The Coffee Bandit

Having escaped the fires of Yosemite (not really, see my last post), we made the long drive back across California to the Monterey Bay. Grabbed some quick groceries and ice at Trader Joe's before heading up to Compagno's Deli. Little did we know how much of a local legend this place was. The place is covered in marine nameplates, hats, memorabilia galore-- and the beer selection is stocked for those returning from overseas. The sandwiches were enormous and delicious, and then the owner Bennet gave us a slice of the best PB & Chocolate pie I've ever had. From there we drove out to the 17-Mile-Drive along Pebble Beach, with these disgustingly large houses & pristine golf courses. Stopped at the clubhouse, but we weren't exactly dressed for a drink at the 18th green pub. So, onwards to Carmel, which was a cute little town on the shore up on a hill. Spent some time on the beach and at a coffee shop before the final drive of the day: down California-1, the Pacific C...

Yosemite National Park is famously the area that began the concept for the National Park system. It is arguably the most beautiful National Park, and certainly the most talked about, especially in the news this past week. One of the things I happened to learn last week on a hike is that fires are natural to areas like Yosemite and need to occur for the life cycle of the trees and vegetation to continue. The beautiful political combination of sequestration & global warming in this "Rim Fire" story is what's making it big news. But I should note before continuing-- No, we were nowhere near the fires. We did not see them, feel them, or get engulfed by them. They really got going the day after we left.

The drive from Oregon to I-5 started with an hour of back roads through wide open prairies, with a nice view of Mount Shasta for a bit. From there, our first stop in California was, of course, an In-and-Out Burger. Definitely didn't go an hour out of the way, no, definitely not. We then spent the night just south of Napa, before going to Wine Country on Wednesday morning.

Going from a park to a town or city on a trip means certain obvious changes—both positive and negative. Better eating choices, but pricier. Better sleeping surfaces, but you have to deal with your hostel roommates snoring all night. Our time in Oregon was spent mostly in towns (Newport & Klamath Falls) and the city of Portland, with the four hour exception of Crater Lake National Park on Monday.

When you go walking by night up a street and a man, visible a long way off-- for the street mounts uphill and there is a full moon-- comes running towards you, well, you don't catch hold of him, not even if he is a feeble and ragged creature, not even if someone chases yelling at his heels, but you let him run on.  For it is night, and you can't help it if the street goes uphill before you in the moonlight, and besides, these two have maybe started that chase to amuse themselves, or perhaps they are both chasing a third, perhaps the first is an innocent man and the second wants to murder him and you would become an accessory, perhaps they don't know anything about each other and are merely running separately home to bed, perhaps they are night birds, perhaps the first man is armed.  And anyhow, haven't you a right to be tired, haven't you been drinking a lot of wine? You're thankful that the second man is now long out of sight.  - Franz Kafka, Meditation...

Seattle is known as a windy, rainy city. Yet, for the twenty hours we spent there, the skies were blue and open. My flight landed at a quarter past ten, and Danielle and I explored Pike Place, the Waterfront, and Belltown during the afternoon and evening. Later, we had drinks (& skeeball) on 2nd Ave with friends Doch made from Scotland and Australia. Morning after, had breakfast at the hostel before catching a ferry across the Sound to the Olympic Peninsula. Very chilly and windy on the boat, but still sunny and with great views of the coast. From there, we had a two hour drive towards Port Angeles and Hurricane Ridge. The road crossed a few more rivers and had plenty of forest and lakes for scenery. After the Olympic Visitor Center in Port Angeles, we had about an 18 mile climb up to the ridge. Believe it or not, I was a little jealous of the cyclists riding up. We did some summitting of our own at the top, garnering some amazing views of the snowy peaks of the Ridg...