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Puyallup, United States


Getting on a 1 PM flight at SEATAC and not arriving in OAK till around 4:50, because of a stop (probably somewhere in Portland, not that I know because I got an online deal and it didn't say where I'd stop...heh.).

permalink written by  Christina Martin on November 6, 2007 from Puyallup, United States
from the travel blog: Moving to Bay Area
tagged USA and California

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Day 9b

Eureka, United States



That's lunch. There's a lot of information to take in there, let me walk you through it. The juice on the left is a pomegranate raspberry 100% juice drink from Nantucket Nectars (happily no high fructose corn syrup). Yes, those are Trivial Pursuit cards in the sugar dish. They're well loved and placed on every table. Requisite salt and pepper, natch. Did I ever tell you that my great grandfather insisted that there was no difference between katsup and mustard save the color? Yes, well, I can tell, but I don't mind them mixed. Then the good stuff. This place had a heated tureen of bbq sauce. It was de-lish. At the end of my meal I had abandoned any pretense of civility and proceeded to slurp the sauce directly from the small serving cup. NOM! That little betsy in the foil is a "small" chicken sammich. I'm glad I didn't get the large. It was at least a third of a pound of slow white roased chicken meat dumped between a quarter bagette of savory butter infused garlic bread. So damn good. Last but not least are the fried potato wedges. Simple but effective. Was at least two medium potatoes. This monument of nom was brought to you by the good people at Eureka's 'Porter Street BBQ'. If you're in town, go.


I love maps. These folksy ones especially. This is at the 'Porter Street BBQ'. I had just finished a chapter in the pulpy sci-fi book I was reading (Joe Haldelman's "Camoflage") and the couple below the painting had just left.

Eureka I found was truly out of my ability to safely drive. From the hotel I had a two hour ride through misty mountain roads and dog leg turns, steep hills. And that was during the day. I could have made it if I were a coffee fiend with a cast iron stomach. I'll be taking it easy with the stomach abuse for a few more days.


On the way to Eugene I stopped at a state beach. It was a wide beach, a good 100 yards from end of the dunes and scrub to the waterline. Low tide most probably. I saw a raven. It was obviously not a crow, more stately, thicker beak, maybe a little wiser, maybe I'm projecting. They were pecking at large lumps of sea weed. Sacrificing my good taste and respect I startled them a little and captured their flight for your pleasure.


More things I will not be seeing on this trip, damn damn damn. Though that's true, I wonder what my tolerance for this high percentage of oxygen is. Will I merge with the soil and undergrowth on a longer trip? Will my beard grow and branch and be home to birds and squirrels?


This is basically the drive. Toss in some turns and twists and hills and views. I wish I had a fish eye lens for this view business.


Had to stop for water, pulled into this town, Tiberon? Just a little beautiful cove. See, If I had time I could have walked down to the virgin beach, swam out to the rocky island and munched on some wild berries and bark.


Check it, yo. Old dude with a covered wagon. I doubt he has a cell phone or wi-fi in that thing. I could be wrong though, he could be a deep sleeper cell from the civil war. The driver was, yes, a grey old gentleman with a giant beard and leathery face, ancient and patient.



permalink written by  kleer001 on November 25, 2008 from Eureka, United States
from the travel blog: Tijuana to Vancouver
tagged Beach, Lunch, BBQ, California, Raven, Oregon, CoveredWagon and Crows

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Yea, as we drive into the Valley of Death...

Furnace Creek, United States


After 4 absolutely delightful nights at Jamestown for Yosemite National Park, our next stop was supposed to be Zion Canyon National Park. But Zion NP is some 500+ Miles away, and a mountain pass that we were supposed to drive through in the Yosemite area was closed due to snow. So we made some adjustments to our itinerary and decided to travel via Ridgecrest to Death Valley NP, then make another stop at Tecopa before hitting the Las Vegas jackpot machines.

I am glad we decided to visit Death Valley, for its uniqueness as a National Park. Where Yosemite NP fairly typical in what you would expect from a National Park - some forested areas, waterfalls, etc; the geography and geology of Death Valley NP was something totally unexpected. We spent the evening before checking on the possible sights to see in Death Valley, and were totally intrigued by the names of some of the sights - Devil's Golf Course, Dante's View, Badwater Basin, etc.

So, with Phantom of The Opera blasting from the IPod and setting the correct mood, we drove into Death Valley!

The primary feature about Death Valley is the incredibly strong winds, with some additional powerful gusts thrown into the mix. The winds are responsible for the erosion of soil over millions of years, making this a valley. The dry land goes down to 85m under sea level, which is way deeper than what Yi Lin and I can safely dive!

The secondary feature of Death Valley is the salt pans. Somehow, the seas got mixed up in this area millions of years ago, and the high evaporation rate (due to winds and trapped heat) have evaporated all the water in the seas, leaving behind salt pans and sand dunes.

We visited Badwater Basin, which was the lowest point in all of Death Valley. The story goes, that in olden times, a traveling merchant brought his mule to a pool in this area for a drink, but the mule absolutely refused to drink! The merchant, trusting his mule labelled his map as Bad Water, and the name stuck ever since. Of course, the mule only refused to drink from the pool because the water was too salty!

The Devil's Golf course is essentially a pock-marked piece of land that is so covered with sand dunes and salt pans, that it was remarked that only the Devil could play golf there. Well... if you ask me, the place was so hot and dry that I think only the Devil would want to play there anyway!

Lastly, we drove along a one-way loop aptly named Artist Drive. Along this route, you can see knolls of varying colours, thus having a surreal resemblance to an artist's palette. The greens, blues, pinks, purples and oranges embedded in the soil are all due to the presence of the various salts in the region. Those who took Chemistry before should be able to identify the elements that make up these colours - copper, iron, maganese, etc.

I barely scraped through Chemistry, so don't ask me! :)

DC

permalink written by  DanYilin on April 16, 2009 from Furnace Creek, United States
from the travel blog: go.
tagged California and NationalPark

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Banning, CA

Banning, United States


Today we moved to Banning CA to Silent Valley resort.

permalink written by  showustheworld on July 8, 2009 from Banning, United States
from the travel blog: showustheworld's Travel Blog
tagged California

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1st Night in Cali

Santa Monica, United States


Chriffie and Brooke picked us up and we cruised on down to old town Santa Monica for a bite to eat outside....gorgeous town and gorgeous weather!

permalink written by  blondie on July 1, 2010 from Santa Monica, United States
from the travel blog: 4th of July B-day Extravaganza
tagged California

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Santa Barbara Beach

Santa Barbara, United States


Chriffie, Brooke, Kris and I packed up picnic lunches and headed up to Santa Barbara beach, complete with 2 bathroom breaks, a coffee break and gas break...all for an hour and a half trek.

Good thing we weren't going any further. We couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day. Aside from the styrofoam cooler I sat on and broke, we had a very relaxing day.


permalink written by  blondie on July 2, 2010 from Santa Barbara, United States
from the travel blog: 4th of July B-day Extravaganza
tagged California

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Hollywood Anyone?

Los Angeles, United States


We headed out for some Hollywood night life to see what it was all about, but we ended up waiting in long lines for a few clubs and realized that we were going to have to take matters into our own hands.

So we checked out a bar on a side street and got right in!


permalink written by  blondie on July 2, 2010 from Los Angeles, United States
from the travel blog: 4th of July B-day Extravaganza
tagged California

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Laney's Birthday

Los Angeles, United States


We took a beautiful hike into the Hollywood hills, complete with cool weather, free running dogs, and views of the city and Hollywood sign.

Some of the hike was pretty steep, I think my calves are going to be sore, because all the yoga in Florida doesn't prepare you for mountains like this!

To recover, we ate and drank at the Los Angeles Farmer's Market, which had tons of different food choices and of course a chocolate company too. I did not partake in the Brazilian steak festivities since I am vegetarian, but by all accounts, everyone said it was the best meat they have ever eaten!

We met Andre and Jacquie and some other of Chriffie and Brooke's friends out at Hermosa Pier for some birthday drinks. Was sooo cool to see them since I hadn't seen Andre in over 5 years and Jacquie in probably longer than that! We celebrated the last of my birthday and the first hours of Chriffie's birthday at midnight...with maybe one too many shots :)


permalink written by  blondie on July 3, 2010 from Los Angeles, United States
from the travel blog: 4th of July B-day Extravaganza
tagged California

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Chriffie's (and America's) Birthday

Manhattan Beach, United States


Chriffie liked to think he was a team player in sharing his birthday with America haha. We headed to Manhattan Beach for the day and stopped at Uncle Bill's for an extravagant outdoor breakfast. When you order an omelet there, it comes with potatoes and two pancakes, so much food for one person! The french toast was fantastically fried and I'm sure bad for you but oh so good. We needed some good solid food after Hermosa Pier the night before. After Uncle Bill's, we spent the day at Manhattan and Hermosa Beaches to celebrate the 4th. Everyone was in 4th of July spirits, complete with flag bathing suits and even some flag man speedos, eek!

permalink written by  blondie on July 4, 2010 from Manhattan Beach, United States
from the travel blog: 4th of July B-day Extravaganza
tagged California

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