amtrakking across the country

April 4, 2014 1 Comment

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sacramento to portland

A day of forced rest, people watching and life story gathering. Sometimes its nice just to sit back and let life flow by. We watched winter turn into spring for our seats, snow melt and be transformed into lush fields with spring lambs bleating and bare branches suddenly weighed down with a flush of flowers. Inside the train we listened with glee to the hilariously melodramatic grumblings of an elderly woman kitted out in her best casino outfit (I’m guessing red was her lucky colour), she described every slight and niggling pain with such undercurrents of delight that it sounded like she was unwrapping christmas gifts. Later we listened to the wild adventured of a helicopter firefighter, the perils of “jumpers” and their “hot shot crews”, the girl on the otherside of the table ate up every word with glowing eyes, a blooming romance? This is why we prefer the train to flying. Have you any fun train experiences?

Travel

Paddling to Nevada

April 2, 2014 No Comments

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Lake Tahoe, Nevada

Our last day at the lake Dylan and I took to the water. Yellow paddle skimming over the water, the water was so clear that we could see right to the bottom. Swiss cheese rocks and buoys chained to the lake floor. As we paddled houses became further apart and money could be felt, no trespassing signs multiplied. As we turned the corner the shelf fell away, going from 10m below to 500m in an instant, we lurched with vertigo until we drifted further out and all we could see was darkness.

Ducks and other waterfowl lazily floated by us, paddle borders and a chain of fellow kayakers powered by a four lazy paddlers moving on the strength of the girl at the front. A yellow caterpillar, that was not going very far with the dead weight. As we turned the corner towards Incline Village shore we didn’t realise that we had ticked off another state, silently gliding over the State line into Nevada, our stay was short, arms beginning to ache we made our way back home.

The luxury of a stove awaited us there and Dylan spoilt us with homemade pizza. I tried to elevate our train journey of the next day with spelt thumbprint biscuits, but they tasted more like scones badly in need of cream. All was good as we packed and prepped for the 7am bus ride back to Trukee and beyond.

Travel

lake tahoe

April 1, 2014 No Comments

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Lake Tahoe, California

I woke up feeling fine, my cold having neatly passed onto poor Dylan in the night. The night before we stayed up until the date ticked over for the first time in months. We chatted to our fellow hostel mates from San Fran, picking their brains about their city. One was a young college student doing re-writes for his screenplay, the other a Filipino born first time skier taking advantage of the last now drifts on the mountains.

The next morning we woke to a homemade breakfast of strawberry muffins, freshly baked bread and orange juice. This and the walls of books, and lush indoor plants were tipping Lake Tahoe hostel into best hostel ever territory, alas no delightful animal companion though. Devon, our fairy god-baker merrily chatted to us while we devoured muffin after muffin, there was love in every bite. “When I’m not in the mood for baking I can taste the difference”

We delved into discussions of sustainability and economical inequality and I love the way she described the situation. “I feel society is like a pot of water on the stove, it’s boiling now and any moment it could explode over the sides.” I think that tension is what people concerned with sustainability in whatever form feel on a daily basis, most people feel nothing.

Then another relaxing day of mostly solo people/dog watching on the beach while Dylan looked after himself reading a book on Samurai Gardening, or at least that is what the title lead me to believe. Young things cavorted through hula hoops, children played the age old game of bury your friend to his neck in sand and skim boarders glided and sometimes stacked (to everyone’s internal delight) in the lakeside pools.

Travel

Kings Beach

March 31, 2014 No Comments

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Lake Tahoe, California

After a lazy morning at a sharehouse on the hill with bonus puppy (cutely named bear), we descended to a more conveniently located hostel at Kings Beach. I’ll let you visit tomorrow, but until then welcome to Lake Tahoe. This is the holiday we didn’t even know we needed until we arrived. Oh how much I had missed water! Spring bulbs were slicing green blades through the earth and early daffodils glowed in the gorgeous sunlight.

We were there due to a offhand comment that could have passed me by, I’m glad it didn’t. One of the twins in New Mexico had said this would be my perfect town, when I had mentioned my dualing desire to live in the forest and by the beach. Water that meets the mountains, that is so clear you can see to the bottom. It was just how he mentioned and it had a new organic grocery, that became out go to in an instant for fresh juice and deliciously naughty treats like chocolate brownies and palm sized cookies.

Dylan kicked his legs on the pier while I strolled, drinking it in. Two kids were busy digging to china, so proud of their 2 hour deep hole they demanded their mother take a photo, she lacking the imagination of youth she refused. Pine trees incongruously grew out of the sand, pinecones littered the beach and bobbed lazily at the shore. Dogs ruled the beach, more than one had a pinecones in the mouth to the delight to all passersby.

We returned to the hostel, Dylan exhausted, but I wasn’t ready to call it a night. I felt the call of the water again and for perhaps the first time in our trip I ventured out alone. I walked for hours, people watching. I was waiting for sunset, uncertain of staying, but I was glad I did. Oh the endless sky and the colours on the water. This was a magical place.