Death Valley - Stark Beauty

We got outside early today, walking to the Visitors Center at 8:00 am.  Here's why:



We hiked into the Golden Canyon, about 1.5 miles.  It was wonderful.  The sun was just peeking over the canyon walls, so we were able to stay in shade for most of the walk.









We added our stone altar to the floor.

We returned to the car and drove 17 miles to Badwater Basin, 282 feet below sea level. There is some salty, brackish water there.  But the salt flats shine.





Visitors walk out onto this hardened path beside the salted ground.


Our third stop was Artist's Palette.  We drove about ten miles on a one lane circle.  The colors were
surprising.  Green and pink rocks along with white, tan, dark brown.  Some of the hills looked like
swirls of ice cream.





Coming out here with paints and easel in the early morning or almost dark
on different days - you know you'd see different visions every time.  This is magical.

We stopped back at the Visitors Center to buy postcards and watch a movie about Death
Valley.  The Timbisha Shoshone live here.  They have never left this, their ancestral home.
We were curious about how they survive in the summer.  Google says they move to another location,
and this is their winter home. That makes sense.

We returned to our room and walked to lunch.  Now it's napping, reading, washing clothes, watching
TV - all the things we can do inside while the temps climb out there.  Tonight we will go out for star watching again.  We're going to drive to the Golden Canyon parking lot, 2 miles away.
The sky here is dark.  We can see the Milky Way and so many stars that it's hard to pick out the Big Dipper.  The stars are in a black velvet bowl above us.

Death Valley National Park

It is pretty amazing that San Francisco, Yosemite, and Death Valley are all in the same state.  They have such different settings and attributes.  We started our day in Yosemite with 65 degrees, wearing jackets, surrounded by tall trees and stone walls.  We exited Yosemite NP at Tioga Pass, 9945 feet. Eight hours later, we ended the day in desert with 105 degrees at 6:00 pm, sand dunes, and -191 below sea level.  We even passed two coyotes jogging along the road when we approached Furnace Creek. What an amazing trip!


Lake Tenaya in Yosemite NP


Manzanar, CA, one of ten camps where 110,000 Japanese Americans
were incarcerated during WWII.


Look at how the world changed as we drove east.


Every shade of brown is in the surrounding rock.


Getting close to Furnace Creek, where we will be staying.


Once we finally arrived, we were happy to discover the swimming
pool.  Lots of guests joined us for a swim at dusk, but we were the only
ones who  had noodles.

Time to go outside for star gazing.

Another glorious day in Yosemite

We walked today to Yosemite Falls.  Both the upper and lower falls are dry.  We saw the waterfall's imprint on the stone. It leaves its mark.  We saw the wide stream bed.  Then we walked along the Merced and saw a marker, showing the heights of floods in the park.  The most recent flood was also the biggest.  In January 1997 there was 11 feet of snow on the mountains, and a warm El Nino storm came through, melting the snow and bringing it down into the valley all at once.  The valley flooded to over five feet.  We stood in the valley and tried to imagine that much water, filling the valley, moving between the rock walls.

This marker is on a bridge that crosses the Merced River.

In this park and Yellowstone I have such a sense of history, of the people who created this space and saved it for me, of the many visitors who have walked these paths and looked at these mountains.  I like the old, hand carved furniture and architecture.


This is the guest lounge.


A bench.


Another bench.


Seating for wizards?

This afternoon we went to Yosemite Village and visited the Ansel Adams gift shop.  There were some original photographs to see.  Then we ate soup and cornbread.  We sat outside and had a glass of wine while we waited for a show, "John Muir: Conversation with a Tramp." On our way to the theatre, we saw several bucks grazing.




This one man show by Lee Stetson has been presented at Yosemite since 1983.  He was quite believable.  I wanted to write down lots of quotes, but I just listened.  He ranted against politicians from San Francisco who dammed the Hetch-Hetchy to make a reservoir for the city.  He did not care for hiking either:  "People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike!" There were many inspiring and humorous stories.  He told about his love for storms.  He climbed up in a tree to experience a windstorm.  He climbed out onto an icy shelf behind a waterfall.  He was quite a character, and we owe him.  

While we've been at Yosemite, we used the free shuttle to get around the park.  Tonight we had a plan to park our car near a meadow, go to dinner and the show, walk back to the car, and gaze at the stars in the meadow.  We knew we would be walking back to the car in the dark, but it seemed like a straight walk on the path beside the road.  When we came out of the show, we moseyed down the path and came to a construction zone.  Hmm.  I did not remember this.  Where was the path?  It was dark, and no one else was about.  We searched around the area and then walked back to the bus stop to check with the driver.  He agreed with George that the path was there, but it curved into the woods a bit due to construction.  So we tried for the third time.  We walked along in the dark, singing, and using a phone for light.  Finally, we did come back to the road, saw drivers and bikers and eventually our car.  We sat out under glorious stars, facing black cliffs.  The reward was worth the stress.  

Tomorrow we are headed to Death Valley National Park.  That is a place known for the dark sky.  

In the mountain lion's habitat

This morning we took a hike to Mirror Lake.  It was an easy one mile walk. However, as we entered we read the warnings about what to do if we meet a mountain lion. (Don't run! Be big. Yell!) You can bet if I can keep my body from running, I will be yelling.  There were many other people out and about, but none right near us.  The walk was beautiful and quiet.  But it looked as if we had climbed over the fence and entered the mountain lion habitat at the zoo.  We walked around and under and between giant boulders.  A mountain lion would look perfect lounging on top of one of these rocks.  I was scared.




We also noticed excellent caves for raising your mountain lion cubs.

I have read in national park literature about the need for wildness, the need to be outside and experience the wild. I appreciate the idea of untamed nature, and  I do feel it when I am in the parks.  I don't like to be afraid, but I am glad to be outside and in real nature.

We kept moving and reached the lake, which is dry now.  In order to see the waterfalls and lakes full of water, we should have visited in June.


This gravely flat surface is the dry lake bed.  We walked around it, looking up at granite cliffs. Then we walked back to our cabin on the valley trail.  We ate lunch and had nap/reading time. At 3:00 we headed back out to take the free shuttle to El Capitan.


Looking at El Capitan from the Merced River.


We waded in the Merced River and picked up "gold."


We passed this meadow on the bus ride home.  John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt camped here
in 1903, and Muir persuaded TR to add the valley and other meadows to the park.  The idea of a sitting President's camping is fabulous to me.  What a world we would be living in if the President could go camping and be influenced by a naturalist!


Off the Subject:
Last night we had a wonderful patriotic 90 minutes when we met in the bar area at Half Dome Village to watch the Presidential Debate with about 100 camper citizens.  It was a quiet, intense space.  People cared deeply about the event.  The crowd was respectful and attentive.  I was tense but then so proud to be an American and felt lucky to be here.


Two televisions showed the debate, and one showed Monday night football.
This is about half the group.

Good-bye to Louie and Asa; hello to Yosemite National Park

Today is our daughter-in-law, Yukari's birthday!  We left her in good spirits this morning.  She is such a good mommy and smart woman.  Here is a bit of her handiwork:



This is the top and bottom of Louie's bento box, his lunch box for school today.  Look at that lunch!
On the left are pancakes that she makes.  These have kale, carrots, and broccoli included.  We ate some yesterday, and they are delicious.  The tiny blue round container has honey for dipping.  The variety of tiny foods for Louie is amazing.


Here are her boys, Louie and Asa.  So hard to leave those kissable faces.

But Nana and Papa had to hit the road, and we did around 10:00 am.  We drove east across the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge and wound on and off interstates for about an hour.  Finally we were in the valley, cruising through the Sierra foothills, looking at grassland. The trip to Yosemite is four hours.  We stopped for lunch at a delightful tacqueria in Manteca and then for groceries in Oakdale.  The road to the park, CA 120, went up and down mountains, a slow trip.  George spotted smoke, and we came upon the Marsh fire just past Chinese Camp.  Chinese Camp was a camp in the gold rush that the Chinese moved to after they were kicked out of other towns.  It now has fewer than 200 inhabitants.


I've never seen the actual flames of a forest fire.  We were on a mountain across from the fire.  All along the mountain, people pulled over and photographed the fire.  The smoke was in one place, not blowing, so we didn't smell it.

We arrived at Yosemite at 4:00 pm and checked into Half Dome Village and our cabin with no trouble.  (This used to be Curry Village.)  We rented a large cabin with space for 5 people, so Harper and Yukari and the boys could come too.  They couldn't make it, and we would be really crowded if they were here. It is such a sweet spot though.  Two metal double beds and our own bathroom with a tub (!). That is real luxury in a park.

Bears are a problem in the parking lot at night, so we had to unload practically our whole car.  You can't leave even unopened beverages.  Remember we had just gone to the store? Well,we hoisted a case of wine, Cokes, LeCroix, beer, a cooler, and all our extra toilet articles - lotion, shampoo, repellent - anything with a scent must move inside.  We will be here for three nights, so the twenty minute of work was worth it, but we felt rather awkward.  We are not backpackers.  That's for sure.  We enjoy living out of the car, but only if the car has a case of wine in the trunk.



El Capitan greeted us at Yosemite.

We didn't do much so far, just walked around Half Dome Village and found a bar area with tv so we can watch the Presidential Debate tonight.  We are happy to be here.  What a treat!  Tomorrow we can rent bikes to ride around the area.  There is a shuttle where we can travel and get on and off.  We are leaving the car in the lot.  Happy Monday!


Cabin 2 B in Half Dome Village


Great windows and plaid motif

San Francisco

After five weeks of travel, we have learned how to have a relaxing day.  We started with a delicious breakfast at Howard's Café in Occidental with the Moormans.  After breakfast they took us to the Grove of Old Trees for a walk.





Trisha showed us this sculpture.  The body is wood, and the head is hammered metal.

It was a real treat to stay in Occidental with Tommy and DeEtte and Jones. They were generous hosts.  We said reluctant good-byes to Trisha, Tommy, and DeEtte and started south on CA 1.



We had a peaceful drive on the tiny road and ended up at Bodega Bay.  We stopped and took a walk on the beach at Sonoma Coast State Park.





This wrecked boat was a source of interest for the beach walkers.


We drove on to Petaluma, where we got out for a walk about town, looking for ice cream.  After eating our cones, we found chocolates to bring to Yukari and resumed the trip to San Francisco.
As we came into the bay area, fog poured like a liquid over the mountains.  We could not see the entire Golden Gate Bridge or the water on either side.



We felt smug as we turned off Siri and navigated our way to Harper and Yukari's house near the zoo.  We know the streets' grid.  It was so sweet to see Yukari and the boys.  Asa was shy at first.  Louie greeted us with energy.  We played outside with balls and frisbees after Daddy Harper came home.  Then it was time to eat at our favorite Japanese restaurant.  Mmmm.  Miso, shrimp and vegetable tempura, teriyaki salmon, and tea.  Such satisfying food.




Harper, Louie and Asa.

Louie just came to get Nana and Papa for our movie, The Minions.  This blog will take off for six days since we are staying with our family in SF.  I'll start writing again when we go to Yosemite after our SF trip.

Visiting the Moormans

Today we took a walk around Mendocino.  What a sweet town!  I really like the small houses up on the bluff, looking out at the Pacific.


This charming house has an upstairs door to nowhere.

Then we drove down CA 1, enjoying a view of the ocean. We switched to CA 128 and were in the redwoods again.  Next we passed into wine country.  We drove by many vineyards.  What a pleasant surprise!  We stopped at Handley Cellars for a tasting and bought some wine to take to the Moormans.


The picture does not show how verdant the fields were.

We continued through small towns to Occidental, where Tommy, DeEtte, and Jones Moorman live.
Trisha, our good friend and Tommy's mother, is visiting them too.  We get to spend the night at their wonderful home in the country.  Tommy and DeEtte have created a peaceful space for exploring and playing.  They have fields and a pond and a hay fort.


Jones and DeEtte paddling on the pond.


George and Trisha atop the hay fort.


George and I are so glad to be here.

Tommy and Jones have made a fire in the fire pit, and DeEtte is preparing dinner, so I am closing this chapter.  We will be able to see stars tonight if we sit outside.

Mendocino, CA

We had one more love fest with the redwoods.  We drove south on the Avenue of the Giants and relished our last experience in the midst of these beautiful trees. We stopped for lunch at a state park and walked among them one more time.



We've learned a good bit about redwoods.  Those burned out trees on yesterday's blog
were called Goose Pen Trees by early settlers because they could shelter livestock there or use the space for storage.  Redwoods can grow from seeds in a sunny spot.  They also grow from a downed tree.  As the dead tree decays, it feeds the new growth.














We drove on the 101 for a while.  Then we exited to California Hwy. 1.  This took us up and down mountains for 20 miles. Just curves and switchbacks and no way to exit or stop except a gravel turn out.  It was slow going.  Finally, we came out into the sun and the ocean.  Hello, Pacific!



We had a beautiful and speedy drive the rest of the way to Mendocino.  We are staying at the Mendocino Hotel, circa 1878.  We expect Miss Kitty to come sashaying into the dining room at any minute.



We walked on the trail across the street above the ocean.  So much to see .  The tide was coming in.  The water was green and blue and purple.  Succulents grabbed the cliffs.





This scenery makes anyone feel like a great photographer.