West Coast Tour Part 1

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Hello Everyone-

It has been some time since I have talked with most of you, so I thought that I would give you a little update about where I have been and what I have been up to. I have been unemployed for 4 weeks thus far and have been enjoying it very much, after moving that is. I was going to start my West Coast tour on Labor Day weekend, but I seriously thought about the traffic and instead went and spent the weekend at an undisclosed location…it was a great time! So I started on the drive after Labor Day weekend and went down the Oregon Coast. Along the way I made a stop at Cannon Beach to take some pictures of Haystack Rock, then I cruised to Tillamook Cheese Factory in just enough time to buy some cheese curds, crackers, smoked Salmon and of course ice cream. I made it to Lincoln City around 8pm, threw my tent up and went to a local bar for a little Karaoke.

I woke up the next morning nice and early, poured myself some cereal and hit highway 101. I made many stops to take in the awesome views, but continued on into Northern California to the Redwood forest. I found a nice camping area around 5pm, went on a nice hike in the wilderness, then came back to make some dinner and then clean up very thoroughly because there were bears in the area and I didn’t want any run ins with wildlife this early in my trip. The Redwoods had to be the loudest forest that I have ever stayed in. I heard rustling all night in the trees, afraid it was bears so couldn’t go back to sleep, but in the morning I realized it was just a squirrel that was running around my tent! That morning I did a nice 2 mile run through the forest and enjoyed the big trees.

I drove about 70 miles south and came to the Avenue of Giants, which is more or less a tourist trap for people in search of Redwoods. There were a couple nice parks, but mostly it was little towns that had a tree you could drive through and a tree house inside a redwood, all a bit silly, but I did them all anyways for the memories! After viewing all the giants I pushed forward to Marin just across the Bay from San Francisco, stopped at a Borders books at 9pm, looked at a book about local campsites, picked one and I was off. Down in the bay area the weather was nice, but up on this mountain camp it was storming! I found a plot of land and in the rain and wind threw the tent up and went to sleep to wake up to blue skies which were perfect for some tourism.

I drove into San Fran across the Golden Gate and stopped off for some pics, then headed to the Wharf and goofed off all afternoon. Then decided I would stay there for a couple of nights so I hiked it to the Library jumped on line and reserved a room for 2 nights by the waterfront. Grabbed a bite to eat, head to the hotel to find out they made an error and had no rooms, but it was ok because they reserved a room for me at a different hotel. But it wasn’t ok, because the other hotel was 15 minutes out of town in the ghetto. Let’s just say I didn’t sleep well that night because there was a big fight next to our room and in the morning there was a guy in the lobby apologizing to all of the guest. Good news was that I got a credit from Expedia for the trouble I went through. That morning I did the tourist things like riding the Trolley, China Town, Clam Chowder in a bread bowl, etc. I then wanted to go to Alcatraz and they had a night tour, but it was sold out. They offered me a standby ticket and I took them and made it on ok. It was fun and a bit eerie since it was night time.

After I marked off every tourist activity possible in San Fran I head south to Los Angeles. I had talked with a friend of mine Phil and he was kind enough to offer me shelter in the area. I planned on staying there for 2-3 days, but it turned in to 7 days because I was having such a great time in the area and Phil always had something for me to do, and I had car troubles. But to sum it up I did all these things: 1.5 hours of Power Yoga (in a heated room!), watch 40 Year Old Virgin (recommend it), got a guided tour of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Malibu, and Santa Monica Pier from Phil, went to a Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Baseball game with Los Angeles Phil of Colton, spent a day at six flag (didn’t puke, but could have), went to Universal Studios, fixed The Beast (the name of my car), played 27 holes of mini putt-putt, and more! My last night in LA I laid on the floor in my clothes and woke up at 7am the next day in the same spot with my clothes still one so
I must have played hard!
Today and yesterday I have been in San Diego visiting my good friends from college Forest and Erin. I arrived yesterday afternoon and went to a local Greek restaurant for some good eats, then went to the OB (Ocean Beach) for a stroll in the sand and then came back to their pad to chill and then went and ate some great sushi and drank lots of Sake! Good times. This morning I got a tour of Tijuana, the good parts, and then came back to do laundry, play some Playstation, and read some books.

Tomorrow I will relax some more in San Diego, Wednesday head over to Phoenix to visit my good friend Michael, then after that I am going to the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Arches, then make my way back to Seattle. I planned on being completed with my West Coast tour by the 20th of this month, but I am having such a great time, it looks like it will be around Oct 1st. but better not put a date on it just yet! Hope to hear from you all soon and hope you all are doing well. Bye!

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