The longest day....

We got up monday morning in Lone Pine at sunrise to be able to see the sun hitting the Sierras at the perfect angle. The time I've spent in this area in the past had me knowing exactly what I wanted Mom and Dad to see and it was beautiful. After having breakfast, and going up Whitney Portal Road to take a group photo, we headed north in the Owens Valley. I called a long time friend of jan and I - Kari Castle - who has lived in the Owens Valley for a long time and told her we wanted to stop by for a quick visit.

Kari is an extraordinary person. She's been mulitple Woman's World Hang Gliding Champion and friends who have seen my film "Pura Vida Flying" may remember her as 1 of the main stars. Kari has just bought herself a perfect house - north of Bishop in a beautiful Oasis at the foot of the Sierras. It has a stream running through it with a nice little pond. It's a nearly perfect place! I'm so excited for her. After spending about an hour at Kari's place, we got back on the road headed north.
Me and Kari at her place.

At Lee Vining, we gassed up the car and had some lunch then headed west toward Tioga Pass. This is one of my favorite drives with the stark background and the steep climb to the pass at just under 10,000 feet. We drove through the High Sierras and then into the Yosemite Valley. It is a spectacular place and anyone who has never been there - needs to make a point of seeing it.

After having a snack at the Awahnee Hotel, we headed out to check out Bridal Veil Falls and then on to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias.

It was a very long day and we settled into the Hotel in Oakhurst after dinner.

Today, we're headed to Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Marina and then Santa Cruz for the night.

Tioga Pass. You can see the road in the background beside dads hat brim.



Bridal Veil Falls

Mom and Dad at the Awahnee Hotel.

Day 4 - Death Valley and Owens Valley

We were on the road at 8am this morning toward Lone Pine California - via Death Valley. I think we must have climbed about 30,000 feet of mountain ranges - as there are many between those two points. There are many things to do and see at all of our destinations - but we just can't do and see them all in the amount of time we have allotted for the trip, so we have to hit the highlights.

While we stopped to look at a lot of things in Death Valley, the highlight would have to be Badwater Basin - which his the lowest point in the western hemisphere - at 282 ft below sea level. It was stifling hot there (yesterday's high was 120) so we didn't spend a lot of time out in the sun on the 'salt flat' which makes up this low point.

From there, we drove over more mountain ranges - some quite steep and high to the Owens Valley -a place Jan and I have spent some time in our earlier days together. The Owens Valley used to be the premier hang gliding spot in the world and it's an EXTREME place to hang glide with some of the worst turbulence on the planet. I first flew the Owens in 1988 when Jan and I took our first trip out west. I few it other times when we would run trips there when I worked in San Diego for the 'Hang Gliding Center'. After checking into our hotel in Lone Pine, we drove up to Walt's Point - a famous hang gliding launch site. It was cool to show mom and dad some of the places I've flown before - especially this one - because of it's obvious extreme nature.

From Walt's Point, we drove back down into the valley to the Alabama Hills - the main reason I brought them to Lone Pine. This is where hundreds of old black and white western movies were filmed and we drove around the rugged landscape and (using a guide from the chamber of commerce) we found the exact locations where the cameras were placed during the filming of some of these old films. The 'guide' had some photos of the scenes with rough directions of how to get to the filming position. We went to each of 10 and took photos from the same angle. It was a fun time and Dad really loved it.

Monday, we'll be headed up the Owens Valley and turning west into the upper meadows of Yosemite. Should be a blast.

Hoover Dam

Walt's Point Hang Gliding Launch

Mom and Dad at Badwater Basin

Badwater

Alabama Hills

Day 3 of the Griswald's Vacation

This Photo is taken just north of Phoenix


Dad got checked out of the hospital around 9:15 yesterday morning and was anxious to hit the road. We headed north out of Kingman to Hoover Dam. (The photos from there are in the other camera in the car and I'll post them later). We took a nice tour of the place and then headed to Las Vegas.
Dad didn't get much sleep while in the hospital, so after we checked into the Golden Nugget downtown, they took a nap and I figured out the plan for the evening.
At 5pm, we headed out and caught a cab to the strip.
First we toured the Venetian hotel's lobby and canal shops. If you've never seen it, it's very well done and can make you feel (if you let it) that you're outside because of the way the ceiling is painted and lit.
Afterward, we went through Caesar's Palace and then had some dinner at Margaritaville.
After dinner we went to the Bellagio so that Mom and Dad could see the fountain show out front. It was great.

We caught a cab back downtown and then experienced the "Freemont Experiece" with it's 12,000,000 LED lights in the ceiling - making it the biggest jumbotron in the world. At this point it was after 10pm, so we retired for the evening and now we're up early and heading out across Death Valley to Lone Pine CA.

St. Marks Square in the Venetian Hotel

Mom wanted to try slots while here. Her first try netted her a 25% gain!

This is the Grand Canyon Hotel-where we spent the first night. (I'm using 2 cameras on this trip, so I download the photos out of order sometimes).

The Freemont Street Experience.

Mom and Dad in Paris :)

Day 2 - A detour in the plan

We got up this morning and had coffee in the lobby of the Hotel, then loaded up the car and had some breakfast. By 8am, we were on the road toward Hoover Dam.

At Kingman, Arizona, we stopped to get some coffee for mom at McDonalds and when we went inside, Dad got dizzy when he sat down. After a half an hour, he wasn't getting any better and since we were about to head across an hour of deserted highway, we decided to take him by the hospital and have him checked out.

Long story short - he's spending the night in the Kingman Hospital because they wanted to run a test that takes 16 hours. They're pretty sure his problem was a combination of dehydration and his blood pressure medicine combining to lower his heart rate enough to not get enough blood to his head. After they put a liter of saline solution into his veins, he was feeling pretty normal.

Mom is spending the night with him in the hospital (it's their 56th anniversary today) and Jan and I got a room in a hotel less than a block away. All of us are convinced that we'll be back on the road before noon tomorrow, but since dad did have a heart episode 4 years ago, it's certainly worth a day's delay to make sure there's not a deeper problem than is thought.

Expect the next blog post to have picture of us at Hoover Dam.