Mountains! Cats!

Unfortunately, not mountain cats... mountains and cats.  I stayed the weekend with my aunt, who lives in Missoula Montana.  I haven't seen her in years so it was a must.  I felt a little bad that I called her the day before I showed up, but I really couldn't judge ANY arrival times on this trip.  But driving through Montana is so so beautiful.  Such wide open skies, rolling valleys, and snow-capped mountains. 

 

Anyways, I spent the first morning with her cats while she was at work... one very sweet older grey cat with adorable eyes, and one very very strange, big black and white cat.  This black and white one also picks on the older cat while running wild through the house, across me, at 6am.  He will do weird things like jump up to your chest and head butt you or throw his toy weasel up in the air during the night of a full moon. 

Got some much needed photo-sorting done, as well as laundry, and then went to eat at a local sandwich shop.  This place makes "sandwiches" like I have never seen.  They baked the bread into a cup shape (hollow and all) and then stuff it with whatever ingredients you desire from the menu.  It's huge!

Went thrift store shopping and corn puff shopping before returning home to chat and so forth.

 Sunday my aunt took off of work and we went hiking on Rattlesnake Trail.  It follows along a river for a bit and wraps around a rocky area into the woods.  The snow really started to come down and it felt like a nice Christmas- wasn't too too cold and the flakes were nice and fat.  Along the way, we passed some remains of a small hut or shelter of some sort for the locals who would live in the middle of the woods (to work or build or whatever).

After the hike, we had lunch (tried elk for the first time!) and then headed to Philipsburg for candy shopping. The Sweet Palace is a giant candy shop, from jelly beans to taffy to bon bons to fudge to licorice to etc.  It was awesome! 

 

Next door, I bought a bag of dirt from the mountains and we poked through it for gems.  We found about 5cts of good sapphire, and also other chips but they weren't able to be treated.  Across the street, there is an old soda shoppe where I tried huckleberry ice cream.

This little town is cute and nestled right in the mountains.  I guess there is also a ghost town up a ways from there, but the snow was too heavy to make it that day.

Got back with enough daylight to rearrange my car (fuller and fuller) and finish up with these never ending photos!

It was such a nice visit with my aunt- I don't see her too often.  But since most of the parks in the area were closed due to snow (Glacier National Park and Teton), I will of course have to return soon!

Quick: Portland, and then Seattle

 Alright, so after far amounts of driving, I've got a couple cities that I went through these last 2 days.  I have condensed these two places into one blog because I have little time with the internet tonight.  I am pretty much power-walking the northwest corner :)

So, as I left northern California, I got to see my redwoods! As I drove the last part of the Pacific Coast Highway after dark, I saw huge towering shadows and made out the outline of those monstrous trees and was excited to actually see them the following morning.  So huge.  I did a coastal drive through Jedadiah State Reserve and loved it.

I got to Portland- I had no idea what a person does in Portland- and decided on the International Rose Garden.  Over 400 different kinds of roses in a series of gardens over acres and acres of land.  Luckily I got there just in time because the roses are due to be chopped for the winter on Monday!  Red, yellow, orange, white... I almost expected to hear "Off with her head!!" as I rounded the corner :)

I made my way over to the Hoyt Arboretum, which is an outdoor assembly of trees from all over the world.  I went through the maple tree section because it is said to be the prettiest in fall with the changes colors: reds, oranges, yellows... really vibrant.

After the sun went down, I walked through Chinatown and Old Town of Portland, and along the river for a bit to see the skyline of the city.  Chinatown was not so exciting- kinda small and blah.  Old Town has cool history with underground tunnels that were once used as way to transport kidnapped, drunken men for labor on ships.  That would have been a cool tour to take, if I got there early enough.  Creepy though.  The "shanghai tunnels." 

Left under the Aeral Tram and stayed on a friend-of-a-cousin-of-a-friend's sofa for the night, cuddled with her cats.  Some people (and cats) are just so wonderfully nice :)

Rose early to get a start on the drive to Seattle because traffic can be horrible on I-5.  My friend is stationed near there for the army, so I picked him up and dragged him to hike around the city in the rain.

 

 We saw the Space Needle (a bit smaller than I had expected), and then made our way to Pike Place Market.  It's a long assembly of shops and fruit stands, vegetable stands, seafood counters... really exciting area.  Awesome to just browse through everything. 

 Walked a little further to a park in Pioneer Square where large carved totem poles stand over you. 

The park is backdropped by the Smith Tower.  That was surprisingly pretty as dusk set in and the rain showered down. 

The rain picked up, so we turned back and grabbed a pastry from Piroshky Bakery along the way: apple cinnamon roll.  Real slices of apples baked into it... yum!

Then the worst part: battling the steep hills of the city (not like San Fran though) on the way to a traffic-filled interstate.

Pacific Coast Highway Continued

Back to the coastal drive.  Cut through wine country and start north at Bodega Bay.  The views just started all over again.  I don't think anyone could get tired of this. 

Ocean stretching out so far and weaving in and out of forest.  This part of the drive went through more little towns and was a little trickier as far as taking the turns go. 

 

 

And it certainly did not help once the rain started.  The waves crashing below were really something.  This area also had more beaches that are accessible by trails along the way.

I didn't stop at any until the end, when the rain paused. 

This beach had black sand, and was taken over by seagulls.  I walked as close to the coast as the gulls would allow before turning back to the car, soaked from the ocean mist and the returning rain.

Stopped in Fort Bragg to wait out the rain and traffic a little bit once the highway turned away from the coast.

Detour to Yosemite

I got away from the coast for a day to visit Yosemite National Park, hence the delay of blogs for the passed 3 days!  Drove east through the Sierra forest and into the park.  The drive itself was awesome: hilly turns through the mountains and clouds.  Once nearing the entrance of the park, you are basically driving along side of the river and surrounded by rock formations.  Just after you enter, you are able to see waterfalls already.

I chose a hike to Vernal Falls.  I got a later start, so  didn't have time for anything extensive.  Mist Trail takes up passed the bottom of the falls and onward towards the top.  The fall colors were so pretty walking up.

You take a strenuous staircase climb of rocks along side of the falls and get drenched in the mist (oh, that's why the trail is called...)

Once at the top, amazing views open up and the snow-capped mountainous backdrop is awesome.  It was a bit colder, but luckily I bought a new coat :)

Back down the trail after taking it all in and headed on the shuttle bus to see Yosemite Falls.  There was not enough time on this trip to hike to the top, but I just went to see it from the base.  Tallest falls in the US, fifth tallest in the world.  Really cool.  Just the different types of forestry and changing colors and mountains... beautiful park.

Shuttled back around to the car, and by then the sun had set and it really got chilly.  A quick trip but totally worth it!

My car was glad to leave San Francisco!

I enjoyed San Francisco, but I could not imagine how life is for the people who actually drive on a daily basis.  Granted, I am sure they are used to it, but their poor cars! 

My stick-shift Mazda had trouble getting up one of the steeper hills, and almost rolled back down it!  I have seen the pictures, but man- these uphill streets.  Unbelievable.  So I was thrilled to find a good free parking meter (Sunday) not too far from Fisherman's Wharf and started walking.

It poured for the first half of the day as I walked along the piers and visited the Pier 39 sea lions.  They just lounge around right off the pier!  Got a look at Alcatraz and headed further up for lunch.

Tried crab chowder from Fisherman's Wharf in a sour dough bread bowl-- really really yummy, but way too big to finish!  The sour dough here is delicious; something about the atmosphere that makes it so good. 



She's making fresh bread into turtles and an alligator

Ghirardelli Square for desert, of course.  Just had some chocolate because the sundaes were too big after that bread bowl, and my hands were freezing as it were.  It was a nice walk up there, and by then the rain let up.  

I jumped on a street car towards downtown to walk over into Chinatown.  Chinatown in San Francisco is very festive, to say the least.  Flags hanging out over the streets and plenty of places to shop and eat. 

I went into a fortune cookie shop, where they actually still use vintage machines!  It's a very big beautiful area that is laid out within the streets, rather than in a plaza like Chicago and LA.

 

From there, I cut through an Italian part of town towards Coit Tower.  It was quite a hike, but nothing after the last couple weeks.  It wasn't open for upstairs viewing, but even to just see the artwork on the walls of the first floor was awesome.  A nice view of the city along the bay is right outside the tower too.

 

Ok, now for the curviest street in the world: Lombard Street.  Eight turns in one street, and a very steep street!  Those people driving down it are crazy.  Thanks, but I would love for my brakes to be put to better use later on in my drive :)  I was cool to see though, and definitely a great view after exercising those calf muscles to the top.

Walked along the bay at dusk back to my car, just in time for the rain to return.