7-05 Thursday - California At Last

Matt and I finally made it to California! There's not much else to say today.

We pushed thru Reno on I-80, and soon after crossed into California. Just before the line, trees come back into the vegetation mix. The parts of California we drove thru are are still very desert like, but its got trees now. I really don't have many pictures from today; nothing has really stuck out as picture worthy.

So we arrived at Matt's new housing, which is located right in downtown San Jose. It's within in walking distance of quite a few ritzy joints, including the Spaghetti Factory, where we got to eat dinner. Likewise, his house is really nice. It has a top end kitchen, really nice walls, and floors and one of his roomates just bought a really nice TV. LCD 1080p. They don't have anything else, because there's no furniture. I'm compensating by reminding myself that I'm paying at least a third of what they are in the pleasant town of Ada.

I met his new roomates today, Pat and Seth. Seth was a mechanical engineer at Ohio Northern! How weird is that? He knows Mark and John Wahl, and said he recognized me too.

We're now staying the night at a Ramada Inn, of which Matt is some how a platinum member. We get treated like kings. (That means free water bottles and cookies. yay.) We're staying here since there's really nothing we can do at his new place besides sleep on the floor.

7-04 Wednesday - Fourth of July in Nevada

Its the fourth of July today! I finally have internet access that doesn't suck outright, so I'm trying to get all of my posts up to date. I've also had a hankerin' to play Fallout since we hit desert and so I'm also taking advantage of the internet to grab that.

Matt and I left Grand Tetons pretty early this morning, and just kept on driving for Fernley, Nevada. I still wish we had shot for Reno, just half an hour farther, but no matter, this place is way nicer than I ever expected, especially from a Best Western. On the route we left Wyoming and passed thru Idaho.

I gave Mark Niehus a call as we entered Idaho, since he lives there now. And what does he say when he calls back? "I'm in Jackson Hole..." Holy crap, we were in Jackson Hole like 3 hours before. I don't know how we missed each other. I'm so disappointed and also really amazed at this coincidence.

Idaho is pretty much as you'd expect it. There's large really flat areas and some hills. Its pretty much the Kentucky of the West Coast, just take away trees, add flat areas, and add some brown into the color palette, and there you go.

Nevada was interesting, as well as a bit intimidating. It definetly gets into hot desert area. The parking lot here was still hot from the sun's heat long after it had gone down. As soon as we crossed the state line from Idaho into Nevada, we were greated by the town of Jackpot and its casinos. Pretty seedy. There's a lot more mountain in this desert than you'd think. There's also a vegetation everywhere still, but its all yellowed grass and some form of tumbleweed or another. The vast majority of Nevada is devoid of civilation. The best signs of people are rundown buildings, and lots of cattle in what appears to be ranches. It sounds bad, but I actually find it all very cool.

Fernley is decent enough. It appears that the entire state of Nevada comes here for fireworks. And what a fireworks display it was. If you've never watched fire works in Nevada, you should try it. It really was one of the better displays I've seen.

Check out this awesome dude we saw at a stop in Nevada.

Tomorrow we should arrive in San Francisco!

7-03 Tuesday - The Grand Tetons

New Animal Sitings:
Snake! Ahhh Snake!
Beaver or Groundhog
10,000 Chipmunks
NO Bears!!!!

Today was quite a bit of fun. As a result I'm beat. Pretty much all we did today was go on a long hike.

In the morning after breakfast, we headed out for Jenny Lake, which is one of the lakes at the foot of Tetons. The lake at the cabin we're staying in is a different one; it is much bigger and called Jackson Lake. So we arrived at Jenny Lake, and at first was pretty disappointed because the entrance was just packed full and there was almost no parking. I was pretty sure I had another amusement park on my hands. However, the trail we decided to hike on was pretty steep and very long and we were pretty confident we would lose most of the people before long.

The lay of the land is really interesting here. The Tetons are weird because the area surrounding them is pretty much flat, and then, bam!, mountain. To get to the start of the trail, we had to take a boat across Jenny lake to the base of the mountain. As soon as we stepped off the boat, it was all uphill. The trail actually leads up between two of the mountains, so the whole time you have a mountain on either side. I believe the one on the left as we were headed west up the trail was the big Teton, Grand Teton, or some name like that. After about a mile and half of fairly steep uphill the trail flattens out a good bit and is a bit less work.

Fortunately, we were right at about the people. After about the second site to see everybody seemed to turn around on the trail and go back to the return boat ride.

The trail was really awesome. It had about every description you can give to land. It starts at a lake. Then you have a steep clime. There's spot where you're walking on a ledge over what could be an unpleasant fall. The whole trail follows a mountain river which comes from the snow melting of the mountains. The river itself has every variety: water falls, rapids, slow calm areas, I think there were even some beaver dams. You walk in forests, over tiny streams feeding into the main river, between boulder fields from the mountains. So, in case you can't tell, I definitely enjoyed this hike.

The hike pretty much killed us so we didn't do much else for the day. At the Jackson Lodge, which is full of ridiculously rich folk, and us, dirty from the hike, I was able to upload some earlier post, but the internet speed was so slow that I only got two up. Dinner after that.

Tomorrow, we drive thru Idaho, and should arrive at Fernley, Nevada.

7-02 Monday - Geysers!!!

In case you guys haven't figured out what I'm doing, I've been writing entries for the day every night on this road trip to the west. Unfortunately, internet hasn't been discovered in many of these areas, and so when you do get entries, there will probably be a whole bunch. For instance, tomorrow, Tuesday, I hope to be able to upload the entry, plus like the last 3. Gieseler, if you read this, get in touch with the Best Western that is in the town just west of Yellowstone. They're provider is terrible and they need a new one.

So today, I'm going to work my way backwards. We just arrived in a lodge area in the Grand Teton National Park. We're right on the edge of the lake of which the mountains are directly on the other side. This place is beautiful. And rumor has it its chock full of cool animals, aka bears. I have high hopes for tomorrow.

Before the last thing we did before leaving Yellowstone was go down to Yellowstone Lake. Ok, so think of the layout this way: Yellowstone Nat Park and Grand Tetons Nat Park border each other, Yellowstone is on the north and Grand Tetons are to the south. The Yellowstone Lake is in the southern part of Yellowstone, and was on our way out the door. After we left the lake it was just another 30 or so minutes to here. I really hope I remember to show you guys a map.

Pretty much the rest of today (morning and afternoon) was spent going around to the many geysers and pools and springs. They're pretty much all the same thing, just varying degrees of intensity. Some place deep underground, or maybe not so deep, I'm just making this up, there's a lot of heat because Yellowstone is so active (its a volcano). This heat gets to the water and sends it up to the surface, cause its hot and creates a lot of pressure. The big difference, that I see anyway, is that a geyser shoots into the air whenever a lot of pressure has built up (usually so much so that the water turns to steam and violence ensues), while a spring more trickles the water to the surface thru wider vents.

So yes, we saw lots of these things. I kinda feel like after you've seen one, you've seen a bunch (but not all). But it is still very cools. Of course we saw Old Faithful, twice actually. And there were a number of other geysers. I think the coolest geyser we saw was on Sunday though. I think it was called the Jet Geyser, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I think we saw it go off by chance (these things can be pretty random, Old Faithful is the exception, which is why its famous), and the board walk was really close to the geyser so we got a great view of it.

One thing I've definitely confirmed about Yellowstone is that it is an amusement park. See pictures.

Today was definitely a pretty nice day. Weather wise and other wise. Actually, we've been having really great weather since the Badlands. And seeing a two deer cross right in front of me, while I was not in a car and walking back to the cabin we're staying in, gives me good hope for tomorrow.

7-01 Sunday in Yellowstone

Today I caught a glimpse of a bear, lots of ravens, and lots of deer, and a definite elk.
Phew, what a long day. We saw everything. Pretty close anyway. More of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (as they like to call it on the signs), springs, fountains, geysers, and wildlife.

I have a few gripes with Yellowstone that I'd like to point out. First, it's like a friggin amusement park in a lot of the areas. There's a constant flow of people in and out and around the roads. I also don't like the roads. You can just drive everywhere and see everything. That's not the way that it is supposed to be done! You're supposed to hike a decent hike and be awarded by an amazing site at the end. It turns into people hurrying around so they can see every site possible.

Then there's the cameras. I'm pretty certain people only are running around from site to site as quickly as possible only so that they can get as many pictures and the best pictures as possible. It doesn't seem like there's much appreciation for what they're doing. “Take this picture with me by the water fall! Ok, time to go to the next thing!” Its really ridiculous. And its not enjoyable. I would honestly stop taking pictures of my own if it wasn't for the fact the Leslie graciously let me borrow her camera, and I'm pretty sure these postings would be a lot less cool without pictures. Also, the fact that these pictures are actually getting to a place where they'll be seen instead just sitting on the camera for years afterwards make me feel better.

So then, my final gripe, is that we are being just like all the rest of the people. We've seen a lot of stuff, but its so rushed that its not very fun. Matt insists that we follow his 'plan', which doesn't involve having fun. I have convinced him to do some good things today. Like for instance, we spotted some deer in the distance, and I went off of the trail and road so I could sneak closer to them. Stalking deer is a lot of fun. If you zoom in on this picture, you can see baby deer playing :)

There has been a lot of cool stuff to see none the less. My legs damn near fell of after having to climb back up Uncle Tom's trail, a trail that uses about 400 steps to get close to the base of the lower falls in the Grand Canyon, which was a really good view. We went out and found some good geyser fountains. That was truly spectacular.

Here's some pictures of the Grand Canyon. Notice the slight rainbow that forms in the water fall spray. This happens when the light hits it just right, at about 10 AM.

Again, today a buffalo decided to cross the road right in front of us. I think this is hilarious. Even with all the sites, I think I like wildlife the best. I hope we can get a chance to actually get on an out of the way trail and hopefully stumble upon something truly great. Maybe a bear :)

6-30, Saturday, Arrive at Yellowstone

Today we've seen: A mountain lion type thing, buffalo, either coyote or a wolf, an elk type thing, and some neat looking birds. Also lots of species of cars, RVs, trucks and people.

This brings the count up to:
Bunny (We think we ran over it without touching it, not sure if it was dead or alive already(
Deer
Prairie Dog !
Large Cat or Coyote type creature that I nearly hit as it darted across the road
Buffalo
Mountain lion or similar large cat creature
Buffalo (lots)
Coyote or Wolf, definitely a canine of some sort
Elk, maybe - not a deer, smaller than a moose

Today's drive was a good bit more relaxed, thankfully, bit still quite exhausting. Thankfully not all of today was spent on the road. I don't know how much more of that I could of taken. We continued on I-90 for awhile, to Billings, Montana, where we ate at the most spectacular Dairy Queen. It had an actual indoors, sit down restaurant, and the burger I ordered was excellent. I had thought DQs were required by law to be a shack on the side of the road and serve that tasted like it came from a shack on the side of a road.

After lunch at Billings, we left I-90 and headed for Red Lodge and followed US-212, or the Beartooth Highway. This highway was amazing. It took runs from Montana towards Wyoming and eventually enters Yellowstone. It takes you towards the mountains, then thru and over them. I don't think I've ever been on such a sustained mountainous drive. There were more switchbacks than I cared to count and each one got you high up the mountain with better views.

So now I'm at a lodge in Yellowstone and its actually quite a nice lodge. We've seen a lot already in Yellowstone and only been in the park for a few hours. We've seen some quite nice landscape and got a couple minutes at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. (Probably not as grand as the Grand Grand Canyon, but still grand.) So far almost everything thing we've done has been car touring, as in drive the car around, get out and take pictures, get back in, and move on, but we did get a quick hike in. Tomorrow will be much more hiking. We'll probably get to see the geysers and hot springs soon.

One cool thing that I've already noticed about Yellowstone is uncontrolled it is. Coming back from the hike tonight, there was a handful of cars parked on the side of the road that had spotted a Buffalo and an elk. We pulled to the side. The buffalo decided to cross the road. We were in the way. We moved. I think we would have moved whether or not Matt's foot was on the gas pedal. That buffalo was so close I could have jumped on it. A bad idea that is. And it was so close it could have squashed the car. So I'm still waiting on the bear slightly close encounter.

I leave you with a question: Do they server continental breakfast in Hawaii?

Thru the Badlands and Big Sky Land to Buffalo, WY

Today was one heck of a long day. We went from Nebraska City, back into Iowa to I-29, and drove and drove, all the way thru South Dakota and into Wyoming, to a Motel 6 in the city of Buffalo, where I am now.




Today's weather was a lot nicer. No rain at all. On the vast majority of the trip, there was almost nothing to see out of the ordinary. The land here is so plain that that very fact is what makes it extra ordinary. Lots and lots of hey bales, cows here and there, and the land seems to cycle between long stretches of incredibly flat land to large hills. The billboards out here are kinda funny though. There's some famous drug store called Wall Drug and they seriously have 100s of billboard ads over hundreds of miles. I think its famous for record setting billboard advertising.
































The one really cool thing we did see today was The Badlands in South Dakota. This place is incredible. It is also hard to describe. Look at my pictures, cause each one is worth 1000 words any way, and that's more than I want to type.




Animal Checklist on trip so far:Bunny (We think we ran over it without touching it, not sure if it was dead or alive already(
Deer
Prairie Dog !
Large Cat or Coyote type creature that I nearly hit as it darted across the road