things i learned in death valley

• it's hot, as it has been said many a time before ,"but it's a dry heat"- and coming from my experience of humid southern summers it's a whole other ball park- sometimes not as bad but i had a hard time deciphering the temp. it did reach 105 yesterday and was a mild 90 today. 80 feels cool enough for a sweater.
  
• it's windy. i imagined deserts to be somewhat stagnant, but i forgot about the dunes and so forth that are reshaped by wind often. as we drove in over the panamint moutain range a cool breezed teased us into complacency. as we drove down the valley the air temp rose and by the early evenings a hot (imagine opening an oven door mid-bake) strong wind ripped though the "village" we're staying in, stovepipe wells- a national historic site fyi....
• my geology classes finally paid off! while walking the rim of a volcanic crater i spotted a rock that stood out. being a bit of a nerd i think that it's prolly good for making an arrowhead and start to whack it along a fault line. low and behold two whacks in a chunk flakes off to reveal a perfect fern fossil. it's about the size of a quarter, maybe a silver dollar. out of the millions of rocks i pick that one. i thank my lucky penny necklace.
• there are flying grasshoppers & biting flies. i'm not a fan.

• adventures are at every corner. we stopped off at a canyon this afternoon but i spotted a little nook to the side of it and suggested we pop over for a look. twenty minutes later we had hiked up a gully in one of the large alluvial washes (basically layers of sediment hardened into rock) and nearly were at the top of one with a spectacular view of the valley & its salt flats.
• dust storms are insane to be in. we drove through one on our way back to the inn tonight and it's a brown curtain...if i thought the car couldn't get any dustier i was mistaken. every time i go outside i am covered in at least a fine layer if not a full on coating of dust.
  

redwoods in big sur

san francisco area & big sur

sequoia

those big trees never cease to amaze. every time chris and i see them it elicits a string of unfinished thoughts "that's just.....bonkers" & "wow" seem to be the extent of our combined vocabulary. we "hiked" by which i mean we followed some paved paths and short trails to see the wonders of "tunnel log", the one you drive though if the road was open (many of the roads were closed due to the snow that remains still into may... "auto log" the fallen one you used to could drive on, but we walked on...the old saloon one, the largest tree in the world (the sherman- which weighs about 2.7 million lbs....truly never seen something to that proportions, the largest branches were the size of very large trees!) i attempted to get on top a fallen one by walking up the snow piled around it. to my great surprise as i nearly had set my front foot atop the tree that foot fell trough the snow and i was plopped onto my backside (in the cold cold snow) with one leg danging under the snow. even n its side the fall off is nothing to laugh at, i'd guess 6-8 feet up. i made it out ok and had quite a laugh at myself. we also climbed to the top of moro rock (should have some pics soon, wiki may give you some idea of it) it's peaked out at 6.725' and the stairs to the top can be quite steep and the drops off the sides really made my mild fear of heights act up. i did great until the halfway point when the views got more intense and the stairs narrower. with chris's constant encouragement i made it to the top, but only to the bench, not the farthest viewpoint. too much... there were some birds that were flying around that would whiz by with such speed at times a foot from your head. the walk down was a blur of railing and my own feet on the steps.
that evening i took part on my first night shoot -- two lights powered by a small generator a couple fancy cameras and the dark forest all around you the only thing lit was the fallen sequoia roots we shot. i have to say i am indeed scared of the dark. it didn't help that bears had been in that area earlier, but we made it out better than ever. after the chilly weather (i had on 5 layers for the night shot) death valley's heat will be welcome. i hope.

ROAD TRIP!

odds and ends in san francisco: visited alcatraz--beautiful but i wish they still had real people narrating the tours (its all audio now), climbed the street up to telegraph hill and basked in the sun enjoying the occasional parrot calls/sightings, met up with chris and took the ferry to alamadea to an old naval base where his friend works and watched the sun set from the old control tower (which has been set up with bar stools, couches, and two tap beers-nice!). i love the city...
so friday a.m. we head over the golden gate into the golden gate recreation area, freaked over the views and the impressive beauty surrounding us, drove down a super steep hill to see the pacific in its glory, explored some old military forts, and then headed down to big sur.
goodness....it gives me goose bumps how lovely big sur is. the drive down highway 1 was full of crazy beautiful twists and cliffs and i can't even begin to describe the amazing scent of pine trees mixed with ocean. heavenly. we stopped whenever the urge struck us and hiked some shorter trails to redwood groves, waterfalls, and ocean bluffs. we stopped by the henry miller library where a gentleman was cutting the grass with one of those hand powered mowers, which i loved. saw lots and lots of condors that were flying right at or just above eye level. and at the southern end was an elephant seal rookery- tons! of them lounging on the shore. chris was (and still is) quite tickled by them. we have taken some great photos- which i hope to post soon. we've made it to sequoia and are very excited to be in a great big room and see some giant trees today--including the ones you drive though. the road to here leads though several orange & lemon orchards which have an intoxicating scent that has taken over the car (a vast improvement)

another day in city on the bay

sigh. this place is just so lovely and i find myself delighted to be here, and to be here on my own- doing whatever the wind blows me to. (even if it is a chilly wind)
i visited the sf branch of my yoga studio today, sliding into class late, grabbing a spot under the skylight. for future reference, all yoga is better under a skylight. i spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon wandering about the mission district popping in any store that appealed to me, mostly vintage stores of course, but bookstores ranked high as well. there's something so incredibly soothing about flipping through rack after rack of old dresses. it's amazing, truly. the nice thing about being solo is that i can shop without any mindfulness of time or concern of another person's schedule/wants, to go into a meditation of sorts until i realize it's well past time for me to eat and must pause in the quest. i walked for longer than necessary (i told myself it was because the sun was shining and it was good to walk)to get a burrito from taqueria cancan. it came highly recommended, and i must say it was the best burrito i have ever had. i sat there in this little hole in the wall- sticking out like a sore thumb- ravenously eating and wondering how it was possible that this was sooo good.
i headed from there to the haight ashbury area for more thrifting, telling myself it would be for window shopping only. fool that i am. it was in the second place i found my head swimming, wondering how it could be that there were sooooooo many lovely things, perhaps picked out just for me. how is it possible that they all fit me? too too much. too hard to pick one too hard to say no to anything. somehow i must have thought i could support the economy single handedly. i got some killer things though, and it will bring endless delights to be reminded of this city every time i wear one of them.
the other discovery of the day is how easy it is to save a few dollars for the bus. they give you transfer slips when you pay your fare and it's allegedly good for 90 minutes. i, being initially inclined to follow the rules, dutifully paid my second fare later on thus receiving another slip. i soon realized there's no time on these things and they look the same. maybe they change it daily? or not at all? tomorrow we shall see. i used an old slip for the rest of my rides- not that they care to look it seems- ridin' for free... sweet deal man.
one last thing- whenever i'm at the apartment i can often hear the wild parrots that live on telegraph hill a few blocks away. helps make up for the crazy man downstairs...

San Francisco

as it turns out, i am surprisingly lucky- but if i may quote a dear friend's mantra: i don't believe in miracles, i rely on them...
first things first, i left my cell phone in my shuttle van from the airport. had it one minute and the next i don't. rather unfortunate when you're in a new city solo and the person who you should be meeting at the house isn't there. i did fairly well at not freaking out and devising a way to arrange the remainder of my trip sans phone. i mean really, there are worse things. luckily there's a wonderful cafe on the corner that let me use their phone and set in progress the return of my phone, as well as my discovery that my housemate was sitting nearly across from me at the same cafe. the apartment is in a fantastic location- kind of on the border of the russian hill/north beach neighborhoods. literally two blocks from the really crazy stretch of lombard street that san francisco is known for. yesterday afternoon i hoofed it to the top of it and took a minute to catch my breath and the stunning views. it's also a block away from the san francisco art institute, which is such a beautiful building. it's great just walking around the area- i had to put other plans on hold b/c of the phone...) soon after i return from my walk the man in the van with my phone arrives (and to pick up my house mate, leaving my solo here.) since there's always something odd about things in my life here's the one for yesterday. the apartment is one of those row houses, with four floors of apartments. i'm in the first one- which gives me access to the garden on the ground floor. the oddity is the man who lives in the ground apartment. he's an older asian man (not sure how old since his disheveled appearance could be adding a few years) but i saw him wander into the cafe when i first arrived and assumed he was homeless. to my surprise he's not. but he is very strange. he's very quiet outside the house, inside, and late in the evenings (possibly other times too?) he yells out in a short staccato explosion, i can't figure out what. this went on intermittently in the late hours of the night which i would be awoken to. he also would occasionally sing which sounded like humming. i may swap bedrooms tonight so i can sleep soundly....
oh, and the other miracle of yesterday: i've been offered a spot for grad school. which i took.

satyagraha

hold pleasure and pain, profit and loss, victory and defeat to be the same; then brace yourself ready for the fight.

California road trip

few days in san francisco, day or two in big sur, on to sequoia national park, down to death valley, maybe a day in vegas, and finally los angeles. two weeks of adventures...

There is nothing to save, now all is lost; but a tiny love of stillness in the heart like the eye of a violet.
--DH Lawrence

badlands

from the austinman's road trip '08.