The Long and Winding Road

(steve)

We finally made it all the way out to Denver. Along the way, we had some interesting events spice up the trip. First up: car issues. For the past five years we have been proud owners of a 2001 Toyota Prius. Just the 6th buyer from predominately "green" Boulder, we felt pretty cutting edge. In fact, our purchase has helped convert a number of family and friends over the years to the hyrid lifestyle. Well, the ride back to my parents house from Yosemite saw the first real car trouble Prius-style.

As we were heading down the hill away from the park, just about every single warning light possible illuminated, including the dreaded red triangle of doom (perhaps best appreciated by other Prius owners). I did the only thing you can do in that situation. Pull over and turn off the car. After a brief call for roadside help, where I learned the wait would be at least an hour, I turned the car back on to see what would happen. Result, the warnings were all gone. With that, we cruised down the hill pretty slow, irritating all those behind us, until we felt good enough to go full speed. A call to the local Toyota dealer brought news that this kind of thing happens from time to time. We decided to try driving for a while to see what happens. Skipping ahead, the lights came on again later in the week in Los Angeles.
A few days later the Toyota dealer relieved me of $750 to fix the problem. And to boot, the air conditioning stopped working. Diagnosis: $900 to replace the condenser. Ouch. So much for all the fuel savings. The drive down the San Joaquin valley was a little tense, with me staring at the instrument panel the whole way. Even a stopover in Stockton (to visit the Karen's grandparents) did little to ease my tension.

We ended up spending a week in LA visiting with friends, with brief stop by to look at our belongings in storage (had to pick up the interview clothes). The week was lots of fun with a couple of unexpected reunions as well as getting to see the Yosemite crowd again. Nick was gracious enough to let us crash in our former residence. I must admit it was a trifle strange to sleep in our old room and wake to see Nick's furniture. Another great treat was our visit time with young Addison Ickler (and her parents, I guess). To her credit, Addie demanded to see us before the big trip, to the tune of a premature birthday. Eight months later she is a handful, but really an extremely well behaved baby. We look forward to finding her on our doorstep in the future.

Our final day in LA was filled with an impromptu visit to San Diego to visit my brother and sister-in-law. While in Fiji, I received an unexpected message imforming us that we were going to be Aunt Karen and Uncle Steve. The good news made the week more exciting. Since they live outside New York City, we had to make the time to see them as soon as possible. Just for fun, we took the Icklers to give them a first hand view of just what taking care of a baby entails. Angela was all for it, but Russ took a more cautious approach. Based on their response, I bet they'll make great parents.

What would a drive from LA to Colorado be without a visit to Las Vegas? Well, for us that meant a stop in nearby Henderson to visit the Karen's other grandparents. Here's where the lack of air conditioning becomes important. Our transit of the desert outside of Vegas was made at a balmy 110 deg (F) outside temperature. Imagine the windows down, whipping a really warm breeze into the car. It felt like someone was breathing on us for about 4 hours straight. We peeled ourselves out of the car and didn't leave the air conditioned house for the rest of the day.

The next day, we departed at 9 am with the mercury all ready at 100 deg (F). Once on the highway, the road almost immediately climbed, and the temperature dropped to a more tolerable 90. We spent the day driving through southern Utah and even did a little car dancing when we crossed into Colorado. At 5 pm we decided to stop in Grand Junction and call some local friends. Despite having no notice, Joe and Kelly invited us over to their new place and absolutely refused to let us go on. We spent the evening talking over beer and a great pizza. We had a great time and can't wait to return the favor on their next Denver visit. Given our newfound love of wine tasting, I'm sure we'll be back to Grand Junction soon too.

The next morning we drove the final few hours across the Rockies to Denver. The temp never got above 75 deg and the view was beautiful, reminding us exactly why we wanted to come back (we also learned that the Prius protests driving over 10,000 ft altitude). Our arrival begins the next phase in our adventure, where we have to return to reality, find jobs, find a new house, and carry on with our lives. Based on our last couple of weeks, it's going to be a fun ride.

Reunion on the Summit of Half Dome

(karen)
We like to think that we're active people. However, many thought we were taking matters to extremes when we agreed to join our friends in Yosemite to hike to the top of Half Dome, just a couple of days after returning from our epic adventure. Really though, what better way to recover from jet lag than a grueling 12-hour hike? All told there were 14 in our group staying in the nice but incredibly crowded Curry Village in Yosemite Valley. One couple was staying in tent #669, if that tells you anything about the size of this small city. We started early in the morning after a meager night's sleep to ensure that we would summit before the atmospherically unstable afternoon hours, and so that we might be back to our cabins before dark.


Anyone residing in California knows it's been hotter than blazes recently (no kidding, cows have been dropping like desiccated flies) and although temperatures have cooled somewhat we still found the mercury rising uncomfortable early. Steve and I each had two liters of water but it wasn't nearly enough. It wasn't miserable though, and at least the sky was clear of clouds that could bring an afternoon thunderstorm.


It was a cheery hike since it was a big reunion for many in our group. Our members came from as far as Los Angeles, Palo Alto, England, and Down Under. We spent much of the time catching up on recent adventures and making plans for the future. And with every step our rocky summit loomed closer. Finally the trail changed from a steady but mild uphill grade through pine forest to a very steep, rocky path that left me gasping for breath. We had just climbed the final knob of granite before facing the dreaded cables to the summit of Half Dome.


The park service has installed a set of cables and evenly spaced wood planks to assist climbers on their way to the summit. The rock here is so steep and so slick that it would be impossible to attempt going solo. We'd seen literally hundreds of people throughout the day so it was no surprise when we faced a queue at the cables. It was frustrating, though, because the combination of less agile hikers and people scared out of their wits made the ascent painfully slow. And I do mean literally painful because as you cling to the cables, your feet are bent back to match the extreme angle of the granite face, stretching your calves to their limits. Finally several of us gathered our nerve and swung to the outside of the cables, enabling us to bypass the static crush of people in the center. By being on the outside you weren't able to use the wood planks, but we hung on tight and got to the summit at least 20 minutes faster than those we'd left behind.


At around 1:45, 7 hours after departing, we all reached the top of the 8,400 ft dome. The view from the top was spectacular and we drank it in as we ate our lunch in the bright sunshine. There was many a peanut butter and jelly sandwich consumed on the mountain that day.


After lunch we explored the vast granite top. The most thrilling part was to go to the edge and look over into Yosemite Valley, a straight drop 5,000 ft. below. It's humbling to imagine these mountains filled with glaciers, slowly carving out the landscape we know today. Then again, it might have been easier to look down if there was a river of ice within reach!



As much as we wanted to stay we knew that our hike was only half over so we began the descent of the cables. I found the way down to be a bit trickier and scarier than the way up, but regardless I again went to the outside to get down faster. When the rest of the group was reunited we began our trip back to the valley floor.


It was a fairly smooth trip back, but unfortunately some people developed sore knees and took a long time making their way. I preventatively used an Ace bandage knee brace and that seemed to keep my bum knee in check. The duct tape on my heels kept blister at bay as well! One treat on the way back was taking an alternate route for the last couple of miles by following the Mist Trail. This took us past both Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls which were both gushing water despite being late in the season.


Sunday morning found many feeling as though they "had been beaten", and a couple others feeling a bit sick. Steve and I were certainly sore but not too worse for wear. We departed our friends with promises to reunite in LA, then drove over to Tuolumne Meadows for a few hours. We spent a lovely time in this less crowded area just soaking up the beauty. After all our travels I can truly say that there are few places on earth prettier than the alpine meadows of the high Sierras. There's a reason John Muir fell in love with these mountains, and I thank him and others for their work to preserve them.