March 14, 2016
Aloha all,
we’re not even a week into this road trip and besides that Sandra is not with us, I enjoy it as much as I could ever enjoy a road trip. And if you know me, you know that I am really good at enjoying road trips, extraordinarily good. Enjoying road trips might be one of my best skills I have.
In case you are not aware yet why I would ever take a road trip without Sandra, let me explain: On my very first trip to the US, I traveled mostly by train. Occasionally, we rented a car, but renting a car when you’re under 25 was not easy in America. Under 21 it’s almost impossible. That seemed annoying then, but came in really handy now: My niece Ronja is 20 and she has heard enough about Maui and about road trips from her Uncle Chris and Aunt Sandra that she used her time off before college to first visit us on Maui with her very nice friend Sarah and then she wanted to go on a road trip on the US mainland. But since road tripping without a car is pretty hard, Uncle Chris was practically forced to take her on a trip. My arm is so twisted, it still hurts.
Luckily, our hanai parents Bunt & Ann still have Homer, which is perfect for a 3 week trip in cold country for 2 people. Obviously, we had to do this trip in winter, because the Ultimate Frisbee tournaments in Hawaii are in winter and if Ronja flies half way around the world, there better be some ultimate involved. Plus, if Sandra and I ever want to fulfill our dream of doing a really long road trip, there will be winter months involved, too. So we better get some practice in.
Homer spent the winter in a barn in Evergreen, Colorado at over 7,000 feet. We were concerned that we might spend the first week either snow plowing or waiting for warmer weather, but not only did we get lucky with the weather, Trevor even picked us up from the airport and within the first few hours after we landed, we got to play disc golf, go bowling, play ping pong and shoot pool…not a bad start and it went all uphill from there…sometimes even literally uphill, like when we did a short hike to St. Mary's Glacier at over 10,000 feet.
For some weird reason, I never went skiing, even though I am usually not opposed to fun. For the past 20 years, I have a pretty good excuse. The skiing opportunities on Maui are pretty limited. But I grew up close to the Black Forest and I went to college at the foot of the Alps…no idea why it took me 45 years to go downhill skiing for the very first time in my life, but in a way, I am glad I did wait so long. Since I am fairly old to start skiing and since I am a remarkably bad surfer and balance is usually not my strong suit, I expected to do very poorly. But I was willing to entertain Ronja and Trevor by attempting to ski anyway. At least Ronja seemed disappointed at first: I did not do anything real funny, except the one time when I ended up in a fence. I started skiing right away. Breaking, turning or slowing down took me a little longer. Later in the day, Ronja’s disappointment turned to being proud of her uncle and enjoying that we could actually ski together.
Before that day, I would have been happy to make it down the bunny hill with only minor injuries. To my surprise I barely fell down at all and quickly advanced to longer and even steeper slopes. Even though “steep” seems to be a very relative term for skiing. I feel like I am racing down an incredible steep mountain, while Ronja skis that same slope with about the ease I walk on a sidewalk…and Trevor skis on one ski or backwards to make it interesting for him. They just laugh when I call any part of a green run steep. But regardless of how flat or steep the hill was: I enjoyed it so much that I doubt any “real” skier on any black run can have any more fun. I have a hard time thinking of days when I had more fun than on my first day of skiing. What a rush!
So I did not get injured skiing at all, but since my one arm was still hurting from being twisted to go on a road trip with Ronja, Trevor had to twist my other arm to stay another day so we can play at an indoor Ultimate Frisbee hat draw tournament. We got even luckier: The tournament was supposed to be from 11pm-3am, but they got the arena earlier, so we were “already” done at 1:35am. Yes a.m. that is. Definitely the most fun I ever had playing ultimate after midnight, even though my team lost every game.
On Saturday, we started our actual road trip. Our first stop was Georgetown, just like it was last year with Sandra. I thought I could show Ronja our favorite Czech restaurant in town, but it was closed. But luckily we just happened to park across from a quaint looking tea room. Ronja says “I love tea rooms” and next thing we know, we sip tea in outrageous hats and have a fun conversation with everybody else in the tea room. It was really the cutest little place, it felt like being in a doll house, just with better food.
The next day, my experience from our last trip worked out better. We got to do the Hanging Lake hike again. Less water falling over the waterfalls, but more people falling on the snowy trail. And still one of the prettiest little hikes I know.
Today, we went skiing again. I guess I am hooked now. After one day of skiing I already have a hard time just driving by a ski area. Our first choice was eliminated by the weather, but “Powderhorn” was a great substitute, even though it was not powder snow. I still can’t believe that I skied downhill for over 8,000 vertical feet without falling down once. Maybe it’s good we are heading southwest away from most ski areas, before I get hurt. For now only my face hurts because I can’t stop smiling.
Two more weeks, it will be way too short, but even though we are heading into familiar places for me on the way to California, I am looking forward to every mile of it.
Aloha and Mahalo for reading,
Chris & Ronja
March 21, 2016
Aloha all,
the main lesson we learnt from our previous road trips has been that it almost doesn’t matter where you go: There is something interesting to see in every corner of this great country. But when Ronja said that she wanted to go on a road trip, it was pretty clear, that we should go to the national parks in the Southwest.
Even though I’ve been to most of them before, it still amazes me that in such a relatively small area there are all these unreal natural wonders. In the past week alone we have been to the Colorado National Monument, Arches National Park, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion and we are now at the Grand Canyon. I find these parks truly amazing and I am glad to see them again. So no wonder it seems impossible to get a pictures of us standing still.
As Ronja and Sandra can attest, I love talking to all kinds of people on road trips. It’s always interesting and sometimes you get the best ideas that way. Like the suggestion of a park ranger to take the scenic route 128 when driving from Colorado to Arches NP in Utah. What made this drive even better is the fact that we forgot to bring any CDs with us on this trip. Let me explain: The number of radio stations in that neck of the desert ist pretty limited. But at one point Ronja said that the instrumental music reminded her of Hawaii. The next song was by Hapa, then Kealii Reichel…we had caught the Hawaiian Hour of the local radio station and by the time we reached the prettiest part of the drive, Brother Iz delivered his best rendition of “It’s a wonderful World”. Wonderful indeed.
I have heard the explanation why there are so many arches in Arches National Park a dozen times and I do believe in science, but I still find unbelievable (and impossible to remember). Delicate Arch (1st picture below) might be our favorite arch, but the one that made me realize how lucky I am the most is Landscape Arch (2nd picture). Last time I was there was about 25 years ago.That particular arch seemed so fragile then that it could have collapsed any moment. What I did not know until now, 25 years later, is that only a couple of weeks after I stood under that arch, a few tons of rock did come crashing down. Lucky me. One park visitor got even luckier and actually got a picture with the huge boulders in midair; without getting killed either.
I had been to Canyonlands NP before, too. But the views are always worth another look and we also made it to the ‘Upheaval Dome’ in the “Island in the Sky’ section of this park this time. What I liked about this place, besides the name, was the scientific explanation about the formation of this dome: In short: They don’t know. I am always impressed that geologists can tell with some certainty what happened in a particular place a few million years ago. But in this place, the consensus seems to be: We don’t know. Maybe a meteorite, but then again, there is no trace of a meteorite to be found…they just don’t know: how refreshing!
The next highlight: We played a round of disc golf like no other before. We found a golf course that actually offers golf carts to play disc golf. Ronja loves disc golf, but she definitely enjoyed riding the golf cart way more than the part throwing the frisbees. Adding to her enjoyment was the fact that I put one of my discs right smack in the middle of a lake right after announcing that I shouldn’t do that. I also lost another disc under mysterious circumstances, but two lost discs and the price of admission was a small price to pay for the fun we had. And even after 2 weeks of traveling together, I had no idea how lazy Ronja can be: She even putted while sitting in the golf cart…
Capitol Reef was a new National Park for me. It’s pretty remote and therefore not busy even during spring break. A surprising feature besides the rock formations and steep canyon was an apricot orchard, which was in full bloom. It smelled and looked amazing. Another highlight of the day came at the primitive “Hole in the Wall” Campground: Ronja (for the first time in her life!) went out into nature when "nature called". For my European friends who might not be familiar with this expression, I can give you two hints: It did not smell as good as the apricot orchard and the campground could also be called “Hole in the Ground” now….
Bryce Canyon was one of the first National Parks I ever went to and it’s still one of my favorites. We did our longest hike here and ran into fun people and fun formations. Hiking through the canyons full of weird shapes made out of the most colorful sandstone, I kept thinking “The Gods must be crazy”…. or drunk. Who comes up with that? No geological explanation seems more plausible to me than a god who got a little tipsy before creating that part of the land.
Zion National Park is great, too. But it was pretty busy. There were a lot of people even in areas where you had to drive by car first, then take a shuttle, then hike a little and then walk through ice cold water in a narrow canyon. Of course we were two of those people. We did not go as far as others, but only because they actually prepared for it and brought the right gear for walking through the icy water. We just brought the enthusiasm to do it…until we could not feel our feet anymore. But as bad as it felt while walking in the cold water, it felt great afterwards. The German Dr. Kneipp was on to something!
Today, we made it to the Grand Canyon and I have to say, it is very appropriately named. Grand indeed. And even though I had seen and hiked it before, it still has some surprises for me: Like a beautiful sunset. After a pretty cloudy afternoon and not much color right around sunset, all of the sudden, the sky lit up in pink all over the canyon rim.
Now the only 'first world' luxury problem we have is deciding whether we want to see Disneyland and Highway #1 along the California Coast or a few more National Parks on the way to San Francisco. The good thing about this question: There is no wrong answer: We will have one more week of fun before we have to go back to our harsh realities: Me living on Maui with Sandra and Ronja going on a Eurail trip and playing frisbee tournaments, including Worlds in London. Road trips are always too short, but it doesn’t get much better than this. Life is good!
Aloha from a very grand canyon,
Chris & Ronja
April 2, 2016
Aloha all,
Life on the road is so much fuller. A week at home can slip by without much notice. Looking back at the one week since the last update, it feels like we had two months worth of experiences. So let’s take off where we we were last: At the great Grand Canyon.
Ronja and I did a half day hike into the canyon; barely enough to change the perspective of this oversized landscape. At the end of the hike it mostly changed my perspective of how small we humans are. On our way from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas, we drove a part of the historic Route 66. Since a lot of the old charm and the old fashioned attractions are gone, we pulled over to play two different disc golf courses instead. We also took a guided tour through the ‘Grand Canyon Caverns’, the largest dry caves in the United States, which also double as an emergency shelter for up to 2,000 people or as a hotel for 2-6 people. For a mere $800, you can rent the whole cave for a night.
Las Vegas is the opposite of the Grand Canyon Caverns and the Grand Canyon: While one of the attractions of the cave is the total darkness and quietness you could experience there, the lights and sounds of Vegas never stop. And while the Grand Canyon has been carved over millions of years and looks pretty much the same as 1,000 years ago, Vegas has been transformed by humans within geological seconds: How weird what this desert plain has become, mostly because people keep playing the odds even though they are stacked slightly against them. After a week in the National Parks, the contrast was astounding: After parking Homer in the RV Park that just happened to be behind the California Hotel in Downtown, where all the Hawaiians stay, we walk the few steps to Fremont Street and everything was different:
Instead of a clear starry night overhead, there now was that crazy roof over us that is actually a huge video screen that plays a different light and video show every half hour. Instead of a few birds chirping, there were a few bands competing who is louder and more outrageous. And instead of people going on a hike, they are zipping overhead. And instead of a ranger or interpretive sign explaining the natural features of a national park, there were now a million signs explaining why you should drink more alcohol, gamble more, eat all you can eat and maybe watch a strip show. It felt like we were crashing a big party, but I guess it was just another night in Vegas.
We spent the whole next day exploring the strip, from the famed “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign (which seems pretty modest by today’s standards) to the various themed hotels, shops and restaurants. How crazy that in the middle of the desert you can now stroll along a Venetian canal, watch a 3D movie about M&Ms, eat Indian food, ride a monorail and a futuristic ferris wheel, just to name some of the lamer activities you can do in Vegas. We also watched four of the water fountain shows at the Bellagio and saw a Cirque du Soleil show called ‘Zarkana’. It was as spectacular as Cirque Du Soleil shows usually are. It was such an acrobatic show that I am surprised I caught a moment on camera below with no people flying through the air. Wow, what a show!
After a long day out, around 1am or so we got tired and returned home to Homer. Lucky for Ronja, I knew a short cut. Too bad that is was blocked by a tall fence around the RV park. Jokingly, I told Ronja that “this fence wasn’t here this morning”. Obviously, I knew that I just didn’t remember right or was a little disoriented. I was a little surprised since I seemed to remember the huge long opening with no wall or fence, but reality proved me wrong…until the next morning. On the way back from the showers, I noticed some construction workers by that fence. I just had to ask them when the fence was built. Sure enough, it was built the day before. There was no sign of it in th morning and it looked like it had always been there when we returned 15 hours later. Nice to find out that I am not totally loosing my mind yet.
As mentioned in the last update, we now had to make the decision whether to go to Disneyland or whether to see some more national parks on the way to San Francisco. Going to Disneyland would have meant a lot more driving and getting to the park on Easter weekend during spring break, one of the busiest days of the year at Disney. So I have no doubt that visiting some more national Parks was the better choice, but we were both a little disappointed that we were so reasonable and responsible.
Death Valley was alive this winter. We got there a little too late, but still saw some nice wildflowers. Our favorite part were the sand dunes, which seems ironic: If all we wanted was to play in the sand, there was really no need to fly 6,000 miles and drive for 2 weeks, we could have stayed on Maui and walk across the street to the beach. Death Valley was both a low point and a high point of our trip: 282 feet below sea level, but with 94 degrees also a record high. Hard to believe that just a few miles further north, several passes were still closed, blocking all short routes to Yosemite.
Our next stop was Sequoia National Park. Redwoods sure look like trees, they are just the wrong size. I remembered the huge trees from my last visit, I did not remember how scenic the park is overall. Maybe it was just the time of the year with the spring in full bloom in lower elevations and still pretty good snow cover higher up. The General Sherman Tree is considered the largest tree in the world by volume. With 275 feet not the tallest, with 100 feet (!) circumference not the biggest around, with about 2,700 years not the oldest, but the one out of which you could make the most chopsticks.
We spent our last full day trading in Homer for a tandem. After being chased by cable cars up and down the hills of San Francisco and surprisingly finding almost legal parking, we rented a tandem from what must be the most efficient bike rental company in the country. Walking in the shop just with the idea that it would be fun to ride a tandem over the Golden Gate Bridge, a few minutes later we rolled out on a tandem with a plan and ferry tickets for the way back and even a rubber band around my leg to keep my pants out of the well oiled chains. ‘Blazing Saddles” is a very efficient and very fun place.
It’s seems to me that a tandem is a little harder to ride on flat ground and a little easier uphills. Or maybe Ronja just knows when uncle needs a little more help. Either way, we made it over the Golden, or actually Red Gate Bridge for a coffee/beer break in Sausalito before taking the ferry back. Fun Day in the city without really spending much time in the actual city.
You know that time is running out when Ronja and I stay at an RV park with a disc golf course and don’t get to play. But we had another sweet ending planned: Ronja and Sarah had bought a 4 pound jar of jelly belly beans at Costco when they came to Maui. We came full circle at the end of our trip together and did a tour at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA. A kid in a candy store is nothing compared to Ronja in a candy factory.
After dropping Ronja off for her flight home, I got to spend 2 days with Jerry & Mary at their California home in Sonoma County. I was mostly busy getting Homer in good shape for his next adventure, which is probably going to be with Bern & Jill. But I was able to sneak away for a few hours to visit the estate of Jack London. I did not know much about him, even though he supposedly is the most translated author in the world and the most successful author of his time. At the Jack London State Historical Park, I learnt all the things we don’t know about Jack London: Who his father might or might not be, that he might have died naturally, poisoned or by suicide and that his dream home, the “Wolf House” might have burnt down by accident or due to arson,… lots of mysteries about Jack London, but one thing is clear: He lived a full and interesting life that came to an end way too early.
The same can be said about my road trip with Ronja: Certainly full and interesting and certainly way too short. But I have learnt that there is one huge advantage of traveling without Sandra. We usually have a hard time seeing the silver lining of a road trip coming to an end. But now I saw a clear 'gold lining' since I got to come home to Sandra.
I’ve only been home for a few hours, but if Sandra came asking, I could be ready for another road trip by tonight.
Aloha,
Chris & Ronja
