And So to Summarize

My month-long journey up and down the western United States has drawn to a close. I slept comfortably in my own bed last night and woke this morning with a desire to reflect. Here is a summary of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Best Campground: Reef Campground, near Ft. Ross, California. Super cheap, near the beach, clean bathrooms, great sheltered camp sites.

Worst Campground: Sadly, the Eureka KOA where I met Pete. It was located behind a junk yard, tent sites were completely open, Harley owners idling for 15 minutes at 7:00 am. Pete told me he saw a kid chasing younger kids around with a weed-whacker!

Favorite State: Need I say, California. With Oregon following as a close second.

Least Favorite State: Again, obvious, Nevada.

Favorite National Park: Redwoods (majestic, no crowds at all, rustic, completely uncommercial, combination of mountains and ocean)

Least Favorite National Park: Yellowstone (been there before, big crowds, slow driving, not so much beautiful as bizarre)

Best Meals:Pete's carne asada; apple walnut chicken salad sandwich in Washington

Worst Meals: Each one at a fast food place (I'm weak!)

Best Day: Halfmoon Bay to Davis, followed closely by Santa Cruz to Halfmoon Bay

Worst Day: Yosemite to Bishop (the heat was getting to me, halfway blues)

Happy Surprises:

• Meeting Pete
• Bonneville Salt Flats
• Red Rocks in Sedona
• Wind farm near Bakersfield
• Complete change in direction of trip
• Sleeping on Redondo Beach

Unhappy Surprises:

• Replacing Rolly's tires
• Somehow ending up with someone else's crappy front bike wheel
• Types of tourists in Yosemite
• Crazies at Sedona Healing Center
• Bike rack breaking

Good Decisions:

• Going back to California
• Taking surf lessons
• Asking Pete to come meet me in Santa Cruz
• Hanging out in Davis as long as possible
  
• Going to Sedona rather than straight to Grand Canyon
• Getting new tires
• Giving leftover pizza to homeless guy in Santa Cruz
• Paying for night of camping in Millersylvania
• Not paying for night of camping in Yosemite

Bad Decisions:

• Not getting new tires before I left
• Going through Yellowstone
• Eating at McDonalds and Burger King
• Becoming a coffee addict

Most Notable People I Met:

• Pete
• Pete's friends in Davis: hetero-lifemate Corey, Shana, Adam, Dan, Dave et al
  
• Bob and Anne at Redwoods, the most lovely couple in the world
  
• Nice family at Reef Campground whom I played monopoly with
  
• guy at Lincoln KOA whose name I forget
• Tony, Jimmy, Monica, Heather, Erin and everyone at Sedona Bike n' Bean
  
• Nirup, crazy psychic lady in Sedona
• Nice campground hosts and their family in Sedona
• Canadian guy at other bike shop in Sedona
• Everyone on the Pink Jeep Tour
• Wolf in Winnemucca
• Guy at Balletto Winery
• Girl at Butte KOA
• Girl who gave me my surf lesson in Cannon Beach
• Two Scottish girls and young American college guy I played cards and drank with in Santa Cruz campground (forgot to tell that story on the blog)

Most Beautiful Views:

• Sun setting during Rockville ride (no photo)
• Heat lightening over Sedona (my shutter finger isn't that quick)
  
• Sun setting over Crescent City, California:

• Sun setting and thunder storm over Grand Canyon:

• Sun setting over red rock buttes in Sedona

• Yosemite Valley

• San Francisco Bay area from park

• Everywhere along the Oregon coast

• Grand Tetons from Highway 89

It was the trip of a lifetime. I'm so glad I chose the open American road for a solo trip rather than somewhere overseas. It afforded me the opportunities to take each day as I wanted to, as relaxed and spontaneous as possible. Another life-changing journey!

Butte to Calgary!

Up and out fairly late today, I was tired and it was relatively quiet in the campground. I packed up my tent and all my stuff for the last time and hit the road. I stopped at Perkin's for a yummy breakfast. As I was sitting there eating and reading my book, I watched the waitress put together two tables, seat a man there and set out a bunch more menus. He waited for quite a while and eventually ordered. I was really hoping whoever he was waiting for would eventually show up, but they never did. On my way out I noticed that some of the menus on the table were kids menus. It broke my heart, I almost cried.

From there I drove. And drove. And drove. Montana is beautiful and it has super high speed limits. I finished listening to On the Road, it felt fitting to listen to the end of Jack Kerouac's adventures as mine was drawing to a close.

I hit the border mid-afternoon. It was pretty routine until he asked if I had any work done on the car while I was there. Oh shit! I hadn't even thought of that when I put the tires on. I am unable to lie, so I told him. He asked the value, I said ~$800. He said no problem, have a nice day. When I got home I remembered the new car rack I forgot to mention when declaring the value of goods I was returning with. Pretty sure it still wouldn't have been an issue.

It was pretty quick to Calgary from there. When I reached Okotoks I started to cry. I'm not sure what the problem was. I think I can attribute it to: facing my reality and my job again; missing Pete and not knowing when I'm going to see him again; the end of the greatest adventure and journey of my life.

The road rage returned as soon as I hit the Deerfoot and increased to the point of giving people the finger when I reached downtown. I reached my street, parked Rolly out front and walked up to the house. I observed that the rest of the people in my building had let the garden go to shit, but, no big whoop. I enter my condo, eagerly anticipating my new kitchen floor. First thing I see... My dishwasher sitting in my fucking livingroom! The dining room table shoved up against the wall. The closet doors not hung. The contents of the closet sitting in the bathroom. Chipped paint on the walls. Screws showing in the baseboards.

Then I sat down and really cried. I was really not wanting to be back in Calgary. I tried calling my parents, not home. I tried calling Tamara, no answer. I was feeling more lonely now that I was home than the whole time I was away on my own. It was like when I was traveling I didn't have anyone to fall back on so I felt really at peace with myself. Suddenly I was back where my support system was and I was alone. Weird. So, I inflicted my crying-self on Pete. He did a good job of making me laugh and I felt better.

I got some stuff cleaned up and unpacked a bit. I went and got some Vietnamese at Thai Tai and immediately remembered why I love my neighbourhood. I saw all the posters for the events coming up in the next few weeks and I remembered why I like Calgary. I'm feeling much better now with the initial shock of being home gone. All is well. Glad to be back.

Oh, and Jill, I have decided to name the trip Cruise America 2006. Named after the RV rental company, so many of which I saw on my trip.

Pulling up to customs

Back in Alberta

Garden City to Butt... I mean Butte

The most annoying family in the world had set up camp right beside me, and started being loud before 7:00 am, so I had an early start to the day. I managed to have been in 3 different states by 9:30 am, 4 by day's end. Highway 89 weaved back and forth across the Utah/Wyoming boarder, Utah became Idaho, then finally wound back into Wyoming. The drive was spectacular, through valleys and rolling green hills and the Snake River. I hit Jackson by mid-morning and was on cloud nine. It was even better than I had imagined it being. It's extremely touristy but oozing with old west and ski town character. I'm sure I saw some pro skiers hanging around in the cafe's, but I'm not so hardcore as to know who they were... I'm sure Katie and Derrick would have been all over it. I find it very silly that I have now been to all of my dream ski places (Jackson, Wy; Park City, Utah; Lake Tahoe, California; Big Sky, Montana; Chamonix, France) but only in the summer. Someday I will follow my wishes and take vacation in the winter when I would enjoy it the most.

I only lingered in Jackson long enough to get a snack and steal some wireless internet (parked in my car outside a motel, mwahahahaha). Then I was off to Grand Teton National Park. The entrance to the park was perfectly located at the point on the road where you first caught sight of the enormous peaks of the Tetons. They were absolutely spectacular to see. I took a few pictures while driving, but the main purpose of the day was to put on miles so I didn't really stop much. Traffic was extremely slow and frustrating.

After Grand Teton it was in to Yellowstone. Gillian, Derrick and I had been to Yellowstone back in 2003 (I can't believe it was that long ago!) during Trip Yellowjam, so I zoomed through here as well. I made a cursory stop at Old Faithful to see if it would be erupting soon, but it wasn't for another 40 minutes so I moved on. I stopped and took some pictures at Grand Prismatic Spring and then headed towards West Yellowstone. I had hoped to see some buffalo, since they were so prevalent the last time I was there, but they were elusive this day so I was out of luck.

The rest was just driving and I made it all the way to Butte, Montana (aka. Butt). I checked into the local KOA (I have an affinity for KOA's now) made some dinner. As I was doing my dishes I started talking to the unfortunate-looking girl who worked there. She asked me where I was going, where I had been, and I told her. She immediately said "I hate San Francisco, actually I hate California." I was shocked, I had never heard anyone say such a thing and I couldn't believe that it would be true. She informed me that people were really rude there, stared at her. In fact, she hated everywhere but Montana, and possibly Canada. As I was having this conversation I realized what she was talking about. As I said, she was unfortunate-looking, like the possible result of incest. I have a feeling that people in Montana (and Canada) were generally just nicer to people who were different, whereas those in larger cities just didn't give a damn. I felt really bad for her, but I think she was generally content in Butt, and had a boyfriend in Spokane (which she hated) who probably treated her well. It made me really sad that people have to go through life that way, hating the world because of a lack of compassion from those around them. Jerks!

Anyway, I finished my dishes, chatted on the phone, played a game on my computer and went to sleep, very excited that it would be my last night in the tent.

Arch made of antlers in Jackson... that's a lot of dead animals!

The airport is right there. Very weird to see.

Very pretty spot in Grand Teton National Park

Grand Prismatic Spring

This is for you Jill, couldn't get one of the tourist being gored by the buffalo though

Winnemucca to Garden City

I got on the road again by about 9:30 this morning. I had no other plans for the day than making as much distance as possible. I drove through the high desert in Nevada, and finally made the Utah border. I looked at the map slightly before I hit the border and noticed that the highway went straight through the Bonneville Salt Flats. It was around lunch time so I stopped at the gas station/restaurant that was right there. I had an absolutely amazing meal of tacos, enchiladas and something else, with rice and beans. I had enough to have for dinner again that evening and it only cost $5! There's no way they can make money charging that much! It was delicious.

I asked the guy at the gas station for directions to a good view point for the salt flats. It was only 3 miles away so I decided to take a little detour. I took the road out into the salt flats, and then it just ended in a bit of a cul de sac. There was a cop car, a guy in with a jeep, and some trucks washing vehicles. The guy with the jeep looked like he had something to say so I rolled down the window. He informed me that the flats were closed today, but I could get out and walk around to take pictures. This had been all I had intended to do, so I asked him what else there was. Apparently you can normally take your car out there and let 'er rip! When I bought my tires they told me they were rated up to 130 mph, at the time I thought that was crazy talk, but now I was in a spot where that could have been a reality! That would have been fun.

I got out and took some pictures. It really was beautiful, and absolutely huge. I couldn't believe how far it stretched. In the distance the flats looked like water, and the mountains in the middle looked like they were floating islands... hence one of them being named Floating Island. A couple of women came along and were talking to the guy so I asked why the flats were closed. Turns out they were shooting Pirates of the Caribbean there, Johnny Depp had been there the day before. Now that's something I'd like to have seen. He's hot!

From there I drove to Great Salt Lake, which was just that. I stopped at the marina and took some pictures, but got back on the road again pretty quickly. I drove through Salt Lake city, almost saw a major accident on the highway, they only missed by inches. I passed by the exit for Park City and all the ski hills outside of Salt Lake City and was longing for it to be winter so I could ski. Someday.

I had grand plans to make it to Jackson, Wyoming but that wasn't looking feasible. Wolf had told me about a spot called Bear Lake that was on the way to where I was going so I decided to head there. It was very good advice, it's a beautiful lake in the mountains. The local Raspberry Festival is happening right now though, so I had a really rough time finding a place to camp. I almost paid $35 for an RV site but held out and found a sweet spot for only $10. Tomorrow will be Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, hopefully making it well into Montana for the night. Sunday I should be home!!!

My first view of the Bonneville salt flats

Lots of salt

Mountains reflected on the thin layer of water on the flats

Floating Island

Highway running through the middle of the salt flats. The ranger from Mono Lake calls these "chamber of commerce clouds."

Davis to Winnemucca

Boo-urns! I really didn't want to leave Davis. But, alas, I need to go back to work someday, and I still have a lot of driving ahead of me. We lingered around until about 1:00 pm before I finally had to leave. Davis was amazing, an awesome little city with a lot of culture. Leaving Pete was the hard part though. We plan on seeing each other again soon, but without any plans in place it makes me incredibly sad to say goodbye. I was driving down the I-80 listening to the Amos Lee CD he gave me and crying.

I listened to the Amos Lee CD 3 times through, then popped in my book on CD of On the Road by Jack Kerouak. What a fitting book for my journey! It was really cool to hear him describe the same places I had traveled through, and his reasons for traveling.

I passed into the Sierra Nevadas, which were beautiful. The rock were exposed everywhere, contrasting with the yellow grasslands and big evergreens. I crossed the Truckee River a few times and drove past the town of Truckee... another ski Mecca. Oh, how I would love to hit the slopes at Lake Tahoe (which is only about a 2.5 hour drive from San Fran...)

I crossed over the border and said goodbye to California once again (tear). Back into the desert of Nevada. I am now going to take back all the negative things I had previously said about Nevada. I still don't like the place, but it's not as dingy as I had first said. I think I had just been on a really nasty stretch of highway before. Pete had warned me that Reno has a way of sucking people in so I tried to take it easy, only took in a couple sex shows and a buffet, lost my life's savings on the roulette wheel... you know, the usual.

Actually, I just drove right through until I hit a town called Winnemucca. I checked out the map and it didn't look like I'd get too many other places to stop for the night so I checked into the local campground. My site had a little grill so I went and got some groceries and some charcoal. I had a fantastic steak with mushrooms and onions for supper! Jam!

The campground had wi-fi so I was doing some blogging. As I was sitting there, this guy came over and told me that if I had a fly for my tent I should put it on, it was supposed to rain. I hadn't noticed so I was grateful for the advice. He introduced himself... Wolf was his name. What a character! When I told him where I was from he told me that he had been there before, elk hunting. "whooo-weee! It was great!" He actually said "whooo-weee!" I didn't know people actually said that in real life. He then told me that his friend lived in Alberta and had been watching this black bear grow from a cub to an enormous six-year-old, and told Wolf he should come up to "harvest" it. Well, I tell you what, Wolf was just my type! I forgot all about Pete immediately.

Actually, I had a hard time getting rid of him. He meant well, but wasn't picking up on the fact that I really didn't want to talk to him. I even went down the campground to the tap and did my dishes but he just followed, I couldn't ditch him. Eventually I just said, thanks for the advice, it was nice meeting you, and went to bed. It was the only way he would go away. Oy!

Yet Another Day in Davis

I had to have the potatoes from Delta of Venus again so we went back for breakfast again Wednesday morning. They were just as delicious the second time around! After breakfast Pete went to work and I went back to his house to check my email and return calls from people who were starting to wonder if I was still alive (you know who you all are.)

Pete had told me about a town west of Davis called Vacaville that was choc-full-o outlet stores so I set off to shop till I dropped. I couldn't believe it when I drove into the parking lot: Calvin Klein, J Crew, Coach, Izod... the list goes on. I really liked some stuff at Calvin Klein, but the service was bad so I gave up on that. I eventually got a fantastic deal on a nice blazer at J Crew, regular $158, I got it for $39! I'm quite pleased with the purchase.

I got really bored of shopping, I just didn't have it in me. I prefer the cool independent stores like Blue Light and Purr, they're more my style than these places were. And I was starting to miss Pete, so I went back to Davis before really sinking my teeth into the mall. I picked up a couple books to give to Pete as a thanks-for-having-me/going-to-miss-you-immensely present and went back to his house.

He was back from work by the time I got there, and we went downtown to the semi-weekly farmers market. What a wonderful place it was. There were local farmers selling fruit and vegetables, bakers selling amazing breads and desserts, and lots of foods stands selling good shit. We grabbed some tamales and sat on the grass and listened to Over Forte, a local band. There lots of families sitting around enjoying the beautiful evening, it was so nice to see.

After dinner and beer Pete took me to the roof of the tallest building on campus (which so happens to be the geology building!) and we watched the sun set. The timing was impeccable. While we were up there we were joined by a crazy lady doing some sort of exercises, and also by a man who was obvioulsy a scientist (said while pushing up glasses) who asked if we had just felt the magnitude 4 earthquake that happened about 15 minutes before. Apparently we hadn't.

After this we stopped at BlockBuster and picked up Jaws, which I had not seen and which is one of Pete's favorite movies of all time (it's a Massachusetts thing). Well, I still have not seen Jaws, as I fell asleep about 1/3 of the way through. I was tuckered out!

Very cute little boy at the Farmer's Market who has a flip-flop fetish. He stole some girl's pink flip flops and had them on the wrong feet. Very adorable.

Pete and I at the Farmer's Market

The sun setting over the UCDavis campus

Me and the setting sun

Davis Again

We got up really late again Tuesday morning. Pete decided to forego work altogether this day. He made some breakfast for all of us... another uber-delicious meal.

After breakfast we went over to Corey's house and watched Bad News Bears. I hadn't seen it before, and it was actually pretty funny. We harvested some tomatoes and cucumbers from Pete and Corey's garden, got more fantastic groceries from the fantastic grocery store and went back to Pete's house. He made me yet another amazing meal, turkey, green chili, avacado and pepper jack panini, accompanied by Virgil's cherry cream soda. I could get really used to eating in California!

After lunch we had another nap. The heat and all the activity were really draining me. I had also tried to stop taking my pills but every time I do I get dizzy, so I really wasn't feeling quite up to par. After I took a pill and had a nap I was ready to go though.

This time we drove to a park called Rockville. The ride was awesome. The first loop was through this grove of Manzanita trees and rolling grasslands. The sun was setting and the view was incredible. I had never seen a Manzanita before, they are so cool. The bark is rust-red coloured, they really look like they're made of metal. The second loop was this awesome rocky technical single track that wound up and down over more rolling grassland. There were some really fun technical spots and I almost lost it on the last little bit. Pete decided not to warn me because he knew about my adrenaline addiction. I'm glad he didn't, I would have been way too cautious on it otherwise. I managed to clean it, and do it in style too... while scaring the shit out of myself. Just the kind of riding I like! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me on this ride so there are no pictures.

On the way back from the ride we stopped at the In n' Out Burger. My only experience with the In n' Out is from the Big Lebowski (which Pete loves and knows to a degree I didn't think was possible) and I've always wanted to give it a try. To my surprise, the food there is actually really good. Burgers made to order, high grade beef, home cut fries. And it was super cheap. Who knew???

We got back from the ride, showered, and set off for the next adventure. There was a field near Pete's house that has a lone tree standing in the middle of it. His idea was to take a blanket and go lay under the tree and watch the stars. Upon further inspection though, the field was actually a crop of tomatoes, which does not afford very good reclining. We improvised and set up camp in a school yard behind Pete's house. It was a beautiful night and we saw 4 shooting stars! (Well, Pete only saw 3 because he was too busy yapping) What are the chances of that happening. Time flew by yet again, we got home and went to bed at 2:00 am.

Davis

We got up in the morning and Pete went to work at the crack of 10:30 am. I got up and dressed, talked to Pete's roommate Shana for a bit and then we went to meet Pete and his friend Corey for breakfast at a cafe called the Delta of Venus. I had the most amazing potatoes ever! Those of you who have had greasy breakfast with me know that I'm a potato fan. These ones were over-the-top... they were crispy-fried and covered with cheese, sour cream and home made salsa and guacamole! Damn!

Anyway, that was breakfast. We hung out there for a bit. Turns out nobody really works much in Davis. Shana is a student who doesn't really work at all. Corey is working on nuclear bombs (really) but doesn't appear to attend work often. Pete worked for a few hours while I was there, but managed to be invited to a conference call with the governator Ahnold. Friggin' sweet life!

After breakfast Pete showed me around the UCDavis campus a bit. We went to the Arboretum and he showed me his office and stuff. While we were there he got a call from a company he'd applied to in San Francisco and they offered him an interview. Pretty exciting stuff, he was giggling again.

Pete went back to work for a bit, and I went back to his place and did some laundry. I then went to another cafe downtown and did some internetting. Pete arrived home from work around 6:15 pm, we had a quick sandwich and headed out for a bike ride with Corey. The ride was in a town called Auburn and was the complete opposite of what I'm used to. There was an immediate downhill for a long time, followed by climbing all the way back up again. I had my first flat ever on the ride down but Pete saved the day by fixing it for me. The ride back up was absolute hell, definitely the longest climb I've ever done, but I did it.

After the ride we drove back to Davis and met up with Pete's friend Adam. We went to the Nugget, which happens to be the most amazing grocery store ever! The produce was organic and fresh, the deli was spectacular, breads fabulous. I couldn't believe the selection. They had every kind of beer possible, as well as every soda (starting to talk like them Americans) and juice ever made. I just kept saying "wow." I really like a good grocery store, it's hot!

We went back to Pete's house and he cooked us Carne Asada. Turns out the guy is one hell of a good cook on top of everything else. Shana had a couple friends staying at their house that night too and we all sat around watching a couple movies, the one about Wal-Mart and one about an American version of Sue Johansson.

Yet again, we had packed more into a day than I thought possible. I was absolutely exhausted.

Corey, Pete and I post-ride

Revised: Halfmoon Bay to Davis

Note: Pete informed me that I missed a bunch of stuff in the initial writing of this post, so here is the revised version. We did so much that day some of it slipped by. Revisions will be in this crazy colour for anyone who wants to just skip to the new stuff.

We woke up in the morning to someone blowing a whistle. I had a brief moment of fear that it was the cops and we were in shit. Turned out to be a woman walking her dog. I looked around and there were quite a few people on the beach. There were people walking their dogs and a couple of tents down at the other end, nobody even gave us a second glance. I got the impression people sleep on the beach there fairly often.

We hiked back up to the cars, which had not been towed. The path to the beach was a little frightening in daylight. It looked like it had been frequently used as a dump/bathroom. There was jagged metal and broken glass everywhere, and it smelled like pee. I got up to the top and had to wait a few minutes for Pete... he's not as good on the technical terrain as I am (Sorry Pete, you wanted the revisions, this is what you get!) We then went for breakfast at an awesome bakery in downtown Halfmoon Bay. It's a really neat little touristy resort community with a really cute downtown. Breakfast was awesome and we lingered around there for a while taking in the sights.

It was just a short drive to San Francisco from here. We arrived at about noon, parked the cars in the Sunset area of the city, got our bikes out, packed up all the stuff we would need for the day and went exploring. We were parked near Golden Gate State Park so we rode through that for a bit. It's such a beautiful huge park right in the middle of the city. There were huge palm trees, lakes and ponds, a rose garden and a botanical garden... and this is just in the small part that we rode through. And it smelled wonderful! The mix of lush trees, roses and salt air was amazing. It was also the perfect temperature, sunny skies with a mild breeze... lovely.

We stopped and took a walk through the Aids Memorial Garden for a bit. When we got back to the bench where we left our bikes there was an older lady there with a little mostly-Jack Russell dog. The dog had a frisbee that was bigger than it and I laughed immediately upon seeing this little dog walking with the huge frisbee in its mouth. This was only the tip of the iceberg though. Nick (as we would soon discover was his name) dropped the frisbee right-side-up under the bench and then proceeded to dig at it to get it up again. He would dig frantically until he couldn't take anymore, then stop, pant, recover, and continue again. Eventually he managed to get a big enough hole dug in the dirt in front of the frisbee that he could pick it up. He did so, then immediately dropped it again so he could start all over. The Nick's mom informed us that this is what he does for fun. She yelled at him the whole time, seeming quite embarrassed and exasperated. Pete and I were dying laughing, and I took a video. The video doesn't do it justice, but it was pretty funny stuff.

From the park we went downtown, locked up our bikes, got some Thai noodles and ate them while watching some break-dancers do their thing. There were so many interesting characters to watch, some of them sad, but all with their own story. That's one of the things I love about cities, taking a moment to do some people watching and observing all the lives that go on outside of our own little sheltered world.

After lunch we went down to the piers. I couldn't believe how many there were, I think the last one we went by was Pier 39. They are all varied in their uses, some were warehouses, a lot were docks for commercial tour boats, one had been taken over by sea lions (which Pete insisted were dirty, disgusting, stinky and boring). At the end of all the piers was Fishermans' Wharf, which consisted mostly of touristy stuff. From here you could sea Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and a tall ship. I took a panoramic picture, which is on Flickr, not believing that you could get all this in one shot.

We went for a swim at a little beach near the wharf. The water was absolutely freezing so we only stayed in for a few minutes. There were tons of people swimming laps back and forth across the little harbour. They were pretty hard-core, most weren't wearing wet suits, they were swimming some really long distances, and the water was extremely choppy. They effectively made me feel very non-hardcore.

After the swim we went and got some free chocolate at the Ghirardelli chocolate factory. With sweet teeth satisfied we thought we would try to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. It looked pretty close from where we were so we set out towards it. We rode up this hill and stopped dead in our tracks at the top as we looked upon one of the most stunning views ever. To our left was the golden gate bridge, beneath us were beautiful piers and the bay, and to the right was Alcatraz. All of this was framed by big trees above us. It was one of those moments that encompassed all the senses. The view was stunning, I could smell salt water, taste chocolate, hear seagulls and people laughing and talking, and I could feel the gentle breeze on my face, and Pete's arms around me. This is where I took the picture below, but without the other senses it won't be quite the same.

This view also afforded us the opportunity to realize that the bridge was really far away and we did not have time to ride over there. We were on the edge of a little park so we went in and napped on the grass instead. There had been a lot of adventures in the last two days and I was completely spent. Post-nap, we were heading out of the park when Pete said "Is that a Segue convention or something?" I turned around to see about 10 middle-aged geeky people buzz by, single-file, with matching neon green safety vests, on their Segue's. It was awesome! Probably one of the most bizarre and funny things I'd seen in a while. I kept envisioning one of them doing a face-plant.

From there we went to a cafe, had a small supper and headed for an Amos Lee concert. Pete looked at the map and figured out how we had to get there. "It's just a mile or so." Ha! It was only a mile, but it was over one of San Francisco's steepest, longest hills! From the bottom I could only see about three blocks ahead of me, going straight up. I thought, meh, I can do it, it's not that far. As we got riding though, more and more of the hill kept appearing. I'm not sure how many blocks it ended up being, but it was damn friggin' long and hard! (which is good when your talking about a man, but not so good on a bike) People were laughing at us as they drove by. Yet another adventure!

I had never listened to any of Amos Lee stuff before, but had heard good things about him from Tamara and Katie so I was pretty excited. I was not to be disappointed. The music was beautiful, very soulful. His voice was amazing.

Pete had put his Visa down at the bar for our drinks, but there was a $30 minimum. By the time we had drank that much we were pretty tipsy so we had to wait to sober up before we headed for Davis. We had an interesting bike ride back to the cars, hoping we wouldn't get "shanked." I lost a shoe at one point. Ah, the joys of riding drunk... not the first time on the trip. When we got back to the cars we sat on the beach for a bit and then headed out.

By this time it was pretty late and we still had an hour drive ahead of us to get back to Pete's house in Davis. I drove with my windows open and AC cranked to keep myself awake. I really hate driving drowsy, scares the crap out of me.

Me (with a goofy look on my face) at Golden Gate Park

San Francisco cable car

Sea Lions

Piers and Golden Gate Bridge

Yay!

Amos Lee

Santa Cruz to Halfmoon Bay

I had kept in touch with Pete, my KOA neighbour from Eureka, a bit during my trip and figured that since I was coming back through California maybe we could meet up again. He happened to have the weekend free so he came down to meet me in Santa Cruz. I got up and had some breakfast and then went exploring the shore a little bit before Pete arrived. He got to the city around noon we met up and went for a mountain bike ride at Wilder Ranch. It was a pretty fun ride, not very technical, very hilly. Part of it was along the coast, which was absolutely beautiful and it reaffirmed that I made the right decision to come back to California. I had been talking to Anne the other day while debating whether or not to come back to California. She said "Kate, you were born by the ocean, you love the ocean. Go there." Very good advice, I just feel more relaxed and inspired by the water, the desert doesn't do it for me.

After the ride we went back downtown to the beach and went for a swim. The waves were friggin' huge, a little scary actually! I got thrashed around a few times but it was really fun. Nice and refreshing.

There is an amusement park right on the boardwalk in downtown Santa Cruz and they have a really cool wooden roller coaster. You don't have to pay to get into the park, just for the rides, so we bought 6 tickets each and went for a ride on the "Big Dipper." I love wooden roller coasters! I love how you can't help but scream and giggle, there's no controlling the excitement, it just comes out.

After that we went and got some pizza at a brick oven place downtown. The pizza was awesome, and we figured we would work on our Karma and give the leftovers to a homeless guy outside. This Karma would come in handy later.

Pete had heard about a state park between Santa Cruz and San Francisco where you could camp on the beach, so we got in our cars and made our way towards that. We eventually found it, but discovered that it was full. It was already dark by this point and we were starting to worry about what we would do. We were stopped and discussing what the plan would be when this man came over and said that we may want to move, there had been a gang fight on the beach and there were a few police nearby who might think we were suspicious. We explained our predicament to him and he gave us directions to a place where we could illegally park our cars and, further, illegally camp on the beach. This seemed like the best plan so we set off to find this place. After not finding it, we stopped in at this British-themed pub and inn (complete with double-decker buses, old telephone booths and London cabs) to ask for directions or to see if they had any rooms available. They told us there were no rooms anywhere and that the road the guy told us to go down was closed at sunset. While waiting to get info, I tried to get one of those flattened penny souvenir things from a machine at the pub, the machine jammed and I lost my money and received no souvenir. At this point we figured the pizza Karma had completely backfired, it looked hopeless.

We figured the best plan would be to get down the road as far as we could, ditch the cars and walk for the beach, so off we went. Turned out the road wasn't closed at all, there were plenty of places to park, and there was beach access. We were still fairly paranoid that we would get in trouble from the cops if caught so we only took sleeping bags and pillows, tents would be too conspicuous. After climbing down a very sketchy path in the dark we found a lovely spot and had a wonderful sleep. Another adventure in the bag! Probably the most daring adventure of the trip so far. It's not every day one gets a chance to sleep on the beach in California.

Throngs of surfers on Cowell beach in Santa Cruz

Natural Bridges State Beach, near where we went for our ride

Long time no write

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been really busy. I met up with Pete, my KOA neighbour from Eureka and we explored Santa Cruz on Saturday, San Fransisco on Sunday and today I'm in Davis. I will post more details about it later but I only have a few minutes on the internet before I have to go retrieve my laundry. I absolutely loved San Fran, and Santa Cruz was awesome too.

Unfortunately my trip is drawing to a close soon and I'm starting to think about my plan for getting back. Hopefully through Colorado and Wyoming.

Pictures and details soon to come.

Visalia to Santa Cruz

More driving. I got up this morning, took my time getting ready. Talked to Katie on the phone for a bit, then Tamara, and also Anne later in the day. I love my friends! I am so lucky to have been able to surround myself with such wonderful people.

I made it to Santa Cruz by about 2:30 this afternoon. I had read in my book about a place nearby where you could camp right on the beach and thought that would be really cool. Unfortunately, it was Friday, on the coast, in the middle of a heat wave, so it was full. The guy gave me a list of other places to try and I ended up at Bob's Pine Grove. It's an interesting place, in the back yard of two old women run by an odd man. But, it's near downtown Santa Cruz, and it's a pretty nice place so it'll do.

I found a parking spot near the beach and sat and watched the waves for a bit. Santa Cruz has lots of bike lanes so I popped my bike down off the rack (much easier to do now on the new set-up) and explored the area. There are lots of really interesting people here, a happening downtown and it appears a vibrant nightlife.

I went back to my campsite and made some dinner, had some tea and read my book (Middlesex, which I bought upon remembering Gillian really liked it). Now I am here. Here is an interesting place. It is called the Firefly Coffee House. It is a laundromat and internet cafe and is currently holding an open mic poetry night. Some of it is pretty cool, but there was just a couple up singing and it was all I could do not to laugh out loud. They sang "Rockin' Robin" horribly out of tune! I love these experiences that I've been happening upon! I just heard the line "One of poetry's balls is bigger than the other" from a poem entitled "Poetry has an Attitude Motherfucker!" Love it!

So this is where all of our tomatoes come from. They stretched as far as the eye could see.
This part of Califronia reminded me a lot of Alberta actually

This did not look safe at all. I'm sure the frame was bent

Grand Canyon to Visalia

Big time driving day. I am making a bee-line for the coast. I drove through the desert for most of the day, which is much more extensive than I had previously thought.

I stopped for lunch just over the Arizona/California border in a town called Needles. After lunch, as I was gassing up, a mechanic who worked there said "Ma'am, you're going to have a flat tire real soon. I'll put your spare on here for free. I just don't want you to be stuck in the desert with a flat." I looked, and, sure enough, you could see the steel radial showing. Not good. I had known the tires were near to death when I bought the car, but putting 5000 kms on them really did them in. So, after a bit of negotiating, I got a really good deal on having all 4 tires replaced and a free oil change.

Onward to Visalia. There really aren't any other stories after that. I saw an accident on the highway, looked semi-bad but I think everyone was alive. That is all.

Heading to Santa Cruz now. Let the fun begin!

Back in California, yay!!!

The desert I was leaving

The beautiful countryside I was entering

Sedona to Grand Canyon

I woke up to a knock on the door this morning. It was Tony, with a big ass cup of coffee and some Aleve in hand. He apologised again for abandoning me the night before, and told me to make sure I come downstairs and get my refund. I packed up, went down to the shop and had some coffee, got my refund and said goodbye. I coudln't wait to get out of Sedona.

Off to the Grand Canyon. I checked into my campsite first. Then I went to the tour desk at one of the lodges to sign up for a sunset bus tour to the Desert View area of the park. In all, I had been in the park for about an hour before actually seeing the canyon. I wanted it that way though, I didn't want to see it until I was absolutely ready.

I got all of my shit together and hopped on one of the free shuttle buses that offers hop-on/hop-off service around the park. The first stop was at Yavapai Observation center. I slowly made my way to the overlook, preparing myself for what I was about to see (and crying a little). And then, there it was. Ummm... I don't know what to say. It was big. And beautiful. And awe inspiring.

Unfortunately there were a lot of people there so I couldn't find anywhere to be alone and soak it all in. I toured around the west side of the south rim for the whole afternoon, taking lots of pictures and being blown away at each viewpoint.

I got back to the lodge just in time to grab a sandwich and hop on the bus for my guided sunset tour of the east side of the south rim. The tour guide was a crusty old guy, and some of his information was flawed and/or biased, but it was interesting nonetheless. We ended the tour at Yaki point to watch the sunset. There wasn't much of a sunset as there was a storm in front of it, but it was very pretty, and the lightning was really cool.

I know it's weird to have one of my shortest posts be about the Grand Canyon, but it is better said with pictures. Even then, they will not have captured it's immense beauty.

My feet hanging over the edge of the Grand Canyon!
Artsy shot of a tree on the rim

The Grand Canyon, with a rare shot of the muddy Colorado River

Me at the Grand Canyon

Sunset over the Grand Canyon

Sedona

Oh dear, what a day. Woke up, tried to go for a bike ride early. I headed out to the trail that was recommended to me by the Canadian guy at Mountain Bike Heaven. It was only 8:30 but it was already too hot to be starting. I tried the trail but I didn't really like it. Also, I was hot and cranky, and in a bit of a dangerous position as my pedals had rusted from being on the roof for so long and I was having a hard time getting out of them. I didn't make it very far before deciding to turn back.

Cory had given me a t-shirt from when he was down here (originally given to an ex-girlfriend who gave it back upon break-up) that was from a bike shop called Bike and Bean. Turned out to be right beside where I parked to go for my ride so I stopped in to get a coffee. I ended up talking to the guy who worked there for a while and he generously fixed my pedals for me, told me about another trail, showed me where a good swimming hole was, and loaned me his park pass for the day.

I went and had some brunch and then to check into the Sedona Healing Center. Well, all I have to say is, it wasn't my thing. The guy who answered the door had hair and beard halfway down his chest. His shirt was full of holes, and he had no teeth, I mean none. This was still all fine, but then he took me to show me the "meditation room" which was complete with copper pyramid to sit in, a prayer corner with every god or idol possible to pray to, crystal bowls, different coloured crystals to get in touch with different chakras, etc. I was starting to think I needed to get out of there pretty fast. The way it had been described to me was that there was a yoga class and stuff, things I was into. Not at all! But, I figured, it was only for one night and at least I'd have a bed to sleep in.

From there I went to check out the swimming hole that Tony, the bike shop guy, had told me about. I almost made it there, down this washboardy dirt road when the thing I had most been fearing happened. Slowly, I saw my bike's handle bars appearing beside me out the window. Luckily I had been on a dirt road in the middle of the desert so I was traveling slow enough that it didn't fly off, and nobody else was around to run over it if it had. I did what I normally do in those situations (like when Omar bit it), I laughed my ass off. I took the bike down off the rack, which was now ruined, and locked it up to a tree that was somewhat hidden. I then went back to the Bike and Bean, hoping that they sold roof racks. They didn't, but Tony took me to get my bike and then called the other shop down the street which did have what I needed. I got the new rack, for a decent price. In the meantime, I was relating to Tony the crazy day I'd been having, including my New Age sleeping arrangements I had lined up. He informed me that the bike shop rents out the apartment above the shop and told me I could stay there for $50. I called the toothless one and told him I wouldn't be joining the cult that evening, went back to the bike shop and started drinking (they have keg for personal consumption).

A few other shop regulars showed up and it turned into a bit of a party. Then we went to the house of one of the guys who worked there and had a bbq. Things were going really well until Tony, my ride, disappeared into the bedroom with one of his chick friends. Suddenly I had no idea where I was, or how I was going to get back to where I needed to be, and not sure if Tony was gone for the rest of the evening. Luckily Jimmy, guy who's house we were at, volunteered to walk me the short distance back, all the while spilling his heart about how he was not happy in his relationship and always wanted to marry a Canadian girl. Obviously his live-in girlfriend had picked up on his thing for me and when we arrived at the bike shop she was sitting there in the car to make sure we made it back okay. It was quite funny really. I said goodbye to them, thanked them for having me over, and Jimmy hugged me and got in the car. They drove a few feet and then I hear "hey wait!" Jimmy got back out of the car to hug me again and then they really left. I felt so bad. He was a really nice guy who obviously thought I was the shit (how couldn't he, really). I'd love to know what he said to his girlfriend to get her to stop the car so he could hug me again. I wonder if that was the official end of the relationship.

As if all of this wasn't weird enough, I get to the apartment and the power is out. Apparently the guy who owns the building had not been very diligent with paying the power bill and they shut the place down. This meant that I was walking around with my head lamp on and that there was no air conditioning. I had been really excited about a comfortable sleep, but with no AC and it being 92 degrees, that was not in the cards.

I had just gone to bed when I heard a knock on the door. I looked out the peep hole, and there was Tony (who lived in the apartment downstairs), looking very sheepish. He apologized for leaving me without a ride, but seemed pretty smitten with the chick so all was well. He also apologized for the lack of electricity and told me to stop by the shop in the morning for a refund.

So that was it for me in Sedona. I had some very interesting and weird experiences there and it was very definitely time to go. I decided that I would head to the Grand Canyon and then detour. I will no longer be going to Utah or Colorado. It's just too hot, sane people don't even travel to this area this time of year. I will visit Utah again sometime for sure, probably in the spring when I can explore the Arches in a comfortable temperature, and get some skiing in. I'm heading back to California to relax in the warm sun and cool ocean breeze. It shall be lovely.

Picture of Bell Rock, taken while on my brief ride

Prickly-pear cactus and Courthouse Butte(??)

Chapel of the Red Rocks

Pretty fountain at the chapel

Sedona

Pink Jeep tour day! I got up early this morning and went into town to book a jeep tour of the canyon. I got the 11:00 tour so I relaxed, had some breakfast and read for a while before I set off. The Pink Jeep company was the first 4x4 touring company in the canyon and has exclusive access to the Broken Arrow trail, granted by the US Forestry Service. In return, they maintain the road and educate tourists about the ecology of the area.

I was joined on the jeep by my driver (whose name I forgot as soon as he told me, I'm really bad with those things), a couple from Utah and a family of 4 from Ohio. We climbed into the back of the modified Barbie-pink jeep and headed off. The tour included some scenic stops and photo opportunities, friendly banter, information on the history, geology and ecology of the canyon, and some crazy off-road driving. We were driving up and down over huge steep boulders and ridges. Very cool!

This place is very interesting. There is a lot of spirituality here, much of it commercialized, but I think a lot is very genuine. Whether you're spiritual or not, you can't help but sense some sort of energy here. Some people in the area recognize certain spots in the canyon as Vortexes, which I'm not sure I totally understand. I personally think there is just so much natural beauty in the area that you can't help but slow down and take it in. It seems to have a way of causing people to think about things a little differently.

It very much seems be having an effect on me. For one, I felt like I had to come here, even though it was out of my way and all I had heard was that it was nice. Secondly, I immediately felt like this would be the spot that I may stay for a few days, slow down for a little bit. Also, this morning I decided that I should have a "psychic reading," something I have never felt compelled to do before. I have always been very skeptical of these things but this seemed to be the right time and place. Finally, out of nowhere, I started crying as I was driving down the road this morning. I'm not really sure why or what it was about, but it seems that I am not quite as happy as I thought I was. There is still something missing.

I scheduled a reading for 4:45 and then had some time to kill. I went to the local bike shop to ask about some rides in the area. The guy working there turned out to be Canadian and we talked for quite a while. He even made a few calls to try to find me some girls to ride with. In the end I just got him to show me on my map where some good rides would be, and he gave my bike a little tune up. I'm going to go for a ride in the morning on the trail he recommended.

Then it was time for my reading. I had no idea what to expect. She didn't really do the whole "this will be your future" thing, we just talked a bit about what's going on in my life. She gave me some insight on what some of my spiritual priorities should be and some possibilities for my path to feeling better. It was actually pretty emotional and I'm really struggling with what to do with what I learned. She told me about this place called the Sedona Healing Center that I'm going to go check out. I made a reservation to stay there tomorrow night, and I'll see from there. I still have a couple of weeks left on my trip, and I think this might be a good place to slow things down a bit and figure out where things are going. My room will have a private balcony overlooking the canyon and I'll have access to a sauna and hot tub, and lots of other people who are also slowing down a bit. Don't worry, I'm not going flaky or crazy, just mellowing out.

My breakfast and venue, very nice

Javelinas on parade. Javelinas are wild boar-like animals that hang out here.

Going up a very steep hill

My steed

Me at Chicken Point