Category: Journal
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Wimping out
Read more: Wimping outAlthough our rest stop last night was rather pretty, it was also rather loud – so loud that you couldn’t hear yourself think. Even with that, we both slept pretty well. We were both exhausted. We woke up relatively early but didn’t get on the road until mid-morning. In part this was related to a…
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A desert escape
Read more: A desert escapeWe had been planning this vacation since early December – when we had to cancel our normal winter vacation because of my back surgery. Now that it is over, and all the classes I teach are on spring break, we decided to escape to the desert. We left on Sunday and drove through the rain.…
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Christmas in the deserts
Read more: Christmas in the desertsOn our vacation adventure in the California deserts, we keep finding parallels to our bicycle travels through the Middle East. In part it is being travelers over the holidays – this is the first year since our bike trip we’re away from family over Christmas. We are also still in the Northern Hemisphere, so traveling…
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Vacation Day 8 – The End
Read more: Vacation Day 8 – The EndI’m happy to report that my ‘rain-sense’ seems to be working in the Sierra’s. I had thought that I had totally lost it. You see, I had this uncanny sense of when it was going to rain. We would sleep in the tent with the fly off, and I’d wake up about 2 minutes before…
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Vacation Day 7 – Rock Creek and the Upper Hilton Lakes
Read more: Vacation Day 7 – Rock Creek and the Upper Hilton LakesWe awoke to another beautifully sunny day. We are glad we didn’t let the weather forecast stop us from exploring this area. Our original plan for the day was to go on a hike from our campsite. I was going to do part of the hike and then turn back when I felt I had…
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Vacation Day 6 – The Methuselah Walk
Read more: Vacation Day 6 – The Methuselah WalkWe awoke to a beautiful morning. The weather up here is much warmer than it was at our last couple of campsites. If we didn’t desperately need showers and were not low on water, I’d suggest that we stay a second night! After breakfast, we packed up and headed back up to the Schulman Grove…
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Vacation Day 5 – Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest – Part 1
Read more: Vacation Day 5 – Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest – Part 1Before leaving the area south of Mono Lake, we decided to drive in a little further and take a hike. We found a dead end road that was not appropriate for Vance and hiked up it to see some great vistas (3.62 km, max elevation 2842m or 8324 feet). Dirt road that we hiked along:…
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Vacation Day 4 – Mono Lake Basin
Read more: Vacation Day 4 – Mono Lake BasinAfter a cold wet night, we awoke to a nice sunny day. Since we both slept in Vance last night neither of us slept particularly well. We each kept waking each other up. Although it was sunny and I had a chance to start enjoying my morning cup of coffee, that was soon disrupted by screaming…