backpacking

Posledný víkend v štátoch som strávila na turistike s Jessem a Mattom. Išli sme na tri dni do Holy Cross Wilderness, krásnej časti hôr v Colorade. Spravili sme skoro 30 míľ a 6000 stopový rozdiel v nadmorskej výške, pokorili dva horské priechody, campovali na krásnych miestach, trochu na nás aj napršalo a schovali sme sa v „meste duchov“ a zažili sme kopu srandy. Bol to namáhavý, ale super víkend!

I spent my last weekend in the States backpacking with Jesse and Matt. We drove out to Holy Cross Wilderness, parked and then spent three days ‚in the wild‘. We backpacked in a gorgeus part of Colorado, did almost 30 miles and 6000 feet in elevation gain, ‘defeated‘ two mountain passes, camped in the most beautiful spots, got rained on and hid in a ghost town, and had a blast! Thank you so much guys, it was the best ending to my year!

splnený sen

Dnes sa mi splnil jeden z mojich najväčších snov - skok z lietadla! Mattov kamarát Brendan je inštruktor a pracuje pre "parašutistickú" školu, ktorá robí tandem zoskoky, takže sme s ním dnes skákali. Teda Matt skákal s Brendanom a ja s iným inštruktorom, Travisom. Bol to jeden z najlepších zážitkov. Vyleteli sme asi do 3600 metrov a vyskočili z lietadla. Skôr "vypadli" ako skočili, nie je to naozajstný skok. Potom sme po pár sekundách dosiahli maximálnu rýchlosť a padali skoro 200 km/h. Voľný pád trval asi 50 sekúnd, potom sme otvorili padák a pomaly sa zniesli na zem, čo trvalo asi 5 minút. Travis mi ukázal aj nejaké triky, otočky a tak :) Bolo to SUPER!!! Najlepší výhľad na svete! 

Today, one of my biggest dreams came true!!! I got to jump out of a plane! Brendan, a friend of Matt's is a skydiving instructor and works for a skydiving school in Longmont that does tandem jumps. So we got to jump with him today. Actually, Matt was the one jumping with Brendan and I jumped with another instructor, Travis. It was one of the greatest things ever. You get to 12,000 feet and 'fall' out of the plane. In a couple of seconds you reach terminal velocity and are falling 120 mph. The free fall lasts about 50 seconds, then you open the parachute and glide for about 5 minutes or so. Travis did some spins and tricks with me, too. It was AWESOME!!! The best view in the world. Thanks so much Matt, Brendan and Travis for making this happen.  

back in denver

Tak sme dorazili naspäť do Denveru, dali raňajky v Snooze, zmrzku v Liks a moju rozlúčkovú party. Už mám len necelé dva týždne.

We got back to Denver and did some fun stuff like breakfast at Snooze, ice-cream at Liks or my good-bye party. Thank you all guys for coming, I had a blast! Less than two weeks to go :(

moab & arches

Vo štvrtok večer sme dorazili k Moab a campovali kúsok pred mestom. Ráno sme dali raňajky v Eklectica a prešli sa trochu po meste. Potom sme sa vydali do Arches, chcela som ísť na túru k Delicate Arch, je to jedna z najznámejších v parku a jedna z mála, ktoré som ešte nevidela z blízka. Bolo ale hrozné teplo a vyzeralo to, že sa blíži poriadna búrka. Ale povedali sme si že čo, skúsime. Nabrali sme kopec vody a vybrali sa hore. Nakoniec to bolo dobré, aj keď bolo horko, aspoň bolo zamračené a nakoniec nás búrka obišla. Som rada, že sme to nevzdali. A z Arches sme už valili domov. 

We arrived to Moab on Thursday night and camped just outside the town. We grabbed breakfast at Eklectica and walked around Moab a little bit. Then we headed to Arches. I really wanted to do the Delicate Arch hike but it was terribly hot and it looked like a storm was coming. But whatever, we packed a lot of water and took our chance. In the end it was good because we walked up under a cloudy sky and the storm did not hit us. I'm glad we decided to go, it was gorgeous. And the we headed back home. 

bryce

V Bryce Canyon NP sme nemali veľa času, takže sme sa zaviezli až na koniec a cestou naspäť sa zastavovali na zaujímavých miestach. Bryce sú krásne, hlavne oranžové skaly. 

We didn't have a lot of time to spend in Bryce Canyon, so we drove all the way to the end of the road and on the way up we stopped wherever it was interesting ;) The orange rocks of Bryce are beautiful!

...heading back home

Z LA to už bola viac-menej cesta naspäť, samozrejme, že sme sa ešte všelikde pozastavovali. V utorok sme sa dostali z mesta, campovali kúsok za LA a v stredu ráno sme vyrazili smerom do Utah. Zastavili sme sa vo Vegas na obed, ale to bolo všetko, lebo tam (čo je dosť divné) pršalo. Nu, ale Mathias videl Vegas aspoň z auta. Prešli sme časťou Arizony a dostali sa do Utah, až do Bryce Canyon NP a tam zalomili. Dokonca sme stavali stan za svetla... neobvyklé :) 

From LA it was, more or less, a trip home. We, of course, stopped at a few places. We left the city on Tuesday afternoon and camped outside LA; and headed towards Utah on Wednesday morning. We stopped for lunch in Vegas, but that was it because it was, oddly enough, raining in Vegas. We drove through so Mathias got to see it at least from the car. Then we drove through a part of Arizona and got all the way to Bryce where we crashed. 

LA

Po tom, čo sme sa zase raz povozili hľadajúc miesto na spanie (tentokrát v horách v okolí LA) sme konečne našli camp a zalomili. Ráno sme zamierili do mesta, prvá zastávka bol Hollywood. Prešli sme sa po chodníku s hviezdami a odtlačkami rúk a nôh známych ľudí. No, nebolo to až také ohurujúce, ako som čakala, ale bola to celkom príjemná štvrť. Potom sme išli do centra a to bolo celkom divné, samí Mexičania. Odtiaľ sme sa dostali do "business" štvrte, kde sú banky, firmy a tak. Centrum LA ma extrémne nenadchlo. Tak sme sa radšej vybrali k oceánu a po pobreží ku campu. Na mape ich tam ukazovalo kopec, ale nakoniec nastal zádrhel, lebo parky v Californii zatvárajú o 10, takže sme nakoniec museli ísť do motela. Aspoň sme si dali sprchu :) Utorok sme sa rozhodli dať si chill-out, tak sme deň strávili na pláži - Venice Beach. Dobre to padlo. 

Once again, our quest to find a campground was not as successful as we would have wanted, so after a nice drive (this time in the mountains just north of LA) we finally found a place to camp and crashed well after midnight. We headed to the city in the morning, our first stop was Hollywood. We walked up and down the famous 'star' sidewalk and past the Chinese Theater with famous people's foot and palm prints. It wasn't as impressive as I expected it to be but it was a nice part of the city. Then we checked out downtown LA... it was a little odd, it was a Hispanic neighborhood with a ton of small, mostly jewelry stores, nothing like other cities' downtowns. I wasn't too impressed. Then we walked through the financial district, I guess and rather headed to the coast to find a campground. The map showed plenty but once again, it turned out to be a tiny bit more difficult than we had expected. Who the heck is supposed to know that in California, or at least around LA, state parks close their gates at 10... So we spent the night in a motel. We at least got to take a shower ;) Tuesday was our chill out day at Venice beach. A swim in the ocean did not feel bad at all. 

yosemite

Po San Franciscu sme zamierili naspäť do prírody. Aj keď SF bolo super, v horách som sa zase cítila ako doma. Ďalšia zastávka bola Yosemite. Rozhodli sme sa pre dlhšiu túru k Yosemite Falls (vodopády) – až na vrch Upper Falls, najvyšších vodopádov v severnej Amerike. Spolu (tam a naspäť) je to 11,6 km a prevýšenie je 823 m. A navyše bolo pekne teplo. Ale stálo to za všetky muky J Cestou sme sa pokochali výhľadom z Columbia Rock, asi tak v polovici cesty a hore nás čakala rieka (prekvapenie J) a krááásne výhľady. Trvalo nám to celé asi 5 a pol hodiny, aj s oddychom hore a samozrejme fotením. Na moju veľkú radosť sme sa rozhodli stráviťešte jednu noc v Yosemite a ráno si dať malú túru k Mirror Lake. V jazere by sa mali odrážať okolité vrchy. No, cestou sme ho minuli, keďže sme nevedeli, že to, na čo sa pozeráme vlastne JE Mirror Lake. Dávam to za vinu nedostatku vody, lebo sa tam toho naozaj veľa neodrážalo, aspoň nie tak, ako to opisovali. A značenie v Yosemite tiež nie je z najlepších. Ale neva, aspoň sme sa poriadne prešli a jazero sme videli aj tak J Potom si Mathias chcel požičať raft a plaviť sa dole riekou, ale bolo to drahé, tak na seba natiahol neoprén a plavil sa dole riekou aj bez člna. Dohodli sme sa, kde ho vyzdvihnem a ja som si zatial čítala pri rieke. Práve keď som sa chystala úsť pre neho to začalo vyzerať na búrku a stihla som to práve ako začínalo pršať. Nakoniec som teda ja strávila čas a dala túry v Yosemite a Mathias si zaplával v rieke, takže sme všetci boli spokojní a mohli vyraziť do LA J

After we left San Francisco we got back to our mother ;) That means we were back in the mountains which I absolutely loved (even though SF rocked). Yosemite was our next destination. We decided to hike to the Yosemite Falls – all the way up to Upper Falls, North America’s tallest waterfall. It was quite a hike, let me tell you. It was 7.2 miles round trip with 2,700 feet elevation gain and it was freakin‘ hot. But it was worth the torture ;) We enjoyed the view from Columbia Rock, about half way up and up top a river (duuh) and gorgeous views were waiting for us.  It took us about 5 and a half hours, chillout and picture time included J We decided to spend one more night in Yosemite (which made me really happy) and hike to Mirror Lake on Sunday morning. It is supposed to offer „beautiful reflections of surrounding cliffs“. Well, we passed it not knowing that what we are looking at actually IS Mirror Lake. Not enough water in the lake I suppose. The signs in often Yosemite aren’t extremely helpful, either. Blame Canada, right? But it was a nice hike anyway. Then Mathias wanted to rent a raft and ‚sail‘ down the river. It was quite expensive for what it was though, so he put on his wetsuit and floated down the river while I read. We set up a place to meet. A storm was coming and I picked him up just in time when it was starting to rain. Too much fun. I got my time and hikes in Yosemite, Mathias got a swim in the river so everybody was hapy and we could head to LA J

san francisco

San Francisco je miesto, kde som vždy chcela ísť. A teraz som tu!!! Dorazili sme dnes ráno, našli motel - pre zmenu máme na dve noci naozajstnú strechu nad hlavou :) Pochodili sme celkom dosť, doviezli sme sa sem po Golden Gate Bridge, prešli sme sa po meste, po pobreží a dali mňam večeru v China Town. Ulice sú tu miestami naozaj strmé. Bude toho viac, zajtra máme celý deň. 

Štvrtok - Vybrali sme sa na Golden Gate Bridge, ale počasie veľmi nespolupracovalo, bola poriadna hmla, takže most do nej mizol... ale aspoň niečo sme z neho videli. Potom sme videli Presidio a kým Mathias išiel na nákupy, ja som sa prechádzala po Golden Gate Park. Ďalšia zastávka bola Haight Street, super časť mesta, také viac európske... Povozili sme sa po meste a vyšli na Twin Peaks. Normálne je odtiaľ dobrý výhľad na mesto, ale dnes sme videli len hmlu :) Ale navečer sa vyjasnilo aspoň pri mori, tak sme sa vrátili ku Golden Gate Bridge a tentokrát ho videli :D  

Piatok - keďže počasie tentokrát vyzeralo oveľa lepšie, skúsili sme Twin Peaks podruhé :) A úspešne, aj s výhľadom. Potom sme pozreli známe viktoriánske domy na Alamo Street a išli na nákupy (to nebol úplne môj nápad) a na obed do Chinatown. A potom niečo, čo sme nemohli vynechať, nemohla som odísť zo San Francisca bez toho, aby som videla City Lights Books. Je to Ferlinghettiho kníhkupectvo a videla som ho naživo!!! Kníhkupectvo, nie Ferlinghettiho samozrejme. Je to vo veľmi príjemnej štvrti, majú tam aj Kerouacovu ulicu a Beat Museum. Takže som bola v o svojom živle :) A navečer sme vyrazili do Yosemite. 

San Francisco - one of my dreams come true :) It's a place I've always wanted to go and now I'm here!!! We arrived today in the morning and actually found a motel - so we won't have to put up the tent for a change. At least for two days :) We drove in across Golden Gate Bridge, walked around the city today, saw the waterfront and had a yummy dinner in China Town. Some of the streets are really steep! There's more to come, we have a whole day tomorrow. 

Thursday- We started off at Golden Gate Bridge but the weather wasn't really cooperative and the bridge was disappearing into fog. Well we at least saw part of it and it looked pretty cool with the fog, too. The we drove to Presidio and while Mathias was doing some shopping I walked around Golden Gate Park. Next stop was Haight street - very colorful. Then we drove around the city and up to Twin Peaks from where there is, supposedly, a great view of the city but all we saw was a fog wall :) Shit happens, as Mathias correctly noted. However, the skies cleared in the evening, at least on the coast, so we got a second chance to see Golden Gate Bridge and this time we actually did see it!

The weather on Friday looked a lot better so we decided to give it a shot and drive up to Twin Peaks again, and we actually saw SF :) Then we checked out the famous Victorian houses on Alamo Square, went shopping (not quite my idea) and got a yummy lunch in Chinatown. The next stop was something I could never leave San Francisco without seeing - City Lights Books. It's Ferlinghetti's bookstore and I was there!!! It's in a really nice neighborhood; they even have Jack Kerouac Street and Beat Museum. Yeah! We left San Francisco in the evening to get to Yosemite - our next destination. 

oregon

V nedeľu sme mali plné topánky snehu, v pondelok piesku :) Z Mt.Rainier sme zamierili na juh, včera doobeda pozreli Portland a išli po oregonskom pobreží na juh. Krása. Dorazili sme k oceánu a zastihli západ slnka v pieskových dunách. Dnes vyrážame ďalej na juh, snáď sa do večera dostaneme čo najbližšie k San Francisku!!!

On Sunday we had snow in our shoes, on Monday it was sand :) On the way from Rainier to the coast we stopped in Portland, it’s a nice city. Then we got to the Oregon coast and took Hwy 101 south. The coast is beautiful. Duuh. Now we’re in California, looking forward to San Francisco. The temperature has changed a lot, too, it’s around 100 F (it actually was 120 at one point – thank god for AC ;)

pokracujeme v cestach

Net mám na týchto našich cestách len zriedka, takže napíšem len trochu a potom doplním, keď bude internet a čas :) Vyrazili sme teda v nedeľu - 29. júna. V pondelok sme absolvovali

Grand Teton National Park, krásne hory a jazerá. V utorok Yellowstone, to je hneď za rohom :) Tam sme popozerali gejzíry a horúce pramene, hory a vodopády. Potom sme sa vydali smerom do Seattle, to nám trvalo dva dni, tak sme cestou pozreli trochu Missoula (v Montane) a mesto a jazero Coeur d' Alene v Idaho. Pri Seattle sme spali u Beatrice (alebo jej manžela skôr, teda jeho dome) v Tacoma a v piatok popozerali Seattle. Bol zrovna July 4th, teda Independence Day, v meste málo ľudí, a až večer sa všetci dotrepali na ohňostroj. V Seattle sme vyšli na Space Needle - vyhliadka, pochodili mesto a pár známych miest. 

V sobotu sme sa vybrali do Vancouver, Kanada. Mala som trochu obavu, či ma pustia naspäť do USA, ale bolo to jednoduchšie ako von :) Vancouver bol trochu upršaný, ale niečo sme popozerali. Bolo to niečo medzi Amerikou a Európou. Takže sme naspäť v štátoch, dnes sme boli v Mt. Rainier National Park. Náááádhera. Keď sme tam prišli, nebolo vidno skoro ani na krok, taká bola hmla, alebo skôr oblaky boli nízko, ale na túre bolo krásne, keď sme vyšli nad oblaky. A brodili sme sa aj v snehu. To sa mi ešte na začiatku júla nestalo :) Zajtra pozrieme v rýchlosti Portland a vyrážame na juh, po pobreží Oregonu sa chceme, snáď pozajtra, dostať do San Francisco. Tešííím! 

A ešte jedna vec - Budem sa odteraz snažiť písať tento blog dvojjazyčne, aby aj ľudia tu vedeli, ako sa mi darí na cestách.

PS:Foto zase pozrite v albume

I have been writing this blog just in Slovak to share my adventures with my family and friends at home but since my friends in the States aren’t with me right now and unfortunately can’t travel with me, I want them to know what’s going on, too. So that’s for you guys ;) From now on, this blog’s gonna be bilingual ;)

Mathias, Hana’s boyfriend came to the States to travel with me and we finally got „on the road“ on Sunday (June 29). First we headed north, had breakfast at the Bunnery in Jackson ;)  and checked out the Tetons – we hiked around Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. Yellowstone was the next stop - Old Faithful and Geyser Hill first. It was kind of funny to see hundreds of people waiting for water to splash out of the ground :) Then we went to Upper and Lower Falls, took Uncle Tom’s Trail – 328 steps down to the fall that we then had to climb back up... We also saw the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Thanks for the advice Matt! 

Than we turned west and headed towards Seattle. We drove through Montana and camped by Coeur d’Alene in Idaho, and walked around the town and lake. We found a great local bakery, their T-shirts said: „Eat more bread“ That’s my motto! We reached Tacoma on Thursday evening and spend July 4th in Seattle. We got up the Space Needle, walked the waterfront, then to Pikes Place Market, Pioneer Square and China town. Then we watched the fireworks from the pier.

On Saturday, we went to Vancouver, BC. It was raining in the morning but then the weather got better during the day. We walked around the city and park. Vancouver looked like a mixture of the US and Europe - it reminded me of both. I was a little worried if they let me back to the States but it was all right, I’m back ;)

Mt. Rainier NP was our next stop. It was amazing! As we came in, it was really foggy, the clouds were sitting on the mountains so the only thing we saw at the Sunrise Point was the sign telling us what we are supposed to see :D However, as we hiked to Frozen Lake we got above the clouds and it was BEAUTIFUL. I felt at home J Just gotta love the mountains. The other day I saw a sign saying „One day at the beach is worth a month in town“, I think it totally applies to the mountains, too.

Check out pics in my web album! 

cesty

Krátky report k našim cestám. Mathias dorazil minulú stredu, nakoniec sme vypadli z Denveru v nedeľu ráno. Zatiaľ sme stihli Grand Teton a Yellowstone National Park, teraz sme niekde v Montane na ceste do Seattle. Dnes v noci spíme niekde v campe v Idahu, konečne si po 4 dňoch dám sprchu :) Mal by tam byť net, tak napíšem viac. Foto aj info doplním!