On the Road Again

We arrived in Los Angeles from Fiji on July 31st. With the international dateline, we had two July 31st, but that's okay as we completely lost June 15th on our way out to New Zealand. After we landed, we drove up Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) through Malibu. It was okay at the beginning, but it got much nicer and more scenic the further away from Los Angeles we got. Our first meal was IHOP, which was spectacular. Ed had a huge plate of pancakes for dinner while Jeanette opted for chicken strips. We then stopped in Santa Barbara, which was great. We really liked it there. It was very casual and really nice. There was some sort of Mexican festival going on where they were throwing eggs filled with confetti, so confetti was all over the streets, people were drinking and having fun, and there were bands playing all over. We then continued on to Hearst Castle, which was really nice. You'll have to check out the pictures once we have enough time to upload them. It was built around the same time as the Biltmore Estate that we visited in Ashville, NC. It was really nice, especially the outside...we only toured five rooms downstairs.

We headed up to San Francisco, where we walked the Golden Gate Bridge, went to Fishman's Wharf, went down the windiest street in the world (Lombardi's Street), and drove down Haight Street, where the hippie movement started. We then met up with our friend from college, Colin. We hadn't seen him in years...we had a great time and he showed us around some less touristy areas and he took us to a cool place for dinner, on a hike with views of the city, then up to Twin Peaks at night to look over the city. We really liked San Francisco.

From San Fransisco, we drove out to Yosemite Park. We camped out there two nights, saw a bear about 15-20 feet away from us (but walked by it without a problem after stomping our feet a little), and went on a little hike. The hike was 18 total miles that took us up 5000 feet from where we started. The end was so steep that you had to pull yourself up with cables, then use the cables to prevent yourself from going too fast down. It was called the Half Dome...look it up if you want.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/halfdome.htm


It was a harder hike than the Grand Canyon because it was twice as steep and our legs are still a bit sore. It's one of the the hardest day trips you can go on in the US National Parks. Jeanette said she wasn't going to climb anything after the Grand Canyon, but this was all her idea.