Quick Intro

Hey all, this seems like it's the easiest way for me to post updates and stories and whatnot when I go overseas. Updates will likely be infrequent, but I promise to get online as often as I possibly can. I will still have access to my email, but I've been told that Facebook and MySpace are notoriously unreliable. And so, here we are.

California, Oregon, Washington

Spent a few days around the SF Bay, between Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco. Drove back to Yosemite for 4 days. We saw some deluxe sunsets,











hiked along part of the John Muir Trail,














and came across some bitchin' rainbow-waterfall scenery







Seriously, I was just waiting for a unicorn to come along.



Back to Oakland for a day, then out to the Pacific Coast to continue northward.











Camped that night just outside of Fort Bragg. Apparently my Jeep was visited in the night by some curious creatures.











Following my route up the coast, I stopped by the Trees of Mystery. There's a lot of crazy shit in California.














I camped just across the border in Oregon that night.











Continued up the Oregon coast.











Stopped at Prehistoric World because, well, I had to.






















Pulled over to check out Oregon Dunes overlook. Found a trail, and made my way out to the beach. I had a solid 3 miles of Pacific Ocean all to myself.











Made my way up into Portland, stayed with my friend Lindy and her parents for a few days. Got to spend a few hours at Powell's, saw a movie at the Baghdad, and drank lots of fantastic beer. Left Portland for Seattle, swinging by the east side of Mt. Rainier.














Oh, and I got to see more columnar basalt.














Spent a week in Seattle, wandering around downtown, drinking, and playing Rock Band 2 with Tyler and his housemates. Got to do a bit of hiking just outside of Seattle. Not much wildlife, save for a few enormous slugs.














Today, we went to the zoo. We got to feed the tapirs,











the ostriches,











and a giraffe.














Leaving tomorrow morning, planning on heading down to and around Mt. Rainier again before aiming the Jeep east, towards Yellowstone.

Week 1: Last one out of Vegas, burn it to the ground.

Well, it's about time that I got this thing going.

After leaving Vegas on September 2nd, I camped my first night in Rachel, a small town on the Extraterrestrial Highway.
This place gets a fair amount of traffic, due to being less than a mile from the main access road to Area 51. Note the fairly prominent monument/time capsule dedicated to the filming on "Independence Day."
I went to check out the gate, but didn't take any photos. I was deterred by the large signs reading "NO PHOTOGRAPHY" and "DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED." These people are definitely not screwing around.

Continuing west, I crossed into California just south of Yosemite, and was distracted enough by the scenery to end up camped by June Lake for a couple of nights.

Here, I got to rediscover my long-dormant fire-making skills.

This is why I'm hot.
Well, technically, this is why my Ramen Noodles are hot.


I got to see some volcanic craters,









No, in YO craters!


an earthquake fault,






Well, technically,
it's a fissure, but
who's really keeping track?


and some spectacular columnar basalt in the Devil's Postpile National Monument.
If you're ever in the area of Mammoth Lakes, it's well worth the detour.









I then looped east and north around Yosemite, with a stop at Bodie,
a gold rush era mining town.






I think I found your problem, ma'am.
It's the timing belt.




Took the Sonoran Pass across the Sierra Nevadas. Very slow going, one of many roads through there that are closed during the winter, but got to see The Columns of the Giants near Dardanelle.

Yes, I'm a rock dork.



Once out of the mountains, I took a minor detour to see Moaning Cave (I mean, really, how could I not?). It doesn't really "moan" any more, as the acoustic amplification of water dripping into holes in the rock nearly 200 ft down was effectively corked by the visitor center that was built directly over the opening. The greatest part of the place was the 80-year-old metal spiral staircase leading over 100 ft down. This thing has only needed one minor repair in all of the years it's been in place.
Apparently, back in the day, tour guides used to dump their used flashlight batteries into the center support column from the top of the stairs. Meaning that the bottom 20 ft or so of the staircase's support column is filled with 60-80 year old leaking batteries.

Fun!


Oh, and this cave was used as a model for the giant party/orgy scene in the Matrix Reloaded. They even have one of the fake rocks from the film in a corner of the visitor center.






I had to take a minor detour, to verify the existence of
possibly the best place name ever.










Cruising across central Cali, picked up my first hitchhiker of my trip just outside of Concord. Swung up through the hills east of SanFran, then dropped down into Berkely.