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Tags: activities | california | departure | hiking
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Written by Jessica
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Sunday, 04 September 2005 00:00 |
We spent the better part of today exploring Mount Lassen National Volcanic Park. Brendan is feeling much better. He had himself quite a large breakfast -- biscuts & gravy, eggs, toast, bacon, potatoes -- that is, once breakfast actually came. It was so slow that I got fed up with waiting and went back to the room to pack.
The park is quite large. We decided to take the 30 mile road that cuts through the western part of it and stopped along the way to see various things. The volcano itself isn't all that active. It last erupted in 1914 - 1921, but it's still got "all the elements" for another eruption. Whatever that means.
The big thing that Brendan wanted to see were the fumeroles and mudpots. We saw some at our first stop at the sulfur springs, but then hiked to what's called Bumpass Hell to see even more. It was actually quite pretty (although smelly). It wasn't too hot of a day either, we were at a decent elevation (7,000 - 8,000 feet) so it was only about 75/80 max at any given point.
We gave some thought initially to hiking to the peak of the volcano, but it's a 5 hour hike round trip, so we decided to skip it. On the way out of the park we stopped to see the rocks thrown and created by the 1914 eruptions.
Then it was back to Sacramento and the airport for our 11pm flight home. We were ahead of schedule by quite a bit so we decided to stop at a casino off the highway. Brendan now thinks that slot machines are my new calling. As soon as we got there, I sat down with $20 and made us $200. Of course, once I do that I'm ready to leave. We stayed around for a while, I spent some of my winnings, and Brendan played BlackJack until it was time to go. We had another small stop back at the Sonic next to the first hotel, "borrowed" their internet access and had Cherry Limeades until it was time to leave for the airport. |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 13 November 2008 14:54 |
Tags: california | driving | sickness
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Written by Jessica
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Saturday, 03 September 2005 00:00 |
Today was a big driving day. We're halfway back to Sacramento, staying off CA route 36 in the middle of nowhere just outside of Lassen Volcanic Park. Tomorrow we hike and otherwise explore the park before heading 3 hours south to Sacramento to catch our 11 pm flight home.
I drove the whole way here today. Brendan woke up last night "violently ill," as he put it. We figure he must have gotten some kind of food poisoning. Although, I just noticed he has some pretty bad sunburn on the back of his neck -- it's blistering and a little swollen -- that might have been a contributing factor. He seems better now, he's just really really tired since he didn't hardly sleep at all last night. It's a good thing that it happened in Eureka and not here. Our room here is spare. We have a bed (king sized, though), a chair, a few small tables, and a very tiny bathroom. At least I was able to sleep last night. If we were here, I don't think that it would have been possible.
We had planned to take it rather slow today and get here on the later side. We came through the mountains along the Trinity River. I don't really drive too much these days, so it took some getting used to. the car doesn't quite get up and go like my Jetta, so sometimes we were a bit slow coming up the mountains. People were going past me left and right. Plus, the road was super windy, and I was constantly pulling over into the turnoffs so people could fly by me. How anyone could stomach going much over 50 on that road, I don't know.
We were going to stop at some ghost towns along the way, but Bren was finally getting some sleep past a few and when we got to Shasta, the one he really wanted to stop in, he just wasn't up for it. So, we just kept on going pretty much nonstop until we got here.
When we first turned off the highway onto 36, the landscape was as close to a desert as I have seen. It was fairly barren, with some low hearty trees, and brown short grasses. The land was fairly flat, but with some hills here and there. Then we went up a mountain or two and the landscape changed and was full of pine trees. There's some sort of canyon to the west of where we are. The lodge is just past the park. Mineral is pretty darn small. According to the sign its population is a whopping 90. It seems like it's a ski destination more than a summer one. |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 13 November 2008 14:52 |
Tags: activities | california | driving | food | wildlife
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Written by Jessica
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Friday, 02 September 2005 00:00 |
Today we drove up even farther north to Redwood National Park. A friend of Brendan's brother's has recommended that we check out Fern Canyon. I'm glad we took his advice. The park is about 50 minutes north of here. Instead of hiking 8 miles from the park offices, we decide to drive to a point that's less than a mile from the canyon. It's this little gravel road that winds around and down to the shore and down to the canyon. Did I mention we've rented a Seabring? It takes a minute for me to get my eyes used to the woods once we enter them. I'm startled because it looks like a black and white photo. It takes a moment to realize that the road kicks up so much grey dust that it has covered the ferns and the trees on the edge of the road. They are so thickly coated that everything is in shades of grey.
We make it to the end of the road and set off to first explore the beach. It's much flatter here and more like the beaches that I am used to on the Atlantic. We walk down to the water and take a few photos of the birds there. I am leading us on the way back and out of the corner of my right eye I see them: three elk, just hanging out. They weren't there when we started. I take a few photos, and as the shutter clicks as I'm taking one of the male, he turns, looks at me and takes a few steps. We were far enough apart that I wanted to switch to the zoom lens, but I thought twice about it as he moved towards us slightly again. I was satisfied with our Nature moment.
Then we hiked into the canyon. It is so beautiful. I know the photos won't do it the proper justice. As we rounded each bend it got more and more beautiful. We headed up a trail up a ridge and walked for a while. Once we got to the fork we had to make a decision: hike for 5 more miles and get back to town at about five or six, or go back the short way, maybe a mile and get back around two. Since we hadn't seen any of Eureka, we opted for the short route and made our way back to the car. The elk were still hanging out where we left them, and so I switched lenses and took a few more shots. The male was still posing for me (and the others who were even closer). A man getting into a car near me muttered something to his wife like, "People are more interested in the elk than they are in Fern Canyon!" I turned and said, "Oh, we've already done that." Plus, there aren't elk in our part of Virginia!
Back in Eureka, we decided to have a big lunch at a brewpub and skip dinner for the most part. Afterwards, we headed into Old Town Eureka. It's not really what we were expecting. There were a few blocks with a few shops, but not really much going on. There were a few coffee shops, a bookstore or two, a Restoration Hardware that seemed out of place, and a whole lot of scraggly, homeless looking people. The boardwalk was even more depressing. Evidently there are grand plans for shops and whatnot along it, but right now there isn't anything, just some buskers playing bad, loud guitar. It kind of reminds us of Sharon: once a big milling town and now sort of struggling. Admittedly, we've only seen a small part of the town.
Tomorrow we've got a long drive ahead of us. There probably won't be any more posting until we get home. Right now, we're borrowing access from someplace else (we thought we were going to have wireless here, but apparently there's not). We'll be in the middle of nowhere tomorrow on our way to Lassen Volcanic National Park. |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 13 November 2008 14:51 |
Tags: activities | california | driving
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Written by Jessica
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Thursday, 01 September 2005 00:00 |
Right after breakfast we packed up the car and headed even farther north.
We stopped at a couple of beaches just north of Fort Bragg. At the first, there were plenty of rocky outcroppings for photos, but the dead sea lion on the shore kind of ruined it for me. At the second beach we were able to see a few sea lions playing in the surf and explore some tide pools.
After more and more spectacular coastal views, we headed into redwood country. Instead of simply riding on the freeway, we opted to take the Avenue of the Giants. I am so glad that we did. According to one of our brochures/books, the area is home to 60% of the world's largest trees. We could have stopped for more hokiness, but we filled our quota yesterday. I knew the trees were going to be big, but I never could have imagined how large they really are.
Then we arrived in Eureka. We will be here two nights. Today is all about pampering. Brendan ordered us the "Romance in the Redwoods" package at the hotel. That means we had champagne and roses waiting for us in our room, plus an hour massage at 4:30 and dinner at the 4 star hotel restaurant at 6:45. On top of all that, the hotel has upgraded us to their suite on the third floor. It's enormous. We have a double shower in the bathroom, a sitting area with a gas fireplace, and a separate bedroom area with a Jacuzzi. The windows at the tub look out overtop a few blocks of buildings to the harbor (although you have to sit just so in order to see the boats and I can't anyway when I don't have my glasses on).
The massage is the best. It's our first. We were both just completely relaxed. Then it was down to dinner. The restaurant here is "Eureka's only 4 star restaurant." They are supposed to have a ridiculously good wine selection here, too. We've pre-paid for a five-course "discovery" menu. Along with that we decided to have what they call here a "wine flight" In other words, they've chosen the wine that best compliments each course. The meal is really great. What's a little weird though is that there are an awful lot of scraggly looking people who keep walking by and I start to feel a little bit bad for enjoying my pampering so much. |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 13 November 2008 14:49 |
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