Yosemite and san fran

July 30th rest of day-august 2nd

Once we got to Yosemite we got the map of the park and looked for the things we wanted to do. Yosemite didn't seem to have nearly as much to see as Yellowstone but had more hiking trails than anything else. We spent the rest of the evening seeing some of the major attractions. We saw half dome from Omsted point and saw some other stuff. We checked about getting a back country camping pass but we were denied by Nonattractivegirl Mcmustbethattimeofthemonth. After being denied we decided we would just camp in the national forest outside the park. We drove around and did some free climbing/hiking/sight seeing. We ate dinner in the park then headed out to the forest to find a camping spot. We ended up camping on the side of a mountain. Literally. My feet were a good 18 inches below my head because of the slope we were on. I woke up 4 or 5 times to pull myself back up to the top of the hill after sliding down in the night.

The next morning we woke up and packed up camp. We went into the park hoping to hike the 14 mile half dome trail, but apparently you have to have a permit on the weekends. Whatever. We took a different hike that was about 8 miles round trip and was pretty strenuous. The hike was fun and made us look like we hadn’t showered in seven days again. We decided that we had enough of Yosemite after this and left the park to go see an old friend of mine. On the way out we figured we would just follow the GPS directions to San Fran. The GPS was not looking out for us this time. It directed us down a road you cannot even imagine…

Picture this: Youre a pioneer exploring the new California territory. You’re on top of the steepest mountain around and you need to get down. You hack the weeds down in order to get down the mountain into the near by valley. While youre cutting the weeds down you obviously make tons of switchbacks because you cant just walk straight down the steepest mountain in the country. You notice the ground youre walking over is filled with ridges and drop offs. To your right is the sheer face of the mountain jutting out quite often. To your left is a cliff that drops off over 1000 feet. Maybe 8 feet from rock face to cliff. Now flash forwards 200 years. The road you cut out back then as a pioneer has not been maintained or worked on at all since that day you cut it out. Now you have to drive your car down the trail. This is the situation we were in. It took us 70 minutes to drive less than 5.5 miles. But we made it. Thankfully.

My friend Erin who lives just south of San Fran was willing to put up with us for a night so we drove down. We met her boyfriend Andy who turned out to be one of the coolest people we’ve met on this trip. He also had a pretty vast knowledge of beer. When we got there they had beer ready for us and we were drinking within minutes of walking in the door. Once we were sufficiently buzzing on this good beer, they took us out to the bars in the area. The first bar we went to was not as hoppin as we had hoped so we had a beer then walked back to the apartment. Andy was on a mission to score us some babes. He provided us with the name of an obscure rich guy that lived in the area. For the rest of the night we were Hans VanBechtelshein and Mateus VanBechtelshein. These names worked out pretty well for us. I found myself playing the role of wealthy douche bag with perfection. Girls were digging it. Until I told some girl her fake coach purse looked cool. She made a point of letting me know it was real and she spent a lot of money on it. Thankfully I made it out of the situation without a slap. The night went pretty well with me mostly just making a fool of myself, but hey that's what im good at. I kept talking to more and more random people and having a good time. We caught a cab home once the night took a turn for the worse with Andy puking on everything.

The next morning I awoke on the couch with Erin in the chair next to me. Gotta love passing out in random places in your house. After recapping the night (as per usual) we headed downtown San Fran with Erin and Andy as our guides. They took us to get a burrito from the worlds best burrito place, as voted by maxim. The burritos were delicious. Our next stop was the Golden Gate. The bridge provides a sick view of the entire city, Alcatraz, and the bay. It was really cool to stand out on the bridge and look at the skyline. Following the bridge we went down to Fisherman’s Wharf, which is basically just a strip of piers with little shops and cool views. We got to see the sea lions that are apparently always there. They seem to be the laziest animals in existence. After that we walked down to the part of the pier next to the water because I wanted to see if we could touch the water. It was too far down to reach down and touch it, but within thirty seconds of Hans and I standing there a wave crashed into the pier only where we were standing. The water was brisk and we stepped back. In the next few minutes of standing there no other waves hit in any other spots. I guess we just got lucky.

After the pier we went to Height St, which is basically just a big hippy part of town with a bunch of head shops and other little shops. The stores were pretty cool and had stuff you definitely cant get anywhere else. We saw some old school nba jerseys and considered getting them but they turned out to be too small. After that we left down town and went back to our hotel. That night we did nothing. We were in bed pretty early as we were both dead tired. Maybe were too old for this? Baha just kidding.

Anyways now were driving to LA. We just saw elephant seals on the beach next to the highway and about four seconds later saw zebras grazing in the field on the other side. No joke. Its interesting being out here on the west coast. I cant really explain it but its something to see. In the cliché way its like a whole other world out here. The landscapes are so vastly different and the people are too. Everything we have seen up to this point has been everything I hoped it would be. Nothing has been a let down and some things have even been better than I thought they’d be. We’ve been gone for two weeks now and somehow it seems longer and shorter both. Going out in Milwaukee seems like it could be months ago. But it also seems like we just started this trip recently. Again its hard to explain.

I don't know that any thing is being answered out here or that I am changing at all other than getting stupid by the minute. I do know that im having the time of my life and im glad that im out here. Life has a long time to happen and work out, but right now im just living, really living and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Im sure that everything ive done and seen out here will in some way redirect or reshape what I want to do with my life but ill just let that all play out in the future. This is about now and if I blink I might miss something.