(9) On the way to Death Valley: Lone Pine and Mount Whitney

The straight and empty road took us to the east along route 120 towards Lee Vining. The view reminded me of western movies, and this association never changed till the end of my peregrinations in the American West. On the left you can see the waters of Mono Lake (S).

The picture below hopefully gives you an idea of how free (and lonely) one may feel on an American road - an easy ride, no speeding, a vast undulating area around and the mountains on the horizon. I began to realize then how huge the Sierra Nevada Mountains must be:

This journey in the American West was a constant surprise for me. The view captured in the picture below was very eye-opening: this is also America. This may have been a local shop; now it only marks a dead center of a non-existent settlement. (S):

Western American roads take you across territories which are inhabited by Native Americans. The majority of native settlements that I passed by were in Navajo territories. It was there that I finally understood the idea of an Indian reservation and what living in a ghetto must feel like. The building in the picture might be a God-forsaken tourist attraction, why else would it be standing there decorated like this? (S):

Seeing the view below, I tried to come up with the most appropriate caption for the picture. Here are some ideas that I jotted down in my notebook: "America - a land of contrasts"; "Man's failed attempt to subdue Nature";-). When I look at my notes now, they do not seem such brilliant ideas at all. But since they are a genuine reflection of my reactions and emotions to what I saw then - bright or not bright - I will sometimes quote entries from the diary. This can mean only one thing: more fun to come;) Or maybe the Readers of this blog can come up with ideas as to what caption would be best for the picture below?:

Another remnant of a settlement - those ghost towns are solid evidence of American people's mobility and the country's economic progress;)

On highway 395 near Bishop - you'll always know where you are: the first is the flag of California.

Finally, Lone Pine - this is where we will spend the night before visiting Death Valley. The town itself is a surprise - spectacularly located at the foot of the highest mountain in continental America, beautifully designed, Lone Pine looks like a town from a western movie. No wonder that many films were shot here.

Walking along the fabulous streets of Lone Pine (S):
The beautiful mountains seen in the setting sun - what an end of the day (S):

And here is Mount Whitney - 4,421 m high, hiding in the afternoon mist. Clicking on the picture is heartily recommended (S):

Driving to Mount Whitney: on the way to the highest mountain we drove through Alabama Hills, which we recognized from westerns: the area is a popular location for movie production.

Looks familiar? - click on it, you'll surely recognize the spot from tv:

Someone has given the rock a face: a dog? a dragon? a crocodile?

Here is a spectacular view on the beautiful Owens Valley from the mountain. From then on this was for me a typical "American vista". Standing there I felt like shouting after Bridget Jones's Daniel Cleaver: "I am the king of the world". Well, I didn't know then that there would be so many more occasions for such an exclamation;). From here it was only 122 kilometers to Death Valley, which will come next on the blog.

(8) My Trip to Yosemite National Park, CA

If you want to see America, you have no choice but rent a car - the automobile is an American invention, after all. Paradoxically, I am going to travel through the West in a Japanese car - not a Ford, but a Mazda; the vehicle is not very suitable for driving in canyons, either, but we're giving it the benefit of the doubt. It is quite new (only 11,000 miles on the clock), spacious and comfortable. Later it turns out to be quite economical as well.
Finally, on Thursday, August 7 I'm leaving San Francisco and heading for Yosemite National Park, situated about 330 km away from the city of winds and fog. I am bracing myself for a dramatic change of temperature, which I feel already at the first stop about 25 miles west of SF. That's what I call summer - I'm loving the heat, especially that the air inside the car is cool because I'm not the only passenger and my traveling companions prefer lower temperatures.

Now, the GPS device: it makes traveling easy and safe - there's no danger of getting lost or driving off the intended route, plus you know your timing perfectly well. However, I belong to the older (traditional?) generation of tourists, totally dependent on maps. Before leaving the city I bought myself maps of all the states that we were planning to visit and I studied them carefully during my peregrination. A funny thing those maps are - you travel through a country, look around, absorb the views, and yet it would all mean nothing without a map. I remembered a situation from Paul Auster's book in which a detective following a man around New York had to draw the route in his notebook to see where he was and decipher the meaning of it all;)
Below is a map of the Park (it grows if you click on it): we arrived along Highway 120 and spent the night in Curry Village in Yosemite Valley, centrally located between Glacier Point and Half Dome:

Yosemite is located in the High Sierra, whose landscape was shaped by glaciers. The most characteristic features of Yosemite, apart from the gigantic size of course (over 3,000 square km), are massive granite cliffs and valleys which look like canyons between huge walls. Here is one of my first pictures taken on the way to Curry Village.

The bunk is our hotel for the night. We have to be careful not to attract the attention of bears which like visiting tourists' cars and bunks, if they forget to lock the door and hide everything that resembles food. (S)

Yosemite became a national park in 1890 thanks to John Muir, who can be called a follower of America's best known environmentalist - Henry David Thoreau. Muir was younger than Thoreau and lived on the other side of the U.S. Actually, I read somewhere that Emerson himself traveled to the American West and, invited by John Muir, spent a night in the High Sierra. As the story goes, he predicted that America would soon hear about young Muir. This makes Muir another prodigy that Emerson, with his great intuition, recognized - the first and most famous being Walt Whitman, of course;) (S):

Meadows are another feature of Yosemite's landscape - they must have been formed by glacier millions of years ago:

Here's a picture taken at the feet of the most famous granite rock in Yosemite - El Capitan. Its height (910 meters) invites rock climbers and parachutists - I did not see any, but the scene was spectacular anyway;)

Driving along the route leading to the most popular vantage point in Yosemite - Glacier Point - I could admire the park's panorama and get an idea of the park's size (that's at least what I thought then;): (S)

The picture below (click on it) was taken from Glacier Point which offers breathtaking views of Yosemite. In the center is Half Dome - the most famous view in the Park. Standing there I felt I could become a follower of Transcendentalism;) (S)

Half Dome in close-up - there are people on top of the crest but you could only see them through binoculars (S).

Looking south from Glacier Point - Yosemite's waterfalls. If you click on the picture, you'll see a lake from which the water is falling. The picture shows one third of the terrace and the biggest of the three waterfalls. (S)

Here is a view from Glacier Point on Curry Village, in which I spent the previous night. Glacier Point is 980m above the village, but can you tell the distance? Not really... (S):

Coming back from Glacier Point - a wonderful view of El Capitan from a distance. (S)

Below is a picture taken from Tioga Road, which runs across the Park a bit north of the Valley and which took us to the exit from the Park. I wondered how soft the rock must be for trees to grow out of it like that. I am looking up now:

Tioga Road leads you through very diverse landscape - here is a forest whose trees grow from small rocks;)

And here is WOW! Tioga Pass Road 120 and a car (the little red thing). This gives you an idea how high the Park is in the Sierra Mountains. (S)

Below is Tioga Lake - just before the exit from the Park - a nice view for goodbye;) The water in the lake was very clear but rather cold for a swim. (S)

This is what the Park looks like from the "outside" - the flat area between me and the Park's mountains will now be a common feature of the landscape until Mount Whitney, on the way to Death Valley, which will come next.

(7) UC Berkeley Campus and Stanford

University of California Berkeley (Cal) is a major educational institution in San Francisco's neighborhood. It takes about 20 minutes to get there by BART. UCB is the oldest part of the huge system of the University of California, created in 1868 as a flagship to the new 31st State of California. Now Cal enrolls about 35,000 students at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Cal is most renowned for science and engineering studies. Here is a nice alley leading to one of many university buildings. It must be very pleasant to walk to your classes across the greenery and among such beautiful flowers, especially that the climate across the Bay is not so cold and windy as in San Francisco.

The numerous University buildings are very presentable - with their classicist architecture they refer to the epoch best known for the love of science - The Enlightenment:
UCB campus covers over 400 ha, so it is spacious enough to offer students a lot of green areas to sit around and admire the views - that is the privilege of a tourist;):

The central point of American campuses is a tower. Below is a picture of Sather Tower (61m), popularly known as Campanile, which is the most recognizable landmark of the University. This tower, which was built in 1914, is an imitation of Venice's St Mark's Campanile tower. You can get on top of the tower for only $2 and admire the panorama of the campus.

Here's a view from the Campanile on the campus - the buildings here belong to the University and the surrounding hills as well; they serve as recreational and athletic areas:

One of the most splendid buildings at the Campus is Doe Memorial Library, or Main Library, which is named after its benefactor (that is the man who gave funds for its construction).

Thanks to the money from the philanthropist, the building
dazzles the accidental visitor with its magnificent staircase: all marble and golden. Well, this entrance makes you realize that you are entering a temple of knowledge;)

Here is one of the many reading rooms of the Library; impressive size and a beautiful ceiling:

San Francisco is famous for liberalism, but the source and heart of this liberalism is Berkeley - the academic center famous for its radicalism and activism. It was here that the Free Speech Movement of 1964 started. Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, students protested against limitations on their political activity. They demanded that University facilities should be available for political discussion and dissemination of political knowledge. One of such facilities was the Cafe, the entrance to which is visible in the picture.
The students' protests culminated in their 1964 sit-in, in the wake of which about 800 students were arrested. Finally, the faculty lifted all restrictions on political activism at the Campus. From then on Cal students used their right of free speech and, for example, in 1965 staged protests against Vietnam war. It was then that Berkeley became notorious for its radicalism and activism and it was thanks to them that Reagan became governor of California after he promised to stop student unrest at Cal. And he actually did it by sending troops against the "flower children" in 1969.

Below is the entrance to Sproul Plaza, which is a major center for students' activity, also political. Built in 1911, Sather Gate was originally the main entrance to the campus:

On Sprout Plaza you don't have to engage in political matters - you can just sit down and relax, listening to the splashing of the fountain water.

Stanford University in Palo Alto is another university located in the vicinity of San Francisco. Stanford is much smaller than Berkeley, it offers education to 13,000 students, who have to pay about $20,000 tuition per year despite the reputed annual $5m which the University gets in royalties from patents on inventions.
Here's a view of Stanford's focal point - Hoover Tower, which is 87m high and is named after President Herbert Hoover, who was a member of Stanford's first class of 1891. You can visit a museum devoted to President Hoover and see the memorabilia connected with his presidency.

Stanford differs from Berkeley not only in size but also in appearance - its fine sandstone architecture represents more contemporary trends. Stanford was founded by Leland Stanford, a railroad magnate, and his wife in 1885. Being younger than Berkeley, it is also more conservative - students here devote their time and energy to innovations for the neighboring Silicon Valley and dream of getting the Nobel Prize instead of freedom of speech (18 Nobel laureates are associated with Stanford). Here's a glimpse at Stanford's architecture:

Stanford's buildings are constructed so as to offer maximum protection from the heat. It felt like walking around a small castle and not a university building, maybe because there were no students in it yet.

Below is a picture of a very important and interesting place at the campus: the mural-decorated Memorial Church. The Church is nonsectarian, which means that it's all-inclusive:) It doesn't matter whether you are Catholic, Protestant or Jewish - you are invited to enter and pray in the spirit of true democracy;) The mosaic-decorated facade of the Church is particularly eye-catching:

Though much smaller than Berkeley's, Stanford's campus is big enough to offer space for strolls and relaxation. A final glimpse at Stanford's architecture: