This year, summer skipped town like it was running from the law — suddenly it was gone without a trace.  That’s good news for winter sports enthusiasts, though — the snow has made a very early appearance this year, ushering in what promises to be a long and fun-filled ski season.

Thanks to a mean snowstorm in the Eastern Sierra, Mammoth Mountain, California’s premier winter resort, will be opening for skiing and snowboarding this Friday, October 16th.  Opening day is a full four weeks ahead of schedule, and to celebrate the 2nd-earliest opening ever at Mammoth, all guests will ski and snowboard for free on the first day of the season.

Broadway Express will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily providing access to Broadway, Forest Trail, Mambo, St. Moritz, and Main Park with assorted rails and jibs.  More chairlifts and runs will be opened as soon as possible, as more winter weather reaches the resort.

Broadway's first grooming of the 2009-2010 season

In addition to free opening day skiing and snowboarding, the resort is also offering First Tracks lift and lodging packages for as low as $99 per person per night based on double occupancy.  Now through December 16th, stay two or more nights and receive one lift ticket per person, per night.  You’ll have four lodging options:  The Mammoth Mountain Inn, located at 9,000 feet, The Village Lodge, Mammoth’s home base and social center, Tamarack Lodge & Resort, an historic lakeside retreat with lodge rooms and cabins, and upscale townhomes and condos at Juniper Springs ski-in, ski-out resort.  There’s something for every taste — book soon for the best rates.

I love walking through Portland on a clear day, looking to the east, and seeing Mt. Hood standing guard over my city.  It’s a spectacular sight, and I never really give much thought to what’s going on beneath the surface of my favorite mountain.  On those same clear days, I can look to the northeast and see the flat top on a mountain that used to look a lot like Hood.  That flat-topped giant is a beautiful reminder of the blast that happened nearly 30 years ago.

I wasn’t around when the 1980 eruption happened, but I recently visited Mount St. Helens for the first time.  I went up for a day hike on a pretty mountain, but it turned into a really educational experience for me — the information available at the Johnston Ridge Observatory was really captivating.  I definitely recommend seeing this mountain in person, but as a preview, I’ll share some highlights from my visit.

My group and I started our day at the visitor center at Seaquest.  We asked the rangers where to go for the best hikes, and they directed us to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, closer to the mountain.  Driving to the observatory, I was really struck by the landscape.  You can see very clearly where the largest landslides carved out a canyon that extends many miles from where the eruption began.  The eruption wiped out most of the old growth forest around the mountain, and today the drive up takes you through a beautiful young forest comprised almost entirely of young noble fir trees.  Their branches are practically perfectly parallel, making the forest look almost computer generated, but at the same time totally natural.  It’s a beautiful view, unlike any other landscape I’ve ever seen.

The Johnston Ridge Observatory offers a ranger talk every hour and an informational video every half hour.  We checked out both and I absolutely recommend them.  Some of the things the ranger told us blew my mind.  For instance, Mount St. Helens is already well on her way to rebuilding herself.  There’s constant seismic activity inside the crater, and she showed us photographs that illustrated just how drastically the mountain has already changed since the eruption.  You think of the formation of a mountain as something that happens over millions of years, but the ranger told us that Mount St Helens will likely look like her old self, tall and pointy, within just a few hundred years.

Mount St. Helens before and after the 1980 eruption

She also talked about how scientists have taken advantage of the eruption and subsequent activity at Mount St Helens to learn more about volcanoes.  I am in no way scientifically inclined — I like nature, but I often don’t really get it — but everything I learned on my trip to Mount St. Helens was completely fascinating.

In addition to the science, there’s some pretty interesting folklore, too.  One legend I particularly enjoyed (but I may not be remembering the details completely accurately; forgive me) was that Mount St Helens was one of two wives of Mount Rainier.  The other wife was Mount Baker, I believe — anyhow, the other wife became jealous, and launched a fireball at St Helens, causing the 1980 eruption that knocked her top off.  Pretty juicy, huh?

After about a 90-minute visit at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, there was still plenty of time left in our day to enjoy some great hiking and spectacular views.  Mount St. Helens is an easy day trip from Portland or Seattle — you should definitely put it on your agenda for your next trip to the Pacific Northwest.  I can’t wait to go back and explore some more.

By the way, you know what footwear would be perfect for a day of hiking and exploring at Mount St Helens?  KEENS!  Read my review of their latest style and enter to win a free pair here.

The candy isn’t very tasty, and the dispenser doesn’t make much of a toy, but somehow, Pez dispensers have become one of the most commonly collected items there is.  Maybe it’s because I’ve only ever seen the candy sold in gas stations, or maybe it’s due to a vague recollection of an old Married…With Children episode where the Bundy family goes on a vacation and Ed eats a lot of Pez, but I’ve always associated the candy with road trips, and my limited collection of Pez dispensers is like a kind of scrap book of my own travels.

Everyone knows I love weird roadside attractions, so of course I love that the Museum of Pez Memorabilia exists — it’s in Burlingame, California, just south of San Francisco.  It started as a simple display in the computer repair shop the museum owners used to operate, but their Pez collection quickly became the main attraction, and has been open to the public as a museum for almost 15 years.

Calling it the Pez Museum didn’t fly with Pez Candy, Inc., so owners Gary and Nancy Doss named their tribute museum the Museum of Pez Memorabilia, which they say satisfied the candy company — at first.  In 2007, when Gary built a nearly 8-foot tall replica of Pez’s snowman dispenser, he got his little museum into the Guinness Book of World Records with the world’s largest Pez dispenser.  The Doss’ museum is also said to be the only place in the world where you can find all 550+ Pez dispensers ever manufactured by the Pez company.

The museum store sells nothing but Pez merchandise, and the museum and its website are a great tribute to Pez.  And now, Pez is suing the museum.  Sheesh.  The lawsuit complains that “the museum deceives the public into believing they are operating under the authority of Pez,” and asks that the museum destroy the world’s largest Pez dispenser.  The company also expects the museum to turn over any profits it’s made since opening in 1995.  Ouch.

Hopefully, the museum’s lawyers can convince the Pez company to stop being such buttheads and maybe instead of throwing lawsuits around, say thank you for all the positive publicity and free promotion they get from the museum.  The lawsuit is still pending, and for now you can still see the Museum of Pez Memorabilia and the world’s largest Pez dispenser in Burlingame, California.  Hopefully they’ll be there for years to come.

If you can’t find a hotel room in Las Vegas for under $40 a night, you’re not looking very hard.  I’m not talking about the fleabag motels off the strip, either.  All of the major hotels on the Vegas strip are offering deep, deep discounts, either through direct specials, or available through online travel deal websites.  If you’ve ever wanted to visit Sin City, stop waiting.  There’s never been a better time.

The economy is taking a huge toll on the Vegas tourism industry, forcing venues across the board to slash their prices, but the city is just as fun as ever.  In fact, I’d argue it’s better than ever — it’s a lot cleaner and more family friendly than it was back when cheap was the norm in Sin City.  Over the last couple of decades, the city has gotten a lot classier — and more expensive.  Now the prices are falling, but you can still have a tasteful vacation.  (Or a really, really not tasteful one, if that’s what you want.)

I go to Las Vegas several times a year, and I’ve noticed some major changes over the past few trips:

• Table limits are down in the casinos.  You don’t have to pony up huge bucks to gamble in the nice casinos anymore, even on weekends.
• The restaurants are getting cheaper.  I haven’t seen the return of the $0.99 lobster buffet just yet, but there are still some amazing deals.
• Rooms are cheap!  A lot of hotels began major renovations back when the market was booming a few years ago.  Now that the economy sucks, there are all these fancy new rooms selling dirt cheap.
• The strip’s not as crowded, but it’s anything but dead.  Vegas is still a pretty lively place to be.  The party’s still jumping, as they say.

If you’re looking for family-friendly activities in Vegas, or just something that takes you out of the casinos for a bit, definitely check out a show.  You can find great deals on tickets all over the strip — ask your hotel or travel agent about any package deals they offer, or check out vendors like Tix 4 Tonight for huge discounts on box office prices.

I saw The Beatles LOVE earlier this summer, and what can I say?  I loved it.  I wasn’t even a real Beatles fan before I saw the show — I am now, though!  What an incredible night.

Want to get into the hottest clubs?  It helps to look good.  Do your best to look sophisticated and sexy.  When I walked around the strip with my friend Kelly, dressed in our favorite dresses, people were practically begging us to come to their clubs.  We never had to wait in any lines or pay for any drinks.

Vegas’ bottom line is hurting, but that doesn’t mean the city is any less fun.  In fact, it’s better than ever, because it’s not nearly as crowded and you don’t have to spend your life savings to have a good time there.  I’m going back next month and I can’t wait!

Several recent mermaid sightings in Kirvat Yam, Israel have led the town to launch a new tourism campaign.  The municipality is offering up a whopping million dollar reward for anyone who can prove the mermaid exists.

This begs the question:  how does one prove a mermaid exists?  Surely photos won’t be good enough — with good enough makeup, anyone can dress up as a pretty convincing mermaid.  My guess is that no one will cash in on this deal unless they can bring the mermaid in the flesh.  Good luck with that.  (I wonder if the Bigfoot guys will try to get in on this.)

According to previous sightings, the mermaid is a young female.  She has been spotted sunbathing on the beach, but disappears into the water when approached.

I’ve always thought of San Francisco as Northern California.  Redwood National Park is also in Northern California.  So you wouldn’t expect it to be a five hour drive from one to the other.  California is big.

The drive is worth it, though.  Our visit to the redwoods was to be the last stop on my cross country drive with Jessica.  After this, I was going north and she was turning south.  Hiking in the redwoods was the perfect way to end our trip together.  Of all the things we’d seen and done over the previous two weeks, this was the most spectacular, in my opinion.  (I think Jess’ vote goes to Arches National Park, though.)

Driving to our hotel in Arcata, we saw our first redwoods along the highway, but it wasn’t until our hike the next morning that we got a true sense for their grandeur.  Driving up route 101, we were just going to stop wherever we could find a trailhead (an internet search told us we’d find plenty of hikes up this way), but the first thing we found was the Redwood Forest Information Center.  After we stocked up on postcards and souvenirs, a very helpful ranger recommended the Trillium Falls hike at Elk Meadows and we were on our way.

The ranger told us we might see some elk in the aptly named meadow, and sure enough, a herd of them was crossing the road as we pulled into the parking lot.  They’re not exactly cute animals, or even graceful, but it was still cool to see them!

Once we got into the forest, we were completely awestruck.  These trees!  They’re huge!

The Trillium Falls trail was a 2.5-mile loop (moderate difficulty) that took us through old growth Redwoods — some of the tallest and oldest in the forest.  These trees were much wider than I am tall, and pretty much indescribably massive.  Some are over 2,000 years old — it’s just incredible to be walking among living, yet ancient forests.

We saw lots of wildlife, too.  The elk were the only mammals we encountered, but there were all manner of snails on the trail, and also some very icky-looking banana slugs, which I’ve wanted to see in person ever since  my high school English teacher (a UC Santa Cruz grad) told us about them in class once.

They basically look like giant boogers. They even leave a snot-like trail behind them as they move. Cute, huh?

I didn’t realize that the Redwood Forest is right on the Pacific coast.  The drive through the area is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever done, and there are plenty of places to pull off and dip your toes in the ocean, which we did.

The water was freezing, but Jess handled it well.

We took two weeks to get across the country, which seems like a long time, considering it can be done in a few days, but I finished the journey wishing we could’ve spent so much more time in so many of the places we went.  I definitely want to return to the Redwood National Forest sooner than later.  Here’s hoping…

The day we left Reno was scheduled to be our shortest drive of the trip — just over 3 hours to get to San Francisco.  At least, that was the plan.  There’s quite a bit of road construction on that stretch of I-80, so it ended up taking us a bit longer than we’d hoped.  Finding parking in San Francisco is a pretty stressful way to finish up a drive, too.  The city has great public transit — if you can get there without a car, do it.  Parking is super expensive anywhere you go, and the streets there are pretty hectic.  We paid $30 to park overnight, and I swore to myself it would be the last time I ever drove in that city.

I hope your brakes are in good shape.

Once we found parking, it was all uphill from there — quite literally, actually.  I’d heard about how hilly the city is, but until I saw it for myself, I never imagined just how steep these roads get.  Seriously, don’t drive here.  (Walking uphill is good for your butt anyway.  Everyone in this town has a great tush.)  But I digress — really, aside from the driving and parking, Jess and I both loved San Francisco.  Our first stop was the Green Tortoise Hostel, where we were spending the evening.

Before we even checked in, we were in love with the place.  A look at the hostel’s bulletin board packed with city info and activities in and out of the hostel told us this was our kind of place.  The place was packed with young people from all over the world.  The common room is a great place to make new friends and get new travel ideas.  At the hostel’s free dinner that evening, we talked with some other travelers who were passing through San Francisco from different directions and swapped stories and ideas for the cities on our various routes.  After dinner, the common room becomes party central — once a week they hold the Beer Olympics, other nights there’s live music and dancing, and other nights it’s just a place to chill out and bond with other travelers.

We loved everything about the Green Tortoise Hostel.  The rooms were clean and cozy, the bathrooms offered plenty of privacy, and the whole environment was really rad.  There’s a recycling bin in every room, and a compost bin in the kitchen — like the name implies, this place really is green.  The staff was super friendly and helpful, too.  We told the girl at the front desk, “We’re in San Francisco for ONE DAY.  What do we do?”  She helped us narrow it down and then showed us what public transit to use and how long we could expect everything to take.  Thanks to her assistance, we were able to squeeze in lots of sightseeing and souvenir shopping in our way too brief time in the bay area.

Fisherman’s Wharf is just about a 20-minute walk from the hostel, so we spent our afternoon there, among zillions of other tourists.  There’s store after store of cheap souvenirs, as well as some finer shopping, dining, and kids’ activities.  You could spend all day here, but if you just have an hour or two, be sure to poke your head into Chocolate Heaven.  Yum!

Before we left town the next day, we headed to the Castro.  It’s a fun neighborhood, and we wish we’d had more time to explore, but we did find a spectacular Indian restaurant — I heartily recommend Bombay Indian to anyone passing through.

We didn’t have time for much else in the city, and we were bummed we were going to have to leave without first seeing the Golden Gate Bridge up close.  We wanted more time at the Green Tortoise Hostel, too, and we both decided we’d come back within the year if at all possible.  Sad to leave, we did get one final treat on the way out of town.  Our gps took us out a different way than we’d come in, and this was our final glimpse of San Francisco:

After our evening in Wendover, Nevada, Jess and I packed up early and hit the long and boring road to Reno.  When you’re driving through Western Utah and Nevada and you need to pee or get gas, even just a little bit, stop whenever you have the opportunity, because there won’t be another chance for many miles.

I’ve also driven to Reno from the northwest, and it’s the same story.  It’s pretty much a big city in the middle of hundreds of miles of nothingness.  Honestly, if you’re going there, I recommend flying.  But if you’re driving cross-country like we were, it’s pretty much the only place to stop.  And it’s not a bad place.

I have happy memories of Reno — it’s where I achieved the rank of Life Master in the ACBL at the 2007 Reno Regional Bridge Tournament — so I booked a night in the same hotel that I stayed in before:  The Grand Sierra Resort.

Following a string of no-star hotels and campgrounds, the Grand Sierra Resort was quite the upgrade.  The room was nice and spatious, the beds were the most comfortable I’ve had in a long time, and the pillows were the best ever.  The only complaint I have about the room is the internet connection.  For one thing, it’s $12.99 a day.  I’ve never stayed anywhere that charged more than $10/day, so that was a bummer, but the biggest nuisance was that it wasn’t wireless — you had to plug into an ethernet cable, which inconveniently would not reach all the way to the beds.  Given that I do most of my internetting before I get out of bed (including all my PT posts!), this was quite the hassle.  Get with the times, Grand Sierra.

Really, though, that’s my only complaint about this place.  It’s got so much else going for it.  I enjoy the casino, of course (which is large with good variety and table limits and has some of the friendliest dealers and cocktail waitresses in Nevada), but for those who don’t gamble, there’s plenty to do.  Grand Sierra has a bowling alley, a super cheap second run movie theater, a shopping mall, and tons of restaurants.  Jess and I ate at the Sierra Cafe, which is the only restaurant I’ve ever been to where you can order a $30 steak dinner, or a short stack of pancakes for $3.95.  (I had the pancakes.  They were delicious!)

The Grand Sierra casino has its pros and cons.  Pro:  low table limits.  Con:  not as many free offers with the comps program as you’ll find in other casinos.  Pro:  really good free cocktails.  Con:  easy to overdo it on really good free cocktails (not that I would know).  All in all, it is one of my favorite casinos, and a great place to stay if you’re passing through Reno.  Hopefully when I’m back there in December for the next bridge tournament, they’ll have wireless internet, too.

Our drive from Denver, Colorado to Moab, Utah was the most beautiful drive of our trip.  We had to drive over some very tall mountains, and I’m glad we were making this drive in warm weather, because I imagine that pass can be dicey with snow on the road.  For a while, we drove alongside the Colorado River, with huge, snowcapped mountains towering over us on all sides.

The road to Utah

Once out of the mountain pass, the speed limit on the highway was 75mph, and I enjoyed driving as fast as I always do without worrying about getting pulled over for once.

Now, not only are Jess and I both flaming liberals, but we both look like flaming liberals, so we had our reservations about Utah.  But the state is too large for us to skip altogether, and Jess really wanted to see Arches National Park.  Both Arches and Canyonlands National Park are within spitting distance of Moab, and with more time in the area, we easily could have done both parks, but our time was limited and we chose to focus on Arches.

Arches is a very large park, covered in red rock formations, most notably the sandstone arches for which the park is named.  There are lots of hiking trails throughout the park of varying difficulty.  We enjoyed the 1.5-mile hike at Devil’s Garden, which takes you up close to eight different arches, and offers great views of many more.  The most popular hike in the park is a longer, moderately challenging hike that goes right up to the famous Delicate Arch pictured above.  If you’re not up to that much walking, there are a few viewpoints down near the trailhead where you can still get a great shot of this arch.

To get the most out of Arches, you should be prepared to do some hiking, but there are plenty of formations and arches visible from the main road through the park, so it’s still totally worth a visit even if you aren’t going to hike.  Balanced Rock, pictured here, is one of the very first formations you’ll see, and it’s right by the roadside.

You can camp inside the park year-round at the Devil’s Garden Campground for $20 per night, but you should probably make reservations if you want to stay in the park — this campground was full when we were there, so we stayed in nearby Moab.

While we’re no fans of the politics in Utah, Jess and I will readily admit that it’s an incredibly gorgeous state.  Arches has been a favorite stop for both of us so far on the trip — I hope we get to go back someday.  It would definitely be a great place to camp, hike, and unwind for a few days instead of just a brief visit.

On Saturday, Jess and I drove from Colby, Kansas to central Colorado to hang out for a day in Boulder and Denver.  While the drive through Kansas wasn’t nearly as lame as I’d expected it to be, I was super excited to see mountains again.  When the first snowcaps of the Rockies came into view on the horizon, I let out a squeal of glee.  They’re just so pretty!

Our first stop of the day was Boulder.  Jess had visited a year ago and has been antsy to get back ever since.  There’s a point on the highway where you crest a hill and the city suddenly comes into view, and it is breathtaking.  We were excited to see our destination after another long drive.  Once in town, we headed straight for Pearl Street, where all the cool kids hang out.  With not much time to spend in the area, I felt like this district offered a great taste of Boulder — and a yummy taste, indeed.  The street gives way to a pedestrian mall on one end, hopping with entertainment, great food, great shopping, and interesting people.

We ambled along Pearl Street for a few hours, picked up some souvenirs and smoothies, and then headed back to Denver where we spent the evening catching up with some friends in the area.  Everyone told us about what a great place it is to live, but it didn’t take much convincing, really.  The locals say that Denver gets a bad rap for snow and cold weather, but really it’s almost always sunny and mild.  It was certainly lovely while we were there.  The only potential drawback to living there that our friends mentioned is that if you’re not a skier, people have a hard time understanding that.  If you do enjoy winter sports, though, I can’t imagine a much better place to live than Denver or Boulder, Colorado.

This was one area where we wished we had more time, but we had a date with Arches National Park on Sunday, and we didn’t want to miss that, either.