13th anniversary trip to California
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For those of you who aren't into details and just want to see the pictures (please excuse the chromatic aberation - don't feel like taking those back in to fix that.), just scroll on down. For those of you who ARE into details and have interest in reading through this, I just want to give you a heads up that it is quite lengthy, as I write this as much for our memory records as anything else. It's 5 very full days in one post. Proceed if you wish, just wanted you to know ahead of time. :)
It's been a long while since we've been able to get away, just the two of us, for more than a night. Since our 5th anniversary, I do believe. We spent 5 very full and wonderfully adventurous days in a state neither of us has been to (aside from Josh's one time visit for a college swim meet), California! What a beautiful state, full of an incredibly diverse array of landscape and natural wonders........and really awful drivers!
I do believe, on this Tuesday evening as I begin to write out this post, that I am finally regaining my energy and I can now walk without looking like a peg leg pirate. The hikes we chose left both of us feeling a bit crippled for a few days!
We started the trip off with an early morning alarm of 4:00 to be on our flight by 6:30. It's a good thing we got to the airport earlier than we anticipated, as Josh discovered half way down the line to TSA that his driver's license was not in his wallet, but was still sitting in our copier at home, where he's used it a few days before. He immediately called and woke his parents, who were asleep in our basement ready for a full 5 days of watching boys, and begged that he grab it and drive like the wind to the airport. We ran out of the TSA line and to the Alaska Air counter help, who informed us that the plane door would be locked well before his dad would be able to make the 20 minute drive, but that we could try to proceed through security anyway, as long as Josh was ok with a very personal search of his belongings and his self. They let us through and we ran to our gate, making it in time for our flight. I think he shook his head in disbelief half way through that first 2 1/2 flight. But we were on our way and a call could be made when we landed to the WY DMV to acquire an email copy of his license. We landed in Portland and proceeded to our next flight that would take us to San Francisco where we'd get our rental car and head into the city to meet up with our 1:00 Alcatraz tour group. We squeaked lunch in at a fish 'n chips type place along the bay and hopped on the ferry for the short jaunt to the island.
The island was beautiful, bursting with color from all the foreign plants that have been brought from all places around the world, that flourish in the coastal climate. The prison was a bit eery, but really fascinating to walk through. The audio tour was well worth the time it took and was narrated by a former guard and two former prisoners. We had a wind blown view of the golden gate bridge, but that was about as good as a look as we got of it, as the next time we saw it was as we drove across it in the dark as we headed back to the airport to start our journey home 5 days later.
San Francisco was baffling to both of us country kids, as it seemed there was not a square inch of land left undeveloped. It's hilly to boot, but that doesn't stop the residents from building on every possible surface. There were houses overhanging cliff sides, just stacked up like sardines. It was really incredible to see, but we were relieved to leave the city and head to Yosemite around 4 that afternoon.
We were astonished by how awful the driving was, however, as we headed out of the city. It was hilarious, really, though the 4 accidents along the way slowed us down by 90 minutes and put us into our B&B in the mountains much later than we'd hoped. We crossed some desert looking country after leaving the coast and then just all of the sudden happened upon foothills and hit the mountains as the sun took it's final light out of the sky. Winding mountain passes with too few guard rails are one of my arch nemesis, so perhaps it was ok that we had been slowed by accidents along the way. We collapsed into bed in exhaustion after scrubbing off the travel filthies (air travel always gives that nasty feeling), and fell fast asleep excited for what the next day held.
We woke early, with that two hour time different staring us in the face. It was well into the morning for our body clocks, while the West Coast was mostly still asleep. We wandered outside and were taken aback by the beauty that we'd not been able to see the night before when we'd pulled in. Other than the mountains straight out our front door one of the first things that grabbed my eye were the horses pasturing just a stones throw away. I thought for only a minute or so about wether it was ok to wander down to them before deciding that I just didn't care one way or the other. Horses must be touched and appreciate, especially on a crisp mountain morning when the dew is shimmering on every green surface the eye can see. I made my way through the shin high, wet grass, wondering what kind of critters I was awakening with my foot steps and walked the short gravel walkway to the corral, while a turkey in the distance gobble-obble-obbled his way across a neighboring pasture. I walked around the side of the tack house and the blanketed beauty I'd come to see stared me down cautiously as I slowly walked toward her with my hand out and my quiet voice trying to soothe her anxiousness. She gave me hand a good long sniff and then pulled back to look at me square in the eyes. I reassured her and she smelled me again, several times before allowing me to touch her forehead. It didn't take long before I was able to step and use both hands to feel along her silky ears and jaw as I sweet talked her. She whinnied at me a few times and hung her head in front of my face, closely, trusting. Horses and mountains are the stuff my childhood dreams were made of (and my adult dreams are at times still made of), so I felt absolute delight as I stroked her neck, ears and forehead. After realizing I couldn't be down with her for long enough to truly get a fix, I decided to head back to join my husband on our rockers in the sun in front of our room, where was breakfast was soon to be served.
Our breakfast was well presented and absolutely delicious. When my husband had called to make reservations a few months ago the owner of the house asked about dietary restrictions and my breakfast was made to order. It really is a tremendous burden lifted when I don't have to wonder what unpleasant side effects I might have to deal with when eating food I haven't prepared myself and am unfamiliar with. The owner came over to talk with us a bit during breakfast and gave us an itinerary of what he would do, if he were a first time visitor as we were. We followed his advice to the tee and were thankful he took the time to steer us away from crowds and to the major points and the perfect times of day. He knew exactly what he was talking about!
After enjoying a leisurely breakfast we made our way up the mountain to enter Yosemite park. We stopped at the major outlooks and throughout the day were time and time again in awe of the raw beauty that lies within a very small area of land. It's truly breathtaking! We enjoyed "Tunnel View" (El Capitan and other landmarks), Glacier Point, Half Dome and Sentinel Dome that first day. We hiked to the top of Sentinel Dome and it gave us a 360 degree view of miles of beautiful waterfalls, snow capped peaks and green, lush valleys. We enjoyed our snack food lunch at the top while we rested for a bit and then headed down to make our way down to the valley to mosey around for a bit and then enjoy a short hike up to the lower of the Yosemite Falls before dinner at the lodge.
Our B&B gentleman told us to take the short trail walk up to the base of Bridalveil Falls after dinner. We stopped along the river to play on a fallen tree and marveled one of the many thousands of dogwood trees dwarfed in size, but certainly not beauty, by the towering pines. Dogwoods are one of my very favorite deciduous trees and seeing them littered throughout the park was an unexpected treat. They contrast beautifully with the various shades of green that swallows the landscape.
After dinner we headed out again to Tunnel View to catch the sunset colors over El Capitan. It was even more stunning in the evening light.
The next morning we enjoyed another delicious breakfast and headed out early to start the hefty hike up to Vernal Falls. There's a 1000 foot elevation climb in the 1.5 miles up to the falls and then the trip back down (we decided not to come back down the treacherous wet stairs, thanks to the suggestion from our B&B guy who said it's a bowling ball and pins waiting to happen when people come back down the same way they go up - we understood fully what he meant once we'd made our way up!) is about 2 miles of gravel and stone climbing and descending winding through the beautiful woods to the right of the falls. With NE being nearly sea level and the elevation climb during the hike and the fact that I forgot my albuterol at home, it was a bit of a trip up for me. I was the wheezy one, but we made it to the top, none-the-less. The top of the lower falls, that is. The upper falls were a 7 mile round trip and the climbing got much harder after the point where we stopped. It was dream like, really, with rainbows from the mist arching over the vibrant green moss covering every possible surface and the towering pines on either side of the rushing river. These pictures simply don't do it justice, especially because my lens was showered in mist every time I'd point to get a picture. There was simply no way to keep it dry. We were soaked from the showering of the fall when we got to the top. Toward the end of that climb there are parts I really wish I'd taken pictures of, but clinging to the cliff wall while slowly and carefully stepping up after one slippery stone step after another weighed more heavily on my mind than did taking a picture. Plus, I couldn't bring myself to the look to the left, for the drop was making my whole body ache just knowing it was there. It's ridiculous, I know.
We headed back to the village to get our self appointed reward of soft serve and drive to the Tuolumne Grove hike to see one of the smallest redwood groves in the park. The larger groves were along roads that were still closed for the season. After hiking the falls in the morning and then sitting in the car for an hour I got out at the parking lot for the hike to the grove and wondered how I'd complete the 2 mile roundtrip downhill and then back up. It was paved and would have been considered a very easy hike had we not just jellified our legs at the falls that morning. It was well worth the pain, though!
After our last hike and feeling all hiked out we headed down the mountain to make our way to food and a late drive to Stinson Beach, just north of San Francisco. I've never eaten at In N' Out, but it.was......perfect!
We pulled up at our Air BnB place and chuckled and dropped our jaws a few times as we walked around the courtyard and into our room. It was the cheapest place in Stinson Beach and the pics will show you why. This town is VERY secluded and throughout the next 36 hours we realized that short of the tourists bringing up to date-ness into the town, the town itself was very much stuck in the 70's. HA! It was a really unique experience.
After a very strange, but filling breakfast fixed by our Air BnB owner, Saturday was spent soaking in the beauty of the ocean. It was insanely windy and only in the low 60s, so laying out and resting on the sand wasn't in the cards. I shed a few tears after initially walking out onto the beach and seeing the ocean for the first time since leaving Portugal 3 years ago. Hearing the ocean daily and watching the sunrise over that Atlantic water day in and day out will do something to the heart. I didn't really care much about the ocean before living in Portugal. But it would be hard for one to be impartial after two years of living with it right outside their backyard.
We splashed around in the waves along the shore, explored tide pools before the tide came in for the day, and hid behind boulders for respite from the wind.
After wandering to look at the local options for lunch, we honed in a menu that looked promising. We both chose tacos and were not a bit sorry for it. They were phenomenal, as was the music that accompanied our lunch. A local band of aging hippies played song after song of Gordon Lightfoot style music and they were seriously good at what they did. It was clear they'd been together for years as they worked through their songs seamlessly with little effort, following along with one another effortlessly.
We walked around the tiny downtown, at more a delicious banana split, had a french fry snack at the shack on the beach, watched parasailors and body surfers in wet suits brave the crazy wind whipped waves, drove up one of the mountain passes to see the view (and to head to dinner at a restaurant we didn't know we needed reservations for) enjoyed a short snooze hunkered behind a very large boulder in the sun but out of the wind, and ate dinner at the same restaurant where we ate lunch. After packing to be sure we could make a quick exit early the next morning we wandered out to the beach again to try to catch some sunset colors. The day had been restful (as restful as a day spent in the sun and crazy wind can be!).
We woke on Sunday morning at 3:50, anticipating a drive to the airport through the tiny winding mountain roads that brought us to Stinson Beach and then a 7am flight. As we were finished our way across the golden gate bridge he asked if I'd find the email from Alaska air and check us in so we didn't have to wait in the check-in line. The email said our connecting flight in Portland didn't depart until 6:45pm. It took me a few seconds of furrowed eyebrow time to realize that would not, indeed, put us in to Omaha at the 11:30 arrival time we'd been telling Rob and Lyn all along. I mentioned it to him and he just kind of froze. And then came, "No. No no no, that's not right! That can't be right!" I clicked on the link to sign in and sure enough the 6:45pm departure time from Portland was listed there as well. It hadn't been a typo on the email. It wasn't that we were in a huge hurry to get home for ourselves, it's that we were in a hurry to get home for Rob and Lyn's sake, and for the past 2 months since booking the flights (late at night after receiving a promotional email from Alaska air in which they displayed ridiculously low ticket prices that clearly allured us enough that we forgot to really check carefully over return times), we'd been thinking and saying that we'd be home just after noon on Sunday. Leaving at 6:45 wouldn't put us in until 10pm. And that 10pm was Pacific time, not Omaha time! hahaha! It took us half the day to realize we were again wrong about our arrival time and had to tell them it wouldn't be until midnight, because the departure time from Portland wasn't until 8:45 Omaha time! We both felt really awful about it, but despite sprinting from one terminal to the next in the Portland airport to try to get on standby for a flight leaving very shortly after we'd arrived (that didn't work for several reasons) we came to grips with being in Portland for the full day, rented a car and ventured out to find something to do. It was a beautiful day there, the waterfalls we hiked to were stunning, the soft serve we ate there (yes, we ate a lot of soft serve) was, we decided, the best soft serve ice cream either of us had ever had in our lives, the lunch was absolutely delicious with incredible scenery next to an old water lock along the river and the extra time alone did our hearts good.
After a quick stop and tour through the dam to see their ingenious way to let the salmon and other fish continue to migrate up stream (truly fascinating), we made our way to the airport, turned in our rental and boarded our plane with plenty of time to spare.
Monday was spent recouping, catching up on school with the boys to finish the year strong and fighting against the urge to crash into bed while the boys binge watched cartoons all day.
What a delight it was to get away. As we looked through pictures and I texted various picture to him throughout the day on Tuesday when he went back to work, we both found ourselves wishing we could go back and relive it. It had been 7 years since our last chunk of time away from the boys to be just the two of us and it was so very enriching.
Thank you, Rob and Lyn, for loving on those boys, taking them camping (still can't believe you braved that!) and spoiling them while we were gone! Quite literally, we could not have done this trip without you!
