Skiing

Hello every one. We are hangin out in Park City right now hanging with our friends having a blast. So far we have gone night sledding at Deer Valley, snowboarded PCMR, and today I (chris) skied!!! This morning we went to Echo hill near Wyoming and watched some guys base jump off of some cliffs. One of Ryan's roommates ski-based which is skiing off of a cliff and then throwing his parachute. He did a huge back flip and then his buddy did a front flip, pretty cool stuff to watch. Now we are just hanging out. Hope you guys aren't getting too much snow there in Florida.

Happy New Year everyone. We had an awesome new years in Yosemite. We will have to go back so we get a chance to do some of the hikes to the top. Since our time was limited we just did everything there was to do on the valley. The waterfalls were amazing. We took a short walk to mirror lake where we got the see the reflections of the rock cliffs in the water. It was very entertaining to watch all of the photographers scramble around the mirror lake and each other trying to get the perfect shot while the sun was setting. The park turned into a zoo on saturday with people from fresno driving up for the day to play in the snow. We decided to head over to Kings canyon and sequoia national park. We arrived to the camp ground in kings canyon littered with "snow players." Snow players are people from fresno who drive up for the day, picnic in the campgrounds, leave all their trash out, dirty up the bathrooms, and scream and yell in spanish. Luckily they were leaving as we pulled in although we had to clean up there mess so we could camp. The next day we saw some of the biggest giant sequoia trees ever. Some were over 2,000 years old, up to 40 foot in diameter at the base and some over 200feet high. We also went for a snowshoe hike with a ranger and tracked animals in the snow. Sara and I had way too much fun romping around in snowshoes. We tracked squirrels, raccoons, humans, toddlers, snowshoers, and even a mountain lion that was hunting a human snowshoer. (not really). After all this fun we headed out of the south end of the park down the gnarliest mountain road ever. So gnarly that cars over 22 feet are not allowed down it. The storm trooper and adventure drop measure about 36ft. We decided to take the road anyways because I (chris) was the driver of the year for 2009. We navigated it perfect and left mini-van driving fresno residents on the side of the road throwing snow at their smoking breaks. Our next stop was the valley of death. So far we have logged over 4,400 miles! The drive to death valley was super cool, tons of rock, sand, and joshua trees. Our first night there was a campground notice that the international space station would be visible shortly after sunset. Sure enough we saw that sucker move across the sky for about 2 minutes. The stars were so amazing. There was absolutely no sky glow or pollution. The next day we set out and went below sea level. We first played in the sand dunes and let allie run around. Then we headed to bad water ( salt flats that are -282ft below sea level). We ran around there and Sara tried to eat some salt from the ground. We then headed to the artists drive. A very scenic one-way road through super colorful mountains. It was another road that vehicles over 25ft were prohibited. We went anyways with the adventure drop. Once again I navigated it perfectly and am well on my way for being nominated driver of the year 2010. after all that fun death valley stuff we headed to LAS VEGAS BABY! I think we have the only tear drop camper to drive the strip! More people were taking pictures of our rig than new york new york. After the strip we headed north on I-15 and stopped at a casino and hit the slots. Sara left +$3.00 and I left -$2.00. But it was fun. We then continued our trip to Zion national park in utah. Zion was another cool place that we need about 4 more days to see properly. We drove up along the virgin river and the canyon walls got narrower and narrower. We went as far the road went and then hiked up only about a mile, had we gone further we would have made it to where the canyon walls narrow to less than 20ft and the river is a trickle. We saw all we could see and headed on to Bryce national park which was only an hour from Zion. Bryce is known for its hoodoo. Its a type of rock formation where erosion leaves behind natural bridges and hundreds of little spires. We hiked around there and saw what we could. To do it justice we would have needed snowshoes and yaktraxs to hike down the icy trails. We are now head to Park City To hang out with some friends, snowboard, kite snowboard, cross country ski, sled, tube, and eat at Sara' favorite restaurant Teriyaki. Until next time Cheers!

Pacific Coast

The latest and greatest. We truly enjoyed thawing out in Ventura. I (Chris) got a chance to surf right out in front of the camp site on some really nice waves. Monday we left Ventura and headed north on route 1 also know as the Pacific Coast Highway. After an hour we were out of the city and in the middle of no where with the pacific ocean on our left and mountains on our right covered with cows and grass. We drove north to Pismo beach where the wind was blowing and we got our first chance to kiteboard. The area was awesome. We were allowed to drive on the beach just like at home. At the south end of Pismo beach there are massive sand dunes where people are allowed to take their four wheelers and dirt bikes to tear up some sand. This area was a huge hit with the rednecks of the west. There must have been 500+ campers and RV's along the beach with their OHV's everywhere. We decided to camp away from the party zone and in a county park off the beach. The next day we headed farther north and even farther away from civilization. The road was literally on the side of cliffs. Kind of scary. On one stretch of coastline we saw elephant seals napping on the beach. Allie could not figure out what the heck they were, I tried explaining to her that they were just like manatees but they can go on land. He headed up into the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park where we camped in the woods along side massive pines that were 6-8ft in diameter and about 100-125ft high. Today, New Years Eve, we are driving to Yosemite. But we are making a stop in Merced Ca to get the universal joints replaced on the drive shaft. We have been noticing a bad vibration while driving and decided to get it looked at before we get stuck on the side of the road. But hopefully we will be on the road soon and make it to Yosemite before midnight. Only bummer is we are heading back into the cold. There will probably be snow everywhere.

CA update

We have finally made it to the California coast! We had an awesome white Christmas in the Grand Canyon. Santa was able to find us even though we didn't have a chimney. We woke up christmas morning with the temp around 5 degrees!!! There was frost on the windows and door and allies water bowl was frozen solid. Burr. We were toasty under the covers but didn't want to get out. Seeing the Grand Canyon was so amazing especially with all the snow. We hiked below the rim a mile and a half and found out just how deep the canyon is. We went down 1,100 ft vertically and didn't even come close to the bottom. We will save that for another trip. One of the days late in the afternoon we were driving back to camp going an exhilarating 18mph we hit some black ice and did a 190 into a snow bank and had to dig our selves out. We found humor in it and so did the asian tourists in their buses. Luckily we were going super slow, no damage, and only took 8 minutes to dig out. We now have new respect for the ice. Moving foreword, we left the Grand Canyon and headed to the Mojave Desert preserve where we camped on some BLM land. By the way at the Grand Canyon and Mojave Desert the stars are so bright and amazing, no sky glow to ruin them. The next morning we continued west to Apple valley California to hike to some natural hot springs. We Got our first dose of in-n-out burger which is the best fast food ever and then headed to the trail head. The man who owns the land at the trail head met us at the gate. His name was mike and he was stoked to see our camper. He then took us to his collection of old tin campers in his back yard, most were run down, but he liked the one that had an oven (because his house doesn't have an oven). We then paid a camping fee and continued on, ditched the trailer, loaded allies pack up and hit the trail. Two miles down into a canyon we found the hot springs. We first had to jump rocks across a freezing river to get to the side with the springs. Very quickly we found out this is a hot spot for nudists!!! And all guys! Gross. But the water was super nice. Allie even made an accidental jump into the hot springs. After hanging out there we hiked back up to camp and had dinner and a nice fire. The next morning we packed up and drove to Ventura right on the beach. Traffic was crazy five lanes wide and everybody hauling butt. Here in Cali since we are pulling a trailer we are limited to 55mph. And everyone goes 80! We will be here in Ventura for the next two nights surfing the big waves in the freezing water and hanging out with our friends Jeff and his wife Shannon. Sara is especially stoked to be here in Ventura because the temps are 65 in the day and only around 45-50 at night. So we wont see any ice when we wake up. We will then head north on the Pacific Coast Highway. Hope everyone is doing well and had a Merry Christmas. Love, Chris, Sara, and Allie

some trip photos

from left to right Sara stepping out of the drop in the snow storm, a fossilized tree in the petrified forest

Sara and allie in the petrified forest

Inside the carlsbad caverns and then the entrance the the cavern.