Day 26

Today is Errand Day. We head into Reno - the closest major city to Susanville - to set up a new bank account for Emily, choose a new phone plan for both Kraft sisters, and get a new phone for Laurie. While in town, we also engage our inner glutton at the Atlantis Casino's dinner buffet. Restaurants like this are probably the #1 reason that America is fat, but it's nice to let loose and order multiple helpings of Mongolian barbecue.

Afterward, it's time for Laurie to head back to Phoenix, where she'll celebrate her 21st birthday before meeting up with us again in one week. We drop her off at the airport and start heading back to Susanville, but a fire begins to blaze in the distance, and the smoke drifts into our path like a dust storm. The police eventually close down our road. We're diverted off the highway and onto some back roads that eventually link up with our original route. Emily falls asleep in the front seat, leaving her father and I to talk about music and California for upwards of an hour. Em wakes up as we enter Susanville, smiling sheepishly and wondering where all the flames went.


Mr. Kraft goes to bed early in preparation for his first full day of work since last week. Emily and I spend the rest of our evening watching the "Borat" movie, which is hilarious. High-five!

- Andrew

Day 25

Waking up in a giant Best Western bed is a nice start to any morning. Em and I head back to Mr. Kraft's house, where Laurie makes us yogurt parfaits for breakfast and then whisks Emily away for an early-day dessert at TCBY. I stay behind and look at apartment listings for Ann Arbor. I take a quick break, remember that Emily's birthday is in a few days, and order three tickets for the American Idol concert in Glendale, AZ.

The girls come back toting a bag of my favorite potato chips of all time: Kettle Krinkle Cut, Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper flavor. It's a very happy day all of a sudden, and I forget about my housing trouble. When Mr Kraft returns home after dropping off Aunt Allison at the airport, we pile into the car and head toward Lassen Volcanic National Park to see the patches of snow that still remain from the cold months.

Laurie and Emily are excited about the prospect of seeing snow. I'm excited about doing something that doesn't involve swimming in a pool of mountain ice water.

The park is pretty. Steep drives, geysers, lakes, and mountains are the norm here. We do find snow, but it's much higher up than normal, which means Lassen is getting hotter by the year. Scary. We have an impromptu snowball fight and photo shoot before heading back down to sea level.




On the way back, we grab some food at one of Chuck Norris' local hangouts: the Kopper Kettle. No sight of Chuck tonight, much to Laurie's dismay.

- Andrew

Day 24

We reach Susanville, CA around 2:00 and are greeted by Emily's dad (David), aunt (Allison), and her sister (Laurie). Predictably, there's very little to do in the town itself, so everyone eats a fast lunch before piling into David's car and heading toward the mountains. We're technically driving to Emerald Lake to swim, but Laurie is more excited about one of the small towns we're going to pass through. It's called Chester, and it happens to be Chuck Norris' hometown.

The owner of a local convenience store says she knows where Norris' house is located, but the map she draws for us is pretty poor and we end up getting lost. It is with great reluctance that Laurie allows her Dad to cancel the search for Norris, and we reach Emerald Lake after half an hour. It's a pretty area with crystal clear water and no one else in sight. One problem, though: the water is cold. Like... ludicrously cold.

"This lake was frozen over," notes David, preparing to get in. "Probably just a few weeks ago, in fact." Then he slides into the water, swims a few strokes, and mutters, "Ooh, that's brisk," before swimming out of earshot. Emily, Laurie, and Allison all follow him, leading me to believe that the Kraft family must share a cold-resistant gene or something.

I stay on the shore, my bathing suit on, my teeth chattering. I step into the lake. This is the kind of water that creates icebergs and sinks ships like the Titanic, but I'm really hoping to some in-law points here.

Emily assures me that things get better the more you swim, and she's right. I'm numb after a few minutes, and the lake ends up being sort of refreshing. Afterward, we pass through Chester and eat at Maria's Mexican restaurant, where the waitress does not ask for my ID until I've already consumed the magarita she served me. Weird. Things are crazy in Chuck Norris' hometown.

- Andrew

Day 23

It's drearily foggy when we wake up in Crescent City, but things start to clear as we drive toward the Redwoods National Park. We only have a few hours to spend in the Redwoods before heading toward Emily's dad's place in Susanville, so we drive the length of the park and double back to take a 2-mile hiking trail.

The Redwoods look exactly like the rainforest in "FernGully." Everything is green, mossy, and massive. It's refreshing to take a hike in constant shade, with the canopy of giant trees protecting us from the sun. Also, my skin gets a lucky break from being slathered in SPF 100+, which is nice.

Halfway through, we leave the trail to explore a waterfall. We take turns jumping from rock to rock, being careful not to slip on the moss-covered surfaces. A little while later, I point to a banana slug in the middle of the trail, and Emily picks the little guy up. Banana slugs are the second largest species of the land-based slugs in the world; they're also the official mascot of the University of California at Santa Cruz. Most importantly, they excrete large amounts of slime when confronted by predators, which is what happens when Emily decides to make friends with our sluggish fellow hiker. Seconds after putting the slug in her hand, she exclaims, "Ah! He's goo'ing on me!" and puts the slug back down. A thick, glue-like ooze covers her fingers, and Emily spends the rest of our hike trying to wipe it off on tree trunks, leaves, and stones.

Driving back down the coast, we take a break in Arcata. It's a quirky Cali college town with vegetarian restaurants, record stores, and an impressive amount of marijuana harvesting and consumption. We park beside the town square and spend a few minutes calling local hotels to see if there are any vacancies. In the meantime, several dreadlocked rastafarians wearing backpacks waddle past our car, and the man parked beside us lights a joint before pulling out of his parking spot and driving away. Ballsy.

We eat vegan food at the Wildflower Cafe, stop at a record store to pick up the latest Ryan Adams disc, and start heading east toward Susanville. Emily falls asleep while I play my new CD and negotiate the dizzying roads that wind through the mountains. Susanville is too far away to reach in one night, so we bunk up in Redding.

- Andrew

Day 22

We wake up, pack the car, and tackle the Oregon coast once more. The driving is easier this time; the zig-zagging road has straightened itself out, and we're able to enjoy the ocean views without getting carsick. The Pacific Ocean looks white where it collides with the rocks below.

Bandon, OR is home to something Emily has been awaiting for days now: the West Coast Game Park. After putting on proper shoes (flip-flops aren't good for walking through animal poop), we pay our $8 fee and enter the gates. We're immediately greeted by a group of goats, deer, and donkeys, all of whom are unleashed and free to roam the park. They can smell food, and they know that Emily and I both have cups of animal feed in our hands. I dispense my own food and look over at Emily, whose lower torso is sort of invisible in the sea of mammals surrounding her. "The deer's antlers are fuzzy!" she yells. After her flock is fed, we set off to tour rest of the park.

It's an animal-filled visit. We touch a bear cub as it drains a baby bottle. Emily holds a young fox named Lucy, who nibbles on her fingers (this is Emily's fault -- we were told not to put our hands in the fox's mouth, but she does it anyway). We have a few encounters with cross-eyed llamas who sit in the middle of our path. We also see some caged animals, from lions and evil-looking felines to a hilarious baby duck. The Redwoods await, though, and we have to reach Crescent City before it gets too late. We continue driving south.


The scenery en route to Crescent City is significantly prettier than the city itself. Still, we manage to score some good Thai food in the area, and we fall asleep to thoughts about towering trees.

- Andrew

Day 21

We leave Portland and head for the coast again, stopping at another AAA store along the way. By the early afternoon, we’ve reached the filming location for famed cinematic masterpiece “The Goonies” -- Astoria, OR. After viewing the town from a hilltop observatory called the Astoria Column, I call my mom and coach her through a long Googling process that eventually yields the address of Sean Astin’s house in the movie. We drive to the house, get out, walk up the driveway, and reenact the movie’s best parts.

I do the Truffle Shuffle. I recite some dialogue. I walk into the neighbor’s driveway, stomp my feet, and shout “I want my bike! I want my bike!” No less than seven other people walk up the driveway while we’re there, proof that I'm not the only person who still loves this movie. The driveway must get a lot of visitors.

Driving away from the house, we see the corner store used in the one of the film’s deleted scenes. Man. Who’s a big-time “Goonies” fan? Me.

Like a lot of small towns, Astoria has sheltered its quaint Main St. area from the presence of chain stores. Everything is locally owned and semi-overpriced, but we find a good restaurant and have a very late lunch. It’s well past 4:00 by the time we get back in the car and leave, passing the local jail (also in the movie!!) on our way out.

Thus begins our long trek down US-101, also called the Pacific Coast Highway. The road is a little crazy this far up the coast; it parallels the shoreline exactly, ,meaning there's a lot of sharp curves. We park the car and stretch our legs at Cannon Beach, where the mammoth Haystack Rock looms offshore. We could’ve hiked right up to the rock if we had arrived during low-tide, but approximately twenty yards of rough ocean water is splashing in our way right now. Instead, we walk along the beach until our legs get tired, and then we hit the road once more. Our plan to reach the bottom of Oregon by midnight has been thwarted by our slow-moving progress on US-1, so we cut our losses and crash in Lincoln City instead.

Day 20

Happy Independence Day!

Andrew and I have a talk about how I tend to use the 4th of July as the marker for my summer - where I am, who I am with, and whether or not I enjoy it tends to serve as the best indication for my summer state of mind. He doesn't feel like that at all, but is willing to put some effort into making it a fantastic day.



We say goodbye to Joey and David, coming up with somewhat far fetched ways for the 4 of us to hang out again,

"You know, Andrew, there is music in Seattle. If this Ann Arbor thing doesn't work out.... you know... Move here!"

Portland is on the horizon. It takes a few hours to get there, but on the way we view Mt. Rainier and Mt. Saint Helen's before pulling off the freeway to follow the sign that says:

Towards Boring

Clackamus

That's where my sister lives! Who knows where Boring lies, but Clackamus is a northern suburb of Portland equipped with larger apartments, easier parking, and rolling green hills. After the tour of her apartment and some visits with Cirque du Kitty - Sara's shockingly acrobatic calico feline - we head out to Hawthorne Blvd. to get a taste of the town.

Hawthorne Blvd, however, is thinking that everyone would want to be elsewhere on the 4th, so they've closed nearly all of their shops. We wander a little and find a glorious Vietnamese restaurant before heading to the grocery store to buy strawberry shortcake supplies.

We watch the Project Runway marathon as we cut strawberries and later feast on shortcake. Around 9, we say farwell to my sister, who has to wake up incredibly early for work the next day (a pang of compassion and sadness for people not currently enjoying summer vacation) and find our way to the Oaks Amusement Park Annual Fourth of July Celebration.

We make it to the bank of the Willamette River just as the fireworks begin. Because of a rather imposing tree blocking our view, we hike up our pants and join the dozens of onlookers wading into the cool river to watch the patriotic explosions. It's a dazzling and completely memorable half hour.

- Emily