Archive for Places to go
November 22, 2005 at 6:44 pm · Filed under Places to go
Sorry for the repeated delays in posting. We are wrestling with Internet access and other communications issues. Crescent City is a place where our phones “roam” and the fog is dense, so we don’t get voice mail notifications, our mobile Internet doesn’t work, and dropped calls are commonplace. So I have to post when I get a chance.
Tuesday morning I woke at 3:30 a.m. for no good reason at all, except I suspect that the Ray Jen Cafe, where I am getting my Internet fix, put regular coffee in the “decaf” Hazelnut I ordered the night before. Returning to sleep was impossible so I got to work at about 5 a.m. on the dinette, and then headed over to Ray Jen again at about 8 a.m.
Mid-day we headed out to the Ewok village, um, excuse me — I mean Stout Grove, a particularly famous area of Redwoods nearby. The road itself is an adventure: one lane, twisting between massive redwoods, enveloped in fog … downright magical.
A few miles down, we parked and hiked through Stout Grove and beyond. Here’s Emma walking along a downed redwood, probably 300 feet long. It was probably over 700 years old when it fell.
If you are in the area, this is a hike to take. The Stout Grove trail and the little extension we did was an easy two-mile roundtrip along the river, with endless beautiful scenes. I didn’t spot any Ewoks, though.
November 21, 2005 at 8:25 pm · Filed under Places to go
It was a wonderful day driving down the last leg of the Oregon coast on Sunday. We started off again in the beach near Port Orford, so Emma could hunt for sea stars and we could all get in a good long walk before getting in the car. The tide was higher and we didn’t see the starfish but the beach itself was fascinating, soft brown sand tumbled with giant rocks.
In the background, the unusual port of Orford. They don’t have a sheltered harbor, so each boat that comes in is lifted by a crane to a giant concrete pier and stored on top.
We deliberately left ourselves only about 90 miles of driving so we could once again stop off anywhere that seemed interesting. That was a good strategy once again, as the Oregon coast is strewn with beautiful scenes and amazing vistas.
We stopped for lunch in the town of Brookings, and visited the local seafood shops for some red snapper and Cajun spiced salmon. Those prizes went in the fridge for later. I remember thinking that the Airstream made a nice foreground for the Hwy 101 bridge behind us, with the sun reflecting off the Airstream’s skin and brilliant blue skies above “¦ and I thought “I’ll snap a picture of that after lunch.”
Whoops. I had forgotten the famous Pacific coast fog, which sneaks in and turns warm sunny days into grey cold ones in minutes. Sure enough, during lunch I looked out the window and the photo was gone. Heck, even the bridge was gone!
By the end of the day we pulled into Jedediah Smith State Park and set up amongst the towering redwood trees. This campground dates (as so many state campgrounds do) from around 1930, and so the roads are narrow and the sites are small. A site which is claimed to fit a 30-foot trailer does ““ but not much else. Still, the reward is sleeping with a 500-700 year-old redwood tree on either side of your bed. I wouldn’t want to see a single tree harmed so I could have an easier time parking!
Emma is impressed by old-growth redwoods but not as much as we are. To her, they are merely big trees. She doesn’t see how rare they are (only 4% of the historic territory of the Pacific Redwood still exists), and she doesn’t recognize how tenuous their existence is. They grow only one place in the world: the Pacific coast, below 2000 feet and near the foggy damp air. And there are only a few hundred acres of them left, 45% of which is national and state parkland in northern California.
A redwood is one of the living things closest to immortality. They resist diseases, insects, earthquakes, and fires. In fact, they thrive on the occasional fire, using it as inspiration to reproduce. The oldest ones have been growing for 2,000 years. How can you stand amidst these immortals and not be humbled? To them, we are just a blip in their centuries-long lives. Someday Emma will appreciate their message. I will show her the picture of her standing in the middle of three redwoods and suggest that she find them again with her children.
November 7, 2005 at 3:38 pm · Filed under Places to go
This is a fine place. Nevada City certainly ranks among the most historic places in California. This is gold rush country, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, downstream from old mines and sluices and Ponderosa pines.
Last night we courtesy parked at the house of the Trent family, squeezing the 30-footer into a spot formerly occupied by their recently-polished 1964 Safari, named “Pearl”. (For a picture of Pearl, see http://www.velocity7.com/blog/index.php/2005/10/ ) She has been displaced to the driveway during our visit, which is expected to be three days.
On our way over, we stopped off at a truck wash near Fernley NV to clean up the rig. That boondocking stop in the desert left us covered with salt. Fortunately, the Airstream cleaned right up in the truck wash, and now we’re shining again!
This morning, Robert took me over to the Velocity7 world headquarters in his 1964 Dodge Dart (a really cute vehicle, by the way). I’m borrowing some desk space and Internet connection for the next couple of days.
The office is located in downtown Nevada City, which is a destination in itself. The buildings mostly date from the late-19th century, such as the brick 1886 National Hotel …
… and the 1865 Nevada Theatre (the longest running continuously-open theater west of the Mississippi, I am told).
The whole downtown is lively, architecturally interesting, and has the feel of a restored historic town without being a tourist trap.
Just up Rt 20 from here is the Tahoe National Forest. We took that route as an alternate to I-80 on the way down, and it was beautiful. Plenty of switchbacks but as long as there’s no snow I’d recommend it. We spotted at least three wonderful camping areas along there, too.
Tonight we are planning to take all the kids (2 Trent kids + Emma) out for a fun dinner. By the way, I have posted a ton of new pictures from our last week on the road — take a look!
November 4, 2005 at 7:29 am · Filed under Places to go
Yesterday morning after I wrote the blog entry, I talked to our neighbors in the tent, a pair of women who run seminars and teach, from Massachusetts. One of them is considering a travel trailer and so she came over for a tour and a bit of hot water for her tea. By all reports, the wind overnight was a sleep-shattering experience for the tenters, as I suspected. Her decision to buy a trailer just got accelerated quite a bit, I think.
As I mentioned yesterday morning, the day started gray and not at all like the brilliant blue I associate with desert scenery. Still, the light was wonderful for detail photos of the rocks, plants, and wildlife, and so by 10:30 we were off on a 3-mile hike right from the campground to see a few arches.
Or so we thought ““ it turns out that while the park is named for the arches (and they are wonderful to see), they are only claiming top billing on the program. The vistas, wildlife, and unlikely rock formations are worth the trip even if you never saw an arch.
It is a testament to the beauty of this park that I ended up shooting nearly 200 photos in a single day, and after I reviewed them I kept about 140. The scenery is THAT good.
By the way, I have a new desktop wallpaper from one of yesterday’s photos. In a few days, you’ll find it in the Photo album, in the folder marked “Arches National Park”, called “Desktop”. If you like it you can use it as your desktop too. I’ll get many other photos up there soon also.
Here’s Emma climbing in one of the many little crevices. She loved the climbing!
By afternoon the sky abruptly cleared to the blue I wanted, which tended to wash out the rocks but offer opportunities for silhouettes and skylines. Emma was busy with her camera too, shooting at least a couple dozen photos. Suddenly the rocks were a lot more interesting to her!
The wind picked up to 20-30 MPH, and at one point near Sand Dune Arch we got sandblasted pretty heavily. The sand is very fine and gets everywhere, so I had to hide my camera under my jacket.
The first hike ended at about 1:30. We all got back completely worn out (and with sand in our hair). Either we’re badly out of shape, or the altitude (4,800) and dry air are really wearing us down. Still, the scenery was not to be missed, so after lunch and a little rest, we headed out again at 3:30 for an easy hike to Landscape Arch. We returned in time for sunset, having covered about 6 miles on foot for the day.
With the early sunset, the evenings have been long, so compensated by having a bit of a campfire & marshmallows, a movie ( “The Princess Bride”), and early bedtime. The wind rocked the trailer all night again (I’ve GOT to remember to put the stabilizers down next time!) but we slept like the rocks surrounding us.
We’ll be in Great Basin National Park the next night or two, so I’ll catch you up when I can …
November 3, 2005 at 8:14 am · Filed under Places to go
[I’m posting these next couple of entries at the time they would have been posted if we were online. For the last two days we’ve been visiting National Parks in Utah, well out of reach of the Internet, electrical power, and most cell phones.]
We left off coming from our evening campsite at Colorado River ““ Island Acres SP near Grand Junction, and I promised you some photos. Wow, did I get photos. Bright yellow aspens, variegated cliffs, the Colorado River running just a few feet from our door, and a beautiful park.
I would highly recommend Colorado River ““ Island Acres except for one thing: the park, a rail line, I-70, and the Colorado River are all squeezed into a small canyon in parallel. So freight trains run along the opposite side of the river at night (which doesn’t bother me, but some people can’t stand it), and the entire park is necessarily very close to I-70, which means a nearly constant rumble of highway traffic. With our windows closed against the 30-degree overnight temperatures, we didn’t notice the highway noise until the next morning.
Not far away, on the other side of Grand Junction, is the Colorado National Monument. This park is basically a “Rim Road” which runs up, through, over (and sometimes under) magnificent canyons and bluffs for 19 miles, from east to west. The drive takes about an hour in a car. We had no idea what we were getting into until we arrived at the East Entrance, and then one quick look at the numerous switchbacks on the park map told us that the Rim Road was not a place to be towing a 30-foot Airstream.
So we took SR 340 to Fruita, where we went in the West Entrance. From that point it is still a harrowing climb up the canyon, but only four miles to the Visitor Center. We stopped at scenic viewpoints along the way, and were well-rewarded with views to the valley below at every turn. Built in the 1930s ostensibly for ranchers to use twice a year (but really a typical 1930s make-work project), the road is so unbelievable as to be a fantasy. In most places there are no guardrails or walls to protect the careless driver against a 500-foot sheer drop.
We also encountered two tunnels carved out of the red sandstone. At this time of year, traffic was so light that we were able to stop for a few minutes in each one and take pictures.
At the top was a campground and a smallish Visitor Center. We were tempted to stay the night but Arches National Park was calling us, and so we stayed only long enough to browse for books for Emma and renew our annual National Parks pass ($50, well worth it if you visit more than 3-4 National Parks per year).
Arches is, of course, spectacular. As a travel-hardened five-year-old, Emma was casual about the Utah scenery off I-70, not even looking up from her crayons as she muttered, “I know, more rocks. That’s all we’ve seen, is rocks, rocks, rocks!” But as we twisted through the 17-mile road to the center of Arches and Devil’s Garden campground, passing impossible red formations, even she had to admit they were impressive.
We drove in the park road at 4:30 pm yesterday, advised by the rangers that there was no way to know if there were empty spaces in the tiny 24-site campground at the end of the twisty 17-mile road. If we got there and the campground was full, we’d have to turn back, and by then it would be dark.
Fortunately a kind ranger gave us a special dispensation to park in the Group Camping spot if all other spots were full. So here we are, high atop a mesa with a spectacular 360-degree view. Later this morning we will have to move to one of the unoccupied spaces, when someone leaves. In the meantime, I think we will have oatmeal for breakfast, since the dawn has broken gray and cool and it promises to be a bit of a chilly day in the desert.
The wind rose up in the middle of the night and rocked the Airstream, and battered the tents camped nearby. I have suffered too many times from the fierce high desert winds at night, unable to sleep from the unstoppable flapping of the tent, and chilled to the bone. So I was glad to wake in the night and feel the gentle rocking of the trailer and hear the wind howling outside and know I would get up in the dawn well-refreshed rather than feeling as if I’d just survived an ordeal.
I was also glad to see Emma sleeping soundly in her bed. She is still sleeping as I type this but I know we will soon enough be out to hike a few of the many trails, and look for rabbits and other creatures that live here. She’ll have a full day.
By the way, Arches NP offers no hookups. For $10 per night, you get a place to park (if your rig is not too large: our 30-footer will only fit in about 1/3 of the sites), and the opportunity to fill up with water at the campground entrance. No dump station, no electricity, no Host this time of year, likewise no Evening Programs, and the distinct possibility of snow. We have been lucky in the snow department and for the rest we are fine with our Airstream and some imagination. One doesn’t really need an Evening Program here ““ the stars at night are spectacular and by the time of the 5:30 sunset we expect to be exhausted from hiking.
November 1, 2005 at 6:16 pm · Filed under Places to go
Wow! I-70 is a wild ride, especially with a 30 foot trailer in tow! We pointed our rig west around noon and pulled in here just after 6 pm. In between: steep climbs, dizzying descents, tunnels, winding canyons, and scenery I just can’t begin to describe. It’s incredible.
I was impressed with the handling of the rig. On steep uphills, we had no trouble maintaining reasonable speeds. We blew past a lot of trucks struggling in the right lane. On 8% downhill grades, I could keep it at 53 MPH in second gear and not have to touch the brakes at all.
We couldn’t stop at Loveland Pass (11,013 feet) because there’s no place to pull off, but we did stop a bit later past Dillon for a few photos. What a perfect day! Snow-capped mountains (but none on the road), blue skies, great views! I was sorry to see the sunset.
Since it was dark when we arrived I can’t say much about the campground but I bet it will be gorgeous in the morning. We’re situated in a canyon, next to a river. I’ll take photos tomorrow, and we’ll also stop in at Colorado National Monument, just a few miles down the road.
October 29, 2005 at 11:42 pm · Filed under Places to go
I have been struggling between the obligations of work and the attractions of Denver. On Friday, I weakened and took most of the day off to join Eleanor and Emma at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. They had an exhibit called “Grossology” that Emma desperately wanted to see. As you can imagine, it was all about snot, burping, farting, and other fun stuff. Here I am standing explaining the function of intestines, by a sign that says, “Why does my body make pee?” Gee, why didn’t they have this sort of fun when I was a kid?
The Museum has much more to offer, and we found ourselves entranced by terrific exhibits of Coloradoan wildlife, as well as creatures from other parts of the world, a Native American exhibit, a gemstone exhibit, and a space exhibit. Well worth the visit!
Unfortunately taking the day off meant working all evening, and again this morning in a desperate effort to get ahead before we take off next week for more travel. We’ll be in Utah and Nevada most of the week and I won’t be taking a lot of time to work. My next catch-up period will be when we arrive at Velocity7 in Nevada City, CA (see the Schedule page for details).
Forrest McClure dropped by this morning to deliver an article and pictures for the Winter magazine, and then it was time to head out to pick up Fred Coldwell and head over to Boulder. Our first stop was the Celestial Seasonings factory for their tour. That was a HUGE hit with Eleanor. Fred, Emma, and I all enjoyed the free samples in their entrance area. You haven’t lived until you’ve visited the notorious MINT ROOM. Another recommended place to visit, and free!
Then we headed to Patti Raimondo’s house in Boulder CO for a party the local Airstreamers had organized in our honor. Shari & Rob Davis were there, and another couple — all vintage trailer owners from the local WBCCI unit in Denver. That went until 10 pm (lots of laughs!)
…and so here we are at midnight catching up on blogging.
I’m really glad we came to Denver. It’s a great area to visit, we have lots of good Airstreaming friends here, and the weather and scenery have been spectacular. Our departure on Tuesday is coming all too fast, but we’ve got other places to go…
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