Jon's Travel's

Thinking Back to Germany

2005-12-24T16:29:00.000-08:00

Europe was awesome, but Northern California is where I got to call it home. It takes an experience of epic proportions to make you realize were it is you call home and that trip did it for me.

It was a thrill of a life man, full of all those high-high's and low-low's that most of us in our lapses of bordem wish we would experience and at one moment in my life that moment of bordem intersected an opportunity.

The people are what did it for me. I'm neither the most sociable nor a complete introvert, so the people I did meet seemed to have a great deal of interest as to why the hell someone would choose to live in Germany. After explaining why (German background, interest in the Culture...etc) they all seemed to take a liking to me and we'd butt head over George W, guns and why I would introduce myself from California rather than saying United States. Man, did the days just fly by but for a while there time seemed to really slow down and I felt like my exchange would never end. You do a lot of reflection of who you miss, what you miss doing with those people (even if it's just sitting around shooting the shit) and how everything will change when you get back: you'll make things better for yourself and your own future.

Who knows what the long term outcomes will be. I did great in all my classes but still managed to shoot myself in the foot in the grandeose scheme of my college career. Still wouldn't trade it though...those once in a lifetime chances? Take 'em and have no regrets.

My Host Family

2005-07-10T09:22:00.000-07:00

My host parents Claudia and Florian. They've made me feel right at home here and I'm glad that I was matched up with such great people.

Lea, my host sister. She's a creative little seven year old and she always brightens up the scene with her escapades.

Neighborhood Party "Nachbarschaft Feier" on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Had a great time at the party. Learned some "Platt" Deutsch, and repeating what I had learned got some heardy laughs.

Langeoog Island - June 18th 2005

2005-06-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

Made our way to Benserseil in the morning and hopped on the ferry to Langeoog Island which is only a 30 minute ride. The weather cleared up and it was sizing up to become a great day.

Boat ride was packed, people lingering all over the place.

When you get off the ferry, you can either hop onto a little train that takes about 15 minutes to bring you inland or hike it for about an hour.

Downtown Langeoog! Few restraunts and shops, a beachtown German-style.

Five minute walk through the town and we made it to the beach. As the morning wore off the weather kept getting warmer and warmer, perfect beach weather.

Yummy looking jellyfish. There were a lot of these washed up along the beach, but nothing to worry about.

Had to switch up garb to something less winter-like.

Water wasn't that bad at all, compared to the North Pacific. Just watch out for jellyfish and it'll be all good.

After walking a few kilometers we took a break, resting on a broke-up old house or maybe its an old bunker.

Made it to the top!

Dune scene is very similar to what I've seen in Northern California.

Had to take a dip, the water is pretty dam cold!

Chander got this shot while I was in mid nap.

Action shot of Chander in mid-kick.

Local transportation. I didn't see a single car on the whole island.

Never noticed how different a ship looks with another country's flag on it.

Made it back to Esens train station. Great weekend and it was cool to see the ocean after a long break.

Esens - June 17th 2005

2005-06-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

Chander and I needed to make one transfer in Sande in order to take the train to Esens. While killing some time in Sande, came across this giant...thing. Not really sure what it was but nowadays it has pegs all along the side to rock climbers can scale it.

Downtown Esens. As you can see, the town is quite small and is only active during the warm months in Germany: June, July and August.

Wow, a windmill in Germany! I read somewhere that Germany has over 40% of the worlds windmills.

To get to Langeoog Island, you got to take a five minute busride from Esens to Benserseil. Here's a shot of me in front of the Benserseil port. Giving a thumbs up since it's the first time seeing the ocean in over four months.

Chander in the same spot, but giving a thumbs down.

Standing on the sandy shores of Northwest Germany, about to trek through the mudflats. As you can see the weather wasn't that great the first day we were there. Windy, slightly rainy and just not what were were expecting. Chander and I were kinda bummed and thought that Saturday would have been wasted to, but luckily things turned out great.

During low tides, you can walk out for a miles on the mudflats. Look past me on the right and you can see a couple folks way out there.

These bear statues were all over Esens. Besides wild boars, I've heard that Germany is pretty much void of any wildlife, so the history with the bears must go back awhile.

Me taking a break after we get back to the Jugenherberge (youth hostel). The youth hostels in Germany are really clean, although very popular with children, so don't expect to get much sleep.

After hiking around all day, Chander and I wandered into the _only_ pub in Esens and got some weissbeer.

Craula & Hainich National Park - June 5th & 6th, 2005

2005-06-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

Downtown Craula. The youth hostel is directly in the center of the picture. Besides the hostel, a few restaurants and a church, it's a pretty quiet town.

A farmhouse that is probably a couple hundred years old. As bad of shape as it looks, I saw farm animals lingering inside.

Goats using an old car for shade. Trying to hop the fence for a better pic, one started to get kind of antsy so I stayed my distance.

As I headed for the trailhead, I turned back and looked towards Craula.

Still not at the trailhead yet, but still found interesting shots to take.

Rolling hills of yellow, everywhere.

Made it to the trailhead. The forest looked young, but occasionally would go through some thick parts.

Taking a break, I'm scoping out the depths of the forest. The scenery would change often, from dense forest, to swamp, to open areas...real interesting place. The towns folk would tell me that it is considered Germany's only jungle.

Was really hoping to come across some boars. Even though I didn't have a gun, it would have been cool to see some in the wild.

Oldest tree I'd seen yet in Germany (500 years old).

A wider shot of the old tree.

Crossing the middle of the forest, a wide road seemed to appear out of nowhere, and then eventually disapeared into a dirt road.

Every now and then I'd cross these high chairs. I figure they have to do with hunting deer, boars...etc.

Another stretch of forest.

The trail I was on eventually opens into a wide valley. I could have followed it through the next town over, and then it loops back around. Instead I just headed right, through some brush and came across another trail.

Coming across another part of the park.

Interesting dome, yet still under construction so I couldn't scale it.

Hainich is full of owls. As it got darker, occasionally I could hear a couple, but never was able to see them.

One of the last trails I went trekked through.

It started to rain eventually, so I put on the full gear. Hainich was an awesome nature park, and sparsely populated with tourists (all the ones I talked to were German). Highly recommend it.

Bad Langensalza - June 5th, 2005

2005-06-21T06:12:00.000-07:00

Bad Langensalza is the biggest town next to the Hainich National Park, and as close to the park I can get on the train.

First castle I came across in Bad Langensalza. Delapidated as all hell, but a castle nonetheless.

Going around the reminance of the castle, I crossed a stream and came passed the front entrance.

Walking down a cobblestone street, some kids passed by in front of another old looking structure. Here I was able to shoot a kid running with his dog.

Hoping on a bus from Bad Langensalza, it was only a ten minute ride to Craula, which lies right next to Hainich National Park. This sign marks the trailhead. Turning left leads you into town. ||

Hamburg - June 4th, 2005

2005-06-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

Having no school on Friday, I wanted to do the tourist bit through Hamburg. Its nice if you are a student, since the train ride is free so all it took was a little motivation and I was on my way.

St. Jakobikirche, which is the first Church you walk by when approaching the city.

St. Petrikirche, which is the biggest church in all of Hamburg Surprisingly, it came out of allied bombing without any damage. Only costing 2�, you can walk all the way to the top (544 steps up). It is the biggest tower in all of Hamburg.

The first few steps of a very _long_ walk up St. Petrikirche.

The Rauthaus (cityhall) after a few flights of steps.

Now about half way up the tower...

Looking out one of the side hatches, city hall is quite far away.

Made it to the top! It felt like it was almost 100�F up there.

Made it back to ground level and checked out city hall. People milling all about, a band in the courtyard was playing familiar band songs.

These statues were all over the place, everyone painted a different colored theme. They look like firemen from some past century.

Hamburg is Germany's second biggest city (after Berlin) and is criss-crossed with a lot of canals. Walking towards the docks, I came across an interesting view.

The "Brick Warehouse" district, which lies close to the open ocean.

Next time I come I'm going to lounge on one of these, drink beer and let it drive me all around town.

Looking down the Afghan Museum. Mainly a place that people can come to learn about Afghan life, history...etc.

Statue of Buddha that is in Afghanistan. If I heard correctly, those smucks the Taliban blew it up. Too bad, it seems like a cool place to pilgrim to.

While relaxing, drinking Afghan tea, I started chatting with a couple chicks who were from elsewhere in Germany. Its cool I can converse in German, even if it is only to a limited degree. One of them took my pic infront of a display.

Lion statue guarding the side of the Rauthaus.

Inner courtyard of the Rauthaus.

One of the many chill canals that line the side streets of Hamburg.

Turning around from the spot of the last picture, two muscians play for bystandards and passer-bys.

The parts of Hamburg that have the bulk of tourists have canals all over the place. This was just one of the many I passed by.

An Aston-Martin...very sweet car.

One of the many little parks spread throughout Hamburg.

Same park but from a different angle

A really sweet looking Jag.

St. Michaels Church, a statue of David killing the devil adorns the top of the entrance.

St. Michaels interior was highly decorated.

Walking through the "Ripperbahn" part of Hamburg, you might catch this sign if you got a good eye.

View of the Rathaus from a side street. Hamburg is a cool place to visit. I'll be coming back here to party with some homies eventually.

My Place

2005-06-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

The view if I travel a few meters away from my house, towards B�rger Park.

The house I'm living in. Florian's Mercedes Benz and Convertible Fiat are parked out front.

The stunning view of my front door.

My kitchen, dining room...etc. I have a stove, oven and a washing machine (no dryer). The back door leads to a little inlet were I can hang my clothes to dry and I can also take it out to the backyard.

This is the hallway leading to my kitchen Kandinsky paintings line the hallway. There are stairs to the right that go up to the rest of the house.

My room at a not so messy point. Adorning the wall are pictures painted by by Lea. Besides that, it's just another not-to-exciting room. :-)

Bremenada Festival 2005

2005-06-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

A lively folk band at the Bremenada Festival. A lot of people there, and for once in a few months it was nice to hear some some good mandolin & violin playing.

A great shot of the entire band (except for the dude blocking the middle). There was a good selection of instruments: accordian, violin, mandolin, guitar and stand up base.

A lot of dreddie honies here. Still amazes me after three months to see so many German dreddies.

2005-06-03T13:10:00.000-07:00

view from my window on a rainy day

2005-04-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

Looking at the back of the bunker from my porch. The backyard is sweet, flowers, veggies and herbs growing all over the place. If the weather is good doing the weekend we have BBQs and all the neighbors come over. Hella fun.

2005-04-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

Looking out the back window of the bunker, you can see my place! I'm living in the "sutter haus" in the house with the blue balcony. The neighborhood is pretty sweet. Very family orientated and kids playing everywhere. Really cool.

2005-04-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

If you were to keep walking past the back entrance and turn right, this is what you'd see. That big block on the left of the picture was carved out of the side of the building. If you were to walk up to the block and turn left, you'd see where I'm living. When we have BBQ's, we always hang out here (next to the big block) since it's the last place the sun hits before evening.

2005-04-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

Back entrance. Really wouldn't want to be the first allied soldier to bust into this thing.

2005-04-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

From the outside, it seemed like the place would be huge...nope, quite small. The building is pretty much all concrete. This was the biggest room I could find! Pretty nice art on the walls. Met the artist that day, seemed like a cool guy.

2005-04-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

The front view of Bunker F38. Instead of holding military stuff nowadays, its an upscale house/gallery. While I look at the back side of the building from my house, this is from the front street.

2005-04-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

A "Bremer House". Typical architectual style of the town.

2005-04-28T07:56:00.000-07:00

Hanging out in a horse drawn carriage. It seemed old enough that I shouldn't be sitting in it, but no sign, no guardrail. I just had to take a seat.

2005-04-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

Irene kickin it next to a old, Bremen made car.

2005-04-28T07:52:00.000-07:00

Chillin in the Focke (pronounced "Fukah") Museum. This particular room was small, but the entire place was pretty big overall.

2005-04-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

One of the oldest neighborhoods. People have been living in this quarter of town (near Rolland Plaza) for more than 1000 years.

2005-04-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

Archangel David killing some monster.

2005-04-10T11:24:00.000-07:00

Windmill Park. The windmill actually works, and in the base is a great (although expensive) coffee shop.

2005-04-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

Bremen has more soprano saxophone and accoridian players than any other town I've been in. Of course, never been to many towns outside of the US.

2005-04-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

Strange art is strune all over the city. This sits near the Wesser (the main river in Bremen). All of the pieces move, and in the wind its art in motion.

2005-04-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

In the middle of this park, there is a solid iron skull that has been fixated onto this stump. I have no idea how old it is, or who put it there,

2005-04-10T11:14:00.000-07:00

Bremen Pig Shepard. The main shopping drag in Bremen now use to be a dirt street, which farmers back in the day would sell their pigs on.

2005-03-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

The Bremen Town Musicians! A group of elderly animals fled immenent death from a farm, and had asperations to become famous musicians in Bremen. After scaring a bunch of crooks out of a house, they decided to live in the house together.

2005-03-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

Alterer Rauthaus = Old City Hall. I heard there is a really good restaurant in the basement, so polciticans can stay longer making decsions.

2005-03-27T12:09:00.000-08:00

Statue of Roland in the center of downtown.

Doing Good in Bremen, Germany

2005-03-27T12:08:00.000-08:00

Irene and me strolling through the woods. She's studying computer software engineering at the school that I am doing an exchange at. In my attempt to learn the german and her wanting to learn english, our paths somehow crossed.
Since meeting her my german has improved dramatically, and her english is getting much better. It's cool to hang out with her and even though the language barrier makes almost every sentance a chore, we both are having a great time at it.

Sunset From Grizzly Peak

2005-01-18T22:05:00.000-08:00

Looking westward, a blanket of clouds reflect deep orange hues towards the eastern edge of San Francisco Bay. Cool and calm above the masses at the highest point in the Berkeley hills...that is Grizzly Peak.

Pulling off on the side of the road, the sun eventually sets and the brighter the clouds become the more I expect them to stop becoming brighter and eventually to subside. Only when I forget about the colors, do they begin to withdraw and eventually night falls and with it the bitter cold of winter makes me want to be elsewhere...somewhere warm.

Granite Peak on Xmas

2004-12-31T16:22:00.000-08:00

Granite Peak (8500 ft) is located in the Trinity-Shasta National Recreation area. Located west-southwest of Mt. Shasta (14500 ft), as you ascend the trail you can see, on a clear day, the peak of Mt. Shasta. While I didn't accompany my buddies on this trek, they asked I blog it for them.

Looking north-northeast along the Granite Peak trail, you can see the peak of Mt. Shasta. Dominating the region, Mt. Shasta is nearly twice as high as any of the surrounding peaks.

Besides Lake Tahoe, Mt. Shasta is the place to snowboard in Northern California. Inexpensive, decent half-pipe and lots of sweet powder. From Arcata, it takes the same amount of time on the road to get to as it does to go to Tahoe or Mt. Ashland, Oregon.

Colin smoking a cig while strapping up Cole. Ramsey sits, watches...probably hoping he won't get a pack on his back.

Cole's a weinmaraner, which are notoriously difficult to deal with unless you know what your doing. Colin doesn't cut Cole much slack, but that is the way you have to be with this breed. In return, Cole follows every one of Colin's commands and gives Colin his undying full attention ( as long as he is spoken to strickly.)

Ramsey all wrapped up. Short-hair dogs will catch a cold or possibly worse if you don't keep them warm on long, cold treks.

Ramsey is a Queensland Healer, and the most affectionate and intellegent dog I've ever come across in my life. Passionate about frisbees, stuffed animals and tennis balls, I've seen him wrestle a stick from another dog...underwater! He the type of breed that will never give up. If Frank should ever end up with some of his puppies, I will buy one in a heartbeat.

His personality is completely different than that of Cole's. While Cole can be mischevious whenever he isn't on the trail, Ramsey is typically good boy in almost all scenarios.

Full moon shining on Granite creek, layered sunset hues of blue, purple and pink drown the sky.

Granite Lake, frozen but not solid. As the sun came overehead, cracking noises could be heard and the lake began it's daily thaw before becoming refrozen again at dusk.

A good black and white of Granite Lake, with Granite Peak in background.

Awesome close up shot of Granite Lake. The layer of ice is so thin, it appears as if it was actually glass. One of my favorite shots in the entire series.

Hard to see initally but look closer and you will find that Frank is on thick layer of ice...cold kickin' it.

Granite creek has many falls as it travels towards Trinity Lake. In December it is close to freezing, but the water runs swiftly enough to prevent becoming completely frozen.

Iceicles line many areas of the creek bed. Ones like these take the form of sleeping bats, suspended from a cave wall.

Tired and cold dogs!

Cole waiting for Frank to decend the hill.

Frank watching the moon, Christmas Eve. He's sitting on a makeshift bench he carved out of the snow.

I highly recommend packing in a shovel whenever you go camping in the snow. Without it, these two would have had a really difficult trek and Colin was emphatic about the necessity of it during their outting.

Warming up by the Christmas Eve fire, Colin shares a smoke with Frank as they roast some chestnuts.

This is what they woke up to at 1 am on Christmas day, the snow wouldn't stop for the rest of the trip.

Mid Christmas morning, Colin outside of the tent which is barely peeking out of the snow at this point.

This was the last shot taken, since after backpacking seven miles through the snow the last thing you want to do is set up your camera for another shot. As much fun as this trip looks, be really careful hiking around in the snow, and if it is your first time remember to go with someone who has done it before so you do end up making it back alive.

Till next time, peace, and have a kick ass 2005!

~ Jon

Fern Canyon is Awesome

2004-12-18T22:22:00.000-08:00

Fern Canyon is located in N. California between Orick and Crecent City, although closer to Orick.

Winding through the dense redwood forest on an old dirt road that's constantly in a state of erosion, you drive by the stumps of trees generations old and by the trails made by loggers, miners and natives ages ago. While they all have their own pluses, the real trail is all the way at the end of the road.

A shallow stream flows at the base of the entire canyon length. Crossing over small pools, we had to make due by jumping from rock bank to rock bank, occasionally by walking on fallen logs or overturned root structures.

A moss-like plant that grows here called Lady Finger can only be found in pollution-free areas of California. You can find them in abundance all over Fern Canyon, and in this picture I'm as close to one as possible since their features are tiny. The canyon walls are a mixture of small rocks and packed soil. Without the ferns, these walls would crumble down to form a pile like the one I'm standing on top of.

The stream looks refreshing, but don't drink out of any stream within a few miles of a road.

Some of the cleanest water I've had in a while was from this waterfall. There are countless nooks along the hike reminicent of this one.

As we three trek on, past fallen trees and the crystal clear pools surrounding them, the canyon walls narrow then widen, marking areas along the stream of calm and rage in centuries long past.

Unless you take the stairs at the end, you can't get above the canyon without putting yourself in danger, or destroying what took countless ages to create. People who come here have a lot of respect for the place. I never saw a single piece of litter or human destruction.

This is the sight around that last bend. An area of rage during some ancient storm, ravaging this area of the stream, it is the largest open area of the trail I've found yet. Frank is shuffling down the side of the log, since it is very slick after the last rainfall. We hung out a while in this area, since the roots on the far left are knotted and twisted to form a natural place to take a rest.

A closer view of the log that we spent some time at. The top end of the log curls up the side of the slope, giving a brave hiker a chance to climb it to the top of the canyon. On any other day I'd be at the top, but the possiblity of a slippery drop wasn't something I wanted to deal with.

Looking down from where Frank was, these are the roots of the tree in the big bend. Almost like a scene out of Lord of the Rings, I'm half expecting a ringwrath to swoop around and stink up the place.

You do a lot of leaping on this trail and it's likely you'll end up with wet feet by the end. Here I am jumping over a log that was covered by brown mushrooms. On the otherside of the trail there are more nooks that dead end into small pools and some promising looking trails that might have led to the top of the canyon.

Photos can be deciving, since here it's hard to tell that the trail doesn't end but only narrows before turning sharply to the left.

As we approach the end of the trail, you've got a few options trying to get over the roots.

At this point we could continue down the stream, but the trail disapears into a thickets and toppled logs, too slippery to climb on today, but countless times before we've trampled through them. If you got waterproof shoes on and experienced at bush-wacking than you'll enjoy it.

Here is where Eric fell! The log he is standing on in was thick (above), but rotten to the core, snapping like a toothpick with only a couple hops, sending him down eight feet into a pool of decaying leaves. He's about 6'3" and the water was up to his knees. Although shaken from the fall he was pretty undaunted by it. Unnecessary but accidental destruction.

Here was the hole Eric had fallen into, on the lower left side of the picture. The horizontal log jetting out of it was the one that had snapped under his weight.

Since the entire trail consisted of slippery logs and higher than normal stream level, we took the stairs which accended to the top of the canyon and split into a seperate trailhead.

Staying to the left will take you back to the beginning of the canyon and give you a good top view of the canyon trail. Even if you can't see the trail, you can still hear people as the travel down the canyon trail, most commenting on the beautiful scenery.

Looking out over the top of the Canyon, a pocket of third generation Redwoods are growing. I like this shot because you can see the ray of sunshine peering through the overgrowth.

Again a shot of sunshine reflecting off the mist in the air. Although you can't see it from the photo, between the fence and back wall of trees is the canyon. We could hear the echoes of people below but couldn't see them. Resting here we took a moment to smell the flowers.

The effect of the suns position is what makes this picture interesting. At the end of the stairs, we're at the trailhead were we could go back into the canyon, but instead we decided to go back towards the parking lot.

Frank almost bailing trying to slide on the bench. An amuzing shot.

At the trailhead for Fern Canyon you're more than likely to come across some wandering around near the beach.

Just before you hit 101, stop and take a moment to witness Elk in this area. Who knows, one day this place might be gone and with it the Elk.

If you're only here for one day, give yourself at least six hours to take it all in. You could spend weeks in the Redwood National Park (where Fern Canyon is located) walking along the beaches, hiking through the canyon, or over and around the hills surround the entire area. Every trek to this park yields more trails that have their own uniqueness, spurring great memories and a place to remember to goto if you ever find yourself between Orick and Crecent City.

Yo

2004-12-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

Hey, this is the first post, just to see if things look okay.