The Purest Lake in the World

I picked up a quarter from the ground, held it up and couldn't believe what I saw.



The embossed picture on the back of the quarter matched the spectacular panorama right in front of me.


Of course, that's not the only reason why my heart skipped a beat. For those of you who don't know, I've been on this ambitious quest to complete all the US State Quarters (thanks Dad - why did you have to bestow upon me that collection booklet) - and like most things fun, once you start it's hard to stop.

Crater Lake is definitely one of those spots on the planet I would suggest seeing before you... er... "cease to exist". One of the THREE purest lakes in the world (2 of them are in Oregon! and the other one is in Siberia), it's also the deepest lake in the US. Only rain and snow feed this body of water, which is held by a caldera formed by what was once (or is it still?) Mount Mazama, and this is the reason why this lake is so pure and clean and blue.

Even Fox was curious what's down there.


Fox needs a haircut, can you tell? He looks like the cute version of gremlin with hair sticking out from his ears.


I've made several video snippets of this place and our campground to compile together with the other travel videos (God knows when that will happen) and the rest of the photos we took here will be going to my flickr album. (There's a lot more pics and very interesting facts in there, so make sure you check it out when you can.)
As for the quarter I found, it's going into its rightful place: my coin collection booklet.

"I See Land, Matey!"

Right under our boat!
Hahaha...

Our recent travels brought us to Mendocino not so long ago, closer to the water (rebutting popular belief that we hate getting wet and only like dry areas). We've been driving the RV for a long time, and we're both tired. With only a reservation to 'guide' our destination and serve as motivation to get there, we scuttle along, Fox eager to go out and Spencer taking a nap (as usual). All 12 feet, anxious to get there.

Finally, we arrive. We see something like this. KOA (Chris calls it "Kids On Acid") campsites are notorious for loud, wild children, running around like plugged vacuums or floor polishers with the switch left on. So we moved along and drove not too far and saw a sign that said "campground --->". To our surprise, it was a wonderful, spacious and private site, and later found out that the place is just a good hike away from the ocean, where we discovered ourselves the following day strolling and more relaxed (...or bananas?).

Journeys are both aggravating and fun, and not knowing where you'll end up is part of the adventure. If you're lucky, like I am, you'll have someone to take the pilgrimage with you. One gives direction, and the other steers the ship.

Keep paddling, Chris. We'll be there someday.

Have You Seen the Mojave Lately?

*Find Fox in this photo!


June 11, 2007
Online.

"Yes, the Mojave - as in the Mojave Desert."
"No," she said. "But I hear it's um,
(pause)
...big."

"We're at the Red Rock Canyon State Park. It's beautiful! We're staying right under the biggest rock, the one with the horizontal red stripes across it, on the South West side of the Ricardo Campgrou-"

"Rikki, I'm not going there, I'm in North Carolina. Besides, aren't all the rocks there striped?"

"They made several movies here, you know, like The Mummy and Jurassic Park."
"Brendan Fraser of The Mummy? He's hot."
"Uhm, no. More like Boris Karloff, you know, 1932."
"Boris Who? How do you come up with these things?"
"We have a satellite, remember? It's right there on top of the RV."

"Hey, that was a funny movie!"
"'The Mummy'? I thought it was a B-grade horror film?"
"No, you silly. 'RV'."

"Hmm. Was it filmed here?"
"Never mind."

"Hey do you wanna see me taking a shower in the desert?"
(pause)
"What? NO!"
"I'm gonna show you anyway."
`:-[

============================
Red Rock Canyon and the Mojave Desert:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V7JT9A-OrY

Put Your Petal to the Medal

The rose medal, that is, if you actually got one for growing the best rose in all of Portland!

I'm not surprised why I fell in love right away with Portland - The City of Roses. We already love Oregon. The day we got here it was gray and cloudy, and really, really quiet. But the town was just waiting for us to get ready, and it never held back its charm or its embracing character.

There's so much to do, so many things to see, and yes, I want to see 'em all. Today was still very cloudy and normally I'd be depressed before we even get to midday, but as we hang out at Pioneer Courthouse Square - the heart of Downtown - I can't help but marvel at how beautiful this city is: the glazed terra-cotta facades of buildings, the soothing water fountain, the colorful blooms of summer flowers hanging by baskets here and there, that girl with heavy eye liner and red and purple streaks on her jet-black hair who offered me a warm smile, even the guy eating a bagel for late lunch sitting next to me - everything, everyone was nice. There's a life-size bronze statue of a man offering his open umbrella (or was he hailing a cab?) to anyone who might need a cover. See, even the inanimate are hospitable in Portland :-)

I could be just missing urban life and social interaction after several weeks of traversing places where bugs outnumber people, nevertheless, something in this city inspires me. I'm not a big fan of roses, but to see it as an analogy with this city, the beauty you see outside is just a reflection of the what inspires it from inside. Maybe a trip to the city's many magnificent and impressive gardens tomorrow will be an intimate segue from today's cultural and metropolitan exploration, to Thursday's in-depth exploration of the city (and by "in-depth" I mean "underground" - yes, we're going to see below Portland!!! where once nefarious shanghaiing took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries) . I can't wait.

We're going to get to know this city, one petal at a time.

A Winner for "Where 'RV' Now?"

CONGRATULATIONS TO LOUIS MATTARELLI! Louis guessed correctly the name of the Indian Reservation (Hoopa) and the National Forest (Three Rivers). There were several good guesses with the responses Humboldt and Redwood Forest. The actual name of the campground is the Tish Tang and the river is the Trinity. Clue 5 is given below for your information.




Clue #5: Rikki and I had a wonderful time here on the Trinity River. The campground is on the Hoopa Indian Reservation along Highway 96.

Look for another 'Where RV Now?' in a few days, and you could be the next $100 prize winner.

Good Luck!

Clue 4 "Where 'RV' Now?" - Win $100

Clue #4: Our location is in California, is in an area renowned for the most Big Foot sightings in North America.

Send your answers via email to traveling12feet@gmail.com

The first person to submit a correct answer will receive $100 cash via PayPal sent to their email address.

Good Luck!

Welcome to Lake Truck Stop

Here's a post that will disprove the myth that everything during this trip is dandy. It's almost midnight and we're in a truck stop somewhere in Washington spending the night. That's just the icing on the cake of today's events.

We've been driving since morning, we scraped the side of the RV trying to fit our way out of the last wooded campsite, we basically got lost three times trying to find a place to settle in forcing us to unhook the towed vehicle (5x total!) so we can turn this rolling giant around without a) falling into a cliff b) trying to kill the bystander who said, "yes, there's a campground here!" and c) smashing the peacefully parked cars in a tiny parking space-slash-dead end; after which we have to connect the towed vehicle *again* so we can drive off before the piranha-like mosquitoes start peeling off our flesh.

Apparently, ALL of Seattle's parks and campsites are full due to a 3-week summer event, which is just halfway through. So for tonight - no surrounding mountains, just 60-90 ft trucks. No cascading water sounds or chirping birds, just the rumbling and grumbling of more than 30 rigs lined up (and that's just to the left side of us). The crickets were replaced by sound coming from the adjacent high way, competing with the noise from bellows of trucks and cars taking off after filling their tanks with gas from a station just in front. The light from the then romantic moon was washed by the lamp posts, blasting down thousands of watts of pure uninterrupted halogen light - if you squint a little you'd swear it's already high noon standing under those lamps. And forget the fresh air, all the diesel in the atmosphere have now invited themselves into your lungs and is enough to ignite you to flames if someone lit a cigarette even from a hundred feet away.

Still, we anticipate hitting the road again tomorrow, we look forward to more adventures, to scenic routes, to breath-taking destinations and surprises that inspire us, to meeting family we haven't seen in years(!), and friends we miss dearly. So tonight, amidst the disdain and chaos in Lake Truck Stop, we're gonna sleep, cuddle, and as best as we could, be comfortable and keep warm - all twelve feet.

Clue 3 "Where 'RV' Now?"

Fox really enjoyed playing at the river!

Clue #3: The campground is on an Indian Reservation adjacent to a National Forest. A winning answer will include the correct name of any of the following: campground, river, National Forest or Indian Reservation.

Send your answers via email to traveling12feet@gmail.com

The winner will receive $100 cash via PayPal sent to their email address. Get out your maps and do some digging!

Good Luck!!!

Clue 2 in "Where 'RV' Now?" $100 up for grabs!

Clue #2: The beautiful river in the panoramic photo above is adjacent to the campground featured in yesterday's photo. The location is approximately 15 to 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Stumped? Another clue awaits tomorrow. You may also win today only by naming this river.

Send your answers via email to traveling12feet@gmail.com

The winner will receive $100 via PayPal sent to their email address.

Good Luck!

Win $100 by Guessing "Where 'RV' Now?"!!!

Welcome to our new feature 'Where RV Now?'

The first person to correctly identify the name of the campground in the photo to the right will win $100 cash.

We will post a clue each day until we have a winner. Clues will become more revealing as the days progress. If no one answers correctly by the fifth clue, then a multiple choice question will be given.

Send your answers via email to traveling12feet@gmail.com

The winner will receive $100 via PayPal sent to their email address.

Today's clue: This campground is set along a river in a Western U.S. State.

Good Luck!!!

Spencer: "What View?"

Move, move, move. That's all we do.

Every time this house rolls away I try to show them my discontent, but my howling only seem to please them. They think it's cute. So I stopped. I would just hide behind the sofa where there's a gap between the seat and the wall and it's hard for them to reach me. And that really pisses them off. Something about "expensive leather" and "scrape marks" every time I claw my way out. So they banned me from going in there with funny smelling sprays (They don't know anything about the potent smells I'm capable of) . Anyway I just sleep under the bed or on the bunk. It's nice up here especially when we're moving. There are windows all around and the pictures keep changing! Well, I better sit and act nonchalant before they think I'm beginning to enjoy this, too.

Hey is anyone fixing my dinner yet?

A River Runs Through It

...Well, actually, just next to it.

The travel books and websites claim the Clyde Holliday State Recreation Site an "Oasis". We definitely agree. This one got a good 4.5 stars out of 5 (Chris gives it 4.75) in our book - and we knew as soon as we entered from the road! Our RV was parked cheerfully next to a trail that runs across and leads to the John Day River so the sounds of the gushing water and the birds (it's a birdwatcher's paradise!) provide an even soothing atmosphere to the spacious, flora-filled, and well-managed camp site.

Chris and I took Fox for a walk along that trail, and since the water level was low, crossed the river for a relaxing time watching birds, cooling off with our feet in the water, and watching the sun set. The sky burst with spectacular colors as the sun faded away, as you will see at the end of the video.




Click here if you don't see the video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GqhPoPVGSvg

Rely on me to take a camera even when crossing rivers. :-)

Lost in America

Yippee!!! We finally have an internet connection. Apologies to our friends and family - we have been out of cell phone range and apparently under too many trees to make an internet connection with our MotoSat dish for the past week.

We are camping this evening in an open area with an unobstructed view of the southern sky (hence our connection) somwhere near the Snake River on the Oregon/Idaho border. We certainly didn't expect the satellite dish to be this tempermental.

Congratulations to Rikki! Lonely Planet purchased his video and the right to use it on TV or the Web.

All is going well and we are having a great time. We hope to get some photos up on the blog as well as some travel tales very soon.

Hugs to all

Thank You Herrick Friends and Colleagues

Just one week ago I turned the page on a very important chapter in my life: leaving the medical center where I've been working for the past eight years. If any of you at Herrick read this, know that you had a profound impact on my life. I will miss you all dearly.

Rikki and I were moved by your generosity. The Chevron gift cards are the best! (You guys are so clever). We are putting them to good use already. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you too for the lunch at Eccolo, the cakes, the flowers, the balloons and the individual gifts. I was overwhelmed to say the least.


Click to see my photo albums: (1) Lunch at Eccolo (2) Bon Voyage Party

Chris' First Post

Okay, here it is, finally, my first posting (July 5th for June 11th).

Rikki and I began our Eastern Sierra/High Desert journey in Red Rock Canyon, a California State Park. The canyon is actually the southern tip of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and is located at the northern edge of the Mojave Desert.

While camping at Red Rock we took an all day off road drive along Jawbone Canyon Road up into Sequoia National Forest and back along Dove Springs Road. The following day we drove out to Lake Isabella.

A few bits of family history: my mom tells me that she and my dad used to drive from North Hollywood to Red Rock to go hiking when they were dating fifty-plus years ago. My paternal grandfather also loved this area. The hills and Joshua trees were the subject of many of his pencil drawings.

Click to see my photo albums: (1) Jawbone (2) Red Rock (3) Lake Isabella

Rikki & Chris at LonelyPlanet.tv (Fox,too) - watch the video!

Hahaha!!! I was thrilled after logging in lonelyplanet.tv and finding our video on the homepage!!! This was from a previous trip but I thought it was worth mentioning here (yeah, yeah, no one reads this) but it's nice to keep this as a time capsule, anyway.

A month back when I uploaded the video, Rebecca Peniston-Bird, Lonely Planet.tv producer wrote me an email saying how much she liked the video, particularly my "sense of humour".
We had a few email exchanges and I told her that there'd probably be more since we are going to travel in the near future. I promised to keep her and the website updated.

What I didn't realize was that in the vid, I said "antelopes" (GASP!) yes, with an S. My grade school teacher told me about "reindeer" but failed to mention about antelopes - oops, there, I did it again.

Anyway, go see the video, log on to lonelyplanet.tv and see if it's still on the main page. If not make a search for "nevada" and it's the one titled "High Deserts/High Spirits", or CLICK HERE to see the video. Can you vote and make it a favorite? That would be swell.

Thanks a bunch!
PS- the selections on their website change/rotate of course, so I captured my monitor screen and pasted it up there for you to see :-)
It feels good to be picked by the staff and the viewers at the same time! :-)

Lakes, Lakes, and More Lakes

Before leaving the town of Mammoth Lakes and the Devils Postpile, we did the scenic route and went on a tour of the different lakes that this county is known for - the hundreds of lakes and streams, trout fishing, and hiking trails through the John Muir and Ansel Adams Wilderness area. I'm including the rest of the small trips to different lakes we took in the past days in the album below...



Driving out of California, we stopped by the calm and amazingly beautiful Mono Lake (at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains) one of the oldest lakes in America. Mono Lake is a very salty lake that has intriguing rock formations called "Tulfas".

(Mono Lake webcam here.)

And yes, our photos...








Finally, in Nevada, we came across another small lake (actually, an artificial reservoir but not obviously so) - Topaz Lake - and dry camped there. This time we parked right next to the water so the view outside our windows were SPECTACULAR!!! Click the photo below to see my portfolio on Topaz Lake.

It almost felt like we were on the water as you could see it directly outside the windows. Chris used to go here as a kid with his cousins. To me its an awesome place. We're here only a short time, and after the weekend's over we're back to the Bay Area. I'm really excited for our next trip, I've never been to Oregon and Washington. After the dry, humid and hot desert, I'm looking forward to a cool, coastal getaway. See you soon!

Last Day at INYO

It kinda felt good to leave Mosquito Country, actually it wasn't THAT bad. In the mornings when it is 65 friggin degrees, Fox and I can go out so he can pee and do his doodoo. The mosquitoes are still sleeping by then or whatever it is they do at 5:30 in the morning.

However, today I had a nice photo shoot. It was a bit before sunrise (the sun being behind the mountains) and there was already light. It felt just right to do this shoot in monochrome as this place was the inspiration for Ansel Adams. Here's a tribute to the Inyo forest particularly the serene meadow that surrounded us, the beautiful territory where Mr. Adams composed many of his great works.

The Devils Postpile

Today was a hiking day. After scrambled eggs and bacon (no cereal this morning - it's outside in that metal storage and it's too cold to get it!) We head out for the day to see The Devils Postpile - a 60 foot high wall of geometric vertical cylinders, part of the National Parks in the US. This national monument which includes Rainbow Falls has one amazing hiking trail. Chris, Fox and I covered almost 4 miles of heat, dust and dirt and by the end of the hike poor Fox was dragging his tail :(
I know we will be talking about this hike again someday, and how much it was worth the toll. Take a look at the pics we took during the hike!
Click here to see the photo album!
-------------------
By the way, a darn fly bit me (YES! A FLY! With friggin' TEETH!) while we were hiking and caused this nasty bruise!!! If tomorrow I'm green all over with big red eyes and scales instead of skin, I probably won't be writing a blog anymore.

BUGS and BEARS

We found a cool campground in Devils Postpile that overlooks a meadow that we can see from our kitchen, living room and bedroom windows. Towering pine trees provide both the frame and the backdrop for the meadow, and we can see how the Inyo forest inspired Ansel Adams. The site was also next to a stream, and several hiking trails all around.

Two things I didn't like:
1. Mosquitos
2. Black bears

It's impossible to go outside and not get feasted upon by the flying buggers, so DEET is our best friend. On the other hand, although we have to lock all our non-refrigerated food in a metal compartment outside the RV, I would love to see some black bears!

Monday in Bishop

Today we finally arrived in Bishop, a sweet dainty town which doesn't look like it belongs to the desert. Again, the mountains were prominent - and it's nice to see them looming in the background as you drive through the town streets. This part of the desert is greener. We are camping in a full hook-up site tonight. That means water, electricity, cable tv and drainage for wastes will all be available. Good for running computers since we don't have to run the generator, but not really our ideal situation, since you're most likely next to another RV. During the day were out for adventures so it doesn't really bother us much.

All blinds down and the air conditioning running, everything's dandy. Alas, our internet satellite can't get a signal because of a tree blocking the way. For the next few nights we recharge, there won't be any cellphones and emails and bloggings, so I hope that explains it.

How To Lose Your Keys in 10 Mins

1. Make sure all your keys are on one key ring. This must include EVERYTHING - from home keys, mailbox keys, car keys, RV keys - don't forget your maglite and your 'Patron Saint of Travelers' trinket your beloved recently-passed-away grandfather handed down when you were a child.
2. Place said key ring on top of car bumper while you attach it to be towed by the RV.
3. Once the car is attached, drive away in the RV towing your car.
4. It's that easy - just set it, and forget it.

When it's time to untow the car, you'll be panicking and running around cursing in no time.

You can try retracing your way back but of course it's not gonna be there.

Last Day With The Joshua Trees

I know, I look like a total retard in this photo.

Today's our last day here. Everyday is my favorite :-). I get up at 5 AM or something - for exercise, walking or to take my photos or videos. Fox usually goes with me. We explore around and we love playing around the Joshua trees. There's also a self-guided hiking trail just in the camp. Chris and I went before sunset tonight. A last chance to be higher than these giants, to look down on God's creation. I have a feeling we will be doing a lot of these in the next few days.

Car Troubles??? Need a Loan???

My friends at the Box Office, I know you'll get a kick out of this. Right there - in the middle of nowhere - is this dilapidated car that looks like it was greeted by Al Capone's gangster men during the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

This is one car "Pimp My Ride" wouldn't be able to fix.

Hey, at least whoever owns this car won't have to worry about air conditioning!

A Beautiful Place Called The Desert

It's nice that we have the Xterra. When we drive to a campground (or to any camping destination) we tow it behind (it doesn't get mileage!) Once we get to our destination, we setup and settle, and whenever we go out to explore the area we use "Chuck", the 4x4, like when we went to this hilly desert North of where we camped. I was taking a video when Chris took this picture. I didn't realize how immensely VAST it is, and how breath-taking and beautiful this place really is until I looked at what's behind me!

High On The Hill

Here ye, here ye. A photo from yesterday - as soon as we settled, we started exploring. Fox was very excited. I was still gawking in amusement. The sun was just setting and the colors started bursting everywhere.

I took a photo of our RV right under that big rock. And I thought our RV was big!

Fox: Me & My Dad

This trip is awesome! I was so happy! I knew something was up soon as I wore my red scarf. I don't mind the sand so much and there's a lot of places for me to explore. We climbed on top of rocks soon as we got here. If only I could get Spencer out here. I'm sure he'd be fine with rock-climbing.

Red Rock Canyon

Our trip begins in Red Rock Canyon in the Mojave desert, then to the Alabama Hills and Tuttle Creek in Lone Pine, and then to Bishop, the White Mountains and on to Devils Postpile and Mono Lake. From Fresno, after visiting Chris' mom, we drove and drove until houses disappeared and cities became towns and their distances got farther and farther. Then there were just highways and mountains. Beautiful mountains. We entered a campground named Ricardo (a good friend calls me that!), and soon these magnificent walls of red rocks came into view. This place is gorgeous and I fell in love with it! We searched for the right spot, just below this towering rock. It was the only one that had good shade and we were very hot. This is the desert after all.