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This Week on the Road - November 20th-27th

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This Week on the Road - November 20th-27th

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends here in the United States. I hope you get to spend the day with friends and family, good food and cheer. To those of you who will be spending the holiday alone, as I will be this year, I hope you can have a quiet and peaceful day and find a good meal somewhere. I have officially left the state of Washington and returned south to Oregon. My last few days in Southeast Washington were excellent and I was sad to see it fade away in my rearview mirror. I was there for over two months, though, and saw most of what I had hoped to see and it is wonderful to be back in The Beaver State. It’s a little bit warmer and a little bit less expensive here and I’m looking forward to this coming week here before I fly back to the east coast for the holidays. I have a lot of photos left to edit and publish from Washington and I’m looking forward to catching up on those in December and starting fresh and up to date in 2026.

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This Week on the Road - November 6th-13th

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This Week on the Road - November 6th-13th

It’s been an interesting week out here in the “Inland Empire” of Washington State. The week started out in deserted ghost towns of the far northeast of the state, took me to the big city of Spokane, led me just across the border into Idaho for a night and finally back towards the center of the state and the enormous Grand Coulee Dam. I’ve passed through a lot of ranch country this week and a handful of railroad-and-grain-elevator towns similar to those found all across the heartland of the country. I caught a lot of live music this week, ate one too many burgers and somehow managed to dodge most of the raindrops in the area. All in all, I’d say it’s been a good week.

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This Week on the Road - October 9th-27th

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This Week on the Road - October 9th-27th

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for me out here. I spent all of last week in Charleston, West Virginia saying goodbye to my dad and trying my best to sort out his affairs. While he had many health problems over the last few years, his death still came as a surprise. It wasn’t something I was ready for at all. While my dad and I were not super close, I will still miss talking with him and visiting with him. I hope he is in a better place and I’m glad he is no longer suffering from any pain or discomfort. My brother flew in for a few days and we were able to spend time with Judy, my dad’s partner of 33 years, and their two Japanese chins Jake and Charlie. I was also really thankful to have a friend passing through Charleston while I was there who took me out to dinner and helped me talk through a lot of my pain. I had another friend drive out from D.C. for my dad’s memorial service which was really something. I’m very blessed to have so many good friends in this life. Since I last wrote, I also turned 50, a milestone birthday which snuck up on me with everything that was going on. I’m glad I didn’t have any exciting plans for it as they probably would have fallen through. Anyways, I am back in Washington State and I am writing to you today from Bellingham in the far north of the state. I’m still sorting out a lot of things in my head, but I wanted to write about my time leading up to my flight to WV because it will be good for me to write.

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This Week on the Road - September 25th-October 1st

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This Week on the Road - September 25th-October 1st

Hello Everybody! It’s hard to believe it’s October already. The leaves are definitely turning here in Washington State and the stores are filled with skeletons and pumpkins. It’s definitely starting to cool down and the days are getting noticeably shorter. This week has brought me from the heart of spectacular Olympic National Park to the state capital of Olympia with a couple of cool small towns sandwiched in between. I put in another 20 miles on the trail this week which I’m pretty proud of and finally got my views of Mount Olympus. After a couple of weeks of small towns and national park, it was nice to return to the city, although Olympia is hardly a thriving metropolis. I finished off my week with a night off the road in the classic Olympic Club hotel in Centralia. All in all, it’s been another great week on the road and I can’t wait to tell you all about it…

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This Week on the Road - September 3rd-10th

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This Week on the Road - September 3rd-10th

Hello Everyone! It is wonderful to be back on the coast here in Washington State where the weather is cool and shoulder season crowds are small and subdued. While I really enjoyed heading up the Columbia River Gorge, it was just too hot in the interior, and I had to make a beeline back to the coast. I will take my time as I head north and I know that by the time I head inland again it will be well into autumn and cooler temperatures will prevail. Despite a few hiccups, it’s been another great week all around and I’m very happy to be on the road in coastal Washington.

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This Week on the Road - August 27th-September 3rd

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This Week on the Road - August 27th-September 3rd

Portland Stag Sign

Hello Everyone. It’s been kind of a quiet week for me out here on the road. It was Labor Day Weekend here in the United States this week (for my international friends), which is always a busy travel weekend so I thought it would be best to lay low for it. I spent a good bit of this week in Portland, catching up with some friends and exploring the city. Since then, I’ve been cruising up the incredible Columbia River Gorge which is really just outside of Portland but has so much to offer. I’m writing this newsletter this week from Hood River, so I’m as far inland as I’m going to go for now but it has been spectacular and so good to be back out and hiking again. It is definitely noticeably and considerably warmer the further I get from the coast which is why I am headed back towards the Pacific starting tomorrow. I will save the rest of my time in Oregon for later in the year when it has had some time to cool down a bit. While not a particularly busy week, it’s definitely been a good one, so let me tell you what I’ve been up to.

Full Tiki Gear at Alibi

When I left you all last week, I did, in fact, drive all the way to Portland. There were some cute towns along the way as I drove up the Columbia River, but none that called out to me to stop and explore. When I got into Portland it was pretty late, so I decided I would go check out the two main tiki bars in town and see what they were up to. The first one I stopped at is a classic called Alibi which has been serving up delightful tiki cocktails since 1947. The décor was great and I loved the fish tanks and fountains. After a drink there, I made my way down to Hale Pele, a much more modern bar hidden behind an incredibly bland façade. Hale Pele is owned by Martin Cate who also owns some of the country’s best tiki bars – Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco, Max’s South Seas Hideaway in Michigan and False Idol in San Diego. While I would say of those four, this was my least favorite, that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. I had a couple of great cocktails and they had an extensive rum list as well. It was small and very crowded, but I definitely enjoyed my visit. After a few cocktails, I was thrilled to find a Northern Thai restaurant called Sweet Basil open late and right up the street where I could get some spicy noodles to soak up the rum. It was a nice first evening in Portland.

It’s a Bus That’s a Bar

On Thursday I ran some errands around town and then went out to meet up with my friend, Andrew, in the north part of the city. Andrew is a fraternity brother of mine from Penn State and has been living in Portland for many years now. I try and catch him when I come through town, but usually I’m here with a tour group so it’s usually a short visit. This time I had more time so it was good to be able to spend the evening hanging out in his neighborhood. We went to an event called Last Thursdays in the Alberta Arts District which is a fun neighborhood street fair held on the last Thursday of the month. There were street musicians, food trucks and plenty of cool stalls selling all kinds of things. We wandered up and down the street, stopping here and there to check out a stall or watch some music (the break-dancers were particularly fun). We stopped for some good Mexican food and a beer and then headed back to his place for the night. As much as I enjoy my van, it was nice to spend a night inside for a change.

Keep Portland Weird

I left my van parked at their house in the morning and got a ride downtown from his girlfriend and I spent the day at the Oregon History Center. I spent several hours in their permanent exhibit on the third floor which covered Oregon’s history from its indigenous roots all the way to present day. There was a lot to see and to read and I was surprised when I checked my watch for the first time and realized I had been up there for over four hours. I had afternoon plans and I was also nearing the end of my attention span, so I whipped through the rest of the museum over the next hour and then headed out. I grabbed a quick lunch from a nearby food truck and a beer from a bar in a converted English double-decker bus and then hopped on the city bus back to where I was parked. From there it was just a quick 15 minute drive to my friend Josh’s house. Josh lived in the city just north of me when I lived in Japan many years ago and I particularly remember a wonderful ski trip we took together to Sapporo. I haven’t seen him since I left Japan and was really happy to catch up with him in Portland. He took me down to Mississippi St, another of Portland’s many business districts. We had a nice stroll up and down the street, stopping here and there for a beer. My favorite was at a spot called Moloko that had several big saltwater fish tanks lining the walls. I love tropical fish and I really enjoyed watching them swim around while we caught up. Some of Josh’s friends joined us and we wandered down the street for some barbecue from Matt’s BBQ which was pretty good. Right around the corner is an alley filled with Star Wars characters and lights and sound effects which was pretty cool and very Portland. From there we went to a cool little bar near Josh’s house in St. Johns which had some fun old video games and pinball machines before winding up at a great little dive bar which reminded me a lot of some of the places I used to hang out at in New Orleans. It was another fun day and so good to see Josh after a dozen years.

We Are Penn State!

I stayed in my van that night, but right at Josh’s house, so we were able to have breakfast together in the morning before parting ways. I made my way down the road to Satellite Bar, which is the Penn State Oregon Alumni Association’s official viewing site for football season. Andrew joined me for the game, as did my friend Cristen who also went to school with me. There were probably about 80 people there to watch our Nittany Lions sail to an easy win over the Nevada Wolf Pack. The weather was a little cooler than it has been in Portland recently and it was nice to sit outside and enjoy the game. Afterwards I went back to Cristen’s house for the night. Her husband and daughter came home soon after we got there and we had a wonderful dinner and some great conversation before calling it a very early night, which was much needed at that point.

Star Wars Alley

I stayed with them for breakfast in the morning and then said my goodbyes and headed just up the road to Firestone. Shadow Catcher has been making some noises and I figured since they were open on a Sunday, it was as good a time as any to get it looked at. As I mentioned above, it was Labor Day weekend, so I knew it would be super busy everywhere nearby and I figured I’d get the work done and be ready to hit the road when everyone else was headed back to town (plus school started Tuesday in Oregon). I spent the day in Starbucks catching up on some work and editing some photos while I waited. They closed at 6 and when I hadn’t heard anything I wandered back over at 5:45, only to be told that they weren’t going to get it done that day (despite having promised that they would). That was incredibly frustrating and made more-so by their complete lack of communication about the whole thing. It was half done and they at least pulled it out of the garage and parked it in their lot so I had somewhere to sleep. Getting repairs done when I’m on the road is always a pain, but at least I didn’t have to go find a hotel somewhere. That left me with the night to explore a bit of Tigard which is a cute little suburb of Portland. I got some food and had a few beers and met some really nice people which made for a pleasant evening.

McMennamins’ Crystal Hotel

I didn’t sleep great though, in part because I was right next to a busy road and in part because I don’t like confrontations and I knew I was going to have one first thing in the morning. I didn’t roll in right when they opened at 7, but gave them a half-hour to get the lights on and their opening work taken care of. When I did come in, the manager was expecting me and knew I wasn’t going to be happy. He told me the situation and apologized profusely. I told him that I didn’t know if I could trust them to do the work and he assured me he would get his guy on it immediately, check the work himself and get me out the door as soon as possible. He seemed genuine and was true to his word and even knocked about 20% off of the price. It was way more expensive than it should have been in the first place so that helped, and I couldn’t drive much further down the road with it clinking and clanking away back there so I’m glad I got it done. At the end of the day it’s all part of life on the road.

Q D’s Bar in Portland

Shadow Catcher did sound a lot better and it felt as though they did a good job, so we headed up the road to the gym and then I drove back to the north side of Portland and took the train into the city. It was nice to have an afternoon to myself to just wander around. I stopped here and there for a beer, ate some dinner at one of the food truck courts, checked out Powell Books (the largest independent bookstore in the country), and generally had a good time of it. I think my favorite spots that I hit were QD’s which had an old school Americana vibe, Kelly’s Olympian which is just full of old-school neon, inside and out, and Raven’s Manor which is decked out like Halloween every day of the year.  I’ve been slowly getting to know Portland over the years, but I’ve rarely been able to just wander aimlessly about and see what I can find and it was nice to do just that. While Portland definitely has some problems that it needs to address as far as drugs, homelessness and the general state of its downtown area, everywhere outside of that central core is pretty nice. Within the city center there is still a lot to do and it is getting better, but there’s still a long way to go.

Shadow Catcher at Vista House

Bright and early Monday morning I put Portland in my rear view mirror and started heading east for the first time in a long time. I made my first stop in Troutsdale at a place called Edgefield. Edgefield was once the Multnomah County Poor Farm, but today is a part of the McMenamins enterprise. The McMenamins brothers are pretty famous in Oregon and especially in the Portland area. They take over old bars, hotels, restaurants and other properties and rehabilitate them into something special. I’ve been to a few of their places since arriving in Oregon, but after visiting Edgefield I will definitely be paying more attention. They have turned this institutional property into a beautiful and whimsical hotel with a brewery, a winery, several bars, a restaurant, a live event venue, a glass-blowing studio, a golf course and a spa. It was fabulous to walk around and see what can be done to a place like this with the right amount of inspiration (and money, of course). I often seek out old institutions in my travels because they are architecturally interesting to me, but more often than not they are abandoned and falling apart. I always think how amazing it would be if someone would invest the time and money to restore these old buildings and I’m happy to see that in this part of the country they are doing just that. And by the looks of the place they are doing quite well with it too.

Latourell Falls

Just outside of Troutsdale I headed into the Columbia River Gorge. The Gorge has been a transportation route for centuries as the American Indians used it as a trade and travel route. Lewis and Clark came down the Gorge on the last leg of their overland trip to the Pacific Ocean. It was the last obstacle that emigrants faced on their way down the Oregon Trail and the road that runs through it was the very first paved highway in the Pacific Northwest and the first designated scenic corridor in the country. I have been up the Gorge several times in my life, but always with a tour group in tow and always on a tight schedule. It was nice to be able to just take my time and get out and explore. I started my day up at Vista House which sits high above the Gorge and offers nice views over the road and the river. Just down the road, I stopped at Latourell Falls and hiked the scenic loop trail to the upper falls and back. At the top, I met Helen and KC and their sons Chase and Liam. I had actually taken their photo at the start of the trail and was taking some photos at the top when they caught up with me. The boys took off behind the falls, laughing and having a blast which was good to see. I chatted with their parents for a while about my trip and my photos and they gave me some places to check out when I move into Washington State. It was nice to meet them and I really enjoyed the conversation, but I said my goodbyes and then headed back down to the base of the falls and back to my van.

Punchbowl Falls

My next stop was Bridalveil Falls which was just a short walk from the parking area, but also very nice. Then I went to the Wahkeena Falls trailhead and took another nice walk up past Fairy Falls to the Wahkeena Spring. This walk was beautiful and I felt good doing it but it’s definitely been a while since I did any hiking and my legs were feeling it. It was starting to get late by the time I got down from this hike, but I did make a quick stop at Multnomah Falls on my way past. This is probably the most famous stop in the Gorge and one of the more famous waterfalls in the country. Funnily enough it is the bridge in front of the falls that makes it such a photogenic and beloved spot. I have been to Multnomah several times before, but I’m still glad I stopped. From there it was just a quick 20 minutes into the little town of Cascade Locks. I made it to Thunder Island Brewery just before last call so at least I could have a quick beer to celebrate the day. Cascade Locks is the town where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the Columbia River via Bridge of the Gods, so there were a lot of hikers in town on their long walk from the Mexican border to Canada. They looked tired, but seemed in good spirits and I’m sure the beer tasted even better to them.

Dusk on the Gorge

Another early start this morning got me to the Eagle Creek trailhead nice and early after a quick photo stop at Horsetail Falls. This was a hike recommended by my friend Cristen and it was definitely a good one. The hike travels up Eagle Creek which comes down a pretty impressive gorge of its own. The trail ascends above the creek and is sometimes narrow enough that the Forest Service has installed a metal cable into the rocks to hold onto. It was absolutely beautiful the whole way up and down, but also more exposed than a lot of the trails in the area so I’m glad I started early. I only went as far as Punch Bowl Falls, but it was a wonderful 5ish mile walk and a really nice way to start the day. I returned to Cascade Locks because I had spotted a little burger stand called the East Wind Drive-In last night and thought I would treat myself to a burger and fries and a little bit of ice cream as well. It was excellent and fresh and a real treat. After lunch I made my way on to Hood River, grabbed a shower at the Aquatic Center and have tucked myself into the library to finish this week’s This Week. I have added a few photos from my time in the Gorge, but hope to take some more and do a full photo post this coming week.

Tomorrow I will leave Oregon behind as I cross the Columbia River Gorge into Washington State. My normal plan is to spend my 6-8 weeks in each state in one continuous push, but it is still too hot in the inland parts of Oregon. I don’t love the heat and it’s especially hard to sleep in so I am moving on back to the coast and will pick up where I left off in Oregon later in the year. Since there was no way to get to Washington from California without traveling through Oregon, I started my exploration en-route and have really enjoyed it so far and am looking forward to getting back here in late October. Tomorrow will begin my time in Washington and I hope to be there for all of September and a good bit of October as well. I will make my way back down the Gorge and back out to the coast and head north again along the Pacific. I hope to explore some coastal towns, do some backpacking in Olympic National Park and then head out to the San Juan Islands on my way to Tacoma and Seattle. That’s about as far into things as I’ve thought right now, but I’m really looking forward to it. By this time next week I hope to be getting back to the coast and hope I’ve had some good adventures along the way to share. I’m definitely excited for what lays ahead. I hope you’ll come back next week and see what I’ve gotten up to. Until then, have fun out there and thank you, as always, for reading.

-Mike

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Portland’s Chinatown

Last Thursday Street Fair

The Portland Theater

Multnomah Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

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August on the Road

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August on the Road

Hello Everyone! I apologize for how long it’s been since I last wrote, but it’s been a hectic and crazy month out here on the road. Until this past weekend, I had not had a day off in over a month and I’ve covered a lot of ground during that time. I guided four trips in a row which took a lot out of me, but I had great passengers with me and we saw some amazing and beautiful places. I have another solid month of guiding beginning in just a day or two, but I wanted to drop you all a quick ‘hello’ and share some of my favorite photos from this last month on the road.

I started with an old favorite – a six day hiking tour in Yosemite for Intrepid Travel. While I’ve done this trip several times including twice earlier this summer, it’s still nice to spend so much time on the trail and to show people one of my favorite National Parks. The waterfalls were still going strong for August and it was the first time I’d been able to get up to hike Cathedral Lakes in the high country this year. These hikes left everyone pretty tired, but I know every one of those passengers had a great and memorable trip and will remember Yosemite fondly for the rest of their lives.

After bringing that group back to San Francisco, I left the following day for Seattle where I started a six day trip to Portland via Olympic and Mount Rainier National Parks. It had been 20 years since I was last in Olympic and it was really nice to be back in this beautiful and often overlooked park. We did a whale watching tour, explored the Hoh Rainforest and walked by the Pacific Ocean looking out at the beautiful sea stacks of Second Beach. While I used to spend a lot of time at Mount Rainier, that’s another park I haven’t been to since before the pandemic. On our first day there we got some fantastic clear views of the mountain and I’m glad we took advantage of them because our second day was almost entirely shrouded in fog. We still had a nice hike and then headed on to Portland where we visited the International Rose Test Garden (it is the City of Roses after all) and then had a quiet dinner in the park before calling it a trip.

Half of that group stayed on with me for the next six days and a lovely Swedish couple joined us as well. That week brought us from Portland all the way back to San Francisco. We visited Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, ate smoked salmon with a lovely couple who run an indigenous salmon business on the Warm Springs Reservation, Kayaked in a volcanic crater near Bend, Gazed out over Crater Lake National Park and cruised the California Coast feasting on some fresh oysters. We finished with a walk through Muir Woods and a lovely view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

I got a day to wind down and wind back up again and the very next day I picked up my last group of that run for a fast and furious 15 day tromp through some of America’s best National Parks. We started off with a few days in Yosemite and then had to duck around Death Valley due to the rains from Hurricane Hillary, staying in Tonopah instead. After a quick trip to Cathedral Gorge State Park, we went on to Zion and then had two great days at the North Rim of Grand Canyon. You may remember that the last (and only) time I was at the North Rim, I was recovering from Covid so I didn’t push myself too hard out there. This time I headed deep into the Canyon on the North Kaibab Trail and it was really nice to see the Canyon from a different angle. We headed from there to Monument Valley to spend some time with the Navajo and then had two great nights in Moab visiting Arches National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park. Then we were off to Salt Lake City to learn about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from the Mormon missionaries at Temple Square. Finally we spent three days in the splendor of Yellowstone before winding up our journey in beautiful Bozeman, Montana.

It was a long but quiet ride back to San Francisco from there, but I did get a few days to catch up on some sleep and a few other things before turning north again to Seattle where I am writing to you from today. Tomorrow I will meet another group and we will be headed east from here to Glacier National Park, my favorite place in the whole world. Then we’ll have some nice days in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons before winding up in Salt Lake City. I’ll get a day to myself there and then turn around and do the same trip in reverse bringing me back to Seattle in the first week of October. It’s going to be cold in the Rockies by then, but it should be quiet and beautiful as well and I’m really looking forward to it.

I don’t think I’m going to get much of a chance to do anything here on my blog over the next month, but I’ll check back in with you when these two trips are done in October. The summer sure flew by this year, but time flies when you’re having fun. I hope you’ve all had a great summer out there, wherever you are and that you’re looking forward to cooler days ahead. Thank you, as always, for reading and I hope you enjoy this little sampling of photos of some of the spectacular places I’ve been this summer.

-Mike

(Click the link to see my favorite photos from this month)

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Two Weeks on the Road with Austin College

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Two Weeks on the Road with Austin College

Hello Everyone!

It’s been a great couple of weeks out here on the road. I spent two weeks guiding a tour for Austin College, a small university based in Sherman, Texas (far from Austin, Texas – the school is named for Texas hero Stephen Austin). The tour was for a class on environmental concerns in our National Parks, a topic quite near and dear to my heart. It consisted of 10 students and their professor and took us from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the desert. I really enjoyed these young people and I got along really well with the professor, Dr. Baker, as well.

I met the group two weeks ago on a Tuesday night here in San Francisco. They invited me to join them for dinner at House of Nanking in Chinatown which is a pretty cool place to eat as a group and we all enjoyed quite a feast. It was interesting to hear what the students were studying and what their specific area of interest was for this particular class. Their topics ranged from birds to flash floods to water conservation and all of them were really important to our western parks.

We spent the next three nights in Yosemite, hiking and meeting with the rangers to discuss the park’s key issues. There was still a lot of water in the valley and it was great to see everything so wet and green. On our first full day we hiked up the Mist Trail to Vernal and Nevada Falls and there was a ton of water coming over those waterfalls. Everyone got absolutely soaked, but thankfully it was a sunny day and we dried out quickly. The last time I did that hike was last November when those waterfalls were barely a trickle and the trail was completely dry. The next day we went out and hiked to the Giant Sequoias in the Mariposa Grove in the south of the park and it’s always awesome to see these massive 2-3,000 year old giants. In our meetings with the rangers and staff, we discussed fire management and bear conservation and the conversation was quite interesting. Leaving the park we headed south and around the mountains and ended up in Barstow for the night. We did some serious grocery shopping and then enjoyed a nice dinner at Peggy Sue’s 1950s Diner just outside of town. That night we had our first group discussion and I really enjoyed hearing the student’s opinions about Yosemite and what they had seen and heard over the previous few days.

We left Barstow early the next day as we had a pretty long drive to Grand Canyon that day. We stopped in Seligman to get our kicks on Route 66 and then headed on to the South Rim…

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This Week on the Road - April 5th-12th

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This Week on the Road - April 5th-12th

Hello Everyone!

I’m writing to you this week from grey and chilly San Diego. I began this week with a trip to Catalina Island and have spent the rest of it moving down the coast and catching up with friends along the way. It’s been great to see so many familiar faces and catch up on what they’ve been up to, but I haven’t gotten any photos edited or published this week as a result. I do have some great photo posts lined up though and I will definitely get to a few of them this week. I’ve had some fun adventures this week but it’s also been fairly quiet.

I was up early on Wednesday and off to Catalina Island from Long Beach. Parking at the terminal wasn’t cheap, but it was quick and easy and very convenient to the boat. The Catalina Express is huge and very comfortable and stable. It was a beautiful sunny morning, so I nabbed a seat on the top deck and got a little bit of sun on the way out to the island. When we arrived in Avalon (the main town on Catalina), I was a bit overwhelmed with how crowded it was. There was a cruise ship in that day so there were hundreds of people going here and there and everywhere but the crowds would die down as the day progressed. I had a room booked at the Catalina Island Inn, so I popped in to see if I could leave my bag there for the day. They couldn’t have been nicer or more accommodating and even took my number so they could call me when my room was ready. I left my bag, took my camera and headed out into the day.

I very quickly started to feel the charms of Avalon despite the hustle and bustle of a busy day. Catalina is known for its glazed clay tiles and they adorned buildings, benches and fountains in colorful mosaics. I wandered down the waterfront and past the Tuna Club and the Yacht Club, both open to members only but both housed in beautiful old buildings that I enjoyed looking at. Then I came to the Casino which towers above the town of Avalon like the Coliseum in Ancient Rome, visible from almost everywhere you go. Built almost a hundred years ago, the Casino has never been a place for gambling, but rather takes its name from an old Italian word for a small house, but which generally meant a place to socialize and dance. I took a tour of the Casino which, while it cost more than my visit to the Hearst Castle, was excellent. Downstairs is home to a grand theater which was the first theater in the country built specifically to show “talkies” or movies with sound. It’s still used as a theater today, showing movies on Friday and Saturday nights. My tour also included the dressing rooms and the incredible upstairs ballroom – the largest circular, free standing ballroom in the world which has a 180 foot diameter dancefloor and can accommodate 3,000 dancers (which it does on New Year’s Eve and other special occasions).

The Casino was built by William Wrigley Jr. who had purchased almost all of Catalina Island back in 1919 with money made from his chewing gum empire. Wrigley was responsible for most of what we see on Catalina today, including the 85% of the island controlled by the Catalina Conservancy which will remain undeveloped in perpetuity. Wrigley owned the Chicago Cubs who played (and still play) at Wrigley Field and for many years they had their Spring Training on Catalina Island…

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This Week on the Road - March 29th - April 4th

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This Week on the Road - March 29th - April 4th

Hello Everyone!

This week started and ended in L.A. but I spent the weekend out in Bakersfield. All of my California friends raised an eyebrow when I talked about going out to Bakersfield, but I really enjoyed it and was surprised at how much it had to offer. It was definitely a little rough around the edges, but the people were friendly and it was a beautiful, cool, sunny weekend to be there. I’m going to get this post done a day early this week because I’m headed out to Catalina Island first thing tomorrow morning and I’m leaving my computer behind. Catalina is in the same island group as Channel Islands National Park, but it is developed and has a year-round population of over 4,000 people. You guys know how much I love islands, so I’m really looking forward to it. The campground was full, so I’m staying in a hotel out there which also means I’ll only be there for a day, but I’m going to make the most of it. It hasn’t been the busiest of weeks, but I’m sure you’ll see that I’ve gotten a couple of bigger photo posts up this week. Let me tell you what else I’ve gotten into this week.

After I finished up this post last week I took a long drive through L.A. and up to Hollywood. I followed my GPS and it took me on a pleasantly winding route and down streets I’d never been down before. L.A. is a sprawling place and I could probably spend an entire month just exploring  around here, but it’s also a challenging place for the van life so it was just about time for me to move on. Before I went, there were three places I wanted to visit in Hollywood. The first is a tiny hole-in-the-wall spot called Tiki Ti. The whole tiki phenomenon in the U.S. began in 1933 by a guy called Don the Beachcomber right there in Hollywood. While that tiki bar is long gone, Tiki Ti remains. Tiki Ti was founded in 1961 by Ray Buhen who had been one of the early bartenders at Don the Beachcomber. He built his bar in an old violin repair shop so you can imagine how small it is. Today, it is one of the country’s most venerable tiki bars and a must-see for any tiki aficionado. I had been by it before, but never had the chance to stop in and I’m sure glad I did this time through. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the people and a couple of tropical cocktails but mostly I was just happy to soak up the history of the place.

From there I made my way back down the Sunset Strip to the Comedy Store to see Comedians You Should Know upstairs in the Belly Room. The Comedy Store is another well-known venue and another place I had never been before. The show was pretty good and some of the comedians were great (and one was downright terrible) and I was happy to have finally made it in to see a show. When it finished, I strolled down the street to Mel’s Drive-In for dinner which wasn’t great but it was fun to be there. It started to rain while I was eating my dinner, so I decided to just call it a night right there in Hollywood.

Thursday morning I was up and off to Bakersfield. I hit some rain and even about 10 seconds worth of snow on the drive, but it was sunny and perfect when I arrived. It was so nice to be in a quiet, open city again where parking was free and plentiful and I could walk wherever I wanted to go. I spent the afternoon wandering the streets and taking photos and then ended up at an old bar called Guthrie’s for happy hour. It’s a great old spot with a beautiful sign out front and a juke box and pool table in the back. From there I caught an acoustic set at The Padre Hotel and then went to The Pyrenees Café for dinner. Bakersfield has a Basque community which dates back to the gold rush. The Basque came to look for gold but found that herding sheep was more profitable because all of those prospectors needed food and clothing. There are still a handful of Basque restaurants in Bakersfield and they put out quite a spread. I had a lamb shank, and it came with soup and salad, marinated tongue, bread, pasta, vegetables and fries. The place was packed, but my dinner was really good. Full to the brim, I headed back downtown to check out Tiki-Ko, Bakersfield’s own tiki bar. It is an excellent spot – subdued but festive and with a good drink menu. I enjoyed a cocktail there before heading off to bed…

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This Week on the Road - March 22nd-29th

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This Week on the Road - March 22nd-29th

Hello Everyone,

It’s been another busy week here in Southern California. I spent half of the week out on Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park which was an absolutely wonderful experience. When I returned to the mainland, I made my way south to Los Angeles and have been here since, catching up with old friends and visiting some old haunts and some new places as well. I haven’t traveled far this week, so this probably won’t be a particularly long post, but it’s been nice to get some hiking in and the sun is finally shining again.

Last Wednesday, I packed up my backpack and hopped on The Islander in Ventura for the one our crossing to Scorpion Ranch on Santa Cruz Island. The water was rough, but it wasn’t too bad and thankfully it wasn’t a long voyage. When we arrived, we met briefly with the ranger and then headed off to set up camp. It had been raining all night and most of the morning, but the sun was out and it’s always easier to set up a tent in the sun than in the rain. The campground was pretty soggy and we had been warned about branches falling from the eucalyptus trees, so choosing a good spot to set up was essential. After getting my tent up and ready, I decided to use whatever sunshine was left to hike up to the Potato Harbor overlook. This was only about a 4 mile round-trip hike, but it was really muddy on the trail. The mud had a high clay content too, so it stuck to my shoes and it caked on so thick that it looked like I was wearing snowshoes. I made it to the overlook which was absolutely stunning and on the way there I saw several endemic Santa Cruz grey foxes. These foxes have evolved to be much smaller than their mainland cousins, and growing up on an island with no predators, they’re also very friendly. I loved watching them wander around the island and found they made me smile every time I saw them.

After having my lunch at the overlook, I could see the rain coming towards me across the ocean so I started to make my way back to camp. Unfortunately the rain caught up with me before I got there, but worse it turned the clay trail into a slick downhill path. I almost made it back to camp without falling. In fact, I could see the campground from where I fell, but my feet just went out from under me and I landed pretty hard on my shoulder. While I didn’t do any damage and didn’t even get a bruise, it hurt for a few days and I didn’t have any pain killers with me in my pack. I wasn’t happy about it, but it could’ve been worse, too. I headed back to my tent and caught a nap while the rain kept pounding down. It eased up in the evening and hasn’t been back since. That night I ate the first freeze-dried meal I’ve had in many years. When I was a teenager, I spent two summers working at a Boy Scout backpacking camp in Virginia and we ate freeze dried food most of the time. It’s come a long way since I tried it last and I must admit that it was actually pretty tasty. After dinner, the sun went down and there wasn’t much to do so I slipped into my tent and called it an early night…

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This Week on the Road - February 26th-March 8th

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This Week on the Road - February 26th-March 8th

Hello Everyone!

The weather is very strange here in California. There is a lot of snow up in the mountains and a lot of rain in the rest of the state. Even the desert is getting rain right now. We desperately need all of this water and it’s generally a very good thing but it doesn’t make for great traveling weather. My plans to head to the mountains first were changed to a nice drive down the coast, but then landslides closed Route 1 so I’ve been hanging around somewhere in between. I’ve gotten to some nice museums this week and eaten some delicious meals, but I haven’t done too much or traveled too far. The price of gas in California is outrageous, so when I’m driving it needs to be deliberate. I have been getting through some of my Arizona photos from last winter and working on my podcast and I’ve definitely been getting to the gym every day so that’s good. But I really want to explore California with the time I have and this week has been more about reacclimating to the van life and trying to stay out of the way of the weather.

I started this leg in Sacramento, where my buddy Dave had been watching my van while I was at home and in Europe. I was hoping to head up to Lake Tahoe from there to visit some friends and get some skiing in, but the snowstorms in the mountains closed the roads and kept me from going. I spent a couple of days in Sacramento trying to wait it out, visiting the State Capitol and a few museums and getting a few things fixed on my van before giving up on the mountains and making my way out to Napa Valley.

Napa Valley is not my favorite region of California. I have spent a fair bit of time there over the years trying to find some places I enjoy, but to no avail. It’s a beautiful valley and I enjoyed driving through it, especially with the early spring bloom going on, but it’s a very wealthy area which has been built up to welcome the moneyed elite and not the average Joe. It reminds me a lot of Hilton Head in South Carolina and I just feel very out of place there. I know some people really love it and return year after year, but it’s just not the place for me. I did enjoy a brief visit to the Robert Louis Stevenson museum in St. Helena which, while small, has some interesting artifacts from Stevenson’s life and his time in California. Stevenson spent his honeymoon squatting in an old miners’ cabin in Napa Valley, a story he recounts in his book The Sacramento Squatters. I also had a delightful meal at Bouchon in Yountville which is owned by Thomas Keller, one of America’s most famous chefs

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