Road Trip

We took the opportunity of the winter break to travel around in California. Below our trip scheme and of course links to some pictures!

Tuesday, Dec. 21 -- We drove down to San Diego with a "short" stop in Pasadena (where we lived for one month two years ago when Go was at Caltech). We had supper at the famous Islands burger restaurant in the paseo of Pasadena.

Wednesday, Dec. 22 -- After visiting the Salk Institute, we walked along La Jolla's cove before going back to San Diego. We stopped at Old San Diego Town: a square of old houses which looks like a false town for tourists (Go was really disappointed)... Still I wanted to go to Heritage Park where old Victorian houses have been moved to avoid destruction. We finished the day in Downtown San Diego, walked around and had dinner in "Little Italy".

Thursday, Dec. 23 -- We visited the San Diego Zoo! They were three magical hours: we saw gorillas, polar bears, pandas, etc. in a wonderful environment.
We arrived at Joshua Tree Park at the end of the afternoon and chose the Ryan campground to set up our tent! Campgrounds in this park are really nice. The weather was quite cold and windy but we managed to eat in front of the fire which kept us warm. During the night, we were awakened by coyote screams...

Friday, Dec. 24 -- While I was still asleep, Go watched the sunrise... After breakfast, we packed our camping gear and searched a while for "Echo Cove" (a climbing spot). We finally found it and Go climbed one route. It was then time to drive to Death Valley which we reached 4 hours later at about 7 pm. The campground was not as nice as the one in Joshua Tree Park... However we had a wonderful Christmas eve: steak and marinated chicken on the barbecue with salad and potatoes, marshmallows as dessert :-)

Saturday, Dec. 25 -- We phoned our parents to wish them a Happy Christmas. It was not so easy to convert dollar bills into quarters but we made it... We drove around in Death Valley and walked a bit in Titus Canyon which is quite impressive. You really have to be nearby to see the entrance!
We decided to quit Death Valley by the Northern entrance and drive through Nevada before heading West to reach Big Pine. The view on the Sierra Nevada was worthwhile but we almost ran out of gas... :-S Three towns were indicated on the map but they turned out to be tiny villages: a couple of houses and no gas station...
We arrived in Lee Vining (near Mono Lake) to discover that this was also a small village and all the restaurants were closed for Christmas! We ate our lunch leftovers in the hotel room.

Sunday, Dec. 26 -- After having a nice breakfast (cereal and French toast) in a real American cafe, we drove to Tioga Pass Gate where the staff of Tioga Pass Resort was waiting for us to take our bags. We met Sharad and Juliane with whom we hiked to Tioga Pass Resort. We discovered a nice resort, a lodge (with a huge stove) surrounded by several cabins. The staff was really nice and the cook really good! Nothing to compare with Swiss huts! We had two hours of great backcountry skiing that afternoon.

Monday, Dec. 27 -- It was snowing and Tim, an American Alpine guide, proposed a "beacon clinic". We learned a lot from him! After lunch, we went for a ski tour but the snow wasn't as nice as the day before and we didn't see much because of the fog.
I played Scrabble after dinner with other hosts and I managed to do quite well even if it was in English ;-)

Tuesday, Dec. 28 -- Last day of the holiday. It didn't stop snowing during the night and the staff advised us to go as soon as possible because of the growing avalanche risk... We skied down to the car with Sharad and Juliane (with a short ride in/on the snowcat to pass the risky sections) and found the car half buried in the snow ;-) I am exaggerating a little but not that much: check the pictures :-)
It was a long drive back to the Bay Area because a lot of passes are closed during winter and you have to go further North. It was snowing or raining all the time but we drove safely back home.

That was it. Hope you are still reading this long post ;-) Happy New Year!

MC

PS: Here's a high resolution version of the "Pele-Mele"