Back to Claremont.

After Barstow, we headed back to Harvey Mudd where Glennis's old suitemate, Yael, kindly agreed to host us.  We decided that we would like to go out for a nice dinner with some of our friends who were still there over the summer.  We went out to Viva Madrid in the village to enjoy some tasty paella and tapas.

Group dinner photo

Our main intention was to climb Mt. Baldy because none of us had managed to check that off our list of things to do while we were still in school.  However, upon arrival at Mudd, we realized that the ski lift up to the trail is only open on the weekends during the summer.  To fill in our friday, we decided on a day trip to the deep creek hot springs about an hour drive and 2 mile hike away from school.  Hoping to escape the cloudiness that was covering the entirety of Los Angeles County, we navigated the back country roads around to the other side of Mt. Baldy and successfully found both the hot springs and the sun.  The hot springs were pleasantly hot, and conveniently situated next to a crispy cool creek we could also swim in.  After our fill of fun in the sun, we returned to claremont just in time to enjoy some delicious Patty's burritos!

Swimming in Deep Creek.  The hot springs are pools of water in the rocks on the far side of the creek.

The next day we packed up the car one last time and headed to Mt. Baldy.  We marched right on up the 3 mile hike with a total elevation gain of 2,200 ft.  Fortunately, the whole hike was situated above the cloud cover, so we were able to enjoy the sunshine on our hike.  We reached the peak and enjoyed some really good beef jerkey we purshased from a beef jerkey hut situated between Mammoth Lakes and Death Valley.  We didn't pause too long at the top because we had to make it down to the ski lift by 530 to get a ride back down to the car, but we did snap some good photos.

Group photo at the top.  The sign says San Antonio "Mt. Baldy" Elevation 10,000ish ft.

Glennis's pensive pose at the top of Mt. Baldy

A view of part of the long, arduous trail.

We stopped at In-n-out for some much needed nourishment before heading back to Greg's house in Redondo Beach.  We relaxed our bodies in the hot tub and then finally finished the last Star Wars movie.  Now I know that Darth Vader saves Luke in the end, all this time I thought Luke killed Darth Vader.  Really cleared some things up for me.

This brings our trip to a close.  We just spent most of Sunday reading in Greg's backyard, taking a bit of a break to unload the car and do some laundry.  Glennis and I both depart this week for our respective destinations... but we all intend to be in the Los Angeles area for our first alumni weekend next April!

Mammoth Lakes, Devil's Postpile, and Death Valley

After leaving Yosemite, we stopped at Mono Lake for a PB&J picnic lunch.

A view of Mono Lake.

Then, we headed towards Mammoth Lakes to see the Devil's Postpile, "America's finest example of basalt columns."  These basalt columns were formed as lava cooled at a uniform rate and temperature, thus resulting in remarkably symmetric, generally hexagonally shaped tall columns of rock.  

Devil's Postpile, as seen from its base.

We 'hiked' in a little ways to see the Postpile, then walked up to the top to see the tile-like pattern of the close-packed columns.  While sitting there and enjoying the view, it began to rain on us, so, tired of hiking in the rain, we scratched our plans to continue on to Rainbow Falls and instead headed back to the car and hit the road towards Lone Pines, where we had chosen to stop for the night.

Views from the top of Devil's Postpile.

At Lone Pines, near the base of the Sierra Nevadas and in theoretical* sight of Mount Whitney (the tallest point in the contiguous United States), we all enjoyed  long, hot showers before enjoying some pizza and beer while watching Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

[*I say theoretical because the mountaintops were obscured by rain clouds.]

Sunrise over the Sierra Nevadas.

Greg and Shannon woke up to enjoy sunrise over the mountains (I apparently slept in).  Our next destination was Death Valley.  We stopped at the ranger station, and at a ranger's suggestion, we backtracked a little ways to a vista point, Zabriskie Point, from which we looked out on the Badwater salt flats.

Greg and Shannon posing at the vista point.  The small flat white area is Badwater. 

Next we stopped to walk the Golden Canyon Interpretive Trail, along which Shannon dramatically provided interpretation for Greg and I.

Shannon, dramatically reading to us about the geologic wonders of Golden Canyon.

We continued to the base of the Red Cathedral Rocks, took in the view for a bit, then turned around (not wanting to stay baking in the heat for too long).

Cathedral pose!

We detoured a little to take in the scenic Artists Drive, then stopped next at Badwater, which is the lowest point in North America at -282 feet.  We roamed the salt flats for a bit, taking in the unique scenery, before returning to the car to head to Barstow, our next stopover for the evening.

Shannon, holding up the mountains at a turnout along Artists Drive.

Greg, standing on the salt flat at Badwater pointing to a sign designating sea level.

A little bit of (very salty) water in Badwater.

At an elevation of negative 282 feet!!!

Once we reached Barstow, we enjoyed the pool and spa facilities there before putting on Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.  Much like the planetarium show in SF, however, neither Greg nor Shannon was able to stay awake and we will have to finish the movie later...

Yosemite National Park

One of the major highlights of the trip, we camped for 4 nights at Yosemite National Park. We managed to get reservations at two campsites to cover the duration, so we didn't have to worry about trying to get there at the crack of dawn to score one of the dreadfully few first-come-first-serve sites (most campsites within the park don't open until July).

The day we arrived in Yosemite, we arrived at our campsite just outside the park in Groveland & had some fun trying to drive in the horrible mud on the road up to our campsite. The place we stayed was an RV park, and it really seemed like their tent sites were a complete afterthought. Once we were moderately established, however, we took off for the afternoon to go see the Hetch Hetchy reservoir & dam that were in the northern end of the park.

Shannon and I on the dam, with the Wapama Falls in the background. Water & hydroelectric power is taken from this dam and sent over to provide San Francisco with water and electricity.

The rain made a bad habit of following us around Yosemite, so it was drizzling a bit at Hetch Hetchy, leaving pools in this tunnel through to the other side of the reservoir.

Shannon decided to "be an airplane" complete with sound effects and fly around the top of the dam to warm herself up.

The next day, our first full day in the park, we set off on our biggest hike yet - a 13 mile round trip hike from Tioga road (Hwy 120) to Yosemite Point overlooking the valley. Point-to-point, there was a 1000 ft decrease in elevation, but with the hike going down, flat, down really steep, flat, up, flat, down, there was probably ~2000 feet total down and ~1000 ft total up - just on the way out to the point, making it all the more taxing for the way back to the trailhead.

Despite the difficulty of the hike, we were definitely rewarded with amazing views at the point overlooking Yosemite Valley & Half Dome. Unfortunately on that long climb back to the car, the rain found us again and had us digging out our rain ponchos.

Day 3: After our long hike the following day, we decided to take it relatively easy & do some driving tours. We also had to move our camp gear from the RV place to an *actual* campground at Hodgdon Meadows, inside the park. The first stop was Olmstead Point, along Tioga Road, where we got a good view of the valley from the other side.

We continued on Tioga Road up to Tuolumne Meadows & took a short hike across the meadows to have lunch.

Stopping for lunch & a nap.

Tuolumne Meadows & Lembert Dome

We returned on Tioga Road & passed through the valley & stopped to admire tunnel view, one of the most photograped vistas in Yosemite. Visible from left to right is El Capitan, Half Dome (obscured by fog), and Bridalveil Falls.

Onward, we drove up to Glacier Point for our last vista of the day. In this picture you can see Nevada Falls & Vernal Falls on the backside of Half Dome (we climbed them the next day!)

Yosemite Falls from Glacier Point. On our hike the day before we got to Yosemite Point - just to the right of the top of the falls.

A half-obscured Half Dome group photo.

Next day! Big hike again, this time up Vernal and Nevada falls by way of the Mist Trail. This is probably the most well-traveled hike in the Valley, at least to the top of Vernal falls - most of the crowd drops out after that first climb.

Vernal Falls & the Mist Trail: a series of rocks placed so as to create a vague staircase climbing the side of the falls. It was a considerable hike, about 1000 ft up from the trailhead at the valley floor.

We paused at the top of Nevada falls at a place called the Emerald Pool for lunch and a quick break. MMMmmm...peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, trail mix & water.

After a short break, we pushed onward in spite of 1000 ft more climbing & an ominous thunderclap towards the top of Vernal Falls.

We didn't want to come down 2000 ft on damp, awkward stone staircases, so we instead took a slightly longer, but easier on our old-person bodies hike down a section of the John Muir trail. It was a nice change of view as well, since the path took us on the other side of the small valley containing the waterfalls, with a great view of the back side of Half Dome & the falls.

Happy 22nd Birthday Glennis! You look so young and spry next to that 1500 year old tree section!

Stockton

After San Francisco, our next stop was Stockton by way of wine country.  We finally dragged ourselves out of the comfy hotel beds, stopped for a nice, tasty brunch at Crepevine (they have good crepes) and then made our way to Sonoma. 

Our first stop was Viansa Winery, which is an Italian Vineyard specializing in Pinot Noir's.  We sampled some good wines and enjoyed some nice scenery.

Our next destination was Benziger, a biodynamic vineyard.  We learned all about what it means to be biodynamic: organic, plus some extra bonus environmental practices.  We tasted some of their wines... but unfortunately none of the biodynamic wines.  Those wines are only available on the pricey wine tasting list, which we didn't realize until it was too late....  We did however, taste some surprisingly delicious dessert wines that weren't too sweet, but rather just right.

Learning about biodynamic wines

We left with a little more wine than what we came with.

The third vineyard we had picked out was closed (only open on the weekends, whoops), so we just called it a day and headed out to Stockton.

Our host in Stockton was another fellow graduate, Christina Snyder.  Her family graciously invited us to rest a few days before we headed out to Yosemite.  We were able to sleep in, take care of some errands, and enjoy some delicious food.  It turns out the Snyder family knows their way around the kitchen!  We filled our time playing cards on the patio, where Glennis shot the moon in her first game of hearts! 

Christina, Glennis, and Greg in front of the San Joaquin River.  Did you know that Stockton is the furthest inland port in California?

All rested up with full bellies, we headed off to Yosemite...

San Francisco!

After leaving our lovely campsite at Pfieffer State Park, we hit the road heading towards our next destination of San Francisco. We all took advantage of the hot, indoor shower, and feeling clean and refreshed, decided to see a show. However, as it was pretty late in the day, options like Wicked (which Shannon had already seen) and Spamalot (which I had already seen) were no longer available. We ended up selecting 'Killing my Lobster Hits Highway 101,' a sketch comedy pretty much making fun of California through the overarching 'plot' of a family taking a road trip through the golden state, making it very apropos.

Greg and Shannon posing with the show poster.

Before the show, however, we walked along Fisherman's wharf, which is where we were staying, taking in the sights. It was a beautifully clear evening, so you could see across the bay.

Greg and I with Alcatraz off in the distance.

Shannon made sure that we walked past the pier 39 sea lions, as well. For dinner we all satisfied our craving for some hot clam chowder in a delicious bread bowl. After the show, we walked a few blocks past our hotel to the Café Buena Vista for their supposedly world-famous Irish coffee.

Shannon and a bit of Greg posing with the sea lions.

The next day, Monday, we started off early, taking the Bart into Berkeley to meet my friend Halley there for breakfast. We walked up Telegraph Road, so we took in some of the 'local color' - Halley described this area as, 'the armpit of Berkeley, but the armpit that everyone hangs out in.' We all had very large and tasty breakfasts at Café Durant, then walked through a bit of the Berkeley campus before taking the Bart back in to the city, where we headed to the Golden Gate Park to visit the California Academy of Sciences.

The three of us in the Japanese tea gardens at the Golden Gate Park.

The living roof of the California Academy of Sciences.

Despite the name, which had all three of us expecting a more Exploratorium-sort of museum (we can't help being biased and thinking of things like physics, chemistry, biology, and perhaps even engineering when we hear 'sciences'), it turns out that the California Academy of Sciences is more of a natural/environmental sciences sort of museum with a very overt 'save the earth!' message. But, we enjoyed the museum, which had things like a rainforest exhibit that was in a contained sort of bubble and mimicked all the different levels of a rainforest and had different representative species from places like Costa Rica, Madagascar, and Borneo.

Greg with the rain forest exhibit.

The underside of a gecko.

There was also a really interesting aquarium exhibit, of which parts seemed nearly identical to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but others had really interesting species like the upside down jellyfish (which lives with the bulbous head part down on the sand, leaving it's tentacles spread out above) or a type of fish which camouflages itself with guanine crystals that make its entire body completely reflective.

A H-U-G-E fish with a probably nearly invisible Shannon...

Shannon experiencing the 'squeeze' of the python.

Greg waiting for Foucault's pendulum.

Shannon posing with one of the tortoises displayed in the 'islands of evolution' exhibit.

'We' also took in the planetarium show - we is in quotes because both Shannon and Greg spent most of the show's duration asleep. It was interesting and talked about the possibility of life on other planets, though one was pretty much hit over the head with the need to save the earth!

We then met another one of my friends, Tim, for dinner at Marnee Thai, which was supposedly highly rated by yelp. Despite having split a roti with coconut ice cream, upon discovering that Tim had never been to Ghirardelli square, we took the historic F line (with which we were quite proficient at that point in time) over there.

Tuesday morning, we checked out of the hotel and hit up the Crepevine for brunch, where we all three enjoyed some large savory crepes before heading off to wine country...

Greg and Shannon on the historic F line of San Francisco.