Its been a while since i have had some time to actually sit down with a solid Internet connection and update my blog. To be honest i don't even know where to start with everything that has been going on for the past two weeks. Kevin and I have seen so many incredible parts of the US. Just a little update of what we have seen and where we have been: the grand canyon, Zion National Park, Washington, UT, mammoth lakes, CA (huge ski community), Yosemite National Park, San Francisco, Costal Highway 1 in CA, Eureka, CA, Redwoods National Park, a beautiful drive through Oregon to Bend, OR. I want to add before i go into a little detail about our trip that i have only spent a day (actually not even a full day in OR) and i really love this state. The scenery is so detailed with huge trees and clear running water in the rivers and streams. It was actually a little surreal driving through the state b/c i have never been in an environment like that before. So far if i did move off the east coast (which i probably wont do dont worry mom) i would come to OR.
Anyway ill do my best to hit some of the highlights of the trip that you all have missed thus far. When we arrived in the grand canyon we got there in just enough time to catch the sunset on the south rim (where we were staying). We stayed in a nice campground not far from the rim of the canyon - just a short bike ride away. The wildlife in the canyon is very tame - you could get within 10 yds of the elk and deer (not recommending that you do so; however, pple did do this). They are so used to being around people they just go about their business eating. Kevin and I kind of did our own things in the canyon as he got a permit to go down to phantom ranch for one of the nights. While he did that i stayed on the rim and did some day hiking. While i was there a little boy actually fell off the edge of the canyon about 30 yds down onto a rock. You have to understand the when you are standing on the rim is not a complete drop off it is somewhat gradual. I had just gotten to this trail when they had rescued the boy from the ledge. He did not die, but he did break both of his arms.
From the grand canyon we went to a smaller canyon known as Zion National Park in Virgin, UT. Here we couch surfed with a couple in Washington, UT: Carol and Bud. They were very welcoming and made us a great breakfast in the morning to start our day. Zion was different than the grand canyon in the following ways: way smaller, and you drop off in the valley of the canyon instead of the rim (top) of the canyon. With that said Kevin and I parked at the visitor center of Zion and road our bikes 8 miles to what is known as the riverwalk/narrows walk. I enjoyed the bike ride there were huge rocks (all different types - limestone, sandstone, a bunch of other stones i cant remember at this moment) which made all these different colors esp. when the sun hit them. We arrived at the riverwalk and did a short little hike upstream where the trail ended at the narrows. Now the narrows is a path you can walk; however, you are submerged in water up to your knees - might i add the water is FREEZING. I tried to walk it; however it was more challenging than it actually looked with the current moving at a pretty steady pace, stepping on slippery rocks, and my legs being completely burning within 30 seconds. With that said i lasted about 30 steps and of coarse Kevin made it all the way across to the other side ha :). Anyway moving on.....
We drove to mammoth lakes after Zion which is in CA. Not a short drive - and the drive through southern NV is brutal to say the least. There is absolutely nothing going on except desert. When we arrived to Mammoth Lakes there was a lot of snow on the side of the roads and the mountains were covered for the most part. Definitely was not expecting to see all of that. Later we found out that this place was one of the biggest ski resorts in CA.
From here we left for our four day adventure in Yosemite national park. The drive from mammoth was only suppose to be 2 hours; however our 2 hours later turned into 7 hours due to the massive amounts of snow that were inhibiting us from taking the 2 hour route. We had to take it with a grain of salt - there was not much we could do about it at this point. Anyway this drive was the most interesting/scary drive i have ever been on. the GPS took us on this road called Wards Ferry Rd (i will never forget it!). Basically we were on a two way cliff that only fit one car. I mean this was a serious cliff with no guard rails and we were probably 300 ft in the air (at least). I mean the scenery was awesome, but i could not fully enjoy it cause my heart was pounding and my palms were sweating - haha - It was an experience that i will never forget. We arrived in Yosemite later on that day around 5. Kevin's friend Cali was already there and he was going into the back country with us for the next 3 days. Our first destination within the back country was 2 miles past little Yosemite campground. The hike up was intense but worth the treck as we pasted over 2 waterfalls with scenery that can not be seen anywhere on the east coast. There were waterfalls, snow, greenery, widelife, huge rocks, bridges, and natural water streams pretty much through the entire trail. I could really write this entire blog about our experience in Yosemite, but i do have a couple of things that stick out. One - we had to carry bear cans with all of our food in it along with anything with scent (chap stick, toothpaste, advil, etc). Anyway we did see a bear in the valley of Yosemite and Cali and Kevin saw one on their hike up to half dome (i choose to do another hike that day). Anyway one of the nights we were hanging out by the camp fire i was really thirsty so i ventured away from the campfire to go get my water bottle and i had my head lamp on and when i shined my light into the woods i had 4 eyes looking right at me. Naturally i immediately turned around looked at Kevin and said there are animals over there looking at us. He shined his lights onto these creatures and in the end we thought it was a raccoon but it could have been deer or i think its was a mountain lion...haha just kidding. Later on we saw the eyes again and it was about 6 deer just eating some food.
After Yosemite we headed to San Fran where we stayed with my mom's best friends daughter Johanna and her husband Brain. They were completely generous to take us in under super unexpected circumstances as we had a hotel and things went wrong (long story). San Fran is probably my favorite city i have been to thus very (very very close running with New Orleans) . The city has its crazy parts and its beautiful parts. When i say crazy i mean crazy - there are some completely cracked out people in the city esp. this area known as Tenderloin. As Kevin stated if you want to teach your children the negative effects drugs have on the body take your children to Tenderloin ( a area right in downtown San Fran). When we ventured away from the downtown area we made it to the water and walked up and down the strip to the famous pier 39 ( i think that was it is called) and fisherman's waft. We took a boat tour on the san fran bay were we got to see alcatraz, the bay bridge, the golden gate bridge, dolphins, seals, kit surfers(which i have never seen before or heard of), wind surfers, sailors, and boats. It really is a city with a ton of active pple and things to do all around you. One funny story before i move on because i feel like this blog is really long. We were walking in fisherman's waft and we had just come out of a store and there were not a lot of pple on the street at this particular point well i was walking minding my own business when all of the sudden this man with these tree branches jumped out and scared the living SH*T out of me. I screamed like a little girl - and literally grabbed onto kevin and of coarse everyone was looking at me b/c obviously he had done this like 5 min before to someone. Anyway i laughed after the fact - and the crazy thing is this homeless man doing this has a bucket FULL of money from pple tipping him from scaring pple cause its so good. Later i found out that this guy has been there for years and years doing this and his name is the bush man (Johanna informed me of this). Alright enough of that..
We drove up 1 on the coast of CA to Eureka, CA where we couch surfed with a couple named Macie and Rhett. A little town right on the coast which would have been a lot better if the sun was out, but as we later found out the weather in Eureka is the same year round 50-65 degrees. We left for redwoods national park the next day where the trees can range from 300 ft tall. Walking in the redwoods was kinda like walking in the rain forest. The atmosphere was very moist and the scenery was very green with verns everywhere growing next to these huge trees. We saw a lot of elk in the area, and as we drove through the park we made our way to Bend, OR where we couch surfed with a younger guy name Tymon. Like i said before OR is legit - and Bend is a sweet city with a ton of activities - a very athletic community with a laid back attitude. It is going to be hard to leave this place - i wish i could explore more of the city. However, we leave for Boise, ID tonight and then for Yellowstone the day after.
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