Re: The road goes ever on and on - A Travel Thread

[malickfan]

I've really got to watch the original Trek movies some time, I've seen bits and bobs (Though I remember loving the TV series 'Generations' as a kid, the Novelization was one of the earliest books I remember reading) and actually recorded Wrath of Khan the other night.

Maybe I'll get the box set for cheap

[Pettytyrant101]

I wouldn't normally suggest this, as a film should be seen I believe in all its original glory first viewing, but you might want to start by watching my edit of the first film (its on dailymotion and somewhere the links are on the ST thread)- in terms of story you miss nothing at all, not a single word cut or character scene altered- in terms of sparing you from the 'space opera' elements of lengthy late 70's sfx however its a winner.

[Mrs Figg]

I like 70s space opera   its part of the cheesy flavour of the 70s.

[Pettytyrant101]

Yeah, when its 2001 its inspired genius- when its ST the Motion picture its twenty minutes of looking at a badly rendered cloud.

[Mrs Figg]

oh I was thinking of the trip to the Enterprise in the shuttle. That was long and operatic. I dont remember the cloud.   

[Ringdrotten]

Oh, okay.  Look for an automatic camera with an optical zoom (5x) and a memory card.  That's the only improvement you can make over a cell phone camera these days without actually reading books and buying lens sets. $50-$60 should be ample.

Thanks, halfwise, I'll keep this in mind

[Pettytyrant101]

I dont remember the cloud- Mrs Figg

You probably blanked those twenty minutes out, or fell asleep.

It basically goes- long sweeping shots of a big blue cloud with occasional flashing strobe lights, shot of crew looking in awe at big blue cloud, long drawn out shot of big blue cloud as they pass through it, shot of a different member of crew looking in awe at big blue cloud, even longer shot of them flying through a different part of big blue cloud, group shot of members of crew looking in awe at big blue cloud....repeat for twenty minutes, you get the idea.

[Mrs Figg]

blue clouds are pretty awesome  

was it the sputnik voyager thingie?

[Pettytyrant101]

Yeah it was indeed.   

[Ringdrotten]

So, at long last - pics from the U.S.! I'm sorry it took me so long to post these, I'm just really not good at getting things done unless someone's making me do it or time forces me to

Most of the pics I took are from Yosemite and streets in San Francisco (I couldn't help being fascinated by the streets going up and down everywhere), so there aren't really that many to share I'm afraid. Anyway, here's what I got for now:

We landed in Oakland Monday and drove up to Yosemite on Tuesday, spent the night at a cabin there and started our little hike on Wednesday - these first two pics are from our way up to Glacier point, a fantastic trip of 4,6 miles (7-8 km) straight up. The climb was easy enough as the path was made of asphalt for the most part My friends went at a pretty good pace, though, so I had to keep up. Anyway, the view was beautiful, and a taste of what was to come when we reached the top:





These are taken at the top of Glacier Point, overviewing the Yosemite Valley - most stunning view I've ever seen. You think you've seen gorgeous landscapes and mountains when you've grown up in Norway, but this took my breath away:








This guy was pretty crazy - he went to the edge as far as you can get before risking falling down. What people do for a nice photo!



After Glacier Point the plan was to return to the valley floor, but we made the trip in a lot shorter time than we had planned, so we decided to trod on and headed towards Nevada Fall (you can see it through the trees in the picture of the cameraman above).  This one is taken as we descended from Glacier Point and began walking around the valley towards Nevada Fall.



And a few miles later, there it was:




I've got quite a few pictures from this little round-trip, so if there is any interest I could upload them later or send them by e-mail.

The next day we drove down to Mariposa Grove and basically spent the day looking at huge trees:







Tried to rotate this one, but it wouldn't work for some reason. Anyway, this tree was huge - it's called Faithful Couple because it's actually two Sequoias grown together:





After Mariposa Grove we drove north again and exited Yosemite to the east, and this is the view that met us as we came out:







Having visited Yosemite we drove up to Reno (don't ask me why, we thought it would be fun to have visited the place we only knew from the song Folsom Prison Blues). On our way there we stopped at Lake Tahoe - a huge freshwater lake at 6,225 ft/1,897 m above sea level:



Like I mentioned earlier, we spent the first week driving around from place to place, but I'm afraid I didn't take too many pictures Most of the time we were busy talking to people, taking in the view or drinking beer, so I completely forgot I had a camera with me. I took a lot of pictures in San Francisco, but they were mostly of streets going up and down as mentioned above, so they're not all that interesting to look at. Here's one from the motel we stayed at for the entire second week, though - we decided to live in Oakland as it was much cheaper and it was fairly easy to get into San Francisco by train. The motorcycle gang you see spent a couple of nights at the motel, and all they did was make noise and look stupid, so I picked a photo showing them as well



This is from Fisherman's Wharf, where we visited the USS Pampanito, a WW2 submarine which is now available to the public as a museum ship. Being an army nerd I took a lot of pictures inside, so if anyone else is interested in seeing what a submarine looks like inside I can upload them later:



After visiting the submarine we went to this place, a café serving draught beer at $2    It was a really neat place, it felt just like walking into an episode of Friends - small tables, couches and a guy performing live music



After having spent a few days in San Francisco we decided to stay in Oakland for a day, and went to a baseball match - we didn't know any of the rules before we went, but it turned out it was strikingly similar to a game we used to play as kids in school (only with more rules). We were lucky to be there the week the home team (Oakland Athletics) were playing three games. Perhaps not all that exciting for you Americans, but for three Fjordians who had never seen a game before it was quite the experience





We spent our last day in San Francisco walking in the Golden Gate Park - this is Hippie Hill, and people were still smoking the good stuff as though it were the 60s




Anyway, sorry I don't have more interesting pictures, I just forgot I had a camera with me a lot of the time, and the best part of the second week was spent enjoying new brands of beer, and I'm not sure all those pictures are.. family friendly

and finally, what you've all been waiting for.. :

[azriel]

All I could think of to say was WOW ! The views were stunning, & I like looking at every day life, I didnt find your pics boring at all ! Id love to see more ! I loved the trees & the Sub was bigger than I imagined, (not having seen one in the 'flesh') & that bar looked so cosy.     

[David H]

Most of the time we were busy talking to people, taking in the view or drinking beer, so I completely forgot I had a camera with me.

Those are really the most important things for a traveler to do. In my opinion the only time you really NEED a camera is when things happen that are so incredible that nobody will believe you without proof (and that's the hardest time to remember!)

Was Yosemite really crowded? Those iconic National Parks can get crazy in the summer. That's why they have to pave the major trails. Imagine what a million feet each year could do to a trail. Before long you'd erode a new Grand Canyon!   

BTW I like the improvised kitchen!  

[Ringdrotten]

Most of the time we were busy talking to people, taking in the view or drinking beer, so I completely forgot I had a camera with me.

Those are really the most important things for a traveler to do.  In my opinion the only time you really NEED a camera is when things happen that are so incredible that nobody will believe you without proof (and that's the hardest time to remember!)

Was Yosemite really crowded? Those iconic National Parks can get crazy in the summer. That's why they have to pave the major trails. Imagine what a million feet each year could do to a trail. Before long you'd erode a new Grand Canyon!   

BTW I like the improvised kitchen!  

Glacier Point and the camp grounds were very crowded, but when we left Glacier Point we had the entire place to ourselves. Loved it Good point about the paved trails! You're probably right. And yeah, we had to take a photo of the kitchen, it served us well Which reminds me, we didn't have a refrigerator at the motel in Oakland, so one of my friends came up with this - he came across a registration plate sticking out of a dumpster, and found some good use for it 

[David H]

Very resourceful!

What did you think of American Budweiser, and did explore many of the other alternatives?

[Ringdrotten]

I had heard Budweiser was crap, so I expected little more, but I thought it tasted quite nice - just like regular beer bought in grocery stores back home. Certainly not what people would have us believe. Bud light wasn't that great, though. We didn't try that many other brands when we bought cans, although we did try one Mexican beer which was quite nice, Modelo I think it was. We explored tons of alternatives at bars and restaurants, though! If only I could remember all the names - I tried to pick a new one each time, or at least not have the same one twice. Tons of brands we've never seen in Fjordlandia or other European countries, so we had a lot of fun just tasting our way through the menus

[halfwise]

So glad you finally posted!

So now you understand why Yosemite was our first National Park.     Everything else followed in its shadow.  I believe it was the first national park in the entire world, but I may be wrong.

I had to laugh at Motel 6, but when paired with Budweiser it makes perfect sense (only Americans will get that).  Liked the "refrigerator". Um...most motels have ice machines (did you find what looked like a small trash can sitting up where trash cans don't belong? that was the ice bucket), but unless you know to look you may not snoop around enough to find the ice machine.

You may not match Norc's fevered imaginings, but you are not unlike Harry Potter.  Maybe the round glasses are influencing me.

[David H]

I'm glad you got to experience the diversity of American beers.

Bud Lite is a miserable excuse for beer IF you drink it like beer, but that's not really what it was designed for. It's more intended to compete with lemonade. In the desert it's not uncommon to keep a 12-pack in the freezer and to keep a frosty one in your hand all day.

It actually tastes better at 0 degrees C, and you can drink the whole 12-pack without getting more than a gentle buzz. Quite civilized really, in a redneck sort of way

[halfwise]

Yep. Bud Light is rehydration therapy.    The womenfolk round here seem to prefer Coors Light, but I think it's because their sense of taste is more developed than men's: to us, water is water no matter what you call it.

If in the San Fran area most of what you were drinking would be microbrews, and there's even odds none of us would recognize what you were drinking either. The craft beer culture has exploded, much to America's credit. A few decades ago your choices would be Bud, Coors, Michelob, and in a really hoity-toity bar you might find a Heineken. Good luck telling the first 3 apart, and I've never understood the attraction of Heineken either.

Not bad beers, but not worth searching out either.

[Ringdrotten]

So glad you finally posted!

So now you understand why Yosemite was our first National Park.     Everything else followed in its shadow.  I believe it was the first national park in the entire world, but I may be wrong.

I had to laugh at Motel 6, but when paired with Budweiser it makes perfect sense (only Americans will get that).  Liked the "refrigerator". Um...most motels have ice machines (did you find what looked like a small trash can sitting up where trash cans don't belong? that was the ice bucket), but unless you know to look you may not snoop around enough to find the ice machine.

You may not match Norc's fevered imaginings, but you are not unlike Harry Potter.  Maybe the round glasses are influencing me.

I watched Ken Burns' The National Parks: America's Best Idea before I left (two times, I think ), and I'm pretty certain they mention there as well that Yosemite was the first national park in the world. I think it's safe to say I haven't been there for the last time - perhaps next time I'll go in winter And no, we didn't discover any ice mashines And Harry Potter?

"Bud Lite is a miserable excuse for beer" - David

I guess I could agree to that

"If in the San Fran area most of what you were drinking would be microbrews" - Halfwise

That sounds about right, we stopped at a lot of small places and there were a lot of brands we couldn't find again. You say craft beer culture has exploded, and it has in Norway too, microbrews are everywhere today. I love that, always fun tasting brands that aren't what you can get everywhere else.

[Eldorion]

I'm pretty sure Yellowstone was the first national park, but Yosemite looks friggin gorgeous as well. Looks like a hell of a trip, Ringo! And although I'm not a huge baseball fan, going to games is always fun. Watching it on TV can get pretty boring though.

Thanks for posting the pictures! It's a lot of fun to read through your account of the trip as well. I'm glad you enjoyed your taste of the US of A.

[Forest Shepherd]

Beautiful trip! I like when someone visits somewhere I think I'm familiar with and shows me just how much of it I'm missing or have yet to try out.

Agreed on the beer explosions. Good times.   

And wow I thought you were 40-something Ringo, but you can't be all that much older than myself.
Anyway thanks for sharing!

(And yes, apparently Yellowstone was the first national park: created in 1872 (although the idea of a national park had been discussed for some time)).

[Ringdrotten]

Not quite 40 yet, still only 22 And apparently Yosemite didn't become a national park until 1890, so I guess you guys are right about Yellowstone. That's another one I'd like to visit - Yellowstone, and Grand Canyon

[halfwise]

Yellowstone is nice, but Grand Canyon wins out hands down.

[Mrs Figg]

So glad you finally posted!
You may not match Norc's fevered imaginings, but you are not unlike Harry Potter.  Maybe the round glasses are influencing me.

yeah if Harry Potter had gone to Durmstrang Institute.

[Forest Shepherd]

Well played.