Yesterday was one of those days when everything goes wrong :-(
It started with Hadas getting a sore throat. Her tonsils had actually been swollen for a couple days, but yesterday it got to the point where she was sick and miserable. We had her checked for strep bacteria, which came back negative, meaning it’s viral. So, no antibiotics to the rescue, only rest.
Later in the day we headed inland, towards Lassen Volcanic National Park, and at some point started noticing that the air had became smoky, from a fire.
Forest fires have been a recurring theme in our travels. We closely followed the recent Yosemite fire, to see if we should change our plans (the fire has been successfully contained, so our plans stay intact). We watched a fascinating movie about the big fire that consumed Yellowstone in 1988. We saw the forests near Rocky Mountain National Park, with a vast proportion of the pines dead due to a Mountain Pine Beatle epidemic, and heard that the only question is WHEN the huge fire will occur. We learned that the official National Parks Service policy is to let small fires burn, allowing nature to perform its house cleaning, as long as human developments and assets aren’t jeopardized. We saw the haze in Crater Lake and heard the explanation that northern California is burning, due to an especially dry year.
But all that was mostly theoretical. Now we were inside it, the smoke getting thicker and thicker, to the point where visibility was very limited. We drove through towns and villages, where people live under a thick blanket of smoke these days. I can’t say it was a pleasant experience, but it was definitely a unique one. To make it clear – we didn’t see any fire at all, only smoke, and at no stage were we in any danger. About 20 miles from our destination town, we were stopped and told that the road was closed due to yet another fire. We had to drive back the 70 miles, namely after a 3 hour drive we were back where we started, on the coast. As I mentioned previously, time spent in the car is an expensive resource in our family, and some of us (particularly Maayan) weren’t very happy.
We decided to make the day the antithesis of the rest of our travels, and continued with a night spent in Motel 6, dinner at McDonald and a gross greasy breakfast at a diner. As an aside, we searched our memory, and could still count on one hand the number of times we visited McDonald in our almost 4 years in the US. We’re proud of that...
Anyway, we had to reshuffle our plans and skip Lassen Volcanic NP. Instead of camping we are going to spend 2 nights in a fancy resort near Clear Lake, CA. Then we’ll head to Yosemite, with a short stay in Sacramento. This will hopefully allow Hadas to recover, so in a way our unfortunate day turned out for the better, or for the Hebrew speakers among you: “Col Acava Letova” ;-)
Giora
Monday, August 18
Saturday, August 16
Wonderful Girls
This posting is going to be fairly corny, so apologies in advance, and feel free to skip it...
It's been about two months since we embarked on our travels. I had high expectations of these travels, but I couldn't imagine how much fun it would be spending all day, every day, with our three daughters. As I've written before, beautiful nature and all, these months are mostly about spending quality time together as a family.
All three of them (though Hadas less than her sisters) seem to like the traveling life, and to enjoy camping and hiking. I’m delighted to see them play around in the dirt and mud without caring about being constantly clean. I love their desire to climb rocks, and their nonchalance about the cuts and bruises incurred in the process. I'm happy to see them wetting their hands and feet in almost every creek we bump into, freezing water not being a show stopper.
Maayan is literally blossoming, running around energetically and very happy most of the time. Spending all day with Mom & Dad has a fantastic influence on her. Our joke is that she thinks she's 3 years old (she's half that age), and in many respects she is indeed very precocious. At times it feels as if we can literally see her growing and developing day by day. She's amazingly cute and friendly, and it's fairly common for her to stand in front of a stranger in the street, and start conversing in fluent Gibberish, full of intent. Another prominent desire of hers is wild berries, which we have encountered frequently in the past weeks. She'll accept them all happily - blackberries, thimbleberries, huckleberries or salal berries - typically urging the other family members to pick them more quickly ;-)
Hadas needed some time to get used to moving so often (at the beginning she’d ask that we stay longer in every place, no matter where and in what accommodation...), but before too long she adapted. She's very happy with hiking and camping, particularly when we build a campfire in the evening. She loves nature, and is extremely curious about many things we come across. Her curiosity often yields a long stream of questions, which we like and encourage. Her liveliness is simply irresistible, and when she breaks into one of her common giggles, it's hard not to join!
One of the evident changes during this trip is the relationship between her and Maayan, namely Hadas becoming such a wonderful big sister. Sometimes when Maayan is in tears, Hadas is the only one capable of consoling her, and the love is reciprocal.
Noga is thriving, and the pains of leaving her friends in Pittsburgh have stopped affecting her mood a while back. Although she only recently turned 8, it feels at times like having a third adult, with her exceptional responsibility and willingness to help. She's frighteningly smart, and I keep being surprised by her level of perception and understanding. I find myself having more and more conversations with her, which could take place with a fellow adult. Another implication is that she fears not questioning the rationale behind our decisions (i.e. allowing or not allowing her certain things). Our usual take is that such second-guessing is welcome, up to a point, and it's not rare for us to reverse our decision as a result. And with all that, she’s still young enough to let us cuddle, hug and kiss her all the time. We cherish every such moment :-)
In general, my feeling is that I'm extremely lucky to have such a family. It's something I feel during routine times as well, but traveling emphasizes it even further!
Giora
It's been about two months since we embarked on our travels. I had high expectations of these travels, but I couldn't imagine how much fun it would be spending all day, every day, with our three daughters. As I've written before, beautiful nature and all, these months are mostly about spending quality time together as a family.
All three of them (though Hadas less than her sisters) seem to like the traveling life, and to enjoy camping and hiking. I’m delighted to see them play around in the dirt and mud without caring about being constantly clean. I love their desire to climb rocks, and their nonchalance about the cuts and bruises incurred in the process. I'm happy to see them wetting their hands and feet in almost every creek we bump into, freezing water not being a show stopper.
Maayan is literally blossoming, running around energetically and very happy most of the time. Spending all day with Mom & Dad has a fantastic influence on her. Our joke is that she thinks she's 3 years old (she's half that age), and in many respects she is indeed very precocious. At times it feels as if we can literally see her growing and developing day by day. She's amazingly cute and friendly, and it's fairly common for her to stand in front of a stranger in the street, and start conversing in fluent Gibberish, full of intent. Another prominent desire of hers is wild berries, which we have encountered frequently in the past weeks. She'll accept them all happily - blackberries, thimbleberries, huckleberries or salal berries - typically urging the other family members to pick them more quickly ;-)
Hadas needed some time to get used to moving so often (at the beginning she’d ask that we stay longer in every place, no matter where and in what accommodation...), but before too long she adapted. She's very happy with hiking and camping, particularly when we build a campfire in the evening. She loves nature, and is extremely curious about many things we come across. Her curiosity often yields a long stream of questions, which we like and encourage. Her liveliness is simply irresistible, and when she breaks into one of her common giggles, it's hard not to join!
One of the evident changes during this trip is the relationship between her and Maayan, namely Hadas becoming such a wonderful big sister. Sometimes when Maayan is in tears, Hadas is the only one capable of consoling her, and the love is reciprocal.
Noga is thriving, and the pains of leaving her friends in Pittsburgh have stopped affecting her mood a while back. Although she only recently turned 8, it feels at times like having a third adult, with her exceptional responsibility and willingness to help. She's frighteningly smart, and I keep being surprised by her level of perception and understanding. I find myself having more and more conversations with her, which could take place with a fellow adult. Another implication is that she fears not questioning the rationale behind our decisions (i.e. allowing or not allowing her certain things). Our usual take is that such second-guessing is welcome, up to a point, and it's not rare for us to reverse our decision as a result. And with all that, she’s still young enough to let us cuddle, hug and kiss her all the time. We cherish every such moment :-)
In general, my feeling is that I'm extremely lucky to have such a family. It's something I feel during routine times as well, but traveling emphasizes it even further!
Giora
Thursday, August 14
Gigantic trees enveloped in fog
A couple days ago we entered California, our last state for this trip. In an official CA state parks brochure, The Governator urges us to “Trim your waistline” etc., so more than ever we’re trying to hike every day ;-)
We’re now in Redwood National Park, which is actually a bunch of CA state parks grouped together, in the north-western tip of this elongated state. As the name implies, the gigantic Redwood trees (aka Sequoia) are the main attraction. One can gaze at the tallest living things on earth, marvel at their unfathomable height (up to hundreds of feet) and appreciate their amazing vulnerability (the roots are typically less than 10 feet deep), which called for preserving them and containing many of them in protected parks. You can even drive through some of these giants.
Another prominent quality of this coastal area is its fogginess. Even on days that are defined as “clear” in the weather forecast, it’s very uncommon to see a blue spot in the sky. Indeed, you may have no clouds from above, but the fog coming from the Pacific Ocean wraps everything, and makes for constantly grey and somewhat gloomy surroundings. It does have a mighty and mysterious feel about it, and I can certainly appreciate it as a visitor, but for sure I wouldn't want to live in such a climate. It’s even much worse than Pittsburgh :-)
We planned a 5-night stay in the park, but decided to dedicate only a small portion to walking amongst the mighty trees. More importantly, this is our only rendezvous with the Pacific Ocean in our current travels, and we chose to enjoy that. The water is way too cold and rough for swimming, but you still have plenty to do – playing in the sand, hiking between beautiful tide pools and breathing the salty smell which we miss so much.
It’s a pleasant reminder of the wonderful Mediterranean beaches awaiting us in Haifa…
On another note - we expect to have very sporadic Internet access until we get to the bay area towards the end of August, so we’ll probably be relatively silent...
Giora
We’re now in Redwood National Park, which is actually a bunch of CA state parks grouped together, in the north-western tip of this elongated state. As the name implies, the gigantic Redwood trees (aka Sequoia) are the main attraction. One can gaze at the tallest living things on earth, marvel at their unfathomable height (up to hundreds of feet) and appreciate their amazing vulnerability (the roots are typically less than 10 feet deep), which called for preserving them and containing many of them in protected parks. You can even drive through some of these giants.
Another prominent quality of this coastal area is its fogginess. Even on days that are defined as “clear” in the weather forecast, it’s very uncommon to see a blue spot in the sky. Indeed, you may have no clouds from above, but the fog coming from the Pacific Ocean wraps everything, and makes for constantly grey and somewhat gloomy surroundings. It does have a mighty and mysterious feel about it, and I can certainly appreciate it as a visitor, but for sure I wouldn't want to live in such a climate. It’s even much worse than Pittsburgh :-)
We planned a 5-night stay in the park, but decided to dedicate only a small portion to walking amongst the mighty trees. More importantly, this is our only rendezvous with the Pacific Ocean in our current travels, and we chose to enjoy that. The water is way too cold and rough for swimming, but you still have plenty to do – playing in the sand, hiking between beautiful tide pools and breathing the salty smell which we miss so much.
It’s a pleasant reminder of the wonderful Mediterranean beaches awaiting us in Haifa…
On another note - we expect to have very sporadic Internet access until we get to the bay area towards the end of August, so we’ll probably be relatively silent...
Giora
The world’s most beautiful lake
A week ago we left our mansion, and returned the traveling life. The dish washer was replaced by washing dishes in freezing campground water; the luxurious king-size bed was replaced by a camping mattress in a tent; And the four adults taking care of three kids became two again, after my parents flew back to Israel.
I think we had an ideal break in the middle of our travels – our time in northern Oregon was terrific, and further, seemed to have charged all of us with a lot of energy and eagerness to return to the much more rustic manner of our usual travels. We’re hiking a lot, almost every day, and the last lag of our journey - between Portland and the bay area in California – is planned to consist mostly of National Parks and camping.
After spending a day in Portland, with our friends Tamir, Yafit, Roni & Gili, we headed south towards Crater Lake National Park. For a long time, Crater Lake was very high on my list, and it became one of the few anchors when we started planning this trip. I was anxiously waiting to see the famous lake, the deepest in the US, which is literally a crater that was created 7500 years ago by a volcanic eruption. Unlike most lakes on the planet, there are no rivers going in or out, and the only water source is precipitation, balanced by seepage and evaporation.
Hence, imagine my disappointment when we got to Crater Lake, and saw mostly haze. The many fires in northern California, combined with winds blowing in an unfortunate direction, turned the legendary lake into a mildly impressive one. The steep mile-long hike down to the water was still beautiful, but nothing you’d define as spectacular. We were hoping that the right we've reserved, to freeze in a tent for 3 nights (although mid-summer August, there was hardly a sign of warmth!) would pay off. And it did, big-time!! The following day, with some trick of the weather gods, the haze was entirely gone, and the first glimpse we got of the lake was something one would fail to describe. But I’ll try anyway... The water is extremely clear, causing it to absorb an unusual amount of sun beams. Most importantly, it absorbs most colors and reflects only a very sharp and dark shade of blue. Not turquoise like in glacier-fed lakes, not greenish like algae-filled lakes, but vivid blue. When we were there, the winds prevented reflections of the surrounding peaks in the water, which only intensified the spectacle. Add the fact that the lake is small enough to be caught by your eyes in its entirety from certain view-points, as well as a small volcano-shaped island scattered with picture-like cedar trees, and you get unmatched beauty. The kind you gaze at for many minutes, trying to convince yourself it is real.
I love lakes. I was lucky to see several magnificent ones, most notably in Tibet and New Zealand. But I have never before seen a lake as beautiful as Crater Lake.
Giora
I think we had an ideal break in the middle of our travels – our time in northern Oregon was terrific, and further, seemed to have charged all of us with a lot of energy and eagerness to return to the much more rustic manner of our usual travels. We’re hiking a lot, almost every day, and the last lag of our journey - between Portland and the bay area in California – is planned to consist mostly of National Parks and camping.
After spending a day in Portland, with our friends Tamir, Yafit, Roni & Gili, we headed south towards Crater Lake National Park. For a long time, Crater Lake was very high on my list, and it became one of the few anchors when we started planning this trip. I was anxiously waiting to see the famous lake, the deepest in the US, which is literally a crater that was created 7500 years ago by a volcanic eruption. Unlike most lakes on the planet, there are no rivers going in or out, and the only water source is precipitation, balanced by seepage and evaporation.
Hence, imagine my disappointment when we got to Crater Lake, and saw mostly haze. The many fires in northern California, combined with winds blowing in an unfortunate direction, turned the legendary lake into a mildly impressive one. The steep mile-long hike down to the water was still beautiful, but nothing you’d define as spectacular. We were hoping that the right we've reserved, to freeze in a tent for 3 nights (although mid-summer August, there was hardly a sign of warmth!) would pay off. And it did, big-time!! The following day, with some trick of the weather gods, the haze was entirely gone, and the first glimpse we got of the lake was something one would fail to describe. But I’ll try anyway... The water is extremely clear, causing it to absorb an unusual amount of sun beams. Most importantly, it absorbs most colors and reflects only a very sharp and dark shade of blue. Not turquoise like in glacier-fed lakes, not greenish like algae-filled lakes, but vivid blue. When we were there, the winds prevented reflections of the surrounding peaks in the water, which only intensified the spectacle. Add the fact that the lake is small enough to be caught by your eyes in its entirety from certain view-points, as well as a small volcano-shaped island scattered with picture-like cedar trees, and you get unmatched beauty. The kind you gaze at for many minutes, trying to convince yourself it is real.
I love lakes. I was lucky to see several magnificent ones, most notably in Tibet and New Zealand. But I have never before seen a lake as beautiful as Crater Lake.
Giora
Wednesday, August 6
Photos from Grand Teton, Idaho and Oregon
We've uploaded many photos - check them out at http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/GrandTetonAndIdaho and http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/HoodRiverOregon.
Enjoy,
Giora
Enjoy,
Giora
Tuesday, August 5
Eating Cherries
We'll soon have to vacate our manor and go on with our traveling, heading towards Portland. The conditions here are so radically different from those we had during our first 5 weeks of traveling, that we might have a hard time going back to camping ;-) And in general, staying for 8 days in the same place turned our time here into a relaxed vacation. Which is a good thing, of course.
We were also fortunate to spend some time with Ayelet & Amir, our friends from Israel who live in San-Francisco. Yes, I'm still talking about Hood River, Oregon - Ayelet had a conference here...
We've been seeing many beautiful places around here, we've been enjoying a lot of home-cooked meals, and we've been eating a LOT of fresh produce, predominantly blackberries and cherries. Certainly nothing to complain about :-)
Giora
PS:
To all inquirers - my Mom is feeling much better, though there is still some room for improvement.
We were also fortunate to spend some time with Ayelet & Amir, our friends from Israel who live in San-Francisco. Yes, I'm still talking about Hood River, Oregon - Ayelet had a conference here...
We've been seeing many beautiful places around here, we've been enjoying a lot of home-cooked meals, and we've been eating a LOT of fresh produce, predominantly blackberries and cherries. Certainly nothing to complain about :-)
Giora
PS:
To all inquirers - my Mom is feeling much better, though there is still some room for improvement.
Friday, August 1
Paradise in Northern Oregon
I thought I’d write about the kind of places we’ve been stay in during our trip. Generally speaking, our preference would be to split our time, staying half the nights in hostels and the other half in campgrounds, sleeping in a tent. As I mentioned previously, cozy hostels are hard to find in the US (unlike, for example, in New Zealand), so our camping portion is larger this time. Whereas camping is obviously the least luxurious option, we value the feeling of staying “inside” nature very much, especially in National Parks.
That being said, we try not to camp for a single night, so when traveling long distances we usually seek alternatives. If we can, we fit such a single night stay into a KOA’s Kamping Kabin. KOA (Kamping Of America) is a wide network of uniform-looking campgrounds, with a very commercial feeling and often near a highway. This is certainly not the kind of in-nature camping we normally look for, but you know in advance exactly what you’ll get, the Kabins themselves are nice, and we can cook our meals as in every other campground.
Another consideration, at least since we’ve left the dry part of western US, is that our tent has very limited water resistance. We would probably be fine with a short drizzle, but as we found out in Yellowstone, an hour and a half of downpour is way more than the tent can successfully endure. Luckily, we found a vacant hotel room after one night, and were spared from sleeping in very damp sleeping bags...
The least favorite option for us is a motel. On top of being pricier, let alone with the need to eat in a restaurant, both Anat and I simply dislike motels. Despite the undeniable convenience of a private shower, you need nothing more than the vast amount of Styrofoam disposable dishes in a motel breakfast to make me feel I don’t belong there.
That brings me to our current accommodation, which is very different from all of the above. After 3 days with very long drives, we crossed Idaho and Eastern Oregon, and got to a lovely area about an hour east of Portland, Oregon. My parents will be flying out of Portland in a week, and we’ll be spending the rest of our time with them in this area, so Anat suggested we check out vacation rentals. And boy, was that a brilliant idea. After a couple days here, I’m still thrilled when I look around me.
We got a fully-furnished and fully-equipped home, situated amongst fields and orchards, in turn surrounded by lovely hills, somewhat reminiscent of the Tuscan countryside. The house is perched over a beautiful pond, with large trees around it, giving it shade. On the north, in Washington State, the snow-capped Mt. Adams is tall and clear. On the south, the impressive and snow-capped Mt. Hood is a few miles away. We’re a few minutes drive from the lovely town of Hood River, and from the many attractions the Columbia Gorge has to offer. Not to mention several added bonuses, such as a winery with wine-tasting a short walk down the road, and a neighboring farm with a friendly horse-breeding lady, who invited Noga, Hadas & Maayan to ride one of her ponies. Paradise!
Giora
PS:
The only down side at the moment is my Mom’s health – she threw out her back, and is in a lot of pain :-( We all hope she’ll feel better soon. She’ll kill me for sharing this information...
That being said, we try not to camp for a single night, so when traveling long distances we usually seek alternatives. If we can, we fit such a single night stay into a KOA’s Kamping Kabin. KOA (Kamping Of America) is a wide network of uniform-looking campgrounds, with a very commercial feeling and often near a highway. This is certainly not the kind of in-nature camping we normally look for, but you know in advance exactly what you’ll get, the Kabins themselves are nice, and we can cook our meals as in every other campground.
Another consideration, at least since we’ve left the dry part of western US, is that our tent has very limited water resistance. We would probably be fine with a short drizzle, but as we found out in Yellowstone, an hour and a half of downpour is way more than the tent can successfully endure. Luckily, we found a vacant hotel room after one night, and were spared from sleeping in very damp sleeping bags...
The least favorite option for us is a motel. On top of being pricier, let alone with the need to eat in a restaurant, both Anat and I simply dislike motels. Despite the undeniable convenience of a private shower, you need nothing more than the vast amount of Styrofoam disposable dishes in a motel breakfast to make me feel I don’t belong there.
That brings me to our current accommodation, which is very different from all of the above. After 3 days with very long drives, we crossed Idaho and Eastern Oregon, and got to a lovely area about an hour east of Portland, Oregon. My parents will be flying out of Portland in a week, and we’ll be spending the rest of our time with them in this area, so Anat suggested we check out vacation rentals. And boy, was that a brilliant idea. After a couple days here, I’m still thrilled when I look around me.
We got a fully-furnished and fully-equipped home, situated amongst fields and orchards, in turn surrounded by lovely hills, somewhat reminiscent of the Tuscan countryside. The house is perched over a beautiful pond, with large trees around it, giving it shade. On the north, in Washington State, the snow-capped Mt. Adams is tall and clear. On the south, the impressive and snow-capped Mt. Hood is a few miles away. We’re a few minutes drive from the lovely town of Hood River, and from the many attractions the Columbia Gorge has to offer. Not to mention several added bonuses, such as a winery with wine-tasting a short walk down the road, and a neighboring farm with a friendly horse-breeding lady, who invited Noga, Hadas & Maayan to ride one of her ponies. Paradise!
Giora
PS:
The only down side at the moment is my Mom’s health – she threw out her back, and is in a lot of pain :-( We all hope she’ll feel better soon. She’ll kill me for sharing this information...
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