As I write now, quite a lot has happened these past
few months since the start of the New Year.
Our daily routine has changed considerably from on-the-road tasks of
securing food, water, and a camp spot each night, to preparing meals in a
full-size kitchen, getting water from a faucet on demand (hot too!), “flushing”
the toilet, and turning up the thermostat.
We lay our heads each night in the same spot and in a big queen
bed. I make breakfast and Graham goes
off to work. Yes, work! Can you believe it!? Well…neither can we. We’re still in a mixed state of shock,
gratitude, ease, and unease.
But….before I give you the scoop on our current
status, we’d like to share some tales of the past couple months and Goldi’s
last hoorah!
We enjoyed real family and friend time over the
holidays with opportunities to visit with almost all of our family over the
course of a few days. We celebrated and
shared Christmas at the Fisher’s home in Aptos at the glorious Mangel’s House
(Claus Spreckles mansion). This is always
a treat as Ron, Tim, and Nick graciously invite us all to stay in the big house
where we cook and eat scrumptious foods prepared by the accomplished lady chefs
of the family (Mom and Pilar) inspired by the late lady of the house Jackie. Over the past few years my parents have been
joining the festivities making for a truly special time where both sides of our
families come together building on old traditions and beginning a new. Some of our favorite foods on the holiday
table include prime rib, Yorkshire pudding, and English trifle.
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| Chefs extraordinaire |
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| The girls |
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| Christmas feast |
Over the next couple days Graham and I traveled with
my folks to Fair Oaks where we visited with the Schmidt/Guzman clans. This year was no exception to the traditional
gathering where cousins, aunts, and uncles share stories and catch up on the
latest with little munchkins running all around under foot. This year there were many munchkins now
walking and talking with news of more on the way. This day is often my birthday. I couldn’t think of any other better way to
spend it - always surrounded by a great family.
The next day we got to visit the Folsom Zoo (not to be mistaken for the
prison) with many of the kids. It was
sooo cool! If you’re ever in the area,
check it out. They house many native
animals and some non-natives as well.
The animals there are mostly what you would find throughout California,
with the exception of the tigers, thank goodness. All of the animals are in captivity after
being rescued from various situations.
We really enjoyed the opportunity to see mountain lions and bob cats up
close!
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| Cousins |
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| Aunts and Uncles |
My cousin Julie kindly gave Graham and I a ride to
Sonoma County where we then hitched a ride back to Santa Cruz from our good
friend, Dr. Reverend Mike Slezak. Mike
shared the woes of his family holiday gathering where 2/3 of their family had
the flu, explaining the nature of Graham’s bout with sickness the prior
week. Over the next week couple days we
house sat for Jim and Candace, where I then promptly got the flu. Nice to be in a house and glad they weren’t home!
After mending we headed for Mt. Madonna County Park, east of Watsonville, to gather with friends in a 10-person yurt to ring in the New Year. This was a fantastic celebration complete with amazing gourmet wild mushroom meals, mushroom hunting and hiking along old logging roads through redwood groves, games, costumes, and a visit to see the albino deer. Quite a time!
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| Phil and Camille in style |
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| Elk and oyster mushrooms for breakfast |
After New Year's we were northbound to visit Steve in San Jose, Jeff and Pilar in San Francisco, and Sonoma County friends. We had a great few days in San Francisco enjoying good company and awesome food (best Indian food ever at Shalimar). We celebrated our birthdays at Espetus Churrascaria - a Brazillian Steakhouse with an endless supply of the most extensive selection of perfectly prepared meats and interesting sides. We tried our best to counter all the good food with some nice long walks. In Sonoma county we connected with John and Chris. They showed
us their awesome garden space, and the work they’ve been doing on their new
property including a bee keeping venture. We met Brian, Anna, and little Zachary at
Salmon Creek beach, and were amazed to see how much Zachary had grown. Our time with them was sweet in their Santa
Rosa cozy home and garden. On the way toward Quincy, we stopped and had a nice visit with Jeff, Sara, and Carson in Sacramento. Again we were blown away by Carson growing and turning into an awesome little guy.
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| Enjoying Frozen yogurt with Jeff, Pilar, and Steve |
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| Biking toward the Golden Gate | | | | | | | |
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| Goldi near Goat Rock along the Sonoma Coast |
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| Anna and Zachary in the garden |
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| Fun in the sun with Bryan, Anna, and Zachary at Salmon Creek Beach |
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| Jeff and Carson |
In mid-January we spent a couple weeks at my folks
place re-grouping and job hunting. As
our one year trip anniversary was fast approaching, we began feeling anxious
about job prospects upon landing and decided we best take some time to start
looking and making contacts. Thinking
all along that we were going to land in the Quincy area and try our best to
find work there, hopefully at least seasonal work, we called around and met
with Forest Service and other agency folks.
After a week or so, from what we could tell, the prospects were looking grim. Given the state of the federal
budget, we received word that there would likely be little seasonal opportunity
in the area let alone longer-term more permanent work. This was big blow to our grand plan! After networking with other non-Forest
Service folks in the area, things were looking slim all the way around. It seemed clear we would need to broaden our
search. Just as Graham began to look
more regionally, a position popped up for a Geoarechaeologist at a firm,
Pacific Legacy. The job description they
posted was a perfect match for his resume, so he figured he would toss his hat
into the ring. He had worked for them as
a technician years before and still new many of the people working at the
company. Within hours, Graham received a
phone call requesting he come in for an interview. I wish I had that kind of response!
To make a long story short, the interview went
fantastically well and led to a great offer he couldn’t refuse. The offer arrived the day of our one-year
trip anniversary! What incredibly great
fortune! While this cut our trip a
little short (we were secretly hoping to head for the desert southwest until
April) we began making arrangements to land.
This new job allowed Graham to choose an office location from among their
three California offices – Berkeley, Lancaster, and El Dorado Hills. We selected the El Dorado Hills location but
knowing that El Dorado Hills folks wouldn’t like “our kind” we decided to
settle up “the hill” in Placerville – much more our style. Following a recommendation from Blake, we quickly
found a place to rent in Placerville and then escaped for one last hoorah in
Goldi to the desert….for two weeks.
Shamefully we found ourselves lamenting the fact
that we only had two weeks to spend on this leg of the journey, realizing of
course how too soon we would be chomping at the bit to get a two week vacation
to go to the desert! This time frame
really helped us to focus on the few places we really wanted to see and because
of this we spent more time in fewer places. It was nice.
We embarked on this last venture in true savoring
spirit even more so as our hearts were weighed heavily with the recent passing
of our radiant Anna Keck-Tomasso. We had
just returned from her memorial in Santa Cruz.
Anna was Anthony’s wife and partner for the last 20 years. Anthony is Graham’s foster dad. They were both very instrumental in our
wedding ceremony and have provided great love and support to us both. Her memorial was inspiring, heavy, and
beautiful. After Anna’s passing Anthony
shared with us his thoughts. “Pack it
in!” he said. We carried those
sentiments with us on the last leg and will forever.
We hopped on Highway 95 southbound with a camp in
mind just outside of Tonopah at the … hot springs. The next day we were through Las Vegas and
freshly stocked to meet up with our buddy Neil outside of Quartzsite at the
Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. Graham
had spent a considerable amount of time on the La Posa Plain nearby, always gazing up
at the Kofa Range yearning to someday check it out. This was our chance. Neil was completely prepared and excited to
spend a couple days hiking the wilds of this range. His contagious adventurous enthusiasm carried
us through the next couple days as we explored palm laden canyons and hiked to
the high point in the range – Signal Peak. The
Sonoran desert vegetation was approaching spring conditions with new growth
evident and early bloomers in full swing.
This range was so visually stunning and intriguing. What a landscape! Can’t wait to return! The car camping was easy and delightfully
warm. We enjoyed meals and the sharing
of tales over the couple days before parting ways…us back to the North toward
the Grand Canyon and Neil to New Mexico.
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| Sonora Desert Vegetation |
After a quick afternoon checking out the RV and
flea-market culture in Quartzsite we were on the road headed through Presocott
and then Jerome, AZ. We briefly checked
out Prescott mostly using the opportunity to check email and re-supply. The weather was cold and we decided to keep
moving though it did seem like a great town. Jerome was quite a scene. Perched almost vertically on the slopes
leading down to the Verde River are many historic buildings that once supported a
bustling mining town – now tourist destination.
We drove across the river valley and onto Sedona where sunset light
made the rock formations pop. The drive
up the Oak Creek Canyon was really picturesque and we again made a brief stop in
Flagstaff before settling in for the night near Sunset Crater and Wupatiki
National Monuments.
We spent half the following day visiting the two
monuments. Reminiscent of the Cascades,
the Sunset Crater cinder cone rises among stunted conifers with a full display
of volcanic orange, red, and black hues.
Further down the loop road we explored two of the five pueblo complexes
that comprise Wupatki National Monument.
During the 1100s people began gathering and building Wupatki Pueblo, the
largest pueblo, that at one time housed nearly 100 residents. Over hundreds of years Wupatki served as a
major cultural crossroads and was home to many groups of people. This visit was a great opportunity to learn
about the Ancestral Puebloans that inhabited the area and to get to walk in and
amongst the pueblo structures. The color
and height of the walls and the complexity of the pueblos where fascinating.
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| Wupatki |
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| Wupatki Peublo |
After looping back down south to Flagstaff we took
Highway 180 northwest toward the south rim of the Grand Canyon and Grand Canyon
village. The highway traverses much of
the Colorado Plateau and passes through the continent’s largest contiguous tract
of Ponderosa Pine. After driving several
hours, the rim really sneaks up on you.
Suddenly there you are standing on the edge of the mighty Colorado!
For a couple days we explored the south rim enjoying
the opportunity to drive our own vehicle (thanks to early-season timing) to
Hermits’ Rest and other view points. We
tried our best to capture good light at sunset and over breakfast at sunrise
the following morning. What a treat! Graham was truly impressed seeing the canyon
for the first time, and I too for the second time. Great memories of a desert southwest spring
break college road trip flooded my mind.
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| Goldi on the rim at sunrise |
On our second day we joined many other hikers to
brave the icy, slippery start on the descent of the South Kaibab trail to
Skeleton Point. It was awesome to get an
up close and personal look at the various strata making it through the Kaibab,
Toroweap, Coconino Sandstone, Hermit, and Supai Group Formations. A condor soared over head on occasion.
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| Hiking down the South Kaibab Trail |
On our way out of the park along the south rim heading
east we stopped at the Desert View Watchtower for one last peak. This structure was designed, along with
Hermits Rest, the Bright Angel Lodge, and others within the park, by American
Architect Mary Colter in the early 20th century. I have never seen anything quite like
this. Inspired by the architecture of
the Ancestral Puebloans, this structure built from native materials blends
right into its environment – a work of art!
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| Mary Colter's Desert View Watchtower |
As the day came to a close we tried our best to
travel as near to Kanab as we could for the next day’s attempt at securing a
permit for “The Wave” formation. This
meant traveling through a good chunk of the Navajo Reservation and over Glen
Canyon Dam in the dark unfortunately.
We’ll be back someday on a pilgrimage to visit Rainbow Arch. My great-great grandfather, William Boone
Douglas, in 1909 was leading a Government Land Office Survey party that at the
time became the first group of white folks to see Rainbow Arch.
With no such luck in the permit lottery to see The
Wave, the BLM Grand Staircase Escalante Staff suggested some alternate hikes in
the area. The next couple days we spent
exploring the narrows and slot canyons of the Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch
trails in the Paria River area of the Arizona Strip. Amazing!
That’s all we can say. Hope the
photos will give you a sense of what we experienced there – layer upon layer of
smooth red, pink, and white sandstone slowly sculpted by water and weathering
over millennia. Some sections were so
narrow our shoulders would not pass through without turning our bodies.
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| Toadstools formations near the Paria River |
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| Wire Pass |
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| Petroglyphs |
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| Buckskin Gulch |
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| Views from Buckskin Gulch |
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| Camp site near Wire Pass trailhead |
From here we headed for Bryce Canyon National Park
trying to beat the next snow storm on its way.
We succeeded and at least got a great view from the rim at sunset along
the Scenic Drive with sights of Thor’s Hammer, Bryce Amphitheatre, and Natural
Bridge. This Hoodoo-laden landscape was
one of our favorites on the trip perhaps because it was a little easier to wrap
our heads around the scale of the area and the colors where out of this
world. As the wind whipped and the snow
fell we hunkered down for the night and decided to spend much of the next day
at the beautiful Best Western in Bryce Canyon.
We had heard word you could pay for a hot shower there. We discovered that the shower included access to
the pool and hot tub. They also had Wifi
and laundry facilities. We were in
heaven for a day as the temperatures plummeted and the snow continued to fall. The best $3 bucks spent on the whole
trip! And perhaps the best shower of our
lives!
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| Snowy Bryce |
Our next destination was Zion National Park. We drove in from the East where snow
blanketed everything around. It was
cold, windy and snowy and kind of hard to get a sense of the awesome landscape around
us. The bookstore was enjoyable and we
again spent time online at the library waiting for the storm to pass. We crashed in a nice little dispersed BLM
camping spot right off the road and hiked a short distance up a wash. The following morning the weather looked
clear and we decided to go for the Angel’s Landing hike. Several friends had recommended it. After completing the Scenic Drive up the
North Fork of the Virgin River and checking out the mouth of The Narrows and
Weeping Rock we set off on the hike which was surprisingly paved all the way up
Walter’s Wiggles to the Scout Overlook.
Given the icy and snowy conditions at the overlook we decided not to
proceed to Angles Landing, as did most everyone else, with the exception of a
small group of fearless teenagers whom we later saw made it to the top. Our thought was…save it for next time. But we were rewarded with impressive views
and met a nice couple also traveling in a Westfalia throughout the desert
southwest.
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| Snowy Zion |
From here we were headed back to the homeland of
Nevada and onto Death Valley to warm up for a couple days before the trips
end. On the way we made a stop in Ash
Meadows National Wildlife Refuge to check out the Devil’s Hole Pupfish. Unbeknown to us, you can’t actually see the
pupfish and in fact, their hole is safeguarded by an impressive security compound. It was fascinating to see this in such a
remote location. The springs were also
an amazing sight – so clear and beautiful and producing a great deal of 80-degree
(illegal for swimming) water that then forms two small lakes in the middle of
southern Nevada! We would love to return
to kayak, bird watch, and peruse the visitor’s center someday. There is some great dispersed camping nearby.
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| Devi's Hole Compound |
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| Devil's Hole Security |
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| Ash Meadows |
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| Spring at Ash Meadows |
We landed that night at the funky Beatty Hot Springs
campground where we delighted in fairly hot quick shower. The next morning we secured a key for one of
the three super rustic soaking rooms. We
had been there last about six years prior and remembered the same very nice Paiute guy that runs the place. Nice hot
soaking water!
Off to Death Valley we hopped over Daylight Pass and
down to venture north on Scotty’s Castle Road and then up the ever so washboarded Death Valley Road all the way to Eureka Dunes. We were in luck this day, as the graders were
in full swing making for smooth sailing at least half the way. As we dropped into Eureka Valley and turned
off on the Dunes Road, the massive dunes came into view. Truly impressive. We spent two days here basking in the sun,
clamoring up and down the dunes trying to get them to sing to us. Along one particular edge, we dialed in the
slope and aspect and were serenaded by the booming dune effect for at least a
minute as a zillion grains cascaded down the slope until eventually finding
their settled state.
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| Camp site in Eureka Valley |
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| Scaling Eureka Dunes |
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| Atop the Dunes |
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| The descent |
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| Savoring the sun in camp |
We also ventured across to the west side of Eureka
Valley were a small valley finger has been collection point for another dune
field. This hike had been on Graham’s
list for a long time. We drove as far as
we could and hike the rest of the way to the dune field. The desert pavement was spectacular as were
the artifacts and ventifacts (for the geo geeks - stone shaped, faceted, or
polished by wind driven sand). We had
the day to ourselves out there – it was magical.
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| Hiking to the dunes in the western finger of Eureka Valley |
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| Ventifacts |
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| Graham always on the lookout |
As we continued north toward home, we stopped at a
couple of the old usual hot springs along the way – Keough, Little Hot Creek,
and Travertine, climbed at little in the Gorge near Bishop and shared a great
happy hour celebratory meal at Whiskey Creek in Mammoth – we were back.
What an adventure this has been…
We’ve been working to unpack Goldi this week and
give her the TLC she needs after such a journey – our noble steed. I think she’ll be happy to be parked in our
nice garage. But stocked with a few boxes
of macaroni and cheese always prepared for next adventure!
Thank you to all of you that were kind enough to put
up with us along the way – put up with dirty us and our dirty laundry. Thanks for letting us share some stories with
you and for sharing little snapshots of your lives with us. What a blast it has been!
Come visit us at our new digs in Placerville!
Love to you all,
K&G&Goldi
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| Snow at our new Placerville digs |
