merchimerch | (no subject)

Wow Lassen is AMAZING!

I have never hiked in the snow on my birthday until now. It was phenomenal. I had no idea there were places like this a mere 3.5 hour drive from my house. It was great. We ate well, it didn't rain, we had a lovely campsite, and everything went pretty much right.

I got to go on a 3 mile hike to the Bumpass Hell volcanic area (yes I did just want to type out Bumpass Hell - heee look I did it again!). It was about a mile of gradual ascent through snow, looking at lovely wooded mountain ranges in the distance, then it was about a half mile of descent to the volcanic area with fumaroles and mud pots and all sorts of wonderfully disgusting sulphuric bubbly things. We did the reverve trip at sunset and it was beautiful. I only wish R's leg had been better so he could have joined us. We also did the little trail at the devastaded area with R and the 1 mile loop around Manzanita lake without him. I think Prof. H. had a nice time and still thinks that R and I are nice, if goofy, people.

We ate at the Black Bear Cafe in Willows on the way home and WOW! Great food. I packed enough food so we only had to eat out that once, and boy am I glad it was there. Enormous portions of delicious food. Anyone driving around NoCal should keep their eyes out for that one.

R took Prof. H to the airport at 6 AM this morning and made it back for about 5 minutes of cuddles before I had to get up for subbing the last 3 days of summer school (I'm a sophmore english teacher for the next 48 hours).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Portland and Seattle have traffic problems that are nearly as bad as San Francisco and San Jose.

I'm sorry, but I'm going to call bull honkey on that one. I've lived in Seattle and travelled through Portland quite often. Both PALE in comparison to the heinous traffic in both the bay area and LA. I believe it stems from the significantly lower population of both northern cities.

Actually I checked sources before I posted :).

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0855647.html

LA is in a class of it's own though.

and Seattle is close enough that yeah you might have a point, but Portland? no way.

Yeah, Portland has bad enough traffic, but the bay area is half again worse. These sorts of things are worth looking into when you decide on where you want to settle. Personally, I believe that the advantages of the Bay Area far outweigh the traffic problem, or even the cost of living problem.