Blog

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).

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

The Southwest with Sue: Part Two

May 25, 2014Samuel Herbig

This post is obviously also brought to you by the number two. The only reason it isn't one long post is because I wasn't sure I could hold your attention for that long and because I wanted to throw another two in somehow since these posts are sponsored by 2 (as you can see in the endorsement up top).

Back to the action! We took a gorgeous route to get to Zion. We drove through the painted desert where I took a bunch of pictures of our progress. Some of them even turned out. Oh! And the Omimobile turned 90,000 miles old, so we had to capture that as well.

We made a little rest stop on a bridge that went over the Colorado river and saw two cool animals: a weird bug, but more importantly, a California Condor. These birds are highly endangered. Our little buddy was tagged H9 for those counting at home. The view of the river was something else as well.

After a stop for lunch in a Utah town that was having a grayhound festival, we were an hour away from Zion. When we finally arrived we could not believe our eyes. The mountains looked like they were made of white lava that cooled, or like wasp's nests, or pulled taffy, or syrups of bacon. We had seen some pictures if Zion, but nothing like that!

Without naming names: Some call it the O'Keefe Mound

After passing through two tunnels (one very short one and one very very long one that had windows carved into it every hundred yards or so) we got to the other side of the park that had formations that were more familiar to us. We stopped by the visitors center to get our passport stamped and to ask a ranger about hiking The Narrows. It seemed that the conditions for this sometimes perilous (or even completely closed) hike would be ideal.

We got up the next morning and got outfitted for waterproof pants, neoprene socks, fancy river shoes, and a walking stick. We watched an informational video about the hike that covered everything from "don't splash strangers on purpose" and "collect solid human waste in bags is you need to go on the hike" to "if the water gets muddy, seek higher ground, you're likely going to see a flood. Good luck." Lots of preparation, but we wanted to be sure we were well equipped to handle any needs that should come up for any of the three of us so that we could truly enjoy a very unique experience.

I realize I should explain what the narrows hike is exactly because it is not a normal hike. We took a 40 minute park shuttle to a paved trailhead, walked about a mile and when the trail ended we went down some stairs to the Virgin River*. The river is actually at the bottom of a slot canyon and the hike is through the river. The canyon walls reach high above you, over a thousand feet in some places. The water was around 50 degrees and since we would have wet feet for several hours we thought having the gear might help us last longer on the hike. Indeed it did. Sure, there were some guys doing it in flip-flops and I envied them at first, but when we got to the deeper and shady parts of the river I was glad for the shoes and the waders.

Here we are at the start of the hike. Fresh, nervous, excited.

As we hiked along we passed someone who reminded us to be happy and enjoy it as much as possible because we were seeing the canyon and the river in a way many people never would. He was right. I smiled as I passed the little waterfall he told us to look for. I became happier and braver.

If only Rosie the Riveter was into nature, the poster would have had her in The Narrows

My mom became a bit meditative and awestruck.

Sam took his camera out of the waterproof bag so many times he stopped putting it away, as you can see.

Our goal was an area called wall street and after a few hours of slow wading and photos galore, we arrived. Just two miles from our start, but the water slows the hike.

Both my mom and I had cold feet, but Sam, ever the explorer and completely used to having 12 hours of cold feet (from working New York's film jobs in January and February for years) forged on for a little bit. Here is what he saw:

Views: North Fork Virgin River, Zion National Park, Utah by Samuel Herbig

[Wall Street]

Views: Washington County, UT by Samuel Herbig

[Orderville Canyon]

By the time we turned around we knew we faced a time crunch. We had to return the gear, wanted to go back to the other side of the park to get some pictures of the taffy rock mountains, and then had to drive to Vegas.

That's right, Vegas. One night only! At the Mirage! thanks to my mom's research, generosity, and her coworkers' travel tips. But I'm ahead of myself. We did it all though. Returned the gear. Drive to the other side of the big tunnel and to pictures of the taffy mountains.

And minutes after my mom said "I'd love to see some long horned sheep," guess what we saw? And guess how many. No. Not two. Twice that! Two grown up sheep and two babies. Here's proof!

And then we drove. We got to Vegas. We bathed. We walked the strip on a Friday night. We went inside of the Bellaggio and Caesers. We ate. We slept. My poor mama only got an hour or two of sleep before she had to leave for the airport.

And in the morning we walked around some more, ate breakfast at the Omelet House (cheaper and tastier than anything we could afford on the strip), and then started the long drive to California.

Mom, thanks for taking the time to meet us out West. I am so glad we spent that time together, so proud of what we accomplished, and so glad for the memories we made together.

* Every geographic feature at Zion, including the park itself has a religious name. The Virgin River. The Court of the Patriarchs after Abraham and two other old testament guys. Angel's Landing.

categories Hike
tags Utah, Hike, Mountains, Canyon, Narrows, Virgin, River, Sue, Hiking, Las Vegas, Mirage, National Park

The Southwest with Sue: Part One

May 24, 2014Whitney Lea

This episode of HerBig Idea is brought to you by the number 2!

In this post, our dusty and hungover travelers link up with two moms: Whitney's mom, Sue, and the mother of us all, Mother Nature.

Before we could escape the barren dust plains of the Southwest, we had to drive through two cities we had very little interest in: Tucson and Phoenix. On Sunday we left Casa de Sueños to drive to Tucson, and we had to go toTucson for two reasons (and only two reasons as far as I'm concerned): My mom was flying into Tucson and Sam wanted to see the Pima Air & Space museum.

We did stay in a nice B&B where we had a spectacular breakfast and we did explore downtown a bit, but there isn't much more to say beyond that. On our way out of town we headed to that Air & Space museum I mentioned. There were lots of historic planes and we got to do a tour of "the bone yard" where the US Military sends its aircrafts to kill time, get turned into drones and get shot down over the gulf for military practice, or get scrapped for parts. There were thousands of planes. Sam took pictures. See!

So then we headed to two cities smooshed into one place: Phoenix and Scottsdale. Two good things happened there: we bought a camp stove so we don't have to create fire from matches or cook with charcoal AND we did laundry.

Slow start, right? The nice part about that was that we had a chance to spend a little "normal" time all together before going into full road trip mode. Those two slow days were leading up to some big adventure for the three of us. We were headed to two legendary national parks: The Grand Canyon and Zion.

We decided to take a bit of a scenic detour on our way to the Grand Canyon to see two places that several people told us would make the drive more fun: Jerome, a historic mining town; and Sedona.

The mine, before it became an open pit mine. That's what Wiki says, anyhow.

We drove up a very windy road, saw a big old snake on the way, gained some serious elevation, and got to Jerome in time to eat a huge lunch. It's pretty difficult to imagine it was home over 10,000 people back in the boom times. Jerome is also famous because Maynard (from the bands Tool and A Perfect Circle) lives there and owns a wine shop or something. The two people that told us it was worth a visit also mentioned him, which was surprising because I don't know any Tool fans in their 50s. To be honest, I think my mom thought Tool was a place because everyone was saying "Maynard from Tool" and she asked "Where is Tool?" Sorry to "out" you, Mom! I promise she's really hip most of the time and knows all the cool bands. Sam took some nice pictures on the winding road up to Jerome, as well as of the town proper. See!

As we drove through Sedona, I saw how gorgeous it was and wished I had scheduled for us to stay a night or two there instead of in Tucson and Phoenix. But now I know in case there is a next time and you know now too. As we passed through town we saw so many great formations that we wanted to take pictures of.

We finally spotted a pull-off next to a stream. As we stood there we realized we could bushwhack a little to get down to the water and spent the better part of an hour down there watching birds, listening to the stream and enjoying a very intimate experience in nature, just the three of us. Sam even took some pictures. See!

Views: Oak Creek, Coconino National Forest, Arizona by Samuel Herbig

So at this point we realized that we were running out of daylight. We spent almost an entire day doing what should have been a 4 hour drive. Sometimes that's my favorite way to do a drive. I know my mom was a bit concerned that we wouldn't get enough time in the Grand Canyon because of it, but I think and hope she enjoyed the explorations. By this point though all the of us had been building anticipation for more than two days. It was time to get there already!

We made it in enough time to set up the tent and hightail it to the rim to watch dusk fall. My mom and Sam had both been to the canyon before. I had only seen pictures. When I walked toward the rim it was exactly as I had imagined. But then as we walked closer I realized it just kept going down. And down. And down. I could not see the bottom. It was somewhere waaay down there and I had no idea how far. It was the first time I remember looking at something and thinking it was unfathomable. It was the pictures I had in my head but much bigger and deeper than I ever could have realized. Calling it "grand" is belittling. It is huge and complicated to the point that I still can't wrap my head around one thing being so big. Mountain ranges are big like that too, but I think of them as an area or as a series of peaks, and therefore numerous places. I had always thought of the Grand Canyon as one single entity and that's what makes the enormity so unique.

The only picture we took at the Grand Canyon!

So we went back to the campsite, feeling the cool of the night turn to real cold. We fired up the new camp stove and excitedly cooked dinner faster that we ever had on this trip and inhaled the food faster too. We tucked in for the night — Sam and I in the tent, Mom cuddled up in the back seat of the Omimobile — and all three of us woke up very very cold. Just days earlier we had been sweating in the El Paso sun and now we were wearing longjohns, hats and coats. We ate a quick breakfast and took the shuttle to the Bright Angel (wiki!) trailhead.

Views: Coconino County, AZ by Samuel Herbig

[If you click into the 360º panoramas above and pan around, you should be able to click through to the other two I took — Sam]

It started to snow as we began our decent. Not heavily and nothing stuck, but it was a little surprising nonetheless. We carefully strolled downhill as we greeted tired hikers making their way up from Phantom Ranch. It was overcast which gave the canyon a pastel color palette and the low contrast made for nice photos of the trail. See!

We hiked down to the first waypoint a mile and a half into the trail and decided we would try to make it to hut number two — three miles in — knowing that the hike down is the easy part. The weather was so perfect (in the high 50s I'd guess with little sun) we made it there easily. We took a small break and then Sam took a photo break. See!

We've been holding this post back, just so we could add this picture! — We've been holding this post back, *just* so we could add this picture!

So now we faced the hike back up. We knew we could do it (or that we had to do it, whichever). In our way up the sun peeked out, the weather got warmer, but we were cooled with small pockets of light rain. Our energy was good and it was nice to look into the canyon at parts of the trail we had already finished.

After five hours and thirty minutes we were back at the trailhead, exhausted but feeling quite proud if our six mile hike. We got on the shuttle to look at other parts of the canyon. See!

Then we had to check out the Kolb studio, a photo studio built into the canyon. It's now a museum that talks about the Kolb brothers and their daring exploits to make money as photographers when the canyon was initially being settled by pioneers.

After all of that we decided we had all earned drinks, so we got two cocktails and a ginger beer at the lodge and sipped then on a mezzanine while trying not to pass out.

We woke each other up and hobbled to the shuttle only to hop off to make a run to the store for campfire wood. That's not the interesting part. The two elk we came across on the way there were. We were maybe 50 feet from them so Sam took pictures. See!

We made another great meal with our fancy dancy stove (roasted potatoes, sausage, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, and cheese. Yum!) and then sat by our first real campfire of the trip to tell my mom all about our travels so far.

The next morning we stopped by the visitors center to stamp our National Parks Passport and got a few planning tips from a ranger there. We made sure to swing by The Watchtower on our way out of the park. See!

The rest of the story happens in part two!

categories Hike
tags Hike, Bright Angel, Arizona, Grand Canyon, Sue, Pima, Airplanes, National Park, Camping

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: