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We made it to Portland. After staying up until 2:30 am on Friday and then getting up at 6am on Saturday, we made the twelve hour drive without any problems. Despite our lack of sleep the night before, we were in pretty good moods. The cats weren’t happy to be in their carrier and hid under their blanket for most of the trip. They are adjusting to our room now and seem to be back to their normal wicked selves.
We got to our friends Rodney and Laura’s house at 8pm last night.  They had food and booze ready for us. We had a great time hanging out, chowing down, and visiting with them and some of their friends. We followed up our night of partying by sleeping in very late today.

We’ll be in Portland for two more days and then we head up to Seattle on Tuesday morning.

We finally got everything loaded onto the truck. It took three days and one strained back, but it’s finished. All I have to say is that Danny is the shit. Seriously, he meticulously packed everything in our office IN the original boxes AND then loaded our entire apartment into a 10×10x10 space in a trailer. I helped as much as I could, but I pulled some muscles in my back on Tuesday. We loaded the largest and heaviest stuff then, but apparently I failed to use the proper lifting techniques and thus turned into the hunchback of ummm…our apartment.

The heat has passed, the packing and loading are finished and now we have a relaxing weekend to look forward to. This relaxing weekend consists of driving to Portland, OR, in one day with two cats in the back seat, but I think it will work out alright. Sigh… at least no heavy lifting will be involved.

Daniel and I both slept much better the second night. We realized that we each needed at least three of the eight wool blankets provided to stay warm in the early morning hours.

We slept in a little later than planned but it was fine since we weren’t in a huge hurry. We hit the breakfast buffet again and it was packed. We were lucky to get a table. We then got our stuff, packed up the car, filled up the water bottles, slathered on the sunscreen, and set off on the trail to Vernal Falls.

Daniel warned me that Vernal Falls would be a tougher hike than the poop trail we’d taken the day before. I was up for a challenge. This was a challenge. The path was smooth, but the grade was steep. The trail was also busy. We passed parents dragging little kids up the path. We even passed one couple pushing an infant in a stroller. I don’t have kids so I don’t always have the best ideas but taking an infant in a stroller up a steep hiking path seems like a bad bad idea. What if you trip and the baby goes rolling off the cliff? Is it really that important to push the kid up that dusty trail?

After getting nice and hot, we got a break from the dust at the waterfall bridge. The waterfall was still far away, but the cool breeze off the water was nice. From here, I figured we’d hike to the base of the falls and cool off a bit before heading back.

We started up the second half of the hike. The trail was shaded and there were fewer folks on it. The grade was still steep, but there were more places to stop and take a rest. We passed one woman with a three year old tied to a harness of some sort. The steps heading up the path were too big for his little legs, so his mom was urging him to climb up them using his hands. Normally, I would say that that’s a good way to have a little kid burn some energy, but you know he’s going to be heavy when you have to carry him back down that hill.

The trail we were on was aptly called the Mist Trail. As we got closer to the falls, the air got significantly cooler and we could feel the clouds of mist on our bare arms and legs. By the time we reached the overlook, we were drenched. It felt great though. After looking up the hill and seeing the steep steps that led to the top of the falls, I was ready to turn back. Going up the steps would be tough but not impossible. It was the chance of slipping on my way back down that scared me. Daniel convinced me that we only had a little further to go and that the view from the top would be worth it. I was skeptical, but hey, when would we be back? Maybe never. My legs weren’t shot yet, so we drank some water and began the final ascent.

Those were the steepest steps I have ever climbed. Even though my legs are fairly strong, I had to stop every five or so steps to catch my breath. We also had to move out of the way for people descending the trail. Finally, we reached the top. The rocks were dry and smooth and there was plenty of shade. The view from the top of the falls was pretty cool. The drop to the bottom was dizzying. Despite my exhaustion, I was glad we’d done the whole hike.

We hung out at the top for about twenty minutes before heading back down. The steps were wet and slippery, but we both took our time and did not fall to our deaths. Not to be too dramatic, but it was hard not to look over the edge as I carefully placed my foot on each steep step.

We got another shower from the mist which cooled us for the rest of our trip down the trail. We passed the same woman with the kid on the harness. He was wailing bloody murder and did not let up until his mom picked him up and began carrying him down the trail. I didn’t blame him one bit. It was hot, he was tired, and he didn’t like being harnessed and forced to climb steps.

It took us about half the time to get down the trail as it had to go up it. It was still hot, but we knew we had the air conditioned car ride home to look forward to.

We grabbed some beef jerky from our camping reserves and left the park. Daniel snoozed half the way home until he woke up and expressed his need for real food. After debating the options of a convenience store or a Jack in the Box, we found a Subway just off the highway. We got our sandwiches and also picked up some fresh local peaches. Since I grew up eating the peaches from the Texas hill country, I can appreciate a good, fresh peach. We got peach juice everywhere but they were worth it.

The drive home seemed to take forever because it was hot and we were both tired. It didn’t help that I got us lost and added another thirty minutes to our drive. We had planned to go into SF for dinner, but we decided that we were too tired and grimy for that. Instead, we took Danny to our favorite cheap Italian food place and gave him the recap of our weekend. And then we went home and took long, hot showers.

After devouring a handful of refrigerated dove chocolates, my mood has improved significantly. I’m pulling out the big guns and using the tried-and-true methods of beating the heat that I learned growing up in Texas. Here’s the short list.

Brew up a huge pitcher of iced tea

Get out the leftover pulled pork and coleslaw left from yesterday’s lunch

Wet a washcloth and drape it across the back of my neck

Splash cold water on face often

Keep an ice cold glass of water handy at all times

If the shades are drawn, wear only the barest of clothing around the house

Blend a big vat of frozen margaritas

*sweat sweat sweat*

Even the cats are sprawled out on the floor. To their credit, they move to a new sprawl spot everytime I change rooms in the apt. They love me…or they want to be close enough to devour my face when I keel over from a heat stroke.

Danny and I are moving to Seattle next week. That means that we have three days to get our stuff in order before we load the truck. I think we’re ready but still, this is a major pain in the ass. The other thing we have to look forward to is that this weekend is probably going to be the hottest weekend of the summer. It is supposed to get up to 96 degrees on Sunday. For those of you in Texas, you’re probably thinking “Ah! That’s nothing!” And to you I say, is it nothing if you have no air conditioning?

It’s time to sweat.

Saturday - Day 2

Despite waking up a few times in the night, I slept well in our tent cabin. This may have been because I called dibs on the one full-sized bed in the cabin. Yeah, sibling contests never get old. Anyway, my only problem came from thinking every rustle or groan came from a bear just outside the cabin. Even though I have little reason to be afraid of bears bursting through my cabin door, it still made me nervous. Daniel, who is infinitely braver than I, got up in the night and walked outside to the public restrooms. I did not set my feet on the floor once.

We knew that we wouldn’t sleep in because of the heat and the screaming children and restless families. The noise started a 7 and we were up by 8. It was a beautiful cool morning. We dressed and walked to the dining hall for the breakfast buffet. Even though it was a little crowded, the buffet was really good. We sat on the sunny side of the dining hall and discussed our plans while sipping coffee in the sunlight.

We then went back to our bear locker, got all of our necessities, changed into hiking clothes and hopped on a shuttle to take us to the east end of the valley. We knew that we didn’t want to be 2 hours from the cabin when the temperature peaked, so we figured we’d do a short hike and then a leisurely bike ride.

We took the mirror lake trail. It was supposed to lead to a beautiful reflecting pond that was misnamed as a lake. We walked about 1/4 mile up the paved path when we noticed that another path ran along the other side of the river. It was shaded and looked more challenging. A sign said that this path would also take us to mirror lake. We started up the trail.

After a couple of minutes, we passed a sprinkling of horse apples. We guessed that some horses had come by recently. Oh well, we’d just watch our step. The further we went, the more turds we encountered. The smell reminded me of a stockyard. Then we saw the horses and riders coming toward us. A cowboy and ten riders were sauntering up the trail on horses. It was a tour of the valley via horseback. We climbed up the hill on one side of the path and let them pass. Great. We were on a horse trail.

From this point, we decided to keep heading up the trail and find a place to cross back over to the paved path. After wandering through a clearing, we decided to just head back the way we’d come and hopefully not encounter anymore horses. We passed the “lake” again and got to the shuttle stop. Even though it was still morning, it was starting to get hot.

Once we got back to our cabin, we unloaded the bikes and took a short ride up one of the many paved bike paths throughout the park. There were a lot of cyclists on the path; the bike rental business at Yosemite appears to be going strong. One of my favorite moments on our ride was as we were heading back to our cabin. We came out of the woods and into a field. Half Dome was directly in front of us and cliffs shot up on either side. We paused to take the requisite picture of half dome and then hurried back to our tents. We were starving and we knew that lunch would be another shuttle stop away.

The park was much much busier than it had been the day before. The shuttles were packed and we stood up most of the time. We went to a small deli not far from where we’d eaten dinner the night before. Even though it was packed, the line moved pretty quickly and my ham and swiss on sourdough was GOOD! I was shocked.

By now, we decided that we were either going to swim in the river (snow runoff) or go to the small pool at our campground. Daniel stuck his hand in the water earlier and decided that the river was really damn cold. Since I was in no mood to hike down to the freezing river, we opted for the pool. Even though we only got about 15 minutes at the pool, it cooled us off a lot. For some reason (little kids), the chlorine level was too low and they kicked everyone out. We tried to relax at other outdoor places, but we finally went back to our cabin for naps. Even though it was really warm and still, we each had a hot, fitful nap that lasted at least until the sun started to go down in the valley.

I had forgotten how much the heat saps your energy. I had planned to do much more on our second day in the park, but we just had no energy. Daniel and I are capable of pushing through extreme temperatures and exhaustion to hike or bike, but I was not willing to do anything of the sort with temperatures in the upper 90’s. This was definitely the type of trip where sitting in the shade and just enjoying the view was the best solution.

We got up and took off for a pizza place. Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs and we only ate 2/3 of our large pizza. Even though it was getting dark, we took a post-dinner stroll back to Yosemite falls and enjoyed the cool breeze and waterfall mist one more time. We had to wander a while to find a shuttle stop, but we found one eventually.

At this point, I was really looking forward to the next task: taking a shower. Even though the showers were small and limited, they were mostly clean. The hardest part was waiting with five other women for the five shower stalls that were available. I got some good advice on additional hikes though. However, there was no hot water left so I took a cool shower. This wasn’t so bad, but still, a nice hot shower would have been perfect at the end of the day.

I cleaned up and then went back to the cabin. Daniel was snoozing so I stayed up for a while writing some postcards. I could hear the people in the next tent over. They were snoring. I heard no bear noises though.

I got up around 7:30, kissed Danny goodbye on his way out the door, and let my brother sleep in another 15 minutes while I took a shower. I had originally planned for us to hit the road around 8 am so as to arrive at the park around noon. Someone pointed out to me that there would be massive rush-hour traffic and I would be stuck in the middle of it.

After loading our stuff and grabbing a quick breakfast, we hit the road at 10:15. The day was beautiful. We left the cool temperatures of the peninsula and headed east to the dreaded, deathly summer heat. Okay, it wasn’t deadly. I’m from Texas; I know deadly heat.

We drove east for about two hours and then switched drivers. By now, we were driving down a two lane road that ran through the orchards of the San Juaquin valley. There were lots of little cute towns and fruit stands along the way. Once we formally exited civilization, we headed up into the mountains. At one point, we passed a sign that instructed us to turn off our air conditioning for the next five miles. We had a huge climb in front of us and it was common for cars to overheat on this stretch of road.

Despite the lack of AC, we enjoyed the scenery: huge windmills, yellow, rolling hills, a reservoir far below us, and a cloudless sky.

About an hour later, we pulled into the Yosemite entrance at Big Oak Flat. After getting our bearings and glancing through the literal stack of pamphlets the ranger handed to us, we took off for our camp.

The scenery was amazing. As we descended into the valley, we passed a large patch of burned tree trunks. I guess the fire had happened a while back because all of the grass was green. It was still strange seeing a forest of burned tree trunks sticking up like fenceposts.

As we got closer to our camp, we saw the granite monolith El Capitan looming before us. We pulled over to the shoulder and stepped out of the car. It is hard to tell in pictures how huge this thing is. It is the largest granite outcropping in north America. It isn’t beautiful, but it is breathtaking. Across the valley from El Capitan was bridalveil falls. It looked as if a pipe burst and a long stream of water was just pouring over the cliff.

Getting out of the car also showed me something I hadn’t expected: it was freakin’ hot in the valley. Granted, it was a dry heat and the shade was pleasant but still, hot.

We had a reservation at Camp curry, a village of 400 canvas cabins, right in the middle of Yosemite Valley. Even though it was more rustic than I usually like, it was perfectly nice and kept the bugs off us at night. We got to camp Curry, checked in, and got rid of every bit of food related or scented item in the car and in our bags. Bears are all over the place (or so they say) and apparently leaving food or scented items in your car motivates bears to pry open your car like a tin of sardines. We got rid of everything, even gum wrappers. The rest of our stuff, the stuff we needed, went into the bear locker. It was kind of weird not having chapstick or deoderant in our cabin, but we got used to walking to the bear locker several times a day to get food or some body-product. It was slightly annoying but not a huge deal.

We got a cabin with four beds. Although we only needed two, we used the other ones to dump our stuff on. I’m messy so this was great for me but not for daniel since I kept losing my keys and camera in my clothes pile on the bed.

After settling in, we decided to get lunch. It was 4pm so I guess we had early dinner, but at that point we didn’t care bc we were so hungry. The cafeteria where we were staying only served breakfast and dinner, so we hopped on the valley shuttle and took a 30 minute ride to the food court in another area of the park. Did I mention that we had multiple dining options? Well, we did.

We got to the food court and got some lunch. As Daniel was handing me a cup of ketchup, a big blob fell on my white tennis shoe. It wasn’t his fault, but it left a big blood-like stain near my toes. We joked that it looked like I had my toe cut off and the wound was bleeding through. Nice.

When we finished dinner, the sun was starting to set. The valley floor was cool and shaded but the surrounding cliffs were lit by the late afternoon sun. We walked along the road until we saw a sign for Yosemite Falls. Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America. One huge fall comes halfway down the cliff and then pools and drops into another massive fall. We walked to the base of the lower fall and felt the mist blast against our bodies. Despite the sweat and hunger from before, we could now relax. We swapped photo duties with some other tourists and then took the path back down to the road. We caught another shuttle back to our campsite, took showers, and then went to the onsite pub for beer and a small pizza. Like I said, we were roughing it.

I’ll have the full recap ready tomorrow. Until then, check out our vacation pics.

Today is my Friday. Daniel gets here at 7pm and then we leave for Yosemite tomorrow morning. It’s a long drive but hopefully our enthusiasm mixed with caffeine will make the drive easier. We’ll be there for two days. Danny was invited but he’s going to leave the bears and mosquitos to us. I’m really excited about our trip. I’m also very excited to have tomorrow off work.

In other news, I was a chatty Cathey last night. I got a phone call from an old friend whom I hadn’t heard from in over a year. This inspired me to call other folks. I was on the phone pretty late, but it was cool to catch up with so many friends. I’m trying to take advantage of my free time now while I still have it. I don’t know how well I’ll stay in touch once school starts.

New hate: killjoys. I’ve never liked them, but someone totally killed my happy buzz today. I’ll get over it, I just don’t understand the need to do that. I mean, c’mon! The sun’s shining, the weekend’s upon us, relax!