Thanksgiving 2009

Continuing the Great Thanksgiving Travel Tradition, John and I took in some California scenery this weekend. Admittedly, it wasn't nearly as exotic as previous years' excursions (Rome, Buenos Aires), but it was considerably cheaper. The road trip earlier this year pretty much entirely destroyed my travel budget for the rest of the year (actually, it destroyed pretty much all my budgets, but hey. It was worth it).

We started with Joshua Tree National Park, continued to Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks, and ended the trip by coming down Big Sur and taking in Hearst Castle. It was great doing something that was in no way holiday related; as everyone else stressed over cooking the turkey and got caught in Black Friday traffic, we zipped through some incredible natural surroundings and ate potato chips and burritos. With almost no traffic.

Joshua Tree wasn't quite as alien a landscape as Badlands, but it was close. Strange trees, weirdly-shaped piles of rocks, desert. It was a beautiful clear sunny day, which provided us with some great views. And we saw a coyote. We spent the rest of the day driving up to Fresno, a convenient gateway to both Sequoia and Yosemite. Before I moved out here, I thought everyone in California was a surfer and a Democrat and smoked a lot of weed. You know, the classic stereotype. I was somewhat dismayed to discover exactly how many farms and farmers (and rednecks, and Republicans, and pickup trucks) there are in central/inland California.

We started the next day in Sequoia, where I got to drive some really twisty and fun mountain roads, and we saw some really big damn trees. Really. Big. Sequoia groves are eerily silent; maybe because the trees are so damn big, but I didn't hear any birds or see any other wildlife. No squirrels or chipmunks. The only spot of holiday traffic was in Yosemite; we got there about 2 pm on Black Friday, and apparently a great many people had the same idea, because it was really crowded. But it wouldn't have been a good day to visit, anyway; it was rainy and foggy, obscuring most of the famous views. All those people, and the rain, made me cranky. Fortunately, the rain provided an amazing double rainbow just outside the park's exit. I don't think I've ever seen a rainbow that was so bright or so close. Hearst Castle had a fair number of visitors, but there were only eight or so on our particular tour, and every other park/place we visited was almost entirely deserted.

It was great seeing Big Sur without all the traffic that I encoutered the first time I drove through; and it was also great taking the mountain roads there and in Sequoia without any traffic. John did at least half the driving, for which I was eternally grateful. It's very different seeing a national park from the passenger seat. He drives like my grandma, but it kept my road trip-related injuries from acting up (so I tried my damndest not to point out all the times when he was driving more than five miles under the speed limit). We road-trip very well together, my lead foot aside. Good tunes, an open road, and someone to share it with. What could be better? You can see the pics at Flickr.

Hearst Castle is the West Coast equivalent of Biltmore; an obnoxiously big and pretentious estate. There's some pretty stuff inside, but it's all thrown together. The house has no sense of itself. It's obvious Hearst was buying stuff just to buy it, to show off how much money he had, because why else would you ever put so much useless crap in one room? Decorative friezes, Greek vases, Roman statuary, medieval triptychs, Italian marble fireplaces, Renaissance portraiture, Turkish rugs, and Art Deco lamps have absolutely no business all being piled up in the same room. But there were amazing views, and I got the opportunity to drool over the enormous kitchen.

We got back late Saturday night and crashed (1700 miles in three days will do that to you). On Sunday, I ran errands and visited my friend Dave in LA. He works in a bar on Rodeo Drive, so I got to pretend to be well-heeled for the afternoon. We got in a quick drink at the Beverly Wilshire (of "Pretty Woman" fame) as well. I really like LA--I need to spend more time there.

John will be working late all this next week, so I'll be ramping up my cooking efforts and catching up on my reading. I'm eager to dive into the new Stephen King.