Be Sure to Wear A Flower In Your Hair

It's July in California. You know California - you see it in all the movies and TV shows, and thus you know that summertime in California is Mustang convertibles full of buxom blondes with their hair blowing in the hot summer wind.

WRONG.

San Francisco is freakin' cold. Like, 50 degrees, foggy, windy, cold. Walk around the city at 2 AM after a late movie freezing your ass off cold.

We left Fresno sometime earlier in the week (The days are blurring together somewhat), and arrived at Yosemite National Park. Lizzie's knee has been pretty weak, so we decided not to do some of the strenuous climbing that we had initially thought we would do. We took a few short hikes, saw bears in our campsite (BURRRS), and had a good time. Yosemite is insanely beautiful, and would've been one of our favorite parks if not for the BILLIONS of people that mobbed the place. We definitely could've done without the crowds.

After a botched attempt at camping (Let's put it this way - almost all campgrounds at Yosemite were full. The only open one was 5 miles down a pot-holed filled gravel road, and the only available campsite had a pair of abandoned hiking boots on the table that creeped us out to no end), we stayed the night at a motel in Modesto, before moving on to San Fran.

We've taken San Fran as a veg-out weekend, although this city is EX-PEN-SIVE, and it's easy to get yourself in a lot of trouble if you're looking for it. But there's also a lot going on too! Saw a Mary Gauthier concert, went to a Giants game, and have been exploring the city. Barry Zito threw a 2 hit shutout of the Mets. There is almost nothing I enjoy as much as seeing the Mets lose. Tomorrow we head north along the coast to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.

In 2 weeks we'll be in Alaska. The pull of Alaska is getting stronger. May the road go on forever.

Tom

From Vegas to Fresno

Hello all,

To get this out of the way: LINKS FOR PICTURES

Southern Utah:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=443361&id=685610345&l=675afa64d5

Zion National Park:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=445182&id=685610345&l=8f9ed9d76d

So as Lizzie described, we last talked to you all from the Sahara Hotel and Casino in shiny Las Vegas. Vegas is basically an extravaganza of sin, sex, and neon. We had a pretty low-key Vegas experience, which is to say we only indulged in three or four hookers each....

Prior to the Vegas, we spent a couple days at the Grand Canyon. Day 1 was mostly walk-around-the-rim, set up camp, eat some food stuffs, gaze at the sunset and be mystified. Day 2 we decided to do an evening hike of the canyon. My naive self thought maybe we could make it all the way to the river at the bottom. I WAS WRONG. We got three miles into the canyon, and while the sun was setting, decided to head back up to the rim. Turned out to be a good thing, because I got a horrendous nosebleed about halfway up.

But we didn't get back up to the rim until after midnight, and on the path there were FOUR, count-em, FOUR elk just sleeping. It was so dark, we almost stepped on them. And they are some big mother-flipping aminals. Yeah, that's right, I said aminals.

Anyway...after Vegas we drove through Death Valley National Park, a bizarre array of purple rocks, white salt flats that glimmered like water, and 124 degree temperatures. No joke. 1-2-4. It was hot hot hot. I think the car liked it even less than we did, as we had to keep close watch so she wouldn't overheat.

But we made it out of the desert and up into the green pine-tree covered mountains of the Sequoia National Forest on Friday evening, where we camped for a rest day on Saturday. Saturday morning I left camp to drive down the mountains to get food and supplies in town. While driving, I came across two young hikers thumbing their way down the mountain. I pulled over and picked them up - their names were Evan and Jocelyn, and the three of talked bluegrass and hiking all the way into town. Both of them were super cool people who had lived all over and done a lot of cool hiking trips. They're currently on a hike on the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexican border northwards (their blog is pctsouthbounders.blogspot.com - check it out!)

We got supplies in town, and then the three of us drove back up the mountains, where I invited them to spend the night at camp with me and Lizzie. Evan and Jocelyn obliged, and we had a great night sharing food and music. When we woke up the next day at 8 am, they were long gone, heading back on the trail.

Yesterday morning we drove to Sequoia National Park, home of the big trees of the same name. Four of the five biggest trees in the ENTIRE WORLD are in this park. Words can't really describe the gargantuan beauty of the trees, so y'all will just have to wait for the pictures.

Today was spent exploring the park, and now we are in Fresno, California at the Manchester Shopping Center while Gracie (car) gets her oil changed. Fresno looks like the filming location for all those mall scenes in Terminator 2 and Kindergarten Cop and whatever other Arnold Schwarzenegger movies took place mostly in malls.

Tonight the road will hopefully take us to Yosemite, and then on to San Francisco in a couple days. Probably no internet for a couple days, so catch y'all on the flip!

Love,

Tom