July 19-25

“And, in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”   

                                                                                                        John, Paul, George, and Ringo


And it’s really true.  On the entire trip, I can’t name a time when politeness didn’t make a huge difference.  The vast majority of people seemed to genuinely care if we lived or not.  I was always shocked when people were kind for the sake of being kind.


My head was prepared for the level of kindness to drop as we moved west.  I think it’s a  misconception perpetrated by people from the South that they are the nicest people in the country.  It may be true to a certain extent, but not as much southerners want to believe.


If I had to sum up the experience, on a cultural level, I say I learned that people are generally good.  It’s something I definitely had to learn.  My conceptions were not that way.  I have grown up with the disposition of strangers always having harmful ulterior motives.  I’m glad to be rid of the feeling. 


Now, to complete our story, we left Port Orford and drove east(which seemed very backward).  We stayed the night in Roseburg, OR.  Then we headed out to see Crater Lake National Park.


Crater Lake is an extinct volcano that, literally, blew its top in the distant past.  Over thousands of years, snow melt, and only snow melt, have collected in the cone that was left.  The water is as blue as I’ve ever seen.


We walked the only trail that leads to the waters edge.


After that, we drove around the rim.  The traffic was moderate, but not bad for mid summer. 


After a quick lunch, it was time to move on.


Soon, we were in Northern California, and quickly made our way to Lava Beds National Monument.  The Monument is several hundred acres of lava, along with many lava tubes. 


A lava tube is an underground tunnel created by lava bubbling from the ground, expanding, and then retreating, leaving an open, underground area, much like a cave.  We were able to walk into one.  The experience was unique.  Like a cave, the temperature was very low, relative to the outside air.   In many places, it was necessary to crouch down low to move through it.  All of us had never been in a place like it.


The day
was getting long, so we moved south.  Once we entered California, Mount Shasta soon dominated the landscape.  Part of the Cascade Range, Shasta, like many of its counterparts, is a dormant volcano, showing the obvious signs of eruptions in the past.  The cone shape gives it the look of the Paramount Pictures mountain.  The last eruption was in the 1700’s.  We drove for hours and gawked at the sight.  The mountain has numerous glaciers, thus making it snowcapped, even in late July.


We spent the night in Redding, CA. 


Up the next morning, we were bound for Yosemite National Park, since none of us had ever been there.  We drove the better part of a day and arrived in the afternoon.


For the height of visitor season, the park was manageable.  We were able to see the sights with minimal intrusion from other visitors.  We saw Half-Dome and Bridal Veil Falls.  The main falls weren’t flowing since it was the height of summer.


On our drive out, the views really opened up.  I had never seen land like it before. Everything was
granite rock.  Every tree looked as if it was growing directly into rock.  We were able to walk out on the rock and look back down on Half Dome. It was quite a sight.


We moved west and soon entered Nevada and were greeted by views of Boundary Peak, the highest peak in Nevada at 13,147 feet.  Since we were in the Great Basin once again, the mountains were of the desert variety.


We spent the night in Tonopah, NV.


I can’t say much about the next day.  We spent the morning driving across Nevada, with the
highlight being the town of Rachel, NV. 


Rachel is the informal home of Area 51.  Area 51, as you may know, was the home of the U.S. Government’s testing of new or alien spacecraft, allegedly of course.  Nobody really knows since the government denied its existence until the mid 1990’s. 


Rachel is the closest town to Area 51.  And the residents revel in that fact. 


Wanting to make time, we moved on, instead of bellying up to the Ale-inn bar.


We ate lunch in Mesquite, NV and decided to stay for the night.  There were people in our party that felt the urge for some poker before we left Nevada.


The next morning, we worked our way west, our goal being to make the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. 

By mid-day, we walked to the edge.


The North Rim is, by far, the best side to visit.  The elevation is a thousand feet higher than the South Rim.  The crowds are much less than the South Rim.  In fact, we had no problem getting a table in the Lodge restaurant at noon. 


The Lodge itself is very nice.  The restaurant had huge windows overlooking the edge, allowing us to view while we ate.


The skies were overcast and the temperatures were cool as we walked along the edge and did a bit of rock climbing.


Soon, we were off again, headed east.  We drove across the Navajo Nation and landed in Farmington, NM for the night.


The next morning was spent making our way to our place in northern New Mexico, and by the end of the next day, we were home.


It was quite a trip.  Thanks for coming along.


Ron and Meredith