bryan wann :: binary fury

View of SF from de Young

Saturday morning I struggled to decide out what I should do on my last day. I kind of wanted to go back to the UC Botanical Garden to see the rest, maybe go visit a museum, go shopping, or just walk around outside.

While making up my fickle mind, I drove down the Warren Freeway behind Oakland to oogle the hills and fancy houses. This is the most amazingly scenic part of east bay, it was fantastic! I discovered Piedmont, which is a really nice (read: well-to-do, well kept) area. Wandering around here lead me to Grand Lake Theater at which point the geography sudden snapped into place for me and I realized this was the end of Lake Merritt on the other side of I-580 I had seen before but not been to. It’s a pretty clean part of Oakland, disproving that all of the city is seedy.

I eventually decided I wanted to stay outdoors all day, so I headed to the Golden Gate Park in SF. I figure I need to spend at least some time over there, since otherwise I’d just run around east bay. There, I discovered the Japanese Tea Garden which was cool to walk around. Lots of fantastically manicured trees and the flowers were just beginning to bloom. Aside from the garden, I learned I could get in the observation tower at the de Young Museum for free, which I recommend as it offers a great view of the area. I would’ve like to spent a little time in the museum, but it was really too late to see much. I’ll have to do that later, I hear it’s quite nice.

I closed out the evening and trip by going to Baker Beach. The sound of the surf here was awesome. The beach is directly exposed to the greater ocean, no rocks, and is slightly curved, so the waves make a powerful crushing sound over and over. It was sunset, and there was a handful of people out. It was a great time to just sit and watch the sea.

I started driving back Saturday night.  I wanted to stay so bad, but had to get going. I forget where I landed for the night, some rest area in CA or OR.  Sunday morning I picked up where I left off and kept on driving. I got back to Redmond around 4 PM, wee!

Tags: california

My "campsite" near Furnace Creek

Wednesday morning I packed up and left Berkeley for Death Valley. I actually had some initial hesitation about this, since the bay was so nice and the drive would eat a lot of time. This is something I had wanted to do since last summer, when I expected to have a nomadic lifestyle for a couple of months between jobs. I decided I probably wouldn’t have another chance to drive there for a while (last time was 2006!) and I should go now.

This was an exciting new look at things since everything was green. Every time I’ve been out I-580 or down I-5, it’s been in August/September when it’s hot and everything is scorched brown.  This time all the rolling hills were flush with green grass. It reminded me a lot of how Wyoming looks along I-80. All of the trees in the tree farms were blooming with white flowers. Also, the last time I was through Bakersfield it was dark and I couldn’t see anything.  This time I got a great view of the massive hills and all the rock outcroppings along Hwy. 58 going to Mojave.

By the time I got to Hwy. 395, it was dark. The Garmin started me off on another road of bones adventure, as it tried to send me down a very unimproved Wildrose road in the middle of the night. I wised up, turned around, and took the sane longer route which turned out to be a very nice road. Some of the turns were creepy, there was no guardrail in many sections, and it was pitch black beyond that.  I knew it had to be a long ways down, but I had no idea until days later.

Hwy. 190 over the mountain into the basin is a deceptively long gradual slope. I managed to overheat my brakes at one point, requiring the need to pull over, park, and let things cool off. I rolled into Furnace Creek around 9 PM. The first thing I noticed was the $5 gasoline:

The two hotels in the area, Furnace Creek Ranch and Furnace Creek Inn were dark and not much going on.  I drove out to the Golden Canyon trailhead and set in to take star pictures and stay overnight.

It was a fantastic night and so absolutely quiet. When I got out of the truck the only thing I could hear was my tinnitus.  No moon, no clouds, sky full of stars, reasonably cool and a light breeze.  I wound up sleeping out in the open on the toolbox of my truck. In the middle of the night I could hear coyotes off in the distance. Unfortunately, none of my star photos were useful. I woke up bright and early at 6 AM to a hiker pulling into the parking lot.

I had read that Furnace Creek Ranch had a little cafe that served breakfast. Much to my surprise, the ranch was much bigger and active than I expected. Not only is there a cafe, but there’s a decently stocked general store ($9 firewood, ice cream, groceries, beer+spirits, tourist items), a bicycle rental/repair shop, saloon, steakhouse, breakfast/lunch buffet, a post office. And wait, there’s more!  224 guest rooms, a 1 megawatt solar installation, golf course, tennis courts, swimming pools, horses, and a whole lot of guests from around the world.  It was exactly like somebody took Wall Drug in South Dakota, shrunk it, and put it in Death Valley. There was no problem for non-guests to come by and spend money. If you want the desert experience of Burning Man with the modern conveniences, you want to stay here.

The rest of the day I wandered around Badwater, Devil’s Golf Course, some of the various canyons, and up Dante’s View. I managed to get a mild sunburn, it was awesome. While there was lots to see, by the end of the day it was all looking the same. At night I hung out by the firepits at the Ranch chatting with several random people there, including some off-duty employees and a group of Australians who were touring LA and Vegas via RV. It was a great way to wind down an evening!

Friday morning I started heading back to the bay. In the daylight I got a good look at how far the side drops off the roads through the mountains (sans guard rails). It sort of surprised me how dangerous the turns were and I didn’t know it the other night. Scary.

Next up was Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48. I knew it was somewhere nearby when I saw the Sierras, and after looking at the map I realized it was only 20 miles away in Lone Pine. There’s a fantastic visitor center there, which showcases not only the Sierras, but Yosemite, California’s Aqueduct, the Navy station in China Beach, and keeps Mount Whitney trail reports.

The Sierras are neat because they seemingly rise out of nowhere in the desert.  Brown and tan and bare all around, then over yonder rising out of it all is this snow-capped mountain range.

In the process of going to Whitney Pass, I misplaced my credit card after stopping at McDonald’s. It had slid between my seats without my noticing, causing a scare when I couldn’t find it. I even went back and asked if the drive-thru had kept it.  Eventually I found it hidden in a piece of seat trim!

Whitney Pass road was closed, so I couldn’t get any closer to the mountain. There’s a great view of the entire range from the visitors center.

It was a pleasant drive back to the Bay on Friday night.  The trip up I-5 was nice and fast. I managed to score a uppity suite in Emeryville for cheap thanks to the internet and I fully crashed out for the night.

Tags: california

Against my strong hatred for the cold, wet, dark-at-4 PM PNW winter and contrary to everything I’ve been saying, I unexpectedly took a new and better job that’s going to keep me here for the time being (and at least another winter).  I took the opportunity of a week off between jobs and headed down to California to run around the Bay and Death Valley.

Hilary was in town for the weekend, so I left after lunch on Sunday to head to California. The drive went quickly as usual, and I got to Berkeley around 3-4 AM. One interesting tidbit I discovered along the way is that just outside Salem is the 45th North parallel, meaning the latitude is halfway between the north pole and equator.

Around a week or so prior to leaving I won a prize from the UC Botanical Garden in Berkeley. For being nearly the 2000th person to “Like” their page, I won a pair of passes and a lovely poster. I left before receiving the passes but went to the garden anyways on Monday afternoon to check it out.

The Botanical Garden was really nice! They had several representative collections of plant life from around the world and worked to make them grow in the bay climate. I was really impressed by the detail and sheer variety of plants in each collection. I’ve been to a few other gardens in Oklahoma, Texas and Iowa, but this one was by far the largest (34 acres). I only had a couple hours before closing so I took in what I could, but didn’t make it to the California collection.

The one thing that I wish I could take away (or adequately describe) from the place was the smell.  It was in the upper 50s, sunny, with a light breeze. The air was fresh, crisp, smelling of foliage and hints of the few plants that had started to flower. It’s completely seductive and would make for a wonderful Saturday afternoon of wandering. Right at closing the frogs in the Japanese Pool started croaking, adding another aspect of niceness to the environment. I met up with an employee who was enthusiastic to meet one of her Facebook fans and I claimed my poster+passes. I will definitely return to stay longer and recommend this to others!

The weather in the Bay was absolutely wonderful. This was a great week to have went. There’s a remarkable difference between 54 F in Seattle and 54 F there, it’s way more pleasant and sunny. All the recent rains there had made everything super green and lush. This was especially obvious when driving down I-5 to go to Death Valley. I’ve only been down the 5 in August/September and by then things are usually pretty dry and brown.  This time it was rolling fields of green and lots of white trees beginning to blossom on the massive farms. All of this made me crave to stay outside as much as possible to take it in.

After leaving the garden, I wandered around Berkeley and UC taking photos as the night fell. Despite students running around, it was pretty tranquil and quiet. I then wandered over to Oakland. I had read a lot about Lake Merritt and Jack London Square, and I wanted to see what they were like at night. For as much as I hear they’re popular areas, I was somewhat surprised to see both were pretty dead at night.  JLS looked sketchy and dark, at the edge of the industrial zone. Lake Merritt was nice, with a string of lights surrounding its entire perimeter, and a little bit of pedestrian traffic.

Tuesday morning I wandered back over to Oakland, then drove over to SF. Some major piece of the new Bay Bridge was being lifted up in place this week. On Treasure Island I ran into a guy that was making a painting of the construction work. It looked really cool (maybe a bit Impressionist-y?), I wish I had it hanging on my wall or at least a photo of it.

I drove around aimlessly in SF for a while and discovered Ocean Beach on the west side of the peninsula. It was awesome to see a sunny, clean beach with lots of surf. The sand was warm, the wind was cool and the water was frigid! Following the coast around, I dropped by to take touristy photos at Lincoln Park and the Presidio. Later that night I was trying to decide where to eat that might allow me to sit outside and people watch, Yelp led me to a brewpub (21st Amendment) that was busy with lots of 30-something tech nerds.

One thing I’ve noticed this trip was the lack of traffic in San Francisco. Maybe the memories I have of it were from a particularly busy time or I was more off the beaten path this time, but it seems like it’s way easier to get around now.

Tags: california