I returned from vacation a few weeks ago. I traveled by car from Seattle to Eugene. On the next day I drove to Crater Lake (the lake itself, yes). I’d hoped to make it to Wizard Island, but went too late.
The next day was Mt. Shasta where I hiked up the Eastern flanks of the mountain. It towered above me and was quite impressive, especially since there wasn’t anybody within miles of me. I ate at the burger barn and it was mighty tasty.
The next night I met up with a friend in San Jose. We listened to some jazz on the lawn at Santana Row, played chess (I won) and had a yummy dinner at a Tapas-style Mexican food place. We then did a tour of downtown San Jose and visited the new City Hall and library. Afterwards we went bowling (I lost).
I traveled to Oakhurst and then to the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite. It was there that I decided that the National Park Service should issue a tazer along with every admission to the park so that you can taze people who try to steal the forest or jump fences.
Yosemite Valley was next. The most notable places I visited were Bridesveil Falls and Columbia Rock. BTW, the maps of Yosemite Valley are useless for hiking. On the way out of Yosemite the California Highway Patrol was fishing a car off the edge of a cliff. I have no idea how far down it was, but there were no ambulances around.
Since Devil’s Postpile was so close, I tried to go there, but they wouldn’t let cars in and instead you had to ride a bus. I didn’t really want to wait around for that so instead I settled for the Inyo Earthquake Fault, which was an impressive substitute. I stopped at the Mono Lake visitor’s center and watched a video about the lake. Turns out that water-hungry Los Angeles stole enough water from the lake to drop it by fifty feet since 1942. They’re working to bring its level back up now.
I ate dinner that night at the Burger Queen in Lakeview and stayed at the Hunter’s Hot Springs Resort which is just outside of town. There were a bunch of guys already in the pool who were doing some kind of road trip and they’d had all the lights turned off. I just sat back in the pool and watched the stars, it was the most relaxing thing I did all week.
The following day I drove to Eugene then the next day to Seattle, ending my vacation.
