Tahoe to Sandy

8/25-8/26

Arrived in Sandy, UT. We spent the night in Tahoe camping by the lake. It was nice, although not quite used to the cold weather in the morning. After getting up nice and early, we went on a leisurely hike up the 5 lakes trail. A few minutes on the trail and we started seeing wildlife. A snake (something you never see in HI), chipmunks, all kinds of birds, and lots of things rustling in the bushes; it was nice to see something on the trail. However, after the hike with the water restrictions in the area the showers were closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So a little dusty and back on the road for the 8 or so hour drive to Utah.

The drive out was pretty uneventful. Nevada is pretty lacking in scenery, but plenty of casinos and $5 all you can eat spaghetti. Tried my hand at a $1 slot machine, didn’t really know what I was doing and lost that pretty quick.

Arrived in Salt Lake around 9 to a nice reception from Dave and Sylvia and Ryan before turning in for a solid nights sleep.

Up for breakfast and planning to check out a nearby BJJ school before laundry and a family dinner.

8.23.15, yesterday in SF

Now in San Francisco we have met up with James and Lisa, friends from Honolulu who now live in Portland. We have been able to explore the city and be tourists for a while.

Yesterday, we went to Dek Wat Muay Thai to train at our old Coach’s gym (even though he couldn’t be there). The workout was…challenging. Started out with the Muay Thai class. At first a little jump rope and then straight into 100 burpees to start the class finishing the boxing class with (an attempted) 1000 punches on the bag in 3 minutes. When we finished our burpees all of us started to get some water, but were quickly admonished that if we were already thirsty then we weren’t properly hydrated before class and there were not going to be any water breaks until the class was over. Class was solid and a really good workout after not boxing for a week or two. After Muay Thai there was a boxing class. We should have realized something when everyone from the first class left, but we stayed anyway… not sure my shoulders agree with that decision, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

After boxing we all headed down to mission district to get burritos. One giant wet burrito later and we were ready to explore the town. Down to fisherman’s wharf and little driving through the hills of SF. Which we learned are not meant for a manual transmission. Some hills, one stall, a ridiculous hunt for parking and we were able to hit the wharf, get some ice cream at Ghirardelli, and see some sea lions. Light dinner and beers at Telegraph Hill and that was enough for one day.

8.20.15

First day on the road. Things did not go exactly as planned. Apparently camping takes several months or at least days of advanced planning. The campsite that we arrived at said that we would have had to book months in advance to get a spot. We tried to hit a few other sites along the way, but they were either full in advance or booked out earlier in the day and we came up short.

The car at least is holding up well. Despite the fact that both of us have trouble with first gear and not burning the clutch a bit when starting out (not me) or when on a steep hill (me) it seems to be a good choice. However, driving in SF may not be the best idea if we want to keep the transmission in the car for a long period of time.

The change in scenery has been pretty dramatic. Going from desert scrub and severe drought to Pacific forest. On the road today we saw a herd of zebra’s and then a pack of elephants (seals). We were kind of surprised to see a zebra, let along a herd of them. Not really sure what they were doing or where they came from, but they were penned in along the side of the road, maybe a dozen or so. Then later on down the road there was an elephant seal rookery with about 2-3 dozen elephant seals lazing on the beach. Only one or two actually moved, but they were quite large and would be impressive to see in action, or at least moving.

Marina’s dictation: nothing to add.

South Pasadena, 8/17

It is time to re-start the blog and try to keep people up to date on our travel plans across the US. Marina and I purchased a silver 2004 Toyota Matrix XRS with a 6-speed manual. The car needs a little work and TLC, but should be a good ride to take us cross-country. Tomorrow we are going to be taking the car to a local repair shop and hoping they don't find anything to major in need of repair.

Tomorrow is going to be a day of hiking and an actual touristy day instead of rushing around trying to get things done.

Hopefully as I get into the blogging thing more I will be able to write more...