Skyekat

Early to bed, early to rise. No one should have to get up at 4:30 am. It’s just a nasty time of day. After shuffling to the station in the dark, we boarded the train to Santa Barbara and settled into our seats. As the train started chugging along in the thin light, making our way through large iron overpasses and near deserted streets, Sacramento looked melancholy. The feeling didn’t dissipate as the dawn started to break over marshlands scattered with deserted buildings in various states of decay. The fact I was lapsing in and out of consciousness at this part of the journey probably didn’t help. Soon we got to Oakland (where a private car was put on! Ooh, mysterious) and then the inferstructure of the cities gave way to countryside and farmland. I much preferred watching cows get riled up and run alongside the train.

Lunch was “by reservation only”, and we had not yet figured out that there was a snack bar in the Lounge where we could get food, as well as the dining car, so we made a reservation. Train food is marginally better than plane food, but we were going to be on the thing for 12 hours, so we did have to eat something. It’s communal seating, so we eat across from a very nice, elderly woman who was going home to LA from visiting her grandson in prison. She told us how lovely the scenery is along the coastline, but warned us that it probably would be dark when we got there. But our trip from Santa Barbara to San Diego, which was in the morning, should be spectacular.

We then went back to our seats and settled in for the duration. The train went through mountains and over more farm country. The train came to a huge, looping switchback, which provided sweeping views-of the St. Louis Obispo men’s prison :P Then we climbed up, through dense fog banks. The world was turned grey, and you couldn’t see more than a quarter mile to the side. There didn’t seem to be much to see but low scrub brush. And then we rose above the cloud bank as the sun started its descent, lighting up the tops of the clouds. It was terribly pretty. Now we could see again, and while there were few farm animals around this time, I did spot a lone deer in a pasture near the tracks. Then the clouds dropped away and you could see that over the edge of the cliffs, the ocean lay below. It was a very dramatic shoreline, painted gold by the setting sun. Our friend from lunch came back to see us and comment on how the sun held out just long enough for us to get a glimpse of the sea below.

We arrived safe and sound in Santa Barbara and headed to the hotel. After a bit of confusion on the part of our cabbie, who seemed new to the area, we got settled into the Inn at East Beach, which was a lovely change from the night before. It was just a block away from the ocean, but just far enough away from the main drag that we decided to lay low that night and eat at the restaurant in the hotel across the street. The next day we checked out the bus service to the waterfront. Which cost a quarter! Seriously. And the same shuttle bus would go down State Street (the main street) for the same quarter. Instead we got off and wandered down the pier, taking in the sun while watching people surf. Crazy people and their surfing in January! We decided to take a bus tour to get aquatinted with the city (yes, again).

The tour was great, and Santa Barbara is incredibly scenic. After disembarking, we poked around State Street, having a great meal and exploring shops. We found a fun yarn store and a couple of clothing stores. But as we walked further towards the waterfront, the cool local shops gave way to row of upscale chains. Just as we were getting slightly discouraged, we saw the next couple of blocks were closed down for a farmers’ market. While we didn’t get any goodies this time, it was so nice just to walk through and take a look at everything. California does have good produce!

Our waitress let us know that everything shuts down pretty early in the off-season, so after dinner we caught up on some sleep before hopping on the train again for our trip to San Diego in the morn.

Knowing we had a long-ish drive to Sacramento ahead of us, we took a bit of a leisurely morning, not hitting the road until close to 11. We weren’t in any rush, so when I was that the GPS was going to lead us through Sonoma and Napa, instead of taking further south but staying on all highways as Google Maps advised us, I decided to go wiht the GPS and take the scenic route. It really was a gorgeous drive. We went through winding hills and lush countryside. For quite a bit of the drive we were flanked by farmlands, generally populated by cows or sheep, rather than the ever-present vineyards of the day before. We did drive past a number of vineyards as well, especially as the elevation rose and we found ourselves in the mountains. Instad of drving below the visable cloudbelt, as we did the day before, we found ourselves smack in the middle of it!

Then it was back on the freeway, and up to Sacramento. It was a fairly uneventful ride the rest of the way. It was less congested and the freeway took less dramatic rises, falls, twists and turns than when we went through San Francisco. It was also Sunday mid-day rather than Friday night, so that could have helped the ride be less harrowing. People whizzing by you on the Golden Gate Bridge can make you feel a bit… closterphobic.

After dropping off the car, we grabbed a cab to head to the hotel. We enter from the marshy brown fields into the city. As we made our way to our hotel, the bustling downtown gives way to residential streets, which confused both us and the driver considerably. We both checked the address twice when we arrived to make sure there hadn’t been a mistake. But there we were. The hotel most definitely catered to the weddings and receptions that seem to be their bread an butter. It’s a good thing we’re fairly abled bodied individuals because we had to lug our stuff up 2 flights of stairs just to get to the door to ring a bell to be let in. Once inside the old victorian, us and our bags went up another bendy flight to our room. Even though we seemed to be the only guests, we were stuck in a room with one bed. Because that’s all they have! It was an interesting place to say the least. Very old fashioned, with lace curtains and plumbing that had to at least been from the 50s. But there was free wi-fi, so I have to give them points for that.

We hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and it was now 2, so we asked if they could recommend a place to eat. They said there was a place just 2 blocks away, but when we got there they had closed & wouldn’t reopen until 5. They said there was a bar further down the street, but it looked like a real dive, so we headed back to the hotel to munch on a few snacks and wait until the restaurant re-opened. Although much as the afternoon put a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, the evening’s meal certainly was a welcome change. I had a scruptuous pizza, and my mother had hand-made pasta in a light sauce. I still don’t think Sacramento’s really my city, but at least dinner made it more berable.

We had one full day in wine country, Sonoma county to be specific. Having combed through our Lonely Planet guide, we had a list of a few vineyards and other points of interest along the way. Most of them were just north of where we were staying on the outskirts of Santa Rosa.

That morning we poked through the literature in the room and saw that Santa Rosa had a farmers market on Saturday. It was 10:30 and the market closed at noon, so we grabbed our gps and guide and hopped in the car. We made it with plenty of time, as the market wasn’t huge in the off season, but there was still plenty of good stuff. We ended up with a loaf of bread & a wedge of yummy goat cheese.

It was a grey day as we drove through the valley. You could see the clouds hanging on the tops of mountains or cutting in swaths through valleys. It was certainly pretty, but you could see how gorgeous it would be with the sun shining down.

Our first stop was Preston Vineyards. We picked because it was an organic vineyard, and the homebaked bread the owners make was highly recommended. As we drove down the half-mile driveway, we noticed a fair bit of the plants seemed fenced in. and there were… big, white rocks? Suddenly we realized there were chickens! The lumps we mistook as rocks were really sheep, and there were 3 pigs as well. On our way into the tasting room we were greeted by some charming kitties. Inside we poked through their books, grabbed a fun tshirt & a bottle of wine & chatted with them about the vineyard animals. The chickens scratch the ground & eat bugs, the lambs mow the lawn, when they bother getting up that is. They had just introduced the pigs that day. They’re hoping they rototill the soil, although there’s a danger that they’ll dig up the roots of the grapes. The roots go fairly deep though, so they’re hoping they’ll do far more good than harm.

After walking around the grounds and communing with the critters we thought we’d get some food. Our guidebook talked about a vineyard where you could enjoy your wine with one of their wood-fired pizzas, but when we got there they looked at us like we were crazy, and the restaurant they recommended in Geyserville was closed. Thankfully there was another, really good place just a few doors down. Then we took another scenic drive back to the hotel. We skipped dinner and cracked open the yummy goodies we picked up along the way.

I may not have blogged each day, but I tried to put up 5 pictures on Flickr for each day of the trip. I’ll post more when I get back, but it seemed like a reasonable goal, and I seem to be hitting it most days. Sometimes I haven’t had internet, so there’s been a bit of a lag, but more or less I’ve been successful. So click here for a slideshow of San Francisco.

San Francisco came and went, then we picked up a car to head south. We spent the night in Monterey, and oh did I love it! A bunch of people recommended Carmel beach. It was just so nice to be able to walk down a beach in January. It was very pretty, right near pebble beach, but man am I glad that we didn’t come during the summer. You can tell how congested it must get when the crowds are there. The high point was Point Lobos though, where we saw sea lions, seals and… OTTERS!!! Love otters, just love them. Short little slideshow of Monterey here. I would love to come back and spend a ton of more time there. The next day was mostly spent in the Monterey Bay Aquarium (slideshow) and then the drive up north.

Oh, my, am I ever glad we decided to take the train to San Diego. I could barely handle driving the freeway from Monterey to Santa Rosa, I really would have died going through LA! I know it was a Friday night, so that could have contributed to it all, but the twists and turns, drops and climbs, all at highway speed made me really nervous. I have driven on the “wrong” side of the road during a hurricane & braved the Road to Hanna, but man do Cali Freeways freak me out. I got better as the week progressed, but San Francisco was daunting.

More to come on the next few days, but I thought it would be good to start getting things down.

There’s a post I wrote at various states of consciousness at various point along the plane ride from boston to San Francisco that is currently in purgatory on my iPod Touch. There’s internet, but no wifi in the rooms, so the first post may be last, but that’s no matter.

Overall the trip over was good, although an almost 7 hour flight with only beverage service? How cheap can you get? We already payed $40 to check 1 bag each, so no, I was not going to buy a $3 cookie to tide me over. But the ride was smooth and I finished Shivering Sands and got about 200 pages into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (which is quite good so far).

But it was just so nice to start the descent into SF and see greenery! Yesterday had warmed up to a balmy 20 F (yes it has been in the low teens all this week with wicked winds) and we managed to escape between two winter storms. Not bad ones, mind, but a couple inches of snow each. As we crossed the country & I could see bits of land through the clouds, all I saw was snow, snow, and snow! So seeing plants, an unfrozen bay and temperatures in the high 50′s to low 60′s at the end of the journey made us quite happy.

Upon arrive I was reminded that, as much as I love traveling abroad, it’s nice to not have to clear customs, immigration and then worry that if you’ve forgotten something, that they won’t have it, or you’ll end up buying something you can’t use when you get home. We then got checked in, had a lovely lunch at the hotel restaurant, as our brains aren’t fully functional, and now I’m convinced it’s past dinner time when it’s not even 5pm here. The exhaustion of being up at 4:30 is starting to settle in as well. But we have some idea of what we’d like to do tomorrow, so that’s a good start. Right now I’m in a kind of, stare at things, click at things, stare some more state, but want to stay up to something resembling a normal time so I’m not completely twisted about for the next couple of weeks. We’ll see.

Anyways, I may poke at this thing a bit in the coming weeks, as I have internet for at least the next 6 evenings. Hope everyone had a joyful New Year!

(Pulled off of the iPod, written while on the plane to San Francisco, on very little sleep)

On our way to San Francisco now. Was indesisive about whether or not to bother with really waking ip until just now, when I opted for coffee to try to nudge the brain awake. 9 am est, 6 am in Cali. Today will be long.

Dug the iPod out & Shivering Sands. I’m thinking essays & shorts will be easier for me to wrap my head around at this point, but it’s Warren Ellis, so you never know. I’d read half of it already, so I’ll probably read the other half, then tuck into Girl with the Dragon Tatoo for the duration.

7 hour flight & only beverage service. Lovely. Glad we brought some protein bars on account of my being a vegetarian now. Although chances are I’ll breakdown and eat meat at some point in the next two weeks. San Francisco’s known for good vegi fair though, so maybe not.

Maybe I’ll poke at this over the next two weeks, maybe not. I’ll probably Twitter from time to time, as I’m a hopeless addict. I very much hope I will also be posting photos soon, as I realized I took next to no shots all year! Must fix that this year.

Now it’s 7 am SF time, as I’ve changed my clock over finally. Some clouds gave cleared a bit & I can see land, still covered with snow. Be very glad once we’re past that to. We flew over a large expanse of water just now. looked down and thought we were over the coast, but we can’t still be near the Atlantic. Maybe the great lakes?

Finished Shivering Sands. Had to contain laughter while reading a few bits. Which reminds me I also have 7 episodes of “The Thick of It” on my laptop, but perhaps howling with laughter like a crazy person is best confined to the ground. So, to dig out Girl with the Dragon Tatoo then. Let’s see if the brain’s up to dealing with a plot yet this morning.

(Just saw I wrote a shorter thing on the plane to Egypt last year, titles the same & never posted. But California has wifi, so hopefully this post won’t have the same fate)

More to come tomorrow, but we made it home!

So yes, that was the eye of the storm that we were experiencing the other night. Since then things took one heck of a turn for the worse. We had limited power and no water soon after I posted. Then night set in, and the winds picked up. Around 10:20pm I had to wake my mother up, since the winds were moving the patio set and I was worried they were going to blow through the sliding doors. Then we felt the doors straining inwards against the winds… Rain started to be pushed through the closed doors and winds, making the ground slippery. Then, bang, we lost all remaining power. We gathered our things, lit a candle and headed for the one room without windows. We spent the next 8 hours locked in the bathroom, with towels shoved under the door to keep the water out. It was stiflingly hot, and we barely slept, but we made it.

The next morning we were happy to find all doors and windows intact, but lots of puddles around. There was sand everywhere, broken branches, and gutters ripped from the roof. They told us there was a 60% chance we’d regain power and water, but they couldn’t promise, as we were at the end of the island, and 10 mn down a dirt road. We opted to head closer into town, where there was still power, to the Grace Bay area, where we could.

The roads were flooded pretty badly. The ground is mostly limestone, and the water doesn’t seem to go much of anywhere but pool into small lakes in the road. Our little car didn’t stall thankfully, and we made it safe and sound. There was a bit of a break in the storm, so we didn’t blow about too badly, and it only started to rain again once we were in the room. Of course, the power went off as soon as we got settled, but they managed to keep the water on. I don’t think I have ever been so excited to be able to take a shower in my life.

We’re a bit more protected from the wind it seems here. At least if feels that way. Last night we were able to sleep a lot better, although I did keep waking up. They kept the restaurant open last night and this morning. We’re in the eye of the storm (again) right now, and are contemplating a trip to the supermarket to stock up. We’re hoping that Hanna is starting it’s trip north finally, and that the airline decides to send more planes down once the airport re-opens. Right now we’re booked on a flight out on Monday… right after Ike is supposed to have hit. So we’re hopping we won’t be here to see him!!

I know we’re safe, and I know we will make it home, I just wish I was there now!

On our first day in Provo, we explored the island in our rental car. We booked a sea Kayaking trip, and put our names in for a snorkeling trip. All was going really well, and we hit up some shops. One of which had some amazing home pieces, and we got most of our souvenirs and gifts there. We puttered around some, and then went to the bookstore near the grocery store, and that’s when we saw it. The first print-out about Tropical Storm Hanna. What would this mean for us? Gustav was not of a concern for us by now, but this new storm… maybe it wouldn’t hit us? We went to dinner and didn’t think too much of it.

The next day we were up bright and early for some kayaking! My lord, the waters here are incredibly clear, as well as bath-water warm. It’s simply amazing! We went just off the eastern tip of the island, and kayaked around red and black mangrove trees, up to a couple of small nature preserve islands. We saw turtles, upside-down jellyfish, a *huge* sea urchin, and then we landed on Iguana Island. It was so sweet, watching the iguanas bathe in the sun or hide in the shade. We walked around a bit, then had the tough job of fighting the current back to the marina. Once we were back, we asked about the snorkeling trip and were told that it was going to be scheduled for Sun afternoon, to give some flexibility with the storm that was coming. Now we all started to get a wee bit nervous…

We got back to the hotel, and I shot off a couple emails to some old friends of mine who are marine meteorologists. I was hoping against hope that they’d give me some good news. We puttered around a bit, as I had managed to really dehydrate myself and was maybe coming down with a cold. The next morning, the sky was grayer, and our hopes weren’t high. I got some mixed news from my friends: I would hopefully be able to get home, but we would get grazed by the storm. Snorkeling for the afternoon was canceled, and would definitely not be happening at all.

We decided to make the most of it and take a stroll out along the beach. The weirdest part of that afternoon was that the trade winds had pretty much died down, but as the clouds were rolling in, the waves started to break much closer to the shore.

It was a nice walk though. A couple of pelicans must have been looking for a nice place to weather the storm and thought we were following them. The would fly off a bit, then land and eye us warily as we walked. We found a bunch of neat stuff along the shore though. A washed up sea urchin, perfectly preserved, some bits of coral, both hard as bone and feathery as strips of paper, a sponge, lots of bizarre seaweed and some tube-like coral. It was a lot of fun, although by this point I had started sneezing, which dampened the mood a bit. It had just started sprinkling when we made our way back to the room. Soon thereafter though the winds started in earnest. For a while it was all a fine mist, and then the rains started to pour down. Between 1-2am large lightening strikes and big booms of thunder woke everyone up.

This morning it was grey and stormy, with the winds blowing very hard. We made a sojourn out to the supermarket since we were running low on a lot of things. That was a bit of a hairy ride. Our little boxy car forded all the huge puddles and kept us on the road. Once we got back we found out that the storm had been upgraded to a hurricane, and we could see why! The owner of the resort called to make sure we were inside safely, and let us know that the airport had just been closed. We’ll find out tomorrow morning if it will be reopened in time for our flight out.

So now we’re hunkered in for the evening. Some of the electricity is working, some not, but we can make dinner and most of the fans work, so that helps. Right this moment, the winds have died off. I don’t think it’s the eye of the storm, which seems to be north of us… but we’ll soon find out if we’re out of the woods or not. I’m hopping we are and that we’ll be able to safely make it back to Miami tomorrow.

I’ve posted some pics from the storm on Flickr so have a look!

So we arrived in Provo, of the Turks and Caicos just a few short hours ago. Yes, I know I shouldn’t be sitting at the computer when I’m in such a fabulous place, but it’s been a long day, I’m tired, and if it’s any consolation, I’m sitting on our porch and the wind is trying to rip my screen off!

Our plane was delayed leaving Logan to Miami, as I’m sure any number of planes were. We did arrive after a bumpy ride, at a little after 1am. We should have been there at a much more reasonable 11:15, but such is life. Miami airport was a bit different than most of the others we’d experienced. People were strewn across the floor, sleeping or trying to, and once we had checked into the hotel and were making our way to our room, we came across people in wheelchairs, sleeping in the hallway. I don’t think they were supposed to be there, as at least one was still there when we stumbled out at 6:30 to get to our connecting flight. We made it in gangbuster time, and got to sit around the terminal for a while, before boarding and sitting around the plane for a while more. Apparently the engine was leaking something? But we did eventually get up in the air, and all was well.

I’m a bit torn on whether I like flying at night or during the day better. Cities always seem prettier and more magical to me at night. Their order, or disorder, glittering up at you in different colors and in streams of car headlights. But over the ocean, or other spectacular bit of geography, nothing beats a clear day. It was so gorgeous flying over the Bahamas and down to Provo. The water takes on so many different colors, and you can see sand dunes under the sea, as the currents cut islands reefs. There were a few spots of clouds, which made perfect shadows on the water. It really was a whole new kind of gorgeous. Even flying low into Provo itself, you could see all kinds of different bits of ecosystems.

Then we got on the ground and into our wee little car. Oy, I should post a picture of it. The back hatch doesn’t open, and the key doesn’t work in the passenger’s side, so I have to manually open it and lock for my mom. And the funniest thing about driving here? They drive on the left-hand side of the road, but have American cars, which are made to drive on the right. So I get in on the side that I’m used to, but I have to keep my side near the sidewalk and drive on the left. Thank god there isn’t much traffic around here! In fact, the resort we’re staying at, the NorthWest Point Resort is splendidly deserted, with only a few other units rented. Peaceful is definitely the name of the game.

Tonight we got a bit tired, and suddenly hungry after realizing we hadn’t had a bite to eat since dinner at Logan last night, so we hit up the supermarket and grabbed some supplies. We ate dinner on our porch, and then walked down to the beach. I took a few pics with the little camera, and there was a rainbow over the ocean! So great. And the sky was just so many different colors, lighting up the clouds. As we walked, we found a few bits of coral washed up, and tow conch shells! They’re so much heavier than I would have expected. Now I’m siting here, looking out to the lighted pool and pathways, wondering what we’ll do tomorrow. After a good night’s rest that is!

(I might post again from here, if I get home at the end of the day and aren’t too whipped out. Going to try to limit the internet to once a day, but we’ll see. Maybe I’ll post a few pics too… No promises though!)