21.07.07 - 03.08.07 - road trip: western united states

jon and i started our road trip in vancouver, british columbia, canada, on july 21, 2007. it would take two grueling weeks, 7000 kilometres, 8 states, two car repair jobs and just under $2000 to complete the task. the experience will forever be something to be remembered, both good times and bad.

the following is a photo diary of some of the places we went to and some of the things we saw. overall, i must say that the united states are much more beautiful than i originally gave credit for, particularly oregon and the northern part of california.

some of the highlights of the trip involve the dilerious out-of-mind experience that is death valley, the elevated heights of colorado, wandering on the barren salt flats, and the general excess of roadside diners and hole-in-the-wall motels. however, all things being equal, there really is no place like home.

washington

it's not the best way to start off a trip, but washington was boring. i'm sorry, but there wasn't anything of any real interest. seattle was quite a beautiful little city though. here's a photo of the bridge to astoria. it reminded me of the confederation bridge to prince edward island:



oregon

much of the oregon coastline is represented by these great rock formations. it was pretty rainy and cloudy most of the time, with some really strong gusts of wind as you can see from some of the pictures below. the wind at cannon beach was so strong, it kept blowing me backwards.















the usual suspects:









california

there's a romanticism placed on california that is quite justified. decades ago, people moved out west to california to start new lives. i was surprised at how much of california, particularly in the northern part, was untouched by large droves of human interference. as we got further south, it became more populated and commercialized, not to mention heavily polluted. the orignal plan was to go all the way down to san diego, but the traffic and the pollution seemed too much for us, especially all the tourist traps that we had to go through. so we stopped short at santa barbara and headed east to death valley, opting for the barren nature of the desert. it turned out to be the right choice, because for the rest of our time in california, we were pretty much the only ones on the road.

red wood national park:







san francisco: this city was amazing. i think i liked it so much because it reminded me of vancouver so much, in the city design as well as the people. of course, vancouver doesn't have those giant hills. still, despite the crowds and the pollution, and the killer fog in the morning, i really liked san francisco. in the first picture, on the right-hand side, you'll see a brown awning. that's the san francisco brewing company pub. the night we stayed in the city, we drank there and listened to a group of older men have a jam session, playing some old time jazz. it was fantastic.







this was a treat: the beat museum had so much stuff on jack kerouac.









alcatraz way off in the distance.







big sur is a place where i'd always wanted to go. as a writer, this is pretty much a mecca. with famous works by john steinbeck and jack kerouac romanticizing big sur, i knew i had to go there if i ever had the chance. it's very touristy now, having been taken over by the rich and resorts, but the natural beauty is still there, which is the only reason to go to big sur.













here we were driving on mostly private property on rough back roads. i'm amazed we didn't get shot at.







san simeon



santa barbara was interesting. a friend of mine loved santa barabara. he hyped it up to me, but when i got there, it wasn't anything amazing. i mean, it was pretty nice there, but i expected the beach to be something out of this world; instead, it was just your typical beach. still, jon and i had a lot of fun there. we stayed there two nights because we wanted a day where we weren't driving. we took in as much of the nightlife that was there, which really wasn't much, but it was nice anyway. we got there at a good time. because it was the middle of the week, it wasn't as busy as it probably normally is. some very pretty girls live in santa barbara. some beautiful enough to make one's heart ache.











the hostel:





inyokern:







death valley lives up to its name. it was ungodly hot there. i couldn't believe it. jon and i tried our best to go through without air conditioning, but it proved to be too much eventually. it was so hot, that jon's mp3 player imploded: the lcd screen basically burst and started leaking all over the place. despite that, the best part of this trip was death valley. the sand dunes were amazing. we were probably out on the dunes for only 20 minutes, but we got heat stroke from the exposure. i guess 120 degrees will do that to you. that night, we camped in furnace creek. and it's basically how you think it is: it's like camping in a furnace. you hear stories about the desert getting really cold at night, but not in the valley. it probably dropped only ten degrees that night. jon and i were in a perpetual waking dream. by three a.m., i just wanted to die. i did everything i could to try to stay hydrated and cool, including taking off all my clothes. it soon became apparent to both jon and me why no one else was in death valley: it's insane to go there in july. it just is.



wildrose camp site: abandoned buildings, virtual ghost towns litter death valley.



two lane, blue sky driving with not another soul in sight. this is what road trips are about!







the dunes:







mustard canyon:



furnace creek:



















nevada

the las vegas pictures never really turned out. there is no flash on my old panoramic camera, so i was hoping that by standing under some bright lamps and fixtures, i'd be able to pick up more light into the lens, but this was not the case. still, here are a few pics...









the hoover dam was very impressive. i am always surprised by the genius of humanity. plus, transformers was filmed there.





arizona

and more desert... i was impressed with how much of western united states is actually nothing but desert.



the grand canyon: i was surprised at how unimpressed i was with the canyon. don't get me wrong, it's very beautiful... it's just that i didn't get the whole "wow" thing that everyone else gets. tell you the truth, i was more impressed with the hoover dam.



















the following rock formations were interesting. the red clay was everywhere, staining everything. one thing we noticed while traveling through the united states, was the amount of garbage and litter in places where you really wouldn't expect there to be. a basic inability to clean up after oneself. i suppose the preservation of nature isn't as important to some.







colorado

mesa verde national park was a total let down. we thought the ruins would be pretty cool, but we quickly found out how commercial everything was. as soon as we noticed the "hiking" trails were paved over, we knew we had to get out of there.







colorado was interesting because of how much it resembled british columbia. except it was much higher up. the altitude was something i had trouble getting used to, since i was so close to being by sea level. starting and maintaining a fire was tough to do due to the lack of oxygen and constant rain, but we learned an interesting thing during the process: if you are looking for something that will provide a sustained burn, cotton is a good way to go. particularly a pair of cotton shorts. this was one of many things jon sacrificed on the trip.







the ski resort town of telluride:



utah





salt lake city: again, none of the pics really turned out. here is one of temple square though. the religious oppulance of salt lake city was quite creepy, especially since everything seemed so clean.



the salt flats were a definite highlight. i'd always wanted to wander around on the flats for as long as i can remember. my favorite picture of the bunch is the one just below, where you can see the mountains reflected off the pools of water that collected on the flats from the morning rain.