January 25, 2008 - The Crunchy Capital Of The Free World
"Now I lay me down to sleep
I hear the sirens in the streets
All my dreams are made of chrome
I have no way to get back home
I'd rather die before I wake
Like Marilyn Monroe
You can throw my dreams out in the streets
And let the rain make 'em grow"
- Tom Waits
Y'know how they used to say that everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it? Well, it might be time to do something about it. C'mon, snow in LA?
But for us, we've been somehow magically missing the worst so far. Close, though....and maybe catching up. I learned last night in Monterey - AFTER crossing the mountains that most roads were closed. And today, no more than two hours after leaving Half Moon Bay on the coast, Highway 1 was closed there due to mudslides.
But wet, wet, wet here in Marin County. Went ahead to Novato today after a wet & hair-raising drive up Mount Tam to the Muir Woods (really...I had a total panic attack & had to close my eyes. Good thing Megan was driving.) and a VERY wet but spiritually refreshing walk in the big redwoods. So we're here at the wonderful Inn of Marin where I stayed when I was here in August en route to Alaska; Megan just about wet her pants when she got a look at the vegetarian stuff on the menu here at the restaurant. Gettin' some laundry done & resting up to go dance like hippies on fire, as my dear friend Richard said, tomorrow night in San Francisco.
Maybe we'll wear some flowers in our hair.Uploading more pics....
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
#12
January 25, 2008 – Catching Up
OK, so we woke up to three degrees in Gallup and got some hot coffee & hit the road for the Painted Desert & the Petrified Forest and, really, I had to re-think my position on the desert; it was that impressive. There was a 28 mile drive through the Petrified Forest & we liked it so much we turned around & did it backwards. Anyway, this was the scene of our first felony where, despite repeated and dire warnings continually escalating in tone, we each took a rock. Megan feels guilty but I, oddly because I generally feel a lot of guilt about just about everything (WWI, WWII, the crash of '29, the Depression, Vietnam, Watergate, etc....and y'know, I didn't do half those things. But I digress.), do not. It's a very nice rock. Actually, I think it's a piece of petrified wood, which gives me a great deal of smug satisfaction because it makes me that much more felonious. I mean, goddamn....they were all over the damn place.
After making the getaway with our precious rocks we continued on to Flagstaff, a surprisingly pretty town, all hilly & piney. Somewhere just before Flagstaff there were suddenly real trees. It was all snowy there and very cold, but clear. From there we headed north towards the Grand Canyon & had a beautiful drive up there watching the sunset & the almost-full moon rise. It was after dark when we got to the park & that's where the trouble began. Y'know how it is....you're not exactly sure you're going the right way & you're going down a hill & maybe you're going just a little too fast & the next thing you know is there's red lights behind you. Turns out the speed limit was only 35 & the very, very nice law enforcement officer said Megan was going 58. I personally do not believe she was going anywhere near that fast, but of course we were in no position to argue. So she got a ticket, but we avoided any serious unpleasantness such as cavity searches or unflattering photographs in harsh lighting or nasty inkstains on our fingertips. And most importantly, they didn't find our rocks. Or anything else.
After that ordeal, we managed to find our way to Grand Canyon Village, where we got a room at the Maswik Lodge. We smuggled 'Nali into our room (no pets at any of the lodges?!?) and I christened the nonsmoking room with a Kool. Because that's just the way I roll. After playing outside in the snow a bit & ascertaining that there seemed to be no other guests anywhere near our room, we locked 'Nali in the bathroom & went over to the main lodge building & had a coupla drinks at their little bar & then got some food. The next day we put 'Nali in Dog Jail for the day & took the shuttle bus over to Yaki Point. Still beautifully clear but very, very cold. Megan wanted to take the rim trail back, about 5 miles but it was just too damn cold for me & I went back to the lodge & took a nice little walk along the rim that took me behind all the other lodges. I stopped at the historic El Tovar Hotel where I had a very nice glass of wine from Oregon, of all places, a special one commemorating the El Tovar's 100th anniversary and a very pleasant conversation with the bartender; she was going to Denali National Park in Alaska to work in the spring. On my way back, I also stopped at the Bright Angel Lodge & had another glass of El Tovar. It was a much more appropriate afternoon for a woman of my age and tastes.
Megan was soon back from her walkabout and we changed, picked up 'Nali, left her in the room & hoped for the best & went back to the El Tovar, where we had dinner in their dining room with a view of canyon at sunset in front of a big stone fireplace. We had another bottle of the excellent El Tovar and I had an appetizer of mozzarella roulades with pesto and prosciutto and deliciously politically incorrect lamb chops. Megan had some vegetarian silliness and, I might add, did not enjoy her dinner nearly as much as I enjoyed mine. Y'know, I'm just sayin'...
After returning to our lodge, we had another glass of El Tovar - I liked it so much I asked the waiter where I could buy it & they sold me one - and then headed back over to the little bar at our lodge. We had planned to leave the next day, but after seeing a notice for the full-moon rim walk, we decided that was worth staying for & figured we'd stay another day. We ended up partying with a buncha locals & a couple followed us back to our room where they forced us to share the rest of my El Tovar and to open the bottle of absinthe I got in Mexico - I knew that would come in handy on this trip!
Oh, that absinthe - pirate juice, the little Grand Canyon boys called it....looks and smells like Nyquil and tastes even worse. And kicked my ass so bad I couldn't get up the next day. Megan, being much younger and more resilient than I, went and hung out with some of our new buddies and later went on the full-moon walk. It sounded fabulous and all, but it was just too cold. And, besides, I couldn't get out of bed anyway, on account of dancing with the green fairy. It was all I could do to get showered (I had to sit down because my knees were shaking so bad) and repack my luggage to try and get out of this den of iniquity.
Got loaded up the next morning only to discover a flat tire, but thanks to the excellent service of AAA and the employees of the Grand Canyon Village garage, we were soon on our way....very sadly for Megan, but that's her story.
We had originally planned on going to the Skywalk thing on the west rim & to go through Vegas & Death Valley, but after learning from my friend Richard the night before about a concert in San Francisco saturday night with Phil Lesh (from the Grateful Dead) & Friends - a quintessential SF hippie experience - our attorney advised us to drive at high speeds across the desert. (To those of you who are confused by that last sentence...as your attorney, I advise you to read the brilliant Hunter S. Thompson's 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'.) We reckoned we could hit that stuff on the way back...to the coast we must go. So we got to Bakersfield last night, after I drove over the mountains between Barstow & Bakersfield in the dark AND the rain. I did OK, too. Slow, but OK. Slow is good.
And I felt pretty good about that and headed off bravely into the unknown mountains between me and San Luis Obispo, where we planned to join the spectacular Highway 1, up the California coast towards Monterey, our goal for the day. Where I proceeded to take perhaps the hairiest and most beautiful and satisfying drives ever. High mountains, ice, hairpin turns....but I did it. We crawled and crept up and down that mountain, following a big-ass truck I thought whose driver must have been insane to take this road. But I figured if he could do it, I could. And we all made it over the mountain & everything was lovely.
Ran into heavy rain as we neared the coast & part of the way up Hwy 1, but then miraculously cleared in time to give us rainbows that followed our car up the coast - for real! Megan has video! - and a ridiculously dramatic sunset.
Ended up here in Monterey a little after dark & went out for awhile, but being off-season & what with the weather, not much was open. Continuing up HWY 1 tomorrow and will probably spend tomorrow night somewhere along the coast north of San Francisco and then onto Novato on Saturday to meet up with my friend Richard. Then we'll spend awhile in SF before heading north to see my friend Dori. Alas, 'Nali will be going back into Dog Jail for a few days on saturday while we carelessly have fun in the city with nary a thought or care for her. She wants me to add that she asks y'all to write your congressman to prevent this enormous injustice.
I'm too tired & my connection is too bad to upload any pics tonight....perhaps tomorrow.
OK, so we woke up to three degrees in Gallup and got some hot coffee & hit the road for the Painted Desert & the Petrified Forest and, really, I had to re-think my position on the desert; it was that impressive. There was a 28 mile drive through the Petrified Forest & we liked it so much we turned around & did it backwards. Anyway, this was the scene of our first felony where, despite repeated and dire warnings continually escalating in tone, we each took a rock. Megan feels guilty but I, oddly because I generally feel a lot of guilt about just about everything (WWI, WWII, the crash of '29, the Depression, Vietnam, Watergate, etc....and y'know, I didn't do half those things. But I digress.), do not. It's a very nice rock. Actually, I think it's a piece of petrified wood, which gives me a great deal of smug satisfaction because it makes me that much more felonious. I mean, goddamn....they were all over the damn place.
After making the getaway with our precious rocks we continued on to Flagstaff, a surprisingly pretty town, all hilly & piney. Somewhere just before Flagstaff there were suddenly real trees. It was all snowy there and very cold, but clear. From there we headed north towards the Grand Canyon & had a beautiful drive up there watching the sunset & the almost-full moon rise. It was after dark when we got to the park & that's where the trouble began. Y'know how it is....you're not exactly sure you're going the right way & you're going down a hill & maybe you're going just a little too fast & the next thing you know is there's red lights behind you. Turns out the speed limit was only 35 & the very, very nice law enforcement officer said Megan was going 58. I personally do not believe she was going anywhere near that fast, but of course we were in no position to argue. So she got a ticket, but we avoided any serious unpleasantness such as cavity searches or unflattering photographs in harsh lighting or nasty inkstains on our fingertips. And most importantly, they didn't find our rocks. Or anything else.
After that ordeal, we managed to find our way to Grand Canyon Village, where we got a room at the Maswik Lodge. We smuggled 'Nali into our room (no pets at any of the lodges?!?) and I christened the nonsmoking room with a Kool. Because that's just the way I roll. After playing outside in the snow a bit & ascertaining that there seemed to be no other guests anywhere near our room, we locked 'Nali in the bathroom & went over to the main lodge building & had a coupla drinks at their little bar & then got some food. The next day we put 'Nali in Dog Jail for the day & took the shuttle bus over to Yaki Point. Still beautifully clear but very, very cold. Megan wanted to take the rim trail back, about 5 miles but it was just too damn cold for me & I went back to the lodge & took a nice little walk along the rim that took me behind all the other lodges. I stopped at the historic El Tovar Hotel where I had a very nice glass of wine from Oregon, of all places, a special one commemorating the El Tovar's 100th anniversary and a very pleasant conversation with the bartender; she was going to Denali National Park in Alaska to work in the spring. On my way back, I also stopped at the Bright Angel Lodge & had another glass of El Tovar. It was a much more appropriate afternoon for a woman of my age and tastes.
Megan was soon back from her walkabout and we changed, picked up 'Nali, left her in the room & hoped for the best & went back to the El Tovar, where we had dinner in their dining room with a view of canyon at sunset in front of a big stone fireplace. We had another bottle of the excellent El Tovar and I had an appetizer of mozzarella roulades with pesto and prosciutto and deliciously politically incorrect lamb chops. Megan had some vegetarian silliness and, I might add, did not enjoy her dinner nearly as much as I enjoyed mine. Y'know, I'm just sayin'...
After returning to our lodge, we had another glass of El Tovar - I liked it so much I asked the waiter where I could buy it & they sold me one - and then headed back over to the little bar at our lodge. We had planned to leave the next day, but after seeing a notice for the full-moon rim walk, we decided that was worth staying for & figured we'd stay another day. We ended up partying with a buncha locals & a couple followed us back to our room where they forced us to share the rest of my El Tovar and to open the bottle of absinthe I got in Mexico - I knew that would come in handy on this trip!
Oh, that absinthe - pirate juice, the little Grand Canyon boys called it....looks and smells like Nyquil and tastes even worse. And kicked my ass so bad I couldn't get up the next day. Megan, being much younger and more resilient than I, went and hung out with some of our new buddies and later went on the full-moon walk. It sounded fabulous and all, but it was just too cold. And, besides, I couldn't get out of bed anyway, on account of dancing with the green fairy. It was all I could do to get showered (I had to sit down because my knees were shaking so bad) and repack my luggage to try and get out of this den of iniquity.
Got loaded up the next morning only to discover a flat tire, but thanks to the excellent service of AAA and the employees of the Grand Canyon Village garage, we were soon on our way....very sadly for Megan, but that's her story.
We had originally planned on going to the Skywalk thing on the west rim & to go through Vegas & Death Valley, but after learning from my friend Richard the night before about a concert in San Francisco saturday night with Phil Lesh (from the Grateful Dead) & Friends - a quintessential SF hippie experience - our attorney advised us to drive at high speeds across the desert. (To those of you who are confused by that last sentence...as your attorney, I advise you to read the brilliant Hunter S. Thompson's 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'.) We reckoned we could hit that stuff on the way back...to the coast we must go. So we got to Bakersfield last night, after I drove over the mountains between Barstow & Bakersfield in the dark AND the rain. I did OK, too. Slow, but OK. Slow is good.
And I felt pretty good about that and headed off bravely into the unknown mountains between me and San Luis Obispo, where we planned to join the spectacular Highway 1, up the California coast towards Monterey, our goal for the day. Where I proceeded to take perhaps the hairiest and most beautiful and satisfying drives ever. High mountains, ice, hairpin turns....but I did it. We crawled and crept up and down that mountain, following a big-ass truck I thought whose driver must have been insane to take this road. But I figured if he could do it, I could. And we all made it over the mountain & everything was lovely.
Ran into heavy rain as we neared the coast & part of the way up Hwy 1, but then miraculously cleared in time to give us rainbows that followed our car up the coast - for real! Megan has video! - and a ridiculously dramatic sunset.
Ended up here in Monterey a little after dark & went out for awhile, but being off-season & what with the weather, not much was open. Continuing up HWY 1 tomorrow and will probably spend tomorrow night somewhere along the coast north of San Francisco and then onto Novato on Saturday to meet up with my friend Richard. Then we'll spend awhile in SF before heading north to see my friend Dori. Alas, 'Nali will be going back into Dog Jail for a few days on saturday while we carelessly have fun in the city with nary a thought or care for her. She wants me to add that she asks y'all to write your congressman to prevent this enormous injustice.
I'm too tired & my connection is too bad to upload any pics tonight....perhaps tomorrow.
#11
January 24, 2008 – Birthday in Bakersfield
Well, I wrote an awesome entry last night, but when I tried to upload pictures I lost it all. Connection sucks here. Last night's entry was titled "Gallup to the Grand Canyon via the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest or How Many Federal Laws Can We Break in One Day". Breaking state law is kid stuff; you know you're having a good time when you can break multiple federal laws in only one day. More details on that & travels to points of interest later; Megan's out of the shower & we're heading to the coast. Probably stay tonight in Monterey or somewhere around there.
Well, I wrote an awesome entry last night, but when I tried to upload pictures I lost it all. Connection sucks here. Last night's entry was titled "Gallup to the Grand Canyon via the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest or How Many Federal Laws Can We Break in One Day". Breaking state law is kid stuff; you know you're having a good time when you can break multiple federal laws in only one day. More details on that & travels to points of interest later; Megan's out of the shower & we're heading to the coast. Probably stay tonight in Monterey or somewhere around there.
#10
January 21, 2008 – Quick Update
Made it to the Grand Canyon after the Petrified Forest & Painted Desert. Much more & pictures later, but there's no wireless here, just a public access computer. Stayed here last night & tonight; weather has still been clear & cold, but we heard there's a storm coming tonight, so we may have to stay another night. We'll be back with updates after we leave here.
Made it to the Grand Canyon after the Petrified Forest & Painted Desert. Much more & pictures later, but there's no wireless here, just a public access computer. Stayed here last night & tonight; weather has still been clear & cold, but we heard there's a storm coming tonight, so we may have to stay another night. We'll be back with updates after we leave here.
#9
January 20, 2008 – Is There Anybody Out There?
Send us a message! Just a quick note before we hit the road....I ran out of my allotted picture allowance or something, so this morning I upgraded my account & Megan will be able to put more of her pictures on tonight. 'Course, tonight we'll have even more because we're getting to the Grand Canyon today. And oh yeah.....it's THREE degrees this morning in Gallup.
Send us a message! Just a quick note before we hit the road....I ran out of my allotted picture allowance or something, so this morning I upgraded my account & Megan will be able to put more of her pictures on tonight. 'Course, tonight we'll have even more because we're getting to the Grand Canyon today. And oh yeah.....it's THREE degrees this morning in Gallup.
#8
January 19, 2008 In the desrt tonight…(Megan)
Wow. Today's drive was absolutely spectacular. I'll leave the geographical details up to Pam- she's got the patience for those things, and it's late...but the snow, the peaks, the ice floating on the river, the wood ducks, the moon hanging over the hills, the colors of the strata, the petroglyphs...totally my bag, baby. We saw Santa Fe yesterday- became a little more intimate with the area, and stayed in the cutest, most incredibly comfortable and beautifully kept/run little Motel/Inn in the city. We saw some chapels- chucked a duece at the King of Kings- saw some African Nuevo art, some Navajo jewelry, had a drink at a great little tavern (The Sleeping Dog), tried on some horrifically over-priced clothing, and snapped some great pictures. Tomorrow, the painted desert, the petrified forest, and the grand canyon!!! Lots of pics to come...
Wow. Today's drive was absolutely spectacular. I'll leave the geographical details up to Pam- she's got the patience for those things, and it's late...but the snow, the peaks, the ice floating on the river, the wood ducks, the moon hanging over the hills, the colors of the strata, the petroglyphs...totally my bag, baby. We saw Santa Fe yesterday- became a little more intimate with the area, and stayed in the cutest, most incredibly comfortable and beautifully kept/run little Motel/Inn in the city. We saw some chapels- chucked a duece at the King of Kings- saw some African Nuevo art, some Navajo jewelry, had a drink at a great little tavern (The Sleeping Dog), tried on some horrifically over-priced clothing, and snapped some great pictures. Tomorrow, the painted desert, the petrified forest, and the grand canyon!!! Lots of pics to come...
#7
January 19, 2008 – Land of Enchantment
Couldn't update last night from Santa Fe - I think the travel journal part of the RTA website was down. Glad it's back up tonight; this blog was already become a vital part of the experience.
So, anyway, we barely escaped with our lives from the Bates Motel & woke to find ourselves in the damn desert in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. After taking 'Nali out to go take her first poop in the honest-to-god desert and freezing my ass off, I immediately turned on the laptop to check the forecast for Santa Fe. And learned that the high was predicted to be 29 and the low 4. Yes, that was FOUR. I had to look at it twice.
Got to Santa Fe about 1pm and out of sheer luck (and my extremely urgent need to pee) ended up at The Most Fabulous Motel That Ever Was. Walking distance to downtown & quite reasonable also; considerably cheaper than the Holiday Inns & the La Quinta we're in tonight. My room even had a fireplace with a fire all laid out ready to be lit. Very nice....I mentioned it was FOUR degrees, right? It all just felt so cozy & homey. The people were wonderful (actually, everyone in Santa Fe was nice - people really seemed to go out of their way to be helpful). If you're ever in Santa Fe, check out santafemotel.com.
There was some snow in Santa Fe, so that was a new thing for 'Nali. We let her go poop in the snow - another first! - and then we bundled up & braved the cold and left poor 'Nali to her own devices & went out walking around. Saw some cool art, beautiful jewelry (I was so good, I didn't buy any!), looked at outrageously-priced clothes, had a cappucino, admired some pretty old churches (check out Megan's pics!) & I lit some candles. I always wanted to do that. I guess it's ok even though I'm not Catholic 'cause I paid. We found a little store that had lots of great Day of the Dead stuff & I got another little skeleton & a really cool book about Dios de las Muertes, the history & with lots of cool pictures. Because, you know, I just don't have enough books...
We'd planned to go out & eat some of Santa Fe's famous mexican food & went over to the place that had been recommended by the folks at the motel, but the wait was over an hour and I did mention it was FOUR degrees, right? So we ended up going back & lighting a cozy fire & getting mexican food delivered. It was very tasty, but quite frankly disagreed with me in the most disagreeable way in the middle of the night. All that Denny's crap didn't bother me at all, though. Perhaps I've become incapable of processing real food.
Today we took a fabulous drive north of Santa Fe, almost as far as Taos through the Carson National Forest, lotsa snow up there. Then drove to White Rock to this panoramic overlook and onto Bandolier National Monument to see the cliff-dwellings & there's a few petroglyphs there too. So both Megan & I have tons of pictures from today....today was pretty damn spectacular, even I have to admit, though I'm normally not wild about the desert. We also we through Los Alamos & almost got sent to Guantanamo because we took a wrong turn & pissed off some military-type dude in camouflage and a threatening black sweater. And I swear I saw The Purple Mountain Majesties somewhere between Albuquerque and Gallup, where we are spending the night before heading to the Grand Fucking Canyon tomorrow.
Couldn't update last night from Santa Fe - I think the travel journal part of the RTA website was down. Glad it's back up tonight; this blog was already become a vital part of the experience.
So, anyway, we barely escaped with our lives from the Bates Motel & woke to find ourselves in the damn desert in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. After taking 'Nali out to go take her first poop in the honest-to-god desert and freezing my ass off, I immediately turned on the laptop to check the forecast for Santa Fe. And learned that the high was predicted to be 29 and the low 4. Yes, that was FOUR. I had to look at it twice.
Got to Santa Fe about 1pm and out of sheer luck (and my extremely urgent need to pee) ended up at The Most Fabulous Motel That Ever Was. Walking distance to downtown & quite reasonable also; considerably cheaper than the Holiday Inns & the La Quinta we're in tonight. My room even had a fireplace with a fire all laid out ready to be lit. Very nice....I mentioned it was FOUR degrees, right? It all just felt so cozy & homey. The people were wonderful (actually, everyone in Santa Fe was nice - people really seemed to go out of their way to be helpful). If you're ever in Santa Fe, check out santafemotel.com.
There was some snow in Santa Fe, so that was a new thing for 'Nali. We let her go poop in the snow - another first! - and then we bundled up & braved the cold and left poor 'Nali to her own devices & went out walking around. Saw some cool art, beautiful jewelry (I was so good, I didn't buy any!), looked at outrageously-priced clothes, had a cappucino, admired some pretty old churches (check out Megan's pics!) & I lit some candles. I always wanted to do that. I guess it's ok even though I'm not Catholic 'cause I paid. We found a little store that had lots of great Day of the Dead stuff & I got another little skeleton & a really cool book about Dios de las Muertes, the history & with lots of cool pictures. Because, you know, I just don't have enough books...
We'd planned to go out & eat some of Santa Fe's famous mexican food & went over to the place that had been recommended by the folks at the motel, but the wait was over an hour and I did mention it was FOUR degrees, right? So we ended up going back & lighting a cozy fire & getting mexican food delivered. It was very tasty, but quite frankly disagreed with me in the most disagreeable way in the middle of the night. All that Denny's crap didn't bother me at all, though. Perhaps I've become incapable of processing real food.
Today we took a fabulous drive north of Santa Fe, almost as far as Taos through the Carson National Forest, lotsa snow up there. Then drove to White Rock to this panoramic overlook and onto Bandolier National Monument to see the cliff-dwellings & there's a few petroglyphs there too. So both Megan & I have tons of pictures from today....today was pretty damn spectacular, even I have to admit, though I'm normally not wild about the desert. We also we through Los Alamos & almost got sent to Guantanamo because we took a wrong turn & pissed off some military-type dude in camouflage and a threatening black sweater. And I swear I saw The Purple Mountain Majesties somewhere between Albuquerque and Gallup, where we are spending the night before heading to the Grand Fucking Canyon tomorrow.
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