Coast2Coast with Yaya

California

2007-10-07T16:50:00.000-07:00

Joshua Tree National Park

We left mesa and Colleen's friend Stacey on Sunday the 30th of September and drove West through the endless suburban-ontop-of-desert spawl that is Phoenix which must be an evolutionary step towards living in Space as no one ventures outdoors except to get into an air-conditioned car to transport them to another air-conditioned dwelling or store. Desert, desert desert everywhere. We drove to Joshua Tree National Park, got our Jr. Ranger Booklets, took a quick hike through the Hidden Valley and drove past a zillion Joshua Trees which are just really big Yucca plants. We found some BLM land North of the park which doubled as a 4-wheel ATV riding range and made our camp, had a nice fire and watched the stars and Milky Way wheel overhead.

The Sierra Nevadas

The following day we took advantage of the jogging stroller we've been packing atop our car and went for an early morning desert run before heading North through more desert. Colleen has been taking her turn at the wheel while I sit in back with Yaya who is wonderful at amusing herself. She plays with Coco, Hippo and BearBear as well as her Gaga and Yaya dolls Mommy made her and then there are the Crazy Grrl and Crazy Boy finger puppets Gamma gave to her.

We drove North until we came upon the Eastern Flanks of the Sierra Nevadas and then we took a winding road into the heart of them and found a nice camp spot at about 8,000 feet. The cool night air was refreshing after the furnace that was Phoenix and Joshua Tree and we enjoyed playing in the cool mountain stream we found near-by

Colleen stands upon a streamside Glacial Rock

We drove the rest of the way across the Sierras the next morning and had a wonderful picnic lunch beside the North Fork of the Kern River before getting back in the car and slugging on to Sequoia National Park. The western foothills of the Sierras are lovely rolling grass and mesquite tree covered hills with cattle and shade gracing their slopes before you drop into the large central valley which doubles as a massive fruit growing factory.

Sequoia National Park

We arrived at Sequioa just in time to find a camp spot for the night. Our fellow campers told us of the bobcat they had just seen and warned us about the bears that roam the campground in search of food. We made sure all of ours was out of the car and in the food locker at our campsite. We made yummy dinner and popcorn and had our nightly fire. In the morning we visited the visitors center for our Jr. Ranger Booklets and then drove to the Grove of Giants up and up and up twisty mountain roads as the giant trees only grow between 5,000 and 7,000 feet above sea level.
There was a controlled burn goin on in the grove which made everything a bit smokey and smellin' of a campfire. We were amazed at the bigness of the trees which made us feel like little hobbits but were somewhat taken aback by all the fire-damaged and toppled over trees there were. Exhibits made it clear that the area was over-developed in the 1950's and that it's been a big job to restore the place to something akin to what John Muir found when he tramped through.

Check out these roots!!!

Having had our fill of big trees we took a 3.5 mile hike up a glacial valley through a beautiful forest towards a waterfall...

...only to find when we got there that there was no water in the Fall, only in the Spring when the river is swollen with snow melt does the water appear. No matter it was still a nice hike. We camped that night again at 8,000 feet on some BLM land at a glorious campsite that seemed on top of the world and already stocked with a weeks worth of fine quality dry hard wood for a welcoming fire for it dropped to freezing over the course of the night. Yaya insisted on being nakie in the tent even though it was 40 degrees out and made quite a fuss when it came time to bundle up in warmth for sleep.

The Pacific Ocean

We decided to leave off exploring King's Canyon National Park and juts took in the view from a vista before threading our way West out of the Sierras and down into the fruit factory valley below. We drove until we came to the sea West of San Luis Obispo at a state park called "Montana D'Oro" where we ate pizza by the sea at sunset and camped within sound of the waves on the beach :)

The next morning we beach combed for rocks and shells with Yaya and celebrated the Coast2Coast completion before heading South to Santa Barbara for a day at the beach which was not so fun with 40 mph winds and lots of sand in our sandwiches.

Looking that night for a campground we came across a Chumash Inter-Tribal Pow Wow and were invited to camp there for the night. The next day we enjoyed the sights and sounds and drumming as well as some fry bread before heading the final hour south to Camarillo and our Journey's End at Colleen's Uncle Michael's house.

Uncle Michael has 5 kids, Brendan, Blaine, Taylor, Bonnie and Devin and they are really nice kids. They cooked us yummy meals and on Sunday (while I stayed home to watch the Red Sox complete there ALDS sweep of the Angels) they took Colleen and Yaya bike riding down by the sea!

Here are all the California Kutins, Blaine, Taylor, Bonnie, Devin and Brandon!

Phoenix Arizona

2007-09-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

Ambiana's favorite time is "Nakie-in-the-Tent' time just before bed. She gets so excited to have all her clothes off and then acts super sillious, laughing and clowing and tumbling around the tent. She loves it so much she sometimes gets Nakie in the Morning too!

After we left the Lake Powell campsite we drove south into Arizona all the way to the Petrified Forest national park which was a drive through park and we stayed just long enough to look at some wood turned to stoen and collect our 4th Jr. Ranger badge. Just out of the park were 2 gift shops on opposite sides of the road offering free camping but one required a $20 purchase so it wasn't really free so we chose the other one and spent the night there and drove the next day into Phoneix to visit Colleen's friend Stacey and have a little vacation from our Road Trip Life.

Ambiana, Me & the Sunset

Sunday September 30th, 2007

Stacey, Yaya and Colleen
We spent almost 4 days in Phoenix (Mesa really) visiting Stacey, her boyfriend, her family, her Grandma and enjoying her apartment complex's pools and eating lots of food and enjoying the sunsets. We bathed, washed our clothes, re-supplied, watched a video of Stacey & Colleen in a 3rd grade rendition of Romeo & Juliet and updated our blog (duh!!!) We are now ready to push off West in quest of California and a handfull of National Parks arriving eventually at Colleen's Uncle Mike's where we will end our Coast2Coast Trip and jet off to Fiji on October 9th!!!!

Canyonlands: Horseshoe Canyon

2007-09-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

We left Canyonlands in the early afternoon and drove north to I-70 for a spell on over to Green River where we got directions for the dirt road to Horseshoe Canyon and some french fries for a our lard craving bellies. We then found the road and started on an epic 47 mile journey across the desert. There were some mud slurries to be negotiated and I had to leave the car several times to sound puddles for depth or to determine the best route across streams across the road. We scraped mud once which made Colleen nervous but for the most part the road was fine and the scenery exceptional. We arrived at the canyon's edge and found a solitary car in an empty campground.

Ambiana amused herself stacking condiments as we set up camp and made dinner. Horseshoe canyon contains excellent pictographs at the end of a 3.5 mile hike into the canyon. It is also the canyon where Aaron Ralston was trapped for 6 days until he managed to cut off his right hand. We had no plans to followhis route into the canyon. We made a sweet fire, went on a bearhunt, had popcorn and then slept blissfully under an increasingly full moon.

In the morning we packed up and then made ready to hike into the Canyon. Yaya hiked the first 1/2 mile before goin monkey-back on me. Two other cars arrived during breakfast and we had company in the canyon below. There were four pictograph sites, the best being the last. It was a fun hike up a winding canyon riverbed over slippy mud and the occassional quicksand pit. The pictures were impressive but a mystery...ritualistic shamanic aids or the doodlings of bored pueblo kids???

We hiked in and out in about 4 hours and then drove out over 30 more miles of dirt road. The alignment of our tires was off and the steering wheel was vibrating something crazy so when we finally stopped at the Hite marina campsite beside the dwindling waters of Glen Canyon's Lake Powell I crawlewd beneath the Vibe and dislodged copious amounts of concrete-like mud which had plastered the underside and the wheels of the car.

There was no one at the campsite most likely because you can't put a boat in where there is not enough water. We scavanged some wood and had a roaring fire, another bearhunt and some more popcorn befoe another moonfull night of sleep and dreams.

Arches & Canyonlands National Park

2007-09-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

Delicate Arch

We drove North into Utah onto Hwy 191 and headed to Moab while Colleena and Ambiana napped in the back. We arrived around 4pm and stopped in at the visitor's center at Arches National Park to find a hike and apply for our Jr. Ranger Badges. We made our weekly Friday call to Gaelen during Gammy's visit and spoke to everyone but Eden. Molly says Gaelen is thriving in Kindergarden, is the goalie on his soccer team and has already been to a classmates Birthday Party. Molly has startred massage school, my Mom comes up from Boston to stay with gaelen while Molly is in class all day Saturdays. Her and gaelen play baseball and go bowling. I am so fortunate that my mom can be there for Gaelen when I am not.

After we got off the phone we drove out to the Delicate Arch Trailhead and found it packed full of cars and sunset hikers. We cooked a veggie stirfry with some Quimwah behind the Vibe and then set out along the red sandstone trail along with the masses. It was a Photo Mecca trek with loys of cameras and tripods up a beautiful slickrock face painted deep red by the setting sun. As we cleared the last sandstone rim trail the arch opened up before us and the hundreds already there with their cameras clicking away as the sunset washed over the arch and the moon waxed above.

Half-Moon over Arch
When the last of the light slipped off the rock I strutted out beneath it for a picture and that opened the floodgates and soon there was a line of folks waiting to be pictured beneath it.

Morning Glory Arch

We camped for the night along the Colorado River in a canyon just South of the park entrance. I first camped in this canyon in 1989 at a pull-off I was unable to find this time 19 years later. Colleen spotted the BLM campground where we pitched our tent for $5 a night. There is a hiking trail and a mountain bike trail right across the road from the campground which was full of hikers and mountain bikers. We slept in a moon pool with no tarp on our tent and in the morning after breakfast we went up a canyon on the hiking trail in search of Morning Glory Arch.

The trail followed a beautiful clear running stream and was strewn with beautiful wildflowers. 'purple flower" Ambiana kept saying & showing us until Colleen couldn't resist and had to sit in amongst some for a photo!

We stopped on the way back near the trail head for a dip in the stream and Yaya hiked the remaining trail back to the highway.

Double Arch

After lunch and a quick trip to the Moab Library we went back to Arches to get our Jr. Ranger Badges and to make a short hike out to Double Arch. We met a nice couple on the trail who took this family picture of us. We raced a rainstorm back to our campsite and slept beneath the pitter patter spash splash of the falling rain.

Canyonlands

The rain had passed by morning and we made a futile attempt to find a greasy spoon for breakfast in Moab so we drove up the the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park and made a yummy breakfast, got out Jr. Ranger badges, and did a short hike out along the rim tip of the Mesa overlooking all the canyons of Canyonlands!

Hermit's Rest Hike and Mesa Verde

2007-09-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

After our hike along the Black Canyon rim we hit the road and wombled along the Canyon SouthEast finding a sweet viewpoint down ito the Canyon. A Ranger on his lunch break told me about the trail to the bottom and the beach there and the waterfall and cold caves along the way. He also told me he built the trail 30 some years ago along with the viewpoint's posts and rails. Colleen and I decided it would be a good hike down so we went for it and descended 808 feet along a cystal clear running stream running over rocks and falls down to where it met the Gunnison River at the bottom of the Canyon. We could feel the cold from the caves as we passed a big boulder fieldbut it was the sunslice on the beach we sought and languished in until the Earth's turning took us out of view of the sun.

Mama & Yaya @ Trail's End.

It was a sweet little womble find a 4 mile roundtrip up and down hike and then it was drive drive drive all the way to Ouray Colorado which I remember fondly as a quaint town at the mouth of a big canyon with a public hot pool in the middle. We found a richey-rich touristy town with way expensive pizza but a beautiful view. We camped south of town up up up up and up in a amphitheatre basin overlooking the town.

Ah tent life with a waxing moon...

The next day was drive drive drive some more through the San Juan's and past Telluride, we didn't stop in because we didn't want to see another touristy richey-rich town, so we drove and drove until Yaya peed herself and we got out to let her poop. She's been peeing in the tent and in the grocery store as she doesn't always tell us when #1 is coming. We are on it now and take her to pee before we get in the car and and right when we get out or every hour or so if we are out of the car. Once out of the mountains we found a nice children's park to run around in with Yaya for awhile before deciding to make our next stop...

Mesa Verde National Park

We arrived around 5pm and bought the Park Pass for $80 and decided to take a hike along the mesa rim out to a view point overlooking the big broad Montezuma Valley. We decided to spend the night at the park campground among the deer and the motorhomes and found a nice little spot tucked in among the Juniper and Pinyon pine with a moon and mountain view. After dinner a storm linguered to the West lightning splashing among the clouds as the quarter moon set among the stars of the Milky Way. Must be able to see the Milky Way is right up there with library on the list of things our new homeplace must have.

The next morning we woke early and drove up to the visitor center to make yummy oatmeal and dry the tent and apply for our Jr. Ranger badges. We then drove to the museum and wombled the exhibits filling in answers in our books before wandering down to the stone homes built under the overhang of a sandstone cliff.

I climbed into a Kiva as did Colleen but Ambiana wanted no part of that :) After we turned in our books and got sworn in as Jr. Rangers we decided we had had enough of the construction delays on the park road and decided to head out and North to Moab Utah.

Paonia and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

2007-09-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

Crystal River in Redstone

After hiking up to Hanging Lake we drove into Glenwood Springs and after a quick stop at the grocery for some fruit we headed South towards Carbondale racing the sunset and the rainstorm that accompanied it. We drove through carbondale and headed West towards Redstone, driving along the western flank of Mt. Sopris. We found a campground and set up camp, cooked dinner, saw the moon. Ambiana helps Mom with dinner while I set up the tent. It was a cold damp night but we were snuggly warm in our tent. I don't miss the 4 walls we left behind. In the morning after breakfast we drove down the road which becomes Redstone's main street with cute old houses on either sides and mountains and golden aspen all about. We like this town but find it has no library though it does have a good park with swings on the river and a bridge to cross. Tablets proclaim that Redstone was a planned community of coal workers and their families bult on the premise that if you housed our workers well they would be better workers. Didn't last long as the humanitarian baron was bought out by the scoundrels who still own us today. Now the baron's house is a tour, the town full of shops selling richey-rich decor stuff.

We walk the street to and fro and then drive on and find Yaya a waterfall on the South end of town and get out of the car, breathe deep, ahhhh, and soak in the sun next to it...pretty place, nice mountains with the previous nights rain rising up and away on the morning sun in big puffy clouds.

PAONIA

Up up over a mountain pass and into the next valley, not as lush as the one we just left, we descend next to a stream through grassy brown country, trees by the water and an occasional house. The stream becomes a a canyoned creek and the coal extraction sites and equipment appear, little towns and trailers clustered next to them, the creek becomes a resevoir, very low water and we enter the valley plain, big rocky ridge mountain to the SouthEast. We pull into Paonia, find a park with trees and a slide, Yaya and mama go off and make friends and I dry the tent and join them for picnic, we next find the library and then walk the streets. Checking it out, would we like to live here? It doesn't look like a tourist town, doesn't feel like one, Tree lined streets, old houses, farmfields we see as we drive South out of town, no big box stores or strip malls or ski resorts, just mountains, a valley, some crops and people.

We drive South through a couple more small towns that have the same rural feel and then tack west on a gravel road to the north rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We camp on the edge in a small but very full campground. After set up and yum meal we hike sunset to the edge of the Canyon which was so steep and deep that it gave me vertigo. Yaya loved it, almost tossed Coco over the edge, had no fear but made daddy queasy when she would approach the edge and pear over through the fence.

We made our first fire that night and Colleen made popcorn and we sat around the flames Colleen telling stories to Yaya and me and taking us on our very first BEARHUNT!!! The next morning we hiked through the high deset scrub smelling so junipery and sagey and dry to several viewpoints across and down into the abyss. Truely awe-inspiring. We taught Ambiana what a dry wash was when we passed through one and she began pointing them out and counting them. 1, 2, 3, 8!!! She also sings her ABC's when hiking or the 'woah gaga' refrain from 'Trot Ol' Joe'

Yaya and Coco

Nebraska & Colorado

2007-09-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

NEBRASKA

We arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska where Colleen's friend Alisha lives and had a fine time at a waterfront park and at the library. We found Alisha's house but no one answered the door so we napped in the car and after an hour Alisha came out, I guess she didn't hear the bell the 1st time :) Her house was full of teddy bears which was a treat for Yaya. Colleen made a yummy meal for us and we spent the night leaving the next morning for Colorado.

A VISIT W/ COUSIN RYAN IN BOULDER COLORADO

We drove all day with a sick Colleen in the car and arrived in Colorado in the evening and camped up in the hills West of Boulder. In the morning we drove down to Boulder to meet Colleen's cousin Ryan. We stopped at these falls on the way down. Ambiana loves waterfalls and asks to hike to one everyday!!

Ryan took us for a fun little hike up the FlatIrons. I wore Ambiana on my back in the sling and she slept all the way up and all the way down. No waterfalls :(

TONY'S HOUSE IN FAIRPLAY COLORADO

After we said good bye to Ryan we drove back up into the mountains to Fairplay where my brother Tony has a house and visited with him for 2 days.

We met his neighbors, Courtney and Seth who cooked us a yummy Tofu meal!

We ate yummy meals and Yaya loved all 3 of Tony's dogs. We went for a little hike to a pond and watched the Sox lose to the Yankees :(

OUR BRIEF WINTER

It snowed up high the day we left Tony's and as we cruised over Hoosier Pass (11,500ft) we stopped to play in the snow as this is likely the only snow we see all year (unless we climb Mauna Kea in Hawai'i)

Yaya inherited her mother's love of eating snow :)

HANGING LAKE

We stopped at Hanging Lake in Glenwood Canyon and hiked 1.2 miles up to it.

Ambiana was thrilled as there was a waterfall at the end of the trail where we stopped for a picnic lunch!

Iowa Morning

2007-09-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

We drove through the night and arrived at Lake Anita State Park around 1:30am and set up the tent under a sky full of blazing stars. Here is Yaya emerging from the tent this morning.

More Chicago...

2007-09-13T13:36:00.000-07:00

We spent Sunday night at Colleen's Mom's house and the next day Bill (Colleen's Mom's Husband) took the day off and we went to the Garland Park Conservatory. It was a bunch of huge greenhouses with an sculpture exhibit going on among the plants and out on the grounds. Here we are in the main hall

The sculptures were big and colorful and very childlike, not only Ambiana liked to climb on them, but Colleen and her Mom as well!!

Yaya and me liked this baseball player alot, yaya is still talking about the baseball game she went to in Toledo and how much fun it was!!!

Ambiana and Grampy Jim
We spent Tuesday and Wednesday getting ready to leave for Nebraska, we visited the Clancy's and forgot to take our camera so no pictures of them unfortunately but we did have a fine time with them and their new dog Scout. We left Chicago at 7pm on Wednesday bound for Nebraska!

Chicago and Colleen's 31st Birthday!!!

2007-09-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

We left Toledo Saturday morning and drove to Chicago where we celebrated Colleen's birthday at her Aunt Karen's house in Naperville.

On Sunday we BBQ'd at Colleen's Dad's house in Orland Park.

And in the evening we went to Colleen's Mom's house in Palatine for yet another birthday celebration. Here is Ambiana with her mom, her granddmother and her great-grandmother.

Toledo Mudhens vs. Durham Bulls

2007-09-07T22:27:00.000-07:00

We left Columbus for my Dad's in Toledo Ohio were we spent 2 days with my Dad and my sister Patti. We all went out Friday night to a Toledo Mud Hens play-off game at the ballpark in Downtown Toledo.

It was Yaya's very 1st baseball game and she had a great time. The park is very family friendly with a playground out in centerfield and after 3-4 innings Yaya ended up out there. There were 2 rain delays which Yaya made the most of playing in puddles and delighting the crowd.

Mud Hens 2 Bulls 5

Here we are right before our departure for Chicago!!!

Day 2: 1000 miles by Car

2007-09-04T08:37:00.001-07:00

I arrived at the Scahills at 12:30am, no one was waiting up for me though I bet if Ambiana was with me Jan would have been on the couch awaitin' :) I slipped upstairs into the big comfy bed and fell right asleep. I was up at 8:30am and found a note from Jan and Bill saying they were at church and they pulled up as I was reading it. We visited till 11:30am before I hit the road again, it may be our last waystop here as they bought a house in South Carolina with Tim and are moving there next summer.

I arrived in Toledo at 7pm and had a nice supper with Dad, Patty was at a Mud Hens game and I didn't see her till the next morning. Poppa woke me up at *am and after a quick repast of granola Patti helped me unload the canoe and take it off the car. I was back on the road by 9am and at Colleen's dad's house by 12:30 CDT. It took me an hour to unload Colleen's packing job and then I hit the road again for Columbus and my lovies.

Meanwhile in Columbus Ohio...

Colleen and Yaya arrived in Columbus on Saturday night. On Sunday Stormy, Zane and Stone drove up from Cinncinnati to visit them

Colleen and Yaya are staying with Colleen and Michael, recently back from 2 years in Japan (see their blog on the right-hand sidebar;) I arrived at 9:30pm Monday night with a pizza and found them all playing happily in the living room! 2gether again!!! We are going to enjoy some time here in Columbus and then head North to my Dad's so he and Patti can spend sometime with Ambiana before we head West to Chicago for Colleen's 31st Birthday Part at Aunt Karen's!

On Our Way

2007-09-01T22:17:00.000-07:00

Colleen and Yaya flew out of Chicopee on Skybus @ 7pm headed for Columbus. Hannah's Mom Wendy drove them to the Westover AirBase and I stayed behind with Gaelen and Gamma to wait for Molly who arrived just as they were pulling out. This was the easiest goodbyes of them all, Molly even opened her arms and embraced me with a hug:) I was on the road by 6:45pm, Keith waving to me from his yard...off through the night to Webster...

NY Thruway 10:17pm

Bye Bye House

2007-09-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

Gamma spent two days with us as we took the house apart around us, Gaelen was also here for the dismantling and a good thing it was for him to participate in our leaving. April is a long way away but I am grateful for the last 2 years with him and am ready to embrace the next phase our growth, time apart is a cocoon.

Before we left we paid one last visit to the Library, our favorite place...

...and feasted on pizza as the gas was turned off on the last day of August.

By 4pm Saturday the house was as empty as we found it, our lives and possessions removed and a space opened up for new life to come in.

Bye-bye House