Nasz Sabbatical

18.08.2011

At the end of our North American journey we drove through the whole California, one of the biggest US states. It is a strange place full of huge contrasts. Next to pleasant landscapes such as Redwood National Park with the tallest trees in the world, luxurious estates, ranches etc you can see plenty of poverty and dirt. The infrastructure, since our previous visit here, collapsed significantly. It is also more pricey than the rest of the country. At one of our campgrounds in CA we saw a lot of long-time campers living in hideous trailers. It turns out that due to the economic crisis here many Americans, who lost their houses, have been forced to live like this. It is a depressing picture, particularly when you lose everything so quickly.

		Redwood and Point Reyes * WYŚWIETL POKAZ SLAJDÓW POBIERZ WSZYSTKIE

*For slide show of the above picutres, refer to the Polish version of this post.

A pleasant contrast to that was our visit to Napa Valley, north of San Francisco, known for its great wines around the world. Though produced here since XIX, the real fame of Napa Valley started in 60-70s of XX. After that rebirth the local wines would often be rated on top of the world wine rankings. Napa Valley is home to such well recognized wine brands as Robert Mondavi, Beringer, Domaine Chandon, Beaulieu Vineyards, or more common, entry-level Sutter Home.

Living in Napa Valley we could not miss a visit to a winery, wine tasting and observing its production. It is very interesting and can be summarized in a catchy saying that: “Great wines are made in the vineyard, not in the cellar”. In other words, it is hard to make good wine from bad grapes. The weather in Napa, like in many other places in Cal, is quite contrasting too. Mornings and evenings are chilly, while during the day it can be very hot. Apparently such a clime is ideal for vines.

		Napa Valley * WYŚWIETL POKAZ SLAJDÓW POBIERZ WSZYSTKIE

*For slide show of the above picutres, refer to the Polish version of this post.

Enjoying Napa we did not expect this atmoshpere would soon be continued. Before coming to Los Angeles, we stayed for a few days with a Polish-French family near San Francisco. Irena and Jean Claude hosted us very kindly. At their place we experienced the best of Polish and French cuisine along with great wine tasting paired with succulent French cheeses. Irena’s passion for cultivating Polish culture abroad is unique. Inspired by that we helped, along with a large group of Polish parisioneers, to make delicious pierogi (over 7,000!), for a festival at the Polish church in San Jose. Jean-Claude served every evening better and better wines. To conclude our visit he opened a bottle of wine older than ourselves, i.e. Chateau Chambert, 1970!!

Meeting Polish immigrants we could not do without conversations from the series “Poland, quo vadis?” Unfortunately the picture of Poland among Polish immigrants is not the best. A happy Polish family, travelling around the world for one year, seems to contradict the stereotypes of poverty and pariochialism of our country. When they learn that Poland is our favorite place for living, they are very postively surprised and almost disbelieving.

		San Francisco and vicinity* WYŚWIETL POKAZ SLAJDÓW POBIERZ WSZYSTKIE

*For slide show of the above picutres, refer to the Polish version of this post.

All great things pass quickly. After another great visit and hospitality it was time for us to head for Los Angeles (LA), from where we will soon leave for Fiji. Like the whole state, LA is a city of big extremes. The glamour of Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Venice promenades, Griffith Observatory, Holywood film studios contrasts largely with the rest of the mostly concrete desert, smog-capped throughout most of the year. Driving out of LA at 4 am to Phoenix, AZ to return the rental car, the 16-lane freeways were already full of slow-moving vehicles.

Unlike the great hospitality in Calgary, Vancouver and Morgan Hill in California,  we will not miss LA at all.

		Dream factory and more* WYŚWIETL POKAZ SLAJDÓW POBIERZ WSZYSTKIE

*For slide show of the above picutres, refer to the Polish version of this post.

Video:

Redwood National Park

Sprint car racing in Calistoga, Napa Valley

Visit to Sterling winery, Napa

Amusument Park in Santa Cruz

Driving down Lombard St, San Francisco

Pierogi making at Polish parish, San Jose

Guest ballet performance at Irena’s and Jean-Claude’s

Wisteria Lane

Earthquake in San Francisco

4.8.2011

The following state of our tour of slowly-ending North America is Oregon. This is not a place you often hear about. It is far away from big metropolis and it is not very warm, even in the summer. Having driven along the whole Oregon coast with a couple stops on the way we can definitely recommend this region. Oregon beaches reminded us of the Baltic shore with its velvety sand, cool sea water and surrounding wilderness. The only difference is the huge size of the beaches and tides here. Back to similarities there is even a large dune area beginning just south of Florence, being the largest collection of dunes in the US. They even have shore-lakes, like Polish Jamno or Gardno lakes. It looks like the weather here is similar to the cool summer in Poland this year. At coastal campgrounds they have a special warning system against tsunami, big earthquake waves.

		Oregon WYŚWIETL POKAZ SLAJDÓW POBIERZ WSZYSTKIE

Unlike in many other states we visited, the campgrounds of Oregon are very nice. Among many things they feature an educational program about nature similar to Junior Ranger Program in national parks. Coming here in summer high season without prior reservations you can often see the “Campground Full” sign. With “Everything is Possible” approach of ours, even there you can sometimes find some extra sites.

Visting Oregon we felt stronger bond with the American family, Mike, Rachel and Arron, from Oregon, who are staying at our house in Wroclaw,Poland during our sabbatical.

Among many advantages of Oregon such as Portland, Crate Lake, Mt. Hood etc, there is also an economic factor. They do not add sales tax here, like many other places in the US, on top of purchases (food, clothing). California, where we are nor, is way much more expensive. Camgrounds inlcuded – over 100%!

Watching the vast Pacific it dawns on me it will keep us company almost throughout the rest of our remaining journey. Luckily it will be warmer and warmer.

Belly sand surfing – video

Building bridges of Oregon – video

Oregon dunes – video

Free kiting – video

Playing with salamanders – video

31.7.2011

After a month spent in Canada we went back to the US. The border crossing was much easier than going into Canada. In fact it was perhaps the smoothest US border crossing ever for me.

Coming back to the US we had to adjust a couple of things again such as looking at the outer speedometer circle (miles) and not the inner one with kilometers. Besides, what must be pointed out, life in USA is much cheaper than in Canada. The gasoline price difference is 20-25%. It is true for many other items. The Canadian dollar, the looney, is also 4% more expensive than the green buck. Fortunately one thing remains constant after coming back to the US, i.e. beautiful landscapes. The state of Washington, not to be confused with the US capital of Washington, is famous for its woods, mountains, rivers.

Olympic National Park in the north-western most corner of the US was the choice of our next camping. This park, hosting 8 Indian tribes, is a biosphere reserve as well. Very peculiar thing here are so called rain forests. It may seem strange, since such forests can mostly be seen in the tropics, and not so far away from the equator. Their presence in the temperate climate is possible thanks to abundant rain falls brought by clouds from the Pacific colliding with the high mountain ranges with the towering Mount Olympus. Winters, including the animals hibernation period, take 8 months here! Even now, at the end of July, there is a lot of snow in the upper parts of the park. The moss growing on plants is so ubiquitous that you can hardly tell the north by looking at it. While in the rain forest we fell in love with the cedar trees. Next to Douglas fir, hemlock and sitka spruce these are the most common trees in the park. Their height can reach 60-80 m and they can live up to 1000 years. Since their root system is relatively shallow they are prone to collapsing under strong winds. The local Indians also liked cedar a lot finding several applications for its wood such as construction, canoes, tools, hats or even diapers made of bark.

		Olympic WYŚWIETL POKAZ SLAJDÓW POBIERZ WSZYSTKIE

Travelling further south on 101 route we see frequently the road signs with “Lewis and Clark Trail”. Driving through Wyoming and Montana we happened see to similar markings by the road. We have been simply crossing the historical route of the famous expedition of the two men.

Just like in Poland every child learns about the Battle of Grunwald (1410), in the US one of the pillars of history curriculum is the the expedition by Messrs, Lewis and Clark (L&C). It was the first, US government sponsored exploration of the west in search, among others, for the inland water way to the Pacific and then onwards to Asia.

The Map of Lewis and Clark Expedition

I was always fascinated by the furthest places on the map. One such place is Cape Disappointment on the Pacific, where L&C got after 18 months and 4000 miles of journey. Visting Fort Clatsop, on the other side of the Columbia River on the Pacific, we felt some bond with those brave explorers. It is here where they spent the winter of 1805-1806 before heading back east. We have covered over 5000 miles already and crossed several times the Lewis and Clark trail. When they were embarking on their journey a lot of its territory was not part of the US yet, making it a foreign trip.

During that expedition new animal and plant species were documented meticulously. A new, more detailed map of the territory was also drawn. Though the main goal of the mission was not achieved, it played a significant role in the territorial expansion of the US.

		Following Lewis & Clark WYŚWIETL POKAZ SLAJDÓW POBIERZ WSZYSTKIE