Crater Lake

Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - Left Patricks Point Saturday and headed into Oregon, to Crater Lake. My plan was to camp out at Crater Lake - which has an elevation of about 9,000 feet. As I drove to the top of the mountain and finally saw the lake, my eyes kinda freaked out on me.. The lake is almost an optical illusion. The water sits inside the top of the mouth of a volcano, and the perfectly still water servers basically as a gigantic mirror. When I drove to the peak and got my first glimpse of the lake, it was nearly impossible to tell what was reflected water, and what was actually land. Unfortunately when I got to the top I realized the campgrounds were closed - I guess for good reason - everything (aside from the lake itself) was covered in snow. That might have been an uncomfortable night.. So I just headed straight into Bend to stay with my uncle VV and Ceci.

Patricks Point II

Monday, October 29, 2007 - Friday after work I hiked down the mountain face at Patricks Point to the beach. The beach was covered in polished, multi-colored small rocks. In fact, it was a somewhat strange scene when I descended onto the beach; literally everyone there was wandering aimlessly looking for and picking up rocks.

After it turned dark Friday night and I had finished dinner, I walked back to my car when I heard something back at my site. I looked back and it was nearly pitch black, so I turned my headlamp on and saw two glowing eyes staring at me about 15 feet away. I didn't know what it was but tried to scare it off by shining my headlamp in it's eyes; but to no avail - it wouldn't move. So I charged after it and it bolted.. However, it did try to take my box of Pasta-Roni with it, but dropped it as it ran into the forest. I got the box of pasta and was taking it to the dumpster, and walking back with my headlamp on I saw the same two glowing eyes back at my campsite. I charged after it and it ran again. A few minutes later I saw the eyes again near my car. And again about 2:00am I heard it, I think in an attempt to mock me, chomping on some leftover uncooked pasta a few feet away from my tent. Not sure what it was, but it was a gutsy sucker.

Beginning of Patricks Point hike	Patricks Point hike
Beach rocks	The time of night when glowing eyes go hunting for Pasta-Roni

Patricks Point

Friday, October 26, 2007 - Yesterday I left Fort Bragg and drove about 3 and a half hours to Patricks Point (is it just me or shouldn't there be an apostrophe after Patrick?) - which is about 25 miles north of Eureka, about 50 miles south of the Oregon border. Beautiful campsite, several spots with an ocean view, but the majority within forest. The trees are gigantic here, and when I arrived there was quite a constant gust of wind; I didn't know whether or not this was typical, but it made for the loudest campsite I've been at as the tall trees were constantly rustling. Since campsites are no longer in "peak season", there are no attendants; you simply pick a spot and drop your money in a box using the honor-system. I found a beautiful spot but noticed after I set up my tent that the wind was batting it around like a ragdoll. I decided to look for a spot lower in elevation that had some wind protection, which I found one that was better, but my tent was still battling the wind a pretty great deal. This was maybe the coldest night I've had, and felt more like a survival test than anything else. It was still fun though. I woke up this morning and it was dead silent.. I guess that was yet another storm that was moving in.

Tonight I will stay in my same campsite, tomorrow I plan on driving to Crater Lake in Oregon, Sunday I plan on meeting up with my uncle V.V. and his girlfriend Ceci in Bend, then I will spend about a week with my cousins Greg, Jeff, Jeff's wife Kira, and their son Beck (who I have yet to meet) in Portland. Friday my cuz Bryan is coming in as well. A fun time WILL be had by all. Oh yes, it will.

My MacKerricher campsite	Highway 1
Farmland on highway 1	Fog rolling in behind me on highway 1
Windy campsite at Patricks Point	My driveway @ Patricks Point
My home @ Patricks Point

MacKerricher

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - My parents left Monday and I switched modes back to lone traveller and headed up the coast to Mendocino county, MacKerricher State Beach near Fort Bragg to be specific. Monday night after work I checked out a bar in town to watch the Monday Night Football game. Nice people here, fantastic campsite.

Today a girl walked into starbucks and waved at me and said hello.. Obviously she thought I was someone else. Then I finally realized it was the bartender from the bar I watched the Monday night game at. This is definitely a town where everyone knows everyone.

Tuesday morning I came to Starbucks and before I even got inside had a long conversation with a guy outside - a good sign of a town. Inside I had about an hour conversation with Cliff Claven's brother - this guy knows everything. Tim is obviously very well read on generally every subject (not sure but I believe he may be retired). These are the kinds of people you can learn something from. Had about a 2 hour conversation with Tim today. One thing Tim said that made an impact - "Knowledge compounds on knowledge. One thing I envy about you and your generation - our society has come so far in so little time - I envy the things your generation is going to get to see in your lifetime that I won't get to see. It's a very exciting time for your generation right now."

The grass that lines the beach	MacKerricher
MacKerricher	MacKerricher
MacKerricher	Miles of wooden roads line the coast with nothing else in sight
Campsite forest	A MacKerricher Campsite

Napa II

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - My folks and I spent the rest of the week wine tasting. The rest of the wineries we visited were mainly smaller boutique wineries. I think we are all in agreement that this is the way to go. Each of them have a fantastic cozy, family feeling, the wines are superb (and not available anywhere else), and the people are informal and unpretentious.

Last Friday a band called Vinyl was in San Fran. My friend Justin and I have been talking about seeing them for about 8 years now, but the band rarely makes appearances outside of California, and when they do, it ain't in Texas. My parents were still in town and I told them it was necessary that we see them, however once we found out how late they were coming on, they opted out. So I had my folks drop me off at the venue, kept my mind limber with a strict regimen of White Russians, and was blown away by this 7 piece band of funk, jazz, rock, and even freestyle old-school rap. The band came on about 11:00 and took their first break at about 1:00am. I found one of the members at the bar and introduced myself. I told him I'd been waiting to see them for 8 years - he asked if I was from the area, and when I told him I was from Texas he had to ask "How did you hear about us?" A great night indeed.

Saturday my folks and I checked out Golden Gate park, where I previously saw the bluegrass festival. After feeding me a strict diet of gratuitous gourmet food each meal, cleaning my car, and even doing my laundry, my parents left Monday morning. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I am eternally lucky to have the parents I have. We don't get to choose our parents, and at many points in my life I've almost felt bad that everyone doesn't get to have parents like these. They are supportive of my sister and I no matter what path we are choosing, open-minded yet properly disciplinary, hilarious, fun to hang out with, great role models.. I could go on and on.

Turnbull Winery	Turnbull
Turnbull
Country road	Me and my parents
A lone tree among a vineyard

Napa

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - Heidi, you were right. Yesterday after work we headed into the wine country for some wine tasting. My friend Heidi from Houston recommended a small vineyard called Frank Family, as she said it was one of the best (if not the best) in the wine country. She was right. Moreover, this winery was unpretentious in every way - from the vineyard, to the people, to the name. The folks presenting the wine tastings were an absolute riot. And these were in fact some of the best wines I've ever had. Afterwards we went to Clos Pegase for more wine tasting - the wine was good, but we mentioned to each other on several occasions we should have gone to Frank Family last; we were spoiled. The scenery at Clos Pegase was pretty cool though; tons of art everywhere, some imported from Europe. Lots of modern art deco in the midst of the vineyard - pretty different. Afterwards we headed to Sonoma Coast to watch the sunset, and after this we headed to Petaluma for an incredible dinner.

Ker Plunk Sanitary. Is there a better name for a porta-potty?	Wine country
	Clos Pegase
Clos Pegase	Clos Pegase
Sonoma Coast	My mom - stoic
	My dad
Goodnight Sonoma

Sonoma Coast

Tuesday, October 16, 2007 - I'm now in the wine country; currently in Sonoma county. Last weekend I stayed at Sonoma Coast State Beach. Friday I arrived to my site and there was a somewhat large group of people staying in my same area. I got out of the car and one camper looked at my license plate, then looked at another camper and said "That looks familiar." I asked if they were from Texas.

Camper 1 - "She is.."
Camper 2 - "Yes, I'm from Houston."
Me - "Really? Me too.."
Camper 2 - "Well, not really from houston, it's called The Woodlands."

What are the chances.

Saturday I decided to watch some college football, so I went into the town of Petaluma and found a little bar - a really cool town actually. A crazy lady sat next to me for a while, and though she was actually interesting to talk to (she was a hippie that followed around the grateful dead), she talked to herself more than anyone else. In fact, she apparently had some very funny conversations with herself because she would break into laughter on a somewhat regular basis.

Sunday I decided, again, to go into town and watch some NFL. Same lady sat next to me again. She had good conversations with herself again. Cool bartender; I simply asked if the Houston game could be put on one of the TVs, he put the game on the big screen, so the Houston game ended up being the primary game on at the bar.

My parents, the wine enthusiasts, flew in yesterday to hang out with me while I'm in the wine country. It's nice, and almost strange, to see familiar faces.. They will be here for about a week. Mmmm. Wiiinnne.








 

Half Moon Bay

Wednesday, October 10, 2007 - It was pretty windy yesterday. A few times during the day the wind actually folded my tent over on itself, and talking on the phone was close to impossible while outside. I went to sleep around 9:00, and the wind speed must have nearly doubled what it was previously. I woke up around 10:00 as my tent was almost permanently folded down ontop of me, and it was also raining pretty hard. I tried to sleep through it, but this continued without mercy for about an hour and a half. Finally around 12:30AM I decided to inspect some things around the tent as the wind had now just about completely collapsed it ontop of me. I turned on my light and noticed there was about 1 to 2 inches of water on the floor of my tent. About 1:00AM I made the decision to abandon, move all of my stuff into my car (guitar, electronics, sleeping bags, pillow, etc), and sleep in the car as well. All told I didn't get a whole heck of a lot of sleep last night, but the good news is, at least for now, that it's a little bit calmer today.

That being said, I really do like Half Moon Bay. It's another of places towns with total small town charm and great scenery ontop of it. When I arrived here Monday I saw a man opening a car door for an older woman. I thought that was nice. Then I saw the woman thank him and the man walk into the starbucks afterwards. The two didn't even know each other. Yesterday I saw a woman open the door to starbucks for a man. I'm not sure if I've ever seen either of these things happen before, but I love seeing stuff like that.

So far it's been pretty foggy here the majority of the time, and there is usually some type of weather happening. The waves here are pretty big as well, generally over-head.

	People down the beach disappear into the fog
Foggy surf	My campsite as the fog rolls in; the ocean is actually just feet beyond the hill but invisible due to the fog
	My campsite without fog
My campsite was literally about 25 feet from the beach