osemite, giant sequoia trees, Lake Tahoe & ice-skating

Have car, will travel. (A bit of a departure this time from the usual sorry tales of clubbing excess. But hey, even I need a rest once in a while.)

It's good to get out of the Big Smoke once in a while.  Although SF is hardly a smog-gripped urban nightmare, it's sheer busyness can be overwhelming so when a couple of Brit mates said they've hired a massive peoplecruiser and were taking off inland for a couple of days and would I like to join them, well it was hard to say no.

Our first destination was Yosemite Valley, home to massive graniten mountains, giant sequoia trees and grizzly bears. When you drive into the valley you're greeted by the sight of El Capitan, this monster granite cliff that just seems to loom out of the shadows. The valley has two roads on either side that snake its length. They're really windy and twisty and there aren't any crash barriers so it's a bit of a swift descent if you take the corners too fast. All we needed on the car stereo was the tune "The Self Preservation Society" from "The Italian Job" and we'd have been well away..

We wanted to walk to the top of a rock known as The Half Dome, named such because it's like a dome cut in half. You're supposed to walk up the curved side with the aide of specially-placed ropes but they'd been removed because of fears of avalanche. Oh well. So we just had to settle with looking at it from afar - the sheer granite cliff face is a favourite with climbers seeking a challenge. Apparently it takes four days to climb the sheer face side and you have to sleep strapped to the cliff face. The landscape is pure Ansel Adams territory (there's even an Ansel Adams museum in Yosemite Village).

We stayed the night in a small log cabin in the heart of the valley. The rangers warn everyone to remove all food from their cars because the bears are attracted to even the smallest packet of crisps. In the parking lot where we left our car, an average of 16 cars *a week* are trashed by hungry bears scavenging for food. We got lucky.

The next day we headed south to see the giant sequoia trees and have a walk in the forest. It's mad - you see one tree and think "Gordon Bennet that's huge" and then walk around a corner and see another tree and think "Blinkin' Flip, that's even huger". There's one tree called "The General" and another called "Big Grizzly". 'Nuff said. Then it was a trek back north to Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe is breathtaking.  It's massive (22 miles by 11 which makes it bigger than London I think), over 6000ft above sea level and one of the purest still bodies of water in the world. You sunbathe on the shoreline during summer and then go into the mountains in winter for skiing and snowboarding. You can rent a room in one of the many roadside motels for $100 a week - bargain.

We went to nearby Squaw Valley which was the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics.  You can look around the Olympic Village, still preserved as a monument to late Fifties architecture, and then take a cable car ride up to the ski centre, about 8200ft above sea level. It affords incredible views of the Tahoe Valley and we drank lattes and played cards in the restaurant area which has these massive wall-sized windows which give you the jaw-dropping views.

There's also the Olympic ice skating rink there which has no roof or walls so basically you're skating with these massive mountains surrounding you and looking out over an Alpine-esque vista (I'll try to scan some pix). For some bizarre reason I had never ice skated in my life before - so I figured that if I was going to make a complete clot of myself and go arse over tit every five minutes, I might as well do it in a place like this. I actually only fell over twice although I've been walking like John Wayne ever since.

Now get off your horse and drink your milk.

Namaste,

Kieran
 

PS On a *totally* unrelated note, here's a little snippet I trawled from the depths of cyberspace. It's a fan's eye view of a concert in 1987 by THE WORLD'S GREATEST ROCK BAND - The Cult. It's kinda funny.

"At the time unknown GunsN'Roses were the opening act. They (GunsN'Roses) sucked so bad that they had to end their set early. Then The Cult came on stage - Ian [Astbury, singer] was so f***ed up that that when he broke into "Peace Dog" he forgot 90% of the words. The highlight of the concert was when the band played "Born To Be Wild" and Ian passed out on stage while topless women paraded about in Egyptian garb. At the conclusion of the concert The Cult went into a drunken frenzy and started smashing shit on stage. The Saneger Theater permanently banned The Cult from ever playing this venue. I guess that's why The Cult never played in New Orleans again."

Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Live life like there's no tomorrow.
Love like you've never been hurt.