Thursday, November 29, 2007

Thanksgiving Road trip

This Thanksgiving I want on a Road trip with friends. We drove almost 1400 miles in 4 days.

Started from the South Bay Area, drove via Redwood State Park, took a short detour from 101 through CA 1, which was very picturesque and that accompanied by a bright, sunny day made it great for shooting the shore/landscapes.

Drove up to Crater Lake and Diamond Lake. Lots of snow there..mmmm snow ball fights. If you drive through Shady Cove, make sure that you stop and eat at Two Pines Smokehouse (or similar sounding name, if I've got the name wrong) for Brunch. Great service and good food and you will need it because there is nothing else to eat on the way.

On the way back we drove via Klamath Nature Reserve. A short drive-by. Pretty decent Hawk sightings. Nothing much to see there in this season. Well except for the Pheasants (And it was Hunting season. Nope did not spot Elmer Fudd). The Bald Eagle Reserve would've been nice, if it were open to the public at this time of the year, when they nest in large numbers.

The highlight of the return trip was the Lava Beds National Monument with its vast expanses of eerie Volcanic landscapes and long Lava tubes/tunnels. Black porous lava deposits capped with snow..Reminded me of Chocolate fudge with whipped cream on top.

This is a rough trip record:



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Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Hiking this weekend?

In case you were planning to go camping/hiking this weekend (long weekend in the US - Thanksgiving) then you should probably have a look at REI's checklist and advice columns. It's quite good.