21 Dec – 10 Jan 2017-18
Ginny and Wally invited us down for another holiday get-together. To make the most of the long trip, we decided to use some of our Worldmark points to stay in the desert and visit Joshua Tree and Anza-Borrego. WM at Indio had room so we were all set. The only thing I had forgotten was how big California was - it was a long day's drive from the Bay Area to Indio - we might want to break up the trip with some flying at Marshall on the way.
21 Dec, Thu – We got up early enough that we could
breakfast, finish packing and get to our 0900 Tai Chi class at the Senior
Center before we got on the road. Fortunately, the day before the WA DOT had finished
cleaning up after the tragic Amtrak derailment on the overpass crossing I-5 at
Dupont so we didn’t have to take a time-consuming detour around the scene. We
got gas at Costco Covington (2.599) and made a few pit stops along the way but
we didn’t make any major stops until Roseburg where we got gas (2.459) at
Costco and treated ourselves to hot tea/peppermint frappucchino at Starbucks.
C.J. really needed some hot tea for her sore throat and rapidly worsening cold.
It was almost dark when we reached Ashland Hills Hotel around 1830, and still
cold. We had driven from sunshine into fog as we approached the Columbia
River and all the way south to beyond Eugene. We had dinner at Luna Café and
returned to our rooms to rest having not found any exciting Ashland solstice
craziness scheduled.
22 Dec, Fri – We got up at 0700 and had another good buffet
breakfast before getting on our way sometime after 8. The roads were clear but
there was some snow on the ground up around Mt. Ashland. Mt. Shasta just had a
light coat of snow up at 6000 feet or so. We made the usual rest stops and then
got off the freeway in Vacaville to go to Costco for gas (2.699, 4 cents more
than back at Pilot in Dunnigan). For some reason, the GPS led us to a dead end
and we had to turn around and rely on my phone to find our way around the back
side of Costco to the busy parking lot. After filling up, which didn’t take
long, we easily found a spot to park and
went in to buy some fruit, chips, dip and a can’t-pass-it-up deal on a pair of
insulated water bottles for $10. It
was just another hour to San Anselmo and we only ran into a little slowdown on
SR 37 across the north end of San Francisco Bay. Wally and Ginny had a nice pot
roast/stew/soup for dinner while we visited. Three of us played Mexican Trains
with each of us winning at least once.
23 Dec, Sat – after a late breakfast of eggs cooked with
veggies, bacon and various kinds of toast, C.J. and Ginny went out to shop for
supplies needed for Wally’s favorite birthday cake – a Swartzwalder
kirschtorte. I spent some time exploring links to The Lost Coast where Wally
and Ginny want to go backpacking. I found out that there is more to it than the
northern part between Mattole and Shelter Cove; there is also the part within Sinkyone
Wilderness State Park to the south. Later I went out to Safeway to get cooking
oil for the cake mix. After a reprise of the previous night’s dinner,
Ginny, C.J. and I played Scrabble, actually, Super Scrabble. It was a long game and we went to bed around 2300.
24 Dec, Sat, Wally’s birthday – We all got up early so we
could make the shower schedule work and still get out of the house in time to
go to Bogie’s for breakfast with Mike and Kim. C.J. mixed up and baked the
three pans of cake for the Schwartzwalder kirschtorte. Breakfast was wonderful
and we exchanged some gifts; Kim and Mike gave us a big jar of granola and C.J.
gave them some cookies, of course. We returned to the house and around 1230
drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to the Palace of Fine Arts Theater where
the “Forever Tango” show was supposed to be. When we found the right entrance,
we also found a sign saying that the show had been canceled, or postponed until
May (a big disappointment because Ginny had paid a small fortune for the
tickets). We enjoyed an hour of strolling around the grounds of the Palace
looking at the faux Romano-Greek rotunda and pergola as we walked around the
small lake. We returned home and hung out until 6 when we drove back down into
San Anselmo to have dinner at Baan Thai. Amazingly, we ran into Terry Fulton at
the same restaurant.
25 Dec, Sun – We had another great breakfast with bacon and
a scramble. Then Ginny and Wally opened their presents. Ginny gave C.J. a
really nice purple top and I got one of those Luci inflatable, solar lamps for
camping (and condo night light, etc.). We spent some time preparing the
stuffing for the turkey. Ginny received a Garmin InReach Explorer for Christmas
and Wally and I looked at how it could be activated. The neighbors came over
for a visit and some snacks. Later, Cousin Scott arrived from SF without the
terrible traffic of two years ago and we had an excellent Christmas dinner.
After cleaning up we had some more of the Black Forest Cake for dessert. Then
we played a game of Mexican Trains before Scott had to leave around 1900.
26 Dec, Tue – We slept in a bit since Ginny had to go to
work. Wally got his (Ginny’s) InReach Explorer registered and used us as a
reference so Ginny and I should each get a free month. [I tried sending a test
message to me through Garmin but it did not go – the InReach continued to blink
red.] In the afternoon we took a walk up the hill behind the house (I had a
terrible time with chest pain and feeling like I was going to throw up. Once we
got to the Yolanda Trail, and were heading on the level or slightly down I was
good to go) We walked down through the small redwood groves to Six Points and
then down to the trail/road junctions at Five Corners, about two miles. We
turned back there rather than push on down to Alpine (?) Lake and back by
another route. We stopped for a snack just above Five Corners on the way down.
(I felt fine returning uphill.) When Ginny got home we had Christmas dinner
leftovers. Later Ginny, C.J. and I player Super Scrabble.
27 Dec, Wed – After a breakfast of fresh bagels and lox,
Ginny and C.J. went out to exchange the (XXL) top that Ginny had given C.J.
Wally and I met them at the Safeway parking lot and Ginny drove us all the way
out to the trailhead for the Tomales Point trail at Point Reyes National
Seashore. We got a late start so we didn’t try going much farther than 2.5
miles where we stopped at an overlook to have some cheese and crackers, etc. On
the way out we saw lots of tule elk, some gopher-y looking critters and a lone
coyote who walked up the trail right in front of us and only detoured to get
around us. The sun set a little after 1700 and it got pretty dark before we
reached the now-empty parking lot. It was a good thing that the first quarter
moon was so high and bright. We could see our moon shadows as we walked. The
restaurant that Ginny wanted to stop at was closed so we just took a chance and
tried a new place – Vladimir’s in Inverness. It seemed like the local bar but
there were a dozen nicely dressed tables and the menu was all Czech dishes.
Ginny had the Chicken Paprikash, C.J. and I shared the Moravian cabbage roll
and Wally tried the Kolbasa sausage dinner. All were good and came with soup
and salad as well as a loaf of hot bread. We even had a sample of the apple
strudel. Credit cards were not accepted and I didn’t have much cash. I gave
Ginny what I had but she wound up paying for more than half. Wally drove
on the way back and forgot that he had to drop me at Safeway so I could drive
the Kia back up the hill. When I reminded him he made an abrupt turnaround and
ran over a pole in a parking lot. Fortunately it must have been plastic because
he didn’t even notice it. Back at the house C.J. and I spent some time packing.
28 Dec, Thu – We had to leave on Thursday because Ginny had
promised a friend that she could have a place to sleep when her husband went in
for surgery. We had some more bagels for breakfast and Ginny didn’t get going
until 0815. We stripped the bed and put the sheets and towels in to wash before
we got going around 0915. I picked up some more cash at US Bank in downtown San
Anselmo before heading off to the Richmond Bridge and down I-580 (not much
traffic) to I-5 and a long 8 hours through the Central Valley. Just before the
climb over Tejon Pass (on 5) we stopped for gas (3.359 for 6 ½ gals). To avoid
the evening rush hour (well, most of it) in LA, we cut off 5 at 138 and went
east to Lancaster and Palmdale. We ran into some slow traffic here and there
and an extended slowdown when we hit I-15. But by then we were almost to our
destination and our GPS took us right to 3714 Bur Oak Rd and Tierra’s AirBnB.
She was out but texted us directions to open the numerical door lock. After
moving our clothing bags and cooler in, we went back out and drove to the
nearby (4 mi) Costco and got gas (2.799) and picked up a teriyaki plate for
dinner at WaBa Grill next door. We brought it back and heated up the
leftovers from C.J.’s Pad Si Ew to make a big dinner. Tierra came in while we
were eating in the kitchen and told us to make ourselves at home; she
introduced us to her tiny dog, Button. Later we caught up on our journals.
29 Dec, Fri – We didn’t get down to the kitchen until after
0800 for our oatmeal. Then we spent a bunch of time trying to figure out what
to do. The forecasts all indicated that the flying would not be any good with
wind out of the east and north. I even checked Elsinore. We started off by
driving north up into the San Bernardino National Forest to the Lytle Creek Ranger
Station where we picked up some maps and hike descriptions (and some Smokey
swag for the bears). I thought it would be an experience to hike a short
distance on the Pacific Crest Nat Scenic Trail so we looked at the maps for a
place where it crossed a road. We drove up the Sheep Canyon gravel road a mile
or so but turned back when we realized that the map was not drawn to scale and
we were going to have to drive narrow, steep, sandy roads. Next, we drove
around to the south and then back up toward Cajon Pass on old Rte 66 trying to
find Swarthout Canyon Road. After several false tries, we finally found the
dirt road and followed it past Lost Lake to where we thought that the PCNST
should cross. We thought we saw it off in the distance but never saw where it
crossed the road. We hit the paved Long Canyon road which descended to Rte 138
just west of Cajon Junction. We turned west and drove the very short distance
to Mormon Rocks Fire Station where we ate lunch in the shade (it was cooler up
at 3300 ft than it had been down in the valley at 2000 ft). Since they were out
of the brochures for the interpretive trail, I downloaded a pdf on my phone and
we walked the 1.5-mile trail which climbed up to a ridge and then stayed on top
of the ridge (at least we did). When we got back down to the car it was around
1530 so there was still time to drive the Rim of the World Scenic Byway from
Cajon Jct up past Silverwood Lake and over a 4000-ft summit to Crestline. I
thought I could find the Crestline launch but it wasn’t listed as a site in my
PG Map phone app. On the way down Rte 18 C.J. spotted two PGs soaring at
Marshall – so much for the forecasts. We continued on down and drove in to Andy
Jackson AirPark where we found people who knew us from the Rat Race. We hung
out around a propane fire with Dusty and Cathy?, Don and Rebecca. We also ran
into another couple from Bellingham who had flown from Crestline earlier. We
got signed up and waivered up and booked a ride on the noon shuttle for Saturday using my phone on the Crestline Soaring
Society site (crestlinesoaring.org). We got a good tip about The Thai Place on
University and Kendall behind the Pollo Loco. It was pretty good (Chow mei fun
and Pad Thai). We got back to our Airbnb around 1930.
30 Dec, Sat – Up at 0730 so we could get over to Andy
Jackson Airpark by 1000 to be in plenty of time for the shuttle. There were a
lot of people already hanging out and some were flying down from Marshall
(including the couple from Bellingham who said they were heading for Santa
Barbara where the TFR had been lifted and people were flying). More folks
arrived and lots of them were driving up including some instructors. We checked
in and got in one of the two vans, one driven by Rob McKenzie, the other by the
other van owner. Everyone went first to Crestline where it was quite chilly
(1000 ft higher than Marshall) and blowing a pretty steady 15 mph. Most of the
PG got back in the van with us and headed down to Marshall; Rob and all the
other HG stayed to fly from Crestline. [To get to Crestline we took 18 and then
138, made a left across traffic at a turn onto Crest Forest, then left on
Valley View Dr and left uphill on Playground Drive to the obvious TO and
parking.] It appears that you now have to go up to the cloverleaf at 138 to
turn around so you can get to the rough dirt road to the top of Marshall, but
maybe it’s possible but not legal to cut across through a gap in the highway
divider. We hung out on launch a while watching people take off, and a couple
of top-landings before eating some lunch and starting to get ready. A bunch of
others decided to go at the same time so it was a bit of chaos as the
conditions weren’t totally consistent. I took off right after C.J. at 1417 and
tried to find the house thermal to the right. I thought the air was rough, but
that was probably more about not having flown since October at Tollhouse. I got
below launch and flew over to Cloud to the north. There was mixed lift and
sink, sometimes I’d get a climb and sometimes I’d fall out of the thermal. I
worked just above the Regionals launch (I think) and then went a bit farther
north where someone was climbing. That was good for a while and I let C.J know;
she was at Regionals then. Never content to stay with a climb, I tried heading
back across the face of Cloud sinking all the way. Eventually I got down to
where I was groveling in front of the 750. I found enough to keep me alive and,
when C.J. and another glider joined me, I pushed south a bit and found something
that was going up faster than what C.J. and co. were working. Eventually I got
high enough to go back to Regionals, then there was more sink and I was low
again, then another climb got me high enough to cross a big canyon below launch
to a ridge with an extremely detailed medicine wheel picked out in rocks. No
lift from the magic, though, so I dove back to the 750 and hung out long enough
to clock an hour flight by sinking as slowly as possible to the LZ. Meanwhile,
C.J. had gotten high again from a point where she thought she was going to have
to land. She stayed up for another 20 min after I landed in the light breeze. [I
tried to send my usual preset message on my InReach but it did not go again, I
emailed CS at Garmin about the problem.] After packing up C.J. returned Mary’s
call and I hung out with Dusty, et al. at the propane campfire. As it started
getting dark around 1700, it got cool-but nothing like you’d think of for
winter cold (apparently it’s been really cold and snowy in the northeast). No
one seemed to be sticking around or planning to go out for dinner so we stopped
at a WaBa Grill on the way home and got two Chicken Bowls to go with our leftover Thai food. After dinner we still had a pile of chicken
and rice left. We googled Safeway/Vons to see if there was one in/near Indio
and checked to see if Costco was going to be open. We also looked up Soboba and
got its location so we can find it on Sunday – a good way to kill time since we
can’t check in until either 4 or 5. [Alan Crouse told me that Soboba is likely
to close since the pilot-owners have not been able to secure insurance through
the RRRG (Recreation Risk Retention Group).]
31 Dec, Sun – Up at 0730 again to get packed up and on the
road by 0946. We took I-215 south to the 210 freeway then I-10 east to Beaumont
where we turned south and the GPS got us right to the flying site. There were
only a few people there and all were doing sledders from the 650, the highest
that the ATV with a trailer is presently able to go. Later someone launched
from the top (“1400”) and soared for a while. We signed in and filled out a day
use form and signed a paper waiver and then recorded a video waiver(!).
C.J. and I hung out while students and other mostly low-airtime pilots shuttled
up and then flew down. Around 1300 or so we were ready to give it a try but no
one was around to drive the ATV. Fortunately, Ed Wood and another guy came down
just then from where they had been working on extending the ATV track higher up
the hill and gave us and two others a ride to the 650. We had already decided
that we wanted a better chance at soaring and that meant hiking up at least to
the next higher take off. It was only 150 ft of elevation and five switchbacks.
We did it in under 10 minutes. C.J. took off first after a couple of reverse
inflation aborts, and found a thermal right in front of launch. She eventually
climbed to above the towers on the summit. I let a student go next while I got
ready and then had to abort my launch when I noticed a stick tangled in my
lines. The sun was occluded by the high clouds by this time (so, fortunately,
it wasn’t killer hot) and I found only spotty ridge-lift and never got above
launch. I scratched my way down doing figure-8s and managed to eke out 11 min
before landing in the dusty and calm, large LZ. One good feature, besides the
shade structure, is the grassy area to fold up one’s wing. When C.J. landed she
cleaned the dust off her wing with one of my t-shirts from the laundry bag. We
got headed toward Indio around 1545 taking the scenic route over the San
Jacinto Mountains on Rte 74 reaching about 5000 ft. Once down in the valley we
stopped at a Von’s for some groceries and then Costco for more
groceries including a rotisserie chicken. It was dark when we pulled
in to the huge Worldmark by Wyndham resort. Check in was easy but to get our
parking tag we had to see the concierge who signed us up for a presentation on
Mon morning over breakfast. We’re supposed to get at least $50 for attending
(which we can use to pay for a ride up the Palm Springs tram to 8500+ ft). We
found our building and carried (elevator) some stuff up to our third floor two
BR unit then went back with a cart to bring a bunch more stuff up. Later we had
to go get our wings (and there was still
stuff remaining in the car!). C.J. made a salad with the spinach, bananas,
orange and pineapple, and we ate some of the chicken, some leftover rice, and a
slice of the Costco French bread. After dinner C.J. did a couple of loads of
laundry – we’ve already been on the road for 10 days. We got to bed after 2300
not really thinking about New Years Eve so were awakened by fireworks and
shouting at midnight.
1 Jan, Mon - We got up around 0700 so there was plenty of
time to get ready to go to our Worldmark update at 0830. We ate scrambled eggs,
bacon, sausage, and fruit while we watched a presentation. Afterward Mari gave
us an update and answered questions. The push this time was for us to move up
to Diamond Elite from Silver. That would mean adding 15,000 credits at $3.68?
each and, since WM no longer sells in less than 10,000 credits, we would have
to buy 20,000! After we declined the deal Mari took us to see the Indio
penthouse unit (there are 8 here). When we returned, Mark told us that we had
missed several telephone offers (we never return WM calls) to buy at a reduced
rate. He said that he could maybe get us grandfathered in at $2.26 per credit
for 15,000. Or $2.50 per credit for 8000 and a chance to try out the diamond
level for 2.5 years, then buy the other 7000 at the same price. Great deal, but
we are not buying any more credits. No additional pressure, and we left to pack
up for a hike on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (PCNST). [We did
receive a $50 gift card for attending the presentation.] It had been pretty
chilly during the morning even with the sun shining so we took along warm
clothes – and the trailhead we were going to is at 5000 ft. We drove back up
I-10 until we encountered a traffic jam and then switched to the surface
streets to get to Rte. 74. We stopped at an interesting Native American
interpretive trail above a deep canyon. There were only three cars in the
parking lot when we arrived around 1315 and a group of four in one car were
just returning from their hike. They said that the ranger had told them that
the trail to the north was more interesting for a short hike than the steeper
route to the south. That decided the issue for us and we walked north through
high desert plants including some prickly pear, manzanita, scrub oak, and pinon
pine (plus other stuff we did not recognize. There were a lot of switchbacks
and contouring but not a great deal of gain or loss. We eventually reached a rocky,
granite jumble where we had a late lunch, then continued on for another ¾ mile
through more rocks. We turned around at 2.75 miles and 1545, and were back at
the car at 1705. On the way home we stopped at Albertsons to see if their flyer
deals were the same as Safeway’s in the Bay Area. They weren’t (but they were
the same as Von’s) We bought some ice cream, and another 99-cent pineapple. I
made a drink that started out to be a margarita but with added heavy cream and
a handful of pineapple all frozen/blended. It was tasty. C.J. heated up the
leftover WaBa Grill chicken teriyaki and made a big spinach-fruit salad.
2 Jan, Tue – Up at 0700 but not on the road until after
0930. We headed for AAA and it took half an hour to get there using the surface
streets – not sure why the GPS and phone didn’t suggest the freeway. Anyway we
got a Tourbook and a couple of maps then stopped to fill up the tank at Ralphs
(2.899). It was 30 miles or so to the I-10 exit for Joshua Tree National Park.
We stopped at the entrance station/mini visitor center to show our pass and
pick up the maps and newspaper. We also bought a road guide, but passed
on buying a more expensive Sonoran desert flower/plant book. The ranger had
some ideas for short hikes and where we should make stops. We stopped at
several roadside exhibits: the ocotillo patch, the Cholla Cactus Garden, a view
of a mining operation among others. At White Tank campground [all CGs were full
except for the southernmost one at the Cottonwood Visitor Center (at least when
we were there)] we stopped to do a short hike to Arches Rock. It took longer
than we had expected since we found ourselves wandering around like so many
other visitors trying to find the arch. When we did find it, we climbed up on
it; the coarse granite made it easy to scramble without slipping. From there it
was only a short drive to the Split Rock picnic area where we hiked a two-mile
loop through big shattered granite intrusions. By the time we got back to the
car it was getting close to 1545 and we hadn’t covered the most scenic part of
the park, the area with thousands of Joshua trees. We made only a token stop at
the crowded Skull Rock and continued on to the long side trip to Keys View.
When we reached the top, we found that it was a favorite place to watch the
sunset from and there were no official parking places left. We were lucky to
find a spot down the road on the shoulder. The sunset was not all that
impressive but the view to the south to the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa
Mountains and down to the Salton Sea was good. We found a spot out of the
chilly wind and enjoyed having our warm clothes with us. Once the sun went down
it got dark quickly and we headed for home exiting the park at the town of
Joshua Tree (even though our GPS wanted to send us back through the park) The
1.5 hr drive felt longer in the dark but we were back to our WM unit sometime
after 1830. C.J. made a chicken casserole/stir fry and a salad. We were both
pretty tired. Maybe we would need a less active day on Wed.
3 Jan, Wed – I had thought that we were going to rest up a
bit by going to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, but C.J. was up for another
day in Joshua Tree. We didn’t get a very early start (around 1030) and we took
the I-10 and Rte 62 to the town of Joshua Tree where we lucked into a parking
spot for the crowded visitor center. We were able to pick up a guide to the Geology
Tour Road from a ranger and were on our way quickly. There was a line of cars
waiting to get in the entrance station but if you had a pass, you could bypass
most of the line. We thought that we might do a short (1 mi) hike at Hidden
Valley but the parking spots were all filled up [The park seemed a lot more
crowded on Wed. than it had been on Tue. But maybe we were in the more popular section of the park.] We
drove on to the Geology Tour Road which was signed as 4x4 recommended, but was
no problem for our AWD Sorento (as well as a handful of Foresters and Outbacks
we met). The road went downhill for 5 or 6 miles and then did a loop across a
playa. We stopped for lunch which we had after a short hike up through a monzo-granite
“boulder pile”. Later we passed an obvious contact zone between the m-granite
and the older (1.6 by) Pinto gneiss. We stopped again to walk in an area that
had been mined but we were more interested in looking at some cacti that had
reddish spines and were vaguely barrel-shaped. At the far point of the loop we
took some photos of C.J.’s bears on a teddybear cholla and in the limbs of a
Joshua tree. After returning to the main park road we went back to the Hidden
Valley picnic area which now had parking spots available. After a false start,
we found the trailhead and walked into a, well, hidden valley. Just before the
president had signed JTNM into existence in 1936, a rancher had blasted an
opening into the m-granite-rimmed lush, grassy pasture protected from the
drying winds. It was a nice walk and we saw plenty of rock climbers and people
carrying bouldering pads since the area is a big climbing mecca. The light was
fading as we got back to the car, more noticeable than the day before since Wed
had been overcast all day. If we had been in a different climate we would have
been expecting rain. We stopped to buy some groceries at a Staters Bros in
Yucca Valley on the way home and then filled up with gas at Ralph’s
again (2.899) in La Quinta. We were home by 1900 and I made another
batch of non-margaritas while C.J. changed the casserole by adding some
tomatoes to the chicken-rice-black beans from the night before. We thought we
might go to the PSAT on Thu but the online ticket sales site showed all tickets
sold out until 1700 on Fri. Okay we’ll have to consider what plan B is in the
morning.
4 Jan, Thu – Up at 0715 to a bright, sunny day. It seemed
like a waste of a good day to hang around instead of going somewhere
interesting so we got packed up and headed for Anza-Borrego State Park, about
1hr30min away. The route took us along the Salton Sea and at one point the car
GPS showed that we were 232 ft below sea level (the surface of the Salton Sea
is supposed to be -235. We stopped in the badlands at an overlook and then pushed
on through Borrego Springs to the park headquarters and visitor center. We
watched a short film about the park through the seasons and walked a nature
trail which gave names and info about native plants. A ranger suggested the
classic hike to the oasis 1.5 mi up Palm Canyon. We drove through the
campground to the trailhead ($9 for parking/day use fee for seniors) and put on
boots for the hike up the wash and along the rocky trail that stayed in the
bottom of a dry canyon. The oasis had maybe 20 big California fan palms and
there was running water. The big excitement was that we could see Penninsular
Bighorn Sheep on the slopes above the oasis. I had left my camera in a tote bag,
so we had to rely on C.J.’s Fuji to get some pictures. We ate lunch there and started
down. At the Palm Bridge (over the dry wash) we took the right fork on the
alternate trail which climbed a bit more than if we had stayed on the standard
trail. Both trails were now in the shadow of the cliff above and it was
pleasantly cool compared to when we had been climbing. We reached the car and
changed out of our boots, drank some cold water from our insulated bottles and
headed for home. First we tried to find an ice cream shop in Borrego Springs
but the one we found was closed. We took a look at a bunch of sculptures on one
side of Christmas Circle, then we drove south out of town to see what that
route looked like. It looked pretty flat and desert-y so I wouldn’t plan to go
that way again. Back on Rte. 86 along the Salton Sea it was getting dark (1649
was when the GPS clicked over to post-sunset colors). We got back to the condo
around 1730. I had received an email from CS at Garmin about my InReach that
was not sending (or receiving) messages. I tried syncing and doing a soft reset
(hold X and down arrow for 30 sec) with no success. I sent an email back asking
for the next step. Later I made reservations for lodging in Modesto and
Ashland. Dave and Janet invited us to stay with them on the 9th so
we will have a relatively short driving day to get back to North Bend on Wednesday.
5 Jan, Fri – Up at 0700 so we could get to the valley
station of the Palm Spring Aerial Tramway around 0930 to buy tickets for the
first run at 1000 if possible. We were there on time, paid for parking (5), a
surprise, and used the American Express reward card we received from Worldmark
to buy tickets for the 1010 tram (1000 was sold out). We had not known
before that the tram ran every ten minutes. Eighty people fit in the tram, and
the floor revolves so you get a 360 degree view on the ride from 2600 ft to
8500 ft. It was a beautiful day with a bright blue sky, at least it was at 8500
ft. It was not particularly cold but it was comfortable as we walked down the
long paved ramp from the mountain station and headed off to the San Jacinto
State Park ranger station. We got our required but free wilderness day permits
and took the Round Valley Loop in a CCW direction. I was surprised to find that
the trail was mostly uphill and not down a valley as I had expected. The forest
was mixed Jeffrey Pine and White Fir, and there was a lot of granodiorite – the
usual grey color, not the pink of the monzo-granite at JOTR. Once we reached
Round Valley where there is a back country campground and water (“purify before
using” the sign said), we sat on a downed tree in the sunny meadow to eat
lunch. The loop was supposed to be 5 miles in length and I had considered
taking the trail at the midpoint up to Wellman’s Divide (one mile and 600 ft
elev gain) for the view. It’s also one route to the popular destination of the
summit of San Jacinto (10,800). We were at 9100 at Round Meadow. Seven miles
with the additional climbing and descent sounded like a bit too much so we just
continued the loop after lunch. We returned to the ranger station and signed
back in with plenty of time to walk a short (.75 mi) nature trail and a longer
(1.5 mi) Desert View trail which went to five notches with views out over the
Coachella Valley as far as the Salton Sea and as close as the many wind
turbines on the way to Banning Pass. We finally returned to the mountain
station, climbing up the horrible ramp (where’s the elevator?) to the visitor
center. We watched a couple of movies and then got into a long line for
boarding the tram. It took about 90 minutes to get on, and by then it was dark
so we got to see the lights of Palm Springs and all the other Coachella Valley
cities as we descended. We drove directly home, had our last blended drink and
ate the rest of the never-ending casserole. Tomorrow we plan to stick around
and explore the resort and maybe go to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Nat Mon
visitor center then get packed up for our trip north starting on Sunday.
6 Jan, Sat – So that’s what we did. The day started out
cloudy and we could see a big cloud cap on Mt San Jacinto, so today would not
have been a good day for riding the tram or hiking around the wilderness. We
walked through the Lazy River Market, the activity center, and the swimming
pools/lazy river area. The sun had come out but we didn’t feel much like
swimming or floating. Later, around 1500 or so we drove to Costco for gas (the
price was up to 2.939) and some CoQ10 and Olay Regeneris. By the time we
got to the SRSJNM it was almost 1600 and the sign at the entrance said that the
gate was locked at 1600. We parked across the street and walked in to catch the
last gasps of the art show that had been there. There was a really nice large
wreath covered with toy stuffed owls. We followed a nature trail out to the
parking lot and then took the Henderson loop trail along a narrow wash and over
a divide to return along another wash. We got back to the car before dark. On
the way back we drove through the El Paseo “high-rent” shopping district which
had lots of seasonal lights, mostly white, around the palm trees which lined
the street. Back home we packed up as much as we could and I used a cart to
take it down to the car. C.J. later worked some more on her article about the
USHPA awards for 2017.
7 Jan, Sun – We got up at 0630 and were on the road shortly
after 0800. I-10 to I-210 over Tejon Pass and down the Grapevine, sunny this
time unlike a previous trip with the trailer when we negotiated freezing rain
and snow. At the intersection, we took 99 north to Bakersfield where we stopped
to get gas at Costco (2.779) and then found one of the two Freddy’s Frozen
Custard places and had turtle sundaes for lunch. The Central Valley
scenery was flat and boring the rest of the way northwest to our overnight stop
in Modesto at the Baymont Inn and Suites ( booked through Wyndham Rewards).
We rested for a while (we arrived around 1600 so it wasn’t yet time for dinner)
before choosing a Mexican restaurant from Google Maps, El Rosal, just a few
minutes away. We had forgotten what a huge meal one typically gets at an
American Mexican restaurant so we were stuffed on the two dishes we ordered,
carnitas caseras and plato ranchera. We were back at the motel by 1900
and C.J. was in bed by 2030 – a tough day for eyes and throats as we drove
through the smoky/smoggy area that had been hit by recent wildfires. Probably
because it was a Sunday, we didn’t hit any traffic slowdowns all day, and the
weather was mostly sunny becoming overcast later in the afternoon. By evening
the temperature had dropped sharply and we had put our warm clothes on to go
out for dinner.
8 Jan, Mon – We woke up to rain, the first we’d seen since
leaving North Bend almost 20 days ago. The breakfast at the Baymont was quite
good, much better than average. There were scrambled eggs and sausages, two
waffle bakers, juice, yogurt, hot chocolate, peeled hard-boiled eggs, and the
other, usual breakfast things. We left sometime after 0800, stopped for gas at
Costco across the freeway in Modesto (2.639) and then drove through rain and
some traffic to Sacramento where we ran into heavier traffic and used the HOV
lanes to keep moving. The only really slow part was where we merged onto Rte 50
and I-80; that was busy even when we came back from Bass Lake in the middle of
the day. We made a couple of pit stops, but mostly we just cruised along I-5 in
the rain until we passed Mt Shasta. The temps were high enough that even
Siskiyou summit was clear of snow. Ashland Hills Hotel and Suites (booked
through Lastminute.com) let us check in early about 1415. We headed immediately
downtown and parked a short walk away from the city plaza. It was pretty chilly
so we had donned our vests and jackets, as well as hats and gloves. The shops
were fascinating to windowshop and we spent a bit of time in Durbar (?) a
tea-salt-spice shop with a really helpful manager. We bought some fancy rice
and salt for Dave and Janet, and a wooden toast grabber for us. Then
we walked up the creek to Lithia Park and walked part of the nature trail as
far as the upper duck pond. The most amazing find was a fountain that produced
carbonated mineral (lithium, sulfur, and more) water. Apparently Ashland was
originally going to be a mineral spring spa, but it didn’t work out. We spent a
little time trying to choose among the 100 or so restaurants for dinner and
settled on Hearsay, recommended by the Durbar manager. After dropping off the
package at the car we still were the first customers in Hearsay at around 1700.
We shared a local special of beef and potato soup, arugula and other greens,
nuts, goat cheese, and apple salad (6 for the extra salad). The entrée was
meatballs and bucatini pasta (with a soft egg yolk on top). And the dessert was
a chocolate-salted caramel tart. We also ordered wine and a pear cider. It was a really enjoyable dinner. As we
drove back to the hotel, the car gas light came on so we’ll have to check the
range in the morning. Our room (#159) at Ashland Hills had a clogged toilet. I
called the desk around 2200 and a guy came down and plunged it out but the next
time we used the toilet, it would not flush and only drained out slowly. We
dealt with it as best we could through the night.
9 Jan, Tue – After we got up around 0715, and showered and
dressed, I called the desk again. While we were gone to breakfast, someone came
in probably with a snake and got the toilet working (we may have received a
discount for all the aggravation because our bill was about $10 cheaper than I
had expected.). We left around 0930 on another overcast day, but not rainy. We
stopped for gas at Costco in north Medford only to find that the Costco was
gone! We got the address of the new Costco from the front of the building. It’s
located in Central Point on the east side of the freeway but not conveniently
near an exit (2.639?). It was drizzly/raining most of the way to Portland.
Janet reminded us of her address and the GPS got us there around 1500. We had a
great visit and delicious dinner and spent the night in Beth’s old room. [Beth
and Ben live somewhere north of where we used to live in Portland and she is
pregnant, due in April] [Todd and Emily with their two children live near
Golden Gardens Park in Seattle, close to where Dave and Janet moor their boat].
10 Jan, Wed – Up around 0700, we had Dave’s granola with
fruit for breakfast. We were on our way by around 0900, avoiding the traffic on
26 by taking Skyline Drive down into the city and then I-405 across to 5. We
made it all the way to Olympia before having to refill the gas tank (2.639). We
were home shortly after 1300 and got unpacked while the house warmed up. There
was some snow on Mt. Si down as far as the slides but it didn’t look like there
had been much winter weather. Still, it had been a good time to get away to
sunny California [although, we left just as the rain moved in down there
causing devastating mudslides south of Santa Barbara]. We got in a bunch of
good hiking and sightseeing as well as two bonus paragliding flights along with
visits to Ginny and Wally and Dave and Janet.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11 Jan, Thu – We went over to the senior center for our Tai
Chi class to find that Carlye had not shown up. Later we found out that she had
taken a full-time job somewhere. We got our $50 check back. I sent my Garmin
InReach back to the company (after trying REI to see if they would do an
exchange). Garmin said that a refurbished InReach was on its way to me.
13 Jan, Sat – Nice weather so we finished up our chores (I
took down the roof Xmas lights and filled some holes in the road and then cut
up some fallen branches) and then drove over to the Snoqualmie Casino and
walked the Traditional Knowledge Trail. It had good interpretive signs but did
not indicate that the trail stopped at the bridge over a stream. We walked all
the way around the casino back to the car.
14 Jan, Sun - Inspired by some emails from the HG community,
we took off in sunny, warm weather for Saddle Mountain. It was blowing and
gusting from the east in North Bend but the forecast was for N and NE wind, not
too strong at Saddle. There were lots of people skiing at the Summit in the
clouds on what must have been fast-melting snow. We stayed in the low clouds
all the way to Rye Grass summit where the cloud base was a bit higher. Crossing
the Columbia, the winds looked to be in the right direction and not too strong,
but we could see that there was a cloudbank sitting on top of Saddle below the
launch. Parking at the closed (due to general fund shortfall in state
financing) ORV park and LZ, we waited a while for Chris and Patricia to catch
up. They were quite a ways behind us so we pushed on to Mattawa, bought an
expensive box of Triscuits and met Rick Ely on the R SW road. He reported that
the hangs were sitting in the compression cloud on launch and that the wind was
14-18mph. He was going to Kiona where Doc had reported that it was clear and
the winds were light. After considering the drive up the rough road to a
possibly blown-out Saddle launch and a one hour drive to Kiona, we turned
around and followed Rick. We got to Kiona around 1400 and watched two PGs
kiting down low, then take off and soar. The road had a barricade marked “closed”
but a local said that had been put up when the road was snow-covered and then
never removed. Chris and Patricia had caught up with us by then and Chris
decided to carry part way up the trail while Patricia went for a hike with
Penny. We drove ¼ mi up the road to where a PG car was parked at the end of the
fence and carried up to where the other guys had launched. Both of them landed
near us before we got off (Matt Huntington, and a newer pilot, Andy). Both
relaunched and did not get back up. C.J. took a good forward launch and flew
down almost to the LZ and sidehill landed. I put my still-packed wing in my bag
and returned to the car. Chris had a sledder from his higher launch as well.
Following Matt and Andy’s car we went up to the saddle launch where the wind
was too strong. Back down the road to another roadside launch, Matt managed to
get off after several attempts but it was no longer soarable. We bagged it and
headed home stopping for gas at Love’s in Prosser (2.699, just a few cents more
than Costco in Union Gap). We got home around 1900 – a lot of driving for one
sledder.
16 Jan, Tue – Got my refurbished InReach and worked on
getting it activated. Ended up having to online chat with Laurie who did the
switch for me. I synced the new InReach with Earthmate and did a test message.
It’s ready to be used. In the evening we went to our first KT Squares of 2018
and we even managed to do decently at the Advanced tip after the Plus
dance/workshop.
17 Jan, Wed – In the evening we drove into Issaquah through
heavy rain for a performance of The Gin Game at the Village Theater. C.J.
received an insulated VT tumbler for being a sponsor. Strangely, we were listed
in the rarefied atmosphere of those who had contributed $500 or more!
18 Jan, Thu – I had an appointment at B of A to get info
about my new 0% interest balance transfer Bankamericard at 1130. I found out
that I could not directly use it to pay for all or some of the balance due for
Vidanta. But I could charge part of the balance to my Costco/CITI card and then
do a balance transfer to the Bankamericard, thus giving us almost 15 months to
pay it off.
We’ve been reading Turn
Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams on our e-readers, plus we have
Bingham’s book Lost City of the Incas
and a bunch of National Geographic maps. Tonight I used Google Earth to look at
Machu Picchu and try to determine what the hike to the Sun Gate from MP might
be like. It appears to be “only” a mile with a gain of 800 ft. We have an opportunity
to do that on our second day.
19 Jan, Fri – We went into Issaquah to check out the KC Fire
HQ facility that we are going to use for the annual reserve parachute repack
seminar. It looks like the building out behind the main building is a better
fit for us. It has a truss support for the roof which gives us more options for
places for us to hang the simulators. The chief said he has to check with his
facilities person to make sure that it’s okay to hang from the trusses. We also went to the Apple Store so C.J. could
find out about bringing her Macbook in for cleaning (they don’t do that
anymore) and how to make a Genius Bar appointment to discuss getting duplicate
photo files off her hard drive (install the Apple Support app). We also went to
Sears to return my wrong-size mock-T from Lands End, then on to Joann where
C.J. did not find sturdy frogs for her new cape. We stopped at Costco for some
groceries and I bought a couple boxes of floodlights and a case of 5W30 Mobil
oil, both on sale. Back home we finally ate the frozen pizza that had been
hanging around the freezer for weeks; it wasn’t great. While eating we watched
the intro and first lesson in the Great Courses DVD Essentials of Tai Chi and
Qigong.
No comments:
Post a Comment