"You climbed a twilight mountain and you sang about the view."
Greetings from Sunnyvale, California. I just finished a lemon sorbet, a perfect end to a day spent hiking in the redwoods. I saw a tree that was 330 feet tall, and another that was over 2,000 years old.
It's been a wonderful trip, though the driving has thrown me for a loop; this is a seriously huge country.
The highlights of my journey thus far:
Saturday: a miraculous sunset over a lake at an otherwise horrid state park (Prarie Rose) in western Iowa. Later (3 a.m.) it stormed, and I had to get out of the tent and put the rain fly on as the first drops fell from the flashing sky.
Sunday: A nice gloaming dinner at a rest area in eastern Colorado. I camped for the night at another horrid park (Jackson Lake), but the stars there made it all worth it. I played guitar in the wind as there was no one near me, and saw a shooting star that I could hear moving; it left a visible trail all the way across the sky.
Monday: a tough hike (9 miles) in the Arapho National Forest. The trail started at over 10,000 feet - Gary has an elevation of about 500 feet - and I got a nasty case of altitude sickness, but was still able to enjoy the purple cast of the mountain evening and dinner with my friend Cheryl.
Tuesday: I kicked the mountain's ass! I hiked another long trail, but this time did it while feeling great, despite the fact that a storm blew in and I hiked the final four miles (all uphill and downhill) in a driving rain with lightning all around - and a temp. of 49 degrees. A great conversation and a walk to Black Hawk and Central City with Cheryl - and a cookie - ended the day.
Wednesday: I drove out to see Fraser, Colorado, where my dad used to live, and then drove - a lot. Wyoming was almost too much. There was so much sky, storms literally hanging on all points of the horizon like black blankets, lightning...I felt overwhelmed. I ate a starlight dinner at a cold rest stop somewhere in western Wyoming at midnight. I managed to find a motel right when I needed it (3 a.m.), on the banks of the Great Salt Lake.
Thursday: I met Randy at Lake Tahoe, my first appearance in California in over 15 years. We ate dinner (the first time on the whole trip I ate at a restaurant) right on the lake and then talked of travel and relationships.
Friday: Randy drove to Sunnyvale (south Bay Area) and I drove to meet him. I stopped at Donner Lake and contemplated the grim and fascinating history (and the jetskiers) and then made my way through Sacramento (where it was 111 degrees). When I got into Berkeley, it had dropped to 62 degrees, and great, odd clouds hung right over the car.
Saturday: I hiked in the redwoods and hung out with Randy.
Tomorrow, I'm heading north to San Francisco, where I'll be staying in a hostel near where I set several of my stories: "Fog," "A Slow Gin Fizz," and part of my novel. I'll get to see how wrong my mental images were. Tuesday, I'll cross the Golden Gate Bridge and camp north of the city.
All of this will be expounded (along with the excellent trips I took with Sophia to New York City and Jeremy, backpacking to northern Minnesota).
I just wanted to say hello. Holla back.
Greetings from Sunnyvale, California. I just finished a lemon sorbet, a perfect end to a day spent hiking in the redwoods. I saw a tree that was 330 feet tall, and another that was over 2,000 years old.
It's been a wonderful trip, though the driving has thrown me for a loop; this is a seriously huge country.
The highlights of my journey thus far:
Saturday: a miraculous sunset over a lake at an otherwise horrid state park (Prarie Rose) in western Iowa. Later (3 a.m.) it stormed, and I had to get out of the tent and put the rain fly on as the first drops fell from the flashing sky.
Sunday: A nice gloaming dinner at a rest area in eastern Colorado. I camped for the night at another horrid park (Jackson Lake), but the stars there made it all worth it. I played guitar in the wind as there was no one near me, and saw a shooting star that I could hear moving; it left a visible trail all the way across the sky.
Monday: a tough hike (9 miles) in the Arapho National Forest. The trail started at over 10,000 feet - Gary has an elevation of about 500 feet - and I got a nasty case of altitude sickness, but was still able to enjoy the purple cast of the mountain evening and dinner with my friend Cheryl.
Tuesday: I kicked the mountain's ass! I hiked another long trail, but this time did it while feeling great, despite the fact that a storm blew in and I hiked the final four miles (all uphill and downhill) in a driving rain with lightning all around - and a temp. of 49 degrees. A great conversation and a walk to Black Hawk and Central City with Cheryl - and a cookie - ended the day.
Wednesday: I drove out to see Fraser, Colorado, where my dad used to live, and then drove - a lot. Wyoming was almost too much. There was so much sky, storms literally hanging on all points of the horizon like black blankets, lightning...I felt overwhelmed. I ate a starlight dinner at a cold rest stop somewhere in western Wyoming at midnight. I managed to find a motel right when I needed it (3 a.m.), on the banks of the Great Salt Lake.
Thursday: I met Randy at Lake Tahoe, my first appearance in California in over 15 years. We ate dinner (the first time on the whole trip I ate at a restaurant) right on the lake and then talked of travel and relationships.
Friday: Randy drove to Sunnyvale (south Bay Area) and I drove to meet him. I stopped at Donner Lake and contemplated the grim and fascinating history (and the jetskiers) and then made my way through Sacramento (where it was 111 degrees). When I got into Berkeley, it had dropped to 62 degrees, and great, odd clouds hung right over the car.
Saturday: I hiked in the redwoods and hung out with Randy.
Tomorrow, I'm heading north to San Francisco, where I'll be staying in a hostel near where I set several of my stories: "Fog," "A Slow Gin Fizz," and part of my novel. I'll get to see how wrong my mental images were. Tuesday, I'll cross the Golden Gate Bridge and camp north of the city.
All of this will be expounded (along with the excellent trips I took with Sophia to New York City and Jeremy, backpacking to northern Minnesota).
I just wanted to say hello. Holla back.
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