The End

On Saturday afternoon, Harald brought Cindy and me to the San Francisco International Airport. We enjoyed the regular traffic jam on highway 101 for the last time... Nevertheless we were at the airport far too soon, so we spent more than an hour waiting at the gate. Fortunately our two suitcases could be checked in as they were both very close below 50 pounds. I already made a list in my head which things to leave behind first.

The 12-hour flight seemed endless. The huge amount of available film choices did not shorten it. After landing in Munich, we went back home by car. And finally... finally... Cindy could meet her boyfriend again ;-) !

Sunset

Yesterday was the last day of my internship. I could enjoy the cafeteria with all the Indian, Mexican, Chinese and American food for the last time. Well, that's probably not really true, as my corner of the cafeteria in fact rather looked like this...

It was a hot summer day, I can't imagine any temperature below 20 degree at the moment, let's see how it is at home when I fly back... Cindy enjoys the lying in the Sun of top of the sign to the "Java Java", which is of course just a cafe named after a programming language ;-)

After the sunset, I had to return my Sun identity and leave the office. 4,5 months of working as a researcher at Sun Labs are over...

San Francisco Giants

One of my deeper cultural experiences was watching a baseball game of the San Francisco Giants. The stadium is at a very nice location, such that you can also see the ocean from the upper places.


The impressive stadium was the positive thing, the negative thing was that the waves on the ocean were most of the time probably more exciting than the game itself... Mostly it comes down to one man trying hard to hit a ball with a device that just does not seem to be the right one for this purpose. The other guys on the field basically just standing around watching him as you can see on the picture below.

Only on far too few occasions the ball gets actually hit and only then there is some movement in the game. This fun part usually lasts about 10 seconds. Anyway, people watching the game seem to be more interested in their garlic fries, hot dogs, and popcorn. So they did not really care about the outcome. Cindy and I were of course big fans for the San Francisco Giants that lost pretty high in the end ;-) On the picture below you can see us standing on one of the seats. And yes, the jacket and the hood were really necessary as the wind coming from the ocean is very cold in San Francisco...

Planet Granite

As my internship finally comes to an end, I have a lot of "last" days. Today was my last day at Planet Granite, the climbing gym that Harald, Doug, Ben, and me used for weekly climbing sessions. Well, Cindy was there too as you might guess ;-)

Despite all the additional weight of the dog, I could actually complete some climbs and improved my climbing skills from being able to do a 5.6 (as on the picture) to a 5.9. The world of 5.10 and beyond is still mostly closed for me, but I will work on it...

As a true fan, Cindy is very proud to wear a Planet Granite T-shirt as you can see on the picture below. Well, maybe it is a bit too large, but they didn't have dog sizes there...

Good bye, Karthik! Good bye, Aritra!

The summer is coming to an end and so are our internships. Unfortunately this meant that I had to say good bye to my two first Indian friends in the last weeks. First, my working colleague Aritra left. You can see us below, sharing our office with Cindy. I tried my best to make a hiker out of him, which lead to two remarkable ascents, one to the top of Mission Peak and another one to the Nevada falls in Yosemite (even without bear-repellent spray ;-)). During our working hours we shared a lot of common goals that glued us together...

Shortly after Aritra, Karthik left too. He was my appartment colleague and also my hiking partner for nearly a hundred miles. And most importantly I could sit on the co-driver's seat of his car for a few thousand miles... He also learned me some basics of living here, e.g. that a red traffic light in America really does not necessarily mean you cannot go. Although his mountain biking skills made me feel bad, I appreciated the time with him a lot. Below you can see us (Harald, Christos, me, and Karthik) celebrating his farewell.

Pinnacles

The last August weekend, I made my first awkward steps in outdoor climbing in the Pinnacles National Monument. This post is so let, because the incredible temperature differences at that place caused me to have a cold. We spent two nights on the main campground. First we tried to climb "Rat Race". On the picture below you can see Cindy and me while roping down. It was pretty scary to be the first one hanging his life onto the rope...


On the next day the others did a more difficult climb called "Tourist Trap" (because there were always many low shoe tourists gazing at the climbers). First, Doug did the lead climb. On the picture below is Harald who went second. Third, Ben did successfully complete the climb.


The third climb we tried was going up the "Monolith". I already was a bit sick, so I did not try this one. It was also a bit scary at the beginning as you were immediately very high above the ground. Doug was quite excited during the lead climb. Below you can see him at one of the critical places where he must not fall, because the rope does not really protect him...


Watch out for Doug jumping off the wall!

Cindy was always busy studying new routes. Below, she analyzes carefully the white chock signs on the wall.

Downieville

Last weekend, I went with Karthik to Downieville. There we joined the family of my supervisor Doug and some of his friends for camping and biking. We did the 4 hour drive on Saturday morning. In the evening, Doug borrowed me his mountain bike to do a short test, whether I would be able to do the 16 miles downhill trail. Unfortunately I failed the test. I must admit that I'm just too much of a coward for downhill mountain biking. It was difficult for me to make out the fun part of the ongoing fear on the 20 minutes test trail. Additionally there was a helicopter landing at the trail head to transport a heavily wounded mountain biker to the nearest hospital. If you wonna know how the trails look like, just search for "Downieville" in YouTube. Despite it was Karthik's first mountain bike experience too, he did a lot better and decided that he can make the long downhill trail on the next day. By the way, he looks awesome when he sits on his bike with all the armor on...


In the evening we made a camping fire. The children Maya and Tobi could have their Marsh Mellows... I think those things are pretty disgusting and would have rather grilled some sausage. Cindy also enjoyed the warmth of the fire.

I decided that I like my life and therefore not join the others on the next day on the downhill trip. I'm just more of an up-hill-hiker than a down-hill-biker ;-) So, Cindy and me went to the top of the highest mountain in the area. It is a pretty impressive peak with a fire lookout tower on the top.


The last few steps to the top were pretty scary, as you had a lot of air beneath your feet ^^


Before going home on Sunday afternoon, Cindy and me refreshed ourselves in one of the small lakes that were around the campsite. But no Cindy! Don't jump! Noooo...

Good bye, Ford Focus

As my rental car contract ended a few weeks ago, I had to look for some alternative vehicle. It was a hard farewell to the car. It did a perfect service for more than 5000 miles, so I more than doubled the total mileage of the car in less than 2 months - Californian style ;-) So the selection of the replacement was hard, but there it is. I proudly present my road bike that I could lend from one of my working colleagues... To keep the bike and Cindy safe, I bought a lock and a helmet!

Mount Tamalpais

Today we went to the Tamalpais State Park, which is a few miles north of San Francisco. Just short after you go over the Golden Gate Bridge. On the picture below, you can see my two hiking companions: Christian and Giacomo, who is from Switzerland.

There were a few big trees in the park that seemed to be quite an attraction for the visitors. As I have seen the trees in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park before (see former post), they were far less impressive for me.


Checking weather forecasts is just senseless here, because it is sunny and hot every day. We did a long dayhike. First we went down to Muir Woods and then up to Mount Tamalpais. A few hundred feet below the top of the mountain, we encountered the American way of hiking. First there was a street plus a parking lot up there. So for a 6 dollar fee, we could have spared a few hours of hiking, if we only had known! Well, but as the last hundred feet up to the peak can be so exhausting for people who are used to drive everywhere, there was of course a cola machine up there... I bought a small refreshment for Cindy, as you can see on the picture below.


The height of the peak was only 2571 feet, but we got an impressive view of San Francisco and the north part of the bay. Below, Cindy is enjoying a rest, in the background you can see a very long bridge over the north part of the bay.


On the last photo, you can see Christian, Giacomo, Cindy and me with a view of San Francisco from the north in the background. It was again a hard day and we were glad to get free softdrink re-fill at the stakehouse that we went to in the evening...

Mission Peak

Today, we went to the top of Mission Peak, which is a small mountain in the bay area. We were short before 9 am at the trail head, but the parking lot was already quite full. It was also already pretty hot. After a bit less than 2 hours, we reached the top of Mission Peak, from where you have a nice view onto the South Bay Area. On the photo below, you can see from right to left: Christian, Kai, Aritra, me, and Cindy.


At the top, there was no cross, but a rather unusual device...


We hiked down on a hard-to-follow trail, where we met some cows. They were seeking the valuable shadow of some trees near a creek. Most parts of the mountain was however without any trees, just sere grass.

Further down, we discovered a large snake. Unfortunately, we did not dare to get much closer for a good picture and the snake did not take its chance to become a photo model...


There are a lot of dog rules that are stated at the trail head, so Cindy studied them carefully... Fortunately, at least I do not have to use the Pick-Up-After-Your-Pet stuff!

Half Dome and Clouds Rest

After a few weeks without a blog entry, I am finally able to post some more pictures. Together with Cindy, Aritra, and Kartik, we went to Yosemite to meet there an Austrian friend of mine and his brother. We arrived at midnight at the North Pine campground and luckily found the two guys who already reserved the camping space.


The next morning, we starting hiking up to the Nevada fall. I started about 40 minutes later, because I waited in line before the campground reservations to get a campground for the next night, but even though I was there 30 minutes before it opens, we only got onto the waiting list. After hiking very quickly, I could catch up with the other guys at the second waterfall. On the picture above you can see from right to left Benedikt, his brother Simon, Karthik, Cindy, and me. Below is the profile of our trip. The number of kilometers for the trip was probably even higher than shown on the profile using Garmin MapSource.


So first, we went up to Half Dome. Below you can see Cindy resting on a stone at about kilometer 13. In the background you can see the impressive shape of Half Dome.



Soon Karthik and I realized that the other guys were pretty strong hikers. Finally we found out that they were mountain bike professionals. Damn it! We should have known before... Just before approaching Half Dome they gave a short impression of their skills, giving me a hard time to follow. It was also incredibly hot, which made hiking very hard...


To get to the top of Half Dome, one has to use a rope to pull yourself up with your hands. Otherwise even climbing would be difficult, because of the steepness. We were not alone as you can see on the picture below. Half Dome is one of the most famous mountains in the Yosemite National Park, so there was some kind of a traffic jam at the ropes.

The top gives a perfect view of the valley. Below you can see me standing on the edge of the wall going down into the valley, trying to calm Cindy ;-) In the background you can see El Capitan with The Nose.


After Half Dome, we decided to try to do Clouds Rest on the same day and hike on to Tenaya Lake. Fortunately Karthik volunteered to go back to the valley and pick us up at Tenaya Lake with his car, which is actually a 1,5 hour drive in one direction. Doing Clouds Rest meant however doing another few thousand feet elevation gain... Below you can see Benedikt, Cindy, and me at about kilometer 22 with Half Dome in the background.


While the other two guys seemed to be fresh the whole day, I had to fight hard to complete the hike. At the top of Clouds Rest, I was pretty much at the end of my strength, but there were still more than 12 kilometers to go...


At 8 pm, after about 12 hours, we reached Tenaya Lake. Fortunately Karthik was still capable of driving, so we went home on the same night. We had dinner at 2 am at some iHop in San Jose...

Tuolumne Meadows

Last weekend, Cindy, Karthik, and I spent again in the Yosemite National Park. The original plan was to hike Half Dome beginning in Tuolumne Meadows, but unfortunately we did not get the necessary wilderness permit on the first day. So we decided to do a day hike to North Dome. On our way there we made a small detour to Indian Rock, which is a unique rock formation. You can see all three of us sitting on the Indian Rock on the picture below.
After 4.4 miles we reached North Dome, which gave us gigantic views. Cindy remembered the tips she got last week in Hollywood and posed immediately at the right position on a pile of stones. In the back you can see the north side of Half Dome.


We walked on towards Yosemite Falls, where we saw a few climbers relaxing after their hard day. Below you can see a picture taken at the edge where Cindy stares down into the valley a wall which is about two thousand feet high.


We were pretty tired when we were back in our car as the whole hike was about 14 miles. We ate at the lodge and slept at the backpackers campground in Tuolumne Meadows. The next day, we dismissed our plans to hike Half Dome, because the public transport system is so poor that the original idea of getting from the valley floor back to Tuolumne Meadows turned out to be impossible. Instead we did another day hike to Coulds Rest parking our car at Tenaya Lake. Unfortunately we started pretty late, as we were tired from the day before and needed more sleep as expected... As we were not sure whether we would make it in one day or need to camp outside, we took our backpack with us. It was incredible hot although the average elevation was about 8500 feet. The heavy backpack with the tent and about 4 litres of water tied to it made going forward not much easier. Additionally, mosquitos were making the hike uncomfortable. While Cindy seemed to have no such problems, they liked me best. I ended up with 40+ mosquito bites. After 3.5 hours we reached the top of Clouds Rest (9926 feet = 3025 m). The view up there was fantastic... Below you can see the east side of Half Dome.


The summit seemed to be a crowded place in terms of animals. Karthik could take two nice shots with his new camera:



The following guy made a real show out of his photo shooting, posing in different positions for a few minutes. Cindy could learn from him!

Ah, I nearly forgot to mention that Cindy was very lazy that day. Perhaps it was also too hot for her, so I had to tie her to my backpack and carry her all the way up...

In the evening we managed to get back to the car at about 8 pm. So on that day we did 14.4 miles and about 3000 feet elevation difference with our backpacks. Instead of staying for another night, we decided to go back by car on the same day.

Los Angeles

After her tremendous success as a photo model on this blog, Cindy decided that it was now on the time to take a step forward: A casting in the metropolis of film - holywood! As I could see the enormous potential for her career, I went down to Los Angeles to make her dreams come true. My work colleague Aritra was coming with me. On our way down south, we took highway 1, which is a nice road next to the beach. The weather was not so good, as you can see on the picture below, but Karthik promised me that in southern California, the weather will be always good - and he was right... Below you can see Cindy and Aritra watching some surfers, which practiced hard.

The way down took longer than expected, so with a few hour breaks (we visited for example Santa Barbara), we needed about 15 hours. We had a hard time finding a cheap motel at eleven pm, but finally we were successful. We were sleeping near the airport in a pretty cheap hotel - the receptionist wanted us to pay in cash to give us a good price ;-)

On the next day, we first visited the LA city center, which was a bit disappointing, but afterwards it was finally the big hour for Cindy. On the photo below, you can see her just before stepping onto the red carpet to enter Universal Studios Holywood.


Cindy is nine inches tall, which meant that her ticket was pretty cheap ^^ !

After the casting in holywood, we went on for some photo shooting in Beverly Hills...

On our way back, we took a faster route, so we needed "only" six hours on the highway. The land around the highway is often very beatiful, but deserted. Below you can see Cindy, Aritra, and me in front of one of the nice lakes that you encounter when driving on highway 152...