Sequoia National Park (22nd to 24th of August 2013)

Stop at the Railroad museum in Laws, near Bishop, CA.

On the 22nd we headed south to Bakersfield taking the US 395. Before heading south we actually wanted to see Bodie, a ghost town which became a Historic State Park. Unfortunately we could not go because of another Wildfire. On our way along the historic US 395 we saw a lot of old and "almost falling down" buildings. The majority of them belonged to old mining villages active during the gold rush. The "real" villages we passed by all had a western style, with the typical western buildings.

Western building

We stopped in Bishop and went to the Railroad museum. There was an old train station and a lot of old buildings set up as they were in the 19th century. There also were volunteers explaining things. One of them told us about the whole gold mining process, how people used to collect rock from the mines, how they crushed the rocks and how they finally separated gold from the rest of the rock. We arrived in Bakersfield in the evening and our host Linda had prepared some snacks for and wine us, which we enjoyed along a nice conversation.

The Sentinel

The following day we visited the Sequoia National Park. The giant Sequoia is the largest living tree. They are the trees with the biggest wood volume.

Facing General Sherman

The largest one is the famous General Sherman, always surrounded with a big crowd. Sequoias can get older than 3000 years and they only reproduce by seeds. The cones can stay closed for a lot of years before they open and spread the seeds. One important element for that is fire, which helps open the cones and produces a sterile environment for the seeds to grow. So wildfires are essential for this trees to survive! Like the Redwoods, giant Sequoias have a thick bark, which helps them resist to fire and insects. Both kind of trees are very unique and worth seeing!
After our visit we turned back to our host in Bakersfield.

Stop in Calico, CA

On August 24th, our last day of the NP tour, we visited Calico before driving back to San Diego. Calico was an active mining site in the 19th Century and has been rebuilt as a tourist attraction. It is now an attraction park in western style. It is nice, but almost to touristic and unauthentic! We arrived in SD in the evening. After our NP trip we will spend 10 days in SD before flying to Boston and spend 4 days there before flying back to Switzerland on September 7th.

Sunrise along US 395

We really enjoyed our NP trip and our stay in the USA
in general. We met a lot of new people on our way (mostly through couchsurfing) and met some of our old friends again. Another great experience in the US finished!!

Yosemite National Park (21st of August 2013)

Housing of the Indian tribe

On Tuesday 20 th we continued our NP tour, right after breakfast with Chris and Stephanie at the Omelette Express. We had planned the whole day just for driving, so we took it easy and made different stops along the road. During the drive we heard that the entrance for Yosemite we wante to take was closed because of a wildfire, so we headed towards another entrance more south. We spent the night in Mariposa, the last village before the park. In the morning we first looked at some old machines used during the gold rush, before entering the park. It was actually a museum with a great part of the exhibit outside.

El Capitan

Once in the park we moved with the park shuttle. We first visited the visitor center and a trail dedicated to the Indian tribe who used to live in Yosemite. Then we moved with the shuttle, stopping at different sightseeing points, including the famous El Capitan. Yosemite has been formed by solidified magma pushed up to the surface. There are different water falls (some of them were dried out) and rivers, so it reminded us a bit of Switzerland.

The Half Dome

Towards late afternoon we drove to the Toga Pass, where the eastern entrance is, because we wanted to drive the historic US 395 the following day. We reached 3000 m of altitude, which we never had before in Switzerland (with a car)! Before nightfall we were able to take some "sunset-pictured" with the Half Dome behind us.

Windsor (14th to 20th of August 2013)

Meeting Snoopy in Windsor

While staying in Windsor with the Collette's we also explored the surrounding areas. On Wednesday, our first day, we explored Windsor. Our first stop was the information center, where we collected a ton of brochures of things to see and do. We just walked around and stopped in some of the local parks to relax, read our brochures end enjoy our time. Windsor is a very friendly and welcoming city!

Lorenzo trying to be an artist

On our second day we drove north a little bit and visited Cloverdale, Geyserville and Healdsburg. Cloverdale and Geyserville are pretty small cities, so we didn't spent so much time there. In both places there were a lot of wine tasting places, like in the rest of Sonoma County. Healdsburg is a bit bigger, it also has a lot of wine tasting bars, restaurants and different small boutiques. In the center of the city there is a small little park with a fountain, a good place to relax! In the evening we went to an art gallery in Sebastopol were Chris was having a presentation about his work with the mezzotint technique. He told us all about it, which was very interesting. 

Hike at Lake Sonoma

On our third day we went for a hike near Lake Sonoma with Steve and Noelle, the dog. It was a really nice walk and we even got to see a rattle snake!! It was actually a bit scary, because we had to pass on a pretty narrow path and the snake (which was not so small) was just some meters away from us. And the sound it makes with the rattle is pretty loud too, which is a good thing, because at least you are warned about its presence. In the afternoon we drove to a nearby winery with Steve and Pamee and we got to taste some very good wines. From white to red to sweet wine, everything was on the tasting "menu". 

The Jelly Belly plane at the air show

On Saturday, the fourth day, we went to the "Wings over Wine Country" Air Show. There were different planes going in the air and showing their flight habitabilities. At some point the show had to be interrupted because of a fire that started right after one on the pilot's exhibition. It took about almost 1 hour for the firefighters to take care of it. It was a really hot and nice day!

Snoopy walk in Santa Rosa

On Sunday we explored Santa Rosa. We checked out the Railroad Square (the historic district) and we went for a Snoopy walk. The author of Snoopy, Charles M. Schulz, died in Santa Rosa. All around the city there are statues of the famous comic characters Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy and Woodstock. In the evening we stopped at Stephanie's (Steve and Pamee's daughter) house in Santa Rosa. She was throwing a party for one of her friends and invited us over. It was a really nice evening and by the end of it we were all covered in glitter! :)

Along the coast

On Monday, our last day in Windsor, we drove to the coast, to Bodega Bay. As we did wake up late we didn't have much time to stop somewhere, so it merely was a touristic drive. But it was a nice and sunny day! In the evening we went for pizza with Steve, Pamee, Lisa (Steve's sister), Chris and Stephanie. Steve and Chris gave us a ride on their bikes and took us on a mini-tour along the many vineyards! After dinner we joined Stephanie in Santa Rosa, where she was having a dance session with fire. Different people were dancing with one or more fiery tools on them. As it was dark, the resulting effect was very nice! We concluded the evening with a beer in one of the local breweries.

Picture after the wine tasting

The following morning we met Chris and Stephanie once more for breakfast at the Omelette Express before going on with our park tour, direction Yosemite.

We really enjoyed our stay in Windsor with the Collette's!! We are really thankful to them, they all made our stay wonderful!!!

Redwoods National and State Park (12th and 13th of August 2013)

A look high up

After the overnight stay in Grants Pass in Oregon we drove back to California, direction Redwoods. Redwoods are amazing trees!!! They are the tallest living trees on earth, reaching heights of up to 115 meters and they can live for up to 2000 years. During the Age of Dinosaurs the tree was wide spread, but now they can be found only in a small area along the Pacific Coast of California and Oregon. Its scientific name is Sequoia sempreverdis (which probably honors the Cherokee leader Sequoyah) but it is referred to as coastal Redwood. It has a good resistance to insects, fungi and fire due to its tannin-rich bark. 

A fallen Redwood

Redwoods reproduce by seed but also by sprout. If the tree gets burnt, a new sprout grows from the trunk base, using the root system of its mother tree. Another interesting feature of those trees is that their big root do not grow vertically into the ground, but mostly horizontally. In fact roots penetrate for about 3-4 meters, but  spread out to 18-24 meters! We learned that there are other 2 types of Redwoods belonging to the same subfamily of the Sequoioidae: the Sequoiodron gigantum also called Giant Sequoia (of which we will speak in one of our next blogs) and the Mastosequoia also called dawn Redwood. The Giant Sequoia can be found only in a narrow area in the Sierra Nevada region in California, whereas the dawn Redwood can be found only in China.

A drive-through tree

Driving in a Redwood forest is really something beautiful!! All those big and tall trees surrounding you make you feel save and protected! Of course we made countless stops along the road to take pictures and to walk among the refreshing shade of the giants. 

After sunset we continued our drive along the coast and stopped in Arcata for the night. While looking for the apartment of our CSer we had the biggest surprise ever!! We had a totally random encounter with our friends (Lorenzo's far cousins) Josh and Chris Collette. Josh is currently studying in Arcata and Chris came up with him to help him move into his apartment. When we met them they were heading to a Mexican restaurant for dinner with some of Josh's friend. We just could't believe it. And the fun thing also was that we would go to their parent's house in Windsor the following day and stay with them for a week. So we joined them for a margarita before going to our CSer host Jesse.

The Big Tree

The following day we started for another BIG day with the Redwoods, but this time not in the park anymore but along the famous "Avenue of the Giants", a scenic Highway (now called US 254)  running trough US 101. We were headed to  Windsor, where we would stay with Steve and Pamee Collette. The drive from Arcata is only about 4 hours, bur as we stopped so many times along the way we only arrived at about 10 pm at the Collette's house. We stayed 1 week with the Collette's, from 13th to 20th of August, and we had a great time with them!!! 

Crater Lake National Park (9th, 10th and 11th of August 2013)

View of Crater Lake

On Friday 9th of August we left wonderful Yellowstone and headed towards Boise, ID. Again it was a 7h drive, so we had another whole driving day. We arrived in Boise for dinner and our CS host Hannah had already prepared dinner with veggies from her garden: delicious!! Hannah has a very funny cat, one who only eats human food (pasta, rice, beans, etc...) but no cat food! :/

Another view of the Lake

The following morning, we left in the morning and visited the Capitol. The building is open for the public and there even is a museum-like exhibit and a gift shop. At around noon we were on the road again direction Bend, OR. On the road we took there was absolutely nothing, except for a few very small villages. We regularly questioned ourselves how people can live in this remote areas!! Once arrived in Bend, we could stay with another lovely CSer, Heather, a very nice and dynamic girl. We had some nice conversation with her and her roommate! 

Pinnacles

On August 11th, in the morning, we left for Crater Lake National Park. The main attraction of the park is the deep blue caldera lake, which was formed after the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama. Because there are no streams flowing in or out the lake, the water is very clear and all the wavelength are absorbed, except for the color blue, which is reflected.

We drove around the lake and stopped in different vista points for our usual large amount of pictures :) We also saw water falls and some sort of fossilized fumaroles (pinnacles). The pinnacles were formed when heat released from the volcano created steam which "carved" itself into the soft rock present at that time, leaving some sort of holes underground. Later the area got eroded and pinnacles formed. Most of the pinnacles are hole inside.

Vidae Falls

After a great and sunny day at Crater Lake, we drove to Grants Pass. OR for the night. Our CSer Laurel and a friend of hers had prepared dinner for us. So we had another great evening in very good company!!!

Yellowstone NP (6th to 8th of August 2013 )

On Tuesday 6th we drove from Utah to Idaho (Idaho Falls). It was a 7 hours drive, so it took us the whole day. Once arrived in Idaho Falls we met Brian and Melissa, our Couch Surfing (CS) hosts. They took us to an Irish pub for dinner where we also met their friends. It was a really nice and fun evening and we concluded it with a glass of wine at a local wine bar.

At Mammoth Hot Springs

The following morning we took off for Yellowstone National Park. We arrived at about 10 in the morning.  As we started from Idaho Falls, the nearest entrance was West Yellowstone, which permitted us to cross a corner of Montana state before entering Wyoming. We started with the northern part of the park. We passed Norris, Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower-Roosevelt and Canyon Village. Along the way we could see different fumaroles (steam coming out of the ground) and richly colored hot springs. We also saw different animals, including 2 black bears and a moose. 

Moose

The following morning we got up very early and entered the park again at the West Yellowstone entrance. We drove up to Norris again because we hadn't see all the day before. As it was very cold in the morning (about 1°C) the hot springs were more impressive because the arising steam could be seen much better. We also saw some more wild animals, this time wolfs and elks. We then drove towards the Old Faithful geyser and saw a lot of other geysers and mud pods on the way. It was amazing to see how fast geysers change. They can be all quiet one second and the  next second explode and spit tons of hot water in the air!!! Also the different colors due to thermophile bacteria and algae are very pretty.

One of the geysers

Once arrived at Old Faithful we had to wait 1h for the next eruption, so we had time for lunch. The eruption lasted for about 5 min. This geyser in not the most impressive we saw, but the fact that it erupts regularly at predictable times makes it the most famous one. After the eruption we checked out the nearby visitor center, which had an interesting exhibit of geysers. After the Old Faithful stop we drove back up north to Canyon Village passing by Lake Yellowstone and stopping at Mud Volcano and Sulphur Caldron, the most acid place of Yellowstone. On our way up, we crossed a very big herd of buffalos. There were lots of them just nearby the street and in the middle of the street. One of them stood right next to our car and at some point we were afraid it would hit our car!! A park ranger had to come make them go away.

The most colorful geyser in Yellowstone

The following morning, on 9th of August, we left wonderful Yellowstone heading to Boise, ID. But before leaving the park we stopped once more in Norris and walked to the Steamboat Geyser. This geyser is the biggest active in the world but erupts impredictably. Intervals between major eruptions can last up to 50 years!!! The last time it erupted on July 31 2013, so we missed it by a few days!!!! 

Arches NP (5th of August 2013)

Delicate Arch

During the drive from Bryce to Arches NP we saw some interesting rock formations and beautiful colors.  Once in the park we first stopped at the visitors center as usual. They always have interesting expositions explaining the geology of the place and give information about the native Indians

who used to live in the area.

The South Wind

We then went exploring the beautiful park, characterized by stone arches and brick-red rock formations. It was a really hot day, but in the afternoon there was a thunderstorm and the sun disappeared behind dark clouds. We thought it was over with nice picture taking, but the rain and clouds disappeared as fast as they came, so we still could take nice pictures of the sunset.

Broken Arch

When we left the park it was already dark.  We stopped in Moab, UT south of the park and got something to eat. After that we already started the journey direction Idaho Fall, ID.

Bryce Canyon NP (4th of August 2013)

We and the Hoodoos

We arrived to Bryce Canyon in the morning. The air was still chilly but warming up.

We first stopped at the visitor center, where we checked out the museum and signed up for a guided tour to the southern part of the park for the afternoon. We visited the northern part of the park with the shuttle bus. The different vista points and trails were just breathtaking!!! 

The Hoodoos (or pinnacles)

The red-colored Hoodoos offered a unique and  wonderful experience. The major element in the formation of those pinnacles is freezing and melting of water. We were told that in Bryce Canyon water freezes and melts lots of times during winter, much more than in other places. 

The local Indian tribes used to tell that the Hoodoos once were people who were transformed into stone. This legend added a mystical touch to this natural beauty!!!

At one of the vista points

In the afternoon we took a guided tour to the southern part. Our tour guide was very friendly and told us a lot about the surrounding area, about the animals and plants living there. The Bristlecone pine, for example, which is found a lot in this area, is the oldest tree in the world. The Bristlecone is actually a really small tree, with a small trunk. Especially if compared to the Redwoods and the Giant Sequoia, which are the highest and the largest trees respectively, the Bristlecone doesn't look like he is the oldest tree on earth!!

Towards the end of the day we left this beautiful place in direction of another natural wonder, the Arches National Park, UT.

Bizarre lizard!!

Antelope Canyon (3rd of August 2013)

At the Indian Market

From Flagstaff, AZ we took direction Page, AZ headed to the Antelope Canyon located in the Navajo Nation. The ride was interesting because we drove trough the Navajo Indian reservation. We saw different small villages with very few houses and far apart one from the other. Along the road there were different Indian artisans selling hand made jewels. We also drove by a market, where we stopped. It was nice because there were no tourists (except for us and another family) but only Indian people. Some were selling handmade jewels, some medical herbs, fried bread, clothes, electrical stuff, fruits and vegetables.....it looked to us as if people use to go to the nearest big village to buy stuff and then resell it to the ones who need it. This would make sense because in this area there was absolutely nothing except for some houses, but no stores what so ever. We arrived in Page after a 6 hour drive.

Entering the Canyon

Page is a small village surrounded by a beautiful landscape of fire-red rocks. From there we went to the Lower Antelope Canyon. We had to take a guided tour, that's the only way you can enter the Canyon. This place is apparently one of the most photographed subject in the world. It is famous for it's beautiful colors coming from the sunlight shining into the Canyon.  The Upper Canyon is said to be the more beautiful, but also the more crowded, so we decided to see the Lower. Our visit took place at around 4 pm and the sun was a bit hidden behind the clouds, so we couldn't see much of light plays. But it was equally impressive! 

In the Canyon

To go into the Canyon you have to descend a steep stair. Also the Canyon looks like a crack in the ground, so the entrance is pretty small. The inside is beautiful! ! The walls are oddly shaped and all is just created by water erosion.

Picture-stop in Utah

Once finished the tour we started out drive direction Bryce Canyon, UT. Along the way we stopped at a pullout because we had to get something fixed. There was an information board telling that not far away there were the remains of a village settled up in the 19th century and that the place had been used as a film set for western movies. So we wanted to take a look! The road was unpaved and uneven, we drove for a while but couldn't see anything. When the road started to get too steep we decided to turn back.  But we stopped anyways and took some really nice pictures, so it was worth the detour :)

Petrified Forest NP (2nd of August 2013)

Park entrance

During the drive from Payson to the Petrified Forest NP we hit a thunderstorm. At some point it started to rain strongly and a lot of thunders could be seen. We noticed that thunderstorms are different than in Switzerland. It seems like there are a lot more of them and you see them way better! It also seems to have them very close, so it's pretty impressive.

Petrified wood

When we arrived in the park we first inspected the visitor center of the south entrance. There was an exhibit about fossils found in the area, fossils similar to the ones of dinosaurs but apparently belonging to the crocodile family. There also was a park ranger speaking about the geological transformations and the process of wood petrification. We then took a nearby trail showing petrified wood logs spread all over the place. There was not only petrified wood to see. 

Blue Mesa

We also saw the Blue Mesa, an area rich of bluish bentonite clay, which presents a spectacular view. Also there are the remains of an old village occupied by the ancestral Puebloan people between A.D 1250 and 1400 as well as ancient petroglyphs on rocks. 

Petroglyphs on "Newspaper Rock"

Route 66

On the north entrance we saw the painted desert, an area dominated by its red colors, and the Painted Desert Inn National Historic Landmark, which once was used by travelers on Route 66. Once finished the  visit of the park, which was spectacular, we headed to Flagstaff, AZ where we spent the night. We took Interstate 40, but went off different times to take the historic Route 66 :)

Start of the NP tour (31st of July to 1st of August 2013)

A very old cactus

We started our tour on Wednesday in the late morning direction Payson, AZ. It was an 8 hour drive, but time passed fast and the landscape was not boring like we tought it would be. We drove across some green spots, some mountainous spots, flat areas, desert areas with sand dunes....once crossed the Arizona border the landscape changed and we could see a lot of cactus, the typical Arizona cactus we usually see in cartoons, the 3-armed one. We stopped different times, but only for fuel, wc or food. It was too hot to stay outside, we reached a max of 46°C. 

Travertine bridge

We arrived in Payson at about 8.30 pm. Our host family had waited for us to cook dinner, so we ate fish scallops with pasta, caprese salad and home made bread, very goodThe following morning Davin made us breakfast (croissant sandwich with egg and bacon) and then he took us to the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. We had a very nice hike and saw the worlds largest travertine bridge. In the afternoon Davin drove us to a big cactus because we wanted to take a picture in front of one.  We didn't know that you can eat cactus and that you can buy it in grocery stores (only in Arizona I guess). We stopped at the grocery and looked for cactus. We didn't find the fresh one, so we bought the pickled one. They are not bad, but we probably tasted mostly the spices and vinegar than the actual cactus taste, which is very mild. In the evening Devin cook dinner again, this time grilled salmon with olives, salad andhome made bread. 

A S'more

While chatting of our respective travel adventures we came up talking about S' mores (grilled marshmallows and a piece of chocolate squeezed into 2 graham crackers) and that I (Romina) wanted to try some. So Devin took out all the needed ingredients and we made S' mores. We grilled the marshmallows not over fire as traditionally but over the kitchen stove. Very funny American treats to prepare!! :)
Before going to bed we played pool, Lorenzo and I against Devin and his son. We won :)

Under the travertine bridge

It was a really nice stay with Devin and his family, they made the beginning of our trip memorable. The next morning we took off for the Petrified Forest NP.

San Francisco (19th to 21st of July 2013)

We started our trip to SF on Friday morning. We took the bus to go to the rental car place and then picked up Lore's mom and sister. The original plan was to start very early in the morning (around 3am) to avoid the LA traffic. But we failed to pick up the car on Thursday evening, because we missed the last bus. So finally we started around 9 am on Friday.  We decided to take the inland route to be faster, instead of the coastal route like planned (we would do that route coming back). It was actually an interesting travel, because we passed through desert like places, very green spots with palm trees or grapes and immense herds of cows (meat cows :( ). Also the temperature shift was interesting. We started with about 20 °C, passed the 40°C in the desert and ended up in cold and cloudy SF with 15°C!! We stopped several times on the road and we arrived at about 20.30. Once arrived and after checking in at the hotel, we took a walk to fisherman's Wharf and had something to eat.

Cable car ride

The following morning we started with the historic cable car ride to downtown SF. After taking some pictures at Union Square we walked through China Town until we reached Pier 39, where we met our friends (and Lorenzo's far relativs) Pamee, Chris and Stephanie Collette. We had met Pamee, her husband Steve and one of their sons Josh the last time we where in the US. And we hosted Josh ans his brother Chris in Sion in summer 2012. So the only family member we didn't meet before was Stephanie. We all had lunch at a mexican restaurant at Pier 39 and then took a Bridge-Alcatraz boat tour. It was freezing cold on the boat, but the view from under the Golden Gate (of course with fog) and Alcatraz was worth it! After the tour we stopped at a coffee shop and had a warm drink over some more chat with the Collettes. After saying goodbye to our friends we wanted to go to the Golden Gate bridge. We took the street car, but we had to wait a long time for it to come.  When we finally got downtown it was already getting dark, and we were all cold, so we did not go to the bridge but stayed  in downtown a bit longer. 

Before going back to our hotel we took some more cable car rides and we even got to see a car towing. In fact a car had parked on the cable car rails blocking it. We waited for about 45 min for the car to be towed away. We just could have jumped out and continue on foot, but we wanted to see that!! It was a long day but we appreciated it. 

On the following day we already had to drive back to SD. But first we stopped at the bridge for some pictures :) We also stopped in Mountain View to see google's headquarters with the Androids statues.

This time we drove partly on the coast and we passed through Santa Monica and Malibu. We did not exactly see the beaches because it was already dark, but we stopped in front of Bruce Wollis' s house, without seeing him of course :)

We then also drove through LA and Beverly Hills! We arrived in SD at around 1 am all exhausted. But we all had a great time!!

At Pier 39 with Pamee, Chris and Stephanie Collette

The bridge in the fog

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