Las Vegas Lights and Big Utah Sky

I'm going to let you interpret these images for yourselves.

Las Vegas:

Utah:

This trip is nearing its end but we still have so much more adventure coming up.

From Big Sur Bluffs to Death Valley Dunes

After the hustle and bustle of Santa Cruz, we headed south to that land of legends, Big Sur. So many of the writers and artists and visionaries of the last few decades found this place inspiring, wild, and beautiful. And it's no wonder. Highway 1 kisses the cliffs for dozens of miles along the coast, often hundreds of feet above the ocean. The forest and the ocean meet and create breathtaking views. We spent the night alongside a creek in Big Sur, then drove south along the coast the next morning.

The southern end of the Big Sur region houses an Elephant Seal Rookery, and we stopped to see them lounging in the sun. It was amazing to see them, after so many nights of hearing seals and sea lions barking in the distance.

Along the highway, we met a French couple and their baby who needed a ride. They were going to Morro Bay, CA, and when we got there they offered to let us stay at their campsite in exchange for the ride. We ended up getting along very well. I got to practice my French and we have new friends in Paris!
Morro Bay itself was also a great place. It is a surfing, fishing, and harbor town. Morro Rock dominates the shoreline, and sea lions come up to the docks to rest at night.

Finally, it was time to leave the Pacific. We waved goodbye and headed east again, this time tracing our path from our last trip Out West, through Sequoia National Park to Death Valley.

Now we are in Pahrump, NV on our way to Las Vegas for a rousing good time. We are seeing Penn and Teller and staying in the Rio, our first Hotel for this whole trip. We made it 6 days straight without paying for a RV park, and now we are ready to splurge. After Las Vegas, our trip is nearly over, with a mad dash for the East Coast in time for the new semester.
Au Revoir, California!

Starstruck by the Perseids in Santa Cruz

We've been in Santa Cruz, CA for the past couple days and we were lucky enough to catch the Perseids zooming across the sky while lying on the beach. I managed to catch the tail end of one on the camera using a 15 second shutter. There were also sea lions barking offshore, and the boardwalk carnival going on behind us. It was quite hypnotic!

Adventure on Highway 1.

For the last few days, we've been driving down the California Coast on Highway 1. It is an absolutely amazing drive, albeit at times nerve wracking because of its high cliffs, narrow roads, and sharp turns.

Free-range cows on an overlook next to the highway.

We spent the morning frolicking in our underpants on this beach. The water is much colder than the atlantic or caribbean at this time of year, but it is still that perfect green-blue.

Red rock beach, a ten minute walk downhill from our overnight spot on the cliff above, and just north of Stinson Beach, CA.We met a bunch of friendly people who were interested in our van and our story, and we found out from them that this was a clothing-optional beach. Naturally, the next day we ran down and jumped straight in the water (well, some of us needed a little coaxing.) There is nothing as liberating as swimming in icy pacific waters in nothing but your birthday suit. Not to mention the sea lion jumping just offshore. It was a perfect day.

To top it off, a perfect Pacific Sunset.

Rainbow Star

Continuing our journey into sleep deprivation, we decided to head up Mt. Ashland and down Colestine Valley to my dad's old stomping grounds, his (clothing optional!) commune called Rainbow Star. The land has since been bought by a Buddhist monastery called Tashi Choling, but we were welcomed on the grounds. It was great to have more of an insight into my dad's life.


Temple crossroads

The entrance, with the boddhisatva of Compassion

Lee's Pyramid house- he built it by hand, with no power tools.

Llamas kept by the monastery. They were friendly enough not to spit, but not friendly enough to hug.

Down the valley was the main house where my dad, Lee, Walter, and Chris lived together until they built separate houses. The house is called "The Mouse House" by its current owners because of the state it was in when they first came to the property. The owners have done a lot of work and have changed a lot, but the heart of it is still there.

All of this land was Rainbow Star's

After we saw the monastery, we went up to visit Lee, who was one of the co-owners of the commune. He was a good friend of my dad's and the best man at his wedding. He filled in some more of the story and was an awesome host.

Jackson Wellsprings

The Jackson Wellsprings, where the Mystic Garden Party was held, became something like our spiritual home in Oregon. We kept coming back, and it really did feel like we were coming home. It is an amazing property, the people are all spiritual, new agey, hippies, and we loved it. We spent the night in their campground, stayed up all night, and went on a shooting spree in the morning. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

After our photo shoot, we were famished and exhausted, so we went to have breakfast. It turned out to be the most delicious meal we'd ever had.

Ashland, Oregon

We spent so much time in and around Ashland that I thought it was only fair to pay it some homage.
Ashland is divided between the yuppies, old hippies, young hippies, and grungy kids. We met just about all of them.

It turns out most people are as grateful for a nice chat as a few cents. These guys were pretty cool, even if they did only strum a few notes on their guitar.

Ashland once tried to develop an economy with their Lithia Water, which is highly mineralized. Their plan fell through when they discovered it didn't taste so good. Jim made a point to develop a taste for it, though!

This quote was pinned up on a bulletin board in town. It seems like this quote becomes more and more true every day.

Ashland was our home for a couple weeks and we loved it. Until we meet again!

From the Redwood forest...to the Gamepark

We've covered a lot of ground since our last post. We made it to California, and the Pacific Ocean, saw fantastic scenery and unexpected animals. Once again, our posts are out of order but then so are our memories.

Once we left Oregon and arrived in California, we made a beeline for the Redwoods.

We made it our mission to hug the biggest one we could find. This one was certainly a fine candidate.

The redwood forest just looks prehistoric, what with the ferns and old trees and moss and...clovers?

Atop a downed Redwood. It was wider across than I am tall!

Our van amongst the redwoods.
I am so glad there were these little parks to stop in off the side of the road. It seems like the state or federal governments own most of the land in California, so there is quite a bit of public land and parks.

We also headed to a Game Park, since we were in dire need of animals to pet. Goats, Llamas, Deer, Ducks, Geese, Sheep, and Donkeys ran free through the park, and they had a bunch of exotic animals in cages. Apart from the goats, the highlight was hugging the baby Big Cats they had.

Bella the lion cub. She was as playful as a puppy and as cute as a kitty. And soft!

They also had a snow leopard cub named Bentley who had the bluest eyes this side of me.

Our one true love, goats. There were plenty of babies but this was the babiest, and he decided to have a tasty snack of shirt straps!

We finally got to hug a llama! These barely tolerated us, but at least they didn't run away like the ones at the monastery. Llamas are soft and delightful.

Later on in California, we finally came across some buffalo. Ah, America.

We are having the time of our lives!

From coast to coast

We have reached a milestone on our adventure. The Pacific Ocean welcomes us.

Keep an eye on this space for more info. We're not updating in any particular order so you might see a few adventures that are out of sequence. We're doing our best but the internet is not as plentiful on the road.

Oregon calls to me

We have fallen in love with Oregon. There's no better way to say it. The natural beauty, the kindness of the people, the sense of adventure. It's all there. And as a result, we decided to stay in Ashland a while longer (using the fact that we're waiting for a package as a flimsy excuse).

Look at this beautiful countryside!


Before we arrived in Oregon, we perused craigslist to find some likeminded people to spend time with. It turns out a couple of self proclaimed geeks were looking for another couple with whom to adventure. We decided the risk of running internet creeps was worth taking. So after the events of the Mystic Garden Party, we looked them up and arranged a meetup. Our rendezvous took place at a coffee shop called The Roasting Co. We quickly picked them out of the crowd by physical description and talked for a little while before heading the Senor Sams for some tasty burritos.

Afterwards we visited a gaming shop to pick up a fun travel game. One appealed to us so we plunked down the cash and were on our way to Lithia Park for a rowsing game of Space Munchkin. A dip in the river later, we visited our new friends' house and watched half of Team America. However, allergies to their adorable pets forced me to depart before the movie's conclusion. All in all it was a good night.

A scenic sunset drive later, we were back at Jumping Joe's in Hugo and we went to bed, content.
A couple of days later, we decided to meet our new friends again. This time, they invited us to Lake of the Wood, a beautiful lake in the mountains of Oregon.



That's Mt. McLoughlin in the background. It's beautiful peak is pretty much what I think of when I think of mountains.

The drive over there was something else. Plenty of winding roads and sharp turns running through an amazing forest of towering Ponderosa Pines. Our friends led the way in their truck.



On the way, we spied with our little eye, something brown!



A wild cow, just grazing by the side of the highway. We wanted to stop but we had to avoid the temptation lest we lose our guides in the process.





Before long, we arrived at the lake. Instantly, we decided that we wanted to camp there. It was a bit pricey, but it was so beautiful that we couldn't resist. We were crushed to find out that there weren't any RV spots left so we kept a stiff upper lip and went to the marina to rent a watercraft.

Initially, we rented a canoe and had a wild time racing with Kris and Ivory. There were a bunch of close calls and near collisions but we eventually got the hang of it. After about an hour, we returned to the dock to requisition something with a little more horsepower.

We rented a small powerboat with a 6 horsepower engine and zipped around the lake at a severely underwhelming speed. Regardless, we have to think of safety first. Behold! We are positively buoyant!





In our search for a prime swimming spot, we ran into some ducks having a girl's night out. Before long they were intruded upon by a flock of males on the prowl.



After a nice cruise, we docked at a floating dock. The ladies took a refreshing dip while Kris and I worked on our tans.




By this point it was starting to get late so we began to make our way back. Reluctantly, we left the Lake of the Woods in our rear view and prepared for a scenic drive back to Ashland, where we would spend the night.



Who should we see on the way back but our good friend A Cow! As he was still grazing away by the side of the road, we decided to pay him a visit.



Unfortunately, being the cautious cow he is, he did not appreciate our intrusion and beat a lazy escape into the wood.



He must have been a Holy Cow because something magical happened this day. Our animal related wishes began to come true. "Oh Dear!" Angelica exclaimed, and moments later we saw some deer! We were too surprised to take a photo so we decided to experiment. "Oh bunnies!" I shouted out. "Oh goats and donkeys" we called out.

Sure enough, one by one they began to appear:









Completely satisfied with our day we drove back to our favorite place in Ashland: The Jackson Wellsprings and rested our weary heads.