One Final Fun Filled Day

The next day we were up bright and early yet again, though we actually slept in until about 9:00AM.  Woo hoo!  Today we would be walking past Pier 39 again for some touristy trinkets before taking the trek over to Ghirardelli. 

The train ride was one of the strangest I had taken in a while and this is from someone who lives in NYC.  There was a very angry woman who kept yelling at people for random reasons, but mostly if they appeared to be of a certain race.  Our group confused the hell out of her which was fine as it kept us in the clear for the most part.  I won’t lie, it was interesting to hear her go off on a foul mouth tirade only to fall quiet for a moment before the next trolley stop.  As soon as the doors opened, she would start screaming again as the next group of passengers got on and sat next to her.  The look of horror on their faces as she screamed at the top of her lungs was mildly entertaining, but after a while her hate spewed messages got on my nerves and I tried to sleep.  Not going to happen as someone accidently touched her bag with their leg as they walked past her setting her off into an even crazier fevered pitch of obscenities.  From there, she kept targeting this poor Japanese tourist about how she had “accidently on purpose” hit her bag. 

Craptastic Photo

Now I am not a fan of the crazy tour buses or “party” buses as they are called.  You know the ones I am talking about.  Those buses that play cheesy party music while the passengers wear silly hats and sing along while the tour guide tells terrible jokes.  Yeah, that one.  Look, I won’t judge you for taking one, at least you got out of your hometown and decided to travel so that’s a start.  But I won’t lie, they really do annoy the hell out of me.

Well, for the first time in my life the Party Bus did the most amazing thing possible to which I would owe it my gratitude forever.  It shut the screaming beast up for the rest of our ride.  The Party bus was right next to us playing some disturbing disco song which stopped her ranting and raving for the first time in 20 minutes.  She opened her window and started to ask where she could join the party bus as the disco music appeared to bring her back to the happy place of her youth.  Between the tour guide giving her information about the tour through the window and her fascination with disco, this women was quiet for the rest of the ride.  Who knew disco could hold so much awesome power.  Thanks Party Bus!

Just What the Sign Says

After the ride from hell, we looked at a few shops but found them spendy and decided to grab some lunch.  I opted to eat fresh at Subway as my system was shutting down from all the garbage and booze I had been putting into my body.  The others totally went for it and grabbed the In and Out Burger option.  After my memory of the Animal Fries, I knew I just couldn’t do it as it brought back too many bad memories. 

But I wasn’t completely giving up on destroying my system, I was just saving it up for our trip to Ghirardelli.  I see it this way, you won’t feel as bad if you eat healthy for most of the day and then blow it later on on something that is really bad for you.  In the end, I didn’t do that poorly as I only ordered a sugar filled hot chocolate and a mocha cupcake from the store next door.  Damn it was good and life remained a wonderful thing.

After Ghirardelli, we decided to check out the Palace of the Fine Arts in the Marina District.  A little history lesson: the Palace of the Fine Arts was built for The Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915.  After the Expo was finished, the structure was supposed to be completely demolished.  That is until a group of 33,000 people signed a petition to save the palace portion of the exhibit. 

Behold!  The Palace of Fine Arts!!!

The Palace was looked after by different groups, but over time it began to fall in disrepair due to its poor structure.  The Palace of Fines Arts was never built for longevity as it was only suppose to be in use until the end of the Expo in 1915.  In 1964 The Palace was completely torn down except for the original steel beams and rebuilt to its former glory though a hell of a lot more stable.

At this time, The Palace of Fines Arts is under construction yet again making it less accessible to the masses as it is not possible to look at much of it due to the cyclone fences everywhere.  In the long run, it is worth it as it really is a beautiful and unique asset to San Francisco.  Having been there before, I have some unobstructed photos, so I will use those as they have more wow factor. 

The Palace of Fines Arts is definitely one of my favorite places in San Francisco.  In fact, if I were ever to move back, you would fine me there often as it is just that wonderful.  It really is beautiful and quite special.  The neighborhood itself is quite amazing, but the transportation is quite limited to get there, but there is a bus that does the trick, though it is one long ride depending where you are coming from.

The Columns of the Palace

After The Palace, we headed over to a viewing area to see the Golden Gate Bridge as I had only seen it in passing a few times in the brief time I was in San Francisco.  By the time we hit the beach area, it was foggy, windy and very cold.  I turned to look over at my beloved bridge only to find a hint of the orange red paint peeking out from behind the thick fog.  Yes, the bridge was covered in fog.  Not surprising, it was San Francisco, but still disappointing none the less.  Still, we all had a great time walking along the beach taking photos and drifting off into our own little worlds.  Even with the poor weather, the area was teaming with life, from joggers to bicyclists, picnickers to boaters, tourists to photographers.  It really was a lively area.  We continued to walk around the area until we found our bus stop which was in a beautiful area that most people in this lifetime will never be able to afford. 

I was running out of time, so I decided to get myself packed up before heading to dinner.  The other three would be staying another night as they would be leaving in the morning.  We wanted to stay near by the hotel, so we headed to a nearby Thai Restaurant without checking the reviews.  Always, check the reviews, my friend.  The service was great, the food, not so much.  I was a little disappointed as I love Thai food, but at least this meal would stop the gluttony that had surrounded this trip as I had no interest in finishing my meal. 

Look Ma!  Alcatraz! 

So we dodged a few needles on the way back to the hotel, grabbed my things and were off to the airport for my redeye flight.  All and all, the trip had been a huge success.  Yes, I was disappointed I didn’t get to fully see the view of the San Francisco Bridge, but I guess I can look at past photos or do a Google search, but it isn’t the same.  Still, almost every other aspect had been a winner even if they started out a little rough.

One thing I know for sure is that I will be back to San Francisco.  I absolutely love this city and though it is expensive, I could see myself living here again someday.  I live in NYC, I can handle expensive, trust me.  So, if you see yourself heading the West Coast, definitely stop by the amazing city as it is one of a kind.

Alcatraz Mixed with Crazy Parrots Equals Gluttony

The next day we were up at around 8:00AM but not by choice as much as by the crazy druggie couple screaming on the street about a cell phone and how they needed some meth.  It really wasn’t that big of a deal as we needed to get up anyway if we wanted to get everything we wanted to done.

So we headed downstairs for our free breakfast.  I have to be honest, though I enjoyed the Hotel Bijou a lot due to its kitschy style and cool staff I didn’t much care for the breakfast crew.  Whenever we went downstairs, we would find that half the food options were missing so we would be left with cereal and maybe a piece of fruit.  Where the hell were the eggs and the bagels?  We don’t know and the staff didn’t really care at all.  They were rude and stunk!

Chinatown!

But we got our fill and moved on for the day.  Our first stop was for a little shopping as we were in a prime shopping area.  So we hit a handful of stores, though nothing really caught my fancy so I grabbed a coffee and enjoyed the people watching as the others finished up.

After the crew had met up again, we headed to Chinatown.  You can’t go to San Francisco without a visit.  As we walked past the dragons guarding the brick arches, a familiar feeling swept over me.  I am originally from San Francisco but hadn’t been in Chinatown since I was a kid.  It totally took me back in time as I remember coming here with my family to have Chinese food before grabbing some shrimp chips and wandering around the city. 

I will say that Chinatown is a lot smaller than I remember it being, but then again, when you are a kid everything seems grander.  Also, I am used to the Chinatown in NYC which is large and crazy!  There are vendors and restaurants everywhere in NYC’s Chinatown.  Also, it is a little rougher around the edges in comparison to San Francisco’s.  In fact, I was pretty impressed by how clean and organized it was, though the peddlers will work you hard for a sale.  In the end, I did by a pretty scarf to take home with me as NYC winters are harsh and this scarf looked like it could handle the job.

Taking the F Train

We also looked at a few balloon toys as one of my friends wanted to buy something for his close buddy.  Luckily, a very nice Chinese woman stopped him from buying it as it was supposed to be an offering or gift to someone who has died.  None of us saw that coming.  She was actually very nice about it an explained the custom to him and suggested he get something a little more appropriate for the living. 

After he found a gift, we crossed the street to pick up moon cakes at a local bakery.  Moon cakes are chock full of unhealthy goodness and are quite delicious.  Really, they are fat surrounded by more fat, but damn they are good.  They are generally eaten during the Mid Autumn Festival with green tea, though I think they are available year round. 

After eating our desserts, we headed over to a restaurant that we had heard through the grapevine was the best food in Chinatown.  Well, I am happy to say that this was not an exaggeration.  Honestly, this was the best Chinese food I have ever eaten.  I had the walnut and honey shrimp on rice and as a group we shared dumplings and the best salt and pepper squid I have ever eaten.  If squid is not fresh or prepared wrong, it sucks!  This was amazing!  Also, the walnut honey shrimp was ridiculously good.  This place was so damn amazing, I think I have been ruined for life.  Dramatic, but true! 

Alcatraz

After lunch, we waddled over to the F train as we had tickets to see Alcatraz around 3PM.  The lines to the ferry are long but we kept ourselves entertained by watching the people pose in front of an image of Alcatraz.  I hate these things, I really do.  They have them everywhere now.  Why do I need a picture of me and company in front of a fake set up of Alcatraz?!?  It’s not like it is some sort of resort or the Eiffel Tower, it is Alcatraz!  It was a crazy ass maximum security prison!   Still, they require that everyone takes the obligatory photo, so we acted all bad ass for the photo making the photographer laugh at our stupidity.

After the photo, it was onto the Ferry.  I am not a fan of water or ferries.  Why?  Because they sink, I have seen it in the news, though not in San Francisco.  Still, I really hate them thanks to the whole water thing.  So, I hid behind a glass section of the ferry snapping photos from behind the glass periodically before disappearing behind it again.  It was as if I was in a shoot out.  In the end, the ride was pretty painless and only took 10-15 minutes. 

Watch Tower

Alcatraz is a self guided tour which is always nice.  This gave all four of us time to go our separate ways for a few hours so that we would not strangle each other later from over exposure.  Though we met up a few times to take some amazing action shots inside the cells; some of the shots even included posing with toilets.  Look, Alcatraz is depressing, so after a while you really have to break it up by turning that frown upside down.  Unfortunately, to save the reputation of some in the group, I will not be posting any of the cell photos.

I have to say, I really enjoyed the tour and found the history really interesting.  There are many stories including the prisoner take over of a cell block and how a group of three guys actually escaped Alcatraz though it is believed they died in the bay somewhere as they were never found on land where the authorities were waiting for them.  Still, nobody knows for sure what happened to these guys.

Another interesting fact is that families actually lived there.  They even had a school and various holiday parties for the children of the wardens and other workers of Alcatraz.  The best story was probably about how the children would go into the cell blocks and sing Christmas carols bringing many of the prisoners to tears.

If you go to Alcatraz, you may want to bring a coat as it is very windy in the middle of the water.  I can’t even imagine how cold it must get during the winter.  These guys must have been frozen in the cells as the structure doesn’t seem that weather proof.  The other odd thing is that the view from the recreation yard is an amazing panoramic view of the San Francisco skyline.  I can’t imagine being taunted by that view everyday.  So close to humanity, yet so far.  Yes, I know many of them deserved to be there, but still, talk about dangling a carrot in someone’s face.  In the end, I really enjoyed my excursion to Alcatraz. 

Filbert Steps

After the ferry ride back, we decided it was time for dinner.  But first, we decided that we wanted to see the Coit Tower up close and personal.  The easy answer would be to take the transit up to the top and enjoy the view before heading to the pizzeria.  But no, I suggested we walk up the Filbert Steps as it would be faster in the long run and more adventurous.  Sure, if everyone in the group was training for the Olympics.

The Filbert Steps are 300+ steps that lead you past a bunch of cute houses surrounded by foliage and crazy parrots that mock you from their hiding spots in the trees.  Yes, it sounds like a crazy dream after a night of wild binge drinking, but it is indeed real!  Angie looked at me like I was insane after staring up at the first few flights.  At the time, I had no idea there were that many steps, I really didn’t.  From where we were standing it looked like there were maybe 75 steps total.  By the time we were halfway up the stairs, half of the group was huffing and puffing and giving me the “I hate you look.”  Okay, maybe I had overestimated the amount of steps, but it was a good way too burn off the moon cakes we had eaten earlier!

Filbert Kitty

As we took a breather, Angie informed me that there had been a grey kitty about 100 steps down.  I love cats.  A lot!  How the hell did the grey kitty escape me?  So like a mad women, I ran all the way back down until I spotted the little she devil.  She was adorable and playful, but feisty.  After about 10 minutes, I realized I was holding the group up and ran all the way back up to the top of the steps.  Yes, I took the steps two at a time until I got to about the final thirty where I took a breather.  At the top the other three stood talking to a local about the tower.  I finished the walk and met up with the others taking in the mighty tower.  Luckily, we had all survived the experience and continued on to have a fine evening of amazing pizza and delicious gelato.  We decided after our gluttonous day that it would be best if we walked around San Francisco at night to walk off some of the damage. 

San Francisco at night is a lovely thing though at times chilly.  At the end of the eveningt, I had to ask myself what had taken me so long to go back?  Yes, I live in one of the biggest and craziest cities in the US, but I was totally digging San Francisco’s vibe.  It had been too long since I had visited.  Unfortunately, I would be leaving the next day so we decided we would be getting up early yet again to take in as many sites as we could before time was up.

Pseudo Zombies and Beaches

8AM rolled around way too quickly.  I would like to say that I slept well, but being there were four people in the room and I am a light sleeper, not so much.  Still, we would be heading to Monterey to check out the coastline.  I couldn’t wait. 

So we got up, chowed down some of the complimentary breakfast and grabbed the largest cup of coffee humanly available at a nearby coffee joint before jumping into the car.  The ride towards Monterey is nothing to get excited about for the first hour or so, though we did notice that there was an abundance of traffic.  So we opted to take a breather at an outlet store area because David was feeling some In and Out Burger and they had one there. 

I have heard of In and Out Burger, but I am not into the whole beef thing, so I passed.  Though, I did catch a glimpse of the “Animal Fries.”  I have to be honest with you, it looked like puke fries.  I have seen piles on the sidewalk after a wild night of drinking in NYC that suspiciously look like these supposed animal fries.  It didn’t look appetizing at all!

So instead of watching David trying to eat the puke fries, I left with Angie to check out the nearby shopping.  We stayed for about an hour, hour and a half and we were back on our way.  Again, the traffic was horrible.  It was at a dead stop!  For some reason, none of us had really thought through this whole Labor Day thing.  Apparently, everyone and their mother wanted to go to Monterey.  We soon realized this probably was not the best idea, but we were halfway there so there was no turning back!

The good thing about all this traffic was that it gave me an excuse to take a nap.  Who could blame me, we weren’t moving at all and I hadn’t gotten more than 7.5 hours in two days.  Because the sun was so bright, I threw my jacket over my head and checked out for a good 45 minutes.  At first, my friends were confused as to what the hell I was doing as I looked like a complete idiot slumped on the seat, half of my body slipping into the area for my feet with a stupid grey coat covering my head.  But soon, they figured it out after I didn’t move an inch even after my name was called numerous times.  So they decided to let the sleeping beast lie. 

Well, let me tell you, there is nothing like a great power nap to get you going again!  I felt like a new woman! Though, I was confused as to where we were when I threw the coat off my head.  The views had changed from nature to a very questionable neighborhood.  It turned out that they had decided on an alternative route to avoid the traffic which had gotten worse.  They then realized that maybe the neighborhood we had drifted into wasn’t worth the losing of the traffic jam.  In the end, we lived and even found one of the best sandwich places of our lives, so it all worked out.  We also found Monterey.

Finally!  The promised land!  I had never been to Monterey before and had heard it was pretty amazing.  Well, I would never fully find out as the traffic was horrible.  You couldn’t even drive through the little town at all!  Parking was non existent and the crowds were everywhere blocking the streets.  This was not boding well for us, but there was no way that we were going to let this day get the best of us.  We would have fun and we would have it now!

So we opted to pay the small sum to get into Pebble Beach.  Do I like paying for beaches?  No.  Do I like avoiding huge crowds on holiday weekends?  Yes!  Between the four of us it was only a couple bucks each so we didn’t care.  Bye crazy crowds!

Pebble Beach is a private neighborhood with a ton of golf courses and rich people.  It also has the 17 mile drive where you can stop at scenic places and go onto the beach.  That was what we were about after being stuck in a car for several hours.

It really is a beautiful area with plenty of beach and rocks to climb.  It was a little nipply, but that is to be expected here.  We easily spent three to four hours at Pebble Beach as it truly is gorgeous and the sunset was one of the most beautiful I have seen in ages.  Though we had to pay to get in, I was happy with the choice as there was hardly anyone on the beaches which is exactly what we wanted. 

After the sun had practically set, we headed back towards San Francisco.  Angie decided to drive for a while as we were all pretty tired and she felt the most awake.  The rest of us were crap friends as all three of us fell asleep for the last two hours of the trip.  Yeah, I wouldn’t blame her if she hated us even just a little.

Once we got back to the hotel we decided to go to a Denny’s type place for some late night breakfast type food.  It was okay though nothing special.  There also were a lot of homeless people in the area as we were near Union Square.  Apparently, this neighborhood is over run with homeless people and drugs.  It was unnerving at times, because they would stare at you eating if you were by the window and try to come in and get food from people.  I live in NYC, I am use to the homeless, but what I have found is that the West Coast homeless tend to be a lot more aggressive.  So we grabbed the check and were back out on the street.

As we headed back to the hotel, we walked past a street person who was hiding behind a post office box.  He was shooting up heroine and had this look of euphoria that kept half of us up at night.  Me, I have seen it all, so I wasn’t shocked, but I have to admit it’s disturbing to see people who have so much promise piss their lives away on junk.

Look, the hotel was actually really good; it just becomes a zombie movie set at night due to the homeless and druggies.  Seriously, you can hear the groaning and screaming all night long, the only thing missing was the howling of “brains!”  There was one guy who was screaming for 45 minutes before someone finally open their window and yelled at the guy.  This just riled him up more.  Eventually, someone called 911 but not before yelling, “For the love of God shut the eff up!”  I have to admit, that made me laugh.  The cops finally did show up but it took three of them to get him into the car as he kept fighting them off and finally collapsed on the ground feigning a heart attack  so he wouldn’t have to go to jail.  Bizarre.  Finally, the neighborhood quieted down a notch and we were in bed by 2:00AM.  I love San Francisco, but damn the homeless are a serious problem.  They makes New York’s homeless look like English School boys!

Back to My Roots in San Francisco - State # 1

I found myself wanting to do something for Labor Day this year, but many of my friends were visiting family or rehearsing or performing in shows.  It appeared there was no way that I would be escaping from NYC, or so I thought.  It turns out a group of my friends from Oregon were planning a trip to San Francisco as a last hurrah to summer before work and school took over their lives for the next several months.  I made a joke about meeting them there; well thanks to decent prices online due to people not flying during the holiday I found a ticket that fit my budget.  Three days before they began the drive up, I had purchased a ticket making that joke a reality.

Palm Trees!

I have to say I was pretty excited!  I hadn’t been to California for a while and was ready for some nice weather as it had been getting colder and rainier in NYC for the past few days leading up to the trip.  So early Saturday morning (3:30AM earlier), I was up and ready as I could be with 2 hours of sleep.

The flight was pretty uneventful for once which was nice.  I still couldn’t sleep like usual, so turned to my studies to try to help me fall asleep, nope didn’t happen.  Strangely enough, even with the sleep deprivation, I was super excited to see my friends when the plane touched down.

The first thing on our agenda was food.  Plane food = yuck and the others had waited for my arrival and were hungry, too.  Though, I almost got into the wrong car as there was someone who looked just like my friend David.  So much so that I waved to him and jumped up and down in excitement like a maniac.  I soon realize that my friends don’t drive a minivan and this guy looked really confused if not disturbed.  Luckily, it worked out for both of us and we found our intended parties so there were no hard feelings or calls to security.

Live for the Fog

Now, it’s kind of lame, but by the time we went to our hotel we had read online about a place inside the mall that was supposedly really good.  Yeah, I know what you are thinking, mall food?  Well, it isn’t a mall joint, more of a restaurant in the mall and it got very good reviews and we were all starving so we figured why not?  I wish we had rethought that.

The restaurant was called Straits and I wish we had walked straight out of there as soon as we were introduced to the host.  He didn’t even look us in the eye and sat us in a crap seat though everything was open due to only 3 other groups being there.  He said nothing to us just threw down the menus and walked back to the front to check his Blackberry.  Uh, okay. 

Next the waiter showed up and rushed us through our order even though the place was empty.  It took forever for our food to get there and they served three of us and kept the fourth one waiting for 10 minutes before her dish showed up.  It was okay as we shared each others dishes even though the servings were very small. 

You Guessed it Pier 39

I have to say that nobody would even touch mine after they saw the chicken.  Now, I am a picky eater and I don’t much care for dark meat so I can be a pain in the ass that way.  But this chicken was beyond the normal dark meat.  It had fat and other parts attached to it making it very disturbing.  In fact, David who will eat anything, I mean ANYTHING thought it was disgusting and told me to return it.  The problem was the waiter was MIA.  He only came back after the bus boy had cleaned the table (the busboy was the only decent human being in the joint) and to kiss a little butt for a higher tip.  I was willing to let one of the worst meals of my life go, I was in San Francisco with my amazing friends and was satisfied, but David being a server at one time told the guy that the food was inedible and that he hadn’t checked on us once to get it rectified.  The server said nothing but gave us a dirty look and then took my meal off the bill.  This was one of the vilest experiences in my dining experience, seriously.  Horrid restaurant and even worse service!  After the meal, we decided to walk around a bit to get the food out of our system and I bought a coffee to wake me up and to fill me up until dinner.

After that low point in the day, we decided we needed some fun.  So we hopped on the train and were off.  After a short ride towards pier 39 on the F train, we spied a tented crafts fair and decided to get of the train.  I have to say it was disappointing, the prices were high and the stuff was just, eh.  But the churro lady there rocked!  We took a few photos and decided to hike it the rest of the way to Pier 39, though we were quite a ways a way.  Didn’t matter, it was nice outside and we were ready, especially me after sitting for 5.5 hours. 

I forgot how windy San Francisco can get at times and the fog was already rolling in and covering the skyscrapers.  It had been pretty warm leading up to this walk, but by the time we hit Pier 39 it was getting cloudy and really cold.  Still, nothing was going to stop us from checking out the seal lions and their crazy antics.  I have to say, I could watch these guys for a hours as they are that amusing, but the smell is a little overwhelming at times.  If you are not into wild life, there are also great views of Alcatraz at Pier 39 though it was almost entirely covered by fog. 

If you walk further, you will run into a little shopping area with a carousel.  Okay, I am a fan of the carousel and thought I would have a hard time convincing others to go with me but everyone but David was in.  David is a wild man and more into rides that will make you puke, so this was not his scene, though he offered to take photos.  I hate rides, I get sick very easily (Seattle Blog) and the carousel was made for kids and weenies like me!  So, the three of us grabbed our seats (dragon for me) and we were off.  I have to say, it did not disappoint even though it was really hard to get three people in a photo on a moving carousel that and it had started to rain.  Still, it was pretty sweet!

Someone's Not Sleepy

After the carousel ride, we decided to shop a little to get us out of the cold weather.  So, we dropped into a few candy stores to keep us busy.  The taffy we bought was really good though a little spendy, still, you can’t go to a coastline and not buy candy, it just isn’t right.  I don’t recall either of the names of the candy stores, but the other one had an amazing array of turtles, but they were $5.50 apiece and I couldn’t justify buying one with that price so I bought a piece of the fudge.  Not very good really.  It tasted like it was made out of the candy melts you can buy from craft stores for $2.50 a bag.  Not good.  So far the food situation had been disappointing, but I had faith in dinner.  SF couldn’t let me down in that department much longer, it just couldn’t. 

After an additional hour on the wharf, we grabbed the F train to test that theory out and I am glad we did!  The hotel we were staying at suggested that we eat at nearby sushi joint that had good food.  The sushi restaurant had a nice ambience and decent menu plus sushi boats.  I decided to get the salmon teriyaki plate and some plum wine.  Both were great!  The problem is the wine always starts a chain of events of drinking for me.  I can’t drink wine for whatever reason and soon was hankering for more drinks.  Unfortunately, the desired early night spiraled into a night of debauchery and we didn’t get to bed until 2:30AM.  Not good, as the next morning we would be getting up at 8AM for a visit to Monterey.  I was already on 2 hours of sleep from the previous night.  Oh, well.  You only live once! So, after one last drink I hit the pillow in hopes that 7.5 hours of sleep in 48 hours would be enough to make me some what functional for a day at the beach. 

Living in the Here and Now!

Finally, after weeks of transferring my blogs over from a public site, I am finished.  I am pretty ecstatic that it’s done as it’s easier for my family to access my trips and also because I am ready to start writing about my latest trips and travel thoughts in the here and now. 

I have been on two recent trips, one to San Francisco and the other to West Virgina.  I have already been to California, so unfortunately it won't help the 50 State Project, but West Virgina definitely did.  Welcome state number 23!  Yippee!

The End of the Road Trip

Look, I would like to say in the last entry that the final day was incredible and that Coeur d'Alene and the drive back home was filled with amazing adventures.  The truth?  We woke up to pouring rain...again!  I mean it was a monsoon!  So in the end, we got back in the car and started our journey home.

I would like to tell some crazy tale but the ride back to Portland was pretty tame except when Angie lamented on how she wished she had seen a bald eagle to which I replied.  "I did.  In Montana!"

To which she said, "Why didn't you say anything so I could see it?!?"

"Because you were driving in the other monsoon behind the big truck and you were focused on not plummeting into the raging river at the time."  She pondered this.  I know it totally made sense to her, but part of her wanted to throttle me.

In the end, I knew she had forgiven me when in the middle of Washington, on a long stretch to nowhere I had to stop and use the restroom, badly.  She took an exit off the freeway to get me to the little town of Lind, which was 15 miles off our chartered course.  She even was going 90 in a 65.  That is a true friend, that or she was worried about the car.  Still, even though the trip had been mostly rained out, I had a great time with my good friend who I don't see nearly enough.

Just a side note: if you are checking out the Western States, they are a heck of a lot bigger than the ones on the East Coast so you need to take your time.  I mean, you could easily spend a day or two in Rhode Island, but in a state like Idaho or Montana?  No way!  You need at least 5-6 days for each state and even then that wouldn't be enough.  At times, I really felt as if we rushed and missed out on a lot, though the rain would have held us back still.

I also learned that I live in a really polluted part of the US and am so relieved to see an area of America that is still mostly untouched by man.  It was an odd experience to be driving down a highway in Idaho only to see one or two other cars during the whole two hour trip.

I also realized after this trip that I really need to get back in touch with nature more than I have in the past couple years.  The only wildlife I get to see now is the animals pushing other people for a seat on the subway during rush hour.  I enjoy NYC, but sometimes it is a relief to get away to where people are more relaxed and kinder to each other.  Though, I won't lie, I am still disappointed I didn't get to see a Bison, Moose or Bear.  I guess there is always Wyoming...

Hiking in Glacier National Park

The next day I was pretty tired.  We were on the bottom floor of the motel and I could hear the people above me walking around since 3:30AM.  Why anyone would be up that early is beyond me.  I tried to go back to sleep but it wasn't happening.  It didn't matter, I would be going to Glacier National Park and I was stoked!  The only problem, it was drizzling...again!  Okay, we would make the most of it and hope it would pass. 

Glacier National Park is about 30 minutes from Whitefish.  I wanted coffee badly, but we didn't want to stop as we wanted a full day at the park.  It costs about $25.00 to enter but the pass is good for 7 full days so that was cool.  Even though it was overcast, we were going to make the most of it and paid the entrance fee.  We were pretty happy until we saw a sign letting us know that the majority of the Going to the Sun Road was closed as the recent weather had not cause most of the park to be thawed yet.  Again, thwarted by the rain.  That sucked!  Okay, we still were going to make the most of it and pulled into the McDonald Lake Lodge to figure out what we wanted to do which wouldn't be much, unfortunately. 

From nowhere, it began to pour...again!  Things were going downhill quickly, we decided to check out the lodge and make this day work no matter what!  Within 30 minutes the rain had stopped and the clouds began to part.  It was a miracle!  I was really happy as the animal heads in the lodge were freaking me out!

So we headed out and began our first hike.  It was a small trail which was nice, but we wanted more, so we drove up further while I read the literature on bear attacks.  Maybe I would finally get to see a bear!  I soon realized that the trail we were on was too near civilization and wildlife would most likely be further up where we were not allowed to go.  Still, I did end up seeing a squirrel and chipmunk...

This new trail was longer though quite muddy due to the rainfall, but I didn't care, the rain had stopped!  The trail was easy, but great and led up to a beautiful waterfall for those who are more adventurous.  Due to the melting snow the water was raging so I made sure to stay away from the muddy edge, though there were a few crazies jumping around from rock to rock near the edge.  Even though stupid, I have to respect those who don't understand fear!

After our hike and crazy waterfall adventure, we headed up the Going to the Sun Road as it was open a little bit more if you were willing to hike.  We were!  The view was beautiful, but we wanted more so we headed off the beaten track.  Angie was freaked for my life, but I was like a bobcat and kept landing on my feet as I ran down a long ravine and jumped from rock to rock.  Reluctantly, Angie joined me and in the end we both thought it was worth it and decided to hang around the spot for a while.  It was deserted and amazing.  Lesson learned; take the lesser taken road!

Since we couldn't go any further we headed back down to McDonald Lake and spent the rest of our time there gazing out into the pristine lake.   The sun danced on the water, dazzling off of blue and green waves of the purest water.  It was amazing.  We took our time in this area a while to fully take it all in as neither of us had seen water as blue and green as this before except in pictures.

One thing for sure, I will come back to Glacier National Park as I would like to see more of it.  That and I want to take on that 7 mile hike as that is more my style.  Maybe, finally I will see a bear or a moose, anything more than a chipmunk.  Still, it had been a great day with plenty of nature so I was satisfied.

But before leaving the area, Angie and I decided to stop at a local specialty store that sold Huckleberries.  It was a little odd as it had cutouts of celebrities on the front of the store and claimed all the celebrities shopped there.  Angie figured that the chick from Blossom probably showed up once and they ran with the idea.  First off, there was an amazing dog out front.  I figure he was probably about a year old due to how hyper he was.  He went nuts when we came over!  We stayed with this guy for about 15-20 minutes even though he knocked me on my butt a few times.  I was dismayed to see he didn't have any water anywhere. 

Angie suggested we go in the store.  As we entered, we noticed a few people left without buying anything.  I soon understood why!  I had no idea that Huckleberries were apparently so rare that they had to be priced so high.   Everything was so expensive!  We wanted to be polite and buy something, but even a small bag of candy that you could buy anywhere was $10.99 a pound.  Now we understood why the celebrities shopped here, they were the only ones who could afford anything.  So out we left empty handed but not before taking photos with a few "celebrities."  We then decided to eat in Kalispell instead and grab a coffee before heading back out onto the road.  We had a 5 hour drive ahead of us if we wanted to reach Coeur d'Alene by nightfall.

The trip was pretty uneventful until some guy jackknifed in front of us to take a left turn onto the highway even though there was nobody behind us.  We slammed our breaks and tried to keep control of the car.  We honked at the guy but he acted as if we didn't exist; lovely.  We were going about 65 MPH, the speed limit in the area is 70 MPH, I now understood why there were so many white crosses everywhere; we almost became a pair of them.

Luckily, an hour later we reached a river with the greenest water I have ever seen which brought us some tranquility.  We couldn't just drive past it, we had to document it.  If you don't believe me, check out the photos!  They are completely untouched.  Montana was pretty amazing and I was pretty bummed when we crossed back over into Idaho.  I loved Idaho, we just spent more time there than Montana.

Halfway through the drive, we drove back into a rainstorm...again.  By the time we got into Coeur d'Alene it was late so we grabbed a very late dinner before heading back to the room.  Due to the late hour we unfortunately did not play Scrabble...