Western States Road Trip June 2020

 

Western States Road Trip

June 2020

            With the COVID pandemic going on, travel was a bit more difficult.  Since Lucy, our German exchange student, was able to stay until the end of June, we decided to take her on one last road trip to some of the National Parks in the West. 

Beverly Beach State Park

            We started our trip by driving down the Oregon Coast.  We were able to get a campsite at Beverly Beach State Park.  Everyone had a fun time walking and playing on the beach.  Our friends, the Monsons, joined us there with their exchange student from Italy.

Oregon Coast

            The next morning we drove down the Oregon Coast, stopping at some small towns along the way.  We made it down to California and drove through some of Redwoods National Park.  We stopped a couple of times and did some short hikes.  Our plan was to camp somewhere around Eureka, but the kids wanted to keep driving to Becky’s parents house in Rocklin, just outside of Sacramento.  It was another 5 hours of driving but we made it.  I think we drove 14 hours throughout the day.  We stayed in Sacramento a day or so and picked up Jacob and Siena, who had went down to California a month before with Becky’s parents.

Southern Oregon Coast

Paul Bunyon and Babe (wearing masks)

Redwoods National Park

Compare the girth of the tree with the size of the car

Mono Lake, California

            After we left Sacramento we crossed over to the back side of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  We stopped at Mono Lake, which is one of the oldest lakes in the world.  Due to the lake being drained by the city of Los Angeles, the lake level has lowered and become very salty.  Mono Lake also has wonderful rock formations called tufa.  They are created by underwater springs that mix with the carbonates in the lake and create limestone towers and formations.  Once the lake level lowered, many of these formations were exposed.  We spent some time hiking around the lake.  We spent a little too long though, and still had a way to go.  We finally rolled into our camping area north of Las Vegas around 10:30pm at night.  We set up our tents with our headlights on.

Mono Lake tufa

Free camping north of Las Vegas

Sedona, Arizona

            We packed up and started heading south, crossing over the Colorado River by the Hoover Dam and made our way through Arizona.  We wanted to stop at Slide Rock State Park, but it was already full. Instead, we stopped in Sedona and looked around at all the shops.  Afterward, we continued to drive and made our way up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon (with a stop at the Flagstaff Walmart for ice cream).  We camped in our usual location in the national forest just south of the park.

Outside of Sedona, Arizona

Free camping outside the South Rim of the Grand Canyon

            We got up early to beat the heat and went over to hike part of the Bright Angel Trail.  We only did a little over three miles since it was starting to get hot.  We then looked around some of the view points along the South Rim.  The road to the east side of the park was closed, so we had to go all the way back to Flagstaff and then catch highway 89 north.  We drove through Page, Arizona and stopped at the dam.  We finally pulled in to our campsite, just outside of Mt. Carmel Junction, Utah in the evening.  We camped at a free campsite right along the East Fork of the Virgin River (which is more like a small creek).  The kids cooled off in the water while we cooked dinner.

Grand Canyon National Park

Hiking the Bright Angel Trail

Dam at Page, Arizona

Nice free camping spot along the East Fork of the Virgin River

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

            The next morning we headed north and went to Bryce Canyon National Park.  We’ve been there plenty of times, but it is always one of my favorite places in the world.  We hike the Navajo Loop Trail, then drove to the end of the road to see the Bristlecone pine trees.  On the way back down to Zion National Park, we planned on camping just outside the park in some free camping areas.  None of the areas were that nice and none had a lot of shade.  The kids asked if we could go back to where we camped along the river the night before, which we did.  It was refreshing to cool off in the river again.

Thor's Hammer

Navajo Loop Trail

            Since Zion National Park is insanely busy in the summer time, we planned to just drive through the Mt. Carmel tunnel.  After we did that we stopped at the visitor center and then did a three mile hike on the Watchman Trail.  It was getting pretty hot outside, so we got in the car and started driving toward Las Vegas.

Zion National Park, Utah

Hiking the Watchman Trail

            It was 107 degrees in Las Vegas when we arrived.  We checked into our hotel and went for a swim in the pool.  We decided to wait until night time to go out and walk around.  Since it was Juneteenth, there were some protests going on along the strip.  The news said they were peaceful and shouldn’t make it’s way to the area by the Bellagio and Cesar’s Palace, which was close to where we were staying.  When we finally did venture out in the evening, we arrived at the corner of Las Vegas Blvd. and Flamingo Rd. to see the intersection shut down and about 30 police cars there and lots of officers in riot gear.  The protests hadn’t gone this far down the Strip, but they were ready just in case.  We stood around and watched with everyone else, then decided to go over and see the fountain show at the Bellagio.  We then walked around the Bellagio and Cesar’s Palace and went to get dinner at In and Out. We finished the night by walking to the Venetian.  By the time we got there most of shops were closed and there weren’t a lot of people in the casino, mainly due to COVID (some casinos were more open than others).  By then we were exhausted and walked back to our hotel.

Police in riot gear in Las Vegas

Inside the Bellagio

Bellagio Water Show

Cesar's Palace

            The next day we made the long drive back from Las Vegas to Becky’s parents house outside of Sacramento.  We spent the next several days at Becky’s parents house for a family reunion and then had to say goodbye to Lucy and take her to the San Francisco airport.

Emhoff Year in Review 2019 Video

Emhoff Year in Review 2019 Video

Click on the picture below to watch our 2019 year in review:

Iceland Week 4

Iceland Week 4

Tuesday, July 9: Today was a relaxing day for us.  In the morning we lounged around and hand washed our laundry.  After Paul’s class, we helped Helga, our tour planner, collect the optional trip payments from all of the students. Later on in the afternoon we went back to Reykjavik with Paul and walked around and bought a few more souvenirs.  We grabbed some fish and chips for dinner.

Napping in downtown Reykjavik

Fish and Chips for dinner

Souvenir shopping

Wednesday, July 10: This morning Becky and I went for a walk over to the President of Iceland’s house, which is a little over a mile from where we are staying.  On the way there we stopped to take pictures of Icelandic horses. They are a smaller breed that have a unique look and have five gaits (they are fun to watch).  We finally made it over to the President’s house, which you can walk right up to (try doing that at the White House). The house sits out on a piece of land overlooking the bay and greater Reykjavik. 

Icelandic horses

President's House

Afterward we made our way downtown and went to the Culture Museum since we had free tickets to it. We then met Paul down at the Nautholsvik Geothermal Beach (also known as the  “hot beach”). It is an arc of sand that has a hot pool and a lukewarm one. Some of the excess geothermal water that is used to heat the homes in Reykjavik is released into the lagoon to raise the temperature.  Paul and Becky got in for a minute or so. I made it only for a few seconds.

Headboard at the Culture House

Geothermal Beach

When we were done soaking we hiked up to the Perlan.  The Perlan is six massive tanks with a glass dome on top.   It used to provide all of the hot water for Reykjavik. Now it is a huge tourist attraction that houses a replica ice cave, a northern lights theater, interactive bird exhibit, etc.  The best way to describe it is a hugely overpriced tourist trap that has busloads of tourists dropped at their doors everyday, waiting to see “Iceland”. We briefly walked around the free parts before we all decided that that was enough. 

The Perlan

While we were walking back to the bus we passed a chicken restaurant.  Becky really wanted to get a T-shirt from there and went in and asked if they sold any T-shirts.  The employee said no and was really confused why she would want one in the first place. Becky explained to her about all of our Icelandic chickens and then the lady was willing to call her manager.  They were able to sell Becky one of the used employee shirts, so she went home with a unique item from Iceland. 

Becky's chicken restaurant

Thursday, July 11: Today we went with Paul and all of the students to Glymur, which is a huge waterfall north of Reykjavik.  It used to be the highest waterfall in Iceland, but another higher one was recently discovered. On the hike up we crossed a log over the river and made our way up on the right side.  Paul said there wasn’t as much water in the river compared to previous years. We stopped several times to take pictures. It was amazing to see the birds flying around underneath you.

Hiking out to Glymur

Glymur

Once we made it to the top we had to cross the river.  Luckily the water wasn’t running high and wasn’t too freezing.  We made our way back down the trail and back to the bus. By the time we got home, everyone was tired.

Friday, July 12: After Paul finished his classes, the three of us, plus one of the students, took a bus over to the town of Hvergerdi.  From there we walked about 4-5km to the trailhead. There were lots of cars in the parking lot, but surprisingly the trail never felt that crowded.  We then hiked about 3km from the trailhead up to Reykjadalur, which translates to “hot river”. On the way we passed mud pots and hot springs.  

Hiking out to Reykjadalur

Sheep warming up next to the hot springs

Once we arrived at the hot river area, we changed into our swimsuits and went for a dip.  The water was nice and hot. The area is spread out enough that it doesn’t feel like you are soaking with millions of people. 

Reykjadalur (hot river)

Once our muscles were relaxed we got out and changed and started hiking back down the trail and then on to the town of Hveragerdi.  We stopped for a hot dog before we caught the bus back to Reykjavik. We decided to stop for dinner at the same chicken restaurant where Becky bought her chicken shirt.  The place was full of locals, which is was a good sign. The food was good and plentiful. We then finally made our way back home. We figured we hiked and walked close to 14 miles today.

Saturday, July 13: We spent most of the day walking around Reykjavik.  We did some last minute souvenir shopping at the flea market.  While there we also tried a bite of hakarl, which is fermented Greenland shark.  Some consider it the worst tasting food in the world. Since the Greenland shark has no urinary tract, its flesh absorbs its urine.  To make the meat edible, it has to be cured and fermented and hung to dry for four to five months. At first it had a fishy flavor and then a nasty ammonia aftertaste.  It wasn’t as bad as we thought, but it was very disgusting. 

Tasting Harkarl (fermented Greenland shark)

We then went and walked around the harbor area.  Along the way we decided to take side streets and get off the beaten path.  We found some cool murals on the sides of buildings.  

After we ate lunch in the main square, we walked up to the Einar Jonsson museum and sculpture garden.  Einar Jonsson was one of the most famous Icelandic sculptors. We walked around the sculpture garden and admired the sculptures.  

Afterward we walked around a bit more and finished our shopping. 

Sunday, July 14: This morning we went to church again at the Reykjavik Branch.  After church they had a potluck and they invited us to join them.  We brought some cake and walnuts from Washington state. Since it was raining, we spent most of the day indoors catching up on our journals and (sadly) starting to pack.

Potluck at church

Monday, July 15: While the students were taking their final exam this morning, Becky and I finished packing and went around Fisherman’s Village one last time to take some pictures.  

Outside our room at the Fisherman's Village

Fisherman's Village

Inside the dining area at Fisherman's Village

Our (somewhat messy) room at Fisherman's Village

Later in the afternoon we went with Paul back down to Reykjavik one last time.  Paul bought a few more souvenirs and we ate out last hot dogs in Iceland.  

Our last hot dogs in Iceland

We then headed south to the town of Hafnarfjordur.  We walked around a small park that is supposed to be the home of elves.  We checked around the cracks and holes in the lava, but didn’t see any elves.  After that we walked around the harbor area and went inside a few smaller museums.

Looking for Elves

No elves here

Hafnarfjordur Harbor

In the evening we met all of the students at the Viking Village for our send-off dinner.  The Viking Village is owned by Johannes, who also owns the Fisherman’s Village where we have been staying.  We had a great meal of leg of lamb. There was a great musician there that roamed around playing guitar and singing in Icelandic, English, and a few other languages.  After we said goodbye to a few students, we hopped on the bus back to the Fisherman’s village to get ready for our flight home.

Paul and Matt at the Viking Village

Viking Village

Leg of Lamb

Tuesday, July 16: We got an early start this morning and walked our bags the ½ mile to the bus stop.  After taking two buses, we finally arrived at the airport. Our flight to Dallas was uneventful, other than I’m pretty sure someone was smoking in the bathroom behind us.  During our 8 hour layover in Dallas we ate some barbeque and tried to sleep a little. After a 3 ½ flight to Sacramento, we finally made it back. When we picked up Becky’s bag, we had a little surprise from the TSA.  Since the zipper on Becky’s bad broke at the beginning of the trip, we had to use a knife to cut open the expander pouch and use that zipper instead. Before we flew back, Becky even put a note on duct tape on the suitcase warning not to use the bottom zipper.  The folks at TSA decided to open the bottom zipper anyway. Since they probably couldn’t get it closed, they decided to use their tape to secure it...a lot of tape! It was comical, but at the same time very frustrating.

Becky's "surprise" from TSA