Jul 21, 2013

We drove from Oregon to the Redwoods area of northern California and stopped in Crescent City. Joanna dropped me at the Starbucks with my bike and headed down to the forest for a hike. I got lunch and a couple of local beers at Good Harvest Cafe before braving the big hills of Route 101 South. Coming out of Crescent City there's a big climb that doesn't stop for a long time. I took at least one opportunity to stop and rest on the way. The road continued like this, but it was more balanced. Big, big climbs followed by beautiful, breezy, downhill coasting that seemed to last forever. All the while I had views of the gargantuan redwoods on either side of me.

Aside from the hills, traffic was my other concern. It seemed like people were accustomed to cyclists on this road, so it wasn't too bad. I still worry. The ride was amazingly grueling, yet exhilarating and rewarding. This amazing view was just one of many. I stood and watched this for a while. It was chilly and windy, especially near the open ocean sections, but pedaling hard warmed me up. I met Joanna in Klamath, a little town along 101, after riding a hard 21.5 miles. It was fantastic. I felt great.

We met next to an emu farm so we talked to this guy for a while. I think I named him Frank or something like it. He's from Australia. Once we left Frank, we went down to Redwoods State/National Park and walked the Revelation Trail. It's a really short trail near the parking lot with a lot of very old and amazingly huge redwoods and sequoias. It was dusk, but we could still see the immense size of some of the trees. It was a nice, relaxing little walk. 

We got showers and pitched our tent in the biker/hiker area since the campground was full only to get told by a ranger when we were parking the car that we had to take it down since we are neither bikers nor hikers. I wanted to tell her about my recent long-ass bike ride, but I refrained. We had to drive pretty far up the road before we found a place to park and camp for the night.

Jul 14, 2013

We woke up to far fewer vehicles along the ocean than we fell asleep to. We slowly got up and ready to leave and packed in the tent to head down to the tide pools.

We found a great spot in the rocks with lots of shallow pools. I saw a bunch of little creatures in the pools; crabs, anemones, and other things that don't look alive but probably are. Then I started seeing a couple of starfish clinging to the rocks. Then I saw more clumped together. Then I saw more than I ever thought I would ever see all piled together in once area. They were everywhere.

It was insane how many there were just hanging out in groups on the rocks. They were amazingly beautiful in a way I never really thought of them before. Their texture is rough and they are much bigger than I really thought about.

We climbed out on the rocks, hopping precariously over filled pools, carefully avoiding the numerous tide pool creatures that lined the previously submerged land. It was quite challenging to avoid stepping on shellfish.

We spent a long time out there, soon being joined by several others. After we were done photographing and staring at starfish we headed back to the car and continued the long drive around the park to Olympia, where we went to Le Voyeur Cafe. I really like the feel of Olympia. It seems very Washington Punk Rock, which is what I think of because of Rancid. We got some tasty food at the cafe and walked the main street for a bit then headed on to Seattle.

We went to Mighty O Donuts and got quite a few amazing little donuts. They were so moist and delicious. What a wonderfully bad idea it was to stop here. I put Elysian Brewing in my GPS only to find out it was a block away. So we got out of the car and walked there. I had a tasty flight there; my favorite being the Superfuzz Blood Orange pale ale. So uniquely citrusy and still a great hop flavor.

We went down to Fremont, where there is a troll under a bridge that is a fun local oddity. There isn't much to it, but it looks cool from the bottom of the steep hill. Also at the bottom of that hill and around the corner is Fremont Brewing. They have a beautiful open door tasting room with a lot of outdoor seating. I sampled all of their beers at the tap, talking with the brewers whilst I sipped. He even let me try a beer that wasn't on tap yet, and of course is was the most amazing bourbon barrel-aged beer. So damn good. I was told not to tell anyone about it, so shhhh. We hung out in the outdoor area where I drank a beer I didn't totally want, but felt compelled to buy because I sampled for free. It was good, but hoppy and strong.

We went to Kerry Park, which was suggested as the best view of the Seattle skyline, and we were not disappointed in any way. It was a gorgeous view of downtown, the Space Needle, and Mount Rainier in the background. We had a perfectly clear evening and there were a whole bunch of people there as well, including an engagement photo shoot. The sunset was beautiful on the city and it felt surreal (sorry, Dr. Hottle) standing there.

After the sun was down, instead of waiting for the night to properly fall, we went down to Schooner Exact Brewing, where we got in just as they were closing. The bartender was nice enough to have us in and give me a flight. I really enjoyed their beers, especially the Hopvine IPA, and it so happened that they had a half growler corked for sale so I got that without hesitation.

After having a good tasting we headed back to Kerry Park to see the amazing view of the skyline at night. I love it. I wanted to stay there. After that we went to the apartment of  Amol, our couch surfing host for the night. Another surfer, Matt, was there and let us in. He is a traveling musician from Scotland who is touring the US and couch surfing along the way. He is super friendly and easy to talk to. Amol came home a bit later and, obviously, he is amazingly personable as well. We didn't talk too long before we all got to bed, but I really liked both of these guys. Glad we get to couch surf and meet people like this.

Feb 25, 2012

I had to go up to Globe Dye Works in Philly to film video interviews with the owners of the building and people who used to work there for the Kickstarter video for Philadelphia Sculptors' summer installation project.

The filming went well and we took a tour of the building. It's a pretty amazing space, with old spools of colored thread and dusty sewing machines in an upper room with holes in the floor. It should be a great installation.

Later we went down to Nathan's beach house for his party/gathering. There was a nice spread of food and we added some beer to the fridge. We hung out, ate, and drank for a while and decided what to do with the night.

Nathan was comfortable in his robe. It is his house after all. We decided that we should go jump in the ocean since it was freezing and windy outside. And February.

Not everyone was so keen on the idea, but Ryan, Nathan, and I donned our shorts and headed out with Jamie and Jeff in tow to document. It was very cold on the short walk down the beach and we hesitated for just a minute before going for it.

It was too dark to document the actual jumping in the ocean, but suffice it to say that it was very cold and we were not in there very long. Just long enough to dive in and submerge and then run back to Jamie and Jeff for towels to try and warm up. While it was cold, it was not so terribly bitter that I felt frozen. It actually didn't feel as shocking as it does sometimes in the summer.

The rest of the night we stayed inside playing games, drinking beer, and eating snacks in the warmth. It was a lot of fun and we laughed a lot.