Who knew the coast was so long?

Day 18: July 14, 2009 – Side of the road, CA to Side of the road, CA

Thank God for strange Wildlife

Mike slept outside last night. Melissa slept in the back of the car. A nut fell out of the tree and hit Mike while he slept. Melissa would occasionally wake-up worried that someone had stolen Mike in the middle of the night, they did not.

Thankful for rest and for morning, we made it back on the road safely. As with yesterday we enjoyed the vast and changing beauty of the California coast. Like yesterday, we also had the chance to enjoy wildlife in its natural and wild habitat. You are now asking yourself, “Who is the star of today’s Wildlife episode?” The answer, a seagull and a starfish.

We took a small detour off the main highway to again enjoy the ocean and a spot called Goat Rock. As is generally the case, it’s a bit chilly by the water, especially in the morning but we were anxious to be out of the car and see what we could see. At that moment, Melissa spotted a seagull, but not just any seagull. This seagull is the sole inspiration of the Pirates of the Caribbean character, Davie Jones.

Starfish in mouth, the seagull watched us with careful eye. Mike, the intelligent man that he is, went for his camera so we could forever remember this moment. Our friend, Davie Jones would not, for a moment let go of his starfish. Fifteen to twenty minutes he held that thing in his small beaked mouth. Finally, he threw back his head and began to swallow the starfish. By the time we were in the car, Davie Jones had consumed an entire starfish. Whilst all this was going on, we were also able to see a couple pelicans down some fish and a seal, not an elephant seal – something cuter, swim bye to say hello.

Loving the quirky nature of…Nature, we hopped in the car and continued on our journey. By now, our journey was nearing the coastal redwoods. Our no-fail sign that we were in a new type of coastal environment was not simply the large trees but the sign which claimed we could drive through a large tree! So, for the sake of our sweet little Nav-E, we paid our $5 to drive through a tree, sit in a park, write postcards, nap, and eat ice cream and a polish sausage.

Having rejuvenated our tired bodies with food and rest we made our way into the heart of the redwoods while keeping our eyes open for free internet. We found the internet, posted blogs and made our way into the Redwoods National Park. Driving through the park to the opposite side we found a road, less travelled than Highway 1 where we could pitch our tent (finally a night out of the car) and make our way into a deep peaceful sleep amongst the steep mountains which are densely covered in Redwoods and other vegetation – ridiculous, Mike says, ridiculous.

Drivin' The One

Day 17: July 13, 2009 – Side of the road, CA to Side of the Road, CA
Ocean to the left, Mountains to the right

Camping and CouchSurfing along the coast are next to impossible. So today we wake up in the car, ready to see what beauty the coast can offer us after a less than restful nights sleep. Since Mike had been driving the night before (and most every other night and day before) he had noticed a sign south of where we were claiming to be a sight where one could view Elephant Seals. We took a chance and made our way south, opposite of our travelling direction, and hoped to see these giant seals. We were not disappointed.

If ever you have the chance to view elephant seals, you must. They are top-notch entertainment. In the early morning, they are still resting which means they are all snuggling up together in one large pile of gray-brown mass. While resting, they throw sand on themselves, grunt at each other and snore. While snoring they have a tendency to blow little fountains of sand up into the air – eliciting laughs from the easily entertained, every time. We were also able to watch a few of the males out in the water. Sometimes they would just be out looking for breakfast, but at other times it was obvious that that was not their main objective. The objective during those times was to stake their claim on territory and they would soon be butting heads, literally, with another male while making many grunting noises which sounded strangely familiar…familiar like flatulent.




Having enjoyed seal watching for “breakfast”, we made our way north admiring the coast as we went along. The landscape of the coast is, in a word, dramatic. Tall cliffs provide the platform for the highway and rocks jut out of the ocean below providing walls to the waves leaving the viewer sprays of white water powerfully making their way around the rocks. As the road makes it down from cliffs we are faced with the vast beauty of something that goes on forever, as far as the eye can see. Trying to comprehend the grandness of the great blue ocean is near impossible, much like our ability to comprehend the grandness of our God.

Within the Big Sur Valley we made our way off the highway and onto the Pfeiffer Beach. We meandered around on the sandy beach and the large rocks. Mike enjoyed photographing the waters as they rushed into the caverns and the large boulders. Melissa enjoyed spotting crabs, scaring them occasionally and being scared on another. Both of us thoroughly enjoyed finding starfish and snapping their photos as well. We spent about an hour wandering through the rocks and sand, snapping photos and being amazed by the sea creatures we spotted here. Having enjoyed some time out of the car it was back on the road where another ‘first’ awaited us and Nav-E.

One rule of the road is, pick up hitch-hikers. We purchased a roof-top carrier for many reasons, one of which was so that we could more easily make room for a hitch-hiker. Finally, this rule and our roof-top carrier came to full fruition. We easily made room for Josh and his bag into the back seat of Nav-E. We then enjoyed the hour and a half or so of travel time we had with Josh who was conveniently making a stop in San Francisco, as were we. Josh told us about a few of his travels, his love for writing, that we were currently driving through the artichoke capital of the world, and gave us some great tips for our short time in San Francisco. As luck would have it, another ‘first’ presented itself to us as we made our journey, hitch-hiker in tow, Free Jam Tasting. Without hesitation, we turned off the road and made our way into the Jam Tasting room where we enjoyed a small assortment of jams made with Strawberries, Tayberries, and Oallieberries. Josh purchased a small basket of strawberries, Mike chose strawberry shortcake and Melissa filled her thermos with apple-strawberry cider – all was absolutely divine.

Around 4:00 in the afternoon we pulled into San Francisco making our way to Fisherman’s Wharf. We said good-bye to our new friend Josh and began an almost unsuccessful hunt for internet. Finally, we took some internet time from the Marriot just to discover that, as was expected, we did not have a couch for that night and were therefore left to our own schedule and devises. With extra time on our hands we made the only logical choice one can make while at the Fisherman’s Wharf, we ate. Mike had fried clam-strips and chips while Melissa enjoyed and shared clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, yum.

Now, for the Grand Finale of the day! (Well, not quite, but almost). Before getting back to our car to continue on our way we stopped at a the easel of a sidewalk artist who claimed that he could make us into a Cartoon! So with an abracadabra and some chit chat about Brokeback Mountain and Tyra Banks, Mike and Melissa became the cutest cartoon couple to ever visit the great city of San Francisco.

Caricature in hand, we returned the car and made our way toward and over the infamous Golden Gate Bridge. As everyone should do when experiencing something for the first time or as a tourist, we stopped to take pictures and marvel at the works of man.
Having done all that one can successfully do in a day we made our way out of the outskirts of San Francisco, parked our car and enjoyed another night of rest on the side of a road in California.

Who knew the coast was so long?

I Scream, You Scream

Day 16: July 12, 2009 – Los Angeles, CA to a beach campsite, CA
We all Scream for: ICE CREAM!

Today, we ate ice cream. Twice.

But first, we woke up and showered and made a plan. Plan: go down-town, eat something…and…we ended up going to a farmer’s market, watching Sponge Bob Square Pant’s and eating our first serving of ice cream. Walking down town, we talked about the amazing vegetation of California as Garrett directed our attention to a Cactus which grew like a tree; had bark like a tree, many branches, was tall, yet was definitely a cactus. Once downtown, we made our way into a bagel shop and enjoyed our morning treat before discovering the farmer’s market. Once at the market, we realized we could have enjoyed fresh fruits and pastries for breakfast rather than the bagels. Instead, we enjoyed the free samples and atmosphere.

From the Farmer’s Market we made our way back to Garrett’s place where we updated the blog, made a couple CouchRequests and watched a years worth of Sponge Bob Square Pant’s (we had to wait for the “best ice cream joint in town” to open. So, at two in the afternoon we made our way to Scoops, home of the greatest ice cream/gelato EVER! Flavors included: Strawberry Rhubarb, Orange-Lychee, Pistachio-Cardamom-Honey, Guinness Chocolate, Brown Bread and Maple Oreo. We enjoyed our day’s first serving of ice cream, said our good-byes and made our way toward Pasadena where we were to meet up with Melissa’s wonderful room-mate from her time in Granada, Spain.

After only half an hour on the road we were at the front door of Melissa’s cherished amiga, Lauren. We hugged and squealed as we shed the four years which has separated us and our time in Granada. Hardly after making our way into the door Lauren was wondering if we would like to take a walk and go get some ice cream..? Of course! Why not? So, we walked again, soaking in the heat and earning our next bowl of ice cream as if it were our first. After much time in the sun we arrived at Serve & Scoop where we entered a space age sort of locale with flashing lights and a dozen choices of soft serve ice cream followed by a couple dozen choices of toppings and add-ins. Flavors here included: Vanilla, Chocolate, Cheesecake, Pomegranate-Raspberry Sorbet, Green Tea, Blueberry Tart, Mango Tart, Pineapple Tart and many more. We made our ice cream choices, threw on some toppings and paid for our ice cream, by the ounce! Sitting in front of the store we enjoyed our bowls of ice cream then made our way back to Lauren’s apartment. In her home, we filled our waters, checked email quick and said yet another good-bye.

Having made all the appropriate stops in this area of California we were on the road, ready to get on the Coastal Highway and begin enjoying the view of the ocean. Soon as we were able, we exited the car and placed our feet in the Pacific Ocean. Having been unsuccessful in our last minute search for a couch, we made our way toward a roadside turnout where we contorted our bodies and had a fitfull for Melissa, slightly restful for Mike, night's sleep.

FYI: Today was our Sabbath in a sense and also, the Sabbath of our camera.

From Desert-Scapes to City-Scapes

Day 15: July 11, 2009 – Indio, CA to Los Angeles, CA
Hello Big City

Having woke up in the already-sweltering-heat-at-8:00am-city of Indio, we shoved a pancake in our mouths, said our good-byes to the Castro Family, headed to Shields for some delicious date shakes, and began our Tour de Jour.

The fortunate beings that we are, we were able to glean from our CouchSurfing hosts a very important and interesting tourist tid-bit: Salvation Mountain was only about 45 minutes away. If you’ve watched Into the Wild or read the story, you may recognize the importance of Salvation Mountain, if not just maintain confidence that it is quite possibly the greatest sight to behold in the great state of California. Salvation Mountain is located just south of Niland, CA in an area that is known as Slab City, an old Naval base – a slab of cement serves as the landscape for a myriad of RV’s and various people living life simply. We however, did not go so much for the experience of Slab City, but more so for the opportunity to view Salvation Mountain and meet the creator of this famous piece of folk art.

Salvation Mountain is compiled of hay bails, tractor tires, car tires, sticks, ridiculous amounts of adobe and equally ridiculous amounts of paint. Leonard, the creator of this masterpiece has been continually adding to the project for 25 years now. It was 25 years ago that he broke down in this desert of an area and decided to stick around for a week, a week turned into 25 years and one small dome has turned into a large space dedicated to art made of refuse and vibrantly proclaiming the love of God to all who may pass by.

Our journey to Salvation Mountain was a bit rough as the site is not clearly marked or given much notice. However, when we finally spotted the Mount we were thankful for the time and effort we had put into finding this jewel of the desert. Soon as the upwards-of-seventy-years old man spotted us he hollered out a friendly hello and invited us to make ourselves at home and take lots of pictures. He proceeded to give us a tour of the caverns he had made, the trees created from tires and sticks he pulled out of the desert using his Toyota, the bluebirds in the sky, the flowers he had poked, and of course the yellow brick road. He encouraged us to take pictures and explore this place which he had worked on for so many years. We were impressed with magnitude of the sight and the love of the Lord he portrayed in every nook and cranny. We walked the yellow brick road, took numerous pictures and marveled at the time and effort which had gone into this project. Unsurprisingly, the old gentleman was generous in giving us a DVD story of his life, a handful of postcards and a puzzle. Having explored the location justly, we made our way into Nav-E and made our way back toward Joshua Tree National Park so that we could take our time seeing the cacti and landscape.

Sweating on occasion and enjoying cool air on others, we made our way to Joshua Tree National Park. It was no area for hiking or exploring, but Mike was able to get some beautiful photos and enjoyed looking upon the desert-scapes one last time.

Having completed the tasks for the first portion of the day we made our way toward Los Angeles. We were hesitant to board the freeway and enter a city but were encouraged by the knowledge that it would be this part of the trip that would again lead us to good friends from our college years. With fond memories of our friends, we hit the freeway and safely made our way into the area of Los Angeles known as Hollywood (maybe you’ve heard of it?). Our friend, Garrett, has been living in L.A. for about 4 months now. Saturday was an extremely busy day for him, so he gave us directions to his home and the observatory and promised to see us in the morning. Having all that we needed for direction, we made our way into Griffith Park to view the city from the Observatory. What a sight we were in for! Neither Mike or I are huge on city life, however, we enjoyed gazing upon the glittering city lights of L.A. and considering the possibility that rather than lacking the sight of stars in a big city, perhaps all the stars have just fallen from the sky…as the landscape before us was reminiscent of shining stars. Mike conquered his camera and managed some amazing night scenes and we slowly made our way out of the Observatory and over to Garrett’s home where we enjoyed a mostly peaceful nights sleep…which would prepare us for a day of rest and enjoying some old friends.

Through the Valley of Death

Day 14: July 10, 2009 – Sequoia National Forest, CA to Indio, CA
We Can’t Beat the Heat

Waking this morning, the air was cool, fresh and full of promises for an adventuresome day. Mike readjusted the bike rack so as to prevent any more Warnings from Law Enforcement that our license plate was not visible. So, with our license plate shining brightly for the entire world to see we made our way toward Death Valley National Park.

With each passing mile we were able to feel death in the air, or perhaps we were just feeling the increasing heat. Either way, we continually gave our thanks when the air conditioning was at it’s best and rolled the windows down when it too, needed a break. We enjoyed hot water and the beauty of the desert. We dropped from 7,000 feet in the morning to -282 feet in the afternoon. We were thrilled to stand in the lowest elevation point of the United States, although we may have been wise to make the stop in December or January.

We made our way through Death Valley followed by the Mojave Nature Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park. Mike thoroughly enjoyed the desert landscape, Melissa was a bit more finicky and preferred the desert when the air conditioning was at it's fullest power.

Having experienced a day in the desert we made our way to the equally hot town of Indio, CA where we were to meet our third CouchSurfing hosts of the trip. This host was actually 5, a family of five: Andres, Patricia, Eric, Owen and Diego - they were fabulous!

We were welcomed into their home and immediately bedazzled with the magic tricks of Diego, a very entertaining 7 year old. They gave us a cold glass of water and then made great conversation with us regarding: economy, living for adventure regardless of life situation, saying no to TV, education, learning to dance and places to go. They gave us some great tips regarding Date shakes and other date products and the semi-famous destination - Slab City. We made a few adjustments to our travel plans so that these travel tips could be accomodated for and after showering, made our way onto an incredibly comfortable bed fora peaceful night's sleep.

Walking among Giants

Day 13: July 9, 2009 – Sequoia National Park, CA
Holding our Heads High

Melissa woke up to the awful sound of Crows. It is an unfortunate fate to be one of few birds that make the ugliest noise of your nearest relatives. Crows are the black sheep of the Bird Kingdom. Always among the trees and in the great outdoors a person’s ears are graced with the soft sweet sounds of birds, greeting the morning and each other. These sounds are accentuated by the rustling of trees, roaring of rivers, babbling of creeks, and murmurs of other small woodland creatures. However, there is always the possibility that this sweet symphony will be interrupted by the loud and obnoxious CAW of a crow. Unfortunate fate for a bird, unfortunate alarm for Melissa.

Having recovered from a rough awakening, we packed up the tent as always and proceeded to make our way into Sequoia National Park. Now, if you’ve been curious for these past 13 days, we’ve maintained rule #6, minus our night in Durango, by CouchSurfing and by camping in National Parks. So long as you are slightly aware of the occasional “payment required campgrounds” it is allowable to pitch a tent for free within the boundaries of a National Park. As we always appreciate the price tag of free (which has new meaning after listening to Dan Ariley’s book Predictably Irrational), we have often set our tent up right on the outskirts of the National Parks.

Having made our way into the park we evaluated our energy and time and decided to make our way to General Sherman, the largest tree, by volume, in the world and then make our way around the Congress Trail. General Sherman, as with all the Giant Sequoias, was breathtakingly gigantic! This tree, if it were a tank, would hold enough water that you would be able to take a bath every day for 27 years! Melissa took a walk around the imprint of the trunk that was available and concluded that it would take about 97 steps to get around the tree – now, try to find a tree of that size and your local forest!

While walking the small trail around General Sherman, we also discovered a tree cookie, a slice of the trunk that’s used to determine age and history of a tree. We did not take the time to count the rings, but did note that the tree cookie was nearly the same size as our small apartment – we’re telling you, these trees are HUGE!

On the Congress Trail we enjoyed a bit of solitude, incomplete solitude but near. We gazed upon the President, the Congress and the House, not to mention the numerous other trees that were unfortunate during the naming process. Mike has, in our three days of gazing upon these giants, discovered a photographic love for these beasts. (Hopefully, you will be able to see the extent of this love on his Facebook profile, for now, a few favorites).

Having made our way around the Congress Trail we returned to the car and made our way to the Giant Forest Museum where we learned a great deal more about these trees we love: their need for fire, the likely hood of death by falling, their size in comparison to elephants, a dinosaur, a space shuttle, and the titanic. From the museum we boarded the Shuttle and made our way to Moro Rock. Walking up (and finally down) 351 steps we made our way to the top of this rock for a scenic view of the surrounding areas.

On our way out of the park, we took a scenic detour to view Auto Log and the Tunnel Tree. Auto Log used to serve as a place for vehicles to drive but collapsed at one point so now the huge log serves as a place for humans to walk around and take some classic photos. Tunnel Tree is a similar photo stop as it was a tree which fell across the road, yet rather than remove the tree, the park made the decision to simply cut a hole through the center and allow cars to drive through.

Finished with our tour de la Sequoias, we made our way southeast toward Death Valley where we will be visiting tomorrow. Until then, good-night.

All Hail the King

Day 12: July 8, 2009 – Kingsburg, CA to Kings Canyon National Park
Catching up and Looking up

We woke from a restful nights sleep in an actual bed – felt a little strange, but we were fully grateful for the hospitality shown by Seth and Charlotte. Melissa got out of bed first and got the car in order, folded laundry and began the previous day’s blog in Microsoft Word. After showering and enjoying a bagel for breakfast, we made our way down the road toward Charlotte’s parent’s house where we were blessed with use of the internet. After posting four blogs and catching up on pictures we were confident that we had set our blog readers minds at ease and given them some more great material to enjoy with a cup of tea.

Soon as all of our “house-keeping” chores were done we were finally ready to make our way toward Kings Canyon National Park. Fortunately for us, it was about the lunch hour and the day before we had spotted an In-N-Out, we had only one detour before making it into the National Park. Our In-N-Out experience was so absolutely amazing that we have penned the following:

Ode to In-N-Out

In-N-Out
Fresh-N-Tasty

Ground Beef Patty
Never seen the freezer

Lettuce, Crisp
Tomato, Juicy
Onion, Potent
Sauce, Secret

Potatoes
Diced Daily
No Trans-Fat

Chocolate Milk Shake
Mmm…

How can you beat that?

And it was from the experience that we made our way into Kings Canyon National Park. Within about an hour we had entered the park gates and began our trek to various scenic outlooks, trails, and of course the big tree of Kings Canyon, General Grant. However, before all of these adventures began, we stopped by the Post Office where we heard the best story of the trip thus far:

The Story of Wedgie Man

Recently, a man was trekking up the infamous Half Dome which is located in Yosemite National Park. The granite rock is familiar with trekkers and tourists alike as it has been conveniently laden with chain cables for those who dare to scale it’s heights. As is common within the National Parks that have glorious views from high places, a few people have lost their lives at Half Dome. This is not, however, the case for the star of our story. This man was enjoying his trek to the top of Half Dome when he slipped and fell off the rock. This could have marked the end for our star, but miraculously his sweat pants caught on to a rock or other protruding source and held the man safely for over three hours while park authorities freed him from what he shall come to know as “the wedgie that saved his life.”

From this, we began our exploration of Kings Canyon National Park. There has been something especially enamoring about these giant Sequoias, neither of us seem to be able to get enough of them. Viewing General Grant we were impressed with the random facts presented with the truth that General Grant is the 3rd largest tree for volume. That translates into: If this tree were the gas tank of your car, you would be able to drive around the world 350 times!!! If you wanted to hug this tree, it would take 20 people, hand-to-hand, to make it all the way around. That’s a big tree! Many trees in Wyoming can easily be hugged by one individual, three maximum. As we drove through the rest of the park we were impressed with canyon views, the roaring Kings River and a couple of falls; Grizzly Falls and Roaring Falls. We even had the opportunity to discover what we always knew must exist but never knew where: Mt. Harrington! You read correctly, while at the Grizzly Falls viewing a map of the falls origin we discovered on the sign OUR Mountain! I guess we’ll have to return some day in order to scale the mountain that bears our name.

Our day of exploring coming to a conclusion we made our way to a camping sight within the Sequoia National Forest. This was our first camping night where we set the tent up during daylight and had some time to enjoy some reading and writing some postcards for friends and family. As always, a peaceful nights sleep awaited us. Although Melissa was overly concerned that bears might end up in their campsite since they had spit their toothpaste outside instead of in a plastic bottle…fortunately no bears have yet made their way into our campsites.