Places we slept at

San Francisco - Adelaide Hostel
K. says: "Best feeling, knowing that we are in San Francisco"

First day in San Francisco was detailed earlier. Our second day was spent exploring the Castro district, visiting the Twin Peaks, buying Thai fisherman pants, eating amazing peanut butter from Safeway, and discovering small pearls in Bubble Tea.

Here's the view from the Twin Peaks:



El Portal - on Eamon's lawn
K. says: "Best morning"

Yosemite - 3 nights in back-packers, one night in wilderness
K. says: "Most challenging experience"

Here's a video of the falls and the view from the top.



San Francisco - Dakota Hotel
K. says: "Best shower ever!"

Yosemite showers cost 5 bucks a pop, so we didn't shower the whole time we were there... and we went on 3 long hikes in the sun! We didn't feel too gross while we were there (and we did try to wash in the freezing water of a stream), but once we got back into the city, we realized that our skin wasn't really that dark, it was simply dirty! So I would have to agree with K., best showers ever!

Bodega Bay - SP with our first dunes
K. says: "Best first day of the rest of the coastal trip"

Getting out of San Francisco was the tricky part of our first day up the coast. Luckily, we found out that there were suburban-type buses leaving the city, and crossing the Golden Gate bridge!! (I was very excited about getting to cross said bridge) And so, we tackled the walk to the bus stop, about 12 blocks (which is 9 more than the maximum number of blocks we were willing to walk with our backpacks the last time we were in the city, yay Yosemite!), and took two buses out to Marin City. There, we found a grocery store, and after stocking up, as we were crossing the street, we were offered a ride! This got us to Stinson Beach, where I picked up a better map of California. This little town was perhaps my favorite we saw all trip, and I wish we would have taken the time to visit it better... but we were eager to go North (by looking at the first map I had, we had decided to aim for Russian Gulch State Park that day, which in reality was way over ambitious, as it took us 3 days to get there). Then it took us three more rides to get to Bodega Bay, where we discovered that for three bucks each, we could stay in hiker biker camps!! We also discovered that it's very very windy on the beaches, which makes it chilly...

Point Arena - SP in the field
K. says: "Best smoking ever, with Aki in her orange sweater, purple pants, and metal cup full of rum"

So as most of you know, I'm not the biggest fan of animals... mostly because I'm scared to be attacked and/or bitten by them. However, cows have never been on the list of my most feared four legged creatures, but it seems that they did not appreciate being overlooked. For our second night of camping, we stayed in another SP, this time it was in a field, and next to another campground, a K.O.A. This K.O.A. was just down the road, past a pasture, where cows were standing around or eating, looking bored. Needing something to help wash down the alcohol, K. and I set out to the general store at the K.O.A. (the SP we were staying at was particularly rudimentary: dry toilets were the only amenity). On the way there, the cows sort of glanced our way, but that was all. On the way back though, something triggered a few cows to walk our way, slowly. Seeing this, I waved at them and called out to them (I was quite surprised to sees cows moving at all), which somehow translated in these first cows picking up the pace. The other cows, seeing this unnatural haste in their comrades, decided to also come over to see what was happening. By then, I was getting slightly scared (ok, a lot, but in my defense, K. was also quite freaked out) and started running down the road. This resulted in the cows picking up the pace again, and so I was being followed by a whole herd of running, snorting cows, with only a very flimsy barbed wire fence separating us (and it was quite crowded on their side, so much so that one cow actually run up atop another). Luckily, this fence was enough of a determent, and the cows stayed on their side, and we escaped safe and sound back to our field.

Further down the road, we found another beautiful beach, but this afternoon was very foggy...



Manchester - SP on the cliff
K. says: "Best spot ever ever EVER"

This spot was, I must wholeheartedly agree with K., the best place we slept at the whole trip! Imagine simply setting your tent atop a cliff, with the ocean just below, creating a beautiful soundtrack of crashing waves. I mean, people pay for ocean sound cd's right? Well, we were at the place that such cd's are recorded!



Before arriving in Manchester, and going for our first (and only) swim in the ocean, we took a little time off in a small and cute town called Mendocino. There, we went to a Farmer's Market, for a walk along a cliff, jewelry shopping, and I ate the best ice cream on the trip: homemade berry ice cream (I don't remember the name of the berry, but it was some local one, the first batch of the season, and simply amazing!). There isn't much else to say, it was a lovely day, and an amazing place to sleep at!



Mendocino:



Sunset on the cliff:




Patrick's Point - SP with all the rocks
K. says: "Most peaceful place"

I remember this day because of the ride we got in the morning. We were planning on only making it to Humbolt's Redwoods SP, but the first person to stop was a guy in a decomposing car he was rebuilding that was heading all the way to Arcata, and so we decided to tag along, and so we got through twice our daily goal distance by noon! We also got to try out how the air flies by when you have your head out the sun roof (no worries, we don't have any disfiguring marks from this), which made our eyes tear up and our throat dry out. Our second stroke of luck that day was that it turned out to be graduation weekend in Arcata, and there was a little celebration! The town square was full of people, live music, performers, dancers, and another farmer's market! (we had unfortunately already done our grocery is a wonderful coop, lots of bulk food and snacks...) We finally made it to our campsite, and went to explore Patrick's Point. We also had a little nap on the beach, and I got to take my first shower since San Francisco!


Redwoods National Park - Elk Prairie
K. says: "Best reminder of : we are small!"

Ok, so elks are scary. First off, they are a LOT bigger than deer. Second, there are signs everywhere to warn you off them. And third, they sort of stare at you until you're trembling in your shoes in cold sweat. After our experiences with the cows, you can hardly blame me for being afraid! Of course, K. was fine, and actually had the nerve to laugh at my perfectly rational fears...

A bit about Redwoods, they are simply HUGE! We went for a walk in the forest, and were continually amazed at the denseness of the plants, and the height and width of the trees. In my opinion, it was one of the most eye opening experiences of the trip, simply to take a few moments to realize how mother nature is ever present in our lives, and we don't notice it, until BAM, it's thrown in our faces! We are just so small!

Still, small things can be pretty amazing:















Brookings - Harris Beach SP
K. says: "Best facilities ever, y'avait juste tout!"


This was our first night in Oregon! After having a bit of trouble finding the best place to hitch a ride, and playing some ABBA music in order to keep our spirits up, Justice stopped on the side of the road in a beautifully new and clean Hybrid car, and offered to drive us all the way up into Oregon! Patience does pay off in the end!

Harris Beach was only a mile out of Brookings, and so after setting up camp, we walked back into town to enjoy a city perks (a.k.a McDonald's and a public library with internet access). We also discovered our soon to be favorite store: Fred Meyer's! Now, normally K. and I aren't the type of girls that get excited when going to say Zellers or Wal-Mart... but when camping and trekking, such stores become infinitely more appealing. Cheap food, lots of fruit, amazing bulk food choices, and aisles dedicated to candy!

This was also the day that our first propane tank decided to give out, while we were cooking supper, on a bench with a beautiful view of the sunset. So after a few minutes of debate, we decide to walk back into town, and visit Fred Meyer's again in order to get more propane. We also decided that night to try to stay in one camp ground for two nights in a row, since we hadn't slept at the same place twice since Yosemite, and have been taking down and putting up the tent everyday since El Portal.

Florence - Jessie Honeyman SP
K. says: "Best sunset"

Yachats - Beachside SP
K. says: "Best stupid idea ever"

Newport - South Beach SP
K. says: "Best overview of LOST ever"

Van Duzer - Stealth camping
K. says: "Best forbidden spot"

Portland - One night Marriot, one night HI
K. says: "Best hotel room ever, and best hostel ever too!"

we'll fill in with more info as we get the time!

Arrival in Portland!

Here we are, a day early, in an apparently over-crowded city (since all the rooms are booked in all cheap hotels and hostels) but with empty roads... very strange. It seems that all the locals are out on the coast, and the city is filled with tourists like us! No matter, we have showered, put on clean underwear (very sexy lacy ones for K!), and are off to find some chinese food and a bubble tea! Later, we will try to find a good place for a little dancing, and tomorrow we'll explore the city. Amtrak is scheduled for an 8:30am departure on Monday, the trip is coming to an end, but what a ride it was! I'll update with more info and pictures soon!

Many thanks to all those who picked us up...

1. Rich guy walking his dogs
2. Eamon, the Craig's List guy that let us sleep on his lawn
3. Jackie, the Bear patrol lady
4. The guy with a van giving tours
5. The three Chinese tourists
6. The couple with the woman who grew up in Las Vegas
7. Fred, the trucker guy
8. Joy, the lady who gave us directions and then decided that walking 5 blocks was too far
9. The lady that stopped and offered us a ride before we had even started hitching
   
10. Old hippy in the old Mercedes that reminded me of a lean Bruce
11. Old carpenter guy
12. Falcon hunter guy with the huge car
13. The construction worker that offered us a 2nd ride after his job
    
14. Rodney, the Texas guy that stopped and showed us his favorite beaches
15. Rich tourist guy that was looking to buy a house
16. Family of Mexican ladies
17. The guy that made us both sit in the back and that gave us a tour of Mendocino
18. The lady that works in a hospital
19. The really cute professional diver guy
20. The guy that has 500 weed plants (50 of which were legal)
21. Riley, the guy with the really old car and the sun roof
22. Happy black lady visiting her son for graduation
23. The paramedic going back country camping during his 4 days off
24. The lady with the plastic window and the duck taped glove compartment
25. Justice, the fun "karma" guy that gave us soap
26. Rusty, the guy that bought us McDonald's
27. The black retired great-grandpa that makes earrings
28. The two sisters in the crazy van with the dangling decomposing bat
29. The two young girls going to work (24 & 19)
30. The very normal couple we never would have imagined would pick up hitch-hikers in the car that looked like a rental but wasn't
31. Weird guy with skinny legs and the new girlfriend
32. The sick woman "driving drugs"
33. Leisa, the second lady would stopped before we started hitching, and suggested "stealth" camping
34. Bob, the guy with the ranch party

and that's it!! Without all of you, we'd still be in Marin City... wondering whether we should be taking buses or not!

Up the coast...

Sorry folks! Internet is really scarce to come by... and so are showers it seems! I'm now on my 3rd day out of San Francisco (2nd departure from that lovely city), up the coast along Highway 1. We are in a little town called Mendocino, and we've just spent two lovely nights in State campgrounds. Did you know you can sleep in such parks for 3$ a person?? As long as you don't have a car! Pretty sweet!!! Yesterday, we saw a whale, and seemed to be attacked by cows, which was very scary!! More later, out of time!

Yosemite

Day 1: EL PORTAL
We found a ride by posting on Craig's list from San Francisco up to a tiny town called El Portal, which was just a mile from the park's border, so the night before entering the park, K. and I found ourselves setting up camp for the first time on the lawn of the guy that gave us the ride out! In the morning, he told us about a little watering hole and waterfall that was a short hike up from his place, so we spent a lazy morning skinny dipping in the freezing water flowing down from the melting snow capped mountains. Once we were nice and rested, we got a ride out of El Portal, and into the park from a lady working bear patrol (more on bears later). Camp 4, the only walk-in campground in the park was full, but we were lucky enough to learn about a back-packer's campground, where we stayed for the night. The rest of the day was spent wandering around the park, surrounded by HUGE MOUNTAINS and waterfalls (more on this later too)!



Day 2: GETTING ACQUAINTED
We got up at 7am, and hurried, took down the camp and made our way out to Camp 4 once more, getting there at... 9:15am! (it takes us a LONG time to get ready in the morning...) Out of the 60 people waiting to get into the camp, 54 got in... and we, well, didn't. So we decided to try our luck wilderness camping. We got our permits for the following day, set up our tent in the back-packer's campground once more (same spot as the previous night), and then went on a "warm-up" hike, up the Vernal falls. The walk up was amazing, we got completely soaked from the mist coming off the falls, and got to see rainbows too! The hike was a bit more than a warm-up, and by the end we were quite happy to have supper and get an early night's sleep.

Day 3: BIG HIKE DAY
Leaving everything behind, except the strict necessary, we set off to hike up the highest falls in North America!! (we learned this fact as we were in the bus going to the falls...) It was a 5h journey, 90% of it was in the (HOT) sun, and I drank 2L+ of water... but we made it up! Once off the beaten track, we were in the wild, looking for footsteps in snowbanks, trying to find a campsite... and the first one we saw was home for the night! The evening was quiet, the campfire was challenging since the wood was a bit wet, and we truly felt like we were "lost in the wild". Thankfully, nothing happened, and our bear-proof food canister was left alone during the night!







Day 4: BEARS!
Waking up on the top of the mountain with an ice-covered tent in California was not part of the "plan", but it did happen to us! The hike down the mountain was a lot easier, taking only 3h, but it seemed to be harder on the knees and ankles. We also got to go see the falls before starting the hike down, and since it was early morning, we were alone up there, which made the whole experience feel slightly surreal! Then, once we got back to the back-packer's campground once more, we thought we were done, no more adventures for the day... but no... a black bear decided to walk up to our table and run off with K's back pack!!! Luckily, my shreks called over the only two other people on the campground, who threw rocks at the bear, and were able to get the pack back! Then, about 10 minutes later, the bear came back, looking in the garabe bins near our site! Again, the two other guys ran up yelling and throwing things to get the bear to leave us alone. After our scare, we decided to go and get ice cream (surprise, surprise), and when we came back, we realized that the bear had returned during our trip and had ripped holes in the other guys' tent, and had run into our tent a few times, since our poles were all bent out of shape! Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well that night, and I am positive that I heard growling during the night... in the morning, I slept through yet another bear encounter. It was time for us to leave Yosemite!

Day 5: DEPARTURE AND SEQUOIAS
We caught our first ride of the day out of the park, and to Tuolumne Grove, to see some giant Sequoias, the world's heaviest tree! When I get home, I'll try to include a few pictures of these trees, to give you an idea of how huge they are! At the entrance, the age of the trees was put into perspective for us: they were around since before the Colessum was built in Rome!! Incredible! A few more rides later, we ended up in a very un-interesting town called Merced, and so we decided to catch a train out, and back to San Francisco. It's great to be back in a city, in the same hostel as last time, clean and safe!

Onwards and upwards from now on! NORTHBOUND!

There are hills, and then there are San Fran's hills!

Kathleen and I decided to take on San Francisco's reputation as being an unwalkable city today, and I think we came out on top! Granted, we trudged up some unpleasant hills, and bypassed other ones, and did succumb to a lone bus ride, but all in all it was a good day! We started out by dropping our embarrassingly huge backpacks at our hostel, and then went to Union Square just to "see" it, and then moved on to a more important pursuit: food! We walked up the streets of Chinatown, looking for a bun store, Kathleen wanted some special tart (which turned out to be worth the wait and trouble), and I wanted, well, food, as per usual.


After a somewhat confusingly time (luckily K speaks Chinese...), we did manage to satisfy our bellies, and continued on towards the water in search of the San Fran Aquarium. This turned out to be at Fisherman's Wharf (on the route we were distracted by Chinese sweet stores, a park, a chin-up bar, a church, and amazing views of vertical streets), a tourist trap if I ever saw one (and that I had been determined to avoid). Luckily, we ended up there anyways, and though it was a bit chaotic, the views of the ocean and the entertainment of the sea lions was more than worth it. In the end, we opted against going to the Aquarium, and decided instead to indulge in a clam chowder bowl (very yummy of course).


We then decided to try to get a look of the Golden Gate Bridge (it was foggy), and on this quest we got sidetracked by a beach, a splash, a hill, a tree climb, a photo session, and finally a teaser view of a tiny part of the bridge that was somewhat recognizable in the fog. By then we were tired, so we took that single bus trip down to the Civic Center and got a few groceries from a rapidly closing Farmer's Market.

Shopping for supplies time. Our list: fuel (for the camp stove), lock, rum, matches, stamps, groceries. We were successful in the first 4 items, in that order (going back to the same store twice), and decided to leave the last two for tomorrow. We then went in search of food once more: supper time! We walked and walked and asked locals, but apparently there are no grocery stores in downtown San Fran... go figure! We ended up in a sketchy Chinese restaurant, but the food was decent and the prices were low, ummm... food!

Now, it's time for a little break, and then we will go out and see what the nightlife is like here on a Wednesday night! Tomorrow it's time for Yosemite National Park, and NATURE!

Animals in action

Yesterday, I was reunited with some of the Avis clan: my dad's younger brother Graham, his wife Wendy and two of their girls, Jackie and Kristy. We enjoyed a very good picnic and then went on a short hike in order to get a better view of the surrounding area. It was great to see this side of the family, since it has been many years since our last reunion! I remember my cousins as being much younger, but of course, as I grew up so did they!!

For supper, we went to what is apparently a San Diego must, a restaurant called the Souplanation, I think. It was basically a salad and soup bar, but, as with all things American, it was "bigger and better". You start off at a long assembly line type counter, where you put together an elaborate salad... and after doing so, you look up and then see the pasta, pizza, soup, and sundae bars! After eating my huge salad I was quite full, but I still sampled alferdo shells, garlic pizza sticks, apple cobbler, chocolate chip cookies, ice cream and chocolate sauce, and a blueberry muffin! (Notice the trend towards sugar once more...)

Today, Grandpa and I went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, which I remember fondly from my previous visits down here. As anticipated, I was awed by the huge elephants, graceful giraffes, and lively monkeys! But, as we wandered around, I couldn't help but think about what would be put in the "human" cages. That is, say there was a zoo in which humans were part of the exhibit, what would be considered our natural environment? Each animal at the park came from a specific habitat that zoologists tried to mimic in the zoo. But humans live in such diverse environments, so what would be considered our "natural" one? And what type of food would be thrown into the cage for us? Would our cages be miniature cities with fake money, jobs, and restaurants? Or would we be put in one of our past natural habitats, and expected to hunt, fish, and pick berries? Or perhaps we'd be put on a farm and made to grow all our food, and tend to livestock in order to survive!

Oceanside

Part of what I love about Vancouver is the proximity to nature I feel when in the city. The mountains are close and magestic, the gardens are amazing, the trees are fantastically beautiful, and the ocean is just right there! I mean, I got to study for finals lying on the beach!! Still, in all my months of living in Vancouver, I haven't gone swimming... too bloody cold! But, I'm proud to report that I went for my first swim in the Pacific!! It was still cold, but once I got in, it was simply lovely. Of course, this was in California, the Vancouver Pacific is probably still icy cold!

After learning that I wanted to go for a swim, my grandparents took me down to Oceanside. I was expecting a blaringly hot sun, and so much heat that jumping in would be natural. As usual, having expectations may lead to disappointment. It was cloudy, and a bit chilly because of the wind. Then again, the wind meant huge waves, so I was happy to be wrong in my predictions! After a stroll down a huge pier (where we saw pelicans up close, surfers waiting for waves, and lots of fishermen, a few little fish, and one big fish), I got my courage up and went in the ocean. It took about 10 minutes for me to wade out in the surf, 10 very cold minutes. But the end result was worth it!! Body surfing galore!

I hope that the ocean temperature won't change too much from here to San Francisco... else that might have been the only swim of the trip! (haha)

6am flights...

Note to self, and warning to the rest of you: 6am flights really are a very bad idea. First, you have to get up at 3:55am, in order to get into a cab at 4:10am, arriving at the airport at 4:30am, which is ridiculous in itself, and I wasn't particularly excited by the whole situation... but I failed to take under consideration the fact that the cab driver was up all night schelping drunks from one place to the next, and was therefore still high energy and decided to blast techno music from his radio, switching radio stations every couple minutes, making me feel, well, nauseous.

Then you get to the airport, where all the other passengers are half-asleep and are moving at a snail pace. All the employees seemed upbeat, but then again they are used to early wake ups. As per usual, I got randomly selected for a physical pat down and emptying of my bag... and I got assigned a middle seat for my first flight. Too naseous to eat, I decided to order a huge apple-chai iced tea from Starbucks, which was really yummy at first, but soon started to make me nauseous as well!

Anyways, I still got to sleep a bit, and my transfer went smoothly. So upon arriving in San Diego and meeting up with my grandparents, I thought that the side effects of a 4am wake up were over... but no. My head remained foggy all day, I had to flight to keep my eyes open on the drive home, and then passed out at 9pm, sleeping until 10am this morning. Now, I still feel groggy, from over sleeping, but I'm hoping that I a jump in the ocean (planned for later this afternoon) will cure me!!