Monterey Peninsula

Wednesday, March 4, turned out to be a somewhat nice day. Maybe I need to talk to the people who schedule the weather, so it can sync with my plans. However, it did still rain part of the day, and I was indoors for a good part of it, at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Following a few fine hours spent there, I went for a drive around the Monterey Peninsula I eventually decided that I liked the beach along Pacific Grove the best, so I went back to catch the sunset there before heading back to the hotel.

Big Sur, in the rain

Tuesday, March 3 opened with some sunshine, but it was not to last. Some of the gear was stowed while wet, something I try to avoid.

The drive north from San Simeon to Carmel-by-the-Sea is largely a wild, population-free drive. The southern portions of the drive are through ranch lands, populated mostly by cattle (and the occasional ranch house). The landscape becomes more mountainous when you enter Monterey County, and the road becomes more winding, and the scenery more wild. It turns inland at the community of Big Sur, where, due to recent wildfires, and current rains, opportunities to see coast redwoods were unfortunately not available.

I did stop along the southern (San Simeon) portion of the trip to photograph some wildlife, including elephant seals resting on the beaches, and a crane (or is it an egret?)

When the road returned to the coast north of Big Sur, the rains actually stopped, and for about 1/2 hour I hiked around some trails on a spit of land, capturing the scenery and the weather, until it began closing in again.

I made may way north from there, bypassing Carmel-by-the-sea to reach Monterey, where I took refuge from the weather in a motel.

Hearst Castle has a view?

Monday, March 2 began as a somewhat gray, damp, and at times rainy day. This in a state that has been experiencing drought for the last two years. OK....

The day's activities started with the rental-car equivalent of repairs. Yesterday, the Vibe's windshield got dinged, and a small crack had formed. Having had previous experience with things like this, I knew that small windshield cracks get bigger, so I made my way to the Avis counter at the San Luis Obispo Airport, where I traded the Vibe in for a red Ford Focus. Note to self (and others): I've always had good service from Avis, even though they cost more than other rental companies.

The pleasantries over with, I made my way up Route 1 toward San Simeon. En route, I decided to stop at Moonstone Beach in Cambria, where I took a walk on (and off) the boardwalk, and photographed some wildlife.

From Moonstone, I continued north until I reached San Simeon and the visitor's center for the Hearst San Simeon State Historical Landmark, aka the Hearst Castle. I quickly booked two of the three available tours (discount for buying more than one!), and had barely time to wolf down a slice of pizza before the first one left.

It has been alleged that there is a view from the Hearst Castle; I wouldn't know it (see first picture). Given that it was either raining or in-cloud during both tours, I didn't get to experience the full effect the alleged view presumably offers. Due to the usual sorts of restrictions on photography (no flash, and so on), most of my attempted photos didn't work. But a few made it...

The first tour, recommendeded for first-timers at the castle, goes through one of the guest houses, and then through the main rooms in the castle itself, ending up in the somewhat spectacular pool house, complete with gold-inlaid mosaic floors.

The second tour goes through the upper levels of the castle, including Hearst's private quarters (where the lamp pictured is located).

Following the tours, I trundled on over to San Simeon State Park, where I actually experienced some sunshine. Fortunately, this coincided with setting up camp, and dining, although clouds did set in again. The tent got rained on again that night.

Nice weather to start

I had an uneventful flight from Boston (following an uneventful subway ride) to LA on Saturday last.

My rental car was a Pontiac Vibe, which Bear felt a need to test-drive. I only had this car a little over a day (but I get ahead of myself); it did give me a chance to experience satellite radio for the first time.

Since I arrived in the evening, I first flopped in a hotel, where I could sleep off some jet lag. I arose to fair weather, and, after "free" hotel breakfast, trundled off to shop for camping groceries. These adventures took me to Santa Barbara, where I also spent some time in the very nice art museum. On the way out of the city, I got a nice view of the city and the islands beyond.

My next destination was the tourist trap of Solvang. This town is a California re-imagining of a small Danish community; the half-timbered look is painted on, and, while there are certainly Danish and other European imports, I found plenty of California tchochkes for sale.

The day concluded with a drive through the small town of Los Osos, because my traveling companion insisted.

By this time, the weather began to look a bit more ominous. By the time I reached my camping location, Pismo Beach State Park, it seemed likely that rain would set in. By sundown, the clouds had completely spoiled the sunset, and rain set in.

My new tent was dry inside.

California or bust!

RW and Bear are heading out again. Watch this space for reports of (hopefully sunny) California.

Happy travels!

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

From Kentucky, I drove north and east, all the way to Cleveland. Unfortunately, I arrived to late to go to an Indians game at JacobsProgressive Field.

Other than being a stopping point on the long road home, the Cleveland area is home to
Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This might be a place to insert a joke about the Cuyahoga River catching fire and what a polluted mess it might be. However, it is somewhat cleaner now, and the stretch of river and canal preserved in this park are of historical interest. I spent a few hours exploring a portion of the canal, which has walking/jogging/biking paths along the old tow path.

From there, the road turned further east, as I drove on into New York.

Mammoth Cave National Park

I left Saint Louis and headed east. I ended up in Leitchfield, Kentucky (not to be confused with Litchfield, New Hampshire, where I once lived), which was only convenient because it was near Mammoth Cave National Park.

I spent a day going on two tours through parts of Mammoth Cave. This cave system is unlike the caves I saw out west (Carlsbad and Kartchner), in that it is largely a dry cave. Most of hill above the cave is capped by an essentially waterproof layer, so water does not shape the cave much, except near its entrances. I found it to be relatively un-photoworthy, complicated by the fact that I had dropped my camera near theDruid Arch in Utah, and was not zooming very well.

I spent the night in Cave City before continuing the long road north and east.

Hannibal and Saint Louis

After a quiet evening in Topeka, I headed off into Missouri. My first target was Hannibal, which is best known for being the childhood home of Mark Twain. It's a sleepy town, which, as of this writing, is probably mildly worried about flooding.

The main items of interest to Twain-o-philes are the museum, which includes several buildings having some relevance to Twain, especially as viewed through the lens of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and some caves, which would be familiar to readers of that work. I went to the museum but not the caves, and enjoyed strolling around the small riverfront area.

I spent the night at Mark Twain State Park, which is on Mark Twain Lake, right near the hamlet of Florida, which is where Samuel Clemens was born. The house he was born in is preserved in a chapel-like museum in the park.

From there I drove down to Saint Louis, where the extent of my sightseeing was a visit to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, best known for being home to the Gateway Arch.

OK, a bit touristy, but I needed a break before driving on to Kentucky.

Denver, and heading east

The main road from Black Canyon to Denver is US-50. It goes over Monarch Pass, and in early May, it was snowing at the top. Further along the road I stopped in Fairplay, home of Two-Mile High Stadium, and apparently inspiration for South Park (not that I'm a big fan of that show).

This was my first visit to Denver, a place whose airport I've seen quite a few times. I didn't spend a grand amount of time there, since I arrived late in the day. The next day was spent at the Denver Art Museum, absorbing the new modern wing and an interesting special exhibit on artistic influences on the Impressionists.

After Denver, I headed east across the plains. The race east was only interrupted by a brief 30-mile detour to the highest point in Kansas. (It's a bump in the prairie called Mount Sunflower...)

Dinner and rest were in Topeka, Kansas, since that's where I got tired.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

It's a long road from eastern Utah back home.

I didn't follow that route. I aimed for a pretty spot in the middle of the Colorado Rockies, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. (Yet another place I never heard of until I started looking at driving routes.)

The canyon is sightworthy because it is one of the deepest and narrowest canyons in North America. The walls of the canyon are very hard pre-Cambrian rocks -- the same kind of stuff found at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The canyon is over 2000 feet deep at some points.

I spent a cold and rainy night (the rain being something of a novelty after all those days in the desert) there before continuing on to Denver.

Canyonlands National Park: The Needles

The Needles section of Canyonlands is the area of the park that is south of Colorado River. (The Island in the Sky is north of the Colorado, and east of the Green River.) From Moab, it's about 75 miles (no gas stations, sorry) to the Needles Visitor's Center. This part of the park has very little plumbing -- there is potable water at the campground, and no sewerage (toilets are vault toilets).

I had originally intended to stay at the campground and make a few daytrips, but the campground was full. So I decided instead to go off into the backcountry and camp there. As a result, I probably got to see more than would have under the original plan. (For those keeping score, this was day 75 of my trip, and I was getting tired of travel logistics and being in the desert. This did not prevent me from enjoying what I experienced here in the slightest.)

This section of the park is so named because it houses a variety of hoodoo-like formations. The most attractive portion is an area called Chesler Park. This is basically a desert "meadow" surrounded by these needle-like formations which makes for some really nice pictures.

However, Chesler Park is by no means all there is to see. On my second day in the area, I hiked down to the Druid Arch, which is probably one of the most distinctive formations I saw anywhere in my travels. It's a 4 mile round-trip from the nearest trail junction, and was well worth the effort.

The higher elevations of the Needles made for quite spectacular hiking and views, made more exciting by the fact that there was rain clearly visible to the southwest, and threatening clouds overhead much of the time.

There were several spots where the trail was narrow -- in one place, it was so narrow that my water bottles (carried in the webbed side pockets) acquired memorial scrapes.

Canyonlands marked the end of my time in the desert. From there, I began the long eastward drive home.