We're Back

March 6,2010 Road trip USA The nice thing about this recession is that hotels are letting rooms go for a song.  We found a nice room right on the beach in Long Beach, Washington.  Our patio over looks golden grass veiled sand dunes. Waves tumble onto the shore. The Sun is chasing the shadows into hiding.  It’s a good life-spent writing while enjoying coffee with the ocean as the backdrop even if we’re just pretending for a while, bitter sweet, bitter sweet. The closer we get to home the more reality slips into view.  Before we left we went for a walk on, what they claim is the “worlds longest beach”.  It could be true, beach stretched to both the north and south horizons.  The trip up the Oregon coast was scenic but rushed. We made only a couple of stops.  Devil’s Churn was a lava field jetting into the ocean.  Volcanic rocks, deep creased with lines the look of some ancient face.  A channel ran through the center of the rock field, the ocean pushing in, pounding the walls.  Spray exploded as the churning waters path is interrupted.  Green anemone decorates the tidal pools on the cliffs.   We traveled north up the coastal hwy as it worked in land through farmland, before returning to the cottage communities along the sea. We had a fantastic dinner in Astoria.  The town rises steeply from the ocean. Victorian houses, shops and an old harbor revitalized. We followed the west arm of the hwy 101 to the Port Townsend ferry.  The hwy abandoned the coast quickly, leading us through forested area not unlike coastal B.C., including pockets of apocalyptic clear-cut slashes, reminiscent of World War 1 battlefields.   Happily we avoided the Seattle corridor at rush hour.  Port Townsend is another cute Victorian town. Good restaurants, antique and art galleries shop galore.  The antiques are more curios and the art is more folk craft.  There are however notable exceptions.  It is a very enjoyable town, overall.   The Olympic Peninsula, (I hope IOC doesn’t sue me), that we’ve seen is not as awe inspiring as other landscapes we visited however we only saw a glimpse of it.  I would like to return as I suspect it has many secrets to reveal.  We are about to load onto the Keystone ferry to what I believe is Whidbey Island.  Hwy 20 continues from there to I5 and then, well, we’ll be home.   House repair, work, bills to pay, can’t wait really.  Three more hours of ash fault; see ya soon.  Thank you for following along with our travels.   A good trip, a nice escape, too much money and definitely too many fossil fuels spent. We did enjoy ourselves.

Anyone want some Gum?

March 4,2010 Thursday Road trip USA

         Where did Wednesday go?  Hwy 58 west became a rattlesnake in an electric chair.  Twisting turning climbing and falling, the 90 miles or so between Bakerfield and San Luis Obispo looked much straighter on the map.  Though it cost us an extra 2 hours and some white knuckling, we made the coast intact, a little late for sunset.

San Luis Obispo is charming town.  The people we met were friendly and intelligent, almost like we weren’t in the USA.  The town offers a variety of restaurants, cafes and art galleries. If only we had more time and money.  Oh notable exception to an otherwise cultural town is “Bubblegum Alley” (see photo).  A narrow heebie-jeebie alley, absolutely covered in gum both sides, a teacher’s worst nightmare. 

After a quick exploration and a good breakfast we headed north on the slow coastal hwy. #1.  More of the same rolling and heaving roads, except now, we have a majestic view of the ocean out the left window.   Unfortunately we were in the middle of a tremendous rainstorm, so powerful at one point we had to pull over.  The ground was flooded; it looked as if we were in a river.  I got a bit of vertigo, like when one stands knee deep in the surf.  We happened to pull out at a beach where Elephant Seals where, I was going to say sunning themselves, but more to the point, they were taking a shower.  Big silly looking beasts, had to be 12’ long and 700Lbs.  I think they might have some sort of complex, as they were quite aloof.  They’re plus size and have big noses. The cute Harbor seals up the beach probably made up fun of them so they put up a wall to hide their shame. 

Found ourselves too tired and too late in Bodego Bay California, the town where Hitchcock filmed “ The Birds”.  No motel to be found but a nice State park, Doran Park, with a bay on one side and crashing waves on the other.  Seals barking in the blackness, the repetitive drone of the foghorn, and the reassuring pulse of the surf behind us.  No need for a tent, we’ll just rolled the seats back, goodnight. 

It’s difficult to describe the simple pleasure of waking up with the ocean.  Sea birds squawking, a dog barking at the air with the pleasure of running with his master, streams of diffused purple and yellow light peaking over the fog shrouded hills in the distance, cold wet salted air clinging to your face lightly filling your nose.  The sea shocking and tickling your feet as you get too close to the waves. We were uncomfortable and stiff from our sleep; step out of the truck and a 10-minute walk on the beach erased any trace of discomfort.

Continued north, must find coffee, it’s 7am and nothing's opening in this town until the fisherman return with their catch.  More winding coastal hwy. Duncan’s Cove is little piece of beach forming a ‘w’ of sand, towering half moon craggy cliffs surround it.  Steep winding steps are carved into earth depositing you on to an isolated beach, turquoise surf crashes, spray exploding into the sky as waves batter the stoic stone towers which adorn the coast.  If one was daring you could swim here.  The fog from the rolling green pasture above flows like a water fall into the sea, escaping the rising heat of the sun. I think it’s the ghost of some mythical sea creature retreating back to the dark depth until the moon rises again when it will return to land and hunt for runaway children and drunken sailors.

  

   

  We traveled to  "The Avenue of Giants” you may recognize it as the Forest Moon of Endor (Return of the Jedi) Red Cedars wider than the length of my truck.  I thought Graham would love to play paintball there, but in a ghillie suit a tourist might mistake him for an Ewoke.  Off course we did the kitsch thing and drove thru the giant 2900-year-old 21’diameter “Chandelier” living Cedar in Leggett’s CA.  With the mirrors folded in I had 1/2” to spare, all most.  We’ll be in Oregon by sunset but at this pace there is no way we’ll be back Friday. Later.

And Jesus said go West and so we did!

March 2, 2010 Road trip USA

We’re west bound Cal-i-forn-I-A, that is. (That’s a TV reference many of you won’t get, cause I'm old)  The Mojave National Reserve was all right though it’s a bit early; late spring would be the best time.  It was a worthwhile stop all the same.  The camel colored Kelso Sand Dunes Raise up 700 feet out of the desert floor behind the white mountains that looked like misshapen stone molars pushing through the scrub brush.  We hiked up the 45 square miles of dunes for a few hours, happy to be active and out of the car.  It was warm, save the cool wind that sandblasted us relentlessly, increasing the higher we trumped. Straw like grass clung to life on tenuous slopes.  The wind twists and pulls the grasses creating patterns in the sand reminiscent of ancient petroglyphs. 

The dunes sometimes create a booming sound, (poetically referred to as the “song of the desert”) as sand slides down a steep slope. It sounds like combination of the hollow whahom of blowing into the top of a really big jug, but deeper, think whale song accompanied by a diggeri-do.  I quite enjoyed resting on the dunes; the wind seemed to blow away memory and worries with the same ease it took to erase my footsteps.  

After the dunes we had a snack at Kelso Depot, A 1924 train station retasked as an interpretive centre and gallery.  We took a driving tour trough the reserve from there on but didn’t have the time to take side trials into the interesting areas.  We traveled west along hwy 58, rain clouds and depressed dingy towns dimmed or expectations.  Just as we were beginning to reconsider our route the sun began to shine through the clouds onto the rolling emerald hills that sprung up around us.  Seriously we went from desert to the Scottish highlands with no noticeable geographic transition.  The only thing missing were the sheep and the men in plaid skirts.  

I can’t find the name of these mountains but they carried on for about an hour around the town of Tehachapi.  It was encouraging to see a large forest of wind turbines along the ridge of the mountains.  As we came out of the mountain range we were treated to overview of the sun-flooded valley beyond us.  Lush fields and orchards, some orchards are in early bloom, filling the air with honey scented white and purple blossoms.  We also spotted sheep, no skirts though. The air is moist and warm in stark contrast to the dry earth infused air we became used to in the last week or so.  We will be at the coast by nightfall and tomorrow we'll start the northern climb home.  I’ll leave you with a quote I read at Kelso Depot:

“For all the toll the desert takes of man it gives compensation, deep breaths, deep sleep, and communion of the stars.”  Mary Austin.

Desert Moon

March 1, 2010 Monday Roadtrip USA

A swollen amber moon highlighted the splendor of the Organ Pipe Cactus Nat’l Park in the Sonoran desert last night.  

We left Tucson around 3p.m. after visiting a couple of galleries and artisan shops.  For the photographers out there, The Center for Creative Photography has a large collection of Ansel Adams work.  Fabulous! Also Weston and other of his contemporaries; it was a worthwhile stop. 

Hwy. 86 runs southwest out of Tucson and was gorgeous.  You’re not out of town 10 mins. before 20’ tall Saguaro cactus surround you.  Actually there are many different varieties of cacti in the desert here, the Saguaro are just the coolest.  Jen says they each should be named because they all have a distinct personalities.   We sped down the hwy trying to make the park (about 2 hours) before sundown.  

As we passed through the Tohono o’odham Nation horses grazed next to the hwy, one on the hwy.  We made the park as the sky began to warm.  A small snaking goat path of a road took us about four miles into the heart of the desert.  We continued to explore on foot, took pictures as the sun set behind the sharp hills.  A rim of light from the rising moon highlighted the clouds to the east as the shadows began to fall away.   The sky in the west simultaneously turned from light blue, purples, yellows, to dark blue ending in darkness.  


The stars became visible and the landscape transformed into a planet  much closer to outer space.  We sat there awhile enjoying the profound silence and beauty of it all.  

We carried on to Phoenix so we can get a few supplies offered only in a bigger center.  Also Jen is concerned that my hair is starting to look like my moms from the 60’s. Not trying to insult you mom its’ just that it’s not the 60”s and I’m a boy.  We intend to travel northwest from here as soon as we can.  Phoenix is a huge sprawling city that has a funny smell, actually many different unpleasant smells.  

We got out of town around noon, too late with travel time to enter the Mojave.  Mostly interstate travel though we traveled north on 95 along the Colorado River which was quite pretty.  We stopped in Lake Havasu City, home of the London Bridge, we didn’t stop to see it and the city has little to offer.  I did stop in at a gun shop.  USA  gun shops are scary windows into American culture.  Apparently they're running low on 9MM. ammo; Armageddon coming and all. 


We’re hold up in Needles California until tomorrow.  Hwy 66 runs through the heart of town; most of the old hotels and some of the stores still exist.  They’re run down; in fact the entire towns run down, but its still cool.  It’s as if time stopped here. Later     

The Deserts in the Details

February 28, 2010 Sunday Road trip USA

            It’s 4 in the morning in Tucson Arizona.  I can’t sleep so I thought I’d write.  We found ourselves a cheap hotel to hold up in until a coffee shop opens tomorrow.  There is a humbling rainstorm raging outside.  There nothing quite like a rainstorm in the desert.  It less falls than lashes out, like some shy kid who’s been holding it in for years and suddenly without warming explodes, pouring out years worth of suppressed emotion all at once.  The best thing about rain is that it promises to transform the desert.  Dry gulges might tomorrow be rivers, plants will come alive, and if where very lucky we may catch it in bloom.  It leaves us with a dilemma. Our plan was to look through a couple of Tucson fantastic galleries and museums, or should we drive into the desert to see the natural splendor?    

The trip since Big Bend has been at little disappointing.  We didn’t make the Carlsbad Caverns in time to go in Friday and we hadn’t covered enough ground to stay over so we pushed on to Roswell New Mexico.  It was also somewhat of a let down.  The town is bigger than we had expected.  In fact, strips of stores and hotels have spread to the north of the original centre covering over the “Incident Crash Site”. 

It Seemed Like a Good Idea when I was Making the Antennae

 Much of the old town is gone or in a sad state of repair.  In truth I was hoping for more of a freak show in neon that I had seen on TV but a las; most of the folks were just ranchers and dairy farmers.  Two notable exceptions: the guy at the late night Alien curio shop.  He had an encyclopedic knowledge of his towns’ history and you could tell he was just bursting to talk about the U.F.O. crash and conspiracy.  He had weird hair that look like Barbie hair and a bald patch the size and shape of a egg on the right front side of his head, no doubt from the probe; Jen thought perhaps a flaw in his alien disguise.  

Roswell Street Lamp

Oh yah in the half hour or so that he kept us there describing everything about Roswell he didn’t blink once, not once!  The guy at the U.F.O museums was a bit off too.  He had memorized the postal codes of all of North America.  “ I have all of Canada and the U.S.A. and most of Mexico.”  He knew where we came from by our postal code.  He was a lot like Raymond in the movie Rainman, weird eyes, looking at you and away from you all at the same time.  So, it was a little kooky, but not X-Files kooky.

Roswell Window Front

Which puts us in Tucson.  There is so much to see here in the southwest but time and resources will not allow us to see even a fraction. Check out the Arizona sunset, it felt as though we were driving under an ocean of fire.