Days 3 and 4, Portland

We had dinner at Pazzo Restaurant in downtown Portland (because we read about their brick oven pizza). It was the first really satisfying meal we'd had on the trip -- from the fresh-baked bread, to the pizza, wine and dessert.






















The Grotto is a Catholic sanctuary established in 1923 in honor of the Virgin Mary by a man grateful for his mother's recovery from illness.






























A view of the Columbia River at night near the hotel where we stayed (in north Portland). The city lights across the water are in Washington.

Day 2, The Tempest

We saw a wonderful performance of The Tempest (complete with character gender changes and impressive sound effects) at the Elizabethan Theatre. This picture was taken at nearly 8:30 pm, proving once and for all that the world isn't flat but actually rotates on its axis. It didn't get dark until nearly 9:00.

Day 2, Old Friends & Gelato

While in Ashland we met up with Dena, a friend we hadn't seen in almost five years. A former Angeleno, she now resides in Ashland and loves it. It was a treat to walk around with a local (and pretend that we weren't the tourists that we actually were).

Day 2, Rogue River

Located within Oregon's Siskiyou National Forest, the Rogue River is a wild and powerful body of water that flows through some spectacular scenery. Here it is seen flowing through a chasm in the earth's surface.















Prior to being reduced to a stump, this tree's roots fused to those of the neighboring tree. The remnants of the tree are thus a "living stump" as they continue to receive nutrients and grow.

Day 2, Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake is located atop Mount Mazama, within a volcanic caldera. At nearly 2,000 feet deep, it's the deepest lake in the United States. Because it's fed by rain and snowmelt, it is said that it is among the cleanest large bodies of water in the world. We didn't test that theory, although the water is invitingly blue.

The small rocky formation rising out of the water is called Phantom Ship and can only be seen from certain angles. Standing on the lake's shore it looks small, but it's actually more than 150 feet high.

Day 1, It's Time to Eat

We had dinner at Thai Pepper, located downtown adjacent to a creek. The food was good but spicy (!!) -- enough to clear the sinuses and possibly turn people into dragons.

Day 1, Welcome to Ashland

Ashland, Oregon is located just north of the California border. The town is best known for its Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which runs for eight months out of the year and features works by the Bard as well as other playwrights.

Ashland is the perfect-sized town (at least according to this increasingly city-hating urban planner). It's bike- and pedestrian-friendly, offers diversions of all types and is beautiful both by design and location (it's surrounded by forests).

Day 1, Pacific Northwest or Bust

We began our two-week roadtrip to the Northwest by driving 11 hours from LA to Oregon. Along the way, we got a sneak peek of the Cascades' incredible landscapes, which include Mount Shasta.

February 2007: Chinatown LA

January 27, 2007: Palm Springs Aerial Tramway & Mount San Jacinto State Park

From the desert floor, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway takes passengers on an 11-minute ascent in a rotating tram car. The ascent totals more than 6,000 feet, along which passengers witness drastic changes in ecological life zones. At the top awaits Mount San Jacinto State Park, where temperatures are commonly 40 degrees F lower than at the base station.

On the way home, we stopped to get gas and said a quick hello to this dinosaur.

January 26, 2007: Anza-Borrego State Park

We started our visit to Anza-Borrego State Park in the charming town of Borrego Springs, which is not technically in the park but rather surrounded by it. We enjoyed a delicious meal at The Red Ocotillo diner, where satisfying meals are served in a quonset hut and inside each table's sugar packet holder is a stack of Trivial Pursuit cards for diners to read as they wait for their orders to arrive.





There are plenty of real ocotillos once you step outside.

















The other-worldly scenery in the park's "Badlands" gives you lots to take in and photograph.











































































On the way out, we stopped at the Salton Sea, which we found offensive to more than one of the five senses.

Arizona, Day 4: Goodbye Patagonia and Harshaw Ghost Town

We all felt that we lucked out in finding the Enchanted Garden bed and breakfast. We had a charming house all to ourselves, beautifully and carefully furnished. As a bonus, the innkeepers' three friendly dogs joined us for breakfast on more than one occasion.






















Harshaw is one of the many ghost towns in this part of Arizona. Like most of them, Harshaw offers very little evidence of what must have once been a vibrant community. The only clues of the town that once existed are a single dilapidated building and a cemetery containing some 30 graves that go back to the 1800s.

Arizona, Day 3: Kartchner Caverns and Bisbee

Kartchner Caverns represent some of the best preserved cave formations anywhere. The caves were discovered by two cavers in the 1970s. They kept their discovery secret for years as they explored and documented the cave network, until the approached the landowners to share with them what spectacular geological treasures existed below some unassuming hills on their land. After years of careful planning and negotiations by Arizona State Parks and the two cavers, the caverns opened to the public in the 1990s.

No photography was allowed on the tour, but this site will give you a good idea of what millennia of water slowly and steadily passing through rocks can do.

We then headed to the charming town of Bisbee, a copper mining mecca that once had the largest population between San Francisco and St. Louis. Bisbee feels somewhat like a miniature San Francisco, nestled in a small valley just north of Mexico.

Arizona, Day 2: Chiricahua Nat'l Monument, Tombstone and Patagonia

Chiricahua National Monument, located just miles from the border with New Mexico, offers a peculiar but beautiful lanscape. High above the desert floor, you find yourself among strange rock formations within snowy mountain valleys.



















































































Tombstone, dubbed "The Town Too Tough to Die" was ironically rather dead on New Year's Eve. At 6 pm, all establishments along the historic strip, with the exception of a couple of restaurants, were closed. The restaurants, however, were bustling with the energy of folks eager to live the Western life: everyone (except for us, the city slickers) were dressed in 19th-century garb and were surely more than halfway to happily drunk.











































































We headed back to Patagonia and spent New Year's eve at La Misión de San Miguel, a beautiful nightclub, bar and wine tasting room that, if located in LA, would definitely be overrun by the overprivileged and underappreciative. Luckily, in Patagonia this is not the case.

Arizona, Day 1: Saguaro National Park

Saguaro National Park is a haven for desert and mountain ecosystems -- but it is its proximity to Tucson's suburbs that makes it feel even more spectacular. Some of the largest cacti in the world grow here and provide habitat for dozens of critters that endure temperatures above 120 degrees in the summer and below freezing temperatures in the winter.

During our visit we saw birds building homes within a Saguaro cactus, as well as dozens of interesting species of vegetation. But the most unique thing we saw was not naturally occurring in the park at all: an Israeli cowboy (by way of New York) riding his horse through the trails.

Around the Campfire

When it's cold, late and dark, it takes little more than sitting around a fire and being senselessly amused to really enjoy yourself.

Of different climates: the Filipino in an Eskimo hat and the Canadian in a light sweater.

Some Family Portrait

E, J, Adrian, Sarah, Louis and Tuco. Not to disrespect any photographed members of the species homo sapiens...but of true interest here are the members of the species canis lupus. Although they are similar in appearance, Louis and Tuco are two very different individuals. Louis is a Hurricane Katrina survivor that Sarah painstakingly brought home with her after visiting Louisiana and spending more than her fair share of time (with Louis) at the Louis Armstrong airport. Hence the name. Louis is sweet, quiet and observant. And then there's Tuco, whose Australian sheep dog genes come out despite there being no sheep in sight. Tuco covers about 5 times the ground that one might cover during any walk or hike. If the trail is 4 miles long, Tuco will find a way to cover 20 miles of it, through poison oak or snake territory.

Sunset

Aahhhhhh.















Sometimes the people photographing the subject are more interesting the subject itself.

Pfeiffer Beach

Pfeiffer Beach

Tuco and Louis


"Should I keep running?"



Even Tuco eventually stopped to watch the sunset.

Tan Bark Trail, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

Crazy Tuco is overwhelmed by the vast openness.

Ascending all that way was worth it.

How is it that sandwiches always taste so good after a long hike?

I'm sure the folks downstream didn't appreciate E's feet soaking in the river, but man, did it feel good!

Shave Ice at Hanalei

Two flavors and macadamia ice cream at the bottom and live music after a long hike along the Na Pali Coast. (j)

O`ahu Sunset

Lydgate Beach State Park

Wailua River to the Sea

The Cat with Half an Ear Missing

This cat also happened to be twice as friendly as your average friendly cat.

A Vegan Feast at Blossoming Lotus

Na Pali Coast By Boat

Having seen the breathtaking Na Pali Coast by foot on the Kilalau Trail and from high above at the end of Waimea Canyon Road, we wanted to see it from the sea. We took an exciting 6-hour tour on a Zodiac raft -- a military inflatable raft that goes fast enough to make rain feel like acupuncture and to make you hang on for dear life as your jaw drops at the incredible views before you. It is here that we swam in clear waters, snorkeled with turtles and visited an ancient beach settlement.

Po`ipu, Kaua`i

Po`ipu, in the southern part of the island, is the center of Kaua`i's ritzy resorts. Of all places, this is where we had our simplest, cheapest meal -- at a small, take-out only stand called Taqueria Nortenos. This is the view from the parking lot.