The wild west

It may be centrally located in today's U.S.A., but South Dakota is still the 'Wild West' at heart.

We spend a week in the old gold mining town of Lead, renting a one-bedroom basement apartment in what used to be miners' accommodations. Our house, like most of the town, was once the property of the Homestake Mining Company, whose Homestake Mine was the largest and most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere before closing in January 2002.

On a guided tour of the local museum, we are told that Homestake still supports many of its ex-employees. It also paid for part of the local public school, which is said to feature Italian marble flooring in one of its halls.

Besides relaxing in our apartment and eating at the local pub, we also spend much time in the neighbouring town of Deadwood.


Deadwood was once a lawless town that formed and grew despite a treaty that ceded the land to the Native American Lakota tribe. The town inspired numerous 'Wild West' tales, including that of Wild Bill Hickcock, who was shot in the back at Saloon No.10 while he held aces and eights. Saloon No.10 still stands, and offers a prize to anyone who is dealt Wild Bill's 'Dead Man's hand'.

We also visit the Mt Rushmore National Monument during our stay in Lead. The visit is pleasant, but I am underwhelmed by the monument, and find the so-called 'Shrine of Democracy' a painful, man-made mark in the otherwise beautiful Black Hills.

Yellowstone National Park

In Yellowstone National Park, the earth truly does appear alive.

Spanning nearly 9,000 square kilometres of forest, lakes, canyons and grassland, the park is home to hundreds of wildlife species and half of the world's geothermal features.

The park features eleven villages, each located for proximity to certain attractions. We camp near Canyon Village, which boasts an impressive new visitor centre, well-stocked shops, clean, modern toilets, and untimed hot showers.

Canyon's primary highlight is the 'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone', which is on average 304 metres deep, 838 metres wide and spans 32 kilometres along the Yellowstone River.

We view the canyon from the Upper and Lower Falls trails, from which we also witness the river gush towards the respective 33 metre and 94 metre drops.


When we've explored enough of the Canyon area, we head to Old Faithful Village to see the geyser for which it is named.

Because Yellowstone National Park is centred on North America's largest supervolcano, it features numerous sulfurous hot springs and 300 active geysers, of which Old Faithful is best known. The geyser erupts once every 90 minutes or so, shooting up to 32,000 litres of boiling water 50 metres into the air.


We also visit Mammoth Village briefly, to admire the colourful Mammoth Hot Springs. I find the Palette Spring particularly beautiful, with shades of brown, orange, red and green created by algae living in the water.

We spend an unseasonably cold three nights in Yellowstone, during which time we spot elk, deer, gazelle, and mountain goats. We also come across one very lazy yellow-bellied marmot along the Lower Falls trail, and a young grizzly bear about 30 meters from the road between Canyon and Old Faithful.

As we head East to exit the park on Monday morning, I complain about not having seen any bison. Not five minutes later, we turn a corner to see entire herds of bison grazing on the grassland. The one-tonne beasts are spectacular.

Sleepless in...

Our week in Seattle is spent doing not much at all.

We rent a two-bedroom apartment somewhere between the International District and Beacon Hill, which provides us with a comfortable base that is also reasonably close to the city.

Not much of note takes place during the week. Aside from spending a lot of time online, we get much needed haircuts, drink too much coffee, have a couple of home-cooked pasta dinners, visit a nearby Chinese-Japanese teppanyaki restaurant and dine at Morton's.

Even photos are scarce, as my camera runs out of power halfway through our stay and I am far too lazy to charge it.

Oh well. Our next stop is the famed Yellowstone National Park; that update should be more interesting!

Forks: no garlic necessary

At first glance, the little town of Forks seems awash with cheesy reminders of the currently popular teen book/movie series in which it features.

"Edward Cullen did NOT sleep here", one motel boasts. Others cling proudly to the town's status as the 'home of Twilight', hawking themed pins, stickers, chocolates, and posters of sun-starved adolescents looking a little too serious about nothing at all.


Thanks to a bustling tourism drive, fiction worms its way deeper into reality than I'd like. At meals, I can't help but overhear teenaged sisters arguing over whom a vampire or werewolf would love more, while their parents enquire about 'Twilight Tours' that claim to guide visitors to locations mentioned in the series.

When Jim and I arrive in Forks on Sunday evening, we are relieved to find at least one motel that retains some small town charm and integrity. We find the sky-blue Bagby's Town Motel very pleasant for the price, and its proprietors, efficient and polite.

We stay only one night at the motel, and spend the next three at the nearby Kalaloch Campgrounds. Owing to a beachfront location in the beautiful Olympic National Park, Kalaloch campsites are in high demand. We make plans to spend at least one day reading on the beach; however, these fail to materialise due to a bank mix-up that requires us to make several hour-long drives to the city of Port Angeles.


Nonetheless, our visit to the Olympic Peninsula is an idyllic retreat from the hustle and bustle of cities. The canopy of trees and constant cloud cover provide ample shade during the summer days and keep temperatures pleasantly cool for nights in a tent.

On our last afternoon in area, we take an impromptu hour-long hike through the beautiful rainforest to a beach near the Quileute town of La Push. Sydney -- home -- is across that expanse of water. Yet, as I watch the waters of the Pacific lap gently against the shore, I feel peace and calm as I never have before.

Surely home can wait for a little while yet.

WiFi cafes and grungy pubs in Portland

The first night of our 800-mile-long journey from central California to Portland, Oregon is a relief. We spend the night at Crescent City, and are greatly comforted by the jacket-worthy temperatures wrought by the coast and a layer of thick clouds overhead.

The stretch of highway from Eureka to Crescent City is particularly pleasant. We encounter a dramatic sunset while passing by moody beaches, and cliffs that overlook the clouds themselves.


When we reach Portland, however, we are greeted by an unexpected wave of heat. Our five-night stay takes place in 38-degree (celcius!) weather, and our studio apartment isn't air-conditioned.

We seek refuge in WiFi-enabled cafes, of which there are many. Coffee in Portland and its surrounds is also extremely tasty, and I have what is possibly the best coffee of my life at a restaurant/lounge in Sellwood.

One afternoon, it is so unbearably warm that I even manage to persuade Jim to spend a few hours in a suburbian mall. I pick up a comfortable grey maxi dress at Macys, and a pair of summer wedges at J.C. Penney.

Heat aside, Portland exudes a lovely little city atmosphere that reminds me much of Perth in Australia. Most areas, and even its CBD, are peppered with independent, grungy bars and pubs from which black-clad locals of all ages stumble at all hours.

People are friendly and refreshingly genuine; waiters sport visible tattoos and spout colloquialisms -- none of that stuffy 'sir/madam' business, thankyouverymuch.

One night, when we visit the Lucky Labrador Brewing Company, we come across a 'board game' party, for which thirty or so brewhouse patrons sit around several tables playing various board games. This is the city for us, we decide, when we learn that board games night takes place at the pub every Thursday.

Despite our love of the city, we are glad to leave when the time comes. Our next destination, the Olympic Peninsula, is known for dreary weather and we sure could do with a little less sunshine!

Hello, Summer

On the afternoon of July 24, we leave San Francisco's cloud cover and are plunged instantly into the heat of Summer.

Our first few moments in the Sun are glorious; we happily shed fleece jackets while we drive southward on the US-101.

But it's not long before things start getting too warm. To make matters worse, our car's air-conditioning system seems to be malfunctioning, so it only circulates air at ambient temperature.


It is about 3pm by the time we reach our destination, the Pinnacles National Monument campgrounds. The area is hot and dry, and shade is scarce.

In fact, our allotted campsite is in direct sunlight, with not even an overhanging leaf to save us from the Sun's glare. Fortunately, the Pinnacles seems to be one of the few Government-managed campgrounds that isn't fully booked for the weekend, so we are able to transfer to a leafier area.

Compared to other U.S. recreational camping areas, those at the Pinnacles are unimpressive. Its best feature by far is a small, cool, free-to-use swimming pool which we routinely visit every morning of our three-night stay.

By Monday, we are more than ready to leave sunny California. Heading northward in our uncomfortably warm car, we cross our fingers in hopes of cooler days in Oregon.

Life in a cloud

Our month in San Francisco is spent soaking up city life at its best: brunches at trendy Fillmore cafes; sushi, Mexican and Thai dinners; functional public transportation ... and high-speed Internet.

We sublet a studio apartment in Lower Pacific Heights. The centrally located studio affords us room to sleep, but little else. It's quite a change from spacious suburban living in Las Vegas, and it takes us awhile to get used to sleeping through traffic noises and the constant sound of foghorns from the bay.


It's also cold, surprisingly so. Despite Summer's arrival elsewhere in the U.S., San Francisco is engulfed in a cloud within which temperatures hover in the low twenties (degrees Celsius, of course). After three weeks of shivering nighttime walks, I finally give in and retrieve my coat from a bag of clothes I'd packed away for next Winter.

Our San Francisco experiences are many and varied, so I'd best present them as a list of favourites:

Yelp - The remarkable Web site to which we owe the discovery of most good things in San Francisco. It lists restaurants and activities alongside user reviews, and is so well used by locals that stores physically advertise their Yelp ratings in attempts to attract walk-in customers.

The Grove, Fillmore - A funky cafe that served up good ice-blended coffee, a hearty chicken pot pie, and the BEST apple pie I've ever tasted!


Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - With rocking armchairs, fresh buttered popcorn, a restaurant and an over-21 balcony theatre (complete with cocktail bar), the Sundance Kabuki takes movie-watching to new heights. We visit weekly ... at least.

Napa Valley Wine Train - Navigating several vineyards to sample random wines isn't really our thing. So we have dinner on the Wine Train instead, have a bottle of Napa Valley Pinot Noir with our four-course meal, and see the sights from the comfort of an old-style train cabin.

Free outdoor San Francisco Symphony concert - Much like Sydney's Symphony in the Domain, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra attracts a vibrant crowd to its free concert on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The concert takes place in the rather male-dominated Dolores Park, and features music by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Brahms.


Fourth of July at the Presidio - We falsely assume that the Golden Gate bridge is San Francisco's Sydney Harbour Bridge equivalent, and make our way to the Presidio for dinner and what we assume to be the best view of the fireworks. As it turns out, the pyrotechnics take place in North Beach. We catch a distant view with our dessert.

Brunch at Wing Lee - Super cheap and extremely tasty, Wing Lee in the Richmond is Yum Cha at its best. We order 4 pork buns, 3 shrimp dumplings, 2 huge spring rolls, 2 pork turnovers and 2 cans of diet coke for just over $10. Mmm!