More Fun in the Bay City

Today my dad, Jeff, Madeline and I went to Haight Street to look around and do some shopping, and there were some really cool stores there. After that we went over to Golden Gate Park to eat some lunch, and we saw a really pretty pond area that had a lot of cute turtles on logs. There was also a fenced in area with a few bison in it which was kind of a surprise, and it was funny to see them in that setting after we saw so many in Yellowstone. From there we went to a beach and looked for sand dollars for a while. It was a nice beach and it's really helpful that dogs are allowed on most of the beaches around here (and the ones in Oregon too). We always had a hard time finding beaches in New England that we could bring Nika to. It was also nice because the weather today was perfect, pretty warm but not uncomfortable, and not humid like we're used to in Boston! (Not surprisingly the water at the beach was freezing though.) After driving around a bit to see more of the city we came back to the hotel to rest up before dinner. Grace came and met up with us to go to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant at Pier 39. I had never been to one but it was really good and was in an awesome location with a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge nearby. When we left the restaurant we went down towards the docks to see a huge group of sea lions that were hanging around and making a ton of noise. They were so funny and were all laying on the docks and making their barking sounds, it was really cute. Now we are back at the hotel and sadly this is our last night in San Francisco. Tomorrow Jeff and I will head north, but we haven't decided for sure where we will spend the night. We are thinking that we will do one more night of camping before getting to Portland, so we will probably stay either near the Redwood Forest or somewhere in southern Oregon tomorrow night. Either way we should be getting to Portland on Saturday at some point, so we will let you all know when we make it!

San Fran

Wednesday August 29: This morning Madeline, Jeff, my dad and I walked over to Pier 39 and Fishermans Wharf. We estimated that it's about two miles away from our hotel but the walk was tough because of all the crazy hills they have here! When we got there we all had chowder in sourdough bread bowls which was delicious, and then did some shopping at the stores in the area. While we were walking we passed a guy that was selling tickets for a boat tour that cost only $10 each, and when he said that we could bring Nika on the boat with us we decided to do it. It was a really cool trip--it lasted about an hour and went under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz. It was really foggy near the bridge so we couldn't get any clear pictures of it (we will probably take more tomorrow), but the view of Alcatraz and of the city was awesome. Jeff and Nika and I sat at the front of the boat which was nice for the most part, but on the way back to the dock the water was a little choppy and we got absolutely soaked. Nika was amazingly good throughout the tour considering she's never been on a boat, and she was really interested in the wind surfers that we kept passing. It was a little tricky getting her on and off the boat because you had to climb a ladder to do it, but we managed to get her on and off without any problems (she was a little nervous though). After the tour Jeff, Madeline and I decided to take the cable car back to the hotel because we were wet and cold and dad walked Nika back. We were lucky because today was some sort of day promoting saving energy and so the public transportation was free, which meant we saved $5 each going on the cable car. It was fun to go on it since it's a classic San Francisco activity, and it's really fun on the steep hills. This evening we went and had dinner in Chinatown (although we actually had sushi at a Japanese restaurant...) and now we are watching movies until bedtime. Tomorrow we have a lot more sightseeing to do so I am going to head to bed to rest up!

Meeting the Family in San Francisco

Tuesday August 28: Yesterday we left Wendover, NV and had drive straight through Nevada to get to the Lake Tahoe area in California. We did not have a great time during this drive because Nevada (at least the northern part that we were going through) was reeeally boring and there was nothing but small towns which consisted only of fast food restaurants and casinos. (We did however pass the 4000 mile mark during this leg of the trip.) We also saw some land that had obviously been hit by a forest fire, which is what the picture to the right. So, after around 6.5 hours we made it to Truckee, CA which is near Lake Tahoe (like 15 minutes from the lake) and decided to camp along the Truckee River which was beautiful. We also went to see the lake, which was also beautiful and was the most amazing deep blue color. In the evening Jeff went fly fishing in the river, and here is what he wants to tell about that: Nothing like fishing Yellowstone, but the Truckee did yield one fish for me. I was able to catch a small Rainbow Trout, which was exciting because that added another species of fish to the list of fish I caught on the trip. Although it was small its colors made up for its size.
Our campsite was really nice but I (Emily) was a little nervous there because we were pretty far away from other people and the ranger warned us that there were bears in the area. (This picture is when Jeff gave me his stuffed animal bear to hold to make me feel better.) In the end we still didn't see any bears and we got up this morning and packed up to drive to San Francisco. We got to the city around 1 pm and met up with my dad and my sister Madeline, and then a bit later we picked up my other sister from her school (Univ. of San Francisco). We walked around for a while and went to Chinatown, and then had dinner and came back to the hotel to relax for the night. Tomorrow we'll do a lot more sightseeing and will take lots of pictures to post! For now we are just happy to have a place to put our stuff down for a few days and not have to get back in the car tomorrow.

Half Marathon to Utah to Nevada

Sunday August 26: Yesterday morning we ran our half marathon, which went really well. Mostly we were just doing it to fit in a long run during our trip but we kept a pretty steady pace and both finished under 2 hours (Jeff a few minutes ahead of me) which I was really happy with. The race course was really nice, it started on a trail that went along a river and was really pretty, and then it went through fields (I think they were mostly potato fields?). It was definitely a nice change of pace from running in Boston, especially since it wasn't humid at all so it felt much cooler than Boston. After the race we rested a bit and then went to get our complimentary huckleberry shake that you get for participating, which were absolutely delicious (that was an important factor in deciding to do that race by the way haha). The picture of me above right is with my shake outside of City Drug, where you get the shakes. As I mentioned before, we were staying with a woman named Jean who is involved with the race and she was very nice and hospitable, which made our visit and race much easier and more enjoyable, especially since Nika was welcome in her house. Mid afternoon we left Ashton and went to Ogden, UT where we decided to stay in a Motel 6 because we were absolutely exhausted and it was getting kind of late to set up camp. This morning we drove into Salt Lake City and saw Temple Square and a few other sights and then continued south. I wanted to go to Manti, UT because that's where my grandmother (my mom's mom) was from and is where we spread her ashes after she died a few years ago. We stopped for a bit so I could say 'hi' to her, and then we headed back north so that we could be positioned well for our drive tomorrow. Tomorrow we will be driving straight through Nevada so that we can stay near Lake Tahoe, so tonight we wanted to camp somewhere near Salt Lake because then we can get right on I-80 in the morning. We had a couple of campsites in mind, all of which are in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest, but unfortunately the directions in the book we have were not very helpful. After driving back and forth past Salt Lake City 3 or 4 times, and then realizing that rain and thunderstorms are predicted for the whole night, we decided to go further west and stay in a hotel (another Super 8--luckily this one is only $35 so it's a great deal.) On the way we passed all of the salt flats which were so interesting to see, it looked like snow everywhere. (The picture of Jeff is when we stopped to look at them up close.) So, we are now in Wendover, NV which will make our drive tomorrow even easier. I don't think we will have internet tomorrow night, but Tuesday morning we will leave Lake Tahoe and drive 3-4 hours to San Francisco to meet up with my dad and sisters!! So if we can't check in tomorrow, we definitely will when we get to California.

Yellowstone National Park

Friday August 24: Yesterday we drove from Cody, WY to Yellowstone through the east entrance. It was a pretty short drive but once you're inside the park it takes a while to get anywhere because the speed limit is 45 mph and also you are so busy looking around that you tend to go pretty slowly. Shortly after we entered the park we saw some buffalo, a coyote and female elk. At point we had to slow to a crawl because there was a buffalo walking down the middle of road in front the car ahead of us. Every time the car tried to pass it, the buffalo would speed up and cut it off so that the car had to slow back down and drive behind it. This went on for at least 10 minutes. (The picture to the right is Nika seeing her first buffalo.) Luckily, we had no trouble finding a campground that had available sites. It was called Madison and we chose it because it was right near a section of river that was open to fly fishing only. We drove around Yellowstone a lot (because dogs aren't allowed on the trails or in the water, etc.) and saw more buffalo and elk, as well as some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. We were watching for bears but didn't see any (I was just glad that we didn't see any in the campground!) This morning we went and watched Old Faithful which was really cool, and then we headed out the west entrance of the park to West Yellowstone, MT.


Now Jeff is going to talk about his Yellowstone fishing experiences: Now for the important news. There was no way that I could come to Yellowstone and not cast a fly out for some trout. I had limited time to take advantage of these world class waters. Emily and I found a spot on the Gibbon river, where Emily could paint and I could fish. It was a frustrating fishing outing filled with tangles and snags. I left the river defeated. I decided to wake up at 5:30am to wake the fish up and give it a last shot on a part of the Gibbon river right near our campsite, which is fly fishing only . It was about 40 degrees when I started fishing, the fog was thick, and the elk poop was plentiful. Using a big grass hopper fly I casted out and hooked and landed a 12 inch brown trout. A couple casts later I hooked and landed a 14 inch brown trout! This was my first time catching a brown trout ever and was a perfect addition to the many species of animals that make up the wildlife of Yellowstone.

Tonight we are staying in Ashton, ID to run a half marathon tomorrow morning (it's called the Mesa Falls Marathon) It's really cool because we get to stay in the house of a woman who lives here in Ashton and is involved with the race, which means it's free and we get to sleep in a bed, have a shower and flushing toilet, and use her wireless internet. Tomorrow we will probably go to somewhere in southern Idaho or northern Utah but we aren't planning on driving very long because we will probably be tired. Alright that is all for now!