5 Days in America

I was watching a West Wing episode last week titled "20 Hours in America". In the episode, three staff members of the president were stuck in Indiana for 20 hours after the president's motorcade left them during a rally. This reminded me that I have not yet posted a blog about my recent road trip to Yellowstone National Park.

Last month, my friend and I took a 3000 mile road trip that took us to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, as well as to the Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. The trip allowed us to see a part of America we don't normally see in SF Bay Area.

The drive to Yellowstone was long and mostly boring. I've never been on I-80 east of Reno. Now I know why. There is nothing in Nevada east of Reno but endless freeway. We knew we crossed to Utah when we were surrounded by salt flats. It was weird, coz the stuff were white, so it seems like we were surrounded by snow, but it was warm outside.

After a long drive east, when we finally reached Salt Lake City, and we were glad to see civilization again. We parked at a parking lot kiddie-corner from the Delta Center where the hated Utah Jazz plays. We were surprised to find out that parking there cost $3 for the whole day! You'll never find that rate anywhere in the Bay Area. We went to a mall's food court for lunch and there I had the worst Thai food I've ever eaten. I guess Thai food and mormons are not the best combinations.

The drive north from SLC to Yellowstone took us through Idaho, where we saw nothing but potato farms. It was nice to see potato farms initially, but after 3 hours of seeing nothing but potato farms, I started to miss Gilroy's garlic farms. Somewhere in Idaho I was able to push my Civic to 110 mph. I could literally see 20 miles of freeway and potato farms ahead of me, and there were no place for highway patrol to hide. The same cannot be said about Oregon.

Yellowstone National Park is very interesting. The westside has lots of geysers, while the eastside has nice waterfalls, canyons, and bisons. We checked out the main geyser areas, including Old Faithful. Geysers are really cool, except for the smell. We also saw boiling muds, and weird rock formations. I think the best part of the Yellowstone trip, was when we saw a herd of bisons crossing the street in front of us, and also seeing them swin across a river.

Grand Teton National Park is located, just south of Yellowstone. It's famous for it's mountain ranges, and watching the mountains from different angles while driving through the park was awesome. The only thing we regret about the drive to Wyoming is that we didn't have enough time to drive up to Montana to check out Glacier National Park. On our drive back to California, we cut through Idaho heading west to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. The drive was more of the same going to Wyoming: endless freeway and potato farms. Somewhere in the middle of Idaho, we saw a huge billboard sign that says the United Nation is a terrorist organization and that the US should leave the UN. That pretty much proved we were in a predominantly Republican state, and no longer in the Bay Area. Along the way, we saw several signs that the state has (or had) it's share of Native Americans, this includes a place called Massacre Rock.

When we hit Oregon, things got a little bumpy. We were glad to be in a state that doesn't have state sales tax, but what they lose in sales tax, they more than make up for their strict highway laws. We were pulled over by Trooper Johnson and was fined over $400 for going a little over the speed limit. Okay it's not a little over, Trooper Johnson claims we were going 93 on a 55 zone. I was just glad we didn't get caught in Idaho, where the laws are medieval, and the minimum age for execution is 10 years old. I can't imagine how an Idaho Trooper would treat a Filipino and Iranian guy from liberal Bay Area speeding through their highway. It's almost a "My Cousin Vinny" experience.

Crater Lake is one of the best sight you'll ever see. I didn't have much expectation about it since I've never really heard anything about it. But I think it's the best sight I've ever seen. Only a the view from Glacier Point in Yosemite could rival it. Basically it's a lake formed after a mountain imploded, after a volcanic erruption, to create a crater. We drove around the crater to check out the lake from different angles. On our last day there, we hiked down to the lake to take a boat that take you through the lake. However, as luck would have it, cloud started forming on top of the lake, and they cancelled the boat ride for fear of lightning. A recent lightning in the area started a forest fire on one of the state parks around Crater Lake. Of course, by the time we hiked back up, the cloud was gone.

On our way from Oregon to the Bay Area, we passed by Shasta area. There was actually a forest fire there that turned the clouds and smoke in the area bright red. Too bad we didn't have anymore time, as I had wanted to check out Shasta area.

The trip is one I'll remember for a long time. The sights we saw were awesome, the drive was fun, and the whole trip (minus the ticket and a new windshield) cost less than $400 for two people. I would recommend this trip to anyone who wants to see a side of America that you normally don't see in the Bay Area. Since Crater Lake is just over the otherside of Oregon border, a 3-day weekend trip up there is worth the drive.


Here are some Pictures:


Old Faithful in Yellowtone National Park.


Lower Falls of Yellowstone National Park.


Upper Falls in Yellowstone National Park.


Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park.


Bisons crossing a river in Yellowstone National Park.


Grand Teton National Park mountains.


Sunset at Crater Lake National Park.

Rendezvous on the Mendocino Coast

I spent the Labor Day weekend with some friends in Mendocino Coast. I've never been north of Point Reyes on Highway 1, so it was nice to finally explore Mendocino's coastline.

On Saturday (09/04) we left the Bay Area early to beat the Labor Day traffic. We arrived in Gualala around 1PM, checked in, and took-off right away to catch our 2:30PM train ride in Fort Bragg. Fort Bragg is about 45 miles north of Gualala.

The Skunk Train ride took us through a Redwood forest where we passed by several camps, several bridges, a dark tunnel, and a 1,000 year old Redwood. The afternoon train was diesel-powered, while the morning train was steam powered. It would have been nice to ride a steam train, but the diesel train was fun as well. The trip was kinda long, as it took 3.5 hours to get back to Fort Bragg. My friend described the ride as "hiking without walking", which is an accurate description, as we passed scenic route. The train was originally used to tranport logs from the forest to a saw mill in Mendocino County.

On Sunday we went to Little River for a guided ocean kayak. The tour was a lot of fun. We explored several caves along the coast and navigated our way around rocks. A couple of seals even joined us! I've gone kayaking before, but I think this was better because the scenery was nice, and exploring dark caves on a kayak is more fun than just trying to flip-over your friend's kayak. It was also more exciting as the waves were unpredictable, and a couple of times a waved carried me and I rammed on huge rocks head-on. At one point, I didn't know I was right on top of a rock when the water receded, and I ended up waiting for a wave to carry me away from the rock. I thought my kayak was going to flip over, but gladly it didn't, so I didn't have to test the stinky helmet they had us wear. One of my friend also saw a news about shark attack along the Mendocino coast a couple of weeks ago. So we were looking out for sharks while kayaking.

The cabin we stayed at was also nice. It had a great view of the ocean and the island just off the coast. We spent Sunday afternoon relaxing on the deck of the cabin and watched the beautiful sunset. That nite, we put on face masks and peeled it off, and I even let a couple of friends paint my nails after I had some wine.

On Monday we went to a beach nearby, and just relaxed and enjoyed the warm weather before driving back to the Bay Area. The weekend was fun, the cabin was nice, and the food my friends cooked were yummy.


Beautiful sunset from our cabin in Gualala.


View of Mendocino coastline.


View of Mendocino coastline.