Day 6: Willits, CA to Coos Bay, OR

Khamis, 1 Januari 2009
355 miles (568 km)

Rise and shine! Semalam tido dengan lenanya di Willits. Dah habis semua bekal makanan. 4 bekas nasi goreng dan 2 bekas mee. Cuma lasagna masih ada. Saya pun takde mood nak makan. Aqil je suka makan tu. Maggi masih ada lagi. Semalam, bukak satu tin sardin, perah limau dan panaskan di microwave. Itu untuk makan dengan roti. Kami ada beli buah oren dan apple kat Rays petang semalam. Sedap apple tu, saya memang bawak pisau untuk potong buah. Ni semua ni sebab mak mentua saya memang kalau bab-bab ni semua dia bawak. Dulu saya rasa tak payah bawak semua ni, tapi bila sendiri dah travel, baru tahu betapa pentingnya all the small things ni. Dia selalu pesan kalau berjalan make sure bawak sepasang baju kurung kot kalau ada orang meninggal, mana tahu kita nak melawat. Tapi, takde lah bawak baju kurung pulak berjalan ni. Dia pesan bawak kain batik kalau ada apa-apa boleh tutup, manalah tahu katanya. Datang US ni saya bawak kain batik panjang sehelai. Bukan apa, manalah tahu kan... Tapi, kalau berjalan memang saya selalu bawak kain batik sehelai. Saja je, dah biasa bawak. Then, saya memang selalu bawak baju lebih, Itu yang berkodi-kodi penuh van tu.

Pagi tu kami singgah Dollar Tree beli laundry detergent, soap dish yang dah habis, then beli snack sikit. Kononnya nak basuh baju sebab ada coin-laundry kat sini tapi sebab rasa macam lama je, tak jadi lah basuh. Kami basuh van saja. En Muz kata baru best sikit drive bila dah bersih. Dia tu memang macam tu, dulu kat KL, every week mesti basuh kereta, vacuum, kasi tayar kilat, dashboard kilat. I read somewhere that stated, how a man treats his car is how they treats themselves. Hmm, bukukah atau tengok tv eh? tak ingatlah. Tapi, the point is taken. Lepas van dah bersih, kami pun gerak. Goal hari ini mesti kena keluar dari California sebab our target, 6 Januari Aqil dah start sekolah. Saya pun set GPS ke Florence.

Tapi, macam biasalah, on the way, banyak sangat tempat yang menarik. Itupun banyak kami skip tak singgah. I really-really loves Redwood National Park. Pokok Redwood ni besar-besar, kalau van kami ni masuk dalam pokok tu pun boleh tau. Itupun, pokok-pokok yang tepi jalan ni dah besar, kalau masuk dalam National Park dia, I bet mesti lagi besar. Subhanallah, memang menakjubkan tengok pokok yang besar gedabak macam tu. Omputih yang En Muz sembang semalam tu, yang dok sebelah bilik kami di Willits tu, nak pegi Redwood la. Dia dari Texas, jauh jugak tu. Kalau time summer ni mesti sedap camping kat sini. Saya kalau bab nature macam ni, boleh lost in love dok tengok je pokok-pokok tu. Pastu mulalah dok imagine kalaulah rumah kat dalam ni, how's it like.. mesti best kan.. macam rumah winnie the Pooh tu.

Masa singgah kat rest area, pokok ni kecik je..

Along US Route 101 - Redwood Highway

Sorry gambar tak cantik sebab kami tak berenti ambik gambar. Lagipun, that day misty rain je all along. So, malas pulak nak berhenti. Rugi pulak rasanya. Kalau tidak dapat bergambar peluk-peluk dengan batang pokok tu. Dah lepas, apa nak buat.. Tapi, sepanjang jalan ni memang cantik sangat. Some places rasa macam baru nak Fall sebab ada pokok-pokok yang dah tukar warna. Kalau di Fort Collins atau mana-mana tempat yang extreme cold ni, semua pokok dah tinggal ranting sejak November lagi. US ni kalau kat tengah-tengah dengan area Mid-West tu, memang extreme weather dia. Kalau sejuk, sejuk sangat, kalau panas, panas sangat. Masa Summer hari tu, panas betul, macam kat Malaysia, silap-silap lagi panas sebab sini semi-arid. UK has milder weather. Even snow pun not as bad as here. Kat California ni memang nice weather, greens and mild je weather dia. Hujan dia pun mist saja, bukan hujan lebat macam Malaysia. Gel-geli je hujan dia.. I'm so in love with this route, seriously!


to be continued...

Day 5: San Francisco to Willits, CA

Rabu, 31 Disember 2008
140 miles (224 km)

Pagi dalam pukul 9:30 pagi, kami sudah check out dari Wharf Inn. Dalam pada En. Muz load semua barang2 yang penuh dalam van kami yang dah serupa off-road vehicle tu, saya keluar mencari souvenirs sebab belum beli apa-apa lagi. Kedai yang saya aim untuk beli printed paintings tu belum buka lagi so saya dok berkawad mencari kedai mana yang ada. Since takde kedai yang berdekatan jual printings tu, saya singgah beli subs untuk bekalan dan kembali ke parking lot hotel. Sebelum blah, kami refill dulu mug dengan kopi dan ambik 2 cawan chocolate drinks untuk budak-budak.


On the way ke Lombard St, saya singgah beli fridge magnet dan some printings. Pagi tu seperti biasa, suasana di SF memang berkabus, jadi agak sejuk cuma tak sesejuk Fort Collins. Sampai di Lombard St, kami cari port bagus untuk parking. Kami berjalan kaki menuruni jalan herot petot yang terkenal di dunia ini. Sebab musim winter jadi tak adalah pokok bunga warna warni seperti biasa kita tengok kat dalam gambar. Kenderaan dibenarkan lalu kat jalan ni tapi sebab jalan dia terlalu mencerun dan kami rasa lebih baik jalan kaki dari ambik risiko. Van kami tu bukanlah standard 4 wheel drive but it's good enough for all the trips that we had had. Dalam pada dok seronok berposing dan melihat rumah banglo yang cantik di sepanjang jalan ni, ada satu limo lalu. Yelah, limo kan panjang so dia terpaksa reverse 2-3 kali nak bagi lepas kona kat jalan ni. Lombard St ni was dubbed as world crookedest street. Dia mencerun dan berbengkang bengkok. Pastu di tanamnya pokok bunga bagi nampak cantik. Itu jelah.. Takdelah yang extra-ordinary sangat tapi agaknya saja je kot dorang nak tambah tempat menarik kat SF.. kira datang sini tu takdelah pegi menengok jambatan Golden Gate tu jer.. kiranya adalah spot lain yang boleh melawat.. Lepas ke Lombard St, kami pergi mencari rumah Victorian yang dikenali sebagai The Painted Ladies. Rumah-rumah ni kalau ikut guide tu katanya kat Alamo Square. So, sampai situ, tengoklah rumah-rumah ni yang kaler dia warna warni. Ala, kalau kat Malaysia pun ramai jugak orang kita yang suka kaler rumah warna warni. Tak kecoh pulak satu dunia. Ntah hapa-hapa lah SF ni, rumah kaler-kaler pun nak kecoh. Tapi, sebab rumah tu dah famous maka ambik jugaklah gambar dia kan. En Muz kata apa yang so marvellous sangat rumah-rumah ni. Dia tak impressive langsung. Saya ambik jer.. serupa rumah teres kat Malaysia pun ada.. korang pun boleh buat jugak. Dah lalu sini, kami pegi singgah kat Goodwill. Saja je singgah kot ada barang yang menarik. Hmm, tak de apa sangat so belikan budak2 ni buku je.
Nilah jalan yang mencerun turun bukit naik bukit macam dalam cerita The Princess Diaries tu sampai masa nak keluar tu berdecit-decit la brake van tu. Punyalah dahsyatnya jalan kat sini. Ini takat ambik test naik bukit JPJ tu dorang gelak je tau, silap-silap orang JPS boleh tak lulus kot..ha..ha..ha.. dah la naik bukit curam, lepas tu kena brake lagi sebab traffic light atau pun ada cable car lalu. Takpun, masa turun bukit curam tu, siap ada traffic light lagi kat bawah tu, atau ada orang jalan kaki ke melintas, buatnya kalau brake tak makan, menangis woiiii...

Lepas tu, kami bergerak keluar menuju ke Golden Gate. Golden Gate ni last spot sebab senang lepas singgah situ terus keluar SF. Sampai Golden Gate, first tempat cari, toilet dia dulu. Lepas tu barulah boleh start posing dan click-click dengan tenang. Memang cantik lah sini, nampak mystical gitu dengan foggy ambience cuma penuhlah dengan pelawat. Namapun tempat pelancongan so mestilah penuh dengan manusia kan. Kami parking dulu kat bahagian atas. Sini parking semua berbayar, nasib baik Rozana dah pesan suruh bawak coins banyak-banyak. Kami jalan-jalan dulu kat atas jambatan, dari atas jambatan nampak downtown San Francisco dari jauh. Sebab masa tu dah tengah hari so dari jauh nampak cahaya matahari penetrates through the fog and the scene was so magical. Dari atas nampak ada satu jalan ke bawah jambatan so lepas puas bergambar kat atas, kami pun turun bawah pulak. Kena drive la kalau tidak jenuh jugak nak menapak. Shortcut dia ada ikut trail ke bawah tapi budak2 ni macam mana? Dari bawah lagi feel sebab boleh tengok ombak, tengok downtown SF dari jauh, cantiklah kiranya.. Ambik gambar apa patut then kami pun masuk dalam van untuk teruskan perjalanan. Masa dalam van baru perasan ada orang tulis something kat cermin belakang. Orang tu tulis macam iklan kete kat tv, "Wash Me".. mengekek kami gelak sebab yelah memang van kami kotor sangat sebab yelah long distance kan.. semua weather tempoh so expected la all the dirts tu. Whoever yang wrote the jokes must be a very funny person..

Dalam pukul 3:30 petang, kami bertolak keluar dari San Francisco. Maka lalulah van kami kat Golden Gate tu merentasi Bay Area. Bye-bye San Francisco. Dari atas jambatan lagi traffic dah mula bergerak perlahan. Sejak duduk di Fort Collins dan tidak menempuh sebarang jam, bila jam macam ni mulalah rasa boring. Walhal, bertahun di KL, pagi petang siang malam menempuh jam. Even worst than here. Tapi, memang terasa stress sebab dah lama tak menempuh situasi macam tu. Even sebab jam jugaklah mulanya nak balik ikut Los Angeles tapi tukar ikut jalan atas melalui Portland. Reason is, malam tu New Year Eve so kalau lalu LA, mestilah jam giler. Kami kalau boleh memang tak suka lalu jalan yang sama waktu datang sebab saja nak tengok different view unless kalau memang dah tak de pilihan. So, northbound then.

Coming out from Golden Gate.. Bye-bye San Francisco

Leaving San Francisco on US Route 101

Pelan asal sebenarnya nak bermalam di Eureka atau Crescent City tapi sebab traffic teruk, kami singgah bermalam di Willits. Lagipun memang terasa penat la menempuh jam ni. No wonder la masa kat KL dulu memanjang penat. Memang very the stressing when you have to face traffic jam every day. Sampai rumah memang penat. Tu pasal dulu malas masak. Takde apa yang menarik on the way to Willits. Adalah satu dua tapi masa tu dah penat tak kuasa nak ambik gambar. Tapi, masa sampai Willits tu sempat lagi pusing-pusing cari motel termurah dan terbest. At last after 3-4 motel tanya, we settled with Western Village Inn. Cantik bilik dia sebab baru remodelled. Of course come with fridge and microwave. Dia ada satu lagi bilik kat dalam tu so end up malam tu kat depan tu saya tido dengan Aqil dan Baba dia tido dengan Aqif kat dalam.. Malam tu kami layan cerita I am Legend kat HBO. Lepas habis cerita tu, saya dengan Aqil tido dengan lenanya.

Baba dia kat luar dok bersembang dengan mat saleh mana tah sebab mat saleh tu curious sebab plate van kami Colorado so dia pun ajak chat la. Next day, Baba dia bagi tau lama borak sampai omputih tu ajak minum beer. Lepas tu, dah mintak maaf bagi tau tak minum sebab Muslim, dia pun borak pulak pasal dia pernah serve kat Iraq. Lama jugak dorang borak. En Muz cakap omputih tu baik dan very open minded. Omputih tu kata semua orang kat dunia ni baik, it's the leaders that are bad. All leaders are rooting for powers and fame..

Day 4: San Francisco

Selasa, 30 Disember 2008

Happy birthday to me... yeah, last year I was somewhere in.. oh ya, where was I? Oopss, cannot remember. Went to check it out with my boss and yes, he told me that we were so busy with the preps for my coming to the States, so no celebration. Tapi, masih ingat lagi Suria bawak kek Secret Recipe, Chocolate Indulgence masa majlis bacaan Yaasin kat rumah. Thanks sis. Lagipun, aku dah tua untuk berkek-kek bagai.. dan lagi, selalu sangat makan kek so it's not that important.

Pagi lagi semua dah bersemangat untuk jalan-jalan. Keluar tu dalam pukul 8:30 pagi. Suasana masih berkabus dan agak sejuk. Destinasi pertama adalah San Francisco Cable Car. So, kami pun berjalan sampai ke Hyde Street untuk beli tiket. Kami beli all day passport, harga dia $11/adult. Ni boleh naik dari pagi sampai le last ride pukul 12 tgh malam on the same day. So, beratur la pagi tu, ramai jugak yang keluar pagi, ingat tu nak jugak dok seat tepi yang open tu tapi sebab diri tu ada lagi 2 orang budak kecik kena jaga so kena dok dalam la. Lagipun, seat tepi tu cepat je dipenuhi manusia lain.

Kami turun di Powell St Station berhampiran Market St. Dari situ kami berjalan kaki dan singgah sebentar di Ross Less. Banyak jugak barang yang menarik dan lebih murah dari Fort Collins. Nak beli banyak-banyak nanti banyak pulak kena angkut so beli jeans Levi's, baju budak2 ni dan husband beli wallet Fender. Mulanya masuk sebab Aqil nak buang air so kami assume adalah toilet kat dalam Ross Less tu, turned out takde langsung. Dahsyat la dekat SF ni, susah betul nak cari public toilet dia. Lepas tu singgah masuk butik Coach, semua barang mahal, baik beli kat outlet dia je. Then, pusing-pusing cari toilet. Last2 tanya satu omputih ni dia kata masuk kat McDonald. Dah masuk tu almaklumlah, terus lunch sekali la. Lepas tu semua orang kena masuk toilet 2 kali sebab nanti susah pulak nak cari toilet.

Lepas tu menapak sampai ke Chinatown. Lecehnya kat SF ni jalan dia semua berbukit so jenoh la dok kena panjat jalan yang mencuram. Bestnya pulak sebab elevation dia low so oxygen level tinggi, takde la mengah. Kalau kat Fort Collins ni harus dah mencungap sebab oxygen kurang. Di Chinatown, as expected, lagilah bertambah barangan made in China. I even spotted something similar like my patchwork Coach slingbag cuma yang jual tergantung kat situ cop dia Goach with fake patchworks patterns and terrible quality. I did not ask for the price, simply afraid if the seller will persuade me to buy one. Ada jual tudung yang agak menarik dengan harga yang agak murah, everything.. teringat macam kat kedai tepi jalan kat Aloq Staq or even mana-mana pekan di Malaysia yang jual barangan pelbagai. Same kind of display even some items also similar only the environment is different. Takde beli apa, just strolled around.

Then, after a while, the kids are tired, so do the mother. We walked up to wait for the next cable car ride. Tunggu punya tunggu, datanglah cable car. Dah ready dah nak hop in tengok-tengok, oppss, tengah practice driving. Baru nak patah balik, ada satu suara panggil suruh naik. The guy was a nice black man. Dia tanya dari Indonesia ke? Kami jawab dari Malaysia. Nama dia Ahmed. Such a very wonderful gentleman and very kind. Dia banyak sembang dengan my husband. Very nice guy. May Allah bless him with all the happiness and health. View kali ni dah cantik sebab pagi tadi punya ride penuh dengan kabus. Kali ni dah panas so nampak macam-macam. Alcatraz, the hillies road, cantiklah kiranya.. Sampai je stesen kat Hyde St. Pier, terus menapak balik bilik dan rehat sekejap.

Petang tu, kami jalan-jalan lagi ke Fisherman's Wharf dan ke Pier 41 dan Pier 39. Mulanya nak naik feri jalan-jalan bawah Golden Gate dan Alcatraz, tapi tengok ramai sangat orang dengan Aqif yang masih kecik leceh nak control so kami pun terus masuk Aquarium of the Bay. All of us enjoyed it so much especially Aqif sebab dapat tengok all the fishes he so admired. He said he loves all the fishes but when asked are you going to eat fish again, he ignored my question. Definitely he still want to eat fish. Kami buat 2 kali pusingan kat dalam tunnel tu then naik atas. Kat situ, visitors are allowed to touch some of the species like starfis, some of the unknown species and whatnot. Aqif lah yang paling suka sekali. Then, masa nak balik, jalan-jalan lagi.. got really tired. Dalam lebih kurang pukul 7, kami keluar lagi untuk naik cable car for night ride pulak. The kids dah meragam sebab semua dah letih dan mengantuk. Night view memang cantik sebab banyak lightings especially kat Union Square. Tapi, sebab Aqif tak nak jalan, Aqil mengantuk, sampai je ke Powell St station, we have to hit back to hotel. Baba was so frustrated sebab dia tak dapat nak ambik night scene. But the ride home was great. I dapat the seat belakang sekali mengadap jalan dekat brake. Bestnya....

Sekitar San Francisco. Please click on the image for larger view.

Day 3: Winnemucca, NV to San Francisco, CA

Isnin, 29 Disember 2008
390 miles (624km)

Hari ketiga di jalanan. Bekalan makanan masih ada lagi. Semalam makan nasi goreng. Ada lagi 3 bekas nasi goreng, 2 bekas mee, sambal ikan bilis, telur pindang yang tak berapa jadi tu dan sardin goreng. Ada roti, maggie, nuggets dan lebihan lasagna itu hari yang telah dibekukan. Kami juga ada bawak rice cooker just in case kalau motel tu takde microwave. So far memang kami cari motel yang ada microwave. Semalam di Winnemucca, motel yang kami tido tu dipunyai oleh sepasang suami isteri dari India. Baik betul tu auntie dan uncle tu. Motel tu nama dia Scottish Inn, bila masuk ofis dia nak check in ada bau kari, so instantly I knew that it must be owned by an Indian. Banyak motel yang kami checked in dipunyai oleh orang India. Cuti Thanksgiving lepas, 2 motel di Santa Fe dipunyai oleh orang India, cuma di Canon City tuan punya motel tu Polish. I like the Indian better because they were so very nice and friendly. Kali ini, waktu di Salt Lake City, I'm not sure who's the owner but I was checked in by an Iranian man. That guy was saying the room he was about to give me is a nice one, but turned out it was crap. Well, we don't have any choice then. Actually, we do but I just don't want to pay $100 a night for a sleep in.

Scottish Inn, Winnemucca, Nevada

Kami bertolak dari Winnemucca lebih kurang dalam pukul 9:30 pagi. Dari situ ke San Francisco cuma tinggal lagi lebih kurang 6 jam perjalanan. Simply set the GPS to SF and we were all set to go. Saya lebih relaks pada perjalanan kali ini kerana tidak perlu lagi membaca map dan merancang laluan. Sebelum ini masa Summer Trip ke Las Vegas, sampai di bandar Las Vegas saya agak kalut sebab kena refer map dan juga jalan bandar yang sesak. Tambahan, everybody were driving real fast so we cannot slow down. Memang ada niat untuk membeli GPS untuk next city trip cuma masih dalam pertimbangan. Nasib baik kenalan di sini, Rozana menasihatkan untuk dapatkan satu GPS untuk trip ini. Bila saya rujuk kepada google maps untuk jalan-jalan di SF, saya memang terus grab satu. Kebetulan, 2 days before Christmas, TomTom ONE 125 GPS ada sale so saya beli di BestBuy dengan harga lebih kurang $100. It saved us a lot of time and stress free sebab tak sesat kan. My GPS is the very basic one so just enough for our need. No fancy stuff in it though, takde MP3, tak de memory card, simply basic direction. I think its competitor, Garmin would give you a better GPS device but I chose the cheapest so I bought TomTom instead. Of course you can always pay $50 extra or more than that for a fancy interface and whatnot to please you eyes or your ears.

Dalam pukul 12:30 tgh, kami sampai di sempadan Nevada-California dan perlu membuat agricultural inspection. It caught me by surprise because I never thought there's gonna be such inspection when you're travelling in the States. I quickly running through my mind what are the "agricultural" produce with us and suddenly I remember our Cutie mandarins and some apples I bought at King Soopers but never ate them. The lady officer when spotted our Colorado license plate politely instructed my husband to step out and open up the back of the vehicle so she could check our stuff. Good for me that I brought the mandarins in its original packet with the labels and the unopened packets of the apples. When she noticed the mandarins was from California she credited me for the original package. Then, she spotted the apples, she politely said something about the organic apples is not in her list and need to check it. She brought those apples to her small cubicle, I think about four of them, and checked something in her computer. It turned out that my apples was not in the approved list and so she told my husband that she have to take those. We were given a slip as a prove that an inspection has been carried out and then, we were allowed to go. Before us, there were another vehicle which has lost some of their fruits and vege supplies too. So funny, I think they just wanted us to buy a California produce only. So folks, if you're driving to California, make sure you bring only agricultural produce that was made in California, OK?

Agricultural Inspection Station

Selepas itu, kami melalui jalan menuruni bukit yang berbiku dengan salji tebal di tepi bahu jalan. Dari gambar yang diambil, saya rasa dalam salji lebih kurang 3-4ft. Tapi mungkin juga sebab semua salji diatas jalan ditolak ke tepi, jadi salji yang terkumpul agak tinggi. Dari situ ke Lake Tahoe sudah dekat tetapi memandangkan keadaan sekeliling yang penuh bersalji, saya rasa Lake Tahoe pada waktu itu mesti membeku sama seperti Great Salt Lake. Lagipun, saya ingin sampai cepat di SF. Anak-anak pada ketika itu sedang nyenyak tidur. Cuaca mulai terasa panas seperti summer. Kami berhenti sekejap di Dixon, CA untuk gas dan rest rooms. Kami tiba di San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge dalam pukul 3:20 petang Central Time, kiranya dalam pukul 2:20 waktu Pacific. We were so excited to see stretches of beaches and sun! On the way down to SF, all the trees and grass were so green it's felt like summer already. By the way, mind me for the not so good Bay Bridge image because our van was as dirty as hell.

San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge

Sick and tired of the traffic jam that we had to get through, I just could not wait to find a nice decent motel to check in. We drove straight to Fisherman's Wharf and check in at The Wharfs Inn. It cost me a lot of money but well it's so close to everything we can put our good van to rest for a couple days. By the way, you're not gonna like driving around in SF, it's hilly, most of the streets is like one way, no turn here or there and it's congested. Well, you hates driving in KL, right?

The Wharf Inn @ Fisherman's Wharf

We did some exploration at night, just walked along the Jefferson St and took a glance of the night life. I bought a camera here. Yeah, I knew it cost me a bit more with the accessories but I couldn't care less. I was hunting for a camera so long that I just grab it. I'm glad I did. I did placed an order via Amazon for a Panasonic Lumix bridge camera but ended up buying an Olympus instead. The reason I need to buy a new one simply because night shots were always disappointing. I knew DSLR would do a better job but heck it's so complicated, I think we're both not ready for it yet. We were still not used to our new gadget that night but it gets better. We just need to practice! I'll put up some more pictures later. For now, I need to go to sleep.

Aqil & Aqif: night shot with Olympus.
It was dark but the camera gave a good result.

Day 2: Salt Lake City, UT to Winnemucca, NV

Ahad, 28 Disember 2008
360 miles (576 km)

Pagi Ahad di Salt Lake City yang dingin. Kami check-out dalam pukul 10:30 pagi. Pagi di SLC terasa kelainanannya dengan bandar yang dikelililingi bukit bukau yang memutih dengan salji. Suhu agak sejuk tetapi tidak sedingin waktu malam. Angin juga tidak begitu kuat mungkin sebab dihalang oleh deretan bukit-bukit. Namun, sesekali anging kuat bertiup kencang. Disebabkan hari Ahad dan Krismas masih terasa lagi jadi bandarnya terasa begitu lengang, jadi amat sesuai untuk pusing-pusing di sekitar bandar SLC.

Pemandangan di kawasan Wasatch Inn, UT

SLC agak kecil berbanding Denver mahupun KL tetapi kami amat suka dengan sistem jalanraya yang teratur dan bandarnya juga amat terancang dengan jalan lurus dan bangunan yang teratur dan kemas. Terdapat satu LRT yang beroperasi di bandarnya dan kami agak sistem tersebut terus bersambung dengan University of Utah. Saya malas nak pergi tengok kampusnya dan malas juga nak berjalan-jalan di sekitar bandarnya. Memang rasa malas betullah pagi tu.. satu sebab penuh salji kan dan lagi satu kami lagi suka natural scenery. Takat bangunan tinggi-tinggi ni tengok jelah.. KL pun banyak jugak bangunan cantik-cantik..

Parts of Salt Lake City

Satu yang saya perasan disini banyak Mormon Church. Saya mengetahui pasal agama Mormon ni melalui sepasang suami isteri yang tinggal di Aggie Village jugak. Masa tu kami punya Community Coordinator, Amin yang berasal dari Iran buat BBQ party di courtyard kami. Kebetulan saya duduk semeja dengan mereka dan seorang wanita Iran yang juga sepupu si Amin ni. The Iranian lady seems so fond to talk about religions and she even called up her husband to join the talk. She's from Golden and apparently, she was educated in some international laws and stuff and in contrast with me who did not favor to talk much about politics or religions. So the couple also started talking about theirs. At that time, my husband was having a good conversation with our nextdoor Indian neighbour while watching the kids running and fooling around. We were talking about Ramadan and the Mormon fasting and lots of other stuff which I could not even remember. Luckily for me, I did not comment much on the Sunni and Syiah because my husband told me later that the Iranians Muslims are Syiah and they are very sensitive about this. Bless my big mouth was zipped through the whole conversation and strangely I could be a good listener through out the whole thing. The truth is, I don't know much about the topic. The point is Mormons believe that Nabi Isa a.s. will return to the earth just before the Judgement Day. They also point out some interesting things which is pretty much similar to Islam. See Mormon in Wikipedia. I don't care much about the talk, I listened and I forget. So lame of me... By the way, there were a lot of Mormon churches in SLC and they even had some Sunday services that Sunday.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

After a while of cruising around the city, we drove off to resume our journey. Our little Aqif kept asking for his favorite Walmart chocolate chip cookies and so I did some searching in our GPS to locate nearest Walmart. After following the directions, then I realized that it was way too far from our route so we decided to let him craved for a while. The GPS was really a great tool but we're still not master it yet. Driving away from the city, it was amazing to notice that SLC is surrounded by hills of snowy mountains. It was indeed a beautiful city with just the right size but I will definitely so not gonna live there simply because I know the winter is absolutely bitterly freezing. Snow is fun but it's the cold wind that is unbearable..

Salt Lake City from Interstate Highway, I-80

The roadtrip on I-80 from SLC were presented with endless view of the famous Great Salt Lake. It felt like we were driving by the ocean. I google about this majestic lake and found something interesting in Wikipedia. The area of the lake was about 2.5 times the size of Melaka or approximately half of Kedah. It is saltier than seawater and was dubbed America's Dead Sea but of course the Dead Sea is totally dead and no living habitat can even live there. The I-80 spread across some of its southwest lakes and there were times when were driving on the road with the lakes surrounding us.

The real scene and the GPS image with lake all over.

The GPS image really shown an interesting road layout. Noticed the railway track on the right of the screen, a friend of mine once told me that the train trip from midwest to San Francisco is one of the most scenic train journey in US. I could imagine how mesmerizing it would be. The road trip was mesmerizing enough. If you go by train, you'll get better view of the lake.

Great Salt Lake, Utah

After a while, we stopped by at Bonneville Salt Flats. I was amazed by the flatness and the barren of the white that spread as far as eyes can see. It was actually very bright and freaking freezing, the wind is so chillingly cold. I did scratch my finger through that salt and tasted the saltiness of it. The flats however is absolutely as hard as a granite so I just managed to kind of run through my finger on its surface and lick it. I found later that the depth of the salt can be up to 6 feet deep. From my AAA map, the area was depicted as some evaporation basin. Pretty interesting facts, huh?

Hey, this is where they tested all those world speed record

Can you see the curvature of the earth at the horizon?

We spent some good half an hour on this place before we hit back on the road. The plan was to spend the night at Reno but it seems that we had some time issues and since the dark was as early as 4:30 pm so we stopped by at Winnemucca, Nevada.

The long winding and slippery winter road

Day 1: Fort Collins, CO to Salt Lake City, UT

Sabtu, 27 Disember 2008
456 miles (730 km)

Hari ni seperti yang dirancang, kami bertolak dari rumah dalam pelan perjalanan 10 hari. Pagi lagi baru sibuk nak ambik duit kat ATM. Dalam pada tu, bincang2 apa yang tinggal, baru teringat ada satu lagi toll violation pending tak bayar lagi. Deadline dia before 30th Dec tapi sebab takut takde pulak good internet connection so patah balik ke rumah untuk bayar online.

Kisah dia hari tu masa ke Santa Fe, kami ada lencong masuk ke satu highway sebab driver dia dah tak tahan nak pi toilet. Kebetulan tak berjumpa pulak rest area atau stesen minyak kat highway tu. Kat situ ada signboard bagi tau tollway tapi bila lalu takde pulak toll booth. Ada stop kat tempat yang tepi jalan tu dia ada letak macam tempat parking tu tapi macam heran pulak macam mana nak bayar ni. Yelah, jakun tak pernah jumpa toll yang takde orang jaga, dah la tu, tak berpagar pulak tu, so kami ingat toll ni baru buat dan belum in full operation. Maka kami pun meneruskan perjalanan tanpa was-was. Tup-tup, hujung bulan before Christmas dapat notis, 2 lai pulak tu kata toll violation. Stated a civil penality of $70, toll dia $0.75 dan fee dia $7. So, total due = $77.75. Siap ada gambar bontot van dengan license plate lagi. Giler ke apa US ni, dah la toll macam tu punya style then suddenly mintak sampai macam tu sekali. Maka, aku pun mula la mengarang ayat email kat E-470 tu bagi tau aku tak tau apa punya pesen toll cenggitu. Kami ingat hari Jumaat lepas Christmas nak pi ofis dia setel. Yelah, ada ke pulak suddenly nak charge $77.75 macam tu jer.. Then dapatlah email dari one of the officer cakap that aku boleh pi bayar online toll dia sebelum deadline. Kalau tak bayar baru kena masuk court dan bayar $77 tu. Aku pun bayar lah. Yelah, tengah sakit hati, aku tengok sama je surat 2 keping tu rupanya 2 toll violation. Itu yang kena patah balik tu setel yang lagi satu. Setan betul la.. mintak2 bankrap la company tu. aku baca ramai orang Amerika yang marah style cenggitu..

So, berbalik kepada cerita perjalanan ke Salt Lake City ni.. konon nak gerak pukul 9 pagi, dah alih2 jadi pukul 11.30 pulak. Masuk je Wyoming US 287 , angin dah mula kuat.. memang kuat betul ditolak-tolaknya van ke tepi jalan.. lepas tu kat atas jalan siap ada blowing snow.. rupa dia macam asap kat atas stage tiap2 kali Malaysian rock band nak performe kan keluar asap kat lantai tu kan, ha macam tulah rupa blowing snow tu lebih kurang kaedah dia. Memang betul2 mencabar la memandu kat Wyoming ni. Sejuk giler dalam van pun terasa lah kesejukan dia. Dalam 40 minit macam tu kami sampai ke Laramie. Ingat dah lega dah kot rupanya dari Laramie ke Rawlins, lagi teruk.. dengan angin yang kuat dalam 50mph - 65mph (80kmh - 104 kmh), jalan pulak tak nampak sangat sebab penuh dengan blowing snow, budak2 pulak masa genting macam ni lah dorang mulalah bergurau2, bergaduh2.. yang kami ni dah risau mula la start berdoa mintak dilindungi Allah SWT. Sejam lebih jugaklah cuaca sejuk macam tu. Lepas sikit pada Rawlins sebab sejuk so mula la nak buang air, jumpa satu rest area, Ya Allah, angin dia punyalah kuat dengan sejuk gedi... masa berjalan ke restrooms tu Aqil jatuh kena tolak dengan angin kuat.. nasib baik la mak dia ni punya bodyweight is good enough to withstand the lift force.. haa..ha... kalau tidak harus tergolek-golek jugak.. dahsyat betul la Wyoming punya weather ni...

Blowing snow on I-80, Laramie to Rawlins, Wyoming.

Lepas pada Rawlins, jalan dah mula ok dengan angin kuat bertiup sekali sekala. Kalau kat Malaysia rasanya angin kuat ni PLUS panggil angin lintang. memanglah kalau kereta proton ke, perodua ke, harus melayang dan terbabas. Angin dia memang kuat betul. Nasib baik van Plymouth Voyager kami tu memang kira berat jugak la, itupun sesekali terpeleot jugak kena dengan angin kuat tu.

Somewhere along the trip, probably at Green River area

Windmills along I-80 in Wyoming

Pukul 5 dah gelap gulita serupa pukui 10 malam. That's the negative side travelling in winter. Kalau summer, pukul 9 malam masih cerah lagi. Kami terus on driving sebab nak tido kat Salt Lake City. We were so tired and starving. Sampai kat SLC, the road mostly covered with snow. Ada satu motel tu susah betul nak masuk dalam area dia sebab dia tak clear up entrance betul-betul. So, kesudahnya ambik sajalah mana-mana motel yang jumpa dan senang nak masuk. Itulah tu, the room was pretty bad but the toilet was cleaned though. Lagipun, nak bermalam satu malam jer.. Our dinner, I made nasi lemak bungkus the night before so we just heated in microwave and get a rest for the night.

Salt Lake City, Utah as seen from the high road of I-80

My nasi lemak ready to be wrapped in banana leaf

Nasi lemak bungkus untuk bekalan