Boise and Bisons

We’ve just spent time in Boise, Idaho and Yellowstone National Park – it’s been a good week! Interestingly, when we told people we were going to Idaho, we were generally met with one of three responses:

1.  Sniggered laughter
2.  “Sorry I don't understand - why are you going there?”
3.  “Ohhh… I hope you guys like potatoes”

Even Lonely Planet’s description of “Idaho, famous for not being famous” didn’t fill us with joyous expectation. However, we’ve found that a general rule for our travels have been that it’s the people who make a place fun! We stayed with the Lang family (another great NZ connection) and were treated to great food and company. We’ve really had some lessons on how to be a good host from all the awesome people we’ve stayed with! The highlight of our time was tubing down the Boise River. We floated along for two hours, and apart from the occasional rapid or low hanging tree branch it was an exceptionally relaxing afternoon.

Our kind host Jason pulling us through the shallow water!

From Idaho, we travelled east to Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone really has it all: waterfalls, hiking, lakes, mountains, hot springs, geysers and big beasty wildlife.  We camped there for the last four nights, which has really tested our resources/sanity. You see, when you camp in your own country, you can bring lots of things that make the camping experience more enjoyable. But because we’re far from home, we've had to improvise a little. Our extensive cutlery collection (24 piece plastic spoon/fork/knife set) has been put to the test, but we've found that attaching a plastic spoon to a stick makes an excellent long-handled spoon. Other examples include:

• With excellent communication and co-operation, two tent pegs can be a highly effective method of carrying a pot away from the campfire.
• Sharp rocks and tent pegs are a time-consuming but ultimately successful way of opening a can.
•  Above mentioned rock is an adequate substitute for knocking above mentioned tent pegs into the ground to perform their conventional role of holding a tent down.

Another ingenious invention: plastic spoon attached to stick = long pot stirrer!

Yellowstone  itself has been fantastic. We spent last night trying to spot some wildlife, so parked our car on a hill overlooking a valley in the hope that the wildlife might come to us. Well, be careful what you wish for. If you have ever seen a buffalo/bison, you will know they are absolutely massive. Cows are tiny beside them. So now visualise two large, male bison making loud, aggressive noises, pawing the ground and threatening to ram into each other – imagine the noise, the anticipation, the excitement – except that they are doing this from directly in front of and directly behind your bright red car. Directly. As in one of them was licking our bonnet between grunts. After ten minutes of angry bison-man threats at each other, and much nervousness from inside our car, the girlfriend of Angry Bison 1 whispered something into his ear and encouraged him to move on. Or she headbutted him. Either way, it worked, and we were able to drive off.

Fighting in the blue corner...

The contender in the red corner

On our way back to our campsite we saw a grizzly. Admittedly, it was 200 metres away and still walking… but as far as grizzlies go, that’s probably just where you want them!

The regular Yellowstone traffic jam

A marmot! 

Some pretty good-looking hot spring action

Old Faithful geyser  - check out the huuuuuge crowd of people lined up to see it below! It erupts every 92 minutes like clockwork

Oh Yellowstone, you are pretty as a picture!

Living and dying in Vancouver

One of the joys of our trip has been spending quality time with friends on the other side of the world. After a fantastic and relaxing six days in Seattle with Meg and Wil, (where we saw a bald eagle up close in the wild, which was UNBELIEVABLY cool) we crossed the border to Canada to see another former flatmate, Keith. Keith is a great friend, extremely generous, and seemed intent on physically destroying us via the Vancouver wilderness. Before we arrived he had emailed a list of suggestions of things to do which showed his love for adventure and the outdoors. He suggested we start our time together by visiting the Grouse Grind - a coffee shop.... or so we thought. Unfortunately, no coffee beans were being ground here, only our poor poor leg muscles.

The stairs just go up and up and up...

If you do a search on the Grouse Grind, you will notice that it is not a cafe but is rather a steep climb - 2.9 kilometres up the side of Grouse Mountain, in fact. It was...a kind of death. I consider myself to be a reasonably fit person, but for some reason this particular hike absolutely destroyed me! About a quarter of the way up I was struggling not to vomit or faint...potentially simultaneously...and truly felt like I couldn't go on. Of course this was while Keith and his friend John were leaping up stairs around me, making mountain goats look ponderous, and fluro-clad athletes powered up the stairs past me like I was standing still. Of course I WAS standing still a lot of the time, trying to catch my breath and dying inside, but that's beside the point.

Thankfully I got my second wind the further we went. The best part was when we literally ascended through the clouds, and just kept on climbing. Yes - people in this city regularly climb higher than the clouds in a casual after-work walk! Vancouverans (Vancouverites?) are amazing! Insane and amazing! And all very very fit. It was haaaaard work, but the feeling of accomplishment I felt when we reached the top made it all worth it! Now I kind of want to climb the Grind again and see if I can beat my previous time...which admittedly won't be hard.

View from the top of the hike - and yes, that white layer is the clouds that we climbed through. 

Weary but elated at the top of the mountain

The following day, our Vancouver fitness regime continued. Chris, Keith, John and I kayaked 9km across windy, choppy open water to Anvil Island, the site of a summer camp, and of course the boys managed to drag me into another hike. Thankfully, at no point did I have the urge to die. I consider that to be a small victory! The views from the island were immense - it was just so beautiful! But then on the journey back across the water, this amazing thing happened. While 9km is not such a huge distance in a car, it feels very sizeable when kayaking. So for 2 hours we could see our destination in the distance, and we knew we were moving forward, but the destination didn't seem to get any bigger. It was like we had broken a law of physics. I had to keep spitting in the water to reassure myself; I figured that if my spit moved back as I paddled along, it meant that I was actually moving forward through the water, despite feeling like I was making no progress at all. Eventually we made it, and were rewarded with aching upper bodies to match our aching lower body muscles from the day before. 

In case you can't tell, his hat lets us know what Chris would look like if it was 1975. 

Climbing mountains is hard, but views are fun!

To even things out, we finished our time in Vancouver with a comparatively lazy day and watched The Dark Knight Rises! Ah, bliss. Thanks, Keith, for showing us Vancouver through your eyes - now that the pain has passed, I admit I rather enjoyed myself!

Keith auditions for a toothpaste commercial

The ancient Kiwi proverb says "when you throw with the fishes you get scales on your hands".

Currently we are in the middle of our longest stay in one city thus far: a week in Seattle. We are staying with Jess's old flatmate Megan and her husband Wil - it's so refreshing being in the company of good friends!

We've had a really great few days away camping in the woods near Mt Rainier. It was a true American camping experience! We made s'mores - which are far more delicious than we anticipated - and ate chilli dogs and sang God Bless America (...ok that last part isn't exactly true). But it was fun! Check out some photos at the bottom for relaxing times spent around the camp fire, good food and walking in the Mt Rainier snow! 

This morning we all went to Pike Place Market, described by some as the quintessential Seattle experience. It's essentially a permanent craft and farmer's market, home of the original Starbucks store, and where a popular fish stand is. I found this out by being thrown in (or should I say thrown at) the deep end.

I don't really know what happened. One moment I was talking to the fishmonger about how much salmon we were going to need for dinner, the next moment the fishmonger was ushering me behind the counter, where 50 tourists and their cameras were suddenly pointed at me. You see, Pike Place Market is famous for having a fishery where workers throw their fish to each other. So while I was stationed behind the counter, about 10 metres to my right was a well-built fishmonger with an entire salmon. "One fish for the Kiwi!" he bellowed. The other five or so fishmongers bellowed back in unified agreement. Having no previous fish catching experience, I didn't really know what I should be doing. I decided to act like I was fielding in the slips, but it wasn't until a huge fish started spiralling through the air towards me that I realised how unlike cricket this situation was. The fishmonger had warned me to "catch it like a rugby ball", but unfortunately whilst clutching a high midfield bomb to your chest is normally great technique, it is not so recommended in the fish-catching business. I realised this too late. So halfway through attempting the chest-clutch, I tried to draw back and save my shirt, almost missing the fish entirely. As a result, my technique turned into this weird tail grabbing thing. But I still had it! The crowd went wild. If you would like to forever refer to me as the Stephen Fleming of the fisheries world, I won't complain.

The fish mid-flight

Admittedly rather unorthodox technique

Seattle's famous wall of gum... no explanation necessary. 

Um hello, are you there summer?

Snow in summer!

In the Seattle woods with Megan and Wil

Ah, biss. Reading around the campfire

Portlandia

We are currently in beautiful Portland, Oregon. Very green, lots of mountains, very New Zealandish. We've noticed that in most cities we've visited in the US, either the unhealthy fast food chains reign, or it's the indepedently owned, health conscious organic stores that dominate. There's not much middle ground. Thankfully, Portland is in the health camp. There's lots of cool organic shops, great bookstores, locally owned coffee shops and breweries and eccentric-looking locals. In fact, to fit in in Portland you need the following things:
1. Amazing arm tattoos
2. An assymetrical hairstyle
3. An American accent
4. To be a man in a skirt

We have currently hit 0/4 requirements, so have some work to do.

Truth!

Prior to reaching Portland we drove up from San Francisco, stopping at Redwood National Park. Redwood trees are amazing! They are the tallest trees in the world, which means that they are cooler than an iced Milo on a hot day. Yes, better than Milo...it sounds impossible I know, but you better believe it. 

This is Big Tree, standing at nearly 100m. We couldn't get back far enough to capture it all!

Driving through beautiful mist in the Redwood forest

Throughout our time in the country we have been having some particularly hilarious accent problems when we first meet people. For some reason, the name Jess does not compute well...but only if spoken in a Kiwi accent. Here's how the conversation goes almost every time Jess introduces herself:
American: Hi, what's your name?
Jess: Jess
American: What?
Jess: Jess
American: Jiss?
Jess: Jess
American: Jaz?
Jess: Jess. (sigh) As in Jessica.
American: (muttering to themself) ...Jissica? Ohhhhhh - JESS.

Thankfully the name Chris has been a bit more universally understood.

To balance out all the great coffees, incredible real hot chocolates and famous Voodoo doughnuts (check the photo out, below) that we've been having, we went on a 20km hike today to some powerful and impressive waterfalls. We saw a few mini black stripey snakes, but thankfully no bears. Although I'm pretty sure that was mainly due to Jess singing "Hello bears, we're coming round the corner, don't be surprised, kindly move now". Bears have, in our opinion, been incredibly responsive to all directions given in song. You should try it sometime.

Mini M&M's are always a valid topping.

Hiking the Eagle Creek trail.

Our hiking destination, Getting close to a waterfall is both fun and drenching!

Hello, San Francisco!

Jess

This blog is rather overdue, sorry - it's been a busy (for me) and internet-less (for Chris) time for us! My bestie Rita got married in the weekend, so I was fortunately able to fly back to NZ for the wedding. It was such a great day, and well worth the effort to get back there! The major downside was the weather -- after all our time spent luxuriating in the American sun, my system got a serious punch in the face when I arrived into the dark howling of an icy winter. (Sorry, I've been reading Game of Thrones and am constantly tempted to be overly dramatic as a result.) I essentially shivered for 5 days, apart from the moments when I was in my parents spa or in the shower with the heat cranked up. The worst part, though, was knowing that Chris was by himself while I was having fun in NZ, off hiking by himself in bear country. I wouldn't have said he had a death wish but we've only been married for 2 years; I'm sure there's more to learn about him! I was pretty stoked to arrive back in San Francisco and see that he had all his limbs and his face hadn't been eaten off. He has a great face, long may it stay attached! Speaking of Chris' face, here's the man himself...

Chris

While Jess was dressing up and looking beautiful for Rita's wedding I was on a polar opposite both geographically and figuratively - 6 days in a shower-less camping ground! The majority of this time was spent at Yosemite National Park, arguably one of the most beautiful parks in the country. And yes, I'm the one to argue that.

Every National Park here gives you a map when you arrive, along with a description of various hikes within the park. Some of these appeal to the male psyche more than others. The use of the particular phrase "This is an incredible hike, but only if you are extremely fit" sounded like a direct challenge to me - there was no way my testosterone was going to let me ignore that. It was to be 21km in all, with an elevation change of 3000ft.

I decided the best thing to do would be to start early, so I started walking at 6am. Off I went, almost immediately regretting the lunch I had brought when I read the bear warning signs. I had berries, tuna and chocolate in my bag. If that, mixed with New Zealand flesh, isn't the ideal meal for a bear then I don't know what is! The first hour was eerily and awesomely quiet; no other people, and (thankfully) no bears. Eventually, I bumped into a pair of German hikers. Well, I assume they were German as they spoke funny and were talking about sausages and beer at 7.30 in the morning. Not to mention the lederhosen they were wearing... but I was rather relieved to hear they were doing the same hike as I was - at least I wasn't the only adventurous fool! 

The next eight hours were filled with a remarkable array of scenery. Three waterfalls, river crossings and countless panoramas. I had read up on the trail beforehand, and someone had recommended an unmarked view point that required me to count 800 steps from the end of a bridge before darting through some bushes! Well worth the effort! I think the photos actually tell the best story of the hike, so check out some of those!

Since reuniting at the airport a few days ago we have had a great time in San Francisco. So great, in fact, that we watched the Full House theme song on Youtube just so we could say "been there". (Interjection from Jess: Actually, we watched the Full House theme song on Youtube because Chris kept insisting that the chorus started with the words "step by step". I eventually convinced him that he was actually thinking about the tv show 'Step by Step'. Yus.) 

We did all the tourist stuff - walked the Golden Gate bridge, visited the sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf, and experienced the delights of both Chinatown and Japantown. Jess' highlight was drinking a sweet potato latte in Japantown. (Note from Jess: Next holiday to plan? Japan. I flippin love those guys!) In a curious mix, we've noticed that San Francisco has more runners, hills, homeless people and independently owned coffee retailers than any other city we have travelled to so far.

The bridge deserves its reputation as an icon - it's really impressive!

THE sweet potato latte

Creepiest face ever, on a mural in SF

To top it off, we were able to go and watch some July 4 fireworks last night. Unfortunately, living in Sydney has kind of ruined us for all other fireworks displays. It's like seeing a lion in a zoo after you have seen one in the wild. Sydney fireworks are incredible, you see... and after you've seen fireworks choreographed to music following a police helicopter chase, it takes more than half-hearted fireworks - which included a suspicious amount of red and green fireworks (someone bought too many at Christmas methinks) - to knock your socks off. But in saying that, it was still fun to go along with the thousands of other people and be part of the holiday celebrations!

Watching the people watching the fireworks in San Fran

Now we are driving our way north from San Francisco, stopping in Redding and Portland on our way to Seattle. We are so excited for this next stage of our journey, as we get to stay with various friends and see some more amazing countryside. On Saturday we are visiting the Redwood forest for a bit of tallest-trees-in-the-world action. Boom!