Memories Amers Travels

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS

There was the time I was hiking in Kings Canyon. I came around this huge boulder that was 10' around ... and came face to face with a big male deer with a whole rack of antlers ... he was only a few feet away. We were both so startled we took off in opposite directions.

Another time I was driving in Mineral King. There were a lot of trees obstructing the view. I came around a corner and there was a bear in a tree next to the street. Even though I was in the car, I was pretty startled. The bear was too and ran off before I could recover my wits and get my camera.

There was the male deer in Glacier National Park that followed us because we were eating pretzels and he smelled the salt.

When were driving through Scotland, a sheep tried to get in our car when we got out to take pictures.

In Yellowstone when we were camping in a large campground with hundreds of people, 2 buffalo came into the campground. All the women went into the cars and locked the doors. All the dogs were barking. Me and some guys followed the buffalo, taking pictures. I kept myself positioned at the back end of the animals so they couldn't charge me, though I guess since they run at 30 mph they could easily catch me. I figured I could outrun the other guys and so the buffalo would be preoccupied with them and wouldn't get me. Patty tried to get into my car, but I had the key. The further into the campground the buffalo came, the more people they saw and so they just kept going.

We were on a trail in a bird watching place and saw a bobcat in front of us. Naturally I had the wide angle lens on the camera and the film roll was full. By the time I put in new film and changed the lens, it was long gone. We had come in the evening and so we didn't see many birds. Not many of the other people there, however, saw the bobcat.

OTHER:

Seeing flying fish on the ferry ride from Newport Beach, California to Catalina Island.

Seeing the movie "The Graduate" at USC. The movie was shot on campus in the 1960's so when I left the theater, I saw some of the same buildings from the movie, it was very strange, like stepping into the movie.

Hiking to the top of Mt. San Jacinto, with its 360 degree view.

In the Mojave desert, slowing down next to a freight train to match its speed and having the engineer notice and toot the whistle.

Hiking to a point above the Hollywood sign with the Sierra Club.

Driving alone to San Francisco for work, of course listening to Simon & Garfunkel/The Graduate songs along the way.

Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge. It is quite a different experience from driving across it.

Being the lead car driving through thick fog at night in snow on the way to Lake Arrowhead. Visibility 5 feet, sometimes can only see through lower left corner of windshield. Stopping occassionally to find the lines. Then pulling over at the a pizza place to let other cars lead .... and finding out there were more than 20 cars following us, including a highway patrol.

Seeing a Bald Eagle ... in Northern California, Yellowstone?, and most recently, around Lake Superior in Minnesota and Michigan.

Walking through a deserted and snowy Yosemite Village at night in the dead of winter...

Walking along Pismo beach at night with just the sound of the waves and smell of the sea. (Nor do they turn off the waves.)

MY RECORDS

  • Longest solo drive: Burbank to Pleasanton, CA, 350 miles
  • Longest drive with food stops: Nampa, Idaho (near Boise) to Las Vegas, Nevada 650 miles
  • Longest drive without food stops: Flagstaff, Arizona to Burbank, 500 miles, 7 hours
  • Longest road trip: 4900 miles in 16 days, Pacific Coast Highway to Victoria Canada via Oregon and Washington and back through Idaho and Las Vegas
  • Most hotels stayed in on one trip: 11 different ones in 11 nights
  • Slowest drive due to traffic: Las Vegas to Burbank in 8 hours (280 miles) on Thanksgiving Sunday
  • Slowest drive : 6 hours to go 140 miles in a snowstorm, Reno to Lee Vining (one hour spent waiting in line)

HAWAII TRIP

  • Renitng a convertible on Kaui, an island with one road. It would rain off and on. We kept putting the top up and down, it was automatic. Inexplicably on Oahu the travel agent said we didn't need a rental car. It took us the whole day to get from our hotel in Waikiki to the Arizona Memorial by local bus, a twenty minute car ride.
  • The scary helicopter sightseeing ride we took in Kaui, Hawaii. (Now they are required to fly at least 1000 feet above the ground.)
  • Seeing a partial (97%) solar eclipse on Kaui, Hawaii. The total eclipse hit the big island but clouds prevented all except a few on boats from seeing it and those people went to Hawaii just to see it. We just happened to be there at the time. The travel agent said nothing of it. Our flight out happened to be on the day after the eclipse. The airport was very crowded with eclipse buffs leaving..
  • Seeing all the people taking pineapples and coconuts home at the airport in Hawaii, don't they have them at markets on the mainland where they live?
  • Running through the airport with all of our luggage trying to catch the plane. We had to walk far as all the shuttles were crowded with people with telescopes. This was my first trip with Patty, on later trips, Patty carried her own bags. Everyone thought we were on our honeymoon.

FIRST TRIP ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST: OREGON, WASHINGTON, VICTORIA CANADA, IDAHO, NEVADA

  • There was the motel we stayed in near Boise Idaho which had a river running through it ... the water ran right through the middle of the complex, where the pool would normally be.
  • Seeing the Northern lights at night on a ferry ride from Port Angeles Washington to Victoria Canada.
  • The motel we stayed at near Portland Oregon had bars on the windows and seemed to be in a bad neighborhood. I was kept awake by strange noises that I imagined were people trying to break in ... of course nothing happened.

SECOND TRIP ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST: OREGON, WASHINGTON, VICTORIA CANADA, NEVADA

  • riding on a jet boat on the Rogue River in Oregon
  • leaving most of the stuff at the campsite in Olympic National Park and taking a passenger ferry to Victoria Canada and having to walk everywhere with only the luggage we could carry, after being used to always having a car full of stuff.
  • going on a whale watching boat in Victoria Canada
  • as we were leaving Victoria on the ferry, we saw the captain of the whale watching boat on a boat in the harbor and he saw us and waved.

FIRST TRIP TO YELLOWSTONE, GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

  • Seeing all the buffalo, elk, deer and antelope roaming free in Yellowstone for the first time.
  • Seeing a geyser erupting for the first time.
  • An Indian in Montana seemed impressed when I told him we had driven from Los Angeles.
  • Reading all the signs warning that Going-to-the-sun-Highway, the highlight of Glacier National Park, is a very narrow road and being nervous about driving on it -- Patty didn't want to go -- only to find that the road is not nearly as narrow as some roads in Yosemite and is very broad compared to roads in the Alps where you have to back up when you see a bus coming.

SECOND TRIP TO YELLOWSTONE, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, MESA VERDE

  • Seeing 2 grizzly bears in Yellowstone after spending 4 days circling the park searching for them. Meeting other people searching for them also, as grizzly bears are relatively rare. Not as rare as wolves though. We have yet to see wolves.
  • Seeing the Old Faithfull Geyser in Yellowstone at midnight -- we were staying in the historic Old Faithfull inn. (They don't turn off the geysers at night.)
  • The beautiful wind swept ridge that is the highlight of Rocky Mountain National Park. It was 40 degrees and windy.
  • The odometer on the Ford Explorer hit 100,000 miles at the highest road in the Rocky Mountain park at 10,000 feet. I felt like I was in a car commercial.
  • Going to the U.S.'s cheesiet monument -- 4 Corners where 4 states (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah) meet on Indian land and you can be in all 4 at the same time.
  • Driving on the devil's highway, route 666. It has now been renumbered for political correctness.

TRIP TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND:

  • Riding on the open air upper deck of a double decker bus in London in the rain. We had our umbrella and had the top to ourselves.
  • Being not used to driving a stick shift car with the gear on the left side and thus reaching for the gear on the right side.
  • Getting lost repeatedly throughout the trip due to a lack of signs on roundabouts. Finishing the trip getting lost on the way to my cousin's house because of a detour on the freeway near her house.

SALT LAKE CITY TRIP

  • Driving alone around Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas with a map, checking out places to take Patty. Having to drive and navigate at the same time.
  • Hiking alone around a small lake near Salt Lake City, seeing a beaver eating a stick, and then having to run to the car to pick up Patty from the airport.
  • The bull moose we saw at that lake near Salt Lake city the next day. It charged at 5 other groups of people. Luckily for us we were on the other side of the lake so it couldn't get us.

GREAT LAKES TRIP:

Seeing Lake Michigan from our hotel room in Chicago.

Walking a mile to the Sears tower in Chicago, getting there right when it opens, (whew), enjoying the views, walking back to the hotel, and only then realizing that you can see it from the window in the hotel room. Picture to come.

Seeing my first Blue Jay at Lake Itasca in Minnesota. (Not to be confused with the Stellar's Jays of California and areas west of the Mississippi).

Getting drenched on the canal ride in Lake Superior. The waves on the lake were big and I was the only one enjoying the outside deck...

Seeing a female moose on a dirt road we were driving on in the dark in Michigan.We thought she was going to be killed because she was running away from us and towards the headlights of an oncoming car. When the car got closer, she scampered into the woods.

Having a morning flight from Chicago, we picked a motel that was advertised as the closest to the airport. They were right, the airport was just down the street. Unfortunately, the motel was right on the freeway -- the window was 10 feet away. Every time a car or truck went by it sounded like it was going to come in the room.