Jul 31, 2013

We didn't have a long drive to the Grand Canyon from our campsite so we got there pretty early. We checked out the visitor center for information on our hike and then went to catch our shuttle bus to the trailhead. There really isn't a place in around the rim of the Grand Canyon with a bad view. As we started to descend we could see deep into the canyon and over to the north rim.

We hiked down the South Kaibab trail, passing teams of mules and slow-moving tourists in flip-flops and Converse. I wouldn't want to climb back up this trail in those. It was a steep descent, at times rocky, and very popular. There were NPS workers clearing loose boulders from a section of the trail so we had to chill and watch them slowly lower them down with ropes so no one got squashed. We got down to Cedar Ridge and walked out to the edge.

The trail was pretty great the whole way. It was well-maintained and easy to follow. There really wasn't any way to get off the trail anyway. The view from Cedar Ridge was gorgeous and sweeping. We stopped here for a snack before we turned around.

The hardest part about taking photos here is decided which direction to point the camera. There is a panoramic view of beauty and no photo could really capture it.

I attempted to shoot interesting photos for a while, and then I gave in and sat there taking in the view and enjoying the sun. The hike back up was not as bad as I thought it might be, but it was certainly steep. We took it at an easy pace, but I find it easier to take some steep sections quickly to get them over with.

We had a nice long drive out of the Grand Canyon area up to Utah. We found a place to camp outside of Zion and set up for sleep after a long day out in the sun.

Jul 30, 2013

We didn't sleep very well in the desert heat once the sun came up. It was hot and sweaty, but we had a nice view. We kept the rain guard on just to keep the direct sunlight off of us, but it was keeping the heat in also.

This was our camping spot. You can't see that there was a parking lot five feet in the other direction. When we got up there were people there selling Native American jewelry next to the sign that says you can't sell anything. There were a few people checking out the view. We didn't even care about being camped out in the open at this point.

We took a little detour to the Hoover Dam. We were going to do a tour, but it cost more than we wanted to spend. We parked in the lot and walked up to the overlook bridge. This was a cool view. As huge as it is, it looked strangely smaller than I had imagined. It was also a little strange seeing something so iconic in person.

The bridge crosses the border between Nevada and Arizona so we were straddling the line. After we had looked down enough we headed back to the car

The drive to Phoenix was long, and when we got there Joanna dropped me off at North Mountain Brews so I could sample while she went to the store. I was the only one in there and the samples were free so that was cool with me. I tried all of the beers on tap, including the Soiled Dove Dirty Blonde which I really liked, and the 3 Strings Porter, another really tasty one. They had two guest brews on, The Lips of Faith by New Belgium, which was pretty good, and the Vernal Minthe Stout by Ska Brewing that was amazing. I wish I could have gotten a bottle of that. We went over to Papago Brewing next, where I only tried a flight of four. The ones I really liked were the Coconut Joe Coffee Stout and the Vanilla Mandarin Wheat Ale.

We went to Green for dinner. The menu looked pretty awesome and I ended up getting the Big WAC burger. It was so messy and hard to eat, but it was pretty good. The food was good, but the Tsoynami milkshake was amaaaaaaazing. I got one with butterfinger-like peanut butter pieces in it and I inhaled it as we checked out the vegan t-shirt store in the same plaza. There was some cool stuff, but the best part was talking to the clerk about Kevin Smith movies.

We made it to Fountain Lakes DGC as the sun was getting ready to dip behind the mountains. It plays around a lake with a fountain in the middle and uses the water frequently as a hazard. A disc or two were almost lost. It is a gorgeous park, with well-manicured grass, a nice walkway, and easy to read tee signs.

The fountain shoots off every fifteen minutes or so into a huge spout of water that is probably fifty feet high. The course was fun and sunset was beautiful, but somehow I lost a disc in an open area of the grass toward the end. It was dusk and harder to see, but we looked around for a long time. The only thing I could think was it rolled down the embankment and into the water. There is no other good explanation.

We headed back out of Phoenix toward the Grand Canyon and found ourselves a nice spot off a dirt road in the Kaibab National Forest. It's great knowing that we can camp anywhere in a National Forest for free unless it's marked.

Jul 29, 2013

It was hard getting up from sleep on the nice air mattress, but I could tell the weather was really nice outside. Mary had been up for a while, stepping over us in the living room. I had some cereal for breakfast and we left our stuff there to pick up later so we didn't have to leave it in the car all day.

We took directions from a website to find the Hollywood sign trailhead, but we walked the wrong way at first somehow and got pretty far off before we realized we were off track. We came back and realized the road we were supposed to take was right by the car. I really like this sign though.

After an initially very steep hike up the hill we reached a plateau with a single tree overlooking the city. We hung out there for a minute, taking in the view and writing in the journal that sits under the tree.

The path climbed gently after that, rolling over the spine of the hills. We could see the radio tower that I recognize from so many times I've seen the Hollywood sign in movies and photos. The heat wasn't so overpowering once we got up there and weren't climbing such steep sides anymore.

The city skyline was in view here, but the famous LA smog was obscuring it. I actually like the shot of it like this because it's representative of the culture here.

In other directions there are wide views of the LA basin for miles. We continued along the top of the path for a while before it dropped back down on the other side and ended at the "Hugh Hefner Overlook." That's Hollywood.

We took a short road up along a chain link fence with people scattered around looking at the view. It's amazing that something so out of the way and mundane attracts such a crowd.

 The sign itself was just about exactly as I thought it would be. I knew we couldn't get down to it, but the urge grew in me just by being there. We thought about asking one of the landscapers to let us go down there, but we waited too long. We did some feet shots on the fence and I did the best I could to crop out the unwanted parts. Once Joanna was tired of clinging to metal we headed back up and over the ridge to the car.

We went downtown to a place called Real Food Daily for lunch. We were in sweaty hiking clothes, but we didn't care that everyone else looked pretty nice. Joanna went with the nachos, but I had to try their reuben. It was pretty good, but no Chicago Diner. I was still pretty happy with my meal since I was super hungry. After eating we went back to Mary's to pack up our stuff and headed east toward Las Vegas.

The one place I wanted to go was Tenaya Creek Brewing in North Las Vegas. After searching for vegan pizza and failing miserable several times, ending up walking all the way down Fremont Street through the freaks and performers, then finding the pizza place to only have one slice of expensive vegan pizza, we gave up. I got the really cool flight of beer at Tenaya, which is my favorite part of it. Some of the beers weren't as good as I recall, but the Tandem Double IPA and Old Jackalope Barleywine were both great.

I was checking in on Untappd to all of my beers, prompting one of the guys that work in the brewery to come out and see who was drinking so much. He talked to us for a while, revealing himself as a fellow traveler. After telling him about our trip he offered us a place to stay for the night. We were quick to take him up on the offer, but we later reconsidered and wanted to get out of town instead of staying around drinking until dawn.

 We went back to the strip to get some food at Tropical Smoothie Cafe and then went to take foot photos by Paris and the Bellagio. We got some cool shots. We headed out of town and picked up Route 93 into Arizona. After searching a few places in the National Forest we ended up putting up a tent alongside a rest area parking lot. It was really warm already, but we were so tired we put up the tent on autopilot and passed out.

Jul 28, 2013

When we got up I wanted to go for a run along the water so I snuck out and walked down to the docks. It was pretty busy even for the morning as I ran north, dodging pedestrians while checking out the sights all along the way. It was a beautiful morning to run and when I got near the airport I could watch the planes taking off and landing. I wouldn't mind having that as my daily routine. When I got done I showered and we picked up beer for Diana and Matt to thank them for letting us stay. We said our farewells and we headed back toward Los Angeles.

When we got back to LA we parked a couple of miles down the road and then biked to The Getty Center. We had to take a monorail up to the actual building. The grounds of this places are beautiful. There are big open fields to picnic on, leading to the sculpture garden. There are a bunch of buildings holding many styles of art from different periods. My favorite part was the photography exhibition, Japan's Modern Divide: The Photographs of Hiroshi Hamaya and Kansuke Yamamoto. It was a great story in photographs of Japan's culture. After we covered the grounds we headed back to our bikes and then to the car.

I wanted to stop at the Chinese Theater to shoot some photos on the Walk of Stars. I didn't really get what I wanted. I was hoping that I could show the stars all down the sidewalk with her feet in the shot, but I was too low to the ground with the angle so you can only really see the first one.

We met Kateri at Sage Vegan Bistro for dinner. I hadn't seen her in a very long time so we had a lot to chat about. She suggested things to do in LA and told us about her plans for traveling in the future. I wish I could do what she does. I wouldn't have thought to do an Antarctica trip, but I wouldn't say no to one either.

The food was fantastic at this place. The ravioli were so damn good, and my reuben was really tasty as well. I kinda wished I'd gotten the tuna melt just to see. Amidst all of the catching up and chowing down, we also got another birthday treat of two flavors of frozen yogurt. I liked the chocolate one a lot.

We headed to Mary's house where we planned to spend the night and carried our clothes and pillows for several blocks to the house. After we hung there for a little bit, she took us to the 1979 Public House to have a few beers and talk. It was cool little bar with a big beer list. I had an Allagash Black and tried a Green Flash IPA that I wished I had gotten. We went back to her place and hung out with her roommate and his date for the night, talking and joking for a while until everyone decided it was bedtime.

Jul 27, 2013

When we got up and came up with a plan it ended up being just to drive out to Stone Brewing and hang out for the day. The place is huge and not anywhere that seems like a brewery or establishment of any kind should be. The entrance walkway is wrapped in vines and you enter to a large stone room with high ceilings. All of the tours for the day were already booked up so we just opted to put our names in for a table and sample some beer!

I was a little disappointed that the tap list was filled with mostly beer I have had before, but at least I knew they were all good. We got our flight and walked carefully with them to an outside seating area. The Stone IPA is still one of the best on tap. The Levitation Ale is also a quality beer. It's funny rating these beers since they are mostly all better than anything else you can get on average anywhere else. They had a Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout that was made with the help of Wil Wheaton from Star Trek. Diana, Matt, and I passed the glasses down the line and talked about each one. I think we had a total of 13 beers. Not bad for an afternoon.

Once we had finished our samples, it turned out our table had been ready so we went and occupied it before it was given away. I got an IPA to have with lunch and we ordered some food. The whole place is just nicely designed. Everything feels open and roomy. Even the inside tables almost feel like you're outside. We had a great time. Then we drove back to their place listening to Argyle Gargoyle and Party Attack, which it turned out Matt was in back in NJ.

Matt had an engagement, so the three of us walked along the water and through downtown a little bit. Diana showed us the courthouse she hopes to work at one day and took us to her school, which has an awesome outdoor patio on the roof with a cactus garden. I stupidly decided I could wear my flip flops on this walk, but they start to hurt after a few miles so we took the trolley back. We picked up some Indian food and brought it back to the apartment to eat while we watched an episode of Breaking Bad. Luckily they've seen all the episodes as well so they didn't mind joining in.

We tried to formulate a plan for the night and ended up deciding to go down to Little Italy and walk around before stopping in at Craft and Commerce. The bar has an awesome craft beer selection, and it's quite popular based on the large crowd there. I started with an Allagash Curieux that I sipped on while we stood awkwardly next to the walkway between outdoor food seating and the bar. I got a Bacchus by Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck next, and damn that was a good sour beer. Another one of those beers I just want an endless supply of. We wrapped it up there and went back to the apartment to chill and watch stand up comedy for a while before inflating our air mattress and going to bed for the night.

Jul 26, 2013

We finished driving down to Los Angeles in the morning and Joanna had a surprise for me. She didn't really give me any hints except that we had to be there at a certain time in the afternoon. So when we got into town, narrowly avoiding death in the car, we went to an Asian vegan place for lunch. We parked the car a few blocks from where we needed to go and then walked there. We rounded the corner to see a big warehouse studio building that said "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," and that was the reveal. I had totally forgotten about that guy since I never really watch proper TV.

We stood in line and ran into Joanna's friend who just finished working on the last season of Dexter! People are doing things.. But we stood in line for a while and then we sat on the benches after being let in. It was a long process to wait through but eventually we were taken inside and seated in the studio. We got front row seats right behind the main camera. That could be good or bad. There was a warm-up comedian whom I'm still not sure whether or not he's funny, but after he finished his thing Craig came out and we got the show started.

They taped two episodes that night, and they were both hilarious. James Marsden and Meghan Markle from Suits were the guests on the first episode. Keith Olbermann was on the second. The way Craig conducts an interview, it's impossible for it not to be funny or interesting. It was even more hilarious seeing him do things in person. It was great and fun surprise.

After the show we went to Doomie's to get the famed Big Mac off their secret menu. It was still good, if hard to eat. I actually thought the leftover one Joanna brought home to me was better. When we finished eating it was off to San Diego. When we got there I met Diana in the Gaslamp district where she was working to talk briefly before I went back to her apartment where Matt let us in and got us settled. When Diana got back we cracked open some beers and hung out talking for a couple of hours until bedtime.

Jul 25, 2013

This one is for the early risers. We got up before dawn and headed down into Yosemite Valley and parked in the big lot for Half Dome hikers. We packed up all of our food and put it in the bear locker and got ourselves ready to go. The beginning of the hike is one we had done before, but I don't have much recollection of it. Once we got up near the water I started to recognize things like the boulder fields and then the bridge. We followed the trail up past several waterfalls before splitting off.

The hike took us over many different types of trail. It was sandy, rocky, paved, barely there, grassy, and packed dirt at different times. It was also sometimes densely wooded, sometimes on the edge of a rock face, and sometimes a wide open area. The varied terrain added to the fun of the hike, but it was strenuous before we even got to the end. It was pretty long to begin with and then there were steep parts with rock steps.

After a long walk, we started being able to see the rock formation called Half Dome that we would soon summit. As with anything that large, it looked a lot closer than it really was. We had some more winding and climbing over the big rock face in front of it before we got there.

We could see the ladder leading up from pretty far away with little dots of people on it. When we got closer and saw it first hand we just got excited. I did, at least. We perused the pile of gloves at the bottom of the ladder, left there for people to use as they wish. I tried them, but it felt too slippery with gloves so I went on bare-handed.

I felt like I took to it pretty easily. I was on the inclined rock and climbing with the use of ropes no problem. I definitely noticed the difficulty at times, but mostly I was just having too much fun to care. It's just so cool to be up there on the side of this giant slab of rock, pulling yourself up with a rope. We moved pretty fast on our way up except for when we stopped to shoot some photos.

The view from the top was breathtaking. It reminded me of Cloud's Rest last year, but of course that's because Cloud's Rest is just across the valley and the view is very much the same. The gray and green of the mountains and trees lining the earth and creating this really crazy pattern is my favorite part. They almost mirror the puffy, shadowed clouds. I love it.

We hung around taking photos for a while back and forth and looked around for the USGS marker but couldn't find it, then eventually headed down. The way down was actually harder to manage with no good grip and long spaces between boards. It wasn't so bad once I got a routine going. We were down and over the approach trail, but we had the steep rock stairs area that is just as bad going down as going up but for different reasons.

The trail down seemed long. Just long. It wasn't particularly hard at any point, and we actually took another route that was suggested to be easier on the knees than climbing down the rocky part we came up. We saw some nice scenery with views of Half Dome and the waterfalls from a different angle. The trail seemed to drag on for so long. We were behind people that we had to pass one by one at times, and the switchbacks wrapped back and forth forever until we finally got to the trail split we recognized. I had run out of water also so I was just waiting until we got to the bridge with the water spigots. Even the last part of the trail seemed never-ending. I suppose it's expectation mixed with exhaustion, but I just couldn't believe how long it was seeming.

We finally made it back to the car where I peeled off my socks and shoes and collapsed in the seat for a minute. I didn't want to get back up, but I got the food from the bear box and headed off to the village area of Yosemite where we could get showers. The men's showers had quite a few unoccupied stalls so I jumped in one and took the best shower I've had in a long time. I need that badly. Joanna had a while to wait for the showers because girls. So I sat in the car relaxing, watching a show, and eating hummus and crackers.

When we were all squared away we headed out of Yosemite and towards the coast. We found a Chipotle for dinner with a Starbucks next door to download more episodes of Breaking Bad. We sat in the lot watching some and then wandered down the road to Wal*Mart when we couldn't find a place to sleep for the night. I decided to go out to Buffalo Wild Wings to see if I could make a friend who would let us camp in their yard. No such luck. I had a couple of beers with a Mexican guy who drives trucks in the area. He was a cool guy and we had a good conversation, but no luck with a new sleeping arrangement so it was back to the passenger seat for me.

Jul 24, 2013

We got all ready for our hike of Cloud's Rest and went to the trailhead. We hiked in a mile or two before our conversation turned to the length of the hike and decided we didn't want to do this hike the day before we do a strenuous hike like Half Dome. We turned around and headed back to the car, deciding instead to take an easy day. Joanna took a walk to lake on the way back to the campsite.

We spent the day and evening hanging at our campsite mostly, making food that we got at the camp store, playing Phase 10, and watching Breaking Bad. The Indian food packets and the boil-in-a-bag rice made for a gourmet dinner at camp. It was a really nice, relaxing day.

We tried to get to sleep early so we could get up before sunrise and down to the trailhead.

July 23, 2013

We continued driving toward Yosemite in the morning, stopping at a Barnes and Noble when they opened to look up hikes online while we could still get WiFi. We found some information then we headed into the park. We asked the ranger at the entrance station about some things and then we headed off to find a campsite at Tamarack Flat. We definitely got one of the last ones. We headed down into Yosemite Valley to bike around for the evening.

We biked all over and up the trails to Mirror Pond, which is much less of a body of water anymore let alone a reflecting one. It was also overrun by a group of teens there on a trip so it was less than peaceful. We had a Clif bar snack while we were up there and quickly headed back to our bikes. 

As we were coming back around the loop to get back to the car the sun was going down and there was this beautiful area by the water so I stopped for a long while and shot photos. Watching the sunlight slowly climb the giant rock formations is really amazing. The way light works in the valley is breathtaking.

After I got my fill of photos, we biked back to the car. It was basically dark by this point. It was a great ride. I was glad we had done something active and seen a lot of parts of the park at the same time. We headed back to our campsite, which was nice to have, and had dinner before turning in for the night.