Week 6
1st to 6th
of September
A change in scenery, cities,
temperature and wild life embraced our last week on mainland US of A!!
After our two nights in
Vegas, enough to stuff ourselves with pancakes and custom-made breakfast
omelets, catching up on our mountain of washing and lazing around the pool, we
were not too sad to leave the loud bright lights behind us. We were heading
towards Yosemite National Park, via the Death
Valley. Very ambitious 418
miles that is suppose to take one just
over 7.5hours… Luckily we knew that this might not happen, due to various stops
and slow-slow mountainous windy roads…but we did not think that it will take us
THAT LONG…….
For a place carrying the
title: hottest place on earth, we surprisingly fell in love with the Death
Valley. The average temperature for the month of July is 116 °F (round 42°C )
and the hottest temperature(134°F) was recorded in 1916. During our short visit
in the park, we recorded 116°F on the car’s thermometer. The beautiful pastel
coloured patterns trapped inside the rock formations, blew me away. It was as
if I was looking at a painting of the hand of a master(!!??!!). On entering the
park, we took a wee side trip south, passing by the Devil’s Golf Course and the Natural
Bridge on our way to Badwater Basin –
famous for being the lowest point in North America, 288ft below sea level.
This basin used to be a salted lake. All the water has evaporated over the last
few thousand years and left us with a 1 to 5 ft layer of salt. I wanted to test
some theory about baking an egg on the hood of the suburban.. well, to my
disappointment, IT WAS NOT HOT ENOUGH!!!!! After a quick stop at the visitor
center to pick up some more Junior Ranger materials and do a water bottle
refill, we were on our way for the second leg of our journey towards the BIG
cliffs.
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| Badwater Basin - featuring Nina, Marilie and special guest: Hippie |
We were starting to get a bit
nervous as the sun dipped behind the towering Sierra Mountains, because we
realize that we will not reach our campsite in the Yosemite Valley before close
to midnight!!!! I did not want to miss out on the scenic route over the big
mountains, so we decided to look for some alternative roadside accommodation.
Now….after two attempts at camping sites were unsuccessful, we were reminding
ourselves that it was indeed Labour long weekend here in the States, and that
we will need some drastic measures…. Praise God for our guide book (again)!! We
found a free suite at the Boulder lodge next to lake June, as darkness was
setting in and energy levels were starting to run a bit low.
The Meadows and Tioga access
Rd(summer only!!) over the mountain into the Yosemite basin, were worth the
early stop. We were stunned by the enormity and vastness of these granite
mountain domes and rock-climber’s wonderland.
Our
two days here were filled with a walk to the Vernal Falls(Alana and Arno walked
to the waterfall and went for a refreshing swim, while the rest of us waited
for them at the ‘bridge’), a ranger walk( we learned about how to recognize
different trees and about their important function in nature) and we also went
to and evening screening of Nature Notes, movies made about different aspects of wild
life and the behind the scene photography within the park.) I learned about
Moonbows and Frazel Ice
I
loved Yosemite, the beautiful river(we had two ‘baths’ in there) the bright
starry skies and the warm camp fires, but I must say the crowds of people(
within an hour of opening, on the booking dates, ALL the campsites in the
Valley are normally taken!!) and traffic jams were hard to cope with,
especially when you want to get under the skin of this awesome creation. I
think I’d like to come back to Yosemite in March/April…to beat the crowds and
to see the Frazil Ice!!
On
our way from the interior to coastal California, we made a brief stop at Mariposa Grove
of Giant Sequaoias This ended up being one of Thomas’s highlights
of our whole camping-in-nature experience. These giant trees (500 of them)
huddle together in this little valley, close to the southern entrance of
Yosemite. The walk was a bit dusty and warm, but we manage to get the troops to
view the “Fallen Monarch” and the “Bachelor and the 3 Graces”. Giant Sequoias
are the largest living thing on planet earth with ages between 3000 and 4500
years!! What really fascinated all of us, is that their seeds are to be found
in the smallest of them all pine cones!!
A little mustard seed parable from the
Bible springs to mind here: Jesus said that even if we have a faith as small as
a mustard seed, when put into action, BIG spiritual mountains will move to
provide us with the right idea, connection or relationship so we can achieve
what we are believing God for!!
With their shallow root system, the Sequoias
are prone to be pushed over by strong winds….but they tend to grow close to one
another. The significance of this is, that if their roots(which are hidden from
our eyes) get inter-twined with one another, they are getting a better grip on
the soil and have the best chance of surviving stormy nights. A nice analogy of
how God has created us people to do life, survive ‘our stormy nights’ and grow
better here on earth too!! Getting those good spiritual ‘root’ ties into our
marriages…keeping our children close in love, with excellent boundaries, and
communicating well with our business partners and friends. Yes, we can position
ourselves into those strongly-anchored places!!!(Oooooo, I got a bit carried
away!! These Sequoias defo made a bigger impression on my than I first thought!!!)
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| Samllest pine cone seed carrier for BIGGEST tree on earth |
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| Old giant's feet...shallow root system |
Rachel
fore-warned us about the San Francisco traffic, nevertheless we found ourselves
trapped in the inside of the city. On a positive note, this gave us a lot of
time to look around and take in the sights…and once we started to hit the
bridges, we were pretty much content!!
The Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate
Bridge, man!!! These are great engineering sieges!! Did you know that the
Golden Gate Bridge is the most photographed structure in the entire world?? AND
WE WERE CAMPING UNDERNEATH IT!!!!!!!!!! After days worth of seeking for
affordable SF accommodation, Arno stumbled upon Kirby Cove Recreational Area.
Because of our traffic delay, it was now dark as we arrived at our secret
destination. With NO light, beside the lights of the Bridge coming across the
ocean towards us, we were a bit lost about where to go and how to negotiate our
allocated VERY BIG pitch! (Some advice to future Kirby Cove Campers…arrive in
daylight!!!!) Under torch light we quickly pitched our tent, because the
information sheet warned us about the resident raccoons who were ‘excitedly
awaiting our arrival’. Even before we hammered the last peg, a little friend
was on the table behind my back, investigating our dinner. Dad, Moma and baby
gave their positions away by their yellow gleaming eyes….quite a freaky sight
on a very dark night. They were very inquisitive about their new neighbors, but
once we wizened up and stored all the food away in the locker provided, they
lost a bit of interest in us. Pfeew!!! Alana had another encounter with our
animal hosts, but I’ll ask her to tell you about that herself.
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| On our approach into the city centre of San Frsncisco |
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| Bay Bridge |
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| Golden Gate Bridge |
Saustinuto,
overlooking SF, was the chosen spot for a bagel breakfast. Beautiful little
seaside town, with most people commuting to SF for work using the ferry. After
a few attempts in downtown SF, we eventually found a..not so expensive($30 for
the day……..) parking space. Well, at this stage we still had to brush our teeth
and comb our hair, since we did not have any runny water at the campsite…so we
just gone a bit ‘tinker’ish’ and brush it here in the car park(roof top) overlooking
the bay. Hee hee! Gross, yes…but soooo funny at the same time!!! A wander down
to the harbor and around Fisherman’s warf, opened up into a surprise visit to
one of the US WWII submarines, Pampanito. The best of it all was, while we were
on it, they even started the engines!!!!!
Our cable cart(old fashioned trolley that runs
on cables up and down all the hilly streets of SF) to downtown and the bus back,
gave us time to see Lombard street (most curvy street in the world!!) and some
big glass and steel towers!!
Now it was time for dinner at Pier 39 – fish paradise
and some long awaited Crispy Crème Donuts! Before we headed back to raccoon
paradise, we had a wee peek at the Pier 39 Elephant seal colony. Kirby Cove
provided us with another night of accommodation. What a cheap way to stay in
San Francisco….but not for the faint at heart!!!
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| Windy Lomard street |
We
decided to travel down the Pacific Coast Highway en route to Los Angeles. A
beautiful coastline between Carmel and Cumbria. We followed the coastal High
Way 1 and stayed beside the breathtaking rocky sea cliffs as far as possible.
Beautiful white beach at Santa Cruz
gave us a chance to see if it is possible to play volleyball with a football!
Conclusion…yes it is, but not for long, because one’s back can’t handle the
weight of the ball forever. At least we had one happy boy!!!
Monterey, brought a welcome late afternoon coffee stop, while we
investigate the old 1930’s fishing canneries. This former fish factory is now
one of the most popular destinations in California!! Little nick-nack shops are
host inside the former corrugated metal industrial buildings.
Something
very sweet that we would just like to remember was Thomas’s self-initiated
project. For whatever reason…I guess to kill time in the car..he started
working on a dream start up line for a 400m race. He was planning this for
hours!!! Made up names for all the athletes from all the different countries
around the world, figured out the time’s of each athlete achieved during the
’pretend’ heats and put them into a final race. Their lanes were
premeditated….all that was still missing was a racing track!!! Plaskett Creek
beach provided him with the space needed!! I helped him to draw the track in
the sand and then we all were acting out our part in this Olympic style event!
He was so involved with this, it kept him busy the WHOLE day. He was also very
annoyed with the people who walked over his track and could not believe the audacity
of a surfer-family, to pitch their beach tent on a corner of it…. I had to help
him to re-shape the track, while he was giving the poor oblivious people evil
stares….. This is the kind of fantasy entertainment I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!.
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| Thomas busy keeping score of the winners to all the pre-lim races |
I’m
exhausted just typing it all up. Hopefully you’ve read this through to the
end…forgiven if not!!!And all of this in just 7 days!!!
Carpe
Diem…
Oh
Captain, my Captain….