Joshua Cantrell's Trip Page

About This Page

I would like to share some of my experiences and trip information (like pictures) to people I know on the WWW, so I have made this WWW page. Since not everyone can or has been everywhere, it might help broaden what they know about the world they live in. :-)

JPEG appears to be quite useful in compressing photo quality pictures, so I was able to compress most pictures to 100KBs without sacrificing much detail or image quality (most of that was lost in scanning the photos!). JPEG reminds me of the good/bad qualities of quicksort. Quicksort is great if the elements are extremely unsorted, but is awful if the elements are already mostly sorted. JPEGs seem to be really good at pictures with gradual changes in color and soft edges, but not that good when it becomes line art.

The type of scanner used appears to make some differences in the quality of the pictures. For this reason I'm going to give the name of the scanners used in the pictures and possibly other information that could help explain defects in the scanned images.

I don't have all of them accessible on-line because I'm not sure if I want everyone to see my photos. The WWW is a great place to share with good people, but there are people who can misuse information you make available. My pictures aren't exactly something I want to be misused. If you would like to learn about any of my trips, simply send me an e-mail and maybe we can work something out.

Camping Trips

Camping trips, to me, are defined by traveling in a vehicle, parking at some site and then doing some site seeing, which often involves a great deal of hiking. Also, more often than not, I give up certain amenities while I'm camping - I don't bathe every day. If I went camping and expected to bring my luxuries of home with me, I don't think I'd really call it camping. I don't know why people have to bring radios and play them really loud when they are camping.

Tufa, Posts, & Ancient Trees (Summer 1997) (Mustek Paragon 800 IISP) - My father, youngest brother, and I all went out on a trip to see Mono Lake, Devils Postpile National Monument, and The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. These are in the southeast quarter of California, north of Death Valley. Often in this trip I had to take some time and ignore the conflicts that seemed to abound between my father and youngest brother, and the crazy ideas my father continously tried to promote. But overall, it was great not sitting in front of a computer or worrying about work!

Lava Beds National Monument (Summer 1998) (HP ScanJet 6200C) - These excessively JPEGed images are from at trip that I didn't take because I was busy TAing for CS61A at UC Berkeley. Lava Beds National Monument in northern California holds a special place in my memories because we went there so often when I was a child. I like exploring the caves formed with basalt, Captain Jack's Stronghold, and hicking up cindercones and down into the Hidden Valley (the one that's there, not the one you are probably thinking about). My mother, father, two brothers, and a friend went on this trip.

Return to the Ancient Trees (Summer 1999) (HP ScanJet 6200C) - My father and I were on the High Sierra Trail with one of my father's friends and his nephew, but had to turn back. Since it was a one way trip and his friend and nephew needed a ride back at the end of the line at Mt. Whitney Portal, we dropped by The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest for a few days before picking them up.

Backpacking Trips

Backpacking Trips are even more challenging than camping trips because you hike in away from your car for miles. There are some beautiful areas that cannot be seen by just hiking short distances, so backpacking becomes a necessity. Personally, I wouldn't backpack just to go fishing or simply to hike. There has to be some aspect of beauty to draw me there.

High Sierra Trail to Mt. Whitney (Summer 1999) (HP ScanJet 6200C) - My father, his friend and nephew, and I were all going to hike to the top of Mt. Whitney starting at Sequoia National Park! Yes, it was going to be a great nine day trip! Beautiful scenery (if you neglected the haze) and a challenge (my father called this adventure) to complete! In the end my father and I had to return two days in because we had packed too much and were not really in good enough shape for the pace we were hiking.

Sightseeing Trips

Sightseeing Trips are different from camping trips in that you can take baths regularly. This means you could be staying at an RV park, hotel, or motel. The end result is a higher density of other sightseers who take advantage of the easy transition from home life to travel life.

Disneyland, California (Summer 1999) (HP ScanJet 6200C) - As a present for my brother and I graduating from UC Berkeley, my father, mother, two other brothers, and I all went to Disneyland for five days! (Not five full days.) It's my favorite themepark, so I'm always happy to have a chance to go there every once in awhile.

Universal Studios, California (Summer 1999) (HP ScanJet 6200C) - During one of the days at Disneyland, we went to Universal Studios. They certainly had some impressive rides, but I still like their tour tram better! Overall, Disneyland rides are oriented more for fun than those at Universal Studios, which appear to have more violent themes.

Huntington Gardens, Caliornia (Summer 1999) (HP ScanJet 6200C) - One of the days at Disneyland, my father and mother, and and I decided to see the Huntington Gardens. My father and mother both like plants, and I simply wanted to see something new and refreshing (I hadn't been there before). Our legs started to give out on us half way through the gardens, so we didn't go everywhere I wanted to go, but still saw enough to see that it is worth returning!

General Trips

Some trips are difficult to classify. For example, when you move into a new house, I think of that as a trip. It's just a one way type trip if you are the person moving in. :-)

Shane Moves to University of Washington (Summer 1999) (HP ScanJet 6200C) - My father and mother, twin brother (Shane), and I all went north to Seattle, Washington to Shane move into his new apartment (new for him, old in age). We also walked around the University he was soon going to attend as an Electrical Engineering graduate student.

Joshua Moves to UCLA (Summer 1999) (unscanned) - My father and mother, and I (Joshua) all went south to Los Angeles, California to move me into my new apartment (new for me, old in age). My parents had to leave before seeing the campus on this trip, but they had seen it when we went to Disneyland anway. I of course saw the campus many times after the initial move in.

joshuacantrell@yahoo.com

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