Wild West Adventure

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Below is a story of my adventure to the wild, wild West. The trip was very interesting, and I learned a lot!

October 11, 2002

After work, I left Baton Rouge and headed to Alexandria to pick up Jen. Then, we headed to Fort Worth to spend one last night in a safe haven before heading to the unknowns of the West.

October 12

Jen and I picked up the Seabring convertible we rented at the airport. On the way back to Jason and Allison’s house, we discovered a charming little bakery-a kolachi bakery. Kolachies are yummy Czech pastries-if you live in the area, you must try them! Anyway, we packed up the car, waved goodbye, and hit the road. Many hours later, we made it to Santa Rosa State Park in New Mexico. The park is quite lovely, but it was totally deserted. We were the only people camping that evening, which I found a little creepy. The wind and cooing birds added to the mood.

October 13

Having gone to bed at some really unreasonable hour (around 8) the night before, I was awake rather early. (My body was all confused, being a night person and all!) I realized, however, that this would be an excellent opportunity to see a sunrise. So, Jen and I got up and made coffee (Ya’ll didn’t really expect me to go two weeks without coffee, did you?), and then we enjoyed a beautiful New Mexico sunrise.

After the sun was up, we headed back on the road. The scenery was very different from Louisiana, and very beautiful. This is what the roadside along I-40 looked like:

And we drove and drove until finally, we arrived at Grand Canyon National Park. It was late afternoon by that point, so we set up camp, but did not go to see the canyon. Instead, we decided to kick back and try and figure out which language the people next to us were speaking…

October 14

We headed out pretty early for the shuttle bus to the canyon’s edge. The Grand Canyon is very tourist friendly and has nice shuttle buses to take you all sorts of places. And finally, the driving was all worth it as we got our first look at the Grand Canyon:

I can’t really describe how it felt to look at the Grand Canyon, and the pictures do not do it justice. I was amazed at how far you can see out. The Canyon is 18 miles wide at its furthest point (near where the above picture was taken) and averages 10 miles wide. It almost looked like it was all a backdrop. Still in a state of awe, Jen and I headed to the Bright Angel trail to do some hiking. Jen thought that the hike would give us perspective on how deep the canyon was. The Bright Angel Trial is one of the most popular trails because of its more “gentle” slope. Don’t let that word fool you! At 7000 feet, there is no such thing as a gentle slope! The trail is 13 miles, but we only hiked down a mile and a half. At the beginning of the trail, I found this sign, which I found pretty humorous:

Of course, it didn’t take long to find out why that sign is there. We played leap frog with the mules-they would pass us, stop, and then we would pass them.

We took our time, stopping along the way to admire the canyon. Jen also did a little climbing.

It took about an hour to hike down. Coming back took about two and a quarter! The following picture is to give you a sense of depth. I was at the furthest point down on the hike-the canyon lip at the top of the picture is where we started.

We were pretty tired after the hike, so we headed back to camp for some R&R. I was feeling a little sick from the altitude, so I spent the rest of the day lazily, but Jen headed for a sunset view of the canyon.

October 15

I set my watch for 6 a.m. so that we could view the sunrise over the canyon. We went to a point where we could quietly watch the sunrise. (There is one really popular point that people like to go, but too many people ruin the quiet.) This involved hiking another mile or so, but luckily, it really was a gently sloping grade this time! The sunrise over the canyon was so beautiful. It’s awesome watching the colors slowly begin to show. Unfortunately, Walgreens ruined those pictures…However, I do have some of the canyon in the early morning.


As we were riding the bus back to camp, the guide said that the time was 7:50. I was very confused because my watch said 8:50. What I didn’t know was that Arizona does not have daylight savings time, so I lived a day and a half of my life an hour ahead of schedule. And worse than that, I got up at 5 a.m. instead of 6 a.m.!

We left the Grand Canyon in the late morning, and headed to Hoover Dam. Being engineers, Jen and I felt that it was only appropriate to pay homage to one of the greatest engineering feats of the twentieth century.

Hoover Dam (a.k.a. Boulder Dam) has a very neat information center. I highly recommend the dam tour. There are great stories about the Depression and political battles associated with Hoover Dam. And the guides are very knowledgeable and are well prepped for inquisitive engineers.

Upon completing the Hoover Dam tour, we headed to Las Vegas. We were tired by this point, and that, coupled with the traffic, made the city too much for our frazzled nerves. We did make it to the strip and managed to see the outside of many of the casinos. We walked around the Venetian, which has actual gondola rides. But we didn’t live it up in the city-we were in bed early. And it was the best night of sleep we had had in days!

October 16

Time to finally see California! We headed to L.A. But first, we had to endure many miles of deserted roadside. The desert sure does make you appreciate the greenery of Louisiana! I got thirsty just looking at it. We hit L.A. in the early afternoon, with plenty of time left to do things. First order of business-find the hostel. For those of you not familiar, hostels are very popular in Europe and have infiltrated into the big cities in the States. They are designed for the thrifty world traveler, as they have dorm rooms at really cheap prices. We actually stayed in a private room that had a private bath. Only, strangely, the bath was actually in the room. There was no door separating it. Very freaky!! And we had no light…Jen told the people at the front desk three times, but to no avail.

We dropped off our stuff and headed down Hollywood Blvd. (We were staying a block off Hollywood Blvd.) We saw the Walk of Fame and Gramman’s Chinese Theater. We also saw the stars’ handprints/footprints in the cement.

October 17

While outside of Gramman’s a guy was handing out tickets to the taping of the “Wayne Brady Show” for this morning. So we decided to go. We didn’t need to be there until 10:30, so we took the bus to the CBS Studios and hung out in the Farmer’s Market until it was time. No matter what anyone tells you about L.A., the Farmer’s Market is the best kept secret in the city. It’s an awesome place where you can buy all sorts of fresh (good) food, as well as trinkets.

At 10:30, we went to the studio. At the gate, we were stopped by a maniacal guard who yelled at us for not staying on the sidewalk and then admonished us to make sure to cross at the crosswalks. And for unknown reasons, it is unallowable to bring small backpacks into the studio, but it is acceptable to bring huge purses. After going through the metal detector, we waited another hour to be seated inside. Upon moving inside, we found ourselves in a non-moving line. Jen felt that this was due to the highly indecisive people and thought it would be more efficient if we moved off to the side while deciding where to sit. That’s when we met…the seating Nazi! This guy totally went ballistic and yelled at us to get back in line. Turns out, he was appointing seats to make sure that the audience looked well mixed. Well, needless to say, we were put in the bad kids section. The show was interesting (tired of clapping…), and Montel and Emmy were guests. Plus Wayne Brady really is funny.

It was after two by the time we made it out of the studio. We took the bus to an Ethiopian restaurant we had seen the night before and had lunch. It was my first experience with Ethiopian food, and I have to say it was quite tasty. Then came the bus fiasco. We decided it would be easier to take public transportation instead of driving in the city. I think we were wrong. We couldn’t seem to find a map of the bus routes, which was a huge hindrance. There is also a metro, but we never quite figured out how it all tied together. All we wanted to do was get to the museums, but alas, by the time we made it to the Science Museum, it was closing. So, we hopped another bus and headed towards the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was still open (yeah!) so we looked around. We ended up finding this group of students who were there for a class. One of the ladies from the museum was explaining some of the artworks to the students, so we tagged along! And afterwards, we asked the lady to explain some of the other pieces to us. She was really nice and helpful. Jen and I both came away liking pieces we didn’t understand before.

October 18

Time to leave for the coast drive!!! But there was still so much we hadn’t seen (thanks to the bus fiasco), so we did a quick tour. We stopped one last time at the Farmer’s Market, did a drive by of the La Brea Tarpits, and then headed to Garden Grove to see the Crystal Cathedral. It’s a church made entirely of glass. It was interesting, but in retrospect, I don’t think it was worth the time to get there considering how short on time we were. After Crystal Catherdal, we headed back to Hollywood (it was on the way out) and finally got to see the Hollywood sign. And then we said goodbye to L.A. and hit the road. On the way to the coast road, we stopped in a little town called Solvang. It’s a little Danish settlement-really cute.

We had time for a quick walk and to grab some pastries and bread. Then we headed toward San Simeon. However, it was only a matter of time until my nose was offended by the smell of…celery! (For those who don’t know, I hate celery more than any other food on earth.) There was so much of it. But we survived, and we finally got to see the coast around Morro Bay. We continued to San Simeon State Park. The park has very little vegetation, and therefore, very little barrier between campsites. After finally settling on one as far from the RVs as possible, we set up camp and headed for the beach. (The park had a beach connected.) The sun was beginning to set, so we got to see a spectacular sunset on the Pacific ocean.


We even stepped into the ocean despite the fact that it was freezing cold and we could not feel our feet afterwards.

After the sun had disappeared, we headed into Cambria, which has a very small, cute downtown. We had sandwiches at a local pub. And because it was a Friday, there was local entertainment, too.

October 19

We made early morning coffee and headed to the beach to watch the waves. Upon returning to the campsite, we found a scene straight out of Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. A zillion blackbirds had descended upon our table. It was at that moment that I realized I had unfortunately left my bread from Solvang on the picnic table. It was still wrapped in plastic, but nothing stops the blackbirds. It was very sad. After the appropriate mourning period, we packed up camp and headed for the Big Sur coast road. And it is everything that it is reported to be. The coast was the most beautiful place that I have seen. The ocean is powerful, and yet, the coast is peaceful and serene. And everything is blue. The water, sky, and clouds-blue.

Around Big Sur, we stopped at Julia Pffiefer State Park. This would be an awesome park to camp in if not for one thing-cougars. I don’t know. I just don’t like to be around any animal that comes with a warning sign that says keep small children close, so that cougar won’t eat them. Maybe it’s just me. But the park is full of interesting places. It has great trees and rocks and little streams. It even has a small waterfall (which may be hard to see in the picture).


We left the park and headed to Carmel for a late lunch at a Swiss Bistro. We had fondue, which was really good. Carmel was really cute and deserves further exploration at another time. But for us, it was onward. We meant to get off the coast road after Monterey, but somehow we ended up not doing that, and we took the coast road up to San Francisco. (On the way we got lost in some town celebrating a Pumpkin Festival…)

Ahhhh…San Francisco. A city I have been waiting to explore forever. It was nothing like what I expected. Driving in San Francisco ranks among the worst experiences in my life. The streets are practically vertical in places! That’s scary going up, but it’s ten times as bad trying to come down. You also can not make left turns or U-turns for a long stretch. And some of the one ways are not marked such. I turned onto a street and freaked out when I realized headlights were heading for our car…I’m getting stressed out all over again thinking about it! There is also not a lot of parking in the city. We finally made it to the hostel (the Green Tortoise…cool name), and I seriously considered not coming out of the room until it was time to leave for Napa.

October 20

Jen got up early to go and pay the parking fee for the parking lot. (The fees have to be renewed at 7 a.m.) Because it was Sunday, the meters were not running on the streets by the hostel. So, Jen decided to move the car to a parking meter space. Unfortunately, there was glass in the parking lot, and the car got a flat. Alamo felt that it would be easier to give us a new car then to fix the tire. So we had to drive to the airport (after Jen put on the spare). We traded our Seabring for a Firebird.

The Firebird looked sportier but came equipped with its own problems. For starters, it was quite a bit smaller than the Seabring. We had the car packed to the helm, so it took a bit of finagling to get everything into the Firebird. Second, the door was coming apart. Third, we couldn’t get the alarm to disarm. You had exactly eight seconds from the time you unlocked the car to the time you started the ignition. It was always a race to see if you could beat the alarm! And don’t even think about unlocking the car from the passenger’s side! Fourth, we had problems with the convertible top-that is, until Jen had a stern talk with it and got it to work properly.

By the time we got out of the airport, the morning was pretty much over. We drove directly to the Golden Gate bridge.

Afterwards, we parked the car to try our luck with the public transportation system (again). We had much better luck in San Francisco. We caught a bus to Ghiardelli Square. The Square is delightful. It’s a shopping mall with lots of Ghiardelli chocolate-and they give away squares when you go in the shops. I figure any town that dedicates a whole square to chocolate can’t be all bad. After Ghiardelli Square, we headed down to Fisherman’s Wharf.

We also saw Alcatraz from Pier 41. While looking out, the fog rolled in until we could no longer see Alcatraz. From Pier 41, we also saw the sea lions that lounge on decks off of Pier 39.

And of course, we did take a cable car…the only National Monument that moves.

Here is a picture of Jen hanging on the cable car before we took off.

We took the cable car to Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. In one block, Lombard Street has eight turns.

We then took the cable car back to Chinatown, where we enjoyed an authentic Chinese meal…though I was a little afraid to eat mine as the menu contained things such as pork stomach.

October 21

I was ready to leave San Francisco, even though I was glad I had decided not to lock myself in the hostel room. We headed south to Palo Alto to see the trees and Stanford University. I was not impressed with Stanford, but Palo Alto is lovely. Much calmer than San Francisco. Then we headed back north to Sonoma and Napa valleys. We had a lovely time visiting the wineries. We spent the night at Napa-Boethe State Park, which is also quite lovely.

October 22

We started the day by returning to one of the wineries we had been to the day before to stock up on a wine we really liked. Afterwards, we headed for Yosemite National Park. It took many hours, but we finally made it. Yosemite is amazing. Everything there is so big-the rocks, the trees. It makes you feel so small.

The leaves were changing, and so the trees were even more spectacular.

We explored the valley for a while, and then headed to our hostel. Our hostel turned out to be a really great lodge about thirty miles outside of the park. Jen and I chose to stay in the lodge instead of camping in the park because of the bears…

October 23

We enjoyed a nice muffin and cup of coffee at the lodge-the lodge common area was a great place to spend a quiet hour in the morning. Then we headed for the park. Our first stop was the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoia. Seeing the grove involves hiking about a mile. But the slope is much better than the Grand Canyon. The sequoias are unbelieavable!!! Look really closely, and you will see Jen standing next to one of the trees.

While we were hiking, we came across some cool dead trees, too. One of them has a tunnel to walk through.

We found another that was big enough to walk through, too.


I wasn’t sure if anything was living in the tree, and so I had reservations about going in. But Jen said that I had to go for moral support. And it was cool, but I came out covered in dust…I looked like Pigpen from the Peanuts comic strip.

It turns out that the tree is a popular place, and lots of people walk through it. There was even a school teacher leading in her blindfolded students.

It was a lesson on John Muir, one of the early advocates of setting aside Yosemite and protecting it. He spent two months of his life blind before becoming a naturalist.
After our hike, Jen and I had lunch on a scenic vista.

We got to drive through some neat tunnels:

We saw El Capitain:

And we drove up to Glacier Point. From Glacier Point you can see about a quarter of the park. It is well worth the hour drive to get to the point. The view is spectacular. Here is half dome:

And here is a picture of the valley from Glacier Point:

October 24

We left the beauty of Yosemite to head back on the long journey home. However we decided to take a three hour detour (a three hour tour…) to see Sequoia National Park. It was well worth it. The sequoias were even more awesome than the ones we saw in Yosemite. I don’t have the pictures yet, but we saw the world’s largest living organism-a 2500 year old Giant Sequoia. It is still one of the most rapidly growing organisms in the world. The tree is 40 feet in diameter at the base. The hugeness of the trees is unreal. It’s an amazing feeling.

We drove all the way to Bullhead City, Arizona (I remembered not to change my watch…) which was just across the border from Laughlin, Nevada. We camped on Lake Mead…but well, the beach was not quite the beach the website promised. There was no sand, but rock instead. And the people were loud and kind of scary. The guy next to us sat in his truck with the engine running and lights on for a long time. Freaky. It made for a restless night.

October 25

Another day of driving. We spent the night at Santa Rosa State Park again. We had to share it with another set of people this time though.

October 26

We woke up to rain. It was the first bit of rain we had had on the trip. We packed camp really quickly-after two weeks together, Jen and I had the system down pat. We spent the day driving back to Fort Worth to spend the night at Jason and Allison’s before heading home.

October 27

Home again, home again! After more than two weeks on the road, home has never looked better!