Rain?

It just started raining. This is California. What the hell? Bug
says this is the second time it's rained here since he moved here in
January. I guess this is probably what it's like in Seattle right
now. Haha!

Camping by the beach

We camped by the beach last night. It was cold and windy. Roasting
marshmallows was fun though! Slept terribly. The wind was so strong
that it kept flattening the tent and it kept hitting me on the head.
Bug and I woke up first, so we moved his car and hid from the others
until they woke up. His car was their ride home.

I'm recording a song with Bug. Guitar, mandolin, bass and vocals. It
should turn out pretty good. He's whining about the calluses on the
tips of his fingers from playing so much.

Beach again

Orestimba

Headed south again. I-5 on the left and the California Aquaduct on
the right.

Boba

There is this place called Lollocup that serves drinks with boba.
Boba is basically little balls of tapioca that people put in their
coffee, tea, and fruit juice. Kind of has the consistency of gummy
bears. Pretty good.

My friend Tara has been putting together a shadowcast of the Rocky
Horror Picture Show. I got to see them rehearse last night. I'm
going to stay in Stockton one more night, then I'm heading to Lompoc
to visit Bug.

South Again

My family woke up this morning at four in order to get to the airport
in time for their flight at six. We did a lot in the week that they
were out here.
:) But I'm kind of bummed that they're gone. :(

It's been sunny every day that I've been in California. I'm in
Stockton today visiting my friend Tara. I think I'm going to rest for
a few days and try to figure out where to go next.

Yesterday we went to see some Redwood trees. Those are some tall
trees! A few were over 300 feet tall. And over 1500 years old. They
towered over all the other trees. Too hard to take photos of though.

City by the bay

We spent the night in San Francisco last night. We went by Lombard
Street earlier today. That's the street that winds back and forth
down the hill for one block. Now we're at the Golden Gate Bridge.
Those cables on it are huge! They're almost a mile and a half long
and almost three feet in diameter. We could also see Alcatraz from
several spots in the city. San Francisco is both hilly and windy.

I saw the Pacific!

This was the first time I've seen the Pacific. We're in Carmel near
Monterey. This is the town that Clint Eastwood has been mayor of.
Kind of a hazy day though.

Mariposa Grove

We saw some very large trees this morning. Sequoia trees.

Shaky

Good thing I'm not scared of heights! We hiked two trails today:
Sentinal Dome and Taft Point. Taft had several sheer cliffs. They
were between 1000-2000 feet tall. I'll have to see exactly how high
they were. Of course I had to sit on the edge and dangle my legs off
the edge. I was a little shaky!

Views

El Capitan on the left. You can also see Half Dome.

Leapin' lizards!

Lots of lizards in this park. Just driving around for now.

Yosemite

We're heading to Yosemite this morning. Got to Sacramento in the
early afternoon yesterday. Checked in to the hotel and then waited
for my family to show up.

Grandma's House

Just ate at a cute little restaurant called Grandma's House. In a
town called Yreka.

To the airport

I'm picking up my family at the Sacramento airport this evening. I'm
really excited to see them again!

Another thing that hapened last night was the inspection. They stop
all traffic shortly after entering California and ask if you have any
produce. Then they let you go.

Spent the night in my car last night.

Pumping gas

Oh, and one more thing. It's illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon.
There is an attendant there to pump it for you!

California

So I decided to keep driving and ended up in California. Drove past
the highest point on I-5, Siskiyou Summit at 4310 ft above sea level.
Seemed like it went straight down from there.

It rained most of the way. I don't think I've ever been in Oregon
when it wasn't raining.

Leaving Portland

It's a rainy day here in Portland, so I guess it's a good thing I
wasn't planning on staying for the day. Five more hours of driving to
southern Oregon. Probably Ashland.

Portland

Finally made it into Portland.  It rained most of the way down here.  Missed my exit and proceeded to get horribly lost. I've been all over Portland now.  Got to Melissa's and Tiernan's house in time to watch part of the Vice Presidential debate.  Maverick seemed to be Palin's favorite word.  I think I'll drive five more hours tomorrow and spend the night in southern Oregon.  I hope the couch is comfy for tonight.

Heading south

And I'm off!

Delayed

Well, I had good intentions of leaving today...packing up the rest of my stuff and moving it all to a storage facility took far longer than expected. I've got a few more things to move and then I turn in my keys. It's going to be a weird feeling not having a home again. But it's going to be exhilirating too. I'm changing a lot of things. No job and no place to call home. I'm throwing a lot of uncertainty into my life. It'll be a nice change and I'll come back to Seattle totally recharged. It's a good way to clear my mind and have a fresh start. I guess it's a lot like having to restart an operating system. You have to reset them occasionally to clear out all the memory leaks and other errors.

If anyone has any recommendations on where to go while I'm in California, let me know. :)

Hopefully the adventure will start tomorrow!