Mist trail

This weekend we’re dealing with the weather being too dry (see my previous post). Last weekend it was too wet. I guess that’s the difference six hours in a car can make.

We were looking for adventure last weekend, and that’s exactly what we found. We also fulfilled one of our goals for 2009 by succeeding at an overnight backpacking trip. In retrospect it was a modest goal, but the idea of sleeping in the woods -- far enough away from our car to make the situation slightly dangerous – requires a certain set of equipment and knowledge (not to mention an open weekend) that we simply didn’t possess until recently. It didn’t hurt that we camped with some friends, at least one of whom really knew what he was doing.

We drove up to Yosemite National Park after work last Thursday night and got there pretty late. We set up camp near the car and hit the sack. It started raining shortly after, but we stayed dry that night thanks to a sea-worthy tent.

It took us a while to get going the next morning because we wanted to cook a big breakfast and had to pick up camping permits, rent bear canisters, etc. We were on the Mist Trail by late morning. The first few miles were strenuous and included passing by two huge waterfalls that gave the trail its name. The spray of the falls soaked us first… and then it started raining.

Our plan was to hike 13 miles to Merced Lake on that first day and then spend the next two days hiking back, with a few detours, at a more leisurely pace. Well, about 10 miles in we realized we weren’t going to make it to make the lake. The rain was really coming down. Setting up camp and making some dinner before nightfall was becoming increasingly important, so we found a place next to an absolutely roaring river and pitched our tents in an all-out rainstorm.

Each of us was shivering that night (maybe SoCal is softening us up). We cooked dinner in our tents’ vestibules, which is not advisable because of the bear situation but necessary because we had already skipped lunch and we needed to put some calories back in via a hot meal. Afterwards, the dishes were done in a mad dash to the river in an attempt to keep the last of our warm clothes dry. What a night it was! I felt so miniscule in the dark, surrounded by the enormous rock structures and the constant power of white water. Nature could have just wiped us off the face of the earth.

Sleep was sporadic. Our self-inflating mats seemed a little low on air. I had to flip my body over every half hour or so because that's about how long I had before the ground made me sore. R ventured out of the tent at one point to use the ladies room and found there was fresh snow on the ground. I'm surprised I didn't notice a sound softer than rain drops hitting the tent during that time. It was a long night, but I sort of enjoyed it -- it gave me time to think. And how often do we get time to think anymore?

We would have kept going on the track to Merced Lake if the weather had been sunny the next morning. All of our clothes were quick-drying and would have been fine by that night, but the rain was still coming down as hard as ever. We packed our wet tent into our wet backpacks along with our wet clothes. One of my shoes was half-filled (half-empty?) with water. I put it on anyway. It’s easy enough to stay warm as long as you’re moving, so we moved the 10 miles back to the cars.

Facing defeat wasn’t easy, but that’s what we did. It was a rewarding trip in its own right, but I would feel more satisfied if he had made it to the lake. That’s still hanging over us, and I think it will be worth making another attempt one day.

I did still have an awesome time. Yosemite is an amazing park, on par with New Zealand in sheer breathtaking-ness. As usual my photos don’t do it justice -- partially because it’s hard to be an agile photographer with a backpack on, partially because the moisture kept me from pulling out the camera as often as I would have liked, and partially because there is no way to truly capture a place like that with anything other than your own eyes.

You can see the fragments I did capture here.

Peace out

We found this rock design on a hike up the Hot Spring Trail the other weekend and I just had to share it. Well done, unseen hikers.

This week has been a bit of a rush again as we prepare for an upcoming weekend getaway. I'm going to keep quiet about the details of the trip until we return in order to avoid repeating myself later. But if things go according to plan, you can expect to see some spectacular scenery in an upcoming entry.

R and I are also celebrating our fourth wedding anniversay this week. Today is the actual day... and we're spending it working and then taking a six-hour car ride. Preparing for our trip has been our top priority this week, but we did go out to dinner at Bouchon, one of the best restaurants in town, on Saturday. Additionally, last night we opened a bottle of sparkling wine to drink with some strawberries, Thin Mints, and an awesome episode of LOST. I love a woman who is willing to indulge me with a little sci-fi, even on an important occasion. It's just another reason R still melts my heart after all these years.

Let's plan on catching up again when life quiets down a bit. Right now I have a bit of an outdoor adventure to attend to.

Stomping the divots

I had big plans for this entry. I was going to break from my format, post a series of unusual photos, ramble on about a lucid dream I had... in other words, it was going to be great. But here we go again instead, trying to cram in a rather standard weekend recap before another weekend starts. The opportunity to blog just didn't present itself all week. My ground-breaking entry will have to wait for another time.

Chances are when someone says a hike is going to be "fun" and you're not starting it until 6:30PM, you won't be reaching the end of it until after dark. Such was the case last Friday. After a strenuous and constant climb, we arrived at a dried up waterfall at dusk and required the assistance of our flashlights for the entire hike back. It was indeed fun. I'm not opposed to an occasional night hike.

On Saturday, after getting some coffee and hitting the farmers' market, R brought me to my first ever yoga session. One of the studios around here was holding free classes for the day, so we figured this was my opportunity to try it. It was a good stretch and very calming, welcomed qualities after a stressful week of desk work. After that I wrote a blog entry about the condo we are purchasing (am I getting into too much detail here?) and then we had some ecletic California cuisine at a restaurant called Opal.

On Sunday we tailgated at a polo match with the Newcomers group. Yes, this is the sport where they basically play hockey on horses. R helped stomp the divots. We continue to meet interesting people at these events. In some ways I wish I was looking for a new job because I've been surrounded by networking opportunities lately.

After that another week started, one that was surprisingly stressful considering I barely left the house. Remind me to tell you about my lucid dream sometime. The vividness is waning... but I took notes.

Holy hiking and wine drinking weekend, Batman

The title of this entry sums up our weekend pretty well, but I'll go into more detail anyway. Let me first say it was a good weekend, very Californian. Maybe the novelty will eventually wear off, but right now our excitement over our new location is going strong. We are definitely enjoying being here.

We joined the Sierra Club for a Friday night hike that started at the Hot Springs trail head and took us up to a lookout, where we saw the pictured sunset, and back down on a path that pretty much crossed through Jeff Bridges front yard. There certainly are some characters in the club: a guy who played the harmonica throughout the hike, two guys who talked about some rather wild times in Thailand for anybody to hear, the occasional Hash House Harrier, text book writers, and a few others who are difficult to explain. In our limited experience, Cali appears to have no shortage of characters like this. But maybe they think the same thing about us... the crazy Minnesotans.

On Saturday we got up and moving to the local coffee shop and then to the biggest and best farmer's market we've ever seen. The produce around here is amazing -- watermelon, peaches, avocados, lettuce, strawberries -- all so fresh, so good. We loaded up.

Next we were off to a wine festival happening along the beach. R's bike revealed a flat tire so we took the trolley down instead and proceeded to drink/eat all the wine and hors d'oeuvres we could for the next 3 hours. It is yet to be determined if living here will turn us into wine experts or wine snobs. We tasted so much wine that we have no idea any more what was good and bad, but overall I'd give the event a thumbs up.

When we got back from the fest, we took an hour nap in a swirling world before getting on our feet again to hoof it down to a showing of The Dark Knight. The Arlington theater reminded me of the farmer's market; it too was the biggest and best I've seen. It's a Spanish mission style, single-screen theater that seats 2,000 people, in this case, 2,000 people excited to see Batman done right. I loved the movie. Its director, Christopher Nolan, is one of my favorites working today. He's done Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige -- all great, highly recommended movies.

On Sunday we went out for breakfast at a neighborhood joint and attended a few open houses. We've seen most of what is available in our price range, and it's nice to know we have some options. The market is certainly in our favor for buying (we need to make up for our poor selling performance in Delaware). Every place we look at seems to have some positives (maybe an amazing view of the mountains, hardwood floors, or lots of space) and some negatives (usually work that is needed, a higher price, or a lack of space), so it's a tough decision. If we could get a really good deal on any of our top choices, however, I think we'd be happy.

That's the news from the weekend. Talk to you again soon.

New England expedition

Beantown:
Hoofing it:
Rugged terrain:
Heading up Cadillac Mountain:
Hazy sunset: Finally getting the chance to watch the Inland Empire DVD:
R and I returned home on Saturday from a week of exploring the upper east coast. It was an adventurous vacation--impeccably planned by R--and a success for a multitude of reasons but particularly, at least for me, because I felt completely refreshed and renewed. Yes, the circles under my eyes had disappeared (but have since come back due to a harsh re-entry to the grind).

Our trip began with a drive up to Boston where we spent three nights at a bed & breakfast in the city's South End, a neighborhood known for its selection of excellent restaurants. Be assured we made use of this fact by consuming three memorable dinners while we were there. Luckily we also did a lot of walking to counter the calorie intake.

On our first full day in town we walked the Freedom Trail, which led us to a bunch of historic sites from the Revolutionary War (e.g. Bunker Hill, Paul Revere's house, churches, cemeteries, naval ships, etc). For those interested in not-so-distant American history, we also came across the bar from Cheers : ). That afternoon, we made our way through both the Harvard and MIT campuses, with a stop at a Havud bah for a drink in between. There was mental energy in the air, or maybe it was only enthusiasm over the Red Sox game airing on the TV.

Our second full day was spent seeing Boston by water. We took a harbor tour on a boat with stops at a few islands to see an old fort, some modern art exhibits, and some great views of the city. On our way back we dropped by the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum for some additional culture. To be honest, I didn't connect with the museum. The art seemed murky and repetitive. Maybe the collection was too focused on a time and style I'm not into. Or maybe my feet were too sore by then to really give it a chance.

Boston is a cool city. It seems more realistically livable than NYC, but it's crackling with character all the same. Definitely worth visting.

The next day we headed north--way north--to Acadia National Park in Maine. We had a blast there as well. Again, there was a lot of walking involved. We basically hiked for two days with a day of bicycling (on rentals) in between. It's an amazing park because it contains these mountains right along the coast, making for some beautiful vistas and rugged terrain.

There were probably a lot of people in the park, but for some reason it seemed really easy to escape the crowds and get out on a hiking trail on our own. We'd also build a fire at night and it would blacken out the rest of the campground. The park was the perfect place to spend some quality time together, just the two of us. We drank red wine and ate s'mores that fueled some crazy dreams during extra long nights of sleep.

Our good eating continued into the camping trip too. One night we went out for some very large, very fresh lobsters. The other nights we cooked at the campsite--salmon cakes with asparagus, chicken sausages with zucchini and squash, not to mention some killer blueberry pancakes for breakfast on two mornings. R might also want me to mention that she started each of our six campfires with only one match each. She's a pro.

Getting away from a computer screen, breathing fresh air, and seeing the stars again was a treat. Ah, I miss the vacation. Good thing we have another one coming up REALLY soon. Details next week.