9.22.2012
USA Road Trip Day 19
This morning we woke up in the Redwoods!! After breakfast, we hiked down the Cathedral Trail, which took about 2 hours. We only saw one couple while walking so Nick decided it was safe to drop his pants and use the bathroom on the trail. As soon as he did this, another couple of hikers appeared. Nick got a panicked look on his face and pulled up his pants as soon as I yelled to him that we had company! I couldn't stop laughing and as we passed this young couple, the guy said to Nick, "bad timing...!", and Nick answered, "yea"...Needless to say, it was hilarious! Other than that, the hike was gorgeous and we couldn't believe how enormous the trees were! This camping is so much different than the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon was much more touristy and commercialized. Both places, though, make you pay for everything, including showers and firewood! Nick says that he likes the Redwoods better because it is more deserted and secluded. After our hike, we spent the rest of the afternoon by the fire, reading and talking! We are really having a wonderful time together! I saw my first chipmunk, his said his name is Alvin...just kidding. But seriously, I guess I was sitting so still that he didn't know I was there. He crawled into our camp and started running towards my feet. I flipped out and jumped up, which scared the little guy so he ran away to hide.
USA Road Trip Day 18
Departure: Fortuna, CA
Arrival: Redwood National Forest
Hours: 2
Miles: 78.3
Gallons: 9
We left the hotel and drove to the Redwood National Forest. After setting up camp, we hung out by the fire for the rest of the afternoon! The most exciting thing that happened today was I melted my shoes. Nick was pretty upset since we only bought them this year before our Faroe Islands trip, but it turned out to be a good thing because they molded to my feet and are now much more comfortable! I told Nick that I might go ahead and melt all of my shoes. Also, the little check in area at the park has books that people read and leave, so I picked out a book to read by our campfire! It is beautiful here...probably the best place we have camped. Our site is a little one hidden off of the trail loop and we are right beside a little creek. It is going to be a treat to sleep with the running water in the background!
Arrival: Redwood National Forest
Hours: 2
Miles: 78.3
Gallons: 9
We left the hotel and drove to the Redwood National Forest. After setting up camp, we hung out by the fire for the rest of the afternoon! The most exciting thing that happened today was I melted my shoes. Nick was pretty upset since we only bought them this year before our Faroe Islands trip, but it turned out to be a good thing because they molded to my feet and are now much more comfortable! I told Nick that I might go ahead and melt all of my shoes. Also, the little check in area at the park has books that people read and leave, so I picked out a book to read by our campfire! It is beautiful here...probably the best place we have camped. Our site is a little one hidden off of the trail loop and we are right beside a little creek. It is going to be a treat to sleep with the running water in the background!
9.19.2012
USA Road Trip Day 17
Departure: Cupertino, CA
Arrival: Fortuna, CA
Hours: 7 1/2
Miles: 360.6
Gallons: 9.8
It is illegal to text and drive in California! Come on USA...why isn't it illegal in the entire country! Also, the crime rate is really low where we were staying at Bob's house. He left all of his doors unlocked 24/7. At first I was freaked out that someone would come in and kill us in our sleep, but it was nice because we could come and go as we pleased without a house key or alarm to worry about. All of his doors and windows had screens, so he would leave them open and the whole house had a constant fresh, cool breeze. With the ultra comfy bed and the perfect weather, we both slept better than we have since we left home! Ok, now I want you to do something...if you have a MacBook, iPad, iPhone, iPod, or iTouch, I want you to go into your contacts and select the Apple Inc. See the address:
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino CA 95014
United States
We went there! It was only a few minutes from Bob's house, so we browsed through the store and drove through the campus (which was packed with skinny nerds). It is weird because when we first got a MacBook, I saw that Apple Inc. contact and thought, "where the heck is that?". We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and past San Quentin, where we met up with Johnny Cash...just kidding, but we did see the prison! Bob said that he has a couple high school friends that have been on death row there for over 20 years! Ever since hitting San Francisco I have been amazed at how many hippies, homeless and hitch hikers are here. They are everywhere and seem to have their own little groups or families that they travel with. I always see homeless when traveling to other countries, but I had no idea that the USA was like this! These people look rough! We drove through farm lands with all of the fruit that we buy in SC, wound through the wine lands full of wine tasting stops and even through a tsunami hazard zone! Redwood trees have started to appear here and there (mostly on the Avenue of the Giants) and some of them are enormous...bigger than any tree I have ever seen. We drove a couple hours out of San Francisco to the town of Ukiah, where we planned to stay, but the town was such trash we decided against it. So we thought that we would drive to Eureka, which was only a couple more hours. We chose this place because of a TV Show that we like called Eureka. It is basically this intelligent science town full of geeks. We assumed this Eureka was the TV show one...let me assure you it is not!!! It was an even sketchier town then Ukiah and we didn't even get out of the car before turning back around on the highway for a safer and cleaner place to stay. So now we are in Fortuna. We are 17 days into our road trip and this is only our 2nd night in a hotel...it pays to know people!!! Tomorrow we will drive the rest of the way to the Redwood National Forest and camp there for two nights! The closer we get to the Redwoods, the foggier and gloomier the weather gets...please pray that it doesn't rain while we are camping!!!
Arrival: Fortuna, CA
Hours: 7 1/2
Miles: 360.6
Gallons: 9.8
It is illegal to text and drive in California! Come on USA...why isn't it illegal in the entire country! Also, the crime rate is really low where we were staying at Bob's house. He left all of his doors unlocked 24/7. At first I was freaked out that someone would come in and kill us in our sleep, but it was nice because we could come and go as we pleased without a house key or alarm to worry about. All of his doors and windows had screens, so he would leave them open and the whole house had a constant fresh, cool breeze. With the ultra comfy bed and the perfect weather, we both slept better than we have since we left home! Ok, now I want you to do something...if you have a MacBook, iPad, iPhone, iPod, or iTouch, I want you to go into your contacts and select the Apple Inc. See the address:
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino CA 95014
United States
We went there! It was only a few minutes from Bob's house, so we browsed through the store and drove through the campus (which was packed with skinny nerds). It is weird because when we first got a MacBook, I saw that Apple Inc. contact and thought, "where the heck is that?". We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and past San Quentin, where we met up with Johnny Cash...just kidding, but we did see the prison! Bob said that he has a couple high school friends that have been on death row there for over 20 years! Ever since hitting San Francisco I have been amazed at how many hippies, homeless and hitch hikers are here. They are everywhere and seem to have their own little groups or families that they travel with. I always see homeless when traveling to other countries, but I had no idea that the USA was like this! These people look rough! We drove through farm lands with all of the fruit that we buy in SC, wound through the wine lands full of wine tasting stops and even through a tsunami hazard zone! Redwood trees have started to appear here and there (mostly on the Avenue of the Giants) and some of them are enormous...bigger than any tree I have ever seen. We drove a couple hours out of San Francisco to the town of Ukiah, where we planned to stay, but the town was such trash we decided against it. So we thought that we would drive to Eureka, which was only a couple more hours. We chose this place because of a TV Show that we like called Eureka. It is basically this intelligent science town full of geeks. We assumed this Eureka was the TV show one...let me assure you it is not!!! It was an even sketchier town then Ukiah and we didn't even get out of the car before turning back around on the highway for a safer and cleaner place to stay. So now we are in Fortuna. We are 17 days into our road trip and this is only our 2nd night in a hotel...it pays to know people!!! Tomorrow we will drive the rest of the way to the Redwood National Forest and camp there for two nights! The closer we get to the Redwoods, the foggier and gloomier the weather gets...please pray that it doesn't rain while we are camping!!!
9.18.2012
USA Road Trip Day 16
Departure and Arrival: Cupertino, CA (drive into San Francisco for the day)
Miles: 102.5
Hours: 3
Gallons: 12.7
"If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair"...we didn't, but we did come decked out for winter. The high today was suppose to be 61 degrees! It took forever to drive into the city because the traffic was packed. We finally made it at 10am, after our short, 45 minute drive had doubled! We started by trying to get tickets to Alcatraz, but they were already sold out for the next two days. Bummer! So, we took our time looking at the 15 foot long 5 foot wide model of the prison and took off to Pier 39 instead. This place was basically another Myrtle Beach crammed full of Europeans and Asians and souvenir shops! We ate the clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, which is the thing to do here. It was a fun experience, but my mom makes the best clam chowder and this stuff didn't stand a chance! We saw the sea lions which basically live at the pier. All they did was either sleep in the sun or fight each other...it was pretty entertaining and made me want to visit a zoo soon to see more funny animals. We walked down to find the Fisherman's Warf and Ghirardelli Square. On the way, this old man jumped out from behind a bush and scared us to death! Apparently this guy has a bush that he hides behind on the sidewalk and gets a kick out of throwing up the bush, revealing himself and yelling out at the tourists. Well, let me tell you, it works! It was hilarious to see him do this to other people. We were warned about him and he still caught us off guard! The craziest thing was that we were dressed for winter and some San Franciscans were swimming laps in the harbor! We were told that some people even go as far as Alcatraz, which is a mile and a half swim in freezing cold water! It was uncomfortable just to put my toes in, but there were a ton of men that looked like they were enjoying their midday swim! We found the most crooked road after walking up the steepest hills that I have ever seen...oh my goodness!!! I would NEVER drive a car here! From there we walked to the Coit Tower at Telegraph Hill to try to see some wild parrots that we heard about, but didn't see them. However there was a great view of the city! Finally, after five hours walking around the city and up and down enormous hills, we left and had dinner at In-N-Out Burger. We were wiped out and our legs are like jello! Tomorrow morning we will start our drive to the Redwoods and on the way we will drive over the Golden Gate Bridge!
Miles: 102.5
Hours: 3
Gallons: 12.7
"If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair"...we didn't, but we did come decked out for winter. The high today was suppose to be 61 degrees! It took forever to drive into the city because the traffic was packed. We finally made it at 10am, after our short, 45 minute drive had doubled! We started by trying to get tickets to Alcatraz, but they were already sold out for the next two days. Bummer! So, we took our time looking at the 15 foot long 5 foot wide model of the prison and took off to Pier 39 instead. This place was basically another Myrtle Beach crammed full of Europeans and Asians and souvenir shops! We ate the clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, which is the thing to do here. It was a fun experience, but my mom makes the best clam chowder and this stuff didn't stand a chance! We saw the sea lions which basically live at the pier. All they did was either sleep in the sun or fight each other...it was pretty entertaining and made me want to visit a zoo soon to see more funny animals. We walked down to find the Fisherman's Warf and Ghirardelli Square. On the way, this old man jumped out from behind a bush and scared us to death! Apparently this guy has a bush that he hides behind on the sidewalk and gets a kick out of throwing up the bush, revealing himself and yelling out at the tourists. Well, let me tell you, it works! It was hilarious to see him do this to other people. We were warned about him and he still caught us off guard! The craziest thing was that we were dressed for winter and some San Franciscans were swimming laps in the harbor! We were told that some people even go as far as Alcatraz, which is a mile and a half swim in freezing cold water! It was uncomfortable just to put my toes in, but there were a ton of men that looked like they were enjoying their midday swim! We found the most crooked road after walking up the steepest hills that I have ever seen...oh my goodness!!! I would NEVER drive a car here! From there we walked to the Coit Tower at Telegraph Hill to try to see some wild parrots that we heard about, but didn't see them. However there was a great view of the city! Finally, after five hours walking around the city and up and down enormous hills, we left and had dinner at In-N-Out Burger. We were wiped out and our legs are like jello! Tomorrow morning we will start our drive to the Redwoods and on the way we will drive over the Golden Gate Bridge!
9.17.2012
USA Road Trip Day 15
Departure: Palmdale, CA
Arrival: Cupertino, CA
Hours: 5 hrs 15 mins
Miles: 359.8
Gallons: 7.6
We were so sad to leave our cousins house and wish that we could stay longer! We had such a wonderful time and they really spoiled us...we want to come back again ASAP!!! The plan for today was actually to go to Yosemite, but with the worldwide alert for the Hantavirus, we decided to avoid our possible death and continue on a different road trip path. We thought that we would camp in San Francisco, but after sleeping in our car due to rain and tent site flooding, we took the help of my aunt Vicki and she set us up with a friend of hers for us to stay with! So, we are in Cupertino at Bob's house! Bob is super friendly and made us feel right at home, even though he didn't know us until 5pm today! It is crazy because he has actually been to Ethiopia and Bolivia (the countries that I grew up in)! He said that he didn't see any of either country because of war and strike...typical. We went out to dinner at Taco Bell with Bob and his friend Steve, who is also staying the night here. Apparently Bob hosts people all of the time. After Taco Bell they took us to this bar to meet up with this guy Tim. Tim is an atheist and Steve is a buddhist, but they were so happy for us that we were Christian missionaries and were pretty much cheering us on...it was strange...Nick and I both wanted to say something, but neither of us came up with what to say. So we just listened to them talk about their lives and told them about our lives. They have all been divorced and seem to have a big group of singles that they hang out with all of the time. Each of them seemed genuinely interested in us and glad that we wanted to hang out with them. Tim, at one point, said that he was an atheist because if God was real, bad things wouldn't happen. I know that this seems to be one if the big arguments, but bad things happen to everyone whether you are a Christian or not...the amazing thing about being a Christian is that God is with you and He is ultimately in control and has a perfect plan that we cannot understand! Also, Steve made the comment that he believes that religion chooses you and that buddhism chose him. I was reminded that religion doesn't choose us, but God did! Sadly Nick and I didn't think of any of these "answers" when talking with these guys. So we prayed for them because it is not in our control anyway, but in God's! We hung out for a while, but were so tired and the guys wanted to keep hanging out at the bar, so Nick and I walked back to Bob's house to go to sleep.
PS) no photos today...
Arrival: Cupertino, CA
Hours: 5 hrs 15 mins
Miles: 359.8
Gallons: 7.6
We were so sad to leave our cousins house and wish that we could stay longer! We had such a wonderful time and they really spoiled us...we want to come back again ASAP!!! The plan for today was actually to go to Yosemite, but with the worldwide alert for the Hantavirus, we decided to avoid our possible death and continue on a different road trip path. We thought that we would camp in San Francisco, but after sleeping in our car due to rain and tent site flooding, we took the help of my aunt Vicki and she set us up with a friend of hers for us to stay with! So, we are in Cupertino at Bob's house! Bob is super friendly and made us feel right at home, even though he didn't know us until 5pm today! It is crazy because he has actually been to Ethiopia and Bolivia (the countries that I grew up in)! He said that he didn't see any of either country because of war and strike...typical. We went out to dinner at Taco Bell with Bob and his friend Steve, who is also staying the night here. Apparently Bob hosts people all of the time. After Taco Bell they took us to this bar to meet up with this guy Tim. Tim is an atheist and Steve is a buddhist, but they were so happy for us that we were Christian missionaries and were pretty much cheering us on...it was strange...Nick and I both wanted to say something, but neither of us came up with what to say. So we just listened to them talk about their lives and told them about our lives. They have all been divorced and seem to have a big group of singles that they hang out with all of the time. Each of them seemed genuinely interested in us and glad that we wanted to hang out with them. Tim, at one point, said that he was an atheist because if God was real, bad things wouldn't happen. I know that this seems to be one if the big arguments, but bad things happen to everyone whether you are a Christian or not...the amazing thing about being a Christian is that God is with you and He is ultimately in control and has a perfect plan that we cannot understand! Also, Steve made the comment that he believes that religion chooses you and that buddhism chose him. I was reminded that religion doesn't choose us, but God did! Sadly Nick and I didn't think of any of these "answers" when talking with these guys. So we prayed for them because it is not in our control anyway, but in God's! We hung out for a while, but were so tired and the guys wanted to keep hanging out at the bar, so Nick and I walked back to Bob's house to go to sleep.
PS) no photos today...
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