Day 19 (7/31)

Last day. Nothing much to write home about. One more run in Louisville (ugh), a lunch stop in Ames, and an ice cream stop in Albert Lea. Man does it always feel good to see that MN sign again!

Vitals:
Miles: 401
Birds: Red Eyed Vireo, E. Phoebe, E. Blue Bird, Cedar Waxwing

Totals miles for the trip:
Total plates: 47
Total birds species:

Total towns visited....Many!

Day 18 (7/30)

A quick morning run in Laramie and we were on the road. Laramie was a nice town! Loved the college and the atmosphere it brought. Found a nice bike path along the river too. Not much to say other than another day of driving. Cutting across Nebraska isn't exactly the most exciting endeavor. When we finally stopped for the night, it was a rather disappointing campground along the Platte River between Lincoln and Omaha. VERY noisy trains blaring most of the night, with a cement plant to supplement noise during lulls. Other than a verbal argument with a truck about whether or not I was in the middle of the road, the run went by easy enough, but this is not a town (Louisville, NE) that's worth living it.

Vitals:
Miles: 530
Birds: Northern Cardinal
Plates: KY

Day 17 (7/29) Out our way home

Sunrise in NV

Well, the decision to finish the day in Great Basin was definitely worth it. We had a relaxing dinner, and woke up to a great sunrise over the basin and range. We were on the road by 7:30, and though we promptly lost an hour at the Utah border, we had a good jump start on the day.

Took a quick pit stop in Salt Lake City for a run. Kate found a nice trail along a river (Jordan?) and even though it was raining more or less the entire stop, it was a great run. Lunch was at some Good News church that happened to have a cafe/bookstore (Google didn't notify us of all this!). It ended up being good coffee/I got a pulled pork special.

Nothing much else of note today. I'd say it rained for 75% of the time on the road. Not the best traveling weather, but we made due.

The final stop for the night was Laramie, WY. Kate again found an awesome restaurant downtown for Bison Burgers, and good wine/beer. Also our cheapest motel of the trip at $45 and wasn't half bad!

The open basins of NV/UT

Vitals:
Miles: 610
Birds: N/A
Plates: N/A

Day 16 (7/28) Great Basin

Wheeler's Peak

Got a decent start today and set off for Wheeler's Peak; the 2nd highest in Nevada at 13,060. It started reasonable enough, I stupidly didn't bring a rain jacked even. It's a decent hike, 8.6 mi and 3,000 ft gain, and we clipped along well enough, though with maybe 1.5 to go, the rain came on. Not afternoon thunderstorms mind you (that's probably worse), just soaking mist and a wind. We trudged on for a while, but Kate had had enough and turned around. Without a raincoat and a bit chilly, I considered, though we were near a couple rangers doing maintenance and they said only a half mile to the top. I took off, determined to get there. In 15 min, I was there, disappointed I hadn't talked Kate into it. Worse (or better I guess), it stopped raining within minutes of reaching the top. The view wasn't fantastic, but solid to the west, and a goal accomplished is a hard feeling to beat.

Older than Jesus...

I wanted to see the Bristle Cone Pine Grove too, though Kate wasn't feeling the 2.8 mile hike so I headed solo, thinking I might not get a chance to see these guys for a while. It was a cool trek. They had some signs up for ones they had dated- some up to 3,200 years.

I'm not sure how I did this- or Kate for that matter as she had done a hike while waiting for me, but we trekked down to the small town, Baker to do a short run after all the hiking (and a little break). It was at least flat, and less elevation. Equally implausible, Kate found a little restaurant/bar managed by a couple of hippies (granolas?) that had good drinks and food. We did a couple margaritas and some guac and savored a job well done.

All in all, this park is amazing. at 90,000 people/yr it's definitely less traveled than almost any other you've heard of, it has mountains, cool hikes and a cave we didn't even get to. It's a bit out of the way, but might be worth swinging by again at some point.

Vitals:
Miles: N/A
Birds: Red Breasted NH, Pygmy NH, American Pipet, Golden Crowned Sparrow, Rosy Finch.
Plates: N/A

Day 15 (7/27) The Great Basin

This lunch stop might beat cup racing near Cheyenne...

I guess we got to see more sand dunes after all...

Well, today was mainly a driving day, albeit a learning experience. We had stopped in an old mining town, Colfax, and I did a little shakeout around town. It's definitely seen better times, but they have a cool little historic downtown and an Amtrak station. That's more than a lot of towns can say. Colfax to Great Basin is a lot of the same scenery, but definitely a learning experience. Within a couple hours, we were on the "loneliest highway" (US 50) and rightfully named. There was a town every 80 miles or so and I'd be shocked if half of them had over 1,000 people. The basin and range was cool to experience. A massive desert stretched out before you, followed by 20 miles winding through mountains with scraggly trees, then back into a dessert, the only thing on the horizon being the next mountains off in the distance.

Trees?!? What is this??

We got to Great Basin by 7 or so and had no problem getting a site- right on a creek! Running didn't seem like a good idea though, we were in the middle of a hill either direction.








Vitals:
Miles: 470

Day 14- Savioring the last moments on the coast

Woke up leisurely from our $170 hotel room, but were hot to trot to enjoy day 2 in San Fran. I had come up with the idea of Kate renting a bike and me doing my long run for efficiencies sake- I was hoping for 20, and it could be a good way to view the city. We rent a bike for cheap ($15) from the sports basement(?) right near Golden Gate and took off. The first stretch was across Golden Gate and back. Cool, but extremely crowded. Next, we headed to Golden Gate Park via a bike route in the Presidio, hilly, but nothing horrible. Golden Gate was cool, we did a loop in there and headed back the same way. The last stretch was along the beach at Crissy Field going toward Fisherman's Wharf. Very crowded, but at least a good surface and flat. It ended up being a solid experience!

I was pumped about driving across the Bay Bridge...

For lunch, we had looked up a Dim Sum place in the Richmond neighborhood(?) to find out that it looked mainly like takeout. We talked to a couple there who said it was awesome, and there were 3 restaurants side by side that were all by the same owners. We cherry picked our way down (place #3 gave me way too much) and ended up with a meal not really dim sum (I didn't see the assortment in the last place that we didn't stop at), but still really good Chinese Food.

Waiting for food to digest, we hit up the aquarium. Not awesome, Monterrey and Boston were way bigger, but decent to check out. Driving to get there was absolutely awful. I probably could have done better on foot. We still weren't super hungry, so I looked up another brewery: Cellarmaker Brewing. Also good beer. No dinner yet, though Kate wanted a coffee, so we found a coffee shop and figured we should just take off and put some road behind us.

It's hard to admit this, but dinner was the best of the trip and found via Kate on yelp at some roadside takeout place in Sacramento. Korean BBQ fusion Tacos. They were amazing. The guys working were cool too. If you ever find yourself on Interstate 80, it is absolutely worth a stop.

Vitals:
Miles: 135
Birds: N/A
Plates: N/A

Day 13- 7/25- Take me to San Francisco

Started the day with a less than pleasant run in Santa Rosa, CA. We were way out on the strip, so it took 3 miles of sprawled, car-centered sidewalks to even hit the city center. The last 2 were a nice enough path along a creek, though some of it was at a slant, and the other stuff was concrete.

Next stop was to drop a couple bags at the next hotel in Mill Valley. We chatted with the hotel concierge and he told us the Larkspur ferry was the best option into the city- more parking and just as close as Sausalito. Plus, the last ferry came back at 9:35. Parking was pay by smartphone- not well signed and very cumbersome- even for a couple of people that I consider fairly tech savvy. You wonder how the 70 somethings would do on such a task.

The ferry on the other hand was worth every last penny. It got going pretty fast (along with the wind!), but we soaked up the sun and ocean breeze regardless of hat-losing risk. The views were spectacular. Golden Gate, Alcatraz, Downtown, the Bay bridge, Coit Tower, and Angel island SP were all right there.

San Francisco didn't disappoint either. I could probably fill a couple pages with the sites (intended and not), though I'll try to keep it short. Lunch was a Hawaiian Acai place, followed by a walk through Chinatown and a hike up to the Coit tower. No trip to the top though: $7 and quite a line to get there.

Maybe one of the highlights was the quarter arcade, moved to the tourist trap known as Fisherman's Wharf. I have no need to ever go back to the Wharf....but the quarter arcade is worth another visit. We plugged a $20 into quarters and partook in everything from early 1900s "crank movies" to pinball, basketball shooting, and of course, cruising USA.

I wanted to check out a brewery on the other side of downtown, so we found a bus and were on our way. Amazing how smartphones have opened up travel. And I say this well aware of my frustration of the parking above. The bus was slow going, but we finally made Southern Pacific brewing. Very cool atmosphere and good apps.

We temporarily struggled to find good sea food in the area and were all set to take the BART back to downtown and figure it out from there, when we stumbled upon a Mexican place a lady at the brewery suggested. It ended up being awesome. The BART is also significantly faster than Busing (obviously). Less obvious though is that the two are kind of separate entities. No transfers and it seems that google directions didn't sync well. Either way, we were back to the ferry early and meandered around the dock a little. We weren't outside for more than a picture on the way back (it was chilly!), but we enjoyed a few people who had had a bit to drink enjoying the ferrying ride inside.

A great day!