Day 16 - San Francisco

Saturday, July 14, 2007 - official end of the summer arm-chair traveling

House hunting begins.

We looked at 5 house rentals and 3 are good prospects. Hopefully, we'll have a positive answer for at least one of the three places we applied for sometime next week.

Got a little beach time in the neighborhood.





Coffee break and book browsing at the Green Apple Bookstore on Clement.



Word of the Day: Abibliophobia (noun)
Pronunciation:[ê-bi-bli-ê-'fo-bee-yê]
Definition: The morbid fear of running out of reading material.
(sent to us from Mary)

Day 15 - Palo Alto

Friday, July 13, 2007
Driving start: 8:30 am PDT, Westport, CA
Driving stop: 2:30 pm PDT, Palo Alto, CA
State(s): CA
Crash pad: Syd's Grandparents home
Total road time: 6hrs

On the road again.

Today's journey takes us to Syd's Grandparents in Palo Alto - our bay area home base.

We drove through San Francisco and got some outside views of prospective homes before heading down to Palo Alto.

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge



"Friedman's - If we don't have it, you don't need it." --Home Improvement Store in Ukiah

Day 14 - The Headlands

Thursday, July 12, 2007

More hanging...

Syd and Nugget







A view from The Headlands in Westport.



Syd and Donna in front of Seaweed forest.





Keith and Thad lounging on the coast.

Day 13 - Soulsong

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Just hanging...

Oriental garden - one of three beautiful gardens on the property



Big Garden - lots of fresh organic fruits and veggies - yummy



Coloring wood

Day 12 - Westport

Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Driving start: 9:00 am PDT, Crescent City, CA
Driving stop: 4:00 pm PDT, Westport, CA
State(s): CA
Crash pad: Soulsong
Total road time: 7 hrs

The day started very foggy and cool as we drove through Crescent City. Sweater weather for a summer day in California.

Crescent Beach



Giant Redwoods in Trinidad, CA.







Tasted our first Dutch Bros. coffee in Eureka, CA. Excellent! The Dutch Mocha was made just right. With coffee in hand, we pushed through lunch time and continued onward.





Beware of Banana Slug (state mollusk) slime! Syd had a devil of a time washing it off!





We made it! Soulsong!





The house goddess welcomes all!



Interesting find: Legend of BigFoot --store in Garberville, CA

Day 11 - Crescent City

Monday, July 9, 2007
Driving start: 8:30 am PDT, Burns, OR
Driving stop: 6:30 pm PDT, Crescent City, CA
State(s): OR, CA
Crash pad: Americas Best Value Inn, RM228 (pets allowed)
Total road time: 10 hrs

We spent the first hour of this trip driving through smoke. We didn't actually see the fire so can't say where it was.

Klamath Lake, OR



Did you know that there is an Agricultural Inspection point at the California border? Keith was worried for the cat, Schefflera and the item in the trailer from ID. After checking online the night before, we found that all items would be okay. Turns out the station was closed for the day.

Driving through Giant Redwoods, CA



"Don't be a crab. Eat one." --Fisherman's Restaurant billboard advertisement where we had dinner

Day 10 - Burns

Sunday, July 8, 2007
Driving start: 8:30 am MDT, Idaho Falls, ID
Driving stop: 6:30 pm PDT, Burns, OR *new time zone*
State(s): ID, OR
Crash pad: Days Inn, RM218 (no pets)
Total road time: 11 hrs

On the property of Idaho National Lab (formerly Idaho National Engineering Laboratory). This is the area Keith was taken to for nuclear training (buildings not pictured).



Craters of the Moon National Monument in ID








This guy could have been a candidate for the Darwin Awards at the Spatter Cones.



Snow at the bottom of Spatter Cones.



Boy Scouts Cave, one of many lava caves. Don't forget to take flashlights to see the icicles in these cool caves.





Syd is sworn in as a Craters of the Moon Junior Ranger.



What are Keith and Syd putting into the trailer in Boise, ID?



Arrived to the smell of smoke in the air in Burns, OR. A good thing we stopped because Wildfires closed some of the highway ahead.

Syd's favorite hotel feature.



"1864 - Great must have been the relief of the volcano, powerful the emetic, that poured forth such a mass of black vomit. - Julius Caesar Merrill, Emigrant" --Craters of the Moon blurb

Day 9 - Yellowstone

Saturday, July 7, 2007
Driving start: sunrise
Driving stop: sunset
State(s): ID, MT, WY

Tourists for a day.

Keith got us up early for this adventure. However, it was worth it!

Sightings: ravens (Keith's favorite), bison, moose, osprey, bald eagles (fledglings)



We started our loop tour of Yellowstone National Park from the West Entrance. First stop was a Trumpeter Swans habitat along the Madison river.



Gibbon Falls



Pick up sticks



Artists Paintpots - loved this section the best so far!

"Warning - In thermal areas the ground may be only a thin crust above boiling hot springs or scalding mud. There is no way to guess a safe path: new hazards can bubble up overnight, and some pools are acidic enough to burn through boots. More than a dozen people have been scalded to death and hundreds badly burned and scarred."







This bubbling brew was the best!



Virginia Cascade



The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone



Lower Falls







Mud Volcano



"Warning - Many visitors have been gored by buffalo. Buffalo can weigh 2000 pounds and sprint at 30 miles per hour three times faster than you can run. These animals may appear tame but are wild, unpredictable, and dangerous. Do no approach buffalo."



After we took a photo of the sitting buffalo, Syd and I witnessed a buffalo crossing. We slowly backed away as it lumbered across the street. A second buffalo decided to cross the street and took a break midway. He stopped traffic going both directions. Everyone held their breath waiting to see what he would do. Fortunately, he continued to cross the street without giving us a look.



Lunch at Lake Village General Store. Summer interns from Hong Kong and Columbia manned the counters.

Old Faithful - so where is it?



About 40 minutes later... There was more to this. It actually got pretty high. This is just a snapshot of the start of video footage which I will post later.



We were pelted with intermittent hail storms on our way back to the hotel. Other than these hail episodes we've had good driving weather.

Syd: grumble grumble grumble (while walking down a switchback trail to see the Lower Falls)
Keith: C'mon Syd. You have to sweat a little for the good things in life.

"Bubble bubble toil and trouble..." --Shakespeare