From San Francisco I headed north towards the Redwoods. After a long drive I stopped in Eureka for the night before hiking around in Redwood National Park. It was a foggy damp place. I didn’t see sunshine until around 4 when I headed out to Crescent City for the night. In the morning I said, ‘peace out Humboldt’ and made my way towards Oregon.
I was of course twarted by more car troubles. I got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere Route 199 on a windy road without cell phone coverage. Luckily, I am very good at changing tires and got it back up and running before making it to Oregon where I was faced with the difficult decision of buying new tires. No big deal, as they say. I was just happy to be in Oregon. Pictures from Oregon to come soon!
I woke up my 2nd day in Yosemite and got my gear ready for a hike up to Clouds Rest when I saw this walking past me. It was probably the best encouter with a wild animal I have ever experienced. After it walked past me I got ready to head out and came upon it again with 2 other hikers. It barked a couple of times and then put its head back and HOWWWWWWWLLLL. It was the most amazing thing to see. THAT….is how you start your day.
I finally made my way to Yosemite after visiting beautiful San Francisco. I hurt my shoulder in Austin and haven’t been able to climb much, but was able to do a nice long 21 mile hike by myself into the wilderness. I started at Happy Isles which is in Yosemite Valley, and made my way up to Clouds Rest by way of Little Yosemite Valley Campground. It was a beautiful place. My hike to Clouds Rest was everything and more I dreamed of when I first set out on my trip wanting to get out into the wilderness.
Clouds Rest was around 9500 feet and Yosemite Valley is at around 4,000 feet. This made for quite the uphill climb, but was well worth the view of Half Dome and all of Yosemite Valley. Clouds Rest, I just found out, is the highest peak near Yosemite Valley. w00t!
I met some great people at the communal fire pit at Little Yosemite Valley and made good use of my Steripen water purifier provided to me by the always gracious Jason Prohaska. Thanks Jason! So far I am parasite free! As long as I don’t get Diarrhea in the next 3 days I’d say I’m set!
I spent a lot of my time in San Francisco doing a freelance project to make some money so I could pay off some of my car trouble debt. I was still able to see a lot of the city and enjoyed my time there. San Francisco is still one of my favorite cities.
Thank you to those of you who let me sleep on your couches! After San Fran I went out to Yosemite for some camping!
My drive from Santa Monica to San Francisco was pretty amazing. Driving up the Pacific Coastal Highway was something I had been wanting to do since the idea of my trip started in my brain many months ago. Driving up the PCH through Big Sur was like driving through the clouds. Clouds and Fog rolled over the road and up the mountains as I drove up the windy road to San Francisco. It was a beautiful drive on a beautiful day.
For all of those who have heard me talk about how amazing Roscoe’s Chicken N Waffles is…I finally got my second beautiful taste of it in Hollywood. I had chicken and waffles at Roscoe’s when I worked in LA during college…and hadn’t tasted its sweet combination in a long time. The last time I had chicken and waffles was in Brooklyn with Becca and Nate…but I have to admit…Roscoe’s just can’t be beat.
I apologize for the lack of updates. I have been quite busy traveling around. Here are some photos of my time in Southern California. This included the drive in through Indio and Palm Springs, Santa Monica, LA in general, and San Diego. Much more to come as soon as I get some more internet connectivity.
Just left Yosemite (National Park) and will getting back to San Francisco this eve. I will post pictures and such from my time in California once I have some stable internet connections. Thanks for the patience, boys (and girls).
I have to say, firstly, that most of these photos were taken my Greg Mitchell. He has an underwater camera and we brought it along with us for the trip. We drove down to La Jolla Cove, which is just north of San Diego, and spent the day looking at fish, and sea lions, and exploring a cave on the other side of the cove. I have to admit, I never expected to go snorkeling in October. Ever.
Pittsburgh, PA -- Sept 10 Harrisburg, PA New Bethlehem, PA Sandusky, OH Saline, MI Sleeping Bear Dunes, MI Pictured Rocks, MI Apostle Islands, WI St. Paul, MN Minneapolis, MN Luverne, MN Badlands Natl. Park, SD Rushmore Natl. Mon., SD Spearfish, SD Jackson, WY Salt Lake City, UT Yellowstone Natl. Park, WY Jackson, WY Oakland, CA Santa Cruz, CA Sonoma Co, CA Jackson, WY Destin, FL Houston, TX Salt Lake City, UT Pittsburgh, PA Harrisburg, PA Brooklyn, NY Harrisburg, PA Pittsburgh, PA Salt Lake City, UT Jackson Hole, WY Pasco, WA Seattle, WA Tacoma, WA Portland, OR Eugene, OR Crescent City, CA Eureka, CA San Francisco, CA Yosemite Natl. Park, CA San Francisco, CA Santa Monica, CA Avondale, AZ Tucson, AZ Roswell, NM Guadalupe Mtns, TX Austin, TX Houston, TX New Orleans, LA Baton Rouge, LA Savannah, GA Brunswick, GA Hostel in the Forest, GA Charleston, SC Aiken, SC Black Mountain, NC Boone, NC Abingdon, VA Red River Gorge, KY New River Gorge, WV Vandalia, WV Morgantown, WV Pittsburgh, PA Harrisburg, PA Brooklyn, NY -- August 09
