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Alright, so this road trip is less of a redux than the last one, but I think the title still fits. I went with Chi and Pammy again, and this time we flew into Los Angeles to see some of the nearby national parks over memorial day weekend.

We set out early Friday and went straight to the Mojave National Preserve. The Mojave is definitely a much drier climate than the Sonoran desert, but there is still plenty of life to discover. Our first stop was the Kelso dunes, and we happened across a handful of small lizards running across the trail. We also found many more lizard tracks. There were also some unique little beetles, and Chi found plenty of other insects to keep him busy. There was also plant life, though certainly nothing as big as a saguaro. We then hit up the visitor's center for a quick beverage, and then headed off to Hole-in-the-Wall, a short hike through a wall-like cliff. On the way, we also stopped to see a spectacularly large forest of Joshua trees. On the way out of the park, we stopped to see some cinder cones, and also a large salt flat.

That night, we saw the new Terminator movie, which was an improvement over Rise of the Machines, but certainly nowhere near as good as the first two. On the whole, everyone was a little disappointed in it. After spending the night in Barstow, we made our way to Death Valley. It is hot in Death Valley. Very, very hot. We did make numerous photo stops, but it was really too hot for hiking. It was interesting to discover water (and plenty of salt) at the bottom of the valley, though. We then made our way to Ridgecrest, where we spent the night.

The next day, we trekked clear to King's Canyon National Park. Our intent was to see all of that and Sequoia National Park, but the drive there proved to be a bit longer than I anticipated, so our stay in Sequoia was cut a bit short. We did spend plenty of time in King's Canyon, though, seeing numerous beautiful waterfalls, rushing rivers, Hume Lake, and Grant's Grove of giant sequoia. Since we had to drive back through the Sequoia park anyway to get to the hotel, we did at least stop to see General Sherman, the largest known tree in the world by volume (whereas General Grant has the widest trunk). Afterward, I made the long drive back to Tulare. After checking in, we attempted to get food at the local Denny's, but after waiting for our food for over an hour, we gave up and went to Taco Bell. The waitress certainly had an interesting look on her face when we left.

The following morning, we made our way back to the city. Since Chi had never been, we spent most of the morning in Hollywood. We drove up Mulholland Drive and walked out to the vista point that overlooks the city. We then made our way down to Hollywood Boulevard, ate lunch, and then went back to the airport.

Last weekend, I embarked on another road trip through some of the Southwest. We went to Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands, repeats for me, and also to Petrified Forest National Park, a place I have not been to since I was quite small. I naturally took many photos, and they are now posted.

Besides myself, some friends from work also went on the adventure: Steve, Eric, and Chi. Chi also flew his girlfriend to meet us in El Paso, which was our first stopping point on Thursday night. From there, we went to Carlsbad the next morning, but not before passing a border patrol station. Apparently they have these within the U.S. now. The border agents asked for the three Asians' IDs, but neglected to request the IDs of the two white guys. Clearly racial profiling at its finest.

After Carlsbad, we headed back west to White Sands, but we ran into a very nasty rainstorm on the way. I could barely see the road. We did eventually make it though, and just in time for sunset. We then drove the rest of the way to Albuquerque to spend the night.

The following morning we drove the few hours to Petried Forest National Park, where we spent most of the day completing most of the scenic hikes the park has to offer. We left just as the park was closing and made our way to Show Low, a town of just under 12,000. Despite its small size, it was host to the largest Hampton Inn I have ever seen. The following morning, we made our way back to Tucson.

I had a very pleasant week off two weeks ago. I went on a road trip with my college roommate to Glacier National Park in Montana. As we had been planning it for some time, I was able to get an incredibly cheap ticket to Seattle. It only cost $200, so it wasn't worth it for me to use my copious number of airline miles. The downside was that I had a three-hour layover on the way there in, of all places, Spokane. I eventually made it up to Seattle, though, and Matt picked me up. We spent the evening doing pretty much nothing.

We woke up early the next morning and made our way to our first destination, Mount Rainier. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and I never really got to see the mountain up close, but the weather did make for some interesting driving as we made our way through the park. We then went to see Mount St. Helen's, but unfortunately, the east gate turned out to be closed, despite the web site clearly stating it was open. That made strike two for the trip. Anyway, to take up some time, we stopped at a few wineries in the Yakima Valley before finally heading to Spokane for the night.

Unfortunately, strike three came the following morning, when we discovered that one of the tires Matt's Civic had a bulge in it. He decided that it'd be better to replace it than be stranded somewhere in Montana, so we had it fixed and then left for Kalispell. The drive was fairly uneventful, though I did remark (with pleasure) that Montana seems to have a 70 MPH speed limit anywhere that isn't in a town, even the small two-lane state highways, even in places that such a speed is physically impossible for any passenger vehicle.

The next day, we went up to west side of Glacier National Park. Unfortunately, the road that goes through the park was closed in the middle, so we could only see that side of the park that day, but we did hike up to see Hidden Lake, and took in the truly magnificent scenery.

The following day, we drove from Kalispell all the way to Libby, and then up to Eureka and back to Kalispell. The day trip was about 250 miles, but we got to see more of the beautiful Montana scenery, including one of the stillest lakes I've ever seen, pictures of which are now posted.

On our final full day in Montana, we made the trek around Glacier National Park over to the east side. We did another hike, and of course got to see still more gorgeous scenery. In general, I found the eastern side to be prettier, but I still like Hidden Lake the best.

The next morning we woke up relatively early and started the long and mostly boring trip back to Seattle. Eastern Washington is incredibly flat, boring and desolate, much like most of the midwest. Matt said it reminded him of Kansas, where he's from originally. The scenery improved drastically, however, after we made it to the Cascades. Shortly thereafter, we were back at Matt's townhouse in Kirkland.

As a final hurrah the next day, Matt and I decided to climb Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. To get there, we took a ferry across the Pudget Sound, and then drove for quite a while before finally reaching the park. After a steep drive, we were in for an even steeper climb. Matt had never been there on a clear day before, so we misjudged the amount of water we should take. We had three small waterbottles, but most of it was gone by the time we reached the top. I barely made it, as I had a bit too much camera gear with me, but I did eventually get to the top. The view was amazing; we were just as high as the neighboring peaks, and we could see most of Pudget Sound, Victoria, Seattle and Mount Baker. The climb down was much easier, but we were incredibly dehydrated and had to stop at the visitor's center to pick up some liquid. We then made our way back to Matt's place, went to the theater to see a movie, and then called it a night.

I slept in the following morning, but it was soon time for me to go back home. I had a direct flight on the way back, and I decided to use one of my free upgrades, so I got to sit in first class. Not bad for $200!