Wildfires

Today we had the 2 Wildfires burning quite close to us. The Briggs Fire was burning about 7 miles south of us and the Crown (Valley) Fire was burning about 2 miles north-east of us, what is almost in our backyard.

Clash of the Titans

Both Kenny and I wanted to see this movie when it came out this summer but because of vacations and schedules we weren't able to... so when it came out on DVD this week we knew we had to pick it up. Last night with our friend Thomas from Ireland we watched it and again I have to ask, as I did with The Last Airbender, why was there so much negative feedback for this movie. Now I know folks complained about the 3D as this was one of those films that was changed to 3D afterwards but if I did see this in the theater I wouldn't have seen it in 3D anyways.
I thought the SFX were cool, the story was the same as the original with a few tweaks and additional characters. The action scenes were fun and entertaining.I really enjoyed the 3 witch scene the make up was awesome, and the Medusa scene was well done. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It was one of those fun entertaining roller coaster summer movies and I'm glad I got it on Blu-ray so I can watch it again and again in the future.

For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about, here's a short synopsis:

The mortal son of the god Zeus embarks on a perilous journey to stop the underworld and its minions from spreading their evil to Earth as well as the heavens.

Vasquez Rocks, Islands, Titans

Today a friend of Kenny from Ireland came over for a visit. Kenny met Tom at ComicCon last year in person and they had been talking online trough out the year. Kenny and Tom where hanging out a lot at this years ComicCon. Tom came back up to Los Angeles before heading back home and today he spent time with Kenny and I.

Kenny and I took him to Vasquez Rocks for a mild hike and then to Islands for some yummy burgers. Once we got back home Kenny interviewed him for the Knights of the Guild Podcast. After that we enjoyed some very delicious cupcakes, that Tom had bought for us and then we finally got a chance to watch Clash of the Titans that we just had bought on Blu-Ray.

It was a fun night and we got to know Thomas a little better and we're very happy that he spent his last "full" day in LA with us.

Hope you have a safe trip back home, Thomas!

The Last Airbender

Kenny and I just got back from seeing the movie. First let me say that I've heard nothing but bad reviews and comments about it. From the previews both Kenny and I still wanted to see it. Over the years I've learned not to trust reviews in the first place. When it come to movies for me a rule of thumb is the worse the review, to more I will enjoy the movie!

If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about here's a short synopsis:

When the hostile Fire Nation threatens to enslave Water, Earth and Air Nations, a reluctant and irresponsible boy must face his destiny as the Avatar, the Chosen One who can restore the world order. This movie centers on the twelve-year-old Aang, who must forgo his selfish wandering to learn to master his latent powers over the four elements. Only then can he conquer the Firebenders, the evil Magi who threaten the world.

When the movie ended Kenny turned to me and asked me what my thoughts were. I just said that I had no idea what everyone was talking about... I loved it... and Kenny loved it as well. So once again my instincts were right on!!
It was a great story beautifully shot with absolutely amazing effects! I felt for the main character and it was non-stop action. There is never any downtime in the story. That's the way movies are supposed to be!! All in all it was a fun and entertaining movie and I would see it again in a heartbeat!!

Although I've never seen the TV series it's not going to change my view of the movie. The movie is an adaptation of the TV series and therefore it is going to be different than the TV series. People who really don't get that shouldn't be going to the movies in the first place!

I still can't get over the SFX... they show a lot of them in the commercials

but there are so much more of them. The ice castle and the temples especially are amazing looking.

I know that some people have complained about the casting. Fact is that you can't sell a movie with an all asian cast to masses. I admit that that's sad, but that are just the way things are. Considering that they that a great job with the casting.

The think to keep in mind is that this was only book one of the story. Although there is a beginning, middle and end they leave the door open for book 2.

A Visit to Vasquez Rocks

Kenny's friend Lydia from Switzerland/Germany came to LA before heading to San Diego for ComicCon. Kenny and I wanted to take her to Vasquez Rocks, since that only a few miles from us. The only issue was the temperature of over 100 degrees. We figure we go anyways and just show her the place.

When we got there they were filming a movie, signs said HIRO but looked like Firefly to me. Maybe it's the new Mad Max film. Anyways we got out and walked around a bit. Even though it was hot she wanted to take a little hike. About a half hour later and a lot more hiking Lydia hit a wall and couldn't go any further. While she rested in the shade with Kenny quickly got back to the truck and drove to as close as he could got pick us up. For a short time it looked like as if Lydia would be passing out any moment... she didn't luckily and we both made it back to the truck.
Once back at home both Lydia and I looked like we had heat stroke. Lydia actually took a shower to cool down and rinse off. After 2o minutes or so we both were fine and ready for lunch. Since Lydia is a vegetarian Kenny questioned the plans to take her to Islands (one of our favorite places) but they had veggie burgers and she was cool with that. So we had lunch, came back home and chatted for a bit. She debated on leaving at 4ish and dealing with traffic or leaving at 7ish and getting to SD really late.. she opted for 4ish and dealing with traffic.
It was a fun visit.. other then almost killer her from a heat stroke.

Vacation 2010 - Day 17

Today was the last day of our vacation. It was pretty much a travel day. Kenny and I had to drive back from St. George (UT) to Agua Dulce (CA). All in all that would have been an trip of about 390 miles or so. That wouldn't have been so bad if there wouldn't have been some things to take into consideration.

First of all I absolutely refuse to drive through Arizona. As far as I'm concerned they can keep their fascist law and their state. I have no interest in Arizona and I've made a decision not to buy products from Arizona and not to do business with companies located in Arizona, and I certainly don't drive through that rotten state!

So I had to find a way around Arizona into Nevada. After some searching of Google Maps I found the route. Okay it was going to add about 140 miles to our travel, but I was willing to accept that. So we took State Route 18 north to Highway 219. The plan was to follow highway 219 west to highway 319. That is possible, but Google Maps didn't tell me anything that about half of highway 219 is unpaved and not much more than a dirt road. At first it was no problem at all, but suddenly we came to a fork in the road and it wasn't quite clear what the right choice would be. My gut was telling me to take the road that was leading to the right. But to make sure we consulted the GPS and zoomed out and saw highway 319 and assumed that the road that was leading to the right would be the right one. So we took this one and a couple of miles later it we got reassured that it had been the right choice, by a sign telling us that highway 319 should be coming up in about 15 miles. Just for that one situation it would have been good to have an actual street map of Utah in the car, instead of solely relying in the GPS. Besides all that it was quite an really interesting part of the trip. Gave as a good idea how highways used to be 60 or 70 years ago. We also saw live stock and horses crossing the road. Was very interesting indeed... and it was the first time that we crossed a state line on a dirt road.

So we finally made it to highway 319 and followed it west to the junction with US Route 93. We followed the 93 south until we reached the I-15. In North Las Vegas we got off the I-15 to get gas and have lunch.

After lunch I took over as driver. Up to that point we haven't had any holiday traffic, so I expected everything to go smoothly. Everything went fine until we got out of Las Vegas, after that we hit the holiday traffic. The speed came down to a crawling 15 mph. It really took as 1 hour to drive 15 miles. I estimated that with that speed it would take us about 25 hours to get back home... and I was not amused about that. After Primm (NV) the speed picked up. Between Primm and the Agricultural Check Point we hit here and there pockets of very heavy traffic. Fortunately the speed kept picking up. The only good thing was that my truck was working perfectly fine and we had at least AC all the way, what made a bad situation way more tolerable. By 7.30 pm we finally had it made to Victorville(CA) and took the Pearblossom Highway and Highway 138 to the Highway 14 and at about 8.30 pm we finally had it made back home. The last leg of our vacation was about 500 miles long and it took us about 10 hours to get from St. George (UT) back home.

This leg of the trip has certainly taught me two lessons: Not everything what appears to be a highway on Google Maps is actually a paved highway. Just because something is actually a dirt road it still can be considered a highway.

Vacation 2010 - Day 16

Today was the last day of sightseeing of our 2010 Vacation. We planned to visit Zion National Park. So we left around 10 am, took I-15 to Highway 9 and followed it east. about 1 hour later we got to Zion. We checked the map and it turns out that most of the features of Zion can be explored of you go backpacking. Since dogs are not allowed on trails, that wasn't really an option. So we drove through the southern part of Zion. That are about 15 miles or so, but is still absolutely impressive and the rock formations are incredible. Something that definitely has be experienced in person. Guess at a later time we have to go back in to Zion without the dog and go backpacking. We crossed Zion from West to East and by the time we reached the East Entrance it was just a little after noon. So we decided to go up north to see Bryce Canyon National Park as well.
So we took US Route 89 north to Highway 12. We followed highway 12 east. First we reached the Red Canyon within the Dixie National Forest. That canyon has amazing rock formations, but the real absolutely impressive feature is, that this canyon has to most intense shade of red I have ever seen. It's hard to describe, that's something that has to be experienced in person. The color of the canyon did remind me about pictures of Mars. At every view point we stopped to take pictures and video of the Red Canyon.
We followed highway 12 and got to the entrance of Bryce Canyon National Park. While we were driving the first few miles I started to rain lightly. I was thinking just what I want to do: Sightseeing in the rain. Fortunately it stopped raining pretty quickly. First we stopped at a point called Swamp Canyon. You have a pretty good view of parts of Bryce Canyon and here it becomes clear, why it is called a canyon. Until that point it reminded me more of your average forest. We drove further up and decided to stop at most of the view points on our way back down, since they all were on the opposite side.
We finally made it to Rainbow Point, the endpoint of the road and with an elevation of 9115 feet also the highest point of the canyon. From this point you have an absolutely amazing 180 degree view. You see one amazing view and you turn a little to either side you see an even more amazing view. The Hoodoo's are absolutely amazing. That are Sandstone Columns of the mast amazing sizes and forms I have ever seen. I have seen Sandstone Columns before but never that many in one place and not in that many different shapes and they're in the most amazing shade of red.
After we had taken pix and video we started to drive back down. We stopped at several view points and from every view point we had an absolutely amazing view. Here one viewing point stood out. This point was called Natural Bridge. It's kind of a rock bridge, but it reminded me way more of an arch. Regardless it was just amazing to look at. After taking pix and video we continued to drive down Bryce Canyon. We stopped at several amazing viewing points before we got to Bryce Point.
That viewing point has an absolutely incredible view. Again you have an 180 degree view of a Hoodoo's as far as the eye can see. It was absolutely incredible. While I was taking video I saw way down at the bottom what looked like a hiking trail... the only thing I thought was, that this has to be one of the most amazing hiking trails I have ever seen. Some of the trails at the viewing point is the way trails in the mountains are supposed to be... completely unsecured. I followed on trail towards Inspiration Point but decided to turn back in time, since Kenny was waiting in the car with Daisy. Once Kenny had gotten out to see the viewing point I checked the map and found out that you could actually hike from Rainbow Point to the Visitor Center. Okay, you can't do that in 1 day... that would be taking you a couple of days. Guess we will have to go back to Bryce Canyon and hike that entire trail, but in order to do so we have to leave the dog at home.
Next up was a viewing point called Paria View. This point has also some really great views, but doesn't even remotely compare to Bryce Poinr. I took video and then it was Kenny's turn. Once Kenny was back we moved on to the next point, called Inspiration Point. I walked up first and took video. Well it is pretty much a very similar view than the one you have from Bryce Point, but still absolutely impressive. You get a little better view of the hiking trail through the Hoodoo's. Once I was back, Kenny opted not to check out this particular view.
We then moved on Sunset Point. Kenny got out first and checked it out. It's another amazing view of Bryce Canyon and the Hoodoo's. You get as well a very great view where the hiking trail pretty much ends. After Kenny got back it was my turn. I really have to say that this viewing point certainly didn't disappoint. After taking video we moved on to Sunrise Point. This point is pretty much more of what we have seen so far.
After that we started to head back to the hotel, since it was almost 6 pm... and the drive back to the hotel would be about 2 hours. So we spent quite a lot of time in Bryce Canyon. The only way to describe Bryce Canyon is: absolutely amazing. The only thing I wish would be, that dogs would be allowed on trails!!

Vacation 2010 - Day 15

Today was pretty much a travel day. We were going down to St. George (UT) since we will be visiting Zion National Park tomorrow, and St. George was the closest city where we were able to get a hotel. That's a trip that is roughly 300 miles long.
We got up at our usual time and started to get ready. By 10 am the truck was all packed up and we were ready to leave. So we took US Route 191 North until we reached the junction with I-70. We followed I-70 to the junction with US Route 6. We stayed on I-70 and followed it west.
I-70 is way more interesting to drive than the I-15, as the areas you drive through are way more diverse. There are a couple of view points along the freeway and we checked them all out. 2 especially were standing out: Black Dragon Canyon and Bottom of the Sea. Black Dragon Canyon is a mini version of the Grand Canyon and therefore very impressive. Bottom of the Sea is, like the name suggests, the former ocean floor and quite an impressive site as well.
The only thing that you have to consider when traveling the I-70 is the fact that you should make sure you have enough gas. I didn't fill the truck up at the junction with US Route 6 and you have only 1 chance to fill up for about 106 miles.
I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to Salina, so I got off the freeway and drove to the little town of Emery (UT), what is about 12 miles from the freeway to get gas. That was quite an adventure. First of all I haven't seen gas pumps that old in quite a long time. Secondly you have to pay inside, as there is no option to pay outside with credit or debit card. The last time I have seen that had to be more than 8 years ago. So we filled the truck up and headed back to the freeway.
We probably could have made it to Salina, but it was better not to take chances. We got off the freeway in Salina anyway and had lunch at Denny's. We got back onto the freeway and continued to head south-west until we hit I-15. we got onto I-15 and headed south. At the next rest stop I let Kenny take over the driving, since there is no reason for me to drive all the way. Besides that I had already been driving for over 200 miles, so letting Kenny drive the last 100 miles seemed to be the right thing.
The further we got south the hotter it got. So far it hadn't been that bad... It has been around 85 all day long. That changed during the last 30 miles, when the temperature went up to 100. Pretty toasty. At 4.30 pm we had finally made it to the hotel in St. George (UT).

Vacation 2010 - Day 14

Today we took a trip into Arches National Park. Since we were staying in Moab (UT) we were only a couple of minutes from the park entrance. We started driving into the park and stopped right at the beginning at a point from where have a great look at the Moab Fault. We then continued driving through the park. And the same thing as in Glacier National Park was happening. You see one absolutely great view and you turn around to find an even more amazing view. We got to see lots of a absolutely amazing rock formations. Those have to been experienced personally. Words are just a very inadequate way to describe them.
Our next stop was a point called Courthouse Towers. An absolutely stunning rock formation. Kenny and I took lots of pix and video. Next up was a stop at the Petrified Sand Dunes. As the name suggests that is a rock formation that looks like sand dunes frozen in stone. Again we took enough time to take pictures and video. Up next was the Balanced Rock. This formation features a large rock being balanced on a very small surface. I have roughly an idea how that thing got to be created, but it still looks like as if the rock would be coming down at any minute.
We stopped at a formation called the Garden of Eden. We got out walked a little around and took pix and video. When I looked at the entire formation I really couldn't see how they came up with that name. It looked way more like "Lot's Garden" to me.
Next up was our first real arch. This feature was called Windows. I walked up and took quite lots of video. I got also to take same video of the second arch of the Windows arch feature. Then I walked over to an very cool looking arch, called Turret arch. After I was done taking video I walked back to the car and it was Kenny's turn to walk to the arch to take pictures, since dogs are not allowed on trails in Arches National Park. Next up was an overview point from where you have a very good overlook over the 'Salt Valley'.
Next we checked out the "Delicate Arch". Kenny walked up first and checked out the lower and the upper view point. Turns out that it doesn't really matter which view point you choose, you pretty much have the same view. The only way to get a really good look of that arch, would be to take the 3 mile long hike to the arch, what we couldn't do since we had Daisy with us. So I only walked to the lower view point and took video.
After that we drove further towards the end of the road. This point was called "Fiery Furnace" and is definitely that needs to be experienced in person. I've seen formation like that before, but not in that color and not so many of them all in one place. The next stop was an arch called "Skylight Arch". It's a very cool looking arch. Kenny walked up first to take pictures. Once he got back, it was my turn. I walked up to the arch and took video. I saw some people right inside the arch and tried to find a way up there. But I wasn't successful with that. Either there is an easier way from a different side... as the only way from this side would have been some really serious rock climbing.
Once we were done with that, we drove to "Devils Garden", were the road ends. We took pix and video, but couldn't go up to any of the features since that would have been a longer hike and since dogs are not allowed on trails that wasn't an option. So we didn't see Landscape Arch and a couple of other arches.
While driving back we checked out a dirt road for a very short time. If we had continued we could have checked out Tower Arch and then made the decision to take a 4x4 trail back to one of the first park features we checked out, or continue on the dirt road through Salt Valley and get back to Highway 191. If it would have been solely up to me I would have done that without any question... after all I'm the the one who is always up for an adventure. Kenny on the other hand not so much. So we got back on the main road and drove back to the hotel. So in all it was a really amazing day... a little on the hot side maybe, but really fun!!

Vacation 2010 - Day 13

Today was another travel day. We had planned to drive from Ogden (UT) to Moab (UT), since we will be visiting Arches National Park tomorrow.
We packed up the truck and continued on the I-15 south trough Salt Lake City. We didn't get to see much of the City, since the I-15 goes through a mostly industrial area. While we were driving south it got hotter and hotter and started pretty much to look like SoCal. I started to raise the question why on earth we are living in a desert, when the temperatures of the Pacific North-West are so much nicer.
Once we got to the junction with US Route 6, we got onto the 6 and followed it to the junction with State Route 189. Here the scenery finally started to look like Utah... or it started to look like I pictured Utah in my mind. In the city of Price we had lunch at Wendy's and after lunch Kenny took over to drive the remaining 150 miles to Moab. As we were heading down State Route 191 it got hotter and hotter. Definitely temperatures similar to Socal and we finally got to see the cool rugged, red-brown rock formations. This leg of the trip was about 270 miles long and tomorrow we will check out Arches National Park.

Vacation 2010 - Day 12

Today was pretty much a travel day. We had planned to travel from Butte (MT) to Ogden (UT). Ogden was pretty much a stop, since we didn't want to drive all the way from Butte to Arches National Park. We packed up the truck and were getting ready to leave. Kenny trying to be efficient or just lazy put my coffee travel mug into the same bag as the HD Video Cam... and of course the cam got soaked in coffee. At first it didn't look all that bad, but somehow the coffee got into the cam and into the lens and the cam started to malfunction. To make a long story short. This cam is pretty much wrecked... at least for the moment. It's a $ 500 mistake. And since that not the end of the trip the cam needs to be replaced.
At the moment there wasn't much we could do about that and we had to hit the road and head south. We got onto the I-15 and headed south. Once you have passed the Continental Divide (all rivers south of the divide drain to the south, while rivers north of the divide drain north) it's actually a pretty boring drive. Straight freeway through mostly flat farmland. So nothing really interesting. We stopped in Idaho Falls (ID) for lunch and to replace my defective video camera. Of course we couldn't find the same model but the model that came out after that. There are slight differences. The 2 cams don't use the same battery pack. So for this vacation I have only on batter. The next difference is that my old video cam had an internal hard drive on top of the Flash Card. The new one doesn't. So for now I just have to Flash Card to record media. Well I can live with that. And then there is a difference in how media is being recorded with the new cam, as I get about 20 min. less footage onto the card. Something I can live with as well.
After dinner we continued to head south on the I-15 and reached Ogden, today's destination around 6 pm. This leg of the trip was 395 miles.