Going North - Vancouver

Monday, March 10^th 2014

(Portland, OR – Vancouver, BC: 349 miles)

It is possible that we had a travel fever or something else happened or the universe was not happy with us but we had really bad sleep (both of us). It was early and dark morning. We were pretty much ready from the previous day (car loaded, only one luggage left in the house) so it was easy to get ready. We said last goodbye to our friend's children (6 and 2 years old) and our friends as well. It was pretty funny and nice how those two boys were saying “bye”. Our friends (A+L) promised that they will visit us when we are back in Michigan. Within less than two miles we were on I-205 interstate and started to head north. There was some traffic and we had few slow downs (unpleasant). It started to rain. Also unpleasant. Pretty much nothing really interesting, we already drove on this stretch of the freeway few times so there was not much to discover. Rain was following us across almost whole state of Washington. Few times it got pretty heavy and it was kind of unpleasant to drive. Seattle (from the freeway).

Rivers almost overflowing. Hills and mountains covered with fog. Basically just crossing the state of Washington and heading to Canada. Phone calls about internet service in Alaska (expensive). J.'s phone calls to friends and family, before we are “off grid” for a week in foreign country (Canada). Close to the border (30 miles or so), the weather was improving and there was no rain. The line on the border crossing was relatively short (8 cars in front of us) and we were were done in no time. Surprisingly they did not want to check our car (full of our stuff) and the main question was about weapons and firearms. WELCOME TO CANADA.

Blue sky, fluffy clouds in the distance playing with the mountain tops, and “wait for it” sun. It was an incredible change compared to the state of Washington. Another 50 miles or so to Vancouver. More and more traffic. Same pretty weather. Water. Mountains. We arrived to our friend place close to the center of the city. S. (our friend) was working as extra (?) on some movie set but let us stay at her place and made arrangements for us to get in. All good. After a while we took a longer walk through the city. It was actually really nice, time to time breezy and colder but otherwise nice. Many stores and restaurants (normal grocery stores included) so it looked like a real city. A great view of the sound, big cargo ships and the city. When we came back we went on the roof of the building (7 stories) to have a look around. For couple hours we just relaxed and did nothing before S. had some time off and met us for a dinner and a cup of tea afterward. We had really great time, it was just sad she did not have more time and she has to work next day. One of the news, she played in this commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9w2jeFymZ0

Tuesday, March 11^th 2014

(Vancouver, BC: 0 miles)

Slow and lazy day. We were planning on visiting with S. so we did not make any plans for our short stay. It was pleasant to enjoy relaxing and quiet morning with nothing to do. Somewhat cloudy but we could see blue sky. We had some breakfast in the apartment and then went out. Walked along the bay and continued along the False Creek. Got sunny. People running, walking, biking. Nice day. We took a ferry (small boat) across the False Creek to Granville Island. (We visited it before.) Wondering around the market and other stores. Before leaving we got fish and chips and were going to eat it outside. As I was carrying the food I GOT ATTACKED BY VICIOUS SEAGULL.

I felt it on my head and apparently he stole one french fry. I am still psychologically suffering after such a horrible attack. We had to retrieve back inside and eat there. Vancouver is really nice city. After a while we continued and went to nearby food stand called Go Fish. According to J. the best fish tacos ever. We had some more great food and continued walking, cross the Burrard bridge and got back to our part of town. More less just slow and enjoyable walk back to apartment. J. felt a bit sick and tired. We went whole day without a coffee (what a special day). We did some reading and probably took a nap in the afternoon. Quick walk to the grocery store in the evening. Unfortunately we heard from S. that she would work late and could not meet with us. So sad. It was nice and sunny day in Vancouver but we were sad we could not see S. Tomorrow we start the last (and most interesting) part of our drive to Anchorage, AK.

Going North - Week 1

March 2^nd – March 9^th 2014

SUNDAY, MARCH 2^nd 2014

(Phoenix, AZ – Bakersfield, CA: 498 miles)

We left by 7.10 am, rainy and cloudy day. We were leaving Phoenix, Arizona and heading towards next (and last) adventure. Nothing really special, we drove I-10 before so there was nothing surprising. Just driving and driving. Cross border to California. The only detour and fun we planned was to see Joshua Tree National Park. Visitor center, few postcards, map of the park, sandwich. The initial part of the park was boring and there was really nothing to see – it was a desert. It took a while to get to the area that was interesting: Joshua trees, rocks, and hills. As we discovered the busy and pretty part of the park was on the northern side (we came from south). We made few stops along the road to enjoy the landscape and take few pictures. We took three shorter walks and it was really amazing landscape. It was kind of funny to drive from south where the park was just plain and boring to this area with so many Joshua trees and incredible rock formations. Skull. Cap Rock. Arch. There were some people but it was not too bad. Our last (attempted) walk did not happened because we did not like the number of people already on the trail or ready to go. It was simple (longer) loop around the rocks. Well, time was passing by and we had to keep moving. We were really happy that we stopped in this park because it was (the northern part) really pretty and interesting. After leaving Joshua, we stayed on smaller roads all the way to Bakersfield. As far as I remember there was nothing really interesting. Just tedious driving. Few towns. Huge fields of wind turbines. Some farming. Bakersfield – nothing really appealing. We were also just stopping for a night, which was fine.

MONDAY, MARCH 3^rd 2014

(Bakersfield, CA – Redding, CA: 449 miles)

Leaving Bakersfield relatively early – cloudy, noisy, and ugly. Wrong turn onto the freeway – we had to turn around. There is really not much appeal to Bakersfield. Highway 99 going north to Sacramento. About five hours of driving. There was nothing really interesting. We passed the “hippie Oregon car”. We passed the same car the day before just after Joshua Tree Park. Kind of funny. A lot of farming. Orchards. Fields. Cows. A lot of signs saying “No water, no jobs.” Rain or drizzle part of the drive. Mostly flat and sad looking landscape. Sacramento at noon. We were visiting J.'s family. We spent there three hours and it was really great to see them. They are older and they said that they enjoyed our visit as well. Another three hours of driving to Redding. We stayed on local roads and highways. Shortly after leaving Sacramento we encountered rain and it stayed with us for the rest of the drive. Again quite boring landscape. And rain – it made driving kind of unpleasant and difficult. It was getting dark when we arrived in Redding. Motel – a bit strange place, the reception was in traditionally looking building, our place was a bit back on the river, round three story tall older building. It was fine. I had to do midterm for my economics class – did not like it. Rain and rain.

TUESDAY, MARCH 4^th 2014

(Redding, CA – Portland, OR: 417 miles)

Cloudy and gray looking morning. I-5 and heading north. We discovered that we did not drive along this stretch of the freeway and it was actually pretty. Rivers. Forests. Not many cities or settlements. Mt. Shasta – town and mountain. We were worried that we will not see anything, there was so much fog and we assumed that the mountain was behind it. We were taking scenic detour, leaving I-5 in town called Weed. When we were leaving interstate we saw this incredible image of Mt. Shasta just standing in front of us like a majestic queen.

The view was breathtaking. It was probably the most amazing experience on this part of the trip. Heading to Klamath Falls (with no real falls). It was pretty scenic road. A lot of forests. Some lakes. Mountains around us (with very limited amount of snow). The town was smaller and not very interesting. We were also kind of running out of time so we had to keep moving. Large valley. Large lake. Prescribed forest fire. Bunch of small sites visible from the car (lakes, forest, hills in the back) but nothing super interesting or close by. It would be great place to visit in summer (there are volcanic parks, lava caves, crater lake). We were on the way down from the mountains (heading to Eugene, Oregon) when we passed the sign for Salt Creek Waterfall. We passed it, J. found on her phone that it is 2^nd tallest in Oregon, so we turned around and drove back. There was no parking (the road was closed for winter) but another car was parked by the gate. So we did the same, saw people coming back and they said it was great and less than half a mile down the snowy road. Walk. Breezy. Pretty. Parking by the fall. Short walk and the magnificent view of the falls. Definitely worth it. Go back, drive, drive, and drive to Portland. Nothing interesting or special. More traffic. We arrived around 5:48 pm. Unload the car (some) and than just enjoy the rest of the day. Two kids – running around like two happy campers. It was great to be in Portland again.

WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, March 5^th – March 9^th

Portland, OR

5^th: Easy and lazy day. Rainy and cloudy. Early afternoon drive to Portland. Powell's books. Small walk in the city. Annoying heavy rain. Wait for J.'s friend A. Early Lebanese dinner (good for them, not really good for me). Drive to A.'s place and spend the rest of the day (until about 9) talking and having fun. It was nice to see her after more than a year (J, I did not see her for three or so years). Drive in dark back to the house.

6^th: Rainy. Cloudy and gray. Some practical stuff and errands. Early afternoon, with almost no rain, short drive to the nearby state park and nice walk. It was really nice to be back in “northeast” green space. Few creeks, many trees with a lot of moss and ferns. It was like green fairy tale (almost, even though the trees had no leaves). Hanging out with our friends (and their two children) and than heading to Portland for a concert of J.'s friend. It was interesting experience and we had fun. Back in the house by midnight or so.

7^th: So far Portland gave us a lot of rain and clouds. It is not too bad as we were planning to visit our friends in the area and not really do any sightseeing. This day was different, it got somewhat sunny and pretty. It was a big difference to see everything green and mossy – compared to Phoenix. Slower morning. Two kids at school. We did some smaller things (and driving around). Feeding ducks in the nearby river. Farm walk (many spring flowers were already blooming). Oregon City and municipal elevator (there is an operator all the time). Snack in nice and older restaurant. To go sushi (early) dinner. Park close by, nice meal out followed by the walk to the river. The walkway was flooded at one point. Back to house and way too much fun in the evening and night.

8^th: Relaxing and quiet day in the house. Rain. As intended we were visiting with our friends.

9^th: Sunday. Our last day in Portland, Oregon. Easy. Rainy and cloudy. Quiet. J. met her friend in Portland. Load the car. Enjoy the company of our friends and their kids.

Phoenix - 13

February 24^th – March 1^st 2014

LAST WEEK IN PHOENIX.

Some work days for J. (Monday, Tuesday, Friday). We left Phoenix on Sunday, March 2^nd. Packing. Cleaning. School Stuff. Car. Getting ready for the road trip – Going North. It was somewhat unbelievable (and surreal) that we were getting ready to leave, again. Wednesday, we went to Glendale chocolate factory. Earlier in the day J. had to get done her drug test. Bunch of fun. The factory was relatively small and according to J. really 1950s and the show “I love Lucy”. They even had some reference to this television show. It was somewhat interesting. They do not produce their own chocolate so they use those huge blocks of chocolate as the main ingredient to make different candy. We drove through old town Glendale (looked like small city until we were back on the main road and saw all the sprawl). We stopped at Sahuaro Historic Park where we picked some grapefruits. They were pretty much gone be we found some inside the trees or high up. On the way home we stopped for late lunch at Valle Luna http://www.valleluna.com/. The restaurant was in mall-isch setting but it was pretty nice inside. The food was excellent and the size was enormous. We were pretty much done for the rest of the day. 

On Friday I refreshed my memory and re-learned that it takes much longer to get packed and clean the place than I thought. I always forget about that. But we were in good shape on Friday (J. worked) and the car was partly packed. It started to rain during the night and it was pretty heavy. In a way it is a big deal in Arizona. In a way it is strange. Well, J. brought home this picture: 

On Thursday, we drove to Cave Creek – we intended to buy cacti as presents and some metal sculpture (cactus) as a souvenir to take home. J. did not like any cactus (not big selection of small ones) in several nurseries that we visited. We did not like metal sculptures in Cave Creek either. It felt like that were different last time we were there. Or we saw them differently. We did not buy any any. From there we drove to Scottsdale for J.'s haircut. Same city. Same streets. Nice weather. We will miss winter in Arizona. Haircut. On the way home we stopped at Cosanti (original house of Paolo Soleri). Apparently it was build several miles out of the city but over town it got consumed by the city. Now the Cosanti complex is surrounded by multi-million dollar homes. It is very interesting contrast. In 1940 city of Phoenix had about 65 000 inhabitants (now it is about 1 500 000). Friday morning was crisp, breezy, and really beautiful after the rain. We had to finish packing and so on, but we drove to Desert botanical garden in the morning. It was relatively empty and extremely pleasant. Water made everything cleaner, fresh, and bright. Many cacti and plants are apparently blooming ahead of the schedule so we saw quite a few blooming plants. It was really pretty. We even saw a turtle. After coming home we had to finish packing and cleaning. We went for earlier dinner with J.'s friend R. from work. It was very good. I was hoping for no rain but later in the evening I had to load the car (for the most part) in the rain. I guess we are not destined to have nice moving day. Life goes on … LAST NIGHT IN PHOENIX. 

Phoenix - 12

February 17^th – February 23^rd 2014

Monday, Tuesday 17^th and 18^th

Work. Small stuff. School. Getting ready to leave.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 19^th, 20^th, 21^st

Tucson, described below.

Saturday 22^nd

Another slower day. We did not really have any plans and we felt somewhat tired and lazy. It was nice to open windows, watch blue sky and sunshine and listen to birds chirping. It is hard to believe that we are driving from desert in Arizona to Alaska (end of winter, more less). On the other hand, it is Alaska – still very unique and special experience (even if we have to fight some cold and wintery weather). Downtown Phoenix had its annual Japanese festival - http://www.azmatsuri.org/ - Arizona Matsuri. It was in downtown area called Heritage Square. Few streets closed, some construction, a bit of traffic – we parked in the garage just next to the festival. Another beautiful day. So so so many people. Music. Sword and other fighting. People in all kinds of costumes and dresses (impossible to describe, one has to see it). Food stands with 20 – 30 foot lines. And again, so so so many people. Stage with some music group playing Japanese music – very interesting. Other stands – arts, bonsai, toys. Stands of local high schools that may have Japanese programs. More people in very unique dresses. It is hard to believe that this was Arizona (state viewed as conservative and gun loving). It looked more like “hippie” New York. Or San Francisco. I guess we should be too fast to judge things without deeper knowledge. It was also pretty nice part of the city. Trees. Older buildings (not many of them). Interesting structure for markets and gatherings. http://phoenix.gov/parks/parks/heritagepk.html It got pretty warm. We were thinking about some hike or desert garden, but we were too warm and tired. Home. Few blocks from Heritage Square we found empty lots, goofy streets, and very sad looking parts of town. Poor Phoenix. One of the last days in Phoenix, good one.

Sunday 23^rd

Work. Nothing special.

Tucson (again)

TUCSON (AGAIN AND LAST TIME)

 Greetings from Arizona (this is picture of me).

Wednesday 19^th

Heading to Tucson. Not too early, not too late, but we still hit some heavier traffic. Luckily there is a commuter lane and it is usually pretty empty. There were some stupid people driving way too slow but it was still relatively close to normal drive. Sprawling Phoenix. Airport. Few hills – parks within city limits. Some developments and malls really far from the city (what the hell is going on?). Drive. Drive. On the north side of Tucson we were visiting Tohono Chul gardens. Nice and smaller botanical garden. It was pretty but unfortunately it was surrounded by the city so the magic of nature was not really there. There were nice places to sit and relax within the garden and it would nice to go there if we were living somewhere nearby. We found two ponds with tiny blue fish (apparently native to Arizona rivers before people helped the environment and made it more civilized). Without knowing much about Sabina Canyon, we decided to go and visit. It is part of some national agency and it was packed. We looked around a bit and decided to take a private tour (the whole canyon is about 6 miles long, there are some trails around but nothing really interesting for about two hour walk. The drive/guide talked a bit rigidly and J. was making fun of him (making robot voices). It was interesting place, really nice landscape but (unfortunately for us) we saw so many beautiful and interesting places in Arizona that this place looked just too normal. And so many people. On the way back (it was drive to the point in the canyon and back) we got off the trolley and walked back some. A bit lost. After that we drove through the city to Pima Air Museum. Some construction. Sadness from so many parts of the city – airplane graveyard, air base, trailer parks, … Museum. 4 hangers – second war, space, and something else. Really huge space outside with hundred or more planes there (a lot of money just fading into the trash or history). Some really interesting creations. J. was not really excited about the museum. I thought it would be even better, but it was quite interesting. Unfortunately no plane was “open” to explore. It would be much nicer if we could go into the planes. Kind of goofy time after we were done with the museum (4:30), too late to start something else. We found Mexican restaurant more less on the way to our motel “Crossroads” so we figured out we would have some nice dinner. Found (in sketchy looking part of town). Parked. Colorful and overdecorated place. Excellent dinner – it was not very spicy but it was really tasty. J. had some margaritas. Nice day.

Thursday 20^th

Morning coffee. Sunny. A bit breezy. About an hour drive to Tombstone. Sprawling city, kind of ugly and sad when there is a subdivision in the middle of nowhere. Nothing really special or pretty along the way. Tombstone – hard to describe the place like that. Smaller town (with some colorful history) currently catering mainly to tourists. Hard to say how much stuff is authentic and/or real. On a plus side, there is some life and the town is not complete ghost town. On a minus side, it is kind of unreal and pretentious. Might be just life. It was way too early, around nine o'clock, so there were almost no people and the shops were just getting ready to open. We walked along the main street, apparently featuring gunfight daily, and were kind of sad with the offerings – same stuff one can buy almost anywhere in Arizona (boots, trinkets, Indian art, shirts). As we were expecting there was not much that would be interesting for us. We went to state park – Tombstone Historic Courthouse. It was a destination for people who were early in town. It was lightly interesting, there was nice collection of barb wire, court room, and bunch of small stuff from that time period. It is however not that old so many of those artifacts can be found in antique shops or elsewhere. Still, somewhat interesting. Another half an hour to Bisbee. The landscape got more interesting (hilly, more diverse). There was a mine tour that we wanted to take (closed mine). Kind of goofy and small place next to the main road, parked, went inside to see times for tours with signs “sold out”. We discovered that several school groups were taking a tour and that meant there were no more spaces on it. Highly disappointing. We looked around (children were getting lamps and helmets) and left. Oh well … (I was not happy about that.)

Again, very disappointing (did I say that before?). We drove (very short distance) to the town, parked and walked around. It was nice smaller town nestled around the hills. Narrow streets, relatively lively scene of stores and restaurants. Much nicer than Tombstone (no offense there). Several antique (junk) stores, walk up and down the street and leave. We were heading to Coronado National Memorial. http://www.nps.gov/coro/index.htm Almost 30 miles from Bisbee, few towns and not much else. Coronado is mostly protected land with some camping and hiking, relatively primitive and next to the Mexican border. Heading to the visitor center we saw something dark in the desert and were guessing it was “the fence”. Visitor center – nice old gentleman (volunteer) in nice building in very quiet and serene area. We asked about the fence – and it was fence. Here is the picture of it, together with some special surveillance truck that we encountered on the top of the mountain. 

As we had plenty of time (thanks to no tour of the mine in Bisbee), we decided to walk up to the cave and go in and than cross the mountains (dirt road for 15 miles) to Tucson (longer by about 1 and ½ hours). Really nice walk up to the cave, great landscape, incredible views and no people around. The cave was relatively small (600 feet long), but there were some cool rocks and overall it was great experience (except one lousy flashlight). There was also pretty nice view of the fence. Continue along the road (changed from paved to dirt) to the Montezuma Pass (highest point in park, almost 7000 ft.). There was the spying truck (probably border patrol). 0.4 mile long walk to the top of the hill, windy with amazing views. Strange country. After that too many miles of dirt road. We encountered road work (grading the road). Dust. A lot of dust. Other than that – it was interesting landscape and nice drive but after a while it just got too tedious and a bit boring. We were happy to be back on the paved road. Go, go, and go to Tucson. We were tired and kind of lazy, so we had a dinner at In-n-Out fast food restaurant. Pretty good. Done for a day.

Friday 21^st

Slow morning. We did not really have any solid plans so we leisurely left the motel and drove to Saguaro National Park – East. Construction. Planes grave yard – we saw this place quite a few times. Park. Visitor center. Paved loop (around 12 miles). Small recommended walk (hike). The park is just below the mountains but unfortunately also next to the city (that keeps sprawling and sprawling). We had mixed feelings about it. It was still pretty nice place with luscious vegetation (for the desert) and we enjoyed it. Most shorter hikes were unfortunately flat and not really exciting for us. In the end we just drove the loop, stop few times, walked up some rock formations and left the park. There are some interesting things and places in and around Tucson but all in all it is not the prettiest city, unfortunately. And it is sprawling. For a while driving on I-10 towards Phoenix. We made smaller detour and were heading to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. http://www.nps.gov/cagr/index.htm We were not expecting much and it was more less on our way, so there was no harm. The road to the ruins (about 25 miles) was really boring, flat, some farming and the rest just nothing at all. Sad. Ruins – parked – some display – tour. There was a lot of older people, it was longer talk while we were sitting and some more information next to the big house (when looking at pictures it is the one with the structure around it. The monument was not the most impressive (flat field, some walls and one great house, city in visible distance) but the tour was quite interesting. History of the ruins and people associated with them. Some current notes about water and Arizona. Apparently Central Arizona Project http://www.cap-az.com/ transports water from Colorado River to Phoenix and Tucson areas (over 300 miles and 2000 feet of elevation changes). Especially with current weather, it is interesting to think about Arizona (or South West in general), its future, and water. How many more people can live here without destroying the environment? In the end, we were pleasantly surprised by the visit to Casa Grande. Home. Phoenix. Freeways. We had to unpack, do some cleaning, homework, cooking and baking. Easy and pleasant evening. 

 

Phoenix - 11

February 10^th – February 16^th 2014

We were told few times that Arizona is strange state. Arizona is viewed as conservative and gun loving somewhat backward state. Few days ago (apparently medical marijuana is legal in AZ) on the radio they were talking about ballot issue that would legalize recreational marijuana. AZ has also one of the toughest drunk driving laws (who knew). I guess I am trying to say that AZ may be strange state but there is more then enough to balance it (landscape, great people, many great things). It has been more then enjoyable stay.

Our trip to Flagstaff is described below. Once again I have to say that we were quite disappointed by lack of snow. It was still great trip but we were really looking forward to some snow.

Work days. Errands. Preparation for our ultimate road trip (to Alaska). Five places (out of six between Vancouver, BC and Anchorage, AK) were available for online booking. So it is probably not that wilderness that it used to be 20 years ago. We will see.

For my “American government” class I had to “do something” for at least three hours that would qualify as improving the government. It was not easy to figure out what and who would help me. I ended up contacting Arizona Democratic Party and spending four hours doing “opposition research”on a candidate for Arizona House. It was interesting experience, obviously I could not learn or see much but it was still quite informative. Among “the odd ones” was information that Arizona has a state gun. And there are three more states with state gun. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_firearms Believe it or not. Week eleven is over and our stay in Arizona is almost over.