Frisco & Yosemite

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After the cruisy Virgin flight, we were lucky enough to get a ride from the airport again with our next hosts, Alexandra and her boyfriend Andreas. The smashed side window looked alarmingly like it had been shot out but andreas assured me it wasn’t. Jake ate a burrito the size of Kallista and was full for the rest of the day, I was glad I pussed out for only a couple of taquitos. Class is all said and done for the year at San Fran State so we were lucky to get taken around for the day. Gay hosted a “barbeque”, with franks and not much else, we continued to educate more Americans on the finer points of Tops.

It’s clear to see the amount of homeless in San Fran, especially walking through the Haight District and around Bella Vista park. The sunset as we surveyed the cigty from a secluded rocky park. Apparently Frisco is well overdue for a massive earthquake. Who’s idea was it to build all these cities on a fault line anyway? The inner city is a lot like Melbourne and it seems the people are generally more inclined to smile back rather than look away like in LA. We mistook the bay bridge for the Golden Gate on the way out to Yosemite! Pronounced Yo-Sem-E-Tee not Yo-Sa-Mite Fi!!!

Amtrak trains are pretty comfortable but Merced surely wasn’t. Homeless negros with eye patches wanted dollars for directions and we were shot some killer greasies from the local hicks. We had to wait nearly 5 hours for the bus out to Yosemite. Although we somehow got seats right up the back with acres of legroom. The bus was full after the second stop, the driver spent a good 20 minutes tryin to get another bus to come, I reckon another 5 passengers could have fit in his place. He must stop at every Mickey Ds on quiet days.

We drove through Yosemite Valley in almost pitch black, but you could still see the sheer cliffs on either side, and Jake saw a bear! Our host was working on the front desk at Curry Village and showed us straight to his tent cabin. Thanks to Couchsurfing, we saved 94 bucks a night!!! After reading about how to be ‘bear aware’ we got some local ale and settled down to listen to Trevor play a tune. The sun wasn’t up but I already loved the place. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the numbers for a midnight game of Ultimate Frisbee in a tunnel nearby. Next time maybe.

The four-mile trail up to Glacier point was closed until next week so Yosemite Falls it was. 6-8 hours was the advised time, it was a relief to get up in 2 and back down in an hour and a half and know that I can’t be that unfit! From the top of the falls you can see most of the valley and it’s unbelievable! The higher mountains further into the park still have snow atop, Yosemite is the most magnificent park I’ve ever seen. The following day we walked hiked up the Mist Trail past Vernal Fall and up to Nevada Fall, rewarded by more stunning views through the valley. The 17-mile round trip to Half Dome was too much, and climbing 4800 feet was definitely out of the question. The 2800 feet of Yosemite Falls was more than enough!

We farewelled Yosemite with a great night of drinking, singing, Jake’s epic loss to Chris at his own game, and some foos and ping pong with Germans. Humphrey the Jamaican taught me that "Man has everything at his feet." We somehow managed to pack everything up in 10 minutes after sleeping through alarms and just made the bus back down the hill. I’d love to spend a good couple of weeks in Yosemite, like one guy we met who was doing a 14 day trek, alone!

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Photos

Cool Cats
Kelsey from San Diego, Humphrey from Jamaica and Yours truely