Where Am I?

I've been home for almost a week now. To say that the transition to being home has been smooth and uneventful would be a flat-out lie.

The first time it happened was on the first day home from vacation. It was early afternoon. I was very tired from driving all night and then going to church that morning. As I lay in the living room relaxing, I fell into a deep sleep. When I woke-up from my nap, I had no idea where I was. I only knew there was a bright setting sun shining through gauzy curtains that were blowing in a cool breeze and that this was unlike any place I knew. Indeed, that was unlike any place I knew. It was unusually cool that day and this was the only reason the windows were open. It took me a good minute of stumbling around to figure out that I was at home in Lubbock.

The second time it happened was a couple nights later. I remember I was dreaming that Chris and I were on some sort of expedition. In my dream, we were stopped for the night, sleeping on our air mattress in a cave. Then I woke up. Although I was awake, I felt like my dream might have been real. I was very confused and I remember thinking, "I have to figure out where I am." I quickly woke-up Chris and I asked him the following questions:

"Is this carpet or is it gravel?"

"Are those windows or are they pictures?" (I remember peering into the darkness trying to figure out if the only source of light was a cave opening or a window).

"Are we outside?"

"Are we paying for this place?" (I remember Chris telling me that we were paying rent).

"Are we in a cave"

I remember asking questions number three, four, and five. I also remember Chris repeatedly asking me if I was okay. While this was a normal reaction given my strange state of mind, it only annoyed me and I chose not to answer him. He clearly didn't understand that my top priority was determining my location. When Chris said something about rent, I realized that I was in our apartment. After one final question to confirm that I was not in fact in a cave, I laid down again. I could go back to sleep now that I knew where I was. I chose to ignore Chris's chuckles as I fell asleep.

Reconnecting With My Religious Side

Chris and I arrived home from our lengthy vacation at 7:30 on a Saturday morning. After purging the tiny rental car of all its contents and then cramming those same contents into our tiny apartment, Chris and I went to church. It was great to reconnect with our religious community after being absent for the past three weeks. It was also great to enjoy the bounty of food at potluck, especially since the pantry at home was bare.

On Sunday Chris and I went to the opening Red Raider game at Jones Stadium. This was our first attendance at what could be called the community-wide "Church of Lubbock" (college football is a religion in this town). After seat hopping to trade our hot, sunny seats for pleasant seats in the shade, we were able to enjoy the game (unlike the people I saw being carried out by EMS due to heat stroke).

I think I have experienced Lubbock to it's fullest:

1. Prairie Dog Town: check.

2. Stars and Strips Drive-in: check.

3. Windmill Museum: check.

4. Giant Buddy Holly Glasses: check. check. check.

5. Red Raider Game: Check.

I suppose it's time to move now...

My Pine Cone's Bigger Than Yours

This is a picture of the pine cones that the giant Coastal Redwoods in California produce. They are super tiny!

This is a picture of a pine cone Chris found in Yosemite.

The trees in Yosemite where Chris found this pine cone were much smaller than the redwoods that produced the tiny pinecone above. I guess you can't judge a tree by the size of its pine cones.

It's Bathtime!

Have you ever wondered what it's like to take a road trip with Chris? Well, I think this picture pretty much sums it up.

This is Chris at our hotel in Sacramento washing everything from our cooler in the bathtub...with soap. His goal was to remove a funky odor. He succeeded, and I appreciated it. I did not appreciate, however, that the capri-sun got to take a bath before I did. I too had a funky odor too - I had been camping for a few days and had gone without showering.

From Las Vegas to Lubbock

The last stop on my vacation was Las Vegas. Last summer I flew over Las Vegas on my way home from Seattle. I remember flying over barren desert and then suddenly, as if out of nowhere, there was the Las Vegas strip lined with oversized hotels and bustling activity. It looked so exciting from the plane!

Vegas from a plane is a lot different than Vegas on foot. Yes, it is an exciting place. There is A LOT going on at ALL TIMES of the day. But Vegas is also a lot like a theme park: fake and often overpriced. There was fake Rome, fake Venice, fake Paris and fake Egypt:

There were a number of fake Elvis's and other impersonators, all of whom were pretty disgusting up close. We chose to pose with this wax replica of Elvis:

And yes, there was lots of fakeness of this nature:

The gambling in Vegas is just as gross as the Elvis impersonators. The Casinos are large, cavernous rooms with low ceilings and no natural light. The decor is as loud as the slot machines: clashing ornate carpets and wall papers with flashy lights everywhere you look. As you enter --- no, as you merely walk by --- you are hit by a unique casino odor that is probably the result of 24-hour business and numerous ashtrays littering the various gambling stations. As I see it, gambling is a form of entertainment. Like bowling or putt-putt, you pay to play. If I ever take up gambling, I'm going to need a classier gambling location than Las Vegas.

Despite the fakeness and the unappealing casinos, I LOVED the Vegas leg of our trip. First, we saw the Blue Man group, which was nothing like what I expected and very entertaining.

I also LOVED the Bellagio fountains. They were so much fun to watch. Chris took this great picture of the fountains at night.

In fact, I really liked the Bellagio hotel as well. The lobby was decorated with lovely Chihuly glass.

But the best part of Vegas was our hotel. Chris and I went from five days at rustic campsites to three nights in a luxurious room at the Trump Tower. While many things in Vegas are overpriced and fake, the Trump Tower was neither of these. It was a classy, relaxing, five-star oasis in the middle of Vegas. There was no casino and no fake theme (i.e. Rome, Paris, New York). Nor was there a mall in the hotel, freeing us from the bustling miles of corridors found in other hotels. Instead of all this, there was a quiet, elegantly appointed lobby,

equally elegant rooms,

amazing views (we were on the 58th floor and could even watch the Bellagio fountains!),

and bathrooms fit for a king (that's a TV in the mirror!).

We went to the pool and were waited on like we were at a restaurant. We went to the spa and had our sore muscles massaged. We took full advantage of the complimentary valet parking. And most importantly, we didn't break the bank. To say that we were sad to leave would be an understatement. Not only was our vacation over, but we were leaving the relaxing world of luxury.

We ran out of energy to go to the Grand Canyon. The thought of setting up yet another camp site was just too much. We opted to instead lounge around in our hotel room in Vegas. But we did make it to the Hoover Dam on our way home.

The Hoover Dam is the polar opposite of Las Vegas. It is not fake. It is over 6 million cubic yards of concrete. It is not tacky or disgusting. It is over 6 million cubic yards of concrete. It is not overpriced. It is free to look at the over 6 million cubic yards of concrete. The Hoover Dam was very hot, however, bringing back memories of our stop in Death Valley.

Twelve hours after leaving the Hoover Dam we parked our car in Lubbock and looked at the odometer: 4,522 miles roundtrip. We emptied out the trunk and were faced with two options: 1) return to real life by carrying everything upstairs, sorting it out, and doing loads of laundry, or 2) never return to work and become full time bums. We chose option one, although option two was tempting:

Death Valley: Too Hot for Two Sias's

The last day in Yosemite, Chris and I awoke to temperatures in the 30's and elevations of almost 9,000 feet. By four o-clock that afternoon, we found ourselves in Death Valley, 282 feet below sea level and in unbearable heat.

While in Death Valley, Chris and I drove to the lowest point in North America:

The air at Badwater Basin was so heavy and stagnant with heat that we lasted no more than six minutes before returning to the comfort of our air conditioned car. The heat was also so crazy that I think it affected my camera, blurring what I thought was my favorite picture of the day:

Before I went on this California vacation, a friend asked me why I wanted to go to Death Valley. At the time I didn't really know. Now I know. The strangeness of this place makes for a surprisingly fascinating adventure. Also, the stark contrast when compared to the redwood forests and yosemite make it even more interesting.

Camping Like Hobos

Chis and I camped for five nights while in California. Unfortunately, this camping was spread out over four different camp sites. This means we set-up and tore-down camp four times. This task became more and more exhausting as we repeated it. Eventually, we got lazy. We didn't always stake down the tent. We may have left bits of food in the car rather than placing them in the provided bear proof containers. And sometimes we were too lazy to bust out the camp stove, causing us to cook "hobo sytle:"

I was more than excited he fourth and final time we tore down camp and crammed everything in the car - I was relieved.

Yosemite: Too Big for Two Days

After a night of recovery in Sacramento (we desperately needed showers and a night in a bed), we drove into Yosemite. I thought Yosemite would be "just another forest." Boy was I wrong! Yosemite is this amazing national park filled with granite mountains, giant trees, lovely meadows, and crystal clear streams. It's also a huge park that we underestimated. I think it would take two days just to get yourself oriented. We should have planned two weeks in Yosemite, rather than two days.

Given our time constraint, we only saw a small percentage of the park. Chris and I hiked 13 miles from the bottom of Yosemite Valley to the top of Sentinel Dome and then back.

I chose our particular hike over the famed Half Dome hike because I thought it would be less demanding. I was wrong. We climbed over 4,000 miles and then hiked back down those same 4,000 miles during our hike. Half Dome is about the same elevation change but more gradual. Needless to say, our legs were extremely sore for the next couple of days - so sore that simple tasks like getting out of the car became a challenge.

The first night in Yosemite we camped in the valley. During the night we heard a loud rock slide. It sounded like thunder that was right on top of you. The second night in Yosemite we camped in Tamarak Flat, which is North of Yosemite Valley. The campsite was much more primitive and secluded, which was fitting for the last night of camping on our trip.

Driving out of Yosemite we saw the lovely meadows and ponds the park has to offer. I suppose we'll have to plan another trip to explore them.

Everything's Bigger in Texas...Except for the Trees

After a few days in San Francisco, Chris and I were back in the car. Our next destination was a campsite in the heart of the California Coastal Redwoods. Our first taste of these giant trees was via car. More specifically, we drove through Chandelier Tree and then through the Avenue of giants. First, a couple pictures from Chandelier tree:




Our next detour was the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt State Park. The Avenue of the Giants is a 30-mile drive that wanders in and out of patchy old-growth redwood groves. Whereas Chandelier tree was one lone giant, we now found ourselves looking at big clusters of giant trees and it was even more amazing.

Our campsite was further up the coast, almost in Oregon. I had read that the coastal redwood forests are better the farther North you go, but I had no idea what this meant until Chris and I took a 13 mile hike through the heart of an old-growth forest near our campsite. Within a mile of hiking we were surrounded by huge, ancient trees for as far as the eye could see. The forest floor was covered with dense, green ferns. The sunlight, when it wasn't shrouded by fog, would dapple the dark forest in scattered bright spots. Now we were seeing the real coastal redwoods! To stand among these ancient trees, these giant structures of nature, and listen to the silence of the forest was the most amazing and indescribable thing I experienced on our trip.

See if you can spot Chris in this next picture!

I also enjoyed looking at the remains of fallen trees that littered the forest floor. I could only imagine what it would be like to see one of these giant trees fall.


Our hike led us to a remote and secluded beach that was just as indescribable as the giant trees we walked through to get there. Behind us were forest covered bluffs lining a strip of low lying land covered in little hills and golden grasses.

The grasses and hills slowly faded out, giving way to a smooth beach of dark, coarse sand.

As we sat on the sand and ate our lunch, we watched a couple of seals play in the big waves crashing on the shore. If that wasn't enough, we were privileged to have this time to ourselves. No longer were we sharing the beach with hundreds of beach-goers like we did in Santa Monica or San Diego. We were completely alone!

The return trip on the hike took us through Fern Canyon, which is exactly what the name implies. On the return trip we also spotted a few Banana Slugs and a wild elk.

We almost ran out of daylight before we got back to our campsite. The threat of bears motivated me to set a leg burning pace during the final miles. The hike was exhausting. The hike was also an amazing change of scenery. Gone were the busy, crowded cities. We were now enjoying the quietness and solitude of God's greatest creations.

As a side note, we did make it to Oregon. Driving from Lubbock to San Diego and then up the entire California coast was about 2,500 miles of scenery. Wow!

We also saw this large replica of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe while in the redwoods. I suppose this giant legend would have come from giant trees like the California Coastal Redwoods.

Paul Bunyan also moved his head and talked, kind of like Big Tex, only his voice was kind of high-pitched. Chris made a joke about expecting Paul Bunyan to sound a bit manlier and I said that maybe this was pre-pubescent Paul Bunyan. Then we set up for our picture and afterwards Paul Bunyan said, "Did you see that I winked for your picture." That's when we realized that the voice was "live" and that he probably heard our jokes about his voice. Opps!

As I was driving out of the redwoods toward our next destination, Chris looked at our pictures on our camera. I heard him say "That's amazing." I said something like, " Yea, those trees were amazing." And although he would agree that the trees were amazing, he was actually looking at this "amazing cantilever" that he spotted one day while we were driving.

He's a true architect.