Wine and Gifts

I left the coast on Tuesday morning, and I drove to the town of McMinnville, in the heart of the Oregon Wine Country. As I left the coast, I drove through some densely forested areas with large hills, but suddenly, the terrain flattened out somewhat and the blue, blue sky appeared overhead. Barns appeared on the hills, and I saw dairy cows in fields and rows and rows of planted trees. Eventually, I came back to rolling terrain, and then appeared tons of grape vines. I'd arrived in the wine country. And what a sight, actually: the green vines, all lined up like soldiers, the pale green Oregon grass (totally different than the grass in Texas and Atlanta), and then the nearly cloudless sky with occasional barns scattered throughout the area. It was absolutely pastoral, and to this city girl, incredibly lovely.

I had arranged for a Bed and Breakfast in the adjoining town of Carlton. I stayed in a very cute place, the RR Thompson House B&B. My hosts were Roselyn and Mike, and they were wonderful. My room was on the third floor. I was the only guest who stayed there! So although I didn't have other travelers with whom to bond, I definitely had time to chat with Roselyn and Mike, which was great.

When I arrived on Tuesday, Roselyn recommended I go to the Tyrus Evan Tasting Room, just across the street from the Ken Wright Winery, and owned by Ken Wright himself. I had six wines to taste there, two white and four separate pinot noirs. And it was hard to keep them all straight -- and they were all really ineresting -- but if I had to guess, I'd guess that my favorite of the pinot noirs was the Savoya Vineyard pinot noir.

Anyway, after I drank my fill (I was a little tipsy after 6 tastes which I did NOT pour out), I walked around the tasting room, which has a little gift shop area. As I did so, a man walked into the room and started talking to the woman behind the counter of the tasting area. I had also been speaking with her, and so the three of us started a conversation about cookbooks, and how we learned to cook. It was an interesting conversation, and the man said that he had met Julia Child several times, and once went to a food and wine conference, and was accidentally placed into Jacques Pepin's hotel room (the mistake was discovered, and he was moved into a different, and smaller, room). That seemed quite impressive, but I didn't put two and two together until it was too late....after he left, the woman behind the counter told me that I had been speaking to Ken Wright himself. So there you have it. I met the man, one of the rock stars of the wine world, and I had a conversation with him about cookbooks. Oh, well. At least I didn't fall down drunk in front of him, I suppose....

Anyway, I didn't really do anything else that night, but the next day, I went to FIVE wineries. I started at Lange, because I really like their wines. They recommended some others to go to: Argyle (for sparkling wines), Domaine Drouhin, and De Ponte (for a specific white wine, the melon). I also went to Erath, just because it's a wine I can find in Atlanta; and Anne Amie, because Roselyn recommended it to me and because it was close to the B&B.

So, the run down: I found wines at each and every place that I really enjoyed. However, the wine that really blew me away was the melon at De Ponte. (For those interested, it is the De Ponte Cellars 2009 DFB Estate Melon.) So I inquired: melon was a vine that was planted at multiple Oregon wineries by mistake; it was thought to be a pinot blanc. It took a while, but at some point, people realized it was the wrong vine. Every vineyard except for two decided to pull it out. De Ponte was one of the only vineyards which kept it in place. They said the melon (pronounced "mel-OAN", BTW) has "done very well" for them. It blew me away. Thanks to Lange for recommending it to me.

I also really enjoyed the Erath 2008 Pinot Gris Knight's Gambit Vineyard, the Lange 2008 Pinot Noir Freedom Hill Vineyard, the Anne Amie 2007 Prisme Pinot Noir Blanc, and the Argyle 2006 Knudsen Vineyard Brut. And I learned that, regardless of the deliciousness of the wines, that I needed to pour out the wine after 1-2 tastes, or else I'd be too tipsy to see more than 1-2 wineries during the day.

Unfortunately, I never made it to Domaine Drouhin. They closed earlier than some of the others, and I didn't time it right, so when I arrived there, they were closed for the day.

I was given two really nice gifts while I was in the wine country. First of all, the De Ponte wine tasting host was incredibly nice. We had a long conversation about my trip and my Jeep, and even though I didn't buy anything (I figured wine and a 6-month long road trip don't mix well), he gave me my tasting for free. He told me to have a wonderful time, and thanked me for the conversation. The second gift came the following morning. After an amazing three-course breakfast which included french toast with homemade berry compote, they brought me out a cake! It was a pecan-carrot single-layer cake, frosted with white icing, and covered with fruit, like a fruit torte. There was also fruit layered around it, and chocolate drizzled around. They told me they made the cake because they were inspired by my trip, and wished me well on the journey. I was overcome by the gesture, and I immediately teared up. But despite my feeling full enough to pop, I ate a piece of cake, and basked in the warmth and good wishes they bestowed upon me.

One hour later, holding the leftover cake and a rose cut from their garden, and trying once again to hide tears, I told Mike and Roselyn goodbye, left Carlton, and drove to Portland. It was a really nice stay. Once again, I am impressed by the beauty and naturalness of Oregon, and by the friendliness of the people who live here. What an amazing place: from Medford, to Crater Lake area, to the coast, and now the wine country, Oregon has been truly a wonderful place to visit.

Crater Lake and the Oregon Coast

I left Medford on Friday and drove to Ft. Klamath, just south of Crater Lake National Park. Unfortunately, one of the problems with doing this trip a little un-planned, is that it's virtually impossible to stay in the national park lodges at this time of year. So, instead of staying at Crater Lake Lodge, I stayed at the Aspen Inn, in Ft. Klamath, about 7 miles from the entrance to the park. It was great -- a really nice couple owns the place (Heidi and Sue), and they learned my name when I arrived and made sure to call me by name everytime they saw me. They put me in their smallest room, for $50 a night -- but the room was much larger than most of the places I've stayed! And my window looked over a little park, and the weather was fabulous, so it was really nice.

Crater Lake was an experience. First of all, while it was 60 degrees and sunny in Ft. Klamath, my car thermometer showed between 37 and 40 degrees around the lake itself! And it's snowy; I saw a short film at the visitors center which said that Crater Lake park area receives 550 INCHES of snow annually. The rim drive, which goes around the lake, has to be plowed open in the spring -- and they use sonar to find the road (copper is buried beneath it) under all that snow! They said that they can only plow through a quarter-mile a day of the road, at most -- and the entire rim is still not plowed yet! So I was able to drive the west rim, but couldn't make the round trip around the east side of the lake.

Crater Lake was once a mountain, Mount Mazama. The mountain was volcanic. Apparently, around 7700 years ago, the volcano erupted -- and it was some eruption. The estimation is that it had the power of at least 42 Mt. St. Helenses. Anyway, the magma chamber underneath the mountain emptied out, and then the mountain was left without a stable base, so the entire thing collapsed in on itself. The crater that was left continued to have small eruptions, and these formed the Wizard's Hat in the center of the lake. But overall, the area cooled, and the area filled with snow and water.

Natives lived in the area for at least 10,000 years, and they have a legend about how the crater formed; they say that the mountain god wanted a young woman from their tribe to become his wife. The woman refused, and the mountain god was angry, so he began to rumble. The woman considered sacrificing herself for the safety of the tribe, but the medicine man refused to allow her to do so. The mountain god became more and more angry, and the rumbling increased. Finally, the medicine man sacrificed himself to the mountain god, to save the young woman; when he did so, a great fire erupted from the mountain. Eventually, the fire ended and the mountain god fell. Peace was once again restored to the land. Needless to say, it must have been impressive for them to have witnessed the eruption of the volcano and the collapse of the mountain, and I imagine many of them died in the eruption.

Crater Lake was only discovered by the White Man in the late 1800s; the natives considered it sacred, and so they never told the White Man about it. But some gold prospectors found it, and eventually, it was turned into a national park in 1902 -- Crater Lake is the sixth-oldest national park.

The lake itself is really amazing to see. It's this shocking electric-blue color, which I never realized existed in nature. And compared with the bright-blue, clear sky, the lake looks like blown glass. I took lots of pictures of the lake, but none of them showed the color the way it actually appears, which is unfortunate. The lake is also the deepest in the United States, and the 7th deepest in the world, at 1942 feet. It remains 38 degrees year-round. Fish were apparently introduced some years ago, but there is no native food in the lake, so the fish populations remain small.

There is only one hike available down to the shore of the lake, the Cleetwood Cove Trail, and I hiked it. (Because the east rim was not open, most of the hiking was not available -- so I didn't have many choices!) It's 1.1 miles down to the shore, with a 700 foot elevation loss on the way down. Going down was easy....the view was amazing, and watching that intense blue was inspiring. When I got down to the dock (in July-August, you can take boat rides around the lake), I sat on the dock and ate my lunch. The shallow water is a teal-blue, but as soon as the water deepens, it turns into this bright cobalt, clear and cold. I could have sat there all day.

The hike back up was not as easy. But I learned a tortoise and hare lesson, because there was a guy who was walking up behind me. He was moving so slowly, almost like he was barely moving. His steps were small, and very, very slow. I, on the other hand, was moving relatively fast, and would pull away from him -- until I felt the need to stop and let my heart rate and breathing relax, which happened every so often. And this guy (who was younger than me, by the way), kept gaining on me while I rested. He eventually passed me, and I never saw him take a break.

So, after he passed me, I decided to take his approach: very, very slow and steady. And I never had to stop for breath again, and I felt good when I got to the rim! (And when I got to the top, there he was, sitting there smiling peacefully, almost like a guru, waiting for me to learn this lesson....) I'd always felt somewhat badly when people passed me hiking, unless I was stopped to take a break -- and even then, I felt weak. And despite my knowing that hiking is NOT a race, I guess I felt like I should be moving at a certain respectable pace. But now I know that (1) there's nothing glorious in pushing too hard, and (2) that slow and steady wins, period.

On Sunday, Father's Day, I left Ft. Klamath to go to the Oregon Coast. I had to drive through the park to get there. And again, the weather in Ft. Klamath was gorgeous -- 60 and sunny -- and the weather at Crater Lake was 33 and snowing! I'm so glad I went on Saturday, because the visibility was terrible on Sunday, and it would have been a less-memorable experience. After I left the park, the snow stopped, but it continued to rain off and on all day long. I made it to the coast, but couldn't really appreciate it because the weather was so lousy.

Along the way to the coast, I did do one very cool stop, to the Sea Lion Caves, in Florence, Oregon. It is the largest sea lion cave in the world, and the only one on the mainland; the others are all out at sea. It is a football field long, and 175 feet high. The water crashes in and out of it, and there are hundreds of sea lions inside, barking, flapping, hoisting themselves up, swimming, and resting. It was very noisy inside, and stinky -- but incredibly cool. The sea lions apparently spend the fall and winter inside the cave. As you walk outside the cave, there's a path which leads to an overlook, below which the sea lions hang out on a rocky outcropping, and which is their rookery, where they breed and raise their young in the spring and summer. The water crashes against the outcropping, and it was fun to watch the young sea lions, as they'd get in the water, swim around, and then try to get back up on the rocks -- they kept getting pushed around by the current of the waves. Eventually, though, they'd figure out a way to make it back up. I stood there and watched them for a long, long time. Very, very cool. I'm really glad that Heidi (from the Aspen Inn) had suggested it.

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice. Fortunately, the weather cleared up, and I spent the day on the coast. I had stayed in Waldport, which is very small (and my hotel on the bay was inexpensive), but spent my time in Newport, just up the coast a ways. First I went to the Oregon Coastal Aquarium, which was incredibly cool -- my favorite things were the giant Anaconda, the moon jellies, the giant octopus, all of the different anemones/sea stars/urchins, and the Pacific halibut (whose eyes migrate -- from starting with one eye on each side of their head, they migrate so that both eyes end up on one side; the adult fish swim sideways, and can bury themselves in the sandy ocean bottom up to their eyeballs!). Then I had a little lunch, did some shopping in Nye Beach, and spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach itself.

By the way, the entire Oregon coastline is a public park. Apparently, the state legislature designated it as such years ago, which is really cool. Nye Beach is 5 miles long, nice and sandy, and pretty calm. There are cliffs, but the water approaches the sand, not the cliffs. Unfortunately, it was cold (58 degrees) and windy out, so I didn't do more than get my toes in the water. No bikinis for me; I was dressed in jeans and a sweater! Which taught me another lesson about myself: although I like the sound of the waves and the look of the ocean, I do NOT want to live where I have to wear a sweater on the summer solstice -- the longest day of the year should be spent in shorts and a tank top, in my opinion.

Around 7pm, I left the beach itself, but I ate dinner at a restaurant which overlooked the ocean, and so I got to see the summer solstice sunset overlooking the Pacific, which was excellent. I also saw some California gray whales! They were relatively close to shore, and they kept blowing water up through their spouts, so I know they were there, but I only saw one or two of their actual bodies/tails. Anyway, it was a great way to spend the sunset.

Today, I'm off for McMinnville, in the heart of the Oregon wine country. More on that later. But I've had a great few days.

US Highway 1 to Medford, Oregon

What a week this has been. I saw Lars and Christine in Lake Tahoe last week, Ginger and Bob over the weekend, and just today, I left Medford after a few days there visiting Eileen and Mirek Bobek. Definitely, it's been fantastic to see so many old friends, and to meet their families.

On Monday, I left Oakland and drove up the California coast on Highway 1 to Mendocino. (Highway 1 is called the Pacific Coast Highway between LA and San Fran; north of that, it's called the Shoreline Highway.) It took me a while to actually find the highway, at first, because I was unfamiliar with Marin County, but I eventually got there. The drive was spectacular -- high cliffs with crashing white surf in the deep blue water. I reached Mendocino at around 7pm, and walked around town for just a few minutes before settling into my room at the Mendocino Hotel. The hotel is pretty cool -- it's an old Victorian building, with a pretty restaurant and an amazing view of the coast. Once again, I was reminded how much I like to look at the surf and the water.

Unfortunately, I only stayed one night in Mendocino, and headed out the next morning, so I didn't get to linger there and wander through town or to the cliffs. I continued up the coast, then went to Crescent City (home of the "drive-thru tree", a 2400 year-old coastal sequoia), and then took Highway 199 eastward across the Oregon border into Medford, where Eileen and Mirek live. The entire drive was really amazing, and the coast continued to get more and more beautiful the further north I drove -- the cliffs were higher, the water rougher, and with the redwoods on the cliffs, the view was breathtaking.

When I arrived in Medford, I met Eileen and her kids for dinner. Eileen and I did residency together in Michigan; she was a year ahead of me, and one of my chief residents. Her husband, Mirek, was a neurosurgery resident at the time; he is now a practicing neurosurgeon in Medford. The last time I saw Eileen, she had one child, Roman, who was 2 years old. He's now 10 1/2, and he has three siblings: Milan, 8; Radek, 5; and Stazie, 3. Unbelieveable, that this friend of mine is now the mother of four, and that little tiny Roman is so grown up! We ate dinner, and then went back to her house to put the kids to bed.

Wednesday, I went to a yoga class while Eileen ran errands. Then the kids and Eileen and I played video games (old school: Pac-Man, Pole Position, Galaga, and the like) and ran around the house until I was exhausted, even though I don't think they were. That night, we went for sushi with Mirek, who met us after work.

On Thursday, Eileen hired a sitter for the kids, and she and I went to the town of Ashland, just a few miles away. It is very cute: it's the home of Southern Oregon University, and a typical college town in that it is very artsy and liberal, with lots of vegetarian restaurants and funky shops. But it's also the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and has a very educated, upscale vibe to it, as well.

Last night, Eileen's parents came in town. I spent some time with them this morning, which was fun....I can see from where Eileen gets her sense of humor! And after hearing about them for years, it was nice to finally meet them.

I have to say, Mirek is a wonder. He works these incredibly long days, and yet, he has LOTS of activities that he does on the side: he worked in the garden every night after coming home (I'm looking at two roses that he cut for me last night....they're in a makeshift vase here in my hotel room), he's in a band with whom he plays every Sunday, he plays tennis on Friday mornings, and he plays on a softball team on Mondays. Last night, he baked multiple loaves of bread for the week (yes, you heard me -- he baked HOMEMADE bread after working a full day). And he made dinner for four kids, as well.

I talked to Eileen about this, and it's interesting, because her answer highlighted a theme which seems to recur: Eileen says that she didn't learn how to take care of herself until after she stopped working. Now that she's not working clinically, she's taken up writing, guitar, yoga, and leads a book club -- but she didn't do any of those things while she was working as a physician. My friend Martha in Seattle says the same thing, that she's only developed hobbies now that she's not working as a physician. I've very much felt that way -- in fact, that's the primary reason why I took this time off -- because I seem to sacrifice everything to the job, and have completely lost sight of what makes me happy in the process.

So why is it that Mirek, who is by all accounts busy (after all, he is a neurosurgeon), able to work a 10-12 hour day, come home, play with his kids, work in the garden, bake bread, play sports, and enjoy music, while I've completely given up piano, softball, exercise, and cooking, and never developed any other hobbies in their places? Why is it that Eileen, Martha and I all have the same experience in that regard? Why couldn't I find that balance while working? Is it that I am just unhappy working, and that my unhappiness keeps me from participating in other activities? Is it part of an all-or-nothing phenomenon, whereby I feel that if I cannot be the best at an activity, I should not participate at all? Is it just exhaustion? Is it that I feel an obligation to take care of my house and chores before I take care of fun time? And is there anything about being female, or the way that Eileen, Martha, and I were raised as females, which contributes to that sense of being unable to participate in activities which make us happy while there's work to be done? Food for thought.

At least I know I'm not alone in this. For a long time, I thought I must be crazy that I could not figure out how to attain balance while working. It's always nice to know that I'm not the only one who doesn't possess this skill set. At the same time, though, it makes me wonder if balance is a skill I can develop, or not -- because at some point, I'm going to have to go back to work.

That said, it was a really fun few days with Eileen and her family. Again, I'm overcome with how long it's been since I've seen some of these people, and how amazing it is to reconnect after so many years. And, at least, I am certain that I do not want to lose touch with people again -- my life is certainly better for having friends in it with me.

The East Bay, and a teeny tiny bit of San Francisco

On Friday, I arrived in Oakland, California, the home of my friend Ginger. Ginger and I went to high school together in Dallas, and as close as we were then, we've fallen out of touch in the past few years. I've seen her a couple of times in the past two years: once while she was in Atlanta for work, and last October (briefly), at our 20th high school reunion. But I'd never met her husband Bob, nor her son Owen. So I was really excited to see her and reconnect after such a long time!

It was a wonderful visit, in every sense. I arrived Friday afternoon, and Ginger, Owen, and I went to the nursery (garden, not baby) to look for items for their brand new deck. While Ginger spoke with the garden professionals, Owen and I looked through the herbs and flowers, and decided which ones smelled the best. He likes chives, basil, and mint for their smell, and aloe for the "pricklies" on their leaves.

When we got back to their house, I discovered that Owen, at the tender age of 3, is a baseball fanatic. He wore a glove and baseball hat the entire weekend, asked me to play baseball with him multiple times daily, and knows that his favorite teams are the Giants and the A's. But really, he likes the Giants over the A's. He and I played some catch, and we hit a wiffle-ball some that night, and he wore me out! But it was really fun (same as it was with Kai, in Lake Tahoe) to see a little child with real interest and talent.

I met Bob that evening, and he's terrific. He's very mellow, bright, and super-nice (and until recently, he owned a Jeep -- so of course I liked him!). He's also incredibly handy; he remodeled an entire bathroom at their home, and he built the new front patio. Unfortunately, his mother died recently, of complications from lupus, and Ginger warned me that he might not be up for visitors; but he was warm, funny, and really interesting to talk to -- and was a fantastic host, despite it all.

That night, I had my second home-cooked meal, and again, it was fantastic: steaks, grilled corn Mexican-style (i.e., with butter, cheese, chili powder, and lime -- makes my mouth water just thinking about it), asparagus, and fresh fruit. We went to bed relatively early that night, because Bob was to get up early the next morning to run a 5K, and the rest of us thought we might go to the finish line, so we all thought we'd need to be up early.

The next morning, Bob was good and went to the run, but the rest of us slept in, instead. Later that morning, Ginger and Owen went to a swim meet for Ginger's goddaughter, and I went to a local coffee shop to work on the trip planning somewhat. Afterwards, Ginger, Owen and I went to a park for a picnic and a little baseball (Owen played "thrower", outfielder, and catcher, but didn't want to bat at all -- so Ginger and I did most of the batting). When we returned to the house, Bob took Owen while Ginger and I did a little shopping, and then went for dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant. Our favorite dish was our appetizer, actually -- Sardinian flatbreads with herb jam, accompanied by chickpea fritters (not falafel, more like cornbread), fresh peas, young greens, and a yogurt sauce. Then that night, we went for a walk, which was beautiful, with views of the San Francisco bay. Ginger lives in a hilly neighborhood, and the walk was tough -- but the views made it worthwhile, for sure.

On Sunday, Ginger and I went to a yoga class, which was really great. We then went to the Farmer's Market and bought tons of fruit, some sorbet, bread, and vegetables -- although I think I ate my weight in samples! Then we came home and attempted a frittata for breakfast. Unfortunately, I flipped it too early, and it broke -- so we ended up with scrambled eggs, instead -- but they were delicious, despite the mess I made.

That afternoon, we went to a baseball game so that Owen could watch a little ball, and then came back to the house. I caught the ferry from Jack London Square in Oakland, and took it to San Francisco. I wandered around near the bay for a while, then ate dinner at a famous restaurant in San Francisco, the Slanted Door. And it was amazing, worth both every good review it receives, and every penny of my hard-earned money. After dinner, I sat and looked out over the bay for a while, until it was time to catch my ferry back to Oakland. It is a beautiful city, for sure -- and it reminds me that I really do love looking at the water. I can see why San Francisco has such a romantic reputation -- it was lovely sitting there.

The next morning, Ginger and Bob went to work, and I packed up my things, went to another yoga class, and then left Oakland to head up to Oregon. It was a great weekend. Ginger seems so happy, and she has a wonderful husband and child. I really enjoyed speaking with her at dinner on Saturday night -- she's such a good listener, and always asks challenging questions which encourage me to answer with forthrightness and honest emotion. It was truly special for me to be able to catch up with her after such a long time.

Lake Tahoe

On Wednesday, I went to Lake Tahoe. I arrived in the early afternoon, after I (unfortunately) received a speeding ticket. I was so bummed out! I'd been driving through the mountains for what seemed like an eternity, and FINALLY I ended up on open road. It felt so good to hit the gas pedal. Unfortunately, I thought the speed limit was 65, and so I was driving 70....the actual speed limit was 55, and so a California highway patrol officer stopped me. He was actually very nice -- said it happens all the time, exactly the same way I described: people coming out of the mountains, and allowing the car to "stretch its legs". Anyway, he only put me down for 65 mph, which will lower the ticket price somewhat. But it was a bummer nonetheless.

Anyway, it was great to see Lars! I was unable to attend his wedding for some reason -- probably a long string of night shifts -- and so I hadn't met his wife, Christine. She is fabulous. She's super-bright, warm, friendly, and very athletic (and a climber), just like Lars. They make a great couple! They also have a two-year-old son, Kai, who is very, very cute.

On Wednesday afternoon, the four of us went to the beach at Lake Tahoe on the Nevada side, where they live. The water was chilly, but the deep blue water with the mountains and evergreen trees all around is amazing to look at. Lars, of course, left me and Christine to chat while he went off bouldering -- once a climber, always a climber! -- and Kai went off to follow him -- amazing to see his natural talent, even at two years of age.

We went for sushi that night, and then Lars spent the evening teaching me about his new outdoor sport, fly fishing. I actually stayed in his "sewing room", which is really his feather-filled fly-creation room. Funny that I'm victims of stereotyping as much as anyone else is -- when I saw the spools of thread, the needles, and the feathers, I initially assumed the room must be Christine's craft space! But Lars has become an avid fly fisherman, and now he purchases special feathers to create his masterpieces.

The next day we drove to the California side of Lake Tahoe and went to Vikingsholm, an old estate on the beach. It's a beautiful hike down from the top, passing by all sorts of waterfalls, large and small. When we arrived at the bottom, we walked around the home (didn't take the tour inside), and then took a small offshoot off the trail, which took us to an amazingly large and powerful waterfall. I stood there, amazed at how such a large fall could have been hidden from both my sight and hearing while we hiked down. While I stood there and gawked, Lars ran away again and scampered up the side of the falls.

We then went down to the beach for a while, and Lars and Kai collected waterbugs while Christine and I chatted. Then Christine took Kai, and Lars and I had some time alone, as well. It was really nice, having some time to talk to him. He's changed so much from when we were residents; he was so unhappy then, and he is so calm and content now -- I don't know what to say except that it made ME feel good to see him happy.

That night, I had a HOME-COOKED MEAL for supper -- the first one in many, many weeks! We had steaks, asparagus, and macaroni salad, and homemade rhubarb pie with vanilla ice cream -- and it was absolutely fantastic. Then, while Christine put Kai to bed, Lars showed me fly-fishing videos and rock climbing videos. The most insane video was of some dude from Tahoe area, who apparently had had a fear of falling; so he "recovered" (?!?) from his fear by developing a system whereby he'd climb up two peaks, attach ropes from the tops of them to stretch across the span, and then climb up a peak INSIDE the span, hook onto the ropes stretching the span, and then JUMP OFF. Recovered or not, he's dead now, from a complication of one of his "falls". Poor bastard....

On Friday morning, Lars went to work early. So Christine, Kai and I got up, played, ate pie for dessert, and then I packed up and left for Oakland. It was an absolutely wonderful two days. Lars and Christine were terrific hosts, Kai was adorable, and seeing Lars happy (cliche as it sounds) absolutely warmed my soul. Amazing.

Vegas, Sequoia, Yosemite, and me

It's becoming harder to write....as I go to more and more new places, I keep getting overwhelmed, to the point where overwhelmed seems, well, normal. It makes it hard to write about all of the amazing things, so instead, I'll mention a few things that stand out.

I went to Las Vegas last Tuesday, and stayed until Saturday. For those of you who don't know, my grandparents moved there about 13 years ago, and I went to visit them. My grandmother is 96; my grandfather is 94. And despite the fact that they are certainly slowing down, they are still incredibly vibrant. My grandfather cooked bagels, eggs, and veggie sausage for breakfast every morning; my grandmother puts on a cute outfit and makeup every day; we went gambling several times, and my grandmother won $389 at slots (I won $64); they took me to the strip to see the Encore Hotel, which is new since I last visited in 2008; we watched Glee and a couple of movies on cable; we talked politics and the BP oil spill; and we went out for dinner every single night. Really, they're amazing. When we went to the buffet at the Red Rocks Casino on Wednesday night, all of the wait staff there knew my grandparents, and kept commenting to each other: "Can you believe she's 96 years old?" To which my grandmother would reply, "I know! Can you believe, in four years, I'll be 100? Now that's old!" And then she'd burst into giggles.

My uncle and aunt, Richard and Shelley, were in town as well. On Wednesday afternoon, while we let my grandparents rest, Richard, Shelley, and I drove to Mount Charleston, and then we took Janie out onto a Jeep road through the mountains. We had a fabulous time. Unfortunately, at one point, upon exiting a ditch, Janie fishtailed a bit, and her rear wheel well struck a small tree trunk. So poor Janie has a bruise on her right hip. I called a mobile dent service to come out, and he was able to heat up the plastic and remove the dent, so now she's good as new. But I feel badly that Janie now has an injury....like I've mistreated my child somehow.

On Saturday, I went out to brunch with my grandparents, and then I left for Sequoia National Park area that afternoon around 2. It was a very emotional goodbye with my grandparents; after all, I never know if it might be the last time I see them, and I haven't been as good as I could have been about keeping in touch with them. But, as always, my grandfather had treasured words of wisdom for me about being happy with my life, and for that, I'm incredibly grateful, and sad that I don't see him more often. We both got teary as I said goodbye.

The drive to Sequoia National Park was much longer than I expected. From the map, it only seemed a 3 or so hour drive; but I didn't realize that you cannot enter Sequoia NP from the east side. That meant that I had to drive around Death Valley, to Bakersfield (which is further west than the park is) and then back east to the park. I didn't get to my hotel until 9:30 that night.

The next morning, I went to the park. It is beautiful, and the trees are magnificent, but the entire park is basically a forest (obviously, I suppose), and I realize that I don't find forests all that, well, interesting. So I saw some enormous, stately sequoia trees, hiked around a bit, spent time watching a bear pull bark off a fallen tree to eat the bugs, and then went back to my hotel for dinner. That night, the hotel where I was staying had a campfire, which I attended. I felt very Dirty Dancing, and I half-expected Patrick Swayze to pop out at any moment. Instead, I met two cool Australian guys, Glenn and Dugald. Glenn is a pilot based in Hong Kong; Dugald is a financier who lives in London. Both are traveling for 4 weeks through California, and we chatted at the campfire for a long while. I saw them the next morning, as well, and I had breakfast with them before I left to go to Yosemite.

Oh, Yosemite. What to say about it. I arrived on Monday afternoon, and I went to Glacier Point. The view is overwhelming, really -- it's so huge, so vast, so imposing -- I stayed at Glacier Point for several hours, just sitting and looking across the valley at the waterfalls and at Half-Dome.

The next morning, I returned to the park, and this time, I went to Yosemite Valley, which is super-touristy. I had planned on doing several small, or one larger hike throughout the day -- but the place is so huge, that I barely had time to even do a quick lap around the park by shuttle, much less on foot. I did see some very cool things -- I walked to the base of the Lower Yosemite Falls, and since it was peak snowmelt yesterday, I got completely soaked underneath it, as though I were standing at the base of the Log Ride at Six Flags; I walked to Mirror Lake; and I walked to the base of El Capitan along with a German climber, who aspires to climb the face someday. We talked climbing (I tried not to look or act TOO stupid), and careers (he's left engineering, and is about to join the police force in Stuttgart), and spent most of the afternoon together.

It was nice, hanging with the Aussies the other night, and the German today, as it's lonely for me to visit all of these parks alone. It's like I see the parks, and I pick up on certain details, but the people around me see details I don't see myself -- so it enriches my experience to have another traveler along for the ride.

As to my final impression of Yosemite: simply that I didn't have nearly enough time there to have a real impression! I didn't even get to see the Tuolomne meadows, nor did I have enough time to do even one "real" hike. I'll need to go back sometime, with at least 4-5 full days to spend in the park.

Anyway, I finally made it back to my hotel around 9 , and was incredibly sad when I arrived in my hotel room -- so much so, that I ate ice cream for dinner. I don't know what I was sad about, exactly: was it fatigue of the trip? Leaving my grandparents? Realizing that I feel lonely traveling alone? Or just coming down off the highs of being with interesting people for the past few days?

Now it's off to Lake Tahoe to visit Lars and Christine. Lars was a resident with me, and an avid climber, so I thought of him a lot while at Yosemite, with all of the climbing aficionados near El Capitan. He said he's climbed TWO routes up that bad boy. Wow....something to aspire to, I guess....

Utah Parks

What a few days it's been. On Friday, I went to Arches National Park for the day. Thursday night, after I arrived in Moab, I went to dinner at the Moab Brewery....sat next to a guy who's a pretty die-hard hiker and climber. He told me I had to hike to Delicate Arch at Arches. When I went to Arches on Friday, I went to the visitor center to talk to the rangers about how to spend my day. They suggested I hike the primitive loop to Devil's Garden in the morning, then stop for lunch, then hike to Delicate Arch in the afternoon.

So that's what I tried. Unfortunately, I learned a hiking lesson about myself that day. The Devil's Garden hike is a 7.9 mile hike, and the primitive loop is pretty difficult during certain parts. Unfortunately, I'd had a very small breakfast that morning (one piece of toast and one apple), and by the time I finished the loop, even before I got to the major arches, I had "hit the wall". Truly. I was extremely tired, and eating my PB&J, orange, and trail mix didn't help. Fortunately, there was a couple from New Mexico who came along behind me, and at least made sure I was safe until I got to Landscape Arch, and then I was able to get back to my car. I eventually started to feel better, but I decided that I shouldn't do another difficult desert hike that afternoon. So, instead of seeing the single most famous arch at the park from close up, I saw it from a viewpoint two miles away. Bummer. (Although, since I did the primitive loop, I got to hike through the Fin Canyons, which were amazingly cool...)

Anyway, I contemplated trying to hike Delicate the following day, but I later realized I had a pretty big day ahead of me -- seeing both Canyonlands and Capitol Reef, and then driving to Bryce Canyon -- and so I decided not to hike it at all. I guess Delicate Arch will just have to wait for a future hike.

I left Moab on Saturday morning, and I drove to Canyonlands, about 30 miles away. Canyonlands is really huge -- so huge that it has three different "districts", each of which require at least a full day to see. So I just went to the most accessible one, the Islands in the Sky District (the other two are known as the Needles District and the Maze District). Canyonlands is actually really hard to see from the rim. They recommend that to see the park, you take a 4-wheeler, and drive through the canyons. The middle layer of the park is called the "white rim", where the rock is harder than the surrounding areas, and more erosion-resistant. The white rim has, among many others, a 100-mile-long 4-wheeler road, which takes a minimum of two days to drive. I would have LOVED to do that. Unfortunately, even though I had the right car, I didn't have the time required. So I just drove around the upper rim for a while, and then I finally left and made my way westward to Capitol Reef.

Capitol Reef is really cool. I'd never even heard of it until I started working on this trip, but it's a huge "fold" in the landscape of southwestern utah known as the Waterpocket Fold. It's pretty desolate country out there -- the closest signal light is 78 miles away, apparently -- but it's absolutely gorgeous out there. Apparently, it used to be a hideout for Butch Cassidy and a host of other robbers and outlaws. Eventually, Mormons settled in the area and started farming the land in and around the canyon inside the reef. They still grow berries, apples, and peaches, and allow the public to come and purchase fruit during harvest season. They also sell homemade fruit pies at the visitors' center, which I thought was pretty quaint. Anyway, it was named Capitol Reef because, looking up at it, you feel like you're looking at a reef in the ocean. I didn't understand that at first, but after I got there and started driving through the park, I totally understood! I looked up at all these crannies, crevices, and outcroppings that held lush, green plants growing out of them in funny angles and at different heights, and I absolutely felt like a fish, scooting through all of these little pockets, wondering what I'd see around the corner. It was very, very beautiful there, and I would absolutely love to go back someday.

I eventually made it to Bryce Canyon Saturday evening, but I didn't go to the park until the following day. And I have to say, I was somewhat disappointed in Bryce Canyon! Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful there, and the hoodoos are weird and wonderful -- it's just that the entire park is, well, accessible. You can see it by just hopping out of your car and walking 100 yards to a lookout point. You don't have to hike it to see it. I did do a couple of hikes, just to walk down under the rim and among the hoodoos, but it's not really necessary. And there were SO many people there, and they refused to stay on the trails, and it's pretty small, actually -- so the crowds were completely annoying. But my hike through the Queen's Garden and around the Navajo Loop Trail were really nice, if steep.

On Monday morning (Memorial Day), I woke up extra early and went to Bryce Point again to see sunrise over the ampitheater. It was really beautiful, watching the sun come up over the hoodoos, standing straight and tall -- almost like soldiers at attention -- on the day in which we remember all of those soldiers who lost their lives in service for the USA. It was a great way to spend the holiday.

After I packed up at my hotel, I drove the 80 miles from Bryce Canyon to Zion National Park. And, as disappointed as I was in Bryce Canyon, I was overwhelmed by Zion. It is so beautiful, so spectacular, that I was overcome by my smallness, my transience on this Earth. I've only ever felt that way one other time, when I hiked through Grand Canyon several years ago. I can see why the Mormons who first named the cliffs called the area "Little Zion" -- I absolutely saw it as a place for prayer. And I am not someone who normally feels that way, mind you. I could have moved in right then and there.

I didn't do a huge hike there, although I thought about hiking Angel's Landing. But I guess I was gunshy after my experience at Arches, and so I did a bunch of smaller hikes, instead. I saw all three Emerald Pools, the Kayenta Trail, the Rim Trail, Weeping Rock, and the Riverside Walk -- totaled around 6 miles or so. But my favorite, by far, was Riverside Walk. It's really quite easy -- it's paved, and one of the most popular walks at the park, and around 1 mile in each direction. But it walks right past the Temple of Sinawava, along the Virgin River, and to the end of the wider part of the canyon, to the beginning of the Narrows (where you cannot walk without walking in the river itself). Unfortunately, we were unable to walk in the Narrows because the river was too high, but the Riverside Walk was gorgeous: green, cool, lush, windy, with the water rushing by, and lots of boulders to sit upon and think. They say that the Riverside Walk should take 1 hour; for me, it took 2 1/2. I kept sitting to look at the water, to listen, to think, and to imagine how long it took for the Virgin River to carve out the 3000 foot-high cliffs. It was outstanding.

Tuesday morning, I took my car up to the northwest corner of the park, to an area called the Kolob Canyons, and I took a small hike there along Timber Creek. Again, it should have been a 1-hour hike, but looking at the finger canyons was so astounding to me, that it took me 2+ hours. There were a few other hikers along the path with me, but not too many, and we all were blown away by the sheer beauty of the Kolob canyons. In fact, I was one of the speediest hikers there that morning!

Eventually, I dragged myself away, and left Zion National Park to drive to Las Vegas to visit my grandparents. More on Sin City later. But for now, I am left with absolute amazement at southern Utah, and with a real temptation to leave Atlanta and pack up for Springdale, Utah.

Oh, and the pictures are, from the top:

1. Landscape Arch, Arches National Park
2. The White Rim and the Green River, Islands in the Sky District, Canyonlands National Park
3. The road to Capitol Gorge, Capitol Reef National Park
4. Bryce Ampitheater at sunrise, Bryce Canyon National Park
5. Finger Canyons, Kolob Canyons area, Zion National Park