippie-Toe!! I'm not joking! Someone is really coming." (His voice betrayed the panic that was so George Constanza and his timing was impeccable.) Do you know impossible it is to stop peeing and pull up your pants while you're laughing hysterically? Good thing I was wearing the quick-dry hiking pants I bought last week in Tucson.  (Even that sounds like Elaine writing the Peterman catalog.)

We returned to the smallish, enclosed transport boat to the mainland with 45 or so Boy Scouts who camped the weekend on Santa Cruz. Rough reintroduction to humanity.

Spring wildflowers

Ice Plant, a non-native, invasive plant which soaks up salt from sea-spray and creates a "parched-earth" affect