rafting the Grand Canyon, Napa, and the 101
/20 guys from Toronto, Calgary, Canmore and Vancouver met up at Marble Canyon, AZ, to raft the upper Grand Canyon for a week with the Outdoor Unlimited guides. I've posted a short video on You Tube with some photography and video. Suffice to say it's an exciting stretch of water, with very interesting hikes, history, and of course, geology.
After that bit of action, I met Carol in Los Vegas. After seeing the bathtub rings at the Hoover Dam, you just have to shake your head at the silliness of Sin City. We spent one night there, and I was relieved to leave. We drove to Napa, CA, and hung out there road biking, drinking wine, kayaking the Russian River, and doing a hike for a view.
On the Memorial Day weekend, we ventured into San Francisco. Carol wanted to see the Carnaval Parade in the Mission District, which is a celebration of Latino-Carribbean Mardi-Gras-type fun. The colours were amazing! Same for the costumes! The wharf area of San Fran was packed with people, and again, after a while you had to get away from the people and sea gulls eating fish and chips. The best part of San Fran for me was getting on our bikes, riding to the harbour - then over the Golden Gate Bridge and into the parks beyond (all in the thick fog). After that, we cycled back across the bridge to Land's End, and then back through the Golden Gate Park, which had half the park on Sundays closed to cars (brilliant!).
Back on the road, we camped in the Redwoods (several walkabouts - this place is far better than Los Vegas!), stopped at many beaches, camped by the dunes of Oregon, cycled to Cape Meares on a closed road, and hiked to some cool vistas (often foggy). Finally turned off the 101 at Astoria - saving the Washington portion for another time.
7300 km, and finally home!
