It's big, it's blue, it's Crater Lake!

San Francisco, Redwoods & Crater Lake... Let's see... We arrived
Sunday evening in Oakland, CA. Monday morning we woke up early and
toured San Francisco. We saw Fisherman's Worf, took a ride on the
trolly, admired the switchbacks of Lombard St, and took in the views
from atop Coit Tower. Later that evening we had dinner with Carlo
Fiatarone and his mom, Dina, and two cute kids she was babysitting.
That was the first time I met any relatives from the West Coast. They
were super nice people and I'm looking forward to seeing them again
someday!! Tuesday we headed up to Redwood National Park. Man, they got
some BIG trees!! It's like walking around in some kind of fairy tale
land! Ha! :-) Wednesday we started our drive to Crater Lake. That is
definitely the most pristine lake I've ever seen!! Sooo inviting but,
sooooo cold!! :-) Now it's Friday and we're heading up coastal route
101 to Seattle where we'll be meeting up with two of Mike's friends to
do a little climbing and such!

Yosemite

The picture above is not some cheesy backdrop nor did I superimpose my
feet... That was taken from my little perch at Glacier Point,
overlooking Yosemite Valley. Wow... That's all I have to say. Standing
tall in the center of it all is Half Dome. Mike and his friend Jim
climbed that 3 years ago, I'd like to come back again to do the same!
Friday we went for an afternoon sail on Lake Tahoe then we were off to
Yosemite. We arrive late Friday night and stayed the night just
outside of the park. We woke up early Sat morning and climbed Fairview
Dome in Tuolumne Meadows, it was awesome!! Today we drove through the
valley and we're now on our way to San Francisico.

Lemon Drop Martini + Lake Tahoe sunset = I'm not leaving

Drinks on Lake Tahoe... that's all I have to say.

Bonneville and beyond

After we spent a grueling day and a half waiting for the truck to get
fixed we were finally heading out of UT but we couldn't leave without
seeing the Bonneville Salt Flats! As we pulled up to the entrance the
lady collecting money told us we were just in time, it was the first
day of the 22nd Annual World of Speed. It was AWESOME!! There were all
different types of cars, my favorite was the Lakester, gosh darn thing
is like a bullet! Just before we left one broke the 300mph mark!! I
believe it's exit speed was clocked in at around 307mph!!! It was
insane!!! :-) So now we're in NV, we stayed the night at a Walmart in
Winniemucca, NV and we just walked around Reno, the biggest little
city, and had some lunch. Now we're stuck in some serious traffic just
outside of Reno on our way to Lake Tahoe. Above is a picture of the
Bonneville Salt Flats, you'll have to excuse the quality of these
photos as they are taken with my cell phone... I think the poor little
cell phone camera got freaked out over the massive amount of sun light
and under exposed the picture a bit.

We're homeless...

On our way to CA yesterday we stopped at a scenic view area, as we
were walking back to the truck Mike noticed smoke coming out from
under the hood... Two nice men stopped and took a look at the oil
leaking under the truck with Mike. They all agreed we needed to get it
up on a lift and looked at so off we went to the nearest town, Tooele,
UT. We drove the truck to Tunex and they said there was definitely a
leak that needed to be fixed but they didn't have any time that
evening and we'd have to bring it back the next morning. Lucky for us
there was a Walmart right next door and that's where we spent the
night, after a round of bowling and a movie, of course! Today we've
spent the day roaming the streets of Tooele. My feet are ridiculously
dirty and I'm ready to get our home back! Now just as you might start
feeling bad for us... please note that the night before last we drove
into Park City, did some shopping, ate out at a nice brewery, drove
back to our executive suite at the Homestead Resort, floated around
for an hour in a 55ft deep mineral spring crater, and from there we
hopped in the whirlpool tub in our bathroom! So yeah, I guess we had
this coming to us...

Fresh out of the Winds and onto Utah

I can't tell you how wonderful it was to see mountains again! We drove
into Wyoming on Monday morning and got up to the Wind River Range that
evening. We spent most of the night trying to navigate our way through
some very poorly marked dirt roads trying to find our way to Big
Sandy. We gave up around 10pm and drove up to Pinedale and stayed at
the Fremont Lake campground. We got up early and headed into town to
get some info on the Winds, by about 11am we were back on the dirt
roads heading into the Winds. We started our hike in around 4pm and
got into camp around 7. It was a little chilly but nothing too bad.
The next morning we hiked up to Clear Lake and Deep Lake and while we
were up at Deep Lake it started to hail/snow/rain. We took shelter
under a boulder for about 45 minutes until the little storm passed.
Just as we reached camp it started hailing and there was a little bit
of thunder and lighting. The next morning we awoke to more snow and
called it quits. We hiked out and stayed the night in a little cabin
in Pinedale with a shower and two big comfortable beds!! Today we're
in Utah, we spent the day laying on the beach on Great Salt Lake, a
BIG change from the snow! :-) Above is a picture if the Wind River
Range seen from the dirt road leading in. Although I wasn't totally
prepared for the weather in there it was an absolutely breathtaking
place!! I definitely want to go back!

Livin' in the lap of luxury

Yesterday we continued to drive through Iowa and into Nebraska. We
stopped to see the the Centennial and Big Boy locomotives at the
boarder of Nebraska and Iowa. Those were the biggest trains I've ever
seen! We spent the night at a campground in Nebraska where we enjoyed
some filet mignon wrapped in bacon, potatoes and string beans for
dinner. We ended the evening with a shower (Yay! First one in three
days!) and a movie. We got on the road this morning around nine and
we're on our way to Wyoming! Above is a picture of Mike enjoying some
Scali bread as our steaks sizzles over the grill! :-)

Indiana, Illinois and Iowa... that's a lotta i's!

We departed our service station in Indiana around 10 this morning,
drove straight through Indi and into Illinois. We stopped at a Walmart
Supercenter and picked up some goods. We continued to drive straight
through IL and into Iowa. We just made a stop at the Iowa 80 truck
stop, the LARGEST truck stop in the WORLD! Well, at least that's what
the sign said. :-) Above is a picture of Juju, the road trip mascot,
enjoying the Illinois landscape.

Lake Erie and a lil' bit of Cleveland

We departed this morning around 10 and drove to Lake Erie state park,
played some frisbee and went for a swim. Then we were off to
Cleveland, OH and I must say, no offense to anyone from Cleveland but
I have a new appreciation for Boston. :-) Our goal for this evening is
to get into Indiana. Attached is a lovely pic of Lake Erie.

We're outta MA

We left around 2, stopped at Jim's and played some Wii and it's now
7:13 and we're in NY! Yay! Here's a pic of the sunset over the Cannan
thruway.