american vistas

(20) Visiting the Four Corners; driving through Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona and Painted Desert, Arizona

2009-04-12T06:27:00.000-07:00

There is one place in the U.S. where four states meet: Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. This place is called the Four Corners. When you go there, you can stand in the four states at the same time;) Click on the picture to read when it was established:

The Four Corners area used to belong to Mexico, from which it was acquired as a result of the 1848 American-Mexican war. Now the area belongs to the indigenous Navajo Nation and the Ute. You have to pay $3 to visit the place. The inscriptions under the names of the neighboring states suggest that it is a monument commemorating an agreement between the people inhabiting the area. The inscription goes as follows "Four States":

"Here Meet"
"In Freedom"

"Under God"

Here is what the Four Corners Monument looks like from a distance (the picture grows if you click on it):

The trip to the Four Corners allowed me to set foot in New Mexico, whose capital is Santa Fe although, as I have written elsewhere, the biggest city is Albuquerque. New Mexico is known for the biggest population of Hispanics in all U.S. states (43%).

The picture below was taken on the way to Monument Valley: note how the wind has carved blocks in the rock. I am already excited about what will come next;)

On the road to Monument Valley - the view of Dead Horse Point State Park: the beautiful red mesas make you feel as if you were entering a fairy world. Click on the picture to see all the shades of red:

Here is another breath-taking view of the wind's artistic ability to sculpt the soft rock and produce intricate shapes (click on the picture if you want):

Below is the left-hand side of the previous view from a different perspective:

Visible below is a nice meander of the San Juan River, which joins the Colorado River at Lake Powell.

And here is a classic road view of Monument Valley. The Valley, which lies on the border of Utah and Arizona, belongs to the Navajo Nation Reservation and is part of the Colorado Plateau. It is famous for the sandstone buttes, that is tall hills with vertical sides and relatively flat tops - miniature mesas, one might say;) We're driving along US 163 and approaching the Valley from the north. Click on the picture - we have still quite a distance to cover to get there:

We are approaching Monument Pass, slowly but successfully:

Natural forces (wind and rain) have eroded the land and created the wonderful sandstone formations which seem to defy gravity:

Below is another steep butte visible from the road leading now to the Painted Desert:

The Painted Desert (click on the picture) is a beautifully colored vast area of badlands, which we passed on the way from Monument Valley to Grand Canyon. The name of the desert derives from its many colors:

The Painted Desert wasn't on our itinerary, so we only drove by watching the area that looked like a multi-layered colored cake (clicking on the picture might help):

And below is the last glimpse of the beautiful desert. We are turning left now to get to Grand Canyon's South Rim. This will come next on the blog.

(19) Mesa Verde NP, Colorado

2009-03-29T06:57:00.000-07:00

Situated in the southern part of Colorado, Mesa Verde NP allowed us to take a look at life in pre-Columbian America. Visible below is a huge mesa, that is a mountain with a flat top like a table.

The mountains offered shelter to an ancient people whom archeologists call Anasazi, which in Navajo means "the ancient foreigners". The Anasazi were originally located in the Four Corners region (next on the blog) and chose Mesa Verde for their home about 1,400 years ago, that is approximately in the year 600. Below is the picture of the largest village in Mesa Verde called Spruce Tree House:

The Anasazi lived in the area for about 700 years before they moved away in late 12 century. During the seven centuries of their Mesa Verde settlement they built communities sheltered in the stone caves of the mountains. As visible above, the Anasazi used nature to their advantage, building their dwellings under the overhanging cliffs that protected them from snow and rain and, most probably, from unexpected visitors, either human or predatory;)
Judging by the intricate alleys built for contemporary visitors, prospective ancient attackers must have found it difficult to get to the Anasazi dwelling place:

Well, if those aggressors managed to get down the cliff, they most probably died of poisoning, killed by local plants which may have served as natural "barbed wire";)

The Anasazi, ancient as they were, certainly mastered the art of architecture, which is evidenced by the remnants of their dwelling places made of sandstone. I couldn't help wondering how the hell they built such multilevel houses when they were literally hanging from the cliff...

I also had a chance to get down into a room which looked like a private family bedroom:

When I looked at the sunlit ancient blocks of flats, I concluded that the Anasazi must have spent a lot of time outside their dark alcoves in the warm sun in the open yard.

This well-shaped chamber cut in the rock may have served as a local center for religious rites and social gatherings. The hole in the middle may have been a fireplace...

Mesa Verde NP, which was created in 1906, is a surprisingly big plateau: over 30 km long and about 25 km wide. The impressive mesas are separated by deep canyons (click on the picture, it grows):

Another Anasazi dwelling - there are 600 cliff dwellings in the park, which means that quite a few Ancestral Puebloans, as they are now called, must have lived in the area. (Click on the picture to see more details)

The Anasazi were agricultural people: they hunted game on the mesa tops and grew crops there. Well, in order to function in this culture you had to be very fit: imagine a husband climbing to work in the field in the morning;)

Another Anasazi cliff dwelling:

Driving across a mesa: the trees destroyed by a fire add to the gloomy atmosphere of this long-dead settlement.

The legend below introduces tourists to the arcana of Anasazi sacral architecture (clicking on the picture might help):

A glimpse into the Sun Temple's interior:

One final shot of an amazing Anasazi village before we leave this peaceful area which was once home to a flourishing native American people (click on the picture if you want):

(18) Grand Teton NP; On the Road to Denver, Co; The Rocky Mountains

2009-02-22T05:10:00.000-08:00

From Yellowstone I traveled south to Jackson Hole, which is a valley neighboring with the high Teton Mountains, hence the name of the park: Grand Teton NP. The area between Yellowstone and Grand Teton was donated to the Park by the Rockefeller family in 1950 (about 13 thousand hectares), so the picturesque 132-kilometer-long corridor of forests was named John D. Rockefeller Jr Memorial Parkway. Visible from a distance in the picture below are three granite towers: Grand Teton, Middle Teton and South Teton:

Grand Teton peaks are situated over huge Jackson Lake, which is the biggest of the many glacier lakes in the Park:

The upper sections of Grand Teton towers are covered with snow and ice, hence their blue-grey color. Those mountains are among the youngest ranges in the Rocky Mountains - they are about 20 million years younger than the Alps. Below them you can see the water of the Snake River (click on the picture and it grows):

The view of the valley was shot from Signal Mountain, which is situated on the other side of Jackson Lake and offers a vantage point from which to view both Grand Teton (the picture above) and the huge valleys lying to the south-east of the mountain.

Another view from Signal Mountain over the huge valley and the Snake River:

From Grand Teton NP we traveled south-east to Lander, where we spent the night. In the evening we had a substantial dinner in a local pizza restaurant and watched Michael Phelps win his seventh gold medal in swimming. When we left Lander on the next morning, the clouds looked ominous, as you can see in the picture below, and a storm seemed inevitable:

"The cloud stoops to kiss the mountain" was my diary caption for the view below. The atmosphere in the Rocky Mountains was very different from that offered by the Sierra Nevada:

Because the Rockies are so huge, a tourist relishes in admiring very diversified landscapes. The picture below was taken already in Colorado. The sunny weather promised a nice afternoon in Denver:

Unfortunately, Denver did not welcome us with sunny weather. Maybe because the city's elevation is about a mile above sea level and because it is situated practically on the borderline of the Rocky Mountains, it was cold, rainy and cloudy:

Since the weather was so unfriendly to tourists, I did not take many pictures of the city, only a snapshot or two of the City Center, which did not strike me as particularly original. Colorado advertises itself as a "colorful" state but I found the slogan misleading:

On the next morning, after we said goodbye to S, we continued our journey through the Rockies south to Cortez, which meant that we would have to cover a distance of about 690 km. In the picture below snow-covered peaks are shining far away:

The Rockies offered us an extreme experience of driving in a snowstorm in August. The flashes of lightning, the hail as big as rubble which bombarded the roof of the car, the slippery road which made it impossible to move faster than 10 miles per hour - all this made our trip in the Rockies quite dangerous and exciting (well, it actually felt exciting only after we got out of the sleet):

Such surprises caused by the weather are common in the Mountains; below you can see a ramp for trucks which get caught in snowstorms - it helps truck drivers stop the vehicle when brakes don't work on the slippery road:The Rockies are fairy mountains indeed. The picture shows the mountains after the storm: the water evaporates quickly and the steam looks like smoke from a fire:

Another snapshot of the Mountains after the rain - eerie:

Believe it or not, but the river visible below is the famous Rio Grande, the fourth largest river in the U.S. and a natural border between the U.S. and Mexico (known as the Rio Bravo there). Here it is still small, because the picture was taken very close to the River's spring, when we crossed the Rio Grande in Colorado, driving west along route 160. From here it took us a couple of hours to get to Mesa Verde NP, which will come next on the blog.

(17) Yellowstone NP, Wyoming (Part II)

2009-02-14T12:27:00.000-08:00

One of the most famous views of Yellowstone is Old Faithful. The name of the geyser suggests that it is very reliable: it allows tourists to admire its spectacular eruptions every 90 minutes or so (S):

Old Faithful shoots boiling water to a height of about 45m. The eruption that I saw lasted about 2.5 minutes (S):

One more snapshot of Old Faithful's spectacular activity (S):

Midway Geyser Basin area is particularly interesting as it contains two largest hot springs, Excelsior Geyser and the unforgettable Grand Prismatic Spring. Below is the picture of a map of the area:

The steaming earth on the way to the hot springs promises a hellish spectacle. In my diary I labeled this view as an "angry earth";)

Walking on the ridge of Excelsior Geyser Crater felt like walking on the edge of the pit of hell. The last eruptions of this geyser were recorded at the end of the 19h century (there was also one in 1985, but it was totally unpredicted and isolated), but the steam and the noise produced by this once largest geyser in the world provide enough horror and excitement. No wonder Rudyard Kipling called the area "Hell's Half Acre" when he visited the Park in 1889 (S):

The water in the hot springs contains elements and mineral particles which add color to it. The yellow-green belts might as well be algae; however, I preferred to continue associating everything with hell, so for me they meant "sulfur";):

The hot water flowing from hot springs into the Firehole River makes it inaccessible to potential swimmers (though the temperature of the river's water must be inviting;)(S):

Finally, I'm approaching Grand Prismatic Spring. The legend contains all the necessary information:

Because of the size of the Spring, the pictures capture only fragments of the spectacular steaming lake. I loved the contrast between the oranges of the ridge and the turquoise water visible below the steam:

Another snapshot of Grand Prismatic Spring captures the richness of its colors. Mind you, the day was rather overcast, so I could only try to imagine what it would look like in the sun:

And, finally, a sort of panoramic view of the Spring's section - to give you an idea of its huge size (S):

Below is what I would have seen if I had flown in an aeroplane or a helicopter (not that I saw any hovering above) over Grand Prismatic Spring on a sunny day:

Yellowstone is not always so colorful: sometimes the area is grey and desolate, as if something poisonous contaminated the earth and killed all life here:

The cadaverous yellowish color of the water in the spring below may provide an answer:

On the second day of my peregrination through Yellowstone I traveled north to visit the area known as Mammoth Hot Springs. The map below explains that the springs are called "mammoth" because of their size and shapes:

Here is a picture of the most spectacular Mammoth Hot Spring, where the water trickles lazily, but the effect is that of the proverbial still waters that run deep:

Mammoth Hot Spring in close-up. I had to touch the water: it felt warm and didn't burn my hands but I didn't dare to taste it, though the view suggests it must contain a lot of minerals;)

Below Mammoth Hot Spring. Lucky me I didn't taste the water - look what it has done to the trees;) I have a sneaking suspicion though that the trees have not decayed because of some poison contained in the water (like in Poe's pond surrounding the House of Usher) but because the minerals created a crust which prevents water from soaking in the ground. The resulting landscape would fit a fairy-tale world:

The variety of views that Yellowstone offers reminds me of Death Valley, where a kaleidoscope of changing landscapes has a dazzling effect on a traveler:

A panoramic view of northern Yellowstone's beautiful meadows (S):

The picture below shows a very characteristic feature of Yellowstone: every now and then travelers can admire contrasts between the skeletons of burnt trees and the fresh green grass and new little trees, which will provide shelter for the Park's animals. Wildfires are a necessary element of Yellowstone's ecosystem not only because they burn old trees and allow new life to bud in the sunlit areas. Fire is also necessary for lodgepole pine trees to exist: it takes about 25 seconds for a tree to burn down and cones have to open within those precious 25 seconds and release the seeds. Well, timing is very important in nature;) (S):

The area visible in the picture below won't see fire for the next 50 years or so - it was probably burnt in the recent fires of 2001 or 2002. The average area destroyed by wildfires (that is those started by lightnings) amounts to a few hundred hectares. In 1988 massive wildfires, known as the Great Fires of 1988, swept through Yellowstone but - contrary to what some feared - the park began to renew itself very quickly. This view is then not sad but promising (S):

(16) A Trip to Yellowstone NP, Wyoming (Part I)

2009-01-24T06:05:00.000-08:00

(S) In order to get to Yellowstone NP from Idaho, we set foot (or, rather: wheel) in Montana, where the western entrance to the Park is situated. Montana is the fourth biggest state in the U.S. (bigger than Poland), but its population is scarce: only about a million inhabitants. The most well-known city in this northern state is probably Billings, but the capital city is Helena. Montana is associated with one major historical event that may ring a bell to the Readers of this blog, namely the most famous battle in the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

The map below (grows if you click on it) illustrates the most popular routes in Yellowstone NP, whose shape looks like an 8. We entered the Park from West Yellowstone and traveled down the lower loop on the first day and up the northern loop on the next day of our peregrination through vast Yellowstone (with the area of about 900 thousand hectares it's bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware taken together). We left the Park through its southern exit leading to Jackson Hole.

Visible in the picture below is the main street, called Yellowstone Avenue, in the tourist town of West Yellowstone, which lives solely on visitors to Yellowstone NP. The town is full of motels, souvenir shops and restaurants (well, diners). Despite the huge number of motels, it wasn't easy to find lodging for two nights but, at long last, we managed to get a shabby (and stinking) room for the extortionate price of over $160 per night! And we considered ourselves lucky because finding a room without prior reservation, when the Park is visited by 3 million tourists a year sounds like a miracle indeed;) (S):

The most striking feature of Yellowstone are its geysers (2/3 of the world's total number of geysers), which are the result of the fact that the Park is situated on a volcano boiling 6 km below the earth's surface. Because of this the earth emits heat, and geological processes can be observed in the Park's hot points. The first picture taken upon our entrance to the Park captures a strange view of steaming grass. (S):

The trip to the first area of geysers in Norris Geyser Basin was an unforgettable experience: the smell of sulphuric acid (like that of rotten eggs) was at first a nuisance, but one can easily get used to tolerating it when the view is so fabulous (S):

Walking among geysers is like walking on the precarious surface of a dormant volcano, hence tourists must walk along the network of wooden trails. The guardrails make sure that people do not fall off the bridges into the hot poisonous mud below (S):

Here is a spectacular outpour of steam getting out straight from the inside of the earth:

The Steamboat Geyser discharges fumes like a chimney on a boat:

Visible below is Dragon's Mouth - not an orchid but a hot spring which is only partially visible: the activity takes place in the cavern and tourist only hear the belching and see the steam over undulating muddy water:

Another mud volcano, still active, if you look closely. The earth around it is very dry:

Yellowstone takes its name after the Yellowstone River, which flows across it, carving a huge canyon in the soft yellow rocks. It seems that the river was named to celebrate the effect of its activity: the uncovered interior of the earth. Click on it to see how spectacular it is (S):

And, finally, the picture of the Yellowstone River's Falls taken from the vantage point situated a little bit lower (S). Everybody's reaction to the spectacle was: "WOW"! I stood amazed at this fairy-tale view and had to pinch myself to believe my eyes: the river's greenish color must be the effect of mixing the water's blue color with the yellow sediment carried from the rocky terrain.

The Yellowstone River's Lower Falls are 93 meters high, no wonder the water is tumbling down with great speed and rumble (S):

The view of the more peaceful section of the Yellowstone River (still speedy though) (S):

The Yellowstone is not the only river in the Park: its many rivers create over 300 spectacular waterfalls:

Yellowstone Lake is the largest body (over 350 square kilometers) of water situated so high (over 2 thousand meters). When you look at it on the map, you see it has a very irregular shape (S):

This picture of Yellowstone Lake was taken on the next day - the comparison of the sky with that visible in the previous picture gives you an idea how changeable the weather was (S):

Yellowstone is associated with bears, especially one very famous Yogi Bear;) However, I didn't see any bears in the area, although they do live in Yellowstone Park. For me, the most memorable encounter with the Park's inhabitants was that with bison (S):

Bison are the largest mammals in the Park and they have survived here since prehistoric times. It seems that Yellowstone's huge meadows providing enough space to graze on and the fact that the habitat has been protected since 1872 have contributed to the animals' growth in number (S).

The beautiful bison couple only looks so friendly and disinterested: you never know when they can become angry and dangerous (S).

Bison feel at home in Yellowstone: they treat vehicles as animals representing another species, dangerous only at night when, unfortunately, many bison get killed because of speedy driving (S).

A bison in close-up: can he mean anything evil? The young bull (I guess) looks friendly and docile, but when he almost put his head inside our vehicle through the open window, I got scared (S):

So, where does the buffalo roam in Yellowstone? Well, anywhere it wants - the buffalo is the king of this place after all, and we were just guests. Thank you, Mister, for your kindness and hospitality;) (S):

(15) Wendover, Utah/Nevada; Craters of the Moon NP, Idaho

2009-01-02T06:31:00.000-08:00

Below is the picture of the main street in the little town of Wendover, which is situated literally on the border separating Utah from Nevada. We took a walk up the mountain visible on the left, from which we admired the panorama of the town and its environs (we had a beer or two on the top, but that's off the record;)( S)

(S) A view from the mountain: the plain (still Utah) bathed in the light of the setting sun. One can see a long row of wagons standing there, as if waiting for the engines (usually four) to pull them to their destination farther the West.

Wendover, with its population of slightly over 1500, owes its existence solely to the Transcontinental Railroad, as it served as a station stop on the Western Pacific Railroad (now Union Pacific). The town is quiet, the people living here are rather less than well-off. One might say: "nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes";) (S)

(S) Union Pacific wagons in close-up:

However, life seems to focus in the western part of the settlement, which makes up a separate town called West Wendover, easily confused with Wendover, Utah. West Wendover belongs to Nevada, so it prides itself on casinos and a bigger population of almost 5 thousand. The lights are already on, inviting gamblers from Utah, or simply those who want to DO SOMETHING in this sleepy area.

The biggest casino in West Wendover was so kitsch inside that it was beautiful;) And, to my surprise, it was full... of older people: pensioners searching for a thrill and an opportunity to spend their well-deserved pension money. We were the youngest visitors to this temple of hazard in the middle of nowhere.

After the night in a Wendover motel we traveled north: our next destination was Yellowstone NP, so we had to make a trip through Idaho (S):

In Idaho we visisted Craters of the Moon. The area was once described as "the surface of the moon as seen through a telescope". The area's weird landscape made President Coolidge establish Craters of the Moon National Monument in 1924. We took a scenic ride along the park loop road, as illustrated on the map.

The strange landscape in Craters of the Moon is of volcanic origin (not of meteorite impact, as the name would suggest). However, the lava did not spew from a volcano but from the "Great Rift" - long fissures across the Snake River Plain, where the NM is situated (S).

The lava which produced this vast sea of rock started surfacing about 15 000 years ago, but about 2,000 years ago there was another eruption. Geologists say it's not over;)

The bizarre shapes made of basalt: the blocks of lava grow from the surface like trees in an orchard, except that they look ominous (S):

A walk along accessible trails felt like a walk on the surface of the moon indeed - not that I know what the surface of the moon looks like, but the view was unearthly (S):

Surprisingly, the lava fields only look so barren: plants and trees are quite frequent here:

A walk up this cone took me about half an hour (when you get to the top you see another hill of equal height but steeper!). Exposed to the heat and thirsty (I did not take the water, thinking my trip would end soon), I finished the climb almost crawling, but it was worth the effort (S):

A final glimpse at the lunar surface, which some might find even depressing (S):

(14) Salt Lake City, Great Salt Lake (Desert), Utah

2008-12-21T07:42:00.000-08:00

From Glen Canyon on the southern border of Utah we took road 89 up north and then Highway 15, which leads straight to Salt Lake City. So, covering the distance of over 620 kilometers we drove through two thirds of Utah territory. The name of the state comes from the Ute Indian language and means, according to Wikipedia, "people of the mountains". (S):

Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah and, with the population of over 180 thousand, it is the most populous city. However, Salt Lake City belongs to a larger urban area, called the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which is inhabited by over a million people. The city was founded by Mormons in the 1840s. Earlier, the area had been inhabited by Native American tribes of Shoshone, Ute and Paiute. The picture below shows the main street in Salt Lake City, called State Street, which leads to the Utah Capitol State building, visible here on the right at the end. (S)

Below is the picture of the Utah State Capitol, which is a house of the state legislature and the governor's office. The building is impressive: 123 m long, 73 m wide and 87 m high, its name and architecture resembling the US Capitol in Washington DC. It is situated on Capitol Hill, which is a vantage point from which the panorama of Salt Lake City can be admired. (S)

The Pioneer Memorial Museum contains memorabilia from the time of the first settlers. (S)

Despite the fact that it is a state capital, Salt Lake City looks very quiet. Its residential districts are full of greenery, and the bustle of the city does not disturb its citizens (S):

The beautiful and quaint houses look as if they remembered the first settlers. (S):

Utah's capital is situated on the shore of Great Salt Lake, visible immediately after one leaves the city and takes route 80 westward. Great Salt Lake is a closed basin, which means that the water does not flow out of it to rivers or oceans; it is also the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere, with the average area of about 4.5 thousand square km. The lake is very shallow, so its size changes depending on the amount of snow and rain. (S)

Great Salt Lake lies in the area that is very dry - Great Salt Lake Desert. Unfriendly to prospective settlers, the area is very scantily populated, with only snakes and scorpions thriving here. (S):

Great Salt Lake can sometimes cover 8.5 thousand square km, so when the water evaporates, huge areas covered with salt invite car drivers to test their vehicles' performance, which was the main reason why we traveled to Great Salt Lake. (S)

Visible below is the Great Salt Lake that we wanted to visit - Bonneville salt flats (S):

However, our destination was located further west, close to Utah's border with Nevada, so we had to drive along the straight road cutting through the desert - one may feel desolate in this landscape. (S)

Every now and then, however, a lonely traveler can stop and contemplate works of art on the desert - quite surreal, I must say;):

An interesting phenomenon is caught in the picture below: the dry bottom of Great Salt Lake looks as if it was covered with water - it's just a mirage, but I could swear I did see the sheet of water. Another bright conclusion of mine: "the desert is unbelievably deceptive";)

Finally, we've reached our destination: Bonneville Speedway - the area on which land speed records are set and broken. Click on it to learn more (S):

We're not the only visitors to the place: there seem to be quite a few amateurs of speedy driving (S):

And here's our vehicle standing on the speedway (about 16 km long): On your marks! Get set! Go! (S)
However, I prefer admiring the salt sparkling in the afternoon sun. You could swear it's snow (S):

(13) Glen Canyon and Antelope Canyon, Arizona

2008-12-12T06:51:00.000-08:00

From Zion Np we took route 89 down to Page, which is situated in a beautiful area in northern Arizona, on the shore of Lake Powell. The lake was named after Civil War veteran John Powell, a one-armed adventurer, who explored the Colorado River here in 1869. Lake Powell is the second biggest man-made water reservoir in America.

Below is a picture of the canyon that the Colorado River has created. What I found striking was the contrast between the green color of the water and the reddish colors of the rocks:

Glen Canyon is the effect of the River's activity. Note especially how arid the area appears:

Lake Powell was created by the flooding of Glen Canyon by the Glen Canyon Dam, which was constructed in the 1960s to generate electricity in the nearby power-plant, which supplies energy to Arizona, Nevada and California. As if by the way, Lake Powell has become a popular tourist destination. (S):

South of lake Powell and Glen Canyon is Navajo Indian Reservation, which prides itself on fabulous natural formations. One of those amazing places is Antelope Canyon. The picture below was taken on the way to Upper Antelope Canyon, which is one of the most frequently photographed wonders of the American West. (S)

Antelope Canyon is carved in limestone and sandstone rock - geological material typical of the Colorado Plateau.

If you want to visit Antelope Canyon, you have to buy a rather expensive ticket (don't worry, you later conclude that you get good value for your money;) and wait for a truck and a guide who will lead you into the twisting corridors of the Canyon. Our guide, Vernon, is standing at the entrance:

Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon, which has been created by water rushing through the rock (the Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is "the place where water runs through rocks"). It can be as deep as 30 meters and so narrow that one can stretch the arms and touch both walls of the canyon. (S)

Elder Navajo people pause before entering the Canyon to be in the right frame of mind - it does feel like entering a sanctuary. (S):

It is dangerous to enter the Canyon without listening to the weather forecast and making sure that no rainfall is expected on the day of the trip. Antelope Canyon is still reshaped by flush floods: rapid currents of water flushing through its corridors, filling them to the brim, one might say, and carrying sediment which sculpts the walls. Because rainwater cannot soak into the ground (there are rocks all around), it looks for channels to flow to the lower situated areas. A flush flood lasts a few hours: if it happens in the morning, it is still possible to visit the Canyon in the afternoon. (S)

Entering Antelope Canyon is also a spiritual experience: getting inside this natural cathedral makes you ponder on the creative power of Mother Nature and stand in awe and admiration of something so much greater than yourself. (S):

The changing light in the slot canyon creates wonderful shapes - it's enough to free your imagination and then you can see the most bizarre patterns (or an almost realistic portrait of President Lincoln, for that matter;). Click on this one (S):

(12) Zion NP, Utah

2008-12-08T08:25:00.000-08:00

From Las Vegas we traveled to Zion NP through Hurricane and Rockville - beautifully situated picturesque little towns, in which even the roads are red.
The most characteristic shape in Zion, which is practically a desert, is "mesa" - a Spanish word used for steep cliffs with a flat top like a table. Mesa is the most typical landform in the whole of the US Southwest.
Zion became a National Park in 1919, which means that it is the oldest park in Utah. The Park covers the area of about 600 km2. The picture below was taken in the town of Springdale, which is the south-western gateway to Zion:

Water plays the most important role in the creation of Zion's landscape, the major river being the Virgin, which has created steep cliffs and a canyon. It is along the River's North Fork that we took a scenic drive.

Apart from the shapes, the range of the red colors was for me the most spectacular feature of Zion's cliffs. I'm quoting from my diary: "a divine palette of reds";)

Situated in the western part of the Colorado Plateau, Zion NP is built of reddish Navajo Sandstone, which, being very soft, yields to the water flowing down the cliffs like clay to a sculptor's hands:

In Hebrew "Zion" means a "sanctuary" or a "place of refuge". The person who named the area Zion was a Mormon leader who found refuge from persecution in this place in 1863. He echoed the Bible as follows: "The Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord." I find this a very accurate description;) (S)

A glimpse at a marvelous hill whose shape invites you to take a short walk (I did;) (S):

We are out of the 2-km-long Zion Mount Carmel Tunnel, where I could not take pictures for obvious reasons;) (S):

The view on the left is very typical of the Colorado Plateau and promises even more spectacular vistas - to come next in Glen Canyon and Antelope Canyon, Arizona.

(11) Las Vegas, Nevada,

2008-11-15T03:05:00.000-08:00

From the wonders of Death Valley in California we traveled to the second state on our map - Nevada - to visit the most famous city of the region, which is Las Vegas. Since we avoided highways whenever it was possible, we drove east along the picturesque route 190 to Pathrump, and from there to Las Vegas down road 160. The word "picturesque" with reference to Nevada is actually a slight exaggeration, as the area there belongs to Mojave Desert. It is therefore flat (the only variety provided by the mountains on the horizon), and the land is barren. When you look at the map, you will notice that the border between California and Nevada is America's longest diagonal line (640km).

The picture of Las Vegas from a distance gives you an idea what a change from the diversified landscape of California Nevada was (S):

The name of the territory - Nevada - comes from "Sierra Nevada" and it was given to the region in 1861, which marked the separation of this territory from Utah. The separation of Nevada was the result of great animosity between the mainstream Christian population here and the Mormons of Utah. One might venture a conclusion that 1861 was a year in which separatist tendencies seemed to be sweeping across the whole of the US and the animosities culminated in the outbreak of the Civil War.
Las Vegas may be the biggest and most famous city in Nevada but it is not the state's capital. It might be surprising for a European traveler to realize that in America the biggest cities - and at the same time the most obvious candidates - are not always state capitals. What's more, even second-biggest cities (like Reno in Nevada) would be wrong guesses in the case of some states. Struck by this fact - known to me from geography lessons at school but somehow forgotten - I resorted to Wikipedia to verify my intuition with respect to capitals of the states which were on the map of my American tour;). Here are the results:
California - Sacramento (I knew it, though the choice would be LA or San Francisco); Nevada - Carson City with the population of just over 55 thousand (my mind went blank); Utah - Salt Lake City (that's logical); Idaho - Boise (logical again, though I didn't remember hearing the name before); Wyoming - Cheyenne (logical); Colorado - Denver (that I'd known since "Dynasty";), "Dynasty" also taught me that the capital of Arizona is Phoenix; New Mexico - Santa Fe (I remembered seeing a very romantic video clip to the song by John Bon Jovi titled "Santa Fe", but the logical choice would be Albuquerque). This geography lesson taught me one thing: it must be unbelievably difficult for American kids to score an A in geography.
Anyway, continuing my trip to Las Vegas: below is a picture taken at about 8 p.m. from our hotel. The city is preparing itself for the night (S):

"Las Vegas" means "The Meadows" in Spanish. Considering the geography of the area, one must admit that the name very well reflects the character of the place. When I traveled through Nevada, I got an impression that it was a very poor state: agriculture has not flourished because the soil is poor and investors somehow have not swarmed in to venture huge industrial enterprises here. Gambling has always been the state's major economy and the only solution to the disastrous decline in the 1920s, when state authorities decided to re-legalize gambling. This has resulted in the growth of Las Vegas (almost 2 m people live in its area) and it becoming the Entertainment Capital of the World. Visible below are lights of the planes bringing guests who will spend the night on gambling, drinking and having fun, whatever this might mean (S):

Nighttime is the best time for visiting Las Vegas, but it's the worst time for taking pictures if one doesn't have professional equipment. If one does have it though, it's a bit dangerous and cumbersome to walk around with a huge camera hanging from your neck like the albatross from the Ancient Mariner's;), especially if one wants to have some fun. As a result, I took only a few good quality pictures with my little camera. I don't regret it though, since I totally focused on watching, absorbing and experiencing the phantasmagorical reality of Sin City. Captured below is one of the first views of the city after I got out of the car:

Las Vegas is practically one street called Las Vegas Strip, which runs through downtown Las Vegas for about 6.5 kilometers. It is there that all the hotels and casinos are located. Las Vegas lives at night - dozens of thousands of people flow along and across the Strip. The visitors are dazed by all the music and lights - midnight seems to be the city's rush hour:

To enter or not to enter? I will, but not here - I will eventually have a drink in the Luxor Casino. For the time being, I'm choosing a crazy ride on the roller coaster, which is located on the New York New York Hotel and offers incredible experiences: the stunning panorama of the city by night, stomach twisting and dizzying free falls and hair-raising jet barrel-roll simulations. If you ever get to Las Vegas, don't miss it;)

American hotels are probably a subject for a separate blog. For about $100 you get a spacious room with standard equipment, plus ice is always available from an ice machine; but, most importantly, in the bathroom one always finds a hair dryer and an iron with an ironing board. Below is a picture of the hotel in which we stayed during our Las Vegas trip: clean, comfortable, not too expensive - Holiday Inn Express hotels are definitely my favorite, especially because the rooms always smell nice (my obsession).

The picture below was taken after we left Las Vegas and traveled north-east:

Ahead visible is the landscape characteristic of Utah, a state which borders with Nevada and which has a population of over 2.5 m living in the area equivalent to 2/3 of Poland's territory.

Utah's geography is extraordinary since three geological regions meet there: the Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin and the most beautiful Colorado Plateau. The colors visible in the picture below are for me the colors of the Plateau - different shades of red;). It is a promise of an adventure:

Utah may not be a very populated state but if I ever had a choice, I would certainly choose to live in Utah. The state prides itself on all the most famous national parks of the American West: Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, Messa Verde, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon and Zion National Park, which is our next destination, already looming in the distance:

(10) Death Valley, California

2008-11-07T03:51:00.000-08:00

(S) Reaching Death Valley. Located below the sea level east of the Sierra Nevada mountains, on the border of California and Nevada, Death Valley is famous for record high temperatures in the summer. When I visited it, the temperature there reached 50 C, and the car's air conditioning system was on the brink of breaking down. The first glimpses of Death Valley's unearthly landscape visible in the picture above made me feel as if I was descending into a mysterious and dangerous world.
Below are dry desert hills that we are leaving behind on our way down the Valley. Pay attention to the sky, it's quite unique:

Death Valley is actually a long low desert, with rain falling only in the winter and scorching heat beating down in the summer. However, American deserts are nothing like sand deserts in Africa: I could always see plants growing here and there. Although the picture below was taken at midday, the view isn't clear - it's all because of the heat and the distance. The area is very flat and one can see the mountains which are very far away but the illusion is that they are quite close. In fact Death Valley covers the area of almost 8 thousand square kilometers!

Stovepipe Wells Village is a place where you can spend a night, have a swim in the swimming pool and have something to eat. Naturally, you can also buy petrol for your further journey along and across the Valley. The carts here are museum exhibits and they are a nice addition to the otherwise monotonous view;)

Below are sand dunes near Stovepipe Wells - it is a desert after all:
We decided to take a one-way drive down Titus Canyon, which is 40 km long. It took us over 2 hours. Hopefully, the picture gives you an idea of the type of rock in which waters have carved the canyon:

Below is a panorama of the Canyon. The car is slowly descending 1.5 km down to the bottom of the picturesque Canyon. Click on it to see the colors and forms (S):

Here is a beautiful contrast of the color of the rocks and the sky. It is amazing how many shades of red nature has to offer (S):
On the way down the Canyon we pass a ghost-town: the sign explains everything:
It must have been quite a journey for postmen to reach Leadfield, which had a very inconvenient location. No wonder they gave up on it after a year or so. This is what has remained of the once populated area (I actually went up there to peep inside the buildings, scary though the walk was because of scorpions and snakes which live there):

We are already almost at the bottom of the Canyon - the scree here indicates the route of the water that changes the shapes of the soft rocks:

We are now on the floor of Titus Canyon, admiring its fabulous geology (S):
The road is quite narrow and now it becomes obvious why it has to be a one-way drive:
Can you spot cacti growing from the rock? I could hardly believe my eyes (S):

The serpentine drive along the Canyon was full of surprises. Here is a huge cave carved by the water - a nice shelter from the sun, and we are the only guests there (S):

The picture below shows you how high the walls of the Canyon were and how very small and actually lonely we were there. A strange experience it was, as if one could see the earth's entrails:

Standing outside the Canyon, I could hardly believe that I had actually been inside it;) Considering the type of car that we traveled in, the ride was very exciting indeed.

Below is the famous landscape of Zabriskie Point - formed from sediments of a lake that dried up millions of years ago:

Zabriskie Point is an arid terrain, 50 meters below the sea level, called badlands. However, I would call it wonderlands: there is something romantic about this sand turned into stone; you also somehow feel that this geological formation is primeval:

Below is the view from Zabriskie Point - in the distance you can see the car park. Though it wasn't very far away from the car park to the vantage points on Zabriskie Point, I got dizzy in the hot dry wind burning my skin. Luckily, I didn't have to spend the night in Death Valley, as the temperature fell from 50 C only to 30 C and I don't know how I would have survived the harsh climate for longer than the few minutes that I spent at each stop outside the car.

From Zabriskie Point we traveled to a totally different place: Devil's Golf Course. It was created of salt crystals after a lake dried here (S):

The area in close-up - it's dangerous to walk on the ragged surface. It is true that only the devil can play golf there;)

Our next stop is Badwater. It is the lowest area in Death Valley and second lowest elevation on the western hemisphere (86m). Its vast white area is made of pure table salt. The difference between Devil's Golf Course and Badwater is that the latter is flat, and walking on the white plain is not dangerous to your feet - tourist friendly, one might say;)

The other difference is that Badwater is flooded during rainstorms. Because of this there is still water under the surface of the salty layer - it will probably evaporate soon.

I took this picture standing in Badwater Basin - to give you an idea how vast the area is:

Death Valley is amazing because on a relatively limited area you can see such a variety of geological formations. On the horizon you can see the Panamint Range with Telescope Peak, which is the highest mountain in Death Valley. Its height is almost 3,500 m straight above the floor of the Valley, which makes is comparable to Mount Everest (when you measure the peak from its base, not from the sea level). Visible in the sky is the moon - already;)

Death Valley may be a desert, but it is a civilized one;) The buildings here resemble a public toilet and a bus stop. Well, in this area you can make a stop and have a snack. However, I doubt if anyone leaves the air-conditioned car to get some fresh air in Death valley;)

There is even a castle in Death Valley - beautifully located in an area which might be called an oasis;)
Again, look at the beautiful sky. The sky in Death Valley is cloudless - the heat between the two mountain ranges which surround the Valley is such that any cloud daring to float over the mountains into Death Valley's sky evaporates immediately. I actually saw a cloud melt away - it was amazing;) (S):

Below is a picture taken already outside Death Valley - we passed Shoshone, which has 100 inhabitants and which is situated 84 miles away from Las Vegas - our next destination. One evident sign indicating that it's no longer Death Valley is the cloud visible in the sky;)
The Nopah Range mountains here are unbelievably colorful, they look like layers of paint. I am wondering how rich the colors of the earth are.

I can't resist noticing the similarity of the colors and patterns visible on the mountain ranges with those characteristic of native American art - nature does inspire (another bright thought from my diary;)
I am now thinking of the famous final page of Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby (for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation) and I'm looking for an equivalent description of the wonder that Death Valley and the majestic mountains inspire. Any tips?

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

2008-10-31T00:14:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-19T00:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

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:

(6) SF's curiosities

2008-09-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

One of many wonderful streets of San Francisco was named to honor Lech Walesa - maybe Lech Walesa Street is not a major route, it is not spectacular, either. But it was a nice surprise. Congratulations, Mr President;) (S)

The picture below was taken from a park on a hill - Alamo Square - and shows San Francisco's probably most popular landmark - the "Painted Ladies". They are seven wooden Victorian houses built in the mid-1890s, famous for their colors and elaborate carpentry. Usually they are photographed from the other side of the hill so the wonderful contrast between the painted ladies and the towers of the Financial District far behind them is properly presented. This shot is different since the day was overcast and foggy and nothing behind the houses was visible anyway;(

I don't know why this building looks so very American to me;)
Triangular buildings are quite frequent in San Francisco - in the vicinity of the hotel.

San Francisco's landmark is green Columbus Tower, which was built in 1907. The building was threatened with demolition in the 1970s, but Francis Ford Coppola bought and restored it and Columbus Tower is still standing full of grace:

Did I mention somewhere that the streets of San Francisco smell of marijuana? I couldn't believe my nose - the smell is omnipresent!!! No wonder San Francisco is called very liberal, life there still feels (smells) like the 1960s;)

Also cars parked in the streets look as if they remembered the 1960s;) (S)

Remember the fire escape stairs in the final scene of "Pretty Woman"? Well, they were not just constructed for the movie - they are real:

Below is a photo of a very famous bookshop - City Lights (at 261 Columbus Avenue), which has been a literary landmark of the city since the 1950s. City Lights was the first paperback bookstore in the country and it published the earliest Beat poets (starting with Allen Ginsberg's Howl). I bought myself quite a selection of books there, though they were not connected with the Beat Generation.

City Lights bookstore is located in a very interesting area - North Beach, which was frequently patronized by Beat artists, Here is the view of the building across the street:

Here is what you can see when you go out of City Lights and look right - the Transamerica Pyramid. So this literary center is quite literally in the center.

Another very popular spot in San Francisco is Fisherman's Wharf. In the area you can buy spooky souvenirs, garish T-shirts, mugs, caps and what have you because Fisherman's Wharf, which is at the northern waterfront, is swarming with tourists. It used to be a commercial fishing area in the past, but now fish can be bought on pier 49 in the early hours of the day only. The place has changed totally into a recreation area. Here is Pier 39, built from wood salvaged from abandoned boats. It is packed with shops, amusement arcades and restaurants:

Well, finally - the island of Alcatraz, which is easily visible from Fisherman's Wharf and takes you by surprise, because you do not expect it to be so close to San Francisco, no matter how many times you've seen The Rock (for Sean Connery, of course;). Alcatraz became a federal "maximum security, minimum privilege" prison in 1934 and was closed in 1963. All those who were considered incorrigible criminals beyond redemption were sent here. Inmates had minimum privileges: no newspapers, radio or TV, a vast majority never received a visitor even. What is more, inmates could see from their tiny cell windows the lights beaming from San Francisco and only imagine the hustle and bustle of the life which was denied to them. No wonder that out of 1,576 convicts ever imprisoned here 36 attempted to escape. 5 of them may have succeeded - nobody knows since they seem to have disappeared.

Here is Alcatraz seen from the ferry - gloomy, lifeless, and with no pelicans. The name of the island comes from Spanish and means the Isle of Pelicans. But, as the story goes, the name was not applied by 18th century navigators to this island but to another island in the area - now known as Yerba Buena Island.
Alcatraz ends the tour of San Francisco, which I made with the help of Fodor's Exploring San Francisco (Fodor's Travel Publications).

(5) San Francisco's landmarks

2008-09-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

Like no other city in the U.S., San Francisco is known for its gay and lesbian communities. Gays and lesbians have become largely integrated and accepted in San Francisco's community since the 1970s, that is the time of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Movements.
The symbol of Gay and Lesbian Pride is the Rainbow Flag, which was first used in 1978 in San Francisco. There are 6 colors on the flag: red=life, orange=healing, yellow=sun, green=nature, blue=harmony, purple=spirit.

The district in which the gay and lesbian communities live is the Castro - in the 1970s it became the largest GL neighborhood in the world. A famous gay person associated with the Castro was Harvey Milk, who in 1977 became the first openly gay city official in the country.

In the Castro you can see a higher-than-average proportion of men in the streets, and you notice that they care about the way they look - quite a nice view it was;). Since keeping fit requires appropriate facilities, Gyms are frequent at Castro Street:

Gays have been present in San Francisco ever since the 1840s Gold Rush, which turned San Francisco into a booming city. You can imagine thousands of fortune seekers, mostly single men, who arrived here when the news of the discovery of gold near Sacramento spread: the population rocketed then from 812 in 1848 to 20,000 in 1949. They were called "49ers". The community thus created was quite lawless, women were scarce, family and local community pressure was absent, plus, there was hardly anything to do in the town in free time apart from drinking. And drinking, as you well know, removes inhibitions;)

Another wave of gay freedom came with WWII, when San Francisco became an outpost for military operations on the Pacific.
After a period of severe police harassment in the gloomy 1950s, the political upheavals of the 1960s allowed Gays and Lesbians to enjoy relative peace and quiet.

Another interesting neighborhood in San Francisco is the Latino district Mission, originally called Mission Dolores. It was founded in 1776 by the Spanish colonizers. The Latino population in San Francisco grew significantly between the 1950s - as a result of the post-war boom in jobs in factories and shipyards - and the 1980s which saw a huge influx of immigrants from Central America due to the political turmoil in their mother countries. Here is a surprisingly quiet and very neat street in the Mission District.

The huge hamburger is a sign that San Francisco Latino people feel "vury Amurkin";) (S)

Latino people are God-fearing people, so Mission Dolores Basilica is a central point in the area. At the back of the Basilica there is a park offering beautiful greenery.

The western part of the city prides itself on one of the largest urban parks in the world - Golden Gate Park (405ha). You begin to grasp the park's size when you want to get to one of the hundreds of points of interest hidden in its greenery and you get lost instead. Here is the Conservatory of Flowers - a splendid example of SF's Victorian architecture.

Located in Golden Gate Park is the de Young Museum, which contains a major collection of American art. On the way to the museum's entrance you pass a huge stone. When you look carefully, you will notice a fissure in the stone and in the pavement - it was caused by the 1989 earthquake.

Michael de Young was a publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle, who organized a midwinter exposition in the park in 1894. The museum was built as a memorial to the Expo and given the name after de Young's death in 1925.
Here is the Museum building:

When I visited the Museum, there was a special exhibition titled "The Glass Garden" by the artist Dale Chihuly. I loved it, (just take a look at his website - a marvel!)

San Francisco is best visible from the Bay - here is a view on Telegraph Hill - once an area where artists lived, now the most sought-for addresses, where houses cost millions of dollars because the view is so beautiful. The streets are not though - very steep, very densely covered with (quite narrow) houses.

Sitting at the top of Telegraph Hill is Coit Tower which was designed to resemble a fire hose (well...). Coit Tower has a very interesting history - it was named after a remarkable lady, Lillie (Hitchcock) Coit, who was obsessed with fires and firefighters. At the time (she arrived in SF in 1851), fires blazed very frequently, not to say regularly, in the city so she had a lot of opportunities to join the firefighter crew of which she was an honorary (and exotic) member and combat fires.

Brought up to be a lady, Lillie preferred to wear men's clothes, smoke cigars and play poker - the woman who made subversion her lifestyle (her contemporaries probably called her eccentric, you might call her a drag king;).
Coit Tower (64m) was completed in 1933. It was built for $100,000 left by Lilly after her death as a memorial to SF volunteer firefighters.

The walls inside Coit Tower are covered with murals in the tradition of Diego Rivera (better known probably as Frida Kahlo's unfaithful husband). The murals, which were created in the early 1930s, depict the laborers of SF and display leftist sympathies of their creators. They are very typical of the 1930s in style and contents.

And, finally, the view from Coit Tower - far ahead the Golden Gate Bridge is hiding in the fog. No wonder people are ready to pay millions to have it every morning - click on it to make it grow.

(4) Walking in SF's districts: Financial and Chinatown

2008-09-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

In the center you can see the hotel in which I stayed during my week in San Francisco - the Westin, at 3rd and Market Street. Market Street is probably the most important street in SF, as it runs through the city from the Ferry Building to the south-western fringes of the city. It can be compared to Fifth Avenue or Champs-Elysees.
The hotel is located in the vicinity of the Financial District, and it offers beautiful views from your hotel room window, provided you are high enough (I was on the tenth floor and it was high enough).

(S) Here is another view of the hotel - the picture is taken from Yerba Buena Gardens. Yerba Buena was the name of the town when California belonged to Mexico and was not California yet but Alta California. Yerba Buena became San Francisco in 1847, when it was claimed by the U.S. Now Yerba Buena is an arts center and a nice recreation area.

And here another view from Yerba Buena Gardens - the Westin hotel is on the right (barely visible), it competes with the Hilton on the left. Amidst the huge hotel buildings you can spot a church - what a difference from European architecture, where a church or a cathedral building would dominate the landscape.

(S) San Francisco's Financial District is a forest of sky-scrapers where commercial offices are located. When you enter this forest, you feel quite surreal, with all the glass and metal reflecting the neighboring buildings. Even clouds are not real, as they are mere reflections of those in the sky. Here a most beautiful view on the Hobart Building - San Francisco's landmark. The building is situated at Market Street and Montgomery Street. It was completed in 1914 and with its 87 meters was the second tallest building in SF at the time. A standing ovation to its designer!!!

And here is another view of SF sky scrapers:

SF architects thoughtfully combine the old and the new: here is what may have been considered a sky scraper in the 19th century:

Another landmark among San Francisco's many symbols is the Transamerica Pyramid built in 1972. It does dominate the city's skyline with a 65-m tall spire on top of the 48th floor of the building. The best view of the Pyramid is from a distance (S):

The Financial District is best viewed from the sea, except that the fog can seriously spoil the spectacle. With the fog it seems that the buildings are so tall that they reach the sky.

It is hard to point to a center in an American city in the way centers are identifiable in European cities, but Union Square seems to be such a center in San Francisco: it is pedestrian friendly (you can sit down with a cup of coffee at a table in a sidewalk cafe or on the many wide steps), it is green, it offers space for street (and not only) painters and - most importantly - it is surrounded by big-name department stores, fashion outlets and luxury hotels.

Neighboring with the Financial District is San Francisco's Chinatown - a very distinctive ethnic neighborhood. Chinatown is not big (only 24 blocks) and it gives shelter to the largest Asian community outside Asia (around 75,000 people). Out of over 7 million Asians living in America, 35% live in California. No wonder SF Chinatown is quite crowded (S):Chinatown differs from the Financial District also because, with so many people crowding its sidewalks, it is not so neat after all. Chinese immigrants were forced into Chinatown in the late 1800s due to racist restrictions. It seems that every nation must find themselves a whipping boy, and Americans once blamed all their problems and failures on the Chinese (the crisis after the Gold Rush, the Great Depression), forgetting that it was mainly Chinese workers who were hard-working enough to persevere in the harsh conditions at the construction of the American railway, for example. (S)

Neat or not neat, the district adds color to the city as Chinatown architecture is very exotic (read: fascinating) to a European traveler;) (S)

(3) The Bridges of San Francisco

2008-09-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

The Golden Gate Bridge is the most easily recognizable view associated with San Francisco. The bridge was built in the 1930s and at the time had the longest suspension bridge span (the longest suspended roadway between the towers) in the world. The bridge is 2.5 km long, and its towers are 48-story high. The bridge spans the strait which is called the Golden Gate - it connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Surprisingly, the Golden Gate was never seen by the Spanish explorers from the Ocean and it was only in the 18th century that a European exploration team found it as an obstacle in their way north. This picture was taken from the ferry:

The Golden Gate Bridge can be crossed by car (six lanes altogether, three in each direction, it costs $4 to drive to San Francisco, it's free when you drive out of SF), by bike and on foot. I took this picture walking towards SF:

The Bridge is painted the color called international orange for two reasons: first, it makes the Bridge visible in the frequent fog; second, it helps prevent corrosion. Here is a nice view on the Bay, with the Rock (Alcatraz) visible between the gigantic ropes:

When you walk over the bridge and look carefully around, you may spot the following notice:

Originally, I found the warning of the fatal and tragic consequences of jumping from the bridge amusing, given that it takes just one look down the bridge and you can guess it yourself. But then, the Bridge is frequently covered in thick fog, so maybe a potential desperate swimmer has to be informed of his/her precarious location:

The majestic tower's peak hidden in the fog. The picture below was taken from the ferry, just click on it...

And, finally, driving along the Golden Gate Bridge:

The Golden Gate Bridge may be the most famous bridge in America, but it is the Bay Bridge (the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge) that was to be the longest in the world when it was completed a year earlier than the Golden Gate Bridge (1936). This Bridge is 13 km long and it took three years and the lives of 27 workers to construct it. Here the steel figure of a huge spider welcomes you on the way to the pier from which to view the Bay Bridge:

The Bay Bridge can be crossed by car only (the above-water sections), if I remember correctly, there are 5 lanes for the cars to drive along. This picture was taken on the way to San Francisco - another $5 or so:

The Bay Bridge is a complex structure: the top above-water section leads to SF; when you drive out of SF, you go along the lower section so you feel almost like in a tunnel. The invisible under-water section of the bridge is actually a BART tunnel which connects SF with Oakland.

The view from the Bay Bridge is impressive - on the Financial District in the background and the historical Ferry Building. When it was constructed (1903), the Ferry Building served as a harbor - ferries carried about 50 million people a year. Even now a few ferries to Oakland or Sausalito depart from the Building - to continue the tradition. Very romantic;)

(2) If you're going to San Francisco...

2008-09-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

My first impression of San Francisco was a slight disappointment - cold and windy, nothing about the weather inviting you to sing along Scott McKenzie's song playing in your head: If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. What flowers? What hair? I would much rather wear a hat, and a warm one.

The bracing cool and strong winds are the effect of the city's location at the Pacific Ocean and the fact that it is a peninsula - surrounded by water from three sides. The city, which has a population of about 800 thousand, is connected with Marin County and the pastoral hills of Sausalito (I heard Robbie Williams has a house there, as do many other celebrities and millionaires) by the famous Golden Gate Bridge from the North and with Oakland, which was once a favorite site of the Black Panthers, and Berkeley with its University of California campus by the long Bay Bridge from the East. Together they form San Francisco Bay Area populated by just over 7 million people. The Bay Area is connected by a network of underground (and overground) railways called BART (The Bay Area Rapid Transit).

BART is practical and fast, but San Francisco is famous for its manually-operated cable car system (well, system is too big a word, since cable cars go along just two routes, and they are basically tourist routes). Tourists then squeeze in to get a ride - I did, too, and it only cost $5;)

Cable cars were introduced in the 1870s, and the promoter of this idea was Andrew S. Hallidie, who, as the story goes, witnessed an accident involving horses which hauled a streetcar up a very steep street. He could not stand watching the suffering of the animals and propagated the idea of the cable car.

Cable cars have been operating in the same manner since they were introduced: there is a driver inside (usually very funny, noisy and talkative to entertain tourists on board), who has to leave the car at its final stop and push it onto the circular platform and then turn this platform by pushing the car. In this way the car turns around

and then is pushed away from the platform back onto the railway. It is only then that tourists may get on board.

The cable car takes you for a ride along San Francisco's streets - here is a very typical SF street, calm and empty on a Sunday morning.

(S) San Francisco is however associated with very steep streets, since the city is situated on many hills.

(S) One of the most famous steep streets in SF is

Lombard Street.

(S) And here's a nice view from Lombard Street on the hilly city.

(S) One more look at another typical street to end S-F tour part 1.

(1) By way of introduction: To name the things that have brought me joy...

2008-09-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

It was probably early summer last year when I bought myself the first (and only) guidebook of the Gazeta Wyborcza "Dream Journeys" series, which accompanied the paper's Saturday issue - it was The National Parks of the American West and it only cost PLN 5,00. It never dawned on me then that it was the beginning of an adventure: I started reading the book immediately after coming home and did not stop until (well, a short break for sleep) late Sunday afternoon. It was then that a dream was born: to visit the American West, especially California - possibly go to San Francisco and then the national parks: Yosemite, Death Valley, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and, ideally, Mojave Desert.

The chances for my California dreaming come true were at that time, well, slim: given that my prospective traveling companion, who has at least a 50% vote in matters such as vacation plans, would not hear of a trip to the U.S. until they stopped the humiliating procedure of mercifully granting us visas, I could count on making my dream tour... in retirement.

And then the unexpected happens - In February and then in April 2008 HE HAS TO GO TO THE U.S., which he does, and he loves it, and he says we have to go there together, stay longer, see more.

Lucky me, lucky, lucky, lucky me.

Due to the scarcity of guidebooks about America on the local book market, I discovered the merits of Wikipedia in my preparations for the journey. Every time I went on Wikipedia, my appetite grew. I so hoped that this U.S. trip of mine was not happening too soon, because a dream that comes true that easily somehow loses its quality of a dream. And we want to "dream on" - like Gatsby;). A propos Gatsby - delaying the trip too much might have produced a disaster as well - the dream could have grown so huge that the reality would never possibly match it, as has often happened with those dreams of America;). I was surely at a loss...

As it turned out, timing was just right. I spent three weeks in August in San Francisco and its environs (well, we made 5,100 miles, which makes up 8 thousand kilometers or so), I traveled through 6 states: California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona (to be precise, I also set foot in Idaho and New Mexico - but that's only for the record). Here are MAP 1 and Map 2 of the journey (a little patience is needed for the maps to load, sorry).

The subsequent entries in this blog-memoir will contain pictures. There will be two types of pictures: very-nice ones, (marked (S)), taken by Simon, who traveled with me and M for some time, and not-so-very-nice-but-hopefully-nice-as-well ones taken by myself. Sometimes I will add a map or an illustration downloaded from Google's Images, but those will be obvious.

P.S. I'm writing this blog to name the things that have brought me joy - not my words, unfortunately;) But does it matter, if the sentiment is mine?