Friday, May 19, 2006

7 pm, we officially kicked off the trip with Angelo’s pizza, a glass of Brachetto and having Bruce, Terri, Amanda, and Steve Annen (and Linus) come over to enjoy it with us at the house in McFarland. Bruce was in overdrive mode and can’t wait to get going. The rest of us were going “ugh, 36 hours of impending car trip”.

9:30 pm, we sent Bruce and Terri home to pick up their pillows and drop off some pizza for Steve Dutcher who is now disabled due to an ankle sprain playing basketball.

10 pm, Denny and Jenny left the house to meet Bruce and Terri at National to pick up the rental car.

10:05 pm Denny and Jenny returned to the house to pick up forgotten staff IDs. And then get back on the road.

10:20 pm, picked up the rental car which is an almost new maroon Chevy Uplander Minivan. The customer service person was afraid of Denny and Bruce’s enthusiasm over a guy who was wheeling an injured leg through the airport on a little cart instead of crutches. Denny took a picture to send to Steve to tell him what he should get for his sprained ankle. Denny had a wallet scare as we’re left, but found it after a few min of searching.

10:35 pm, the whole group arrived back at the house in McFarland to pack up the minvan. We took out the backseat to add room for gear and a sleeping area. The packing process went relatively smooth and we made it on the road officially by 11:39 pm.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

5 am, Jenny woke up and we’re in Omaha, IA, stopped at a gas station. Bruce and Terri took the first shift of driving while Denny and Jenny slept. We had discovered last night that our minivan has a DVD player, so we had popped in The Rock, but fell asleep during it. Denny reorganized the back area to accommodate one person to lie down and sleep. If the van turns too sharply, stuff falls on that person, but it’s still more comfy than trying to sleep in the chairs in here. The sunrise was gorgeous this morning, but rats, we weren’t fast enough to grab a picture before we ended up heading down a hill and it was out of sight.

6:57 am, Bruce and Terri knocked out almost instantly from the moment they got in the back to rest. We’re somewhere out in the middle of Nebraska at the moment between Lincoln and Grand Island. Everything looks pretty much the same out here. Flat, lots of fields, the occasional blinky lights of cell phone towers, but not much else. Denny has been having a ball playing with the digital display on the van which tells us everything from how much batter power we have, to our average speed, instant gas mileage, etc. We suspect it may even have an option to make coffee and do laundry on it somewhere.

9 am, We saw a hill in Nebraska just east of North Platte! Supposedly, there is even a lake coming up in Ogallala. I think we’ll believe it when we see it. There really isn’t much for water in this state. Just flat boring land with a lot of cattle. Bruce woke up about an hour ago and we’re attempting to watch/listen to The Rock again. Terri has moved to the sleeping spot. Denny has been trying to freeze us into popsicles with the air conditioning, but has not succeeded yet. Once you get to the point of numb, you really don’t notice it anymore. J

9:54 am, We got pulled over doing at least 86 in Nebraska. Amazingly, he only gave us a written warning. Phew! Although it did screw up our movie. We have no idea where we were and we’ve attempted to restart it someplace near the former spot without much success.

10:30 am We stopped to stretch and eat coffee cake and Special K bars at a rest stop. Bruce swears the mens rest room was so bad that he would wait until we stopped for gas at 11 am to go.

Noon (central time) We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto! Oh wait…we never made it into Kansas… We’re finally in Wyoming though, yay!

2:45 pm (mountain time) Bruce looks like he’s about to keel over from driving exhaustion. He’s gone beyond the point of numbness and is becoming comatose. We stopped in Rock Spring, WY for gas, bathrooms, and some snacks. Denny got a nice long nap in, so he’s pretty good to go until dinner time. Only 950ish miles left to go. We’re debating stopping at some place for dinner rather than dig out the camping food and equipment. This might be our last good opportunity to eat out before the camping food goodness starts.

4:42 pm We’re in Utah. Just made it through Echo Canyon area. So far the drive thru this state is by far and away the most interesting and beautiful. Finding radio stations has been surprisingly difficult. We’re less than one hour out of Salt Lake, so we’re not sure why the selection is so awful. Evidently nobody listens to the radio west of the Mississippi.

Sometime later we stop at a rest area in the Great Salt Desert for dinner of Dinty Moore and rice. Bruce is on the lookout for a pet scorpion to take home. Finally a rest stop with clean bathrooms!

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Midnight (pacific time) Jenny and Denny woke up to see we’ve stopped at a gas station in Reno, NV. This is the one area of the trip now that we finally leave I-80, which we’ve been on since Iowa. Bruce and Terri asked the gas station attendant where a nearby grocery store is. She replies “about a mile and a half down that way” and we don’t really know which way “that way” is. About 7 minutes and a few u-turns later, we found the Safeway. This place is expensive! The clerk asks us if we have a Safeway card. We don’t, but we ask for one and she not only ignores the request, but doesn’t even give us a complimentary swipe. We’re not too thrilled with their idea of service and will likely not stop at another Safeway. Reno looks like it was kinda constructed by Polaks. The casinos are salt and peppered around the city. There doesn’t appear to be one major casino area to walk around from the highway, even though we’re sure there is one.

12:52 We took the scenic tour around Lake Tahoe area trying to get on the right road. A few more u-turns later, we finally got back on track. Turns out Hwy 395 splits off the freeway in Carson City and none of the road signs indicated exactly when. So we had to take an exit to Carson City and pray that was it (and it was).

4:53 am We stopped in Senora, CA because once again, we’re having technical difficulties following their road signs. Nevertheless, our journey plowed onward. We should reach the park gate in about an hour or so, We sure hope it’s open. We’re all pretty wiped out at this point. The mountain roads have gotten to Bruce with the windy and hilly nature, so out with the Dramamine for him. The roads we’ve been taking so far are probably gorgeous during the day, but it’s probably for the better that we haven’t been able to see that there was virtually nothing but sheer cliffs around us. We saw a few interesting things on this road: Jackass Hill road, a porcupine, some weasel-like creature, deer, and cats all crossing the highway in front of us. Oooh, there’s a sign, only 70 more miles to Yosemite!

More animals to report:

Coyote

Skunk

A Mexican hitchhiker

6 am WE MADE IT!!! Only 24 miles to go in the park now to Yosemite Valley. J

The rest of this day has gone pretty smoothly. We stopped and took some pics on the way in of a really pretty waterfall. Bruce was dead in the back of the van getting some much needed rest. We’re killing time until 10 when we can check into our campsite. We stopped for breakfast of Crusteaz, walked a bit, hit up the village shops, then grabbed some badly needed showers in Curry Village, and got to our campsite. We’re in 101 in North Pines and it’s pretty nice, right on the river. No sooner did we get our tents out and drip drip drip…by the time we got done setting up camp and ready to crash, it was raining. The water level by the end of the day had rose a good 6 inches. Denny and Jenny decided to take a long nap. Terri and Bruce, feeling more ambitious attempted the Mist Trail hike. Terri slipped on a rock and nailed her arm pretty good, so they got about half way to Vernal Fall and came back. Dinner was brats and hot dogs with potatoes over the fire pit for the night. Bruce tarped the area over the picnic table pretty slick so we can still enjoy the outdoors semi-dry. On the not so dry front, we’ve discovered that Bruce’s tent leaks, even when we put tarp over it. And, so does the air mattress. So they’ll be sleeping in the van for the trip.

Monday, May 22, 2006

Today, we started the day with breakfast of stuffed French toast and sausage. We’ve met Earl the squirrel who spent his morning attempting to entertain/con us into giving him food. We suspect it is a ploy by the park and the squirrels are equipped with little cameras that alert them when they’re being fed by humans, which is against the rules. We have video of him rolling in the dirt and taking a dump then burying it. It’s still raining, so we decide before any hiking ensues, we’re going to check the shops in the village for neoprene socks to stay dry in for the day. Well, they didn’t have any, but they did have waterproof hiking boots. About $600 later, we were all outfitted with new boots and rainpants and were ready to hit the trail. As soon as we started, the rain stopped. But the purchases were still worth it. The Mist Trail is adequately named because you will get drenched from head to toe with the spray from the waterfalls. We all stayed warm, dry, and comfortable for the whole hike. It was incredible – the trail takes you from the base to the top of Vernal and Nevada waterfalls. By the end of the day, we were all pretty burned out. The hike was about 9 miles of major elevation change and rocky terrain. The new shoes and socks worked better than anything else we had, but most of us were feeling a little of the breaking in process. Dinner was pudgie pies and oatmeal raisin cookies.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

It was cold last night. Poor Bruce and Terri froze in the van which is really damp and dirty right now. It’s not smelling so great either. Here’s hoping the rental company doesn’t nail us too hard on the carpet. Bruce made breakfast of Chirzo and scrambled eggs which is pretty much like taco meat with eggs, but with the health equivalent of eating deep fried Reese’s peanut butter cups. We’ve decided to take it a little easier today and drive down to Mariposa Grove to see the giant redwoods, then we’re going to head up to Hetch Hetchy reservoir to see some more waterfalls. Bruce is getting pretty aggrevated during the drive because of slow drivers that don’t use turnouts. About 30 min into the trip, Jenny got pretty sick, so we then switched to being the car on the turnouts rather than the car yelling obscenities at people not pulling off the road. We tried to see the redwoods and were denied because there was no parking and the ranger made us leave. So we drove back the valley, stopping at Bridalveil falls on the way. The trail leads you up to the base and staring in the face of it. Very very cool. It’s like standing in a monsoon. Back to the campsite then for mac n cheese lunch, which Earl decided to pop by and entertain us again, this time being rewarded with some goldfish crackers. As we were feeding Earl, a bird decided to swing by and sit on our clothesline, waiting for his reward. Instead, he got nothing so he pooped on our dishtowel and flew off. After that we decided to do the 2.5 mile hike at Hetch Hetchy…which turned out to be a 5 mile roundtrip hike, but very cool and worth it. Definitely a smaller waterfall, and some rocky terrain, but it splits out into like 5 different falls by the bottom and there are bridges crossing all of them, where you also get sprayed. To add a new critter to the list, we found little red salamanders/lizard thingys. On the way back, not only did we see a ton of deer, but we finally got to see a bear grazing out in a meadow. Tonight’s dinner: Chili. Weatherwise today, it has been gorgeous finally. Probably upper 60s, low 70s and mostly sunny skies. A very nice change from the dizzly cloudy crap we’ve had up til today.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Breakfast this morning was bacon and stuffed French toast. Bacon during camping, no matter how tasty it is, it’s not a good idea. Messy as heck to clean up. Although the scent did manage to wake up a very sleepy Earl. The weather is hot and gorgeous today, probably in the upper 70s. After breakfast, we hopped the bus over to Yosemite falls and walked up to the lower part. It’s really busy with people and you don’t get as close to it as you do to other waterfalls in the park. Next up was the Upper Yosemite Falls hike. The trail is 3.4 miles of about 60 uphill switchbacks. It’s steep and scary for those of us who don’t like heights/fear falling. Denny and Jenny made it as far as just above the base of the upper falls and then realized despite the gorgeous view, it was getting pretty scary by then and the top was not something we were likely going to see as we’re both afraid of heights. Bruce and Terri plowed onward and upward. Heading back down the trail was nearly as scary as going up. The Columbia Rock switchbacks are all sand and steep and the rest of the trail is pretty rocky. We got back to the campsite and decided to unwind for a bit, then grabbed showers, picked up some ice, and zipped back to start dinner of chicken quesadillas. Bruce and Terri returned around 5ish and told us all about the top – how fabulous the view was, the feeling of accomplishment, how scary it was to go to the lookout at the edge of the fall, and how many kids were running around unattended playing in the water above the fall. Bruce was ready to push one in the river just to prove a point about leaving kids unattended near something that powerful.

The rest of the evening’s highlights included a warm cozy campfire, hitting the lock button on the van as people walked by (this causes the van to flash it’s lights which would tend to make people jump), and a horde of screaming kids playing flashlight freeze tag in our campsite at dark. There were a few hiding behind our bear box and we explained to them that it’s rude to be playing around in other people campsites to which we were promptly ignored. Terri made a comment about how our site was trip wired, just as two of them zoomed out from behind the box and clotheslined themselves on our nylon rope holding up the tarp. They so deserved it. After that and more harassing with flashlights, we thought we had scared them off pretty good when two more decided to use one of our trees as a hiding spot, so Denny kept the flashlight on them. They threatened us with “knock it off”” and “you’re mean” and “no we’re not!” when we informed them they were in our campsite. Eventually they stalked away from the tree announcing they could no longer play because those mean people kept shining flashlights on them. It was worth the price of being “meanies” to have peace in our campsite.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Up and at it bright and early today with another day of great warm weather. We decided to try Mariposa Grove again to see the redwoods, hopefully before the tour busses get there. Opting for fast breakfast of doughnuts, cereal, and hot beverages, we were on the road by 8 am. No illness this time for Jenny, yay! Although we did manage to kill Earl’s 4^th cousin twice removed who decided to skitter across the road and freeze in front of our van wheels. The redwoods aren’t really that impressive, at least not in that part of the park, but on the plus side, the morning was not terribly busy time to be there. We only did 2 miles of hiking there. Glacier Road and Half Dome opened today, so we did do the Glacier Road thing today, which is really pretty. The highlight of the day was the 2.2 mile hike to Sentinel dome, the second highest point in the park. The domed part was pretty scary looking, with a layer of snow around the steeper sides of it. Jenny didn’t really want to go up, but with some urging from Denny, she made it and the top was well worth it. The top levels out (which you can’t see from the bottom), it was snow free, and amazingly not windy. The reward was a 360 degree vantage point of the park. Absolutely awesome. Glacier Point didn’t really seem as exciting after that, but it was still pretty nice for some great shots of the waterfalls below. We got back fairly early and had sloppy joes for lunch. Buddy Squirrel decided to substitute for Earl this afternoon. The ballsy little thing hopped right up on the picnic table while we were eating. Eventually we gave him a little piece of bun to see if he’d scram. He didn’t, so we got the camera out and then he left. The rest of the afternoon was just chilling out until spaghetti dinner time, then campfire, more yelling at kids, and then off to bed for the day.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Today was Bruce and Terri’s big hike up Half Dome. They got up at daybreak and took off. Denny and Jenny slept in. We had a nice quiet breakfast of stuffed French toast, then started pulling apart camp as we’re likely to start the return trip home tonight. There has been a lot of excitement around here today – last night the rangers spotted some bears by the stables by our campground and then this morning, someone jumped off Glacier Point and the helicopters have been nonstop searching for the person. Once we got done messing with reorganizing the van and campsite, we went to Housekeeping camp to do laundry and shower…then promptly returned to our campsite to get the laundry soap and our shower products which we had forgotten to take with us. Then it was back to Housekeeping camp. We showered while the laundry was in the wash, then sat in the van watching The Bourne Identity while it dried. After laundry, it was off to the village to pick up bread, ice, and eyeball the touristy souvenirs. Lunch was Aldi’s brand Spaghetti-Os. Jenny left for the bathroom while Denny was cleaning up and returned to see a large blackbird carrying off what was left of our doughnuts, in the plastic wrapper and all. After that was a short nap in the van, watching part of Risky Business, and a short 3 mile hike to Mirror Lake. Bruce and Terri got back sometime while we were out hiking and they looked tired out. Bruce made it to the top, Terri decided the base of the dome was good enough for her. Their day started out nearly running into two bears on the hiking trail. The rest was just a long day and from what it sounds like, a very scary hike. Bruce took Ranger Rubber Ducky up to the top of Half Dome with him and took pics to prove it. Apparently R.R.Ducky became quite a celebrity over by Nevada falls with other people even taking pictures of him. Our final Yosemite dinner was pudgie pies over the campfire and then we packed up the van and took off around 6:53 pm for home.

11:45 pm We hit some snow about one hour away from Reno on I-80. It kinda sucked. Got heavy enough to be considered a blizzard in some areas. We tried to record some of the footage, but it’s hard to see at night.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Denny drove till 4:00 AM. Bruce drove and hit heavy snow in the eastern part of Nevada and we changed to Mountain Time some time here. The snow was at around 7:00 AM – 8:00 AM. We stopped for gas at 9:00 Mountain time somewhere outside of Salt Lake City. Terri informs us that to add to our list of roadkill, a bird decided to attempt a suicide mission on our front bumper. Didn’t really phase the van, but the bird is dead.

11:45 AM (mtn time) stopped for lunch at Little America, WY. Heated up some chili, bought a few snacks, and used the very clean restroom facilities (as their billboards promised).

9 pm (central time)We stopped at an Applebees in North Platte, NE for dinner. We’re excited at the prospect of getting out of Nebraska, but unfortunately we have 2/3 of the state left to go, boo. Today has been a relatively quiet day. Everyone seems pretty burned out. The driving conditions haven’t helped much. It’s been REALLY windy when it hasn’t been snowy.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

4 am (central time) Hit a deer at mile marker 181 near Grinnell, IA. The drive had been going pretty quietly…but no such luck to be home by 7 as hoped. We had swerved and missed two other deer not even 30 miles back. Poor Bruce will be feeling that swerve for awhile as he was sleeping in the back and the camping stuff fell on him. Gotta love stupid animals. I swear that the one we hit was waiting in the median for us to pass by and it literally ran right into us.

7:30 am Finally back in WI! Don’t really care about anything much at this point but getting home, eating a decent meal, taking a shower, having clean clothes, and getting a good night’s sleep.

Not really coherent enough to understand the clock, but we think it’s around 8:30ish. We pulled into the driveway and Bruce and Terri promptly headed home for a nap. Jenny and Denny emptied out the van to get it start airing out (man this thing really smells bad now) then took a nap of their own in a nice cozy bed finally. It’s good to be back home.