I'm Back

Hey everyone. I'm back from my vacation, and it went by way too quick, as expected.
I don't have the pics for y'all yet, but I'll recap it for ya.

Down to the redwoods first. It rained. A lot. We abandoned the tent after the 1st night, and slept in the car. It turned out that our campsite sat above clay, so it drained really slowly. If we had let the tent lay, we would've been under 2-3 inches of water.
But the hiking was amazing, since it was serene and mystical, with the fog hanging around the tree trunks.
Then to SF, and a stay in the tenderloin, the seedy part of downtown. We had a great meal at Cafe Zuni too.
The next notable thing was going to Magic Mountain to ride the coasters. I was nervous at 1st, but quickly got over the feeling, and enjoyed them. Going upside down 7 times? Whatever!
We then we went to San Diego and saw my step sister Heather and Angie's friend Chris. We had a great time there- the weather was perfect!
Out to the desert. Joshua tree was very different for me. I've never spent much time in the desert, with it's quiet nothingness. The trees are quite peculiar as well....
Then to the Grand Canyon. It's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. We hiked down into the canyon, descending over 2000 feet, on a 6 mile hike. One day I will go down to the bottom and see the river and look up to the top of the hole I've fallen into...

Vegas. I lost.

Sequoia Nat'l Park was really cool. I wanted to explore it further, but in reality, one needs to hike into the depths of the park. There's really only 1 road through the park, and you see probably 1/5 of the park from it. And in the adjoining King's Canyon, you see far less from the road.

From Sequoia, we went to a really nice lake outside of Fresno, and drove back up to Seattle with a stop in Ashland, OR- home of the Shakespeare Festival.

We spent a lot of time in the car, but saw a lot of my country, which I feel I haven't properly done in the past. But now I know this: There's a lot of truly beautiful land out there. It never failed to make me realize how lucky I am to live here for the splendor of the Nat'l Parks.
It was a great trip, and I'm sad I have to go to work tomorrow!

sunday reading

I just read this article on the oil/war conspiracy. It's nothing new to me, but it's nice it's in the Washington Post.

I also had a big meal of goat bbq last night (with goat meatballs too). Tasty!

Beware!

Oh those ides!  Always misbehavin'.

Who knows what and when I'll post next.  I leave tomorrow, and will be on the road.  So don't get too worried about the blogging absence.

Later.

Windy

It's been windy like Wellington this week here in Seattle.

It reminds of the time pretty much the same time last year, right after I returned, when I was downtown at a corner. A huge gust came and these 2 women right next to me went crazy. I laughed out loud (unintentionally) and they looked at me. I just said to them, "this isn't windy. I know windy!" I then put on my cool sunglasses and jumped into my sports car and drove away.*


*That last sentence may not have happened. But it may have too....

Great Dentists

Not much happening round these parts, except preparing for the aforementioned trip this coming weekend.

I did go down to Oly to see my brother and my friend Aki, both of whom came home for spring break.

One other note: save your money and DO NOT PART WITH YOUR MONEY TO SEE 10K B.C.

It was boring, oh so boring, and terrible!  But apparently, there were some great dentists long, long ago...

Tripping

I'm starting to make a pile in my (just cleaned up) room for stuff for my road trip.  Angie and I are leaving the night of the 16th, and will be gone till the 1st.  I have a big list I've realized.  And I can take a big list as well.  With an Honda Element we have a lot of space, but she just bought a roof rack, after a ridiculous amount of hassle.  But I'll let her tell that story (which I doubt she wants to revisit).

Anyways.  I think I've bought all the gear I'm going to need.  I like gear I've realized.  There's one new thing you can say you know about me:  Alligator likes gear.

And the number 1 question of the last 2 weeks:  What's your route?

For (hopefully, but I highly DOUBT) the last time:

Seattle to Portland

Portland to Redwoods Nat'l Park

Redwoods to San Fran

San Fran down Highway 1 to a park on the ocean out side of Santa Barbara

From there to Six Flags Magic Mountain (rollercoasters)

To San Diego

From SD to Joshua Tree Nat'l park

Then to the Grand Canyon

Then to Vegas

Then after I win big, to Sequoia Nat'l Park.

Then up I-5 to northern california/oregon border

Then back to Seattle

A lot of miles.  Some stops are a couple of nights.  Most are one.

It should be fun.