Cali Part One!

Going to attempt to recap San Fran and Yosemite – but we crammed so much in that I might forget some spots here and there. After driving through the Redwoods (which was awesome), we arrived in San Fran right around dinner time. Dropped our stuff at Heather’s, found some street parking and went out to dinner. I hadn’t seen Heather since last summer, so it was awesome catching up with her and hearing all about her new life out in San Fran. It was a perfect first night of great Thai Food, froyo for dessert and heading back to her apartment reasonably early to get settled, showered, and a good night’s sleep since we planned on doing a lot of walking and exploring the next day.

We new the biggest hassle was going to be finding street parking and then moving the car around all day. Most spots are 2 hour parking and for those of you who have been to San Fran and know the hills are KILLER STEEP I was a bit intimidated, but it worked out well. We found 4 hour parking down by the piers and spent that time down at the Fisherman’s warf and the piers. Saw some sites, ate some chowder, got some good exercise – solid morning. Then we called up Heather around 3 because she said she would try to get out of work around then – and we met her down in Chinatown and walked around there and did some shopping. Eventually went to dinner, and then grabbed some drinks afterward in the Marina. By that time we had more or less seen the majority of the neighborhoods downtown and felt pretty oriented with San Fransisco. We headed back to her apartment (on Russian Hill) and got ready to head out for the night with some of her friends. Took a bus down to Mission and we thoroughly enjoyed the bar scene down there. A) It was cheap. B) Music was great C) Everyone was super nice and friendly – except for the bartenders. Made me miss my bartender boys in Ithaca!! And we ended the night at a place called Double Duchess (sp?) where it was basically DJ Jazzy Jeff beats. Awesome.

On Saturday morning we went down to the Haight and had a great breakfast and did some shopping and exploring that area. Very cool part of the city and I could only imagine what the Summer of 67 was like there. For the remainder of the day we did a driving tour of the rest of the city that we didn’t see – Alamo Square and the Pink Lady Houses (traditional, classic, beautiful Victorian homes), Golden Gate Park, Chrissy Park and the coast, etc. Unfortunately the weather for most of the trip was overcast so we didn’t get great views. But coming over the Golden Gate Bridge was awesome. San Fran was definitely way colder than we anticipated. People in fleeces and boots and they said that was normal! We had no idea – silly me assuming that all of Cali is warm in July.

After our goodbyes with Heather, we headed across the Bay Bridge over to Oakland to head to Jeff’s house! Jeff and I went to Ithaca together and he is out in Oakland doing Americorps and working for Habitat for Humanity. Another friend, Liam, who also went to Ithaca (and then transferred to Cornell) lives out in San Fran and would also be joining us for the next two nights. After a wonderful dinner at the house, we all piled into LilMoos to head to Yosemite. It was quite a cozy ride for the boys in the backseat once we rearranged all of our stuff to attempt to clear two seats in the back for them.

It was quite an entertaining car ride that took a little too long, but we eventually made it to the campsite at 1230am. We actually had no idea if it was the right campsite, but we were fairly sure, so we set up the tent and were probably rather disruptive to the others, but the whole scene was just silly. Low and behold in the morning, all of Jeff’s coworkers were up and about so we were at the right site. Around 9 the rangers came along to lead the group up to the campground for the volunteer project and we all piled into the cars and followed him up there. The views were epic (which of course we couldn’t see during the drive in the previous night). After getting to the site and seeing the assignment, we realized there were way too many of us for the job, so several of us pretty much just wandered that area for a few hours until they were done. Having very little porch building experience, and the site being overcrowded as is, I didn’t even do as much as pick up a hammer. Oh well – I was willing to! In the early afternoon we packed up and the rest of the group strolled down to the lake to go swimming, but Jeff, Liam, Aly and I were more interested in going on a hike. We made our way back across the park to go see Vernal Falls, about a 5 mile round trip hike. It was called the Mist Trail for a reason. We ascended about 1400 feet total, and the highest point was around 8500 feet. The waterfall was gorgeous and the climb was steep so it was a great hike. There were a ton of people on the trail though so that took away from it all, but we took a different route for the descent and that was much more peaceful.

Back at the campsite we had an awesome kinwa salad and some sausages followed by smores. The leader of the trip whipped out the guitar and the remainder of the night revolved around drinking some beers, singing some songs and looking at the stars. We packed up our tent when we woke up this morning and headed back on the road – almost so Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Parks now!

HIGHLIGHTS:

We had some great meals in San Fransisco. Heather really hit the nail on the head and brought us to places that were awesome.

Riding on a cable car (kind of expensive, but a cool experience)

Taking a tour of the USS Pampanito Submarine. Quite amazing to see the quarters that the men lived in and the all of the machinery and design of the sub.

Attempting to do photo booth pictures at a bar with Aly & Heather, but when we discovered it wasn’t working, using our own camera and doing a photo shoot anyway.

DJ Jazzy Jeff beats at the last bar of the night in San Fran

Dinner and car ride with Jeff and Liam on the way to Yosemite

Cramming the four of us into LilMoos – and then into our 3 man tent the first night of camping. The second night, Liam opted to sleep outside ‘in the wilderness’.

Solid life chat with Jeff while sitting upon a log that crossed a nice creek – talked about past, future, jobs, location, friends, etc. It was awesome to catch up with him and reconnect with life a year post-grad.

Hike to Vernal Falls at Yosemite – loved the Mist Trail

Beers, food and music around the campfire with the Americorp folks

Seeing a pretty awesome night sky with endless stars

Avoiding carmageddon by a day when we head to LA

NOT SO GLORIOUS HIGHLIGHTS

Spent a whole lot of money in San Fran, but it was totally worth it – also they don’t really take credit cards anywhere? Weird.

The weather was much chillier than we were expecting – in the high 50s/mid 60s. (currently we’re in mid 90 degree weather en route to LA though so….one extreme to the next of summer weather)

Gas was $4.50 in Yosemite!

Sequoia National Park was cool – we’re only a few hours away from LA! Excited to see Joel, Bree and Tatenda! We won’t be around for too long because we have to be at the Price is Right tomorrow at 430am! All nighter anyone? I think maybe….