This is where I want to be right now

It's much later here than it is there

And I'm beat but wow today was awesome. I'm not going to go into too much detail about it all because you can read all about it on the We're Rolling Out blog. Just a couple of things I'm going to point out.

Lincoln's birthplace was cool, but under construction so we couldn't get into the whole thing. I'm starting to realize that I might have to come back to a number of these places once they're done going through all the stimulus funds they received.

Mammoth Caves!!!! I'd highly recommend this place. It was amazing how you'd go from rooms larger than most gymnasiums to holes that I could barely fit through. We did the Historic Tour, but it sounds like the New Entrance Tour is even more spectacular.

Okay so it's late here. I need to get some sleep. If you haven't notice I've been using twitter a lot during this trip. Pretty much any major thing we do that I still have cell coverage for I'm trying to send in a quick pic or at least a blurb.

Can't wait for tomorrow. It should be the most relaxed day of the trip so far. All we have to do is get across Missouri. Well, unless we decide to add some points in Nebraska, and I think we might. I'll keep y'all posted.

Sometimes it's hard to come up with a title.

If someone wants to build a Mosque near Ground Zero I say let em! By fighting it we're just exposing the hypocritical positions in our country. To me nothing would show that the true values of America are alive and well as a new Mosque in lower Manhattan. After all it's one of the purest representations of the freedoms of speech, religion and peaceful assembly. We're not talking about a terrorist training facility here, it's a place for the community to come together. Just because you may not be a part of that community doesn't mean we can take that away from them. By clinging to narrow minded views and ideals of hate we're no better than all the other fanatics our there. As for Palin, I can't think of anyone in this country who is doing more to destroy our values while claiming to hold them in the highest regard. At times it's just painful to watch. Other times it's just funny...

Pops posted the pictures he took from the Mt Rainier trip. I'm not sure why but I kinda like this one. I don't look very happy. I think it's because my skin was burning more and more by the second:



I also love this shot of my sister and I. Very regal:



One more scenery pic. This is of the new visitors center and the Tatoosh in the background:



I can't get enough of the new Big Boi album...

I broke one of the most important rules. I didn't eat lunch or dinner on Saturday. Instead I just imbibed my way through the day. That never ends well. I woke up covered in black marker. Jubilee Days was awesome though...

Oh yeah! My tomatoes are looking great. I'll try to remember to take a pic tonight...

Mt Rainier, till we meet again I'll remember you in a purple hue.

I spent the weekend up at Mt Rainier. We camped at Ohanapecosh. Went up to Paradise on Saturday. Stopped by Narrada Falls and Box Canyon. Sunday we went up to Sunrise. The higher elevations were still covered in snow and I got a sunburn that I'm blaming on reflected rays. I didn't take a camera, but got some shots on my dad's, I just need to get them from him. For now here's some pics of Sunrise I got with my phone. The light was strange up there and gave everything this purple tint. I kinda dig it.

Soon we'll be together

This has nothing to do with The Princess Bride

Can't wait to get back on the mountain. Soon. Very Soon...

I love that when I got home last night my apartment wasn't a sauna. The old house was an oven. Hopefully that means that I can sleep easy tonight. The 90 degrees isn't bad, it's the 80 degree nights that's killer...

Fucked up scene. I forgot to put on my patch today. Urge to kill was rising. Then I find that in my cargo pocket there was a pack of cigarettes. Of all the days to find a full pack of cigarettes. I smoked one and then gave the rest of the pack away. I think I'm going to have to keep a couple patches at work for these situations in the future...

I'm going to get a picture of corn getting covered in honey this weekend. It's for the new blog banner I'm working on. I couldn't be happier...

Damn I really want a slurpee. First stop after work 7-11...

Dear Stalker: Give me a job

Someone with the National Park Service was stalking my blog. It doesn't really bother me. I was a bit surprised to see that someone in DC was cruising posts for half an hour. Thought big brother was coming after me until I found out the source was the NPS. Of all the government offices out there I think they're the most non threatening. In fact I'd work for them if given the opportunity. So to the NPS people following my blog I have this to say: Give me a job. Any job would do. As long as I can spent a couple weeks a year getting paid to chill in the parks...

Speaking of the NPS, I started watching the Ken Burns documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea. It's been really good so far. I'm about halfway through. I didn't realize it was 12 hours long when I started watching it. So far the most interesting part has been about the flooding of Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite. You might remember that when I visited the park I went to Hetch Hetchy. Seeing all the old pictures from before the dam was build was really sad. The place was gorgeous and they buried it in water. Nothing would please me more than for San Francisco to find a better place to get their water from and tear down the damn dam. I think that John Muir said it best, "One may as well dam for water tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man."...

The documentary is also loaded with stuff about John Muir, who was fascinating. I had no idea that before heading out west Muir's plan was to hike all the way to South American and find the head waters of the Amazon. That's hard core. I could also really get behind that guys philosophy. I think I'm going to have to find a good biography about him. I totally agree that in nature you can find the most impressive "cathedrals", more breathtaking than any church in Europe. It makes me want to see more. I guess I just need to be patient. Two more months and I'll get to check out Rocky Mountian NP and a bunch of others around Utah...

Don't you agree?


Yosemite Valley


Thunder Creek, North Cascades


Mount Rainier

Memorial Day Mayhem 2010 Part 2

Aight, here's part 2. If you haven't read Part 1 you probably should. It's the post just before this one so I'm not going to include a link. Ah hell, maybe I should? Would it really make it all that much easier? Will people really struggle to figure it out without one? Do I even care? I guess I do.

So we woke up at the Elk Prairie campground and made some breakfast.



Now if you've never been camping in Northern California you might not be familiar with a "bear box". Every campsite has one. It's this metal box with a hidden latch that you have to store your food in and anything else that might attract a bear. It looks like this:



But enough about that. We tore down the camp and headed out to the visitors center. This is where we started off on our 11 mile hike. Now I should probably mention that I'm so far out of shape that I was definitely concerned about taking on this venture. The first bit of the hike was kind of strenuous. We started climbing immediately. This went on for about a mile.



SK and P were definitely handling it better than I was. But I kept on trucking. After a little while we came across a tree that had recently fallen over the path. Not too much of an obstacle, but more a minor inconvenience:



The trees were enormous and everywhere. It was pretty breathtaking. After a few miles we reached our destination: Fern Canyon. Now there were ferns everywhere along the trail and we continually questioned if we were there or not. Once we arrived there was no mistaking it:





The ferns were everywhere! We hiked down into the canyon and at first didn't know where the trail was. After some deliberation we decided that the little creek we were following was actually the trail. About half way through the canyon we stopped to have lunch. This is quite possibly my favorite memory of the trip. Little waterfalls trickled down the wall around us while we ate our sandwiches. The sun was shining and every once in a while you could hear bird or other forest creatures.

Leaving the canyon was equally as amazing. The creek spread out at the end and opened into a large area where you could see the ocean just over the hills.



Somehow we missed the cut off to go along the beach and ended up just walking along the road that accessed Fern Canyon directly. It was midday and the sun was intense. I'm pretty sure this is when I acquired a slight sun burn on my face. As we were going down the road there were amazing views of the forest fading off into nothingness:





This is when I started to cash out. I really wasn't a fan of the last leg of the hike. I just focused on the finish line and drudged on. When it was all over I was not in the most pleasant of moods. I was sweaty and ached all over. We took a short break at the end and then all piled back in the car and drove up to Jedediah Smith St Park.

I actually liked this campsite more than the other because there were actual redwoods in the site. We got all the tents up and then SK made spaghetti for dinner. P was determined to get a tarp up even though there wasn't really a place to tie to. After eating I was completely dead and called it an early night.

I woke to the sound of rain. Lots of rain. I mean LOTS of rain. This is when I was VERY grateful that P was able to secure the tarp. If he hadn't I would never have left my tent. I gathered my wits and decided that I'd grab a shower before everyone woke up. P got up while I was making breakfast, SK shortly there after. They both seemed to be hating the rain. It was slightly unpleasant but I was enjoying it for the most part. The view of the Redwoods in the torrential rain was beautiful:




Once breakfast was cooked we high tailed it out of there. Unsure what happens next we stopped at a coffee shop in Crescent City for a while. The rain steadily increased as the hours passed. I've only seen it rain like that twice in my life, once in Chicago and once in Seattle. At this point everyone's patience was being tested. We didn't know where to go next or what we'd do there if it was pouring rain. It was finally suggested that we check out the Oregon Caves. If nothing else it couldn't be wetter than where we were.

It was a couple hours to get there and the weather showed no signs of stopping. The only way to view the caves was by guided tour. Luckily they started all the time and we only had to wait about ten minutes. Now I don't have the best pictures of the caves because my batteries died on my camera but here's a little preview:




P however got a ton of great pictures from throughout the caves. I'll try to add some more once I get them.

When we left the caves the rain had stopped. Thank the maker. The last thing that I wanted to see was more rain. We drove out to Medford, so we'd be better positioned for our final plans, and got a hotel room. It was a pretty nice room. SK and P went swimming and I just chilled out reading Kafka on the Shore (you'll hear more about this in another post).

Thursday the sky had cleared a bit and I was trying to keep positive thoughts. Crater Lake was our first destination and it was a real possibility that when we got there we wouldn't be able to see the lake due to cloud cover.

The road to the lake took us through the Rogue River Valley. The river was swollen and appeared ready to spill it's banks at any time. This comes more into play after the mountain.

So we reached the lake and everything was still buried in snow. Literally:



However we did get lucky and the clouds lifted just enough to give us a view of the lake:





After the lake we took the advice of the Les Schwabb guy (we had to stop and get chains just in case) and went to Wallace Falls:




Our final destination was the Umpqua Hot Springs. We ran into a bit of trouble though. The Umpqua river is usually pretty shallow and tame that far up, but the recent rain turned it into a raging river. The bridge we had to cross was nearly non existent.

We pondered our options for a while then finally I decided to just hop in the river and build a new bridge. It was frigid and difficult to move around in, but it only took a few minutes to gather enough logs so the other guys could make it across. This isn't a pic of the bridge, but give you an idea of what we were facing:



Now my feet and shorts were soaked. It was only .5 mile to the springs so I figure there was no point in putting my shoes back on and just hoofed it in the mud. One of the best decisions I've ever made. The mud between my toes felt great and once we reached the hot springs, after a short snafu (we took the wrong trail), I immediately dunked them in. It was nearly orgasmic. There are pictures of all this, but again I don't have them yet. In time.

We left the springs, I forded the river again and then had to change real quick before getting in the car. The bathroom I changed in was disgusting and I struggled to make sure that I was always standing on my flip flops while trying not to let any of my clothes touch any of the surfaces.

We followed the road along the Umpqua river for some time. Some of the view were spectacular.



Eventually we made it to Roseburg. This in a lot of ways was the end of our trip. We ate dinner in Eugene, spent the night in Salem and then bombed up I-5 back to Seattle.

All in all the trip was great. Highlights were definitely Fern Canyon and the Umpqua Hot Springs, but the Oregon Caves deserves an honorable mention as does the Avenue of Giants. I'd like to give a huge shout out to SK and P for putting up with me and keepin' it real in general.

Next vacation is Labor Day. I'll be trekkin' across America with my ol' man. Until then it's just back to the random ramblings that you've come to expect here...

Memorial Day Mayhem 2010 Part 1

So here's how it all went down:

Friday was crazy. I was serious non-productive at work. Short timer's syndrome set in about 1pm on Thursday. We shut up shop early and I was in a mad dash to get everything accomplished. Hit up NESF and got him some keys to water my plants. Then I headed home to get the place in order. I cleaned for hours and still didn't accomplish everything that I had hoped. P came by to drink while I was cleaning and helped by leaving the instructions for watering. (I'm hoping to get a picture of it because it was a great note).

Saturday morning woke up early, 6am, and packed the last of my stuff up. SK showed up around 7 and we got it all packed up. Swooped up P by 745 and we were on the road. The first bit of the journey was very uneventful. Just I-5 down to Olympia and then cuttin' through SW Washington.


Crossed the Columbia at Astoria and hit up a Costco for some supplies. The drive down the coast was very pleasant, but time consuming. We rolled into Newport around 6 and hit up the Rogue brewery. They were having their garage sale and I picked up a hoodie. P was set on getting some of their whiskey so we cruised over to their distillery and he picked up a bottle of single malt.

We got some beers and appetizers at the brew pub. Now I don't like to speak bad of Rogue, but I have to. The service was wretched. They forgot one of the things that we ordered. It took forever to get a beer. And then to top it all off the "view" from the window was of a bird shit covered awning (indoors!) and a dead bird. They really need to step up the appearance and service because it's a good spot otherwise.

Back on the road we realized that our initial goals might be unreasonable. The plan was to get to Sunset Bay St Park, which is just south of North Bend. However the sun was fading quickly and we opted to stay a bit closer to our location. Before we called it a day with the driving we hit up a little view point and I got some great sunset pics:





We ended up camping just south of Honeyman St Park in a forest service camp ground. Pretty chill spot, the place was only half full. The only down side was the occasional ATV noise. Turns out ATV'n is huge down there. We set up camp and started a fire the easy way.



Sunday we started back down the 101. The first thing we came upon was a buncha dunes. For miles we went along side them, though usually they were blocked by the forest. We stopped at the North Spit to get out, stretch our legs and take some pics:




P even stopped to pick up some litter:



So we got back on the road and made a b-line for California. There isn't much to speak of between the dunes and the Redwoods other than a fruit check point and some killer views of the ocean:



The first notable thing we ran into in California was Paul Bunyan and Babe, his blue ox. They're huge. And Paul talked. "I'm Paul Bunyan. I'm 50 feet tall and I've been wearing these same shoes for 50 years. My feet are pretty sweaty and I'm just they stink." It was a very strange sight:



It took a bit of time but we finally broke ourselves free of Bunyan's hypnotic spell but didn't make it far before we stopped again. This time to drive through a giant tree! I have to admit I wasn't too into the idea, but it was pretty cool:



Our next stop came in Crescent City. That town is full of hippies. We had to turn around in a park and they were everywhere. A couple of girls sitting in the flowers, some people running around blowing bubbles, etc. And it wasn't just in the park, they were everywhere.

As we were going through the parks we noticed a bunch of elk just chillin' by the roadside. We missed the turn initially so had to back track. Turned out to be a good thing because on the way back we saw a black bear strolling across the highway! Wasn't quick enough with the camera unfortunately. I did however catch some elk:



After we checked out the elk for a while we busted out of there and down to Eureka where we had a room reserved at the Travelodge. Now anyone who has stayed at a Travelodge knows they are the worst. However it was the only thing available that was reasonably priced. We ate dinner at Lost Coast brewing. Better service but the beer wasn't as good. Decent but not great.

After that we went over to a lil bar called the "Shanty". However not before Scott misunderstood were the brewery was and traipsed in the shadiest part of Eureka. I was surprised how seedy the whole town was to be honest. As we were about to go into the bar a group of kids wanted to buy weed from us, then they wanted to sell it to us. Go figure.

The bar was pretty chill. Talked to the bartender about some hikes and stuff. Then the place got slammed. It took forever to order a drink. The place redeemed itself when a magician showed up and did some illusions for us. Got a bit wasted and decided to call it a night.

We decided that Monday was going to be very relaxed. Woke up around 10 and checked out of the hotel. Drove south to Humboldt St Park to check out the Avenue of the Giants. Let me tell you, they were giant. HUGE. This should give you an idea:





We hit up the visitors center and discovered that the biggest trees were yet to come. We headed out to a different corner of the park and found a GIANT tree. It was insanely large. So big in fact that I had to bear hug it:



Now at this point I took over driving for the only point in the trip, but I was felt that P was going to kill us looking at the trees and not the road. We bombed back up the 101 to Elk Prairie. Which was very aptly named being as when you enter there's a giant prairie full of elk. We checked into our site and got set up for the night. It was a pretty sweet site right on the river:



This brought us to the half way marker on our journey and as such the half way point in this post. I've got some other things I need to be doing. To be continued...