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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 Category: Diary

Riding Shotgun Down the Avalanche

June 04, 2014Whitney Lea

The drive to Crater Lake was wholly uneventful. Out first taste of what lay ahead was seeing Mount McLoughlin out in the distance.

Soon we had entered a National Forest and were driving through thick pine woods. We both agreed that something about it reminded us of the opening shot in The Shining.

I had exhausted my disappointingly limited collection of folksy classic rock (I have no idea what happened to it all) and saw The Moody Blues Greatest Hits sitting, unlistened to, on my iPod's list of artists. I think I downloaded it from our old roommate, George, back when Sam and I lived in the loft in Bushwick, circa 2005. I'm sure I had heard them in the past, but the only song I really recognized was The Story in Your Eyes. (Cue my dad either saying, "I used to play the Moody Blues all the time!" Or alternatively, "They really weren't my thing. . . ." Your call here, Dad!)

I mention all this because music can really help me to remember a place or the feeling I was having. It can help me form a memory. There are many songs that, though listened to many times before, will transform into memory bookmarks if they are being played when something important happens.

Driving through all these big trees inspired me to play James Taylor; John Denver; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Simon and Garfunkel. If there had been Woody Guthrie, Joanie Mitchell, or Joan Baez on my iPod they would have had plenty of airtime too. But as I said, we had run out of that music and I decided to give the Moody Blues a shot. Their older songs — the ones with big orchestral sounds — fit the swooping road and tall trees perfectly and definitely imprinted the memory of the beautiful drive on my brain.

We arrived at Crater Lake on the lodge's opening day of the 2014 season. This was sheer luck and had we been even a day earlier, the park would have seemed more one-dimensional. The roads were perfectly clear but most of the park was covered in meters of snow. See exhibit A.

Remember how I mentioned The Shining earlier? Well get a load of the lodge in picture 4! Not too far off there, eh? We took a tip from a ranger at the visitor's center and went to sit in the lounge area of the lodge to have a beer and a bite to eat. The timing coincided with Ranger Brian's first fireside chat of the season. It was also our first ranger program of the trip and it gave us a little more context on the history of the lake and the founding of the park. We learned that Crater Lake is a collapsed volcano, not a crater from an asteroid or anything, and all the sapphire blue water therein is rainwater and runoff (though there is a "hot" spring at the very bottom of the lake that runs a few degrees warmer than the rest of the water).

We had plans to hike the lake road the next day since most of it was still closed to cars, but we knew there was a chance that weather would blow in and we wouldn't get a clear shot of the lake so Sam took several nice pictures of our view at the lodge just to be safe. And I took a photo of Sam, mainly because he was wearing his awesome hat from Texas.

Sam taking pictures of the road map for the top of a blog post. Yes, his face looks like that whenever he's taking a photo he cares about. At least it makes it easier to smile.

We headed back down the mountain to the Union Creek Resort to tuck in for the evening. This is another resort that isn't a modern-day resort. It was founded in the 20s and the building we started in was built in the late 30s. We had an adorable lodge room overlooking the lodge's namesake creek and shared a shower down the hall with a number of other rooms. Across the street was Beckie's, aptly famous for their fruit pies, and out front was a "wagon" that smoked up barbecue daily. Were the prices a bit inflated? Sure. Was the strength of the wifi slightly frustrating for Sam, who had hoped to get several more blog posts going in our downtime? Decidedly so. But in the end, it was a nice spot to hang our hats and had unplugging been the goal, it would have been a perfect fit.

The next morning we drove back up the snowy mountain to take our little hike. The pessimistic forecast had failed to materialize so we were looking far and deep into the valleys below as we strolled past walls of melting snow and loose rock towering above the road. After a little while we decided to settle on a destination, and based on the recommendation of a hiker on a return trip, we stopped about three miles in where an excellent lake overlook was located.

Now, there are a few tricky things about being in snow that deep in a landscape you're unfamiliar with, especially on a sunny 50° day in mid-May. One: we are on the edge of a crater. This thing slopes down pretty intensely but the two meters of snow that had yet to melt hung over the edge quite a bit. Stepping up on a snow bank to get a better view could be quite perilous, at least in the eyes if a worrier such as myself. Two: chunks of snow and rock would tumble down the mountainside next to us and into the Crater every few minutes or so. Not enough to call it an avalanche, but we were at the viewpoint for maybe twenty minutes and heard creaking and crumbling sounds at least three times. This added to the worrier dialogue running in my head.

It's one of the first really warm days of the year. This road is closed to cars for a reason. Walls of snow are around us on both sides. You can clearly see where rocks have tumbled from the mountain, across the road, and into the snow. There are gashes in the pavement from falling rock. How many people have we seen on this road today? Maybe 8 in 2 hours.

So the hike back consisted of Sam and I discussing how to handle worst-case scenarios. He acted all calm, but the thoughtfulness in his answers tells me he had given that stuff thought too. Right? Ok, probably not. Sam doesn't worry when he's in the mountains.

Needless to say, the walk back was perfectly uneventful beyond seeing a golden retriever off-leash about a quarter mile down the road and not being entirely sure that it wasn't a wild cat or something. Cue your collective eyeroll at my wild imagination. Luckily, I still had The Story in Your Eyes stuck in my head and not Landslide or Hungry Like the Wolf...

So that was Crater Lake in its winter glory. In a few weeks people will be hiking real trails, taking boat tours around the lake and fishing. But I'm glad we saw it with snow because that's how it is most of the year.

Views: Klamath County, OR by Samuel Herbig

Random facts:
We coasted the Omimobile in neutral for 20 minutes and 13 seconds (14.99 miles) from the park to the lodge. That is a lot of downhill!

The Old Man of the Lake is a 30ft log that has been floating vertically in Crater lake since at least 1896. We didn't see him, but it sure makes for a good fact.

Crater Lake sees an average of 44 feet of snow each winter. The walls of snow had layers like the rocks in the Grand Canyon.

categories Diary
tags Crater Lake, Oregon, Volcano, Hike, Snow, Becky's, Union Creek Resort, BBQ

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

That's all from Texas!

May 21, 2014Whitney Lea

CLICK on the image to enlarge it via Flickr!!! — **CLICK** on the image to enlarge it via Flickr!!!

That's all the news we thought was fit to draw from El Paso. We tried to make this first edition as all encompassing as possible, but these following images couldn't be adequately captured using pencil alone: