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We're chronicling our travels around the states on this blog. Check it out, if you're bored and sitting on an apple box (you can also check it out from home or the office).

Filtering by Tag: California

From the Redwood Forest (or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the road)

June 01, 2014Whitney Lea

After leaving Orr, we prepared ourselves for another stint with nature and the National Parks. This time we were heading up to the Pacific Northwest to see the Redwood Forest. More passport stamps!

This also marked a bit of a transition in our road tripping style. Until now, everything was very tightly planned. We knew where we were going to sleep months in advance for 90% of the nights. We had people we wanted to meet up with and places we had to be. Suddenly we were looking at two nights without a sleeping place booked and had plans to visit two national parks without knowing what we wanted to see or do there. I spent so much time knowing every detail of the first month and a half that it was a bit strange to look in the roadtrip binder and not have several options for activities listed along with their prices and estimated times. The page on May 14 just listed the drive time and destination with a suggestion for where to camp. My type A planning skills had petered out a bit and rather than feel increasingly concerned, I was feeling open and relaxed. Maybe it was the spring water?

We left the springs a little later than we should have with our sights set on a campground in the Redwood State and National forests. We drove through increasingly scenic stretches of the 101 (we didn't have time to take route 1) in hopes of making it to the campground before sunset. The redwoods were soon looming above us and the need to stop for photos increased. I knew we were racing the sun, but I also realized that we were supposed to spend the day enjoying the redwoods. What good would it be if we drove past them without Sam getting even one (hundred) picture(s)? We may never be there again. We needed to find a balance between soaking in the nature and taking care of business.

This, of course was only the beginning. Around 4 PM or so I saw a highway sign for the Drive-Thru Tree Park (tripadvisor!) and told Sam we had to hop off the highway and go. He had no idea why or what the drive-thru tree was, but I sure did. It was a classic roadtrip pit stop, like the giant ball of twine. If you're on a roadtrip and drive by a sign for it, it's kind of a crime not to stop. We had already driven past tons of signs for The Thing (cue wavy, creepy lettering here) in Arizona and we had opted out of a visit to Rock City. The Drive-Thru Tree was a chance for roadtrip redemption. $5 later, here we were.

So now Omi can proudly tell people that car has driven through a tree!

The people we meet at this pit stop were by far the friendliest people we have chatted up so far on the trip. There was the biker who was showing his girlfriend around the redwoods and then taking her to Yosemite; the lady from Utah who had just visited Yosemite with her family (sitting quietly next to her) and felt strongly that it was far prettier than Yellowstone; and the woman from Vancouver, Washington who had done a cross country roadtrip with her husband and serval children in an RV from craigslist (I would have loved to get tips from her, but she was headed out, as were we). I got back in the car smiling even though I knew we would be pitching the tent as the sun went down.

We started discussing an alternate camping place once we saw signs for the Avenue of the Giants scenic byway. The biker had mentioned that he planned to take his girlfriend on that route, so we figured it would be good. And as it was a byway, it wouldn't take toooo much longer.

By the time we were back on the 101 we knew where we were going to try to camp and hoped the pricetag would be lower than the $35 fee being charged in the National Forest campground. We gassed up and soon saw Trees of Mystery -- another roadtrip hot spot that we had heard about from an episode of This American Life (#506). The kitsch of an enormous Paul Bunyan was more than I could bear. You know I love kitsch! We had to stop! We popped out of the car just long enough to snag some pictures of the great American lumberjack, Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe.

When we got to the park we planned to camp in we saw they would also charge $35 to camp for one night. Sunset wasn't far off now and we realized if we were willing to pay $35 to sleep somewhere that wasn't a part of the plan then we would be much better off paying $15 more for a room with electricity and WiFi in the next town. This decision sounds like it was made because we didn't want to deal with camping or wanted a fancy bed. You're only a little right. The idea of having WiFi and a night to dedicate to catching up on the blog and watching the German national soccer team play a friendly match against Poland was really what sold us. It turned out to be a very productive night in that regard.

Now knowing that we had a little more time, we drove up the coast, stopping at the first beach we saw to watch the sun sink below the horizon and get our feet a little sandy and wet. I had never seen the Pacific before so I had to touch it! Besides, there was no reason to rush anymore.

We arrived in Crescent City, California after dark and after splitting dinner at Denny's, we tucked into the Front Street Inn (tripadvisor!). The next morning we ate breakfast and sat by the Pacific to get a few more blog posts going and for Sam to call El Paso about his ticket and to write a letter to extend the court date (of course they told him to send it to the city prosecutor instead of the magistrate, so it wasn't the best use of his time).

Feeling very accomplished, we made a beeline for the forest. The first few visitor and information centers were closed, so we were grateful to finally find an open office to get some ideas for activities, campgrounds, and to get the coveted stamp. The ranger also showed us what Poison Oak looks like since we don't have that back east. We came away with big plans that worked out wonderfully.

First, we backtracked a ways and hopped down a trail to see the forks of the Smith River. The spot the ranger described was beautiful with the deep blue river that was cold and crystal clear.

Views: Del Norte County, CA by Samuel Herbig

The next stop was up to Stout Grove (tripadvisor!), where we knew we would see some hulking redwoods. We took our drawing supplies because it had been a really long time since we had done any art. What could be more inspiring?

We studied these ancient, enormous trees that seemed to survive so much and Sam explained that trying to understand the enormity of those trees was like trying to understand the structure of the universe. On paper you can write it down and have a rough idea, but when you really take it in, it's overwhelming because you can't see everything at once, only parts at a time. I hope I paraphrased that correctly.

We finally headed to Panther Flat campground for a lovely night of camping for only $15! So even though we spent a night in a hotel, we basically came out even on our sleeping costs in the Redwoods. Not shabby, eh?

Leaving the plan up to chance wasn't as stressful as I had imagined! We slept fairly well and the next day we were going to drive up to Oregon to see Crater Lake.

For a change, here's a Sam fun fact:

This has been the longest title of our roadtrip blog, weighing in at an astounding 64 characters! Way to go, girl!

categories Drive
tags California, Redwood, Forest, Pacific, Ocean, Camping, Beach, Smith River, Drive-Thru Tree

ORR LY?

May 31, 2014Samuel Herbig

Almost had to break out that macro lens I don't have

We weren't about to break a habit, so against our repeatedly expressed plans to get going early, we got up around 10-ish to head out a few hours later on towards our next goal.

And because Whitney and I have way too many things we try to keep track of, we absolutely still wanted to try to grab a stamp for our National Parks passport at the Golden Gate Bridge before. Interestingly, we were committed enough to beat Raina and Scott out the door, however we then thought the bridge toll we would have to pay (to get to the official visitor center) was just too much bear, which in the end really was a good thing because I got to drive a really windy road to the visitor center of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which we both agreed was "basically the same thing". Plus, we'd already gotten those awesome shots of the bridge from the spot Scott had taken us to earlier. Feeling quite like we had fulfilled our tourist duties we headed back to the highway.

I would like to add at this point that the Golden Gate National Recreation Area is indeed a mouthful. For a park (or "area") that seemed to have so much to offer just by driving through it for 20 minutes, surely a creative city such as San Francisco can come up with a slightly more engaging name!

We had chosen our highway carefully, because I think I'm speaking for both of us when I say that we like to drink wine. We're not experts on tasting wine, neither of us have a nose for fine wine, nor do we have the red noses to boot. We're like the vast majority of people who enjoy drinking wine every now and then and in the process have developed a couple of wines we tend to like. Grüner Veltliner or recently Temperanillo have been favorites for example. Even for total wine-label connoisseurs we know of the wine country and the their famous valleys, Napa and Sonoma. We also would like to distance ourselves from the words chosen by The Monads in "Mississippi Wine" and think that shampoo isn't, in fact, preferable to Napa valley wine (at last not in the majority of the cases . . . the pun may have been intended). That's an inside joke regarding a song on a mix CD we got from our friend Danny way back in Columbia, SC (yes, we went there). Scott may or may not have been a little sore that we sang that line with such gusto with him in the car the previous day.

After about 48 minutes (completely made up) of research last night and then another 27 minutes (definitely made up, too) of research over breakfast we decided to stop over at the Foppiano winery for a tasting. The price did play into the decision, not going to lie. When Whitney and I arrived, Scott and Raina were pulling in right behind us. Foppiano's seemed like a medium sized operation. Their tasting room was a 40 by 60 foot single room structure, perhaps a former barn with a simple bar and two wonderfully helpful ladies. It all for together pretty well if you ask me. It had a nice roll-up-your-sleeves kind of feel. Very unpretentious and I'm a sucker for that stuff.

Altogether, we tasted six or seven bottles. Two were okay, three I liked and another two were very tasty. You'll have to ask the others for more detailed info because I can't remember or better yet, just go and do it yourself. I think wine tasting is really more about the opportunity to drink a couple of different wines with a group of friends without having to pay restaurant prices. So no, I don't remember the names nor the types, but by the end we walked out with three bottles of wine.

We hopped back into our respective loan-mobiles and drove the last bit up to Orr Hot Springs. It's a very nice scenic drive up and down through switch backs over meadows and through the woods. Our pace on this tight two lane road must have been about average, because on one occasion a older driver let us pass, while at a another one I barely had time to complete a turn before some huge pick up truck blew passed us. I'm going to assume that he knew the roads better than us.

Walking up to the main gate of the Hot Springs

On Google maps, the Orr Hot Springs (fb!) is labeled as a resort. I have a certain preconceived hoity toity notion of what a resort is, but in this case the operation here was decidedly more granola than cruise ship. We were checked in and after quickly dropping our perishables off in the big (and organized!) communal kitchen went to check out our little fancy yurt.

This is almost voyeuristic . . . but it was so lovely inside

Up the hillside about 40 steps, our yurt was the top most yurt on the hill. It had a big bed, a sky light and right outside the door a tiny deck and two chairs. It was quiet, private and just in general a lovely setting for us to be able to relax and enjoy the time there.

After dropping our stuff off, our first priority was of course to check out the springs and pools area. The way the whole thing is set up is actually pretty neat. The bathing area is separated from the rest of the resort by two little bridges which lead across a stream and through a set of doors. There is then a changing room and outdoor showers before you get to the pools and sauna area. There are basically three areas: 1, a couple of small pools with hot water and a big cold water pool; 2, a steam room and a sauna; and 3, individual bath tubs in little rooms intended for one person at a time.

I had the impression that the facility catered somewhat more to women than it did to men, not in an unwelcoming way. No one was glaring at me for being a dude or anything. It just seemed that more women seemed to know and visit the springs. Since it's a clothing optional hot spring, I guess it's the type of experience that isn't for everyone. This also explains the lack of photos here. While we were there, Whitney and I recalled fondly the good I'll ol' times when she first came to Germany with me and my parents took us to Baden-Baden. If you know either of us personally, it's a fun story. (Whitney: it was one of the first times that I realized I can't look back and laugh at something unless I actually do it.)

After a quick soak, Whitney and I prepared dinner, in part because we felt guilty because the other two had been feasting and dining us the previous couple of days. So Pfannkuchen it was, though this time with gluten free (I think it was mainly rice based?) flour. Turned out pretty good, and after a couple of sweet ones, back to soaking it was.

Whitney adds: The kitchen had everything you would need, equipment and space-wise, to make an excellent meal. It was so great to be able to cook in a full kitchen. That experience rivaled the spa time as the highlight of our trip to Orr.

I would like to mention one more thing: as part of the setup, they had two tubs on an elevated deck outside. They called them the "stargazing" bathtubs and if I had my glasses with me I could have probably seen some nice formations. Then again, they would have probably fogged over.

Relaxed we fell asleep in our yurt, for what felt like an eternity.

Surprisingly then, we woke up about 8 hours later, which under consideration of what passes for "normal time", seems very reasonable. Whitney and I once again got busy in the kitchen for breakfast, and after another soak in the pools we wished our bon voyage our northern Californian travel companions and turned out wheels towards the Redwoods!

Whitney's facts & stats:
None, she was too busy luxuriating.

categories Diary
tags Golden Gate Recreation Area, Orr, Orr Hot Springs, Hot Springs, California, Wine Country, Tasting

If you're going to San Francisco . . .

May 27, 2014Whitney Lea

We did not spend enough time in San Francisco. As the person doing a lot of the day to day planning for the roadtrip, that's on me. Honestly, I wished we had an extra week so we could have seen a little more of California overall, but back when I was mapping things out last year I convinced myself that the five days we had would be enough. They weren't really and someday I hope to come back to the West coast for a re-do. That being said, with the help of our friends Scott, Raina, and Justin we covered a lot of ground on our short stint in SF.

All three of these characters come from the seedy underbelly that is the New York City film and television scene. Sam worked with Justin on his very first film job after graduating SVA. We visited him when he was working in Boston, he stayed with us in the city a few times. When he moved to New York, Sam and Justin worked together more frequently. He was a huge help when we had a ton of lighting setup to do for our wedding. We moved into the same neighborhood last year and when our lease ended, Sam stayed with Justin for a month and a half to continue working for awhile. Sam met Raina back before he was doing IATSE work and they started working together a bit more when they both went Union. And Sam started working with Scott about a year ago, but they leaned on each other a lot during season one of Taxi Brooklyn.

Both Scott and Raina, who are dating, share our enthusiasm for camping and hiking and we had a great weekend together (along with our friends Matt and Maggie) up at Malouf's Mountain last fall. Justin and Scott both grew up in San Francisco and when they heard we would be making our way out there on the trip they planned a visit home to coincide with the dates! Raina, a native New Yorker, was glad to join Scott on a trip "back home".

We stayed at Scott's parents house in Mill Valley, just north of the city and right on an inlet on the bay. It was so nice to wake up in the morning and watch the birds hanging out on the bird sanctuary, a small island in the middle of the inlet. Katie, Scott's yellow lab was totally loveable and would follow anyone to the end of the world for a belly rub. We got to play Cards Against Humanity out on the deck one night, and Raina made awesome food every morning in the perfect kitchen before we started each day. It was really nice to have a house as a home base for a change.

Scott and Raina had plans for the four of us to hike Angel Island while we were there, which we would have loved to do, but we soon realized that we wanted to have more time to explore the city and luckily they were very understanding. Scott was a ready and able tour guide to boot.

We headed into the city over the Golden Gate Bridge and parked near the yacht club. We strolled up around the Great Meadow and down to the Fisherman's Wharf. Sam and I were both really enjoying the leisurely pace and Scott remarked that one thing he wanted us to do while we were in SF was to spend time sitting around and relaxing because that's something San Franciscans do best. Justin was able to meet us after a little while and after grabbing a snack at In-N-Out Burger we sat down on a lovely piece of grass overlooking the bay to talk, soak up some sun, and of course, relax.

It was Mother's Day so Justin could only hang out for a little while before grabbing dinner with his family and then flying back to New York. It was a bummer that we didn't have more time together, but it was really nice to see him.

We didn't ask Scott, but Whitney looks good ;-)

After he left, we got down to touristy business. The first stop was the Ghirardelli factory for ice cream. Did you know that there is someone handing out Ghirardelli Squares for free at the store entrance? Did you know he will give you another square every time you come in? I know for certain because I went through the door three times in the span of an hour.

The next stop was some hills to walk off the giant butter pecan sundae we had just consumed. Scott pointed out various landmarks and gave very informative commentary about San Francisco's socially forward history. Sam and Raina snagged some pictures as we strolled along.

We came across a few interesting characters from the baby boomer generation and hopped into the oldest bar (wiki!) in San Francisco to hear some excellent live music.

Then we took the streetcar downhill for a few stops. It was like riding the Cyclone!

After a nice dinner we headed home to rest up for another big day.

The next morning we got a little tour of the town of Mill Valley before driving the Omimobile to Golden Gate Park. It's like Central Park but it feels bigger and really takes your mind out of the city. We strolled around but had a specific destination: the Japanese Tea Garden.

We arrived just minutes before a free tour of the garden began. The guide was a woman who decided to volunteer to do the tours as a means of connecting with and relating to her daughter, who had recently given up all of her earthly attachments to become a Buddhist monk. Knowing that made the tour much more personal and interesting because she mentioned her daughter a few times when talking about Buddhist symbolism and you could see she was trying her best to understand her daughter's path, even though it was difficult for her. You could hear the love in her voice as she explained a spritual concept the two of them had obviously discussed before. It was very intimate while also being very informative.

Next we headed up to the Haight to lay eyes on those historical blocks and to grab a snack. Although it seemed gentrified it still had grit and urban beauty shining through. I could have spent an entire day wandering around there, but we were soon looking at a time crunch.

Next, Scott took us for some iconic Golden Gate Bridge photos.

Then we headed across town, parked the car in the Mission with plans to get burritos there before the San Francisco Giants game. As we walked we realized we didn't really have time to walk to the place Scott had on mind so we grabbed burritos at a stand a little ways from the park. They were still quite tasty.

The baseball game was Scott's idea and until I realized we could get good seats for $14 a pop I wasn't super excited about going to a game. I love watching soccer. I can really get into watching basketball and football. Hockey is ok. But baseball has always been tricky. Scott made a great argument though: an American roadtrip wouldn't be complete without a baseball game and AT&T Park is one of the best places to see a game. I thought that was an opinion of his until I walked into the stadium. It's literally right on the bay. We could look out and see mostly water from our spots between home plate and first base. Holy cow.

Then Scott pointed out the Splash Ball counter down on the wall in right field. 64 balls had been hit into the bay since the stadium opened in the late 90s. I really hoped we would get to see one, but I figured it was a rarity. And then it happened! It was Tyler Colvin's first at bat in the MLB and he slammed it into the water. The jumbo screen cut to people in the bay in kayaks scrounging to catch the ball as it hit the water! And then it happened again a few innings later! This time it was an Atlanta Braves player so people were less enthused, but still amazed. It was a great way to cap off my first visit to the city of sourdough.

After the game we headed home to relax on Scott's deck before packing up for a day of relaxation and excitement up north. Next up: a winery and hot springs in Northern California.

Random facts and statistics:

First song on the radio after crossing the California state line? Hotel California by the Eagles. Go figure.

AT&T Park secret: you see vendors selling bud light for $11 in the stadium? Well if you go down to the ground floor of the stadium, there's an entrance to The Public House which sells craft drafts starting at $6 and if you get your ticket and hand stamped at the door you can grab a cheaper beer and bring it back to your seat. Sure, it's out of the way, but you save $5 a beer and it will taste better too.

We also learned that you can go to a "doctor's office" above a record store (I'm serious) to get "evaluated" to see if you're eligible for a medical marijuana card for just $45. We were not the guinea pigs here, but it was interesting to know.

In-N-Out burger has a secret menu where you can order a burger named after different muppet something and you wind up with surprising condiments on your burger. Sam's Animal Style Burger had fried onions and special sauce. Oooh. Ahhh. Yummm?

categories Diary
tags San Francisco, Scott, Raina, Justin, California, Giants, Baseball

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