Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Giant Sequoia National Parks

After camping overnight, we woke up yesterday morning to a beautiful day. Actually, I woke up to a beautiful day. I've never met anyone who was able to sleep more than me until I met the lovely Wes. At least we can not be morning people together. We left the "Sweet Water" campsite and spent the morning in Yosemite and the afternoon/ evening in Kings Canyon and Giant Sequoia National Parks. We ended the night with a drive to Los Angeles to stay with my Aunt and cousin for a few nights. I thought pics would do better for this post than anything else, so here's some shots... (I also had to obviously embarrass my boyfriend so I included a picture from the previous day)

"Oooooo Chocolate!"

Yosemite:

Beautiful View

Quick Hike to a Waterfall

Another Waterfall in the Park

Lemon Pies, Lemon Pies, lalala

Another beautiful vista

Kings Canyon/ Giant Sequoia:

Tree Hugger and her Special Friend

View Upwards... in case you couldn't tell :)

Inside a tree

Beer, Chocolate and Jen Looking Dead Sexy

After screaming at a couple of hotel clerks yesterday morning (and successfully getting $40 off the room) we left for some good food and even better beer. Mr. Annoyingly Enthusiastic (our waiter had a wierd name) was the only thing at the Pyramid Alehouse that left a bad taste in our mouths. Bye bye Pyramid Hef, it's been a fun run but it's time for me to move on. I won't be seeing you on the East Coast anytime soon.

While we where in the area we decided to do a Scharffen Berger chocolate tour. As Nick points out, you can't think about San Fran without thinking about chocolate. I know what everybody is thinking, tour equals boring. But that is only if you have a straight tour director. This guy, I'll call him Steffan, loves chocolate sooooo much he actually worships it. We were lucky enough to get this little snapshot of him praying to the cocoa roasting machine (note the sexy hair net we all had to wear).

After a rather short electronics stop at da Best Buy to pick up some more car clutter we put Yosemite in our sites. Twas a beautiful drive. By the time we got there it was dark so we ended up pitching the tent and hittin' the hay. I'll leave you with two beauties at dusk.

Actually...

I'm quoting the self depravating Wes... "I'm taking pictures of you because you're beautiful and you're taking pictures of me because I'm stupid." Here's his pic at the techno Japanese bar...

Oopsies

So lil' miss Jenny forgot to mention what the next day or so's plans are. Going to Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Giant Sequoia National Parks. More trees, dirt and things on our agenda. It's been quite a bit of fun actually. Haven't camped in years.

Here's a pic that Jen forgot to post. It is one of my favorites.

Isn't that Wagner one of the most creative people with a lens that you've ever seen? She knows a good thing when she sees it. Cheers.

More than halfway down the coast

We've made it down to San Francisco tonight. Made it here by around 10, but were able to find an interesting place to have dinner. Oddly enough, Ryoto was a sushi bar/restaurant that played techno music. Hmmm... Good though and exactly what we needed to take off the edge after a long day.

This morning we woke up in the Redwoods, which are even more majestically amazing and amazingly majestic when you see them in the day time (we got there around midnight last night). The park was cool enough, although it seemed like there were clearly sporadic sections of the "oooo ahhh" huge trees and areas were there had been logging. The best part was "The Avenue of Giants", a strip of road 2 hours south of Redwoods National Park, with some very old and wise trees. You really do get the feeling that there's something about life that these trees know that you don't. But after seeing all these trees, it was weird that they're still around... I mean, you could totally build some awesome canoes or decks out of them and profit off them for at least another ten years. I don't see why we leave any of them around for our children or grandchildren to see. Oh so sorry that we have no pictures of the Redwoods yet, but Wes (aka the biggest gadget nerd in the world) does not have the camcorder port and the digital camera died (yes, it was heart breaking). So, until we hit up a Best Buy, no 'ooo ahhh' trees. So, since there were no pictures of them, I had to make this post really long (you know, a picture says a thousand words... hence no picture, so there should be a thousand words).

We found a strip of beach in Northern Cali that we combed for about 2 hours. It's funny how things on a beach look a lot closer than they really are. "Oh we'll just walk to that point over there" and then you realize that you've been walking forever and are still not halfway there. Although, we did find a dead gull and a dead duck, both of which were headless. What eats birds' heads but nothing else?

The top was down pretty much the whole drive and now my nose is red and Wes has a farmer's tan (yes Mom, we have sunscreen that we'll be loading on... don't you worry).

So now that I've recapped, I will move forward. San Francisco is the dirtiest city I've been in. I've given it two chances; a Bachelorette party for Meghan (Williams) in February and now. And both times, it was a crack head viewing experience. Just to be fair, I'm sure there's very lovely areas :)

Oh, here's a pic of when we hiked up a ridge on the side of the road. It's all I got for now :( (Blame Wesley)

Headed out of the Land of Ports

We'll be headed out of Portland this morning... down to Redwoods National Park and maybe hit up Crater Lake on the way? Our last night here was obviously filled with laughter and inappropriateness. We watched a fireworks show in downtown, which always seem very oddly choreographed (if they even choreograph those things).

We almost lost the beloved hacky sack as well. See, I have such skills that I was able to jester it right into the nearby garbage can. My heart sunk as I flashed to all the sneakers that have kicked it, all the hands that have lightly tossed it to a fellow hacky sacker, all the parks and cities it was going to be unable to see and all the air it would be unable to soar through. "But it had so much life left!" I thought. Luckily Jon was able to roll up his sleeves, stick his whole arm in and fish it out. Now it's the crap sack. Oh, in case any of our fellow readers would like an informative video on hacky sacking, please view the following (I also recommend this for those still working in an office, as a daily "break it up" routine)

http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages/office-hacky-sack.html

Final Group Shot

Hello all,

We spent the day in Portland fooling around. Went to the Chinese Gardens and tried to get people to take pictures of us. After numerous attempts we assumed it must be "special" day at the gardens so we ended up doing some photo shop magic to get this pic.

Then we headed over to Hawthorne which I would describe as eclectic (or maybe dirty damn hippie ville). It was pretty cool though. Tons of cool stores with unique clothing, furniture, this and that, etc.

As night fell we hit up an open mic night where some of Ashley's friends were playing. It was pretty kicked back until this older gentleman, that looked similar to this mutt here, was singing nautical themed songs about various topics such as androgynous cabin boys and longing for vaginae.

After being thoroughly freaked out and yet very entertained by Frenchie McFrenchenstein we met up with Nich's bro Mark and had a few drinks.

Today we're gonna try to find a tent on Craigslist and then head to the Redwoods.

Arrival in Portland

We have made it to Portland. Hopefully everything from here should be smooth sailing (well that would be if we did the trip James's way... down the Pacific, through the Panama Canal and then up the Atlantic, so just to let you know, I mean that figuratively and not literally. Glad I could help clarify that for ya). We are setting our base up at Ashley (my old and dear friend) and Jon's (her bf) place here on the south side. We were welcomed with a super home cooked chicken dinner, which I was very impressed with. Today we'll try to hit up some Chinese garden action, mixed with some hacky sacking in a park, with a splash of Wes getting a hair cut (please), and thrown in there will hopefully be some "top down , screamin out money ain't a..."

Oh, here I am outside Ashlon's place with the new ride. Wes made me come out in my pajamers.

Documentation: The first sign of annoyance

After no sleep, lots of driving, and a car search, I decided to try and get a picture of Wes with some Seattle scenery in the background. This is the best one I got and after flashing me his "are you done with taking a picture of me yet?" look, I decided to stick with this one. So I figured I would share!

We dun bot a dang 'ol car!

So we bought this sweet 2004 Audi A4 Cabriolet (well not this one but it looks just like it). Got a pretty decent deal. As you can see Jen's drinking while driving and I'm just drunk or stupid or both. We'll post pics soon.