Saturday, August 13, 2005
Heaven Beside You
Current Location: Seattle, WA, N 47 37.343', W 122 20.837', elev 94 ft.
On tuesday I didn't do a whole lot. I drove around downtown Portland to investigate the city a little, then headed north into Washington. I headed north until I got to the town of Kelso, WA (N 46 08.668', W 122 54.487', elev. 84 ft.), where I stopped for the night (relatively early) and did some laundry and other work. On Wednesday, I got up and went to Mount St. Helens. I drove out to Johnston Ridge Observatory, stopping along the way for photos and such. At Johnston Ridge, I paid $3 for the chance to take more photos and walk around the observation area, as well as check out the museum and film. One of the neatest parts was seeing that there were still some downed trees in the area, knocked over from the sheer force of the eruption blast in 1980, in which 59 people died. It was also interesting to see the valleys, which are still recovering from the mudslides 25 years later.
Photos from Mount St. Helens.
From there I drove back to the interstate, drove north until I reached US 12, and drove northwest and stopped in Elma, WA for the night. Thursday, I made the long journey around the Olympic peninsula, and Olympic National Park. From Elma, I drove west on US 12, passing through Aberdeen WA, home of Kurt Cobain. Entering the city, the welcome sign reads Come as you are.
I also saw a gentleman standing on a bridge with a picket sign that read "Intelligent design believers are living proof of unintelligent design." Well, I think this guy has the right idea, but the wrong message. His sign was kind of stupid if you ask me, because "unintelligent design" does not make any sense. I am by no means a supporter of the theory of intelligent design, but a lot of people seem to have it confused with creationism, and as an alternative or contrary theory to the theory of evolution. It is not! In fact, the theory of intelligent design, as taught at my Catholic high school, was designed to fit in well with the facts behind the theory of evolution, also taught at my high school. They are not mutually exclusive, and in fact, the theory of intelligent design came about to bring god into the equation of the mounting proof of evolution, when religions realized they couldn't keep up the fundamentalist creationism charade. I certainly do not believe intelligent design should be taught in public school, as it is a "theory" very much based in religion and belief in one god, without any proof, or evidence, just philosophical speculation (blind faith), as opposed to the "theory" of evolution, which is practically a law at this point there is so much scientific evidence to back it up. Intelligent design as a theory can also be applied to the creation of the universe, and not just the evolution of life. That doesn't make it a true theory, especially without any proof. The guy's sign should have read "The theory of evolution has a lot of facts backing it up, intelligent design has no facts and is idle theological-philosophical speculation". I guess that's probably too long to fit on a sign. How about "I am right, you are wrong. Shut up."
From Aberdeen, I found US 101 again, and drove north on that into Olympic National Park (N 48 03.950', W 123 54.461', elev. 127 ft.). This is a very remote place, a lot of trees, mountains, and rivers, and a bit of the Pacific. You know you're remote when there are no utility poles following the road. I also saw an interesting sign several times along the road here: "Delay of 5 vehicles is illegal, use turnouts." Olympic is very pretty, and has a lot of rainforest area, and a lot of mountains, but most of the park is inaccessible by car. Photos here.
US 101 pretty much curves around the entire Olympic peninsula, doing a loop back down to Olympia, WA. My initial intention was to cut over to Seattle via one of the two bridges that cross Puget Sound from US 101, but unfortunately, both were closed for the weekend. I'm not sure why this was but I assume it was either repairs or shipping. So I continued on down the 101, all the way to Olympia, not far from Elma where I had stayed the night before. Arriving in Olympia (N 47 02.869', W 122 49.303', elev 406 ft.), I noticed a sign Olympia - All America City, I think a lot of cities have this designation, but the other one I know most intimately is Troy, NY. Strange that these two all-American cities are named after famous Greek cities.
This brings me to the next track on the Jon Sheldon Across America soundtrack, Olympia, WA, by Rancid.
Rancid is one of my favorite bands, and I wanted to bring them up when I was in Oakland, but I forgot. Friday, I drove north on I-5 until I reached Washington 512 in Puyallup, WA, and from there headed south on Washington 7 and 706 until I reached Mount Rainier National Park. Mount Rainier is beautiful and I got many many amazing photos of the mountain and glaciers and forests and waterfalls. Mount Rainier is a very nifty place, and on clear days can be seen in most of northwest Washington, since it towers 8,000 feet above the surrounding areas. It sticks out like a sore thumb, and can be seen in many tourist photos and postcards of Seattle. Here are the photos from Mount Rainier.
I left Mount Rainier at about 4 PM and drove north on Washington 123 through the park and Washington 410 until I reached I-405 in the Seattle metro area. I drove I405 north into Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland, haunting grounds of Layne Staley before he formed Alice in Chains (also one of my favorite bands). From there I headed west on the very last stretch of I-90, into downtown Seattle, for Safeco Field. I got $5 parking and a $13 ticket. For some reason, scalping was huge and very obvious around Safeco. I'm not sure if its illegal, but there were at least 10 scalpers, and they were bold enough to stand in front of the ticket window in an effort to sell. They actually were very insistent salesman, and after I bought my ticket at the window, one even came up to me and harassed me telling me I could have saved 6 bucks with him.
Safeco is one of the more beautiful parks, I would rank it second behind SBC Park. It wasn't raining, so they had the roof open. Nintendo owns the team, and there were many Nintendo exhibits on display, including some yet to be released video games. The Mariners were playing the Angels. I didn't stay for the whole game, which the better team, the Angels won 9-4. But I did stick around long enough to see plenty of home runs in this supposedly pitcher friendly park. Photos. After the game, I found a motel and stayed the night in Seattle, the Emerald City.
On tuesday I didn't do a whole lot. I drove around downtown Portland to investigate the city a little, then headed north into Washington. I headed north until I got to the town of Kelso, WA (N 46 08.668', W 122 54.487', elev. 84 ft.), where I stopped for the night (relatively early) and did some laundry and other work. On Wednesday, I got up and went to Mount St. Helens. I drove out to Johnston Ridge Observatory, stopping along the way for photos and such. At Johnston Ridge, I paid $3 for the chance to take more photos and walk around the observation area, as well as check out the museum and film. One of the neatest parts was seeing that there were still some downed trees in the area, knocked over from the sheer force of the eruption blast in 1980, in which 59 people died. It was also interesting to see the valleys, which are still recovering from the mudslides 25 years later.
Photos from Mount St. Helens.
From there I drove back to the interstate, drove north until I reached US 12, and drove northwest and stopped in Elma, WA for the night. Thursday, I made the long journey around the Olympic peninsula, and Olympic National Park. From Elma, I drove west on US 12, passing through Aberdeen WA, home of Kurt Cobain. Entering the city, the welcome sign reads Come as you are.
I also saw a gentleman standing on a bridge with a picket sign that read "Intelligent design believers are living proof of unintelligent design." Well, I think this guy has the right idea, but the wrong message. His sign was kind of stupid if you ask me, because "unintelligent design" does not make any sense. I am by no means a supporter of the theory of intelligent design, but a lot of people seem to have it confused with creationism, and as an alternative or contrary theory to the theory of evolution. It is not! In fact, the theory of intelligent design, as taught at my Catholic high school, was designed to fit in well with the facts behind the theory of evolution, also taught at my high school. They are not mutually exclusive, and in fact, the theory of intelligent design came about to bring god into the equation of the mounting proof of evolution, when religions realized they couldn't keep up the fundamentalist creationism charade. I certainly do not believe intelligent design should be taught in public school, as it is a "theory" very much based in religion and belief in one god, without any proof, or evidence, just philosophical speculation (blind faith), as opposed to the "theory" of evolution, which is practically a law at this point there is so much scientific evidence to back it up. Intelligent design as a theory can also be applied to the creation of the universe, and not just the evolution of life. That doesn't make it a true theory, especially without any proof. The guy's sign should have read "The theory of evolution has a lot of facts backing it up, intelligent design has no facts and is idle theological-philosophical speculation". I guess that's probably too long to fit on a sign. How about "I am right, you are wrong. Shut up."
From Aberdeen, I found US 101 again, and drove north on that into Olympic National Park (N 48 03.950', W 123 54.461', elev. 127 ft.). This is a very remote place, a lot of trees, mountains, and rivers, and a bit of the Pacific. You know you're remote when there are no utility poles following the road. I also saw an interesting sign several times along the road here: "Delay of 5 vehicles is illegal, use turnouts." Olympic is very pretty, and has a lot of rainforest area, and a lot of mountains, but most of the park is inaccessible by car. Photos here.
US 101 pretty much curves around the entire Olympic peninsula, doing a loop back down to Olympia, WA. My initial intention was to cut over to Seattle via one of the two bridges that cross Puget Sound from US 101, but unfortunately, both were closed for the weekend. I'm not sure why this was but I assume it was either repairs or shipping. So I continued on down the 101, all the way to Olympia, not far from Elma where I had stayed the night before. Arriving in Olympia (N 47 02.869', W 122 49.303', elev 406 ft.), I noticed a sign Olympia - All America City, I think a lot of cities have this designation, but the other one I know most intimately is Troy, NY. Strange that these two all-American cities are named after famous Greek cities.
This brings me to the next track on the Jon Sheldon Across America soundtrack, Olympia, WA, by Rancid.
Hangin' on the corner of 52nd. and Broadway
cars passin' by but none of them seem to go my way
New York City well I wish I was on a highway
back to Olympia...
Rancid is one of my favorite bands, and I wanted to bring them up when I was in Oakland, but I forgot. Friday, I drove north on I-5 until I reached Washington 512 in Puyallup, WA, and from there headed south on Washington 7 and 706 until I reached Mount Rainier National Park. Mount Rainier is beautiful and I got many many amazing photos of the mountain and glaciers and forests and waterfalls. Mount Rainier is a very nifty place, and on clear days can be seen in most of northwest Washington, since it towers 8,000 feet above the surrounding areas. It sticks out like a sore thumb, and can be seen in many tourist photos and postcards of Seattle. Here are the photos from Mount Rainier.
I left Mount Rainier at about 4 PM and drove north on Washington 123 through the park and Washington 410 until I reached I-405 in the Seattle metro area. I drove I405 north into Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland, haunting grounds of Layne Staley before he formed Alice in Chains (also one of my favorite bands). From there I headed west on the very last stretch of I-90, into downtown Seattle, for Safeco Field. I got $5 parking and a $13 ticket. For some reason, scalping was huge and very obvious around Safeco. I'm not sure if its illegal, but there were at least 10 scalpers, and they were bold enough to stand in front of the ticket window in an effort to sell. They actually were very insistent salesman, and after I bought my ticket at the window, one even came up to me and harassed me telling me I could have saved 6 bucks with him.
Safeco is one of the more beautiful parks, I would rank it second behind SBC Park. It wasn't raining, so they had the roof open. Nintendo owns the team, and there were many Nintendo exhibits on display, including some yet to be released video games. The Mariners were playing the Angels. I didn't stay for the whole game, which the better team, the Angels won 9-4. But I did stick around long enough to see plenty of home runs in this supposedly pitcher friendly park. Photos. After the game, I found a motel and stayed the night in Seattle, the Emerald City.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Go With The Flow
Current location: Portland, OR, N 45 33.574', W 122 33.780', elev 57 ft.
On monday (happy birthday, Mom!), I drove north on I-5 until I reached Eugene, OR, where I headed west on Oregon 126 until I reached US 101 in Florence, OR. I had made it back to the coast. The Oregon coast is amazing to me, it was more than a hundred miles of untouched beauty, there were few cars, and few houses along the ocean, population centers are few and far between. Though there were plenty of sings proclaiming a Tsunami Hazard Zone - In The Event Of An Earthquake Seek Higher Ground. I wonder if those signs are relatively new (they looked new). There were so many great spots to stop the car and just look out over the ocean and dream a little. I think if I was to live someplace outside the northeast, Oregon would be the first place I investigate. Oregon to me was sort of like a larger, ocean fronting Vermont. Lots of farms, laid back people, a good mix of hippies, libertarians and patriots. I didn't even take many photos, because I wanted to keep this part of Oregon to myself.
Along the way, I came across a beach and stopped for a while. I parked my car on the hill above the beach, and when I stepped out, I encountered a vicious, raw wind, so I had to put on a sweatshirt to block the wind out a bit. I walked down the hill onto the beach and kicked my flip flops off to feel the sand. Once again, I ran into that strange juxtaposition of really hot sand and very cold water. I thought the waters of the pacific were warm and tingly, but I guess not. There were very few people on the beach, maybe 10 at the most, and the beach was at least a half mile in length. I walked to the far left side of the beach, there were these huge rock outcroppings I wanted to check out.
Down near the rock outcroppings, I came across a seagull. It was playing in the water, trying to catch a little bit of food, whatever the surf was bringing in. The seagull was floating on top of the water, in a few inches of depth, sometimes fighting the riptide a bit as it went out before the next wave rolled in. I watched the seagull for a bit, admiring his foraging efforts to catch little organisms in the water, walking up the beach a ways, then venturing back into the difficult water and wind.
On the ground
At one point, I got a little too close to the seagull, taking a few photos, and it spread its wings and caught the wind with very little effort. The strength of the wind and the updraft near the huge rocks was enough that the bird could reach great heights with ease, however, only with great effort could the seagull go in the direction it wanted. It occurred to me that the seagull was free, only limited by the wind, often aided by the wind, but even the seagull did not know where the wind would take him.
In the wind
The seagull's decision was a hard one, and you could see him struggling with it. He could land on the beach, in relative safety and security, but he was guaranteed to only ever eat the worms and bugs he found. He had a nice spot on the beach, but he was all alone (at least until I came over). His other choice was to fly, to take off and see all there was to see on the beautiful beach. But flying was the unknown. He might not find anything to eat, but on the other hand, he might come upon the ultimate prize: a clam or a crab to eat. He might glide out over the spectacular ocean in one minute, or be pushed perilously close to the rocks the next. Sometimes, the wind would hold him in one place, an equilibrium of movement, a clash of wills.
The equilibrium of wills
The seagull usually won the clash as the wind would eventually stop gusting with such ferocity, but for the seagull it was a pyrrhic victory as he would suddenly lose momentum and start to fall. He had to correct himself on the way down with great effort or risk crashing. I like to think that the seagull chose the unknown, the greater risk, the potential reward, far more often than he chose the safety of the ground.
The seagull's choice
I continued up the coast on US 101 until I found Oregon 18, just north of Lincoln City, OR. I took Oregon 18 east until I reached Portland, where I stopped for the night. View the day's photos here.
On monday (happy birthday, Mom!), I drove north on I-5 until I reached Eugene, OR, where I headed west on Oregon 126 until I reached US 101 in Florence, OR. I had made it back to the coast. The Oregon coast is amazing to me, it was more than a hundred miles of untouched beauty, there were few cars, and few houses along the ocean, population centers are few and far between. Though there were plenty of sings proclaiming a Tsunami Hazard Zone - In The Event Of An Earthquake Seek Higher Ground. I wonder if those signs are relatively new (they looked new). There were so many great spots to stop the car and just look out over the ocean and dream a little. I think if I was to live someplace outside the northeast, Oregon would be the first place I investigate. Oregon to me was sort of like a larger, ocean fronting Vermont. Lots of farms, laid back people, a good mix of hippies, libertarians and patriots. I didn't even take many photos, because I wanted to keep this part of Oregon to myself.
Along the way, I came across a beach and stopped for a while. I parked my car on the hill above the beach, and when I stepped out, I encountered a vicious, raw wind, so I had to put on a sweatshirt to block the wind out a bit. I walked down the hill onto the beach and kicked my flip flops off to feel the sand. Once again, I ran into that strange juxtaposition of really hot sand and very cold water. I thought the waters of the pacific were warm and tingly, but I guess not. There were very few people on the beach, maybe 10 at the most, and the beach was at least a half mile in length. I walked to the far left side of the beach, there were these huge rock outcroppings I wanted to check out.
Down near the rock outcroppings, I came across a seagull. It was playing in the water, trying to catch a little bit of food, whatever the surf was bringing in. The seagull was floating on top of the water, in a few inches of depth, sometimes fighting the riptide a bit as it went out before the next wave rolled in. I watched the seagull for a bit, admiring his foraging efforts to catch little organisms in the water, walking up the beach a ways, then venturing back into the difficult water and wind.
On the ground
At one point, I got a little too close to the seagull, taking a few photos, and it spread its wings and caught the wind with very little effort. The strength of the wind and the updraft near the huge rocks was enough that the bird could reach great heights with ease, however, only with great effort could the seagull go in the direction it wanted. It occurred to me that the seagull was free, only limited by the wind, often aided by the wind, but even the seagull did not know where the wind would take him.
In the wind
The seagull's decision was a hard one, and you could see him struggling with it. He could land on the beach, in relative safety and security, but he was guaranteed to only ever eat the worms and bugs he found. He had a nice spot on the beach, but he was all alone (at least until I came over). His other choice was to fly, to take off and see all there was to see on the beautiful beach. But flying was the unknown. He might not find anything to eat, but on the other hand, he might come upon the ultimate prize: a clam or a crab to eat. He might glide out over the spectacular ocean in one minute, or be pushed perilously close to the rocks the next. Sometimes, the wind would hold him in one place, an equilibrium of movement, a clash of wills.
The equilibrium of wills
The seagull usually won the clash as the wind would eventually stop gusting with such ferocity, but for the seagull it was a pyrrhic victory as he would suddenly lose momentum and start to fall. He had to correct himself on the way down with great effort or risk crashing. I like to think that the seagull chose the unknown, the greater risk, the potential reward, far more often than he chose the safety of the ground.
The seagull's choice
I continued up the coast on US 101 until I found Oregon 18, just north of Lincoln City, OR. I took Oregon 18 east until I reached Portland, where I stopped for the night. View the day's photos here.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Crater Lake
Current Location: Roseburg, OR
On Sunday, I left Crescent City and drove towards the Oregon border via US 199. It was only about 35 miles to the border, but I did get to pass the great California fruit shakedown near the border. Apparently you can carry all sorts of things into the state, drugs, alcohol, weapons, illegals, but not fruit, they don't want to contaminate their farms with out of state fruit. There was a backup of about 20 cars and trucks, even though it was a relatively lightly driven backwater highway.
I pretty much drove all day via US 199 until I reached I-5, which I took south until I reached Medford, OR where I took Oregon 62 north to Crater Lake National Park. I reached the park at about 5:30 PM, which gave me plenty of time to drive around and admire the many wonderful views before dark. Crater Lake is a lake about 6 miles in diameter, the deepest lake in the United States and the 7th deepest in the world. The lake fills the crater of a volcano that erupted in the 1400s, and has a magnificent deep dark blue color. Amazingly, the lake has set clarity records, sometimes you can see down depths of 120 feet, despite the fact that the water in the lake is pretty much the same water year after year. Because of the very high crater banks, ranging in elevation from 700 to 1000 feet, the lake does not feed any rivers, and so water only escapes via evaporation, which takes place at about the same rate melting snow drips into the lake.
These lake viewpoints are all about 1,000 feet elevation above the lake's surface
I drove all around the lake one and a half times. One circle around the lake was about 46 miles. Near the end of my first revolution, the sun started to set, so I took my time taking photos while the sun set on my way out of the park, exiting to the north side. Crater Lake was the 9th National Park in 9 days.
You can see the rest of the photos here. I was running low on gas and I left the park via Oregon 138 heading north, figuring I would find gas stations along the way back out to the interstate, as there were plenty on the road I took into the park. It got pretty hairy there though because the low fuel light came on pretty quickly as I left the borders of the park. I drove and drove and drove and didn't find any gas stations. Luckily most of the drive was downhill, dropping from 8,000 feet to 1,000 feet over the course of the first 50 miles, so I was able to put my car in neutral and coast between 50 and 60 mph most of the way, only slowing down for sharp curves. Because I was coasting at such a fast speed (though not exceeding the speed limit), I unfortunately nailed a raccoon. All I saw of it was the glow of its eyes as it realized death was imminent. It was near the middle of the road, and I swerved so it would pass directly under my car instead of my left wheel but, in its panic to survive it darted to my right and ended up under my right rear wheel. Crunch. Thankfully I hit it at such a fast speed it certainly died instantly rather than suffering. At about the 50 mile mark with the light on, I did start to see some settlements, some homes, maybe a campground here and there. Unfortunately, I did pass a few gas stations, but it being about 9 PM on sunday night, all the stations I passed were closed, so I had to keep going. I kept checking my phone to see if I was back in service range yet (nope!), so I would be able to make a phone call to AAA if necessary. I was also keeping careful track of the mile markers, not that would have helped me without phone service, but luckily they were counting down towards the interstate, so I knew the maximum distance I would have to go to get gas. I honestly was sort of hoping I would run out of gas, in that perverted part of the back of my brain, just so I'd have a better story, but that was not the case, as I did eventually find an open gas station (though I did have to go all the way to the interstate to find one). My car went an amazing 78 miles with the light on, and still had about a half gallon of fuel when I pulled into the station. Like New Jersey, Oregon does not allow you to pump your own gas, which I find intensely annoying. I hate full serve gas. I was in the town of Roseburg and since it was past 10 PM, I found a cheap motel and settled in for the night.
Today (sunday) was the 7th of August, the anniversary of my grandfather's birthday. (He left us two and a half years prior). I later found out in one of those weird coincidences in life that my grandmother found a quarter on his headstone. The quarter happened to be one of the very new Oregon quarters, which features Crater Lake on the tails side. Just a neat little coincidence I suppose; we're not really sure who placed the quarter there. I don't really have any strong opinions on the afterlife, I'm not sure what I believe, I usually don't give it much thought because I am concentrated on living this life more fully, but it is kind of neat to think that if there is an afterlife, my grandparents would be looking down on me, vigilant, in my corner, urging me on in my adventure from the big cheering section. Gramps would definitely relish hearing the adventures I'm experiencing, the sights I am seeing, and egg me on with little jokes about my car, which he dubbed The Silver Ghost. So even though I don't quite believe in an afterlife and heaven and all that, I certainly hope there is one, just so he can check in on me once in a while.
On Sunday, I left Crescent City and drove towards the Oregon border via US 199. It was only about 35 miles to the border, but I did get to pass the great California fruit shakedown near the border. Apparently you can carry all sorts of things into the state, drugs, alcohol, weapons, illegals, but not fruit, they don't want to contaminate their farms with out of state fruit. There was a backup of about 20 cars and trucks, even though it was a relatively lightly driven backwater highway.
I pretty much drove all day via US 199 until I reached I-5, which I took south until I reached Medford, OR where I took Oregon 62 north to Crater Lake National Park. I reached the park at about 5:30 PM, which gave me plenty of time to drive around and admire the many wonderful views before dark. Crater Lake is a lake about 6 miles in diameter, the deepest lake in the United States and the 7th deepest in the world. The lake fills the crater of a volcano that erupted in the 1400s, and has a magnificent deep dark blue color. Amazingly, the lake has set clarity records, sometimes you can see down depths of 120 feet, despite the fact that the water in the lake is pretty much the same water year after year. Because of the very high crater banks, ranging in elevation from 700 to 1000 feet, the lake does not feed any rivers, and so water only escapes via evaporation, which takes place at about the same rate melting snow drips into the lake.
These lake viewpoints are all about 1,000 feet elevation above the lake's surface
I drove all around the lake one and a half times. One circle around the lake was about 46 miles. Near the end of my first revolution, the sun started to set, so I took my time taking photos while the sun set on my way out of the park, exiting to the north side. Crater Lake was the 9th National Park in 9 days.
You can see the rest of the photos here. I was running low on gas and I left the park via Oregon 138 heading north, figuring I would find gas stations along the way back out to the interstate, as there were plenty on the road I took into the park. It got pretty hairy there though because the low fuel light came on pretty quickly as I left the borders of the park. I drove and drove and drove and didn't find any gas stations. Luckily most of the drive was downhill, dropping from 8,000 feet to 1,000 feet over the course of the first 50 miles, so I was able to put my car in neutral and coast between 50 and 60 mph most of the way, only slowing down for sharp curves. Because I was coasting at such a fast speed (though not exceeding the speed limit), I unfortunately nailed a raccoon. All I saw of it was the glow of its eyes as it realized death was imminent. It was near the middle of the road, and I swerved so it would pass directly under my car instead of my left wheel but, in its panic to survive it darted to my right and ended up under my right rear wheel. Crunch. Thankfully I hit it at such a fast speed it certainly died instantly rather than suffering. At about the 50 mile mark with the light on, I did start to see some settlements, some homes, maybe a campground here and there. Unfortunately, I did pass a few gas stations, but it being about 9 PM on sunday night, all the stations I passed were closed, so I had to keep going. I kept checking my phone to see if I was back in service range yet (nope!), so I would be able to make a phone call to AAA if necessary. I was also keeping careful track of the mile markers, not that would have helped me without phone service, but luckily they were counting down towards the interstate, so I knew the maximum distance I would have to go to get gas. I honestly was sort of hoping I would run out of gas, in that perverted part of the back of my brain, just so I'd have a better story, but that was not the case, as I did eventually find an open gas station (though I did have to go all the way to the interstate to find one). My car went an amazing 78 miles with the light on, and still had about a half gallon of fuel when I pulled into the station. Like New Jersey, Oregon does not allow you to pump your own gas, which I find intensely annoying. I hate full serve gas. I was in the town of Roseburg and since it was past 10 PM, I found a cheap motel and settled in for the night.
Today (sunday) was the 7th of August, the anniversary of my grandfather's birthday. (He left us two and a half years prior). I later found out in one of those weird coincidences in life that my grandmother found a quarter on his headstone. The quarter happened to be one of the very new Oregon quarters, which features Crater Lake on the tails side. Just a neat little coincidence I suppose; we're not really sure who placed the quarter there. I don't really have any strong opinions on the afterlife, I'm not sure what I believe, I usually don't give it much thought because I am concentrated on living this life more fully, but it is kind of neat to think that if there is an afterlife, my grandparents would be looking down on me, vigilant, in my corner, urging me on in my adventure from the big cheering section. Gramps would definitely relish hearing the adventures I'm experiencing, the sights I am seeing, and egg me on with little jokes about my car, which he dubbed The Silver Ghost. So even though I don't quite believe in an afterlife and heaven and all that, I certainly hope there is one, just so he can check in on me once in a while.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Clouds Below the Road, Car Above the Trees
Current Location: Crescent City, CA, N 41 44.988', W 124 10.878', elev. 8 ft.
On saturday morning, I woke up in my car in Eureka, CA, and realized one thing that would prevent me from sleeping in my car too often, even though it was a huge money saver: no shower. Ecch. And I hate being dirty, but I powered through it. I found a public bathroom down by the beach and sort of washed my face and hair and brushed my teeth, but I'm pretty sure the hobo stench was still on me the rest of the day. While gassing up at a station in Eureka, I noticed Star Wars themed lottery scratch tickets. They were $5. Normally I would have jumped at the chance to buy one, but held off. Somewhere around in there, my car passed 80,000 miles, and during the day, went over 15,000 for the trip. I guess my initial estimate of 14,000 for the entire trip was way off.
I began driving north from Eureka on US 101, which very quickly began hugging the coast, just south of Redwood National Park. I was surprised how sparsely populated this area of California is, considering the beauty and the beaches. Driving north to the very southern end of the national park, I found a place called Humboldt Lagoons where I decided to pull in and take some photos. Humboldt Lagoons was just off this very small beach town. A huge fog had appeared in the area and when I got out to the beach, I stepped out onto one of the most beautiful coastlines I have yet to see. The beach was long, wide, and had some very pretty features. The sand was very dark, almost black, and very hot, even though the sun was not out at that moment. Closer to the water, the sand had very large pebbles instead of fine grains.
The huge pebbles did cut my feet a bit, and when I stepped into the water, it was very frigid, it felt like it was in the 50's, almost as cold as the water streaming from the Yosemite waterfalls, so the cold salt water didn't feel all that great in the tiny pebble cuts. The lack of people and the interesting features and the low fog makes this probably the prettiest beach I have seen, and the fog rolling up into the forested area reminds me very much of the rainforest coast in southern Alaska. In case you hadn't realized it by now, my whole trip in the "lower 48" is a quest to find beauty equal or better to that which I was introduced to in Alaska last summer. Its been rare and far between (until the past week) but worth it when I've found it. I spent a while at Humboldt Lagoon, just watching the surf come in, enjoying the smoke like darkness of the fog, and the dissipation of the fog a bit later.
I drove north some more, enjoying the breathtaking views of the coast drive, until I reached the visitor center of the national park, where I got out, and went into the museum and learned a bit about the coast redwoods. (Most of the national parks have little museum centers covering what you can find in the park, topographical maps of the park, and short films detailing the history. I just eat this stuff up.) I learned that the coast redwoods grow to be the tallest organisms on earth, and though they are a cousin of the giant sequoia, require far more moisture than their dry cousins. All the fog surrounding the coastal regions of northern California provide an excellent moisture source for the tall trees. I drove up the mountain road of the park into one of the groves and did a two mile hike along the redwood path, stopping to take many photos.
With the exception of width, the trees are similar looking to the giant sequoias, including many battle scars where they've survived blazing forest fires, and lived to tell the tale.
I find that in the national parks, my XM radio does not get clear signal. The antenna needs an unobstructed view of the southern sky and often in the parks, the trees are too tall, too close to the road, or the twisty mountain roads all may block the signal. I found my XM blocked in Redwood (N 41 19.273', W 124 02.479' elev 33 ft.) so I turned off my XM for the drive, and put the newest Coldplay album on the stereo through my iPod. Has anyone heard this album? It's actually very trippy and psychedelic, I'm convinced they wanted people to get high and give it a listen. With the music, and the cool breeze streaming into my car, the strobe effect of the sun through the trees as I drove, surrounded by all that green, I was just hypnotized, I felt very much at ease and relaxed. I got back to the coast, and with the incredible trees on the right side, and the ocean on the left, perhaps 200 feet below the road and low hovering clouds above the ocean on the left side as you hug the road, I felt as though I was driving over the world. I felt as though my car were floating and I was looking down on all the magnificence. Though the feeling lasted for 20 minutes at the most, it was far and away the best natural high I've ever had.
The clouds below the road
I was a bit jarred out of the experience when the road turned 3-D. If you think about it, three dimensions are not a desired quality in road surfaces! The pavement gave way to dirt on the very coast road, and the drive was very bumpy and up and down hills, bit the views were still worth. Its weird, but all the moisture makes the forest smell exactly like the swampy goodness of the Everglades. At the very end of the coast drive, I came upon another lagoon area, with a huge sand bar that causes a saltwater lake at low tide, joined by the mouth of the Klamath River, another spectacular view.
It was about 6 PM at this point, so I decided to head north to Crescent City to find a place to stay for the evening, then come back south to find a really nice beach to take sunset pictures. On the way I came across a tourist trap area called Trees of Mystery. I had to stop and take a photo of their giant statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Ox.
Crescent City is surrounded by the borders of the park on all sides, but it is a neat small little beach resort community. I found a place, got a quick dinner, then drove back to a beach I found that was about 2 miles north of Trees of Mystery. The beach was beautiful, and I got there just in time for sunset. I took many photos on the beach, and got some really great photos. The photos from that beach are my favorite at this point in the trip. I really lucked out and had a lot of "honeylight" to take good photos, and the black sand and rocks really helped.
View the rest of the photos here. Because of the combo of beautiful coast and amazing giant trees, Redwood National Park moves to number 2 on my list of national parks. I'll actually be writing out the full list soon and putting it on the site somewhere.
On saturday morning, I woke up in my car in Eureka, CA, and realized one thing that would prevent me from sleeping in my car too often, even though it was a huge money saver: no shower. Ecch. And I hate being dirty, but I powered through it. I found a public bathroom down by the beach and sort of washed my face and hair and brushed my teeth, but I'm pretty sure the hobo stench was still on me the rest of the day. While gassing up at a station in Eureka, I noticed Star Wars themed lottery scratch tickets. They were $5. Normally I would have jumped at the chance to buy one, but held off. Somewhere around in there, my car passed 80,000 miles, and during the day, went over 15,000 for the trip. I guess my initial estimate of 14,000 for the entire trip was way off.
I began driving north from Eureka on US 101, which very quickly began hugging the coast, just south of Redwood National Park. I was surprised how sparsely populated this area of California is, considering the beauty and the beaches. Driving north to the very southern end of the national park, I found a place called Humboldt Lagoons where I decided to pull in and take some photos. Humboldt Lagoons was just off this very small beach town. A huge fog had appeared in the area and when I got out to the beach, I stepped out onto one of the most beautiful coastlines I have yet to see. The beach was long, wide, and had some very pretty features. The sand was very dark, almost black, and very hot, even though the sun was not out at that moment. Closer to the water, the sand had very large pebbles instead of fine grains.
The huge pebbles did cut my feet a bit, and when I stepped into the water, it was very frigid, it felt like it was in the 50's, almost as cold as the water streaming from the Yosemite waterfalls, so the cold salt water didn't feel all that great in the tiny pebble cuts. The lack of people and the interesting features and the low fog makes this probably the prettiest beach I have seen, and the fog rolling up into the forested area reminds me very much of the rainforest coast in southern Alaska. In case you hadn't realized it by now, my whole trip in the "lower 48" is a quest to find beauty equal or better to that which I was introduced to in Alaska last summer. Its been rare and far between (until the past week) but worth it when I've found it. I spent a while at Humboldt Lagoon, just watching the surf come in, enjoying the smoke like darkness of the fog, and the dissipation of the fog a bit later.
I drove north some more, enjoying the breathtaking views of the coast drive, until I reached the visitor center of the national park, where I got out, and went into the museum and learned a bit about the coast redwoods. (Most of the national parks have little museum centers covering what you can find in the park, topographical maps of the park, and short films detailing the history. I just eat this stuff up.) I learned that the coast redwoods grow to be the tallest organisms on earth, and though they are a cousin of the giant sequoia, require far more moisture than their dry cousins. All the fog surrounding the coastal regions of northern California provide an excellent moisture source for the tall trees. I drove up the mountain road of the park into one of the groves and did a two mile hike along the redwood path, stopping to take many photos.
With the exception of width, the trees are similar looking to the giant sequoias, including many battle scars where they've survived blazing forest fires, and lived to tell the tale.
I find that in the national parks, my XM radio does not get clear signal. The antenna needs an unobstructed view of the southern sky and often in the parks, the trees are too tall, too close to the road, or the twisty mountain roads all may block the signal. I found my XM blocked in Redwood (N 41 19.273', W 124 02.479' elev 33 ft.) so I turned off my XM for the drive, and put the newest Coldplay album on the stereo through my iPod. Has anyone heard this album? It's actually very trippy and psychedelic, I'm convinced they wanted people to get high and give it a listen. With the music, and the cool breeze streaming into my car, the strobe effect of the sun through the trees as I drove, surrounded by all that green, I was just hypnotized, I felt very much at ease and relaxed. I got back to the coast, and with the incredible trees on the right side, and the ocean on the left, perhaps 200 feet below the road and low hovering clouds above the ocean on the left side as you hug the road, I felt as though I was driving over the world. I felt as though my car were floating and I was looking down on all the magnificence. Though the feeling lasted for 20 minutes at the most, it was far and away the best natural high I've ever had.
The clouds below the road
I was a bit jarred out of the experience when the road turned 3-D. If you think about it, three dimensions are not a desired quality in road surfaces! The pavement gave way to dirt on the very coast road, and the drive was very bumpy and up and down hills, bit the views were still worth. Its weird, but all the moisture makes the forest smell exactly like the swampy goodness of the Everglades. At the very end of the coast drive, I came upon another lagoon area, with a huge sand bar that causes a saltwater lake at low tide, joined by the mouth of the Klamath River, another spectacular view.
It was about 6 PM at this point, so I decided to head north to Crescent City to find a place to stay for the evening, then come back south to find a really nice beach to take sunset pictures. On the way I came across a tourist trap area called Trees of Mystery. I had to stop and take a photo of their giant statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Ox.
Crescent City is surrounded by the borders of the park on all sides, but it is a neat small little beach resort community. I found a place, got a quick dinner, then drove back to a beach I found that was about 2 miles north of Trees of Mystery. The beach was beautiful, and I got there just in time for sunset. I took many photos on the beach, and got some really great photos. The photos from that beach are my favorite at this point in the trip. I really lucked out and had a lot of "honeylight" to take good photos, and the black sand and rocks really helped.
View the rest of the photos here. Because of the combo of beautiful coast and amazing giant trees, Redwood National Park moves to number 2 on my list of national parks. I'll actually be writing out the full list soon and putting it on the site somewhere.