November Explorations

I’ve been very lazy on the blogging front yet again. So much has happened in the last month! We have a shiny new president, for one thing! Now, the thought of the Palin woman being just a “heartbeat away” from arguably the world’s most responsible job seems like a distant nightmare. We had a friend around for dinner that evening, so weren’t concentrating on the TV, but I remember hearing the whoop of joy erupt in a nearby apartment as Obama passed the 270 electoral vote mark. What a great day for America! Whatever your politics (and I do know the odd Republican sympathiser), the country now has an intelligent, eloquent front-man that world leaders are lining up to work with. That has to be a good thing, even though he has a very tough job ahead of him. Talking of presidents, a few weeks ago, we saw the new film, “W” at the cinema (about George W. himself, who else?!). Very entertaining, but a little facile in its approach, portraying Bush as a largely innocent dummy who was misled by family and advisors. I don’t buy the idea of him being either that dumb or that innocent, myself, but at least his era will soon be over.

November also brought us a heat-wave. Two weekends ago, I was sunbathing on the beach, enjoying some of the most pleasant temperatures San Francisco has to offer. We topped it off by heading out into the balmy evening on the Alcatraz Night Tour. We had lovely views of the city and bridges from the ferry, then alighted on the island, where we did a very good audio tour and went to a talk about the Birdman. The spookiest bit by far was the hospital wing (coincidentally, where the Birdman had his cell), which was lonely and empty, but for the odd piece of outdated medical equipment, looking for all the world like something out of a horror film. I’d been to Alcatraz before, but that was back in 1999, so I hadn’t visited since moving out here.

We’d had a good few weekends without leaving the city, so I was ready to go somewhere. We decided on a mini-break in Zion National Park and Las Vegas. I’d heard good things about Zion, a “mere” 150 miles from Las Vegas, and we’d recently seen the film “21”, about a group of MIT students who make and lose their fortune playing Blackjack, so we fancied a bit of Vegas action, having only spent an evening there previously, when we went to the Grand Canyon in April. This time, as then, we had the experience of driving to/from the most fake place imaginable to one of world’s most lovely natural landscapes. Zion was a delight – kind of like a red rock Yosemite.

We did a couple of short walks on our first day, one up to the Emerald Pools, the last one of which stops sharp against a huge 1000 foot or more vertical wall of rock. The second was up to a viewpoint a little above the canyon, with vistas of Mount Watchman and the increasingly red hues of the rocks. We set off mid-afternoon (or so I thought), convinced that it would get dark later here, since we were some way south of San Francisco. Of course, I didn’t stop to think that we were actually a fair way to the east, and I also failed to realise that we’d crossed a time zone (Zion is in Utah), and were actually an hour ahead. By the time we got back down from the viewpoint, it was dark, and we startled a mule deer along the path. We made our way swiftly to our accommodation, Zion Lodge, and settled in for the night as the temperatures dropped to a surprisingly chilly level.

Our second day began with a huge breakfast. It was healthy, but enormous. Mine consisted of four immense whole-grain flaxseed pancakes the size of dinner plates and at least half an inch thick, with a berry compote. It was a good job we’d planned to do a fairly decent hike that day. The walk took us relentlessly upwards to a narrow monolith above the canyon with steep drop-offs on either side. The last half mile is really a scramble, using hands almost as much as feet, pulling oneself along by the chains strung along the ridge. People had warned me that it was very scary, but I’m fortunate in not being a vertigo-sufferer, and found it to be no problem at all. The views up and down the canyon were stunning. We were also rewarded with the sighting of a California Condor, the largest land bird in North America (wingspan can be up to 9½ feet) and one of the rarest birds in the world. S/he landed on a rock just a few feet away and posed for a good few photos. Later, we saw him/her soaring past the walls of the canyon, far below. As for us, we hadn’t had enough walking (the hike up to Angel’s Landing and back is strenuous, but only five miles round-trip), so we continued a bit further and found a quiet, sunny lunch spot with splendid views. Before we left the park, we had chance to visit the Weeping Rock, a wall that seeps droplets of water that have run through the porous rock until they reach harder stuff and are forced to dispense themselves. It was then time for the long, monotonous drive back to Sin City.

We were staying at the Bellagio, probably Las Vegas’ most exclusive casino-hotel, but because we were there out of season and on week nights, it was really good value – less than half the price it would be on a high-season weekend. The room didn’t disappoint – a plush marble-floored bathroom with an immense shower and a huge, tastefully decorated bedroom with electrically operated curtains and a view out onto the Tuscan-style pool area. It also features a gorgeous reception area with a glass ceiling by Chihuly (this is the guy whose smallest glass bowls fetch $3,000 – $4,000), a conservatory with regularly changing themes (at this time of year it was harvest and pumpkins) and a dazzling array of fancy restaurants and shops, but still the same old tacky casino area, of course. At half-hour intervals it also offers impressive fountain displays over the huge artificial lake at the front.

The first night, we went to a Cirque du Soleil show, then slept in the next morning and partook of a tasty – if pricey – breakfast down at the café. We then headed out to the pool area and relaxed for a couple of hours on the sun deck, taking the occasional swim. By mid-afternoon, it was turning chilly, however, so we headed across the road to take a look at another casino-hotel, Paris, then made for the one next to ours, the Roman-themed Caesar’s Palace, complete with its own “Fontana di Trevi”, and more reminiscent of modern than ancient Rome. That evening, we dined at the Michelin-starred Michael Mina restaurant in our hotel, which was truly exquisite. I was especially delighted with the way they offered trios of dishes in one – perfect for me, who wants to try everything on the menu. After dinner, we had a go at one of the Blackjack tables. Things started well, and we were soon $20 up. After that, things didn’t go quite so well, and we came away half an hour later with our tails between our legs.

On our last day, I had a quick swim in the morning, then we had crêpes for breakfast at a patisserie with the largest chocolate fountain in the world, before heading up the Strip to take a look at the Venetian, a very elaborate casino-hotel themed around Venice. It had its own Rialto Bridge, Ducal Palace, Grand Canal and Piazza San Marco, including a huge array of exclusive shops. We took a look around the Peter Lik photo gallery (= store) – he’s a photographer who takes wonderful landscape shots, many of which covering places we’d visited in the States. However, I’m pretty sure I overheard someone saying one of the larger pieces was $49,000. That didn’t deter the manager from pursuing us around the shop in the hope that we’d buy something, however.

The desert climate took its toll, as it did last time, on my skin and eyes, noticeably drying them out. And while Las Vegas is certainly lots of fun, I think I’d had my fill of it by the end. It’s really an absurd place. Sure, it has some glamour, but it is also tacky, materialistic and fake. However, it provided an enjoyable and much-needed getaway. We had one day back at work upon our return and now we have four days off for Thanksgiving – hurrah!

Vineyards and stuff

A couple of weekends ago, it was Jon’s work party at Wente Vineyards. This winery is not in the famous Napa Valley, nor even in Sonoma, but out in the East Bay obscurity, near Livermore. We got taken there on a coach (which Jon and I nearly missed because we couldn’t hail a taxi to take us to the departure point for love nor money, and ended up running through North Beach down to the Embarcadero – me in heels at that!) and arrived just before dark. I thought it was a shame we didn’t get there when it was still light, so that we could take in the vineyard. Anyway, we had a good feed and socialise. Afterwards, Jon and I met and chatted to the chef at the bar, who was a nice chap and a big admirer of Gordon Ramsay!

The next day, I took part in a 5km charity run organised by one of our clients, BioMarin. My colleague, Elizabeth, picked me up very early in the morning and drove over the Golden Gate up to Novato, where the run took place. It ended up not being 5km at all, but closer to 4km, since I finished in 21 minutes. I took 2nd place for my age/gender category and got a medal, which is the only thing sporting that I’ve ever won! The company did pretty well in general, as a project manager was 2nd female overall and both she and the boss’ wife were first in their respective age/gender categories, and another participant, Seth, was 2nd in his age/gender category. Back in San Francisco, Jon, Seth and I went out for a hearty breakfast at a greasy spoon in North Beach (in Jon’s case, it was well needed to cure the hangover from the night before!).

The next week was a hot one. Temperatures got up well into the eighties in the city. I walked home part of the way on the Friday night, enjoying the balmy temperature, the gorgeous views of the Bay and Alcatraz, and the joys of living in the most liberal city in America, with Obama posters all over the place and two blokes walking down the street, hand-in-hand, without anyone batting an eyelid.

The good weather carried on into the weekend, when we went on a trip to Napa Valley with some work colleagues of Jon’s. It got up to 32 Celsius over there and the place was absolutely rammed with people. We visited V. Sattui - a very pretty winery, but ridiculously crowded - and then headed to Elizabeth Spencer. Jon had done a tasting there and been very impressed last Christmas, but this year the wines were both more expensive and not as good. However, they did seat us in our own tasting tent in their pumpkin-decorated courtyard, so it wasn’t all bad. After that, we went to Domaine Chandon, a fancy, modern champagne place. It was there that Carly received a call from her uncle and promptly asked us if we’d like to head over to his vineyard. So, off we went, passing through the electric gates, up the hill and past the vines to his beautiful home. The house had an amazing kitchen and was filled with interesting art, but most importantly had a huge covered deck with fabulous views over the valley to the hills beyond. There was also a swimming pool, a fire pit built in a stone wall and an adjacent 3-bed, 2-bath guest house for friends and family! It was lovely to relax there for a while before heading back to the city. As well as vines, the estate boasts lemon and olive trees. Carly’s uncle gave us each a bottle of their home-grown olive oil when we left. I smiled as we drove past his Obama poster as we swung through the gates and onto the highway.

The days of balmy weather are now over, however, as the rain set in yesterday and it has thrown it down all day today. Strangely, however, the wild parrots have been very active and noisy all the same. Yesterday was Halloween, but I was too tired to go out in the evening, although I did spot some costumed people on my way home. Now, we’re building up to Tuesday, the great day when the world could change for the better (surely, THIS time!).

Mendocino getaway

I haven’t blogged again for three weeks – terrible! Well, here’s a quick catch-up. Two weeks ago, we had a friend from Hoddesdon to visit (Tom). On the Saturday, I went with him down to the De Young museum in Golden Gate Park to see the Chihuly exhibition. Chihuly is a glass artist who makes wonderful, colourful formations, which look fabulous lit up against a dark background. In spite of the fact that we had a timed ticket, there were still hordes of people. We spent the rest of the (very sunny) day seeing the main sights, like Alamo Square, Haight Ashbury, the Ferry Building and Pier 39 with the sealions. The next day, we weren’t so lucky with the weather, as some low fog spoilt our plans to go for hike on Point Reyes. Instead, we did a walk on the top of Mount Tam, where it was very hot above the fog layer. I managed to trip and cut a hole in my hand, but fortunately, it’s just about healed now.

Last weekend was a lazy one for the most part (for me at least) - poor Jon was revising for his maths exam, which he had last Wednesday. On the Sunday, I volunteered down at the Castro Street Fair on behalf of the organisation I used to work for, Shanti. It was good fun, but surprisingly tiring standing there for three and a half hours in the hot sunshine.

This weekend, I had booked us a cottage just south of the small coastal town of Mendocino, about 150 miles north. It was the first time we had travelled over the Golden Gate on a Friday night, and the traffic was somewhat stickier than expected. We arrived pretty late, but fortunately, the cottage managers had pinned the key outside their office. We awoke to a beautiful, sunny day on Saturday. We got up slowly, enjoying the luxury of a bacon and egg breakfast and watching hummingbirds hover around the landscaped garden, before heading out to do a hike in a small state park a little way up the coast. The walk took us up from the coast through different types of woodland to a small “pygmy forest”, where trees a hundred years old or more had only grown to a few feet due to poor soil conditions. Afterwards, we drove up to a rather uncharming town called Fort Bragg to see the so-called Glass Beach. Apparently, until about half way through the last century, people just used to dump their rubbish in the ocean there. As a result of the sea smashing against it over the years, the beach got covered in small glass pebbles. Needless to say, no one dumps their rubbish there now, and in fact it is inhabited by seals. Before heading back for a cosy evening in the cottage, we strolled down to the Point Cabrillo lighthouse, built in 1909 to service the booming post-earthquake lumber trade, then stopped in the quaint town of Mendocino itself. The town was settled by East coasters, apparently, which explains the New England style houses, perched attractively on the bluffs above lovely little coves. Nearly every shop was a gift shop, though! When we got back to the cottage complex, we were met by a rather plump English bulldog, aptly called Buddah, and his rather asthmatic French bulldog friend, which belonged to another guest. We lounged around on our little deck, taking in the ocean views before dinner.

This morning, we went for what turned out to be a fabulous run from the cottage, down to the little beach nearby and through part of Van Damme state park. We followed the appropriately named Fern Canyon up a shady creek. It was icy cold, but invigorating. Of course, we passed a couple of mountain lion warning signs along the way. Marvellous. When the activity we were engaged in was jogging – just the thing to incite a big cat’s chase instinct. However, we avoided attack and returned for another well-deserved big breakfast. We then went for a stroll on the Mendocino headland bluffs, admiring the many rock arches and natural harbours, finally wandering into the town for a coffee. Before leaving the area, we took another coastal stroll (the highlight of which was seeing a stag disappear into the undergrowth - too fast for a photo!), then drove back towards the freeway through the gorgeous Anderson Valley. We travelled first through a huge redwood forest (coastal redwoods being the tallest trees in the world), then through rolling hills, apple orchards, vineyards and olive groves. We stopped briefly at a small, unpretentious winery with a cute little tasting shack where the tastings were… wait for it… free! Amazing. On the way back, we tried to get dinner at a fish restaurant by one of the marinas in Sausalito, but the line was so long that we gave up, and went instead to an excellent Thai place in the city. However, we still managed to enjoy some great views across the pink-hued Bay at sunset from Sausalito. Arriving back at the flat shortly after 9, we saw a small red glow out on Angel Island – fire! It’s now an hour and a half later and the fire is covering most of the eastern side of the island, which is really sad. They’ve ferried fire engines over there, but surprisingly, there are no helicopters. No one lives on Angel Island except park staff, but it’s a lovely state park and a gorgeous place to visit, with a few interesting old military buildings.

Jon and are suffering other trials right now, as we can’t get a tenant for our house. The letting agent told us that there has not been much interest, largely due to the crashing economy. If we can’t get a tenant soon, we’ll have to come back, something neither of us wants to do. Whenever we have to do it, giving up the California lifestyle is going to be extremely difficult.

Big Sur

Had a very busy week last week. Spanish class on Monday, Step class at the gym on Tuesday, Stereophonics concert at the Great American Music Hall on Wednesday, dinner at a friend’s in Oakland on Thursday, drive down to Salinas for the start of our Big Sur weekend on Friday! Salinas is the birthplace of John Steinbeck, but we didn’t see anything to do with him. Instead, we just stayed at a cheap motel there and took advantage of a cheap Mexican supermarket the next day for our camping supplies. It really was like Little Mexico from the food to the huge array of piñatas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi%C3%B1ata if you don’t know what they are!) to the fact that a little Spanish certainly helped with communications at the deli counter.

We’d planned to get in touch with Oli and Karine (my colleagues from work, who were accompanying us on the trip) when we arrived at the Big Sur coast, which starts some 120 miles or so south of San Francisco. There was a big flaw to this plan, however, since there is absolutely no cell phone reception along this coastline, which is basically a narrow belt nestled between the Pacific and a range of high, forested hills. As a result, we didn’t see these friends until we got to the campsite that evening. However, we spent a pleasant day with our other friend, Cassie, driving down the gorgeous coast and taking little walks to the shore. We spotted a sea otter during one such stroll, visited a cove where it’s possible to find jade (aptly called Jade Cove) and photographed an absolutely gorgeous 80 foot coastal waterfall (McWay Falls), before heading to the campsite at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. Our camping spot was among trees, but not as spacious as some others I’d stayed at. However, there was just about enough room for all of us (six, in total, including Karine’s cousin, Marlène, who is visiting). After an initial crisis with the barbecue (it went out, after half-cooking the sausages), we had a great dinner of grilled meats and Mediterranean veg. with salad, topped off with apple pie warmed over the charcoal. I even got to practice my French with Karine’s cousin! For me it was pure delight to be camping and not to be freezing cold, after the Yellowstone experience! Having said that, I didn’t have the best night’s sleep, in spite of not having grizzly bears, wolves or even raccoons to worry about!

After breakfast the next day, we decamped and headed to nearby Pfeiffer Beach. I have a photo of that beach, taken on our road trip in 1999, when the wind was so strong that you could barely stand up! It’s a lovely photo, though. It was very windy this time too, although not as bad, but we still ended up with sand in pretty much every exposed orifice! However, it’s a beautiful beach with interesting rock formations that include perfectly formed tunnels. After admiring the beach for a while (and marvelling at the surfers), we took our leave of everyone and headed off to do a hike in Andrew Molera State Park. Oli, Karine and Marlène had been lucky enough to see a bobcat there the day before, but we weren’t so fortunate, although we saw some seals and lots of birds. We supposedly did an eight-mile hike, but we went the wrong way a couple of times, so it was probably more like nine. It seemed quite hard work, anyway, but it was quite lovely, taking in views across the dunes and bluffs to the ocean, as well as back to the steep hillsides. We hadn’t seen any fire damage from the recent violent forest fires until this point (which surprised me, since several trails were closed in the State Park where we camped), but now, with the aid of binoculars, we were able to spot a few blackened trees high in the hills.

Lazy weekends

The lovely weather that we returned to from Yellowstone continued – at least for a while. Friday night was really balmy – we went to a party just a few blocks up, at our friends’ place on Green Street, and took in their views from the roof. Last Saturday was gorgeous and, even though I had chores to do, I still managed to take full advantage. This included a stroll down to the little beach less than a ten minute walk away, with its views of the Golden Gate Bridge and historic ships, followed by ice cream enjoyed in sunny Washington Square Park. I also had a dip in our pool and a sunbathe on the terrace. On Sunday, we went on our customary run along the waterfront to Crissy Field and back, then had a pretty lazy day, topped off by a visit to the cinema. We went to see “Bottleshock”, which is about the competition in 1976 involving a blind tasting of select French and Californian wines, in which the Californian wines won all categories, putting Napa on the map. It starred Alan Rickman as the wine merchant who organized it all, and was good fun. I longed for Napa to be as it was then, however, with free tastings and wine at $5 a bottle. Those days are long gone!

I had my final Italian class on Wednesday this week. Then, on Thursday, we had the good fortune to have tickets for Robin Williams (yes, THE Robin Williams of Mrs Doubtfire, Good Will Hunting etc. fame) do stand-up comedy at a cute little venue just a stone’s throw from our apartment. We can – literally – see it from the window. Robin Williams lives in San Francisco – over in the posh Seacliff area – and he was doing this gig to raise money for charity. I have to say that it wasn’t all my type of humour, but the guy is such a legend, that it was great to see him anyway. We only found out about the event on the grapevine – Jon heard it from someone at work, who in turn had heard about it from her dentist. I told everyone at my work, and we ended up with quite a gang from the office, including the big boss! Afterwards, most of us went on to the Belgian beer cellar on our block, which was a perfect way to end the evening.

This weekend, it’s been cooler, but still quite sunny. Jon had to work yesterday, so I took myself off to Golden Gate Park, in the hope of getting into the Chihuly exhibition at the De Young museum. Chihuly is a famous glass sculpture artist who makes some amazing pieces. Anyway, the place was so busy that I gave up without waiting in line (they had a timed ticket system, so I was pretty sure I’d be out of luck), but I had a little stroll around some of the park nonetheless, taking in Stow Lake and the gorgeous rose garden. I then took a bus back to the Marina and had a very cold smoothie in a nice café there before heading home. In the evening, we had an invitation to go to my colleague and friend, Molly’s place for dinner. She lives quite near work, in the Pacific Heights area. Well, I must say that I loved her place! It didn’t have the views that we enjoy, but what a lovely characterful building! She lives in a 1930’s Spanish-style mansion in an apartment on the fifth storey, with wooden floors and lots of built-in closets! We had a really pleasant evening.

Today, we did our run again, then headed out over the Golden Gate to Marin in the afternoon. We’d planned to spend a few hours on Tennessee Beach, but we ended up walking from the sunshine straight into the fog, so the beach was rather chilly, to say the least, with a stuff wind blowing. We lasted it out for a little while, stoic Brits as we are, trained in the art of sitting on freezing cold beaches pretending you’re enjoying yourself, but then decided to give up and go somewhere sunny. We went over to Tiburon, on the other side of the Bay from here, and enjoyed some absolutely amazing ice cream at a café there, before taking in the sun from a spot with amazing views across to Angel Island and beyond back towards the city.

Yellowstone & Grand Tetons

I’m behind again. I haven’t told you anything about Kate’s visit nearly three weeks ago, or about the Outside Lands music festival we attended the week before last. I’ll leave the musical critique to Jon (when the poor guy has finished his maths assignment), since I want to tell you about the trip we’ve just returned from to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

Susie (my good friend from school days) and her husband Dave arrived for a visit on Wednesday last week. They were lucky with the weather, because they arrived at a time when San Francisco is emerging from the fog of summer into warm, sunny early fall days. Thursday was so nice that I left work early and had a dip in the pool.

Susie had very kindly invited me along on their great adventure through America’s national parks. This began with a flight to Salt Lake City on Saturday. We just had time for a trip to Temple Square (Mormon central!) and dinner. Salt Lake ranks with Las Vegas as one of the strangest places I’ve been to. Temple Square is a perfectly manicured 30-odd acre site in the city centre. The instant you walk through the gate, a very nice man emerges with a free map and details of the free tours on offer. We went on one of these tours, led by two (also very, very nice) young Mormon missionaries. They showed us the temple, tabernacle, museum and (huge) office skyscraper. It was all rather surreal. The city itself was dead (on a Saturday night!), but Jon had no trouble getting a beer with our meal in spite of Utah's weird alcohol regulations.

We had a night in Salt Lake, then picked up the rental car and (after some very logistical packing, because it was only a compact car), headed off on the long drive through four states to Yellowstone. That’s right – we started in Utah, drove much of the length of Idaho, crossed a small patch of Montana and finally entered Wyoming just past the entrance into the park. We stopped to buy supplies at the immense Walmart in a rather sad town called Idaho Falls (followed by more packing logistics). We also passed through a fairly wild storm, which sent tumbleweed scuttling across the highway. It was a really long journey – some 380 miles – and we couldn’t resist seeing some of the sites when we finally got there, so took time out to photograph a herd of elk by the road and also got our first taste of hot springs and bubbling mud pots at one of the volcanic sites on the way to the campground. We didn’t actually arrive there until about 8 o’clock, by which time it was dark and raining hard. Pitching the tent in the pouring rain was not fun. Fortunately, we were close to a restaurant, into which we retreated in order to get away from the weather.

I didn’t sleep well either of the first two nights. Most probably because, in spite of my five layers, I was still cold, because my 35 degree F sleeping bag was not capable of withstanding the plummeting night-time temperatures at ca. 8,000 feet. There was even ice on the tent when we awoke one morning! By the third night, Jon sweetly offered me his sleeping bag (good to 18 F), so I managed to get some shut-eye. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, you could hear what were probably wolves howling in the distance, which was rather eerie, to say in the least.

Our first full day in Yellowstone began with a drive up to the canyon of the Yellowstone River. We saw bison along the way, plus a wolf that was really just a black dot in the far distance, and also visited the Mud Volcano area of steaming, sulphurous pools and mud pots. It’s impossible to exaggerate the extent to which you find steam pouring out of the ground all over Yellowstone. It’s one immense volcano with a caldera that covers much of the park, and apparently, it’s due an eruption, which would purportedly destroy all life on the planet.

We did a hike along the canyon to a lake, then circled back past some more steaming holes, before continuing around the immense loop road to see Old Faithful, a geyser that erupts approximately every 90 minutes and shoots water some 120 feet into the air. We arrived at the right time and managed to see the event before heading back for a tasty meal by the camp fire.

The next day was a much brighter day weather-wise (although still cold), and we enjoyed clear skies for most of it. We headed up to Mount Washburn, and hiked up to the top past trees covered in the first sprinkling of snow, to the summit at just over 10,000 feet. On the way back down, we chanced upon a flock of bighorn sheep, which stuck around and let us photograph them. We then decided to head north a little way, hoping to see bears in the “prime grizzly country” of Antelope Creek. We didn’t see bears, but we did come across a commotion along the road that turned out to be caused by a moose grazing by a nearby stream. On the way back to camp, we got stuck in traffic in Hayden Valley, where bison were crossing the road.

The final day of our trip began with heavy rain. We drove into Grand Teton National Park, afraid that we wouldn’t get to see any of the famous mountains. However, it began to clear, so we stopped by the side of the road to watch the clouds lifting slowly off the jagged, snowy peaks. As we were there, we noticed another commotion just down the road. There was talk of a grizzly bear. Before we knew it, the grizzly in question (a female), had bounded across the road and into the willow on the other side. Too fast for a photo, but impressive nonetheless! After stopping at a couple of lovely viewpoints, we decided to take the boat across pretty Jenny Lake and walked to a waterfall before making our way back around the edge of the lake. We were rewarded with another wildlife sighting – this time a female moose knee-deep in a pond.

Finally, Susie and Dave drove us to tiny Jackson Hole Airport (they were continuing on down to other parks the next day), where they dropped us off and we caught a propeller plane to Denver, where we transferred to a connecting flight back to San Francisco. It was a really amazing trip, although I must say that it isn’t too hard – after freezing your socks off for several days – to return to the balmy climes of September in California.

Photos are available here: http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick/yellowstone-and-gra/ (password: moocow)

Summer in the Sierras

Last weekend, we headed off to Lake Tahoe for a long weekend of activities. Our friend, Cassie, had got a good deal at the Marriott in South Lake Tahoe in return for her sitting through 90 minutes of timeshare talk. She shared the offer with us, so we got to stay in nicer than usual accommodation right by Stateline (the border between California and Nevada, where all the casinos are situated). The location would have really come into its own in the winter, because it’s right by the Heavenly gondola, which sweeps you up to the ski area. They were still charging you plenty to go up there, even in summer, so we didn’t bother, but entertained ourselves with the activities on offer elsewhere. And we were not short of these!

It was a bad drive up there on Friday night, because we hit lots of traffic leaving the city, then again between the North Bay and Sacramento. Jon was no doubt relieved, therefore, when Cassie offered to drive us the next day, especially since our planned activity, white-water rafting, involved double-backing on ourselves for about an hour to Placerville. The rafting was really good fun. First they fed us, in their attractively sited embarkation point amongst trees slung with hammocks by the river. Then we set off, six or seven to a raft. It was a class III rapids trip along the South Fork of the American River, through a pretty gorge. I’d been a little nervous of trying the class IV Middle Fork, which Cassie tried to persuade us to do, but on balance, I think I could have handled it, as the raft was a lot more stable than I’d expected and I really enjoyed the big rapids. We each had a paddle, and the guide told us what to do. I took a turn at the front, which was certainly the most fun/scary place in the boat! The guide realised we were out for a bit of excitement, so he deliberately took us head-first into a rock, which resulted in all but two of us falling out! (I was one of the two :-)).We also got to swim in a couple of spots in the rather cold river. It was pretty fast-moving, even in the calm bits.

That evening, we enjoyed a dip in the Marriott’s hot tub, before going out for dinner in the 19th floor restaurant of one of the casinos. After the day, we were all pretty tired, so headed off to bed before it got too late, falling asleep in front of the Olympics on the TV.

Next day we had quite a late start, because Cassie had her timeshare talk in the morning. We went off to do a hike in the Desolation Wilderness, which a couple of friends at work had recommended to me. It began at Echo Lake, which is near the high point of the road we take to Lake Tahoe (about 7,500 feet, if I remember right), just before you drop down to South Lake itself. Echo Lake is a gorgeous little spot, comprising Lower and Upper Echo Lakes, which used to have 5 feet of elevation difference between them, until someone decided to blast a channel to allow boats to pass through. To shorten the hike by just under three miles, we took a water taxi (large speedboat) across the lake and began walking at the other end. It was a fairly easy 3. 5 mile hike out, with not too much climbing, and although it was sunny and hot, it was nothing after the previous week’s heat at Pinnacles (high seventies/low eighties as opposed to 100 degrees). We passed several attractive little lakes in the high country, including Tamarack Lake and Lake Margery, where we had our lunch and spotted a couple of marmots. There were lots of alpine flowers still around, presumably because they have such a short growing season at this height. Our end-point was gorgeous Lake Aloha, a mid-sized lake with lots of tiny, rocky islands. Jon and I both enjoyed a swim to one of these islands in the cooling water and explored the rock formations barefoot, before heading back on the return journey (although, had we had provisions and camping gear, we could have kept on exploring for many more miles). Cassie’s recently injured ankle was starting to hurt, so she took the water taxi back to the parking lot at the other end of Echo Lake, but Jon and I decided to speed-hike the last 2.7 miles by the lake past a host of gorgeous cabins, only accessible by water. That evening, it was into the hot tub again and then out for a slap-up dinner at Fire & Ice.

On Monday, we decided to try jet-skiing on Lake Tahoe itself. It was pretty expensive, so we just rented one for an hour and shared it amongst us, going out two at a time. It was pretty easy to operate and a lot of fun, although I didn’t go nearly as fast as Jon, who apparently hit 60 miles per hour, bouncing over the waves. After that, we headed off to do a short hike near Emerald Bay, a very popular spot on the south-west shore. It was a short hike (just a mile out and a mile back), but there was about 500 feet of climbing. The end-point was lovely Eagle Lake, a small lake surrounded by forested mountains on all sides. There was a little island that Jon and I swam to (although it probably only amounted to about half a mile of swimming in total, I still managed to pull a muscle in my back that still aches a bit!). As we were trying to dry off in the sun (we didn’t bring towels, of course), a bear ambled across the rocks ahead of us. S/he then reappeared at the water’s edge, before disappearing again into the vegetation. It was a smallish Black bear (although brown in colour), probably an adolescent. S/he didn’t seem bothered by the people at all. It was another positive bear experience for me!