The End

It took me a long time to finish this up – guilty as charged. I was taking some time to really think about the trip to decide how I felt about it as a whole. In the end, it was a bit of a roller coaster literally because we went to Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm for the last two days of our trip, but also figuratively. There were times when I was slightly disappointed, and there were other times when I thought it couldn’t get better, but then we turned a corner and suddenly I was even more amazed than before. That’s the thing I love most about travel: no matter how much of the world I’ve already seen, there will always be something that takes my breath away, which is comforting. Overall, the good outweighed the bad, and I’m so glad we went. I’m hoping we’ll get to go on another road trip soon. Topping this last one though will be tough especially with views like this (note: this is not my picture, but I took one similar at the Cabrillo National Monument):

Until next time...

Another day in the desert...

...but it was much more enjoyable. We went to Joshua Tree National Park. There were Joshua Trees aplenty and jumbo rocks all over as well. The San Andreas Fault can also be seen here. It's a really funky park, and it was a welcomed change to have so much green in the landscape considering how beige everything was yesterday. It's definitely worth a visit.

Can you spot the lizard???

Jumbo Rocks.

Joshua Trees - they are like shaggy palm trees.

We also went to Palm Springs which incidentally has its own Walk of Fame. This time was much more pleasant due to the fact that we weren't heckled. Elvis Presley has a star here, which I've included especially for you Melissa :)

At the moment, we've put almost 3000 miles on the car. We've covered a lot of ground, and now we are in Anaheim, planning to spend as much time outside of the car as possible for the duration of our trip.

Undertaker's (the wrestler) Living Room

We've gone from one extreme to the other. Yesterday, it was 50 degrees in Sequoia and today it was 100 freakin' degrees in the Mojave Desert's Death Valley National Park. The desert is exactly what you think it would be: bare, bleak, and desolate. And the name Death Valley? It's not a joke. Save for some shrubs and a few lizards, the name accurately describes the place. Despite this, there are some small pockets of beauty like Artist's Palette below.

Overall, visiting Death Valley was a good experience, and I am glad I went, but I probably wouldn't go back. However, I do think people should visit the park in order to get a glimpse into this other side of California. It's interesting and sweaty all at once.

More wilderness

We went to Sequoia and King's Canyon National Parks today. Yesterday, we were in shorts and t-shirts. Today we were in sweatshirts and and sweatpants. The elevation was around 7000 feet, and if you can believe it, there was snow on the ground. In May.

First, we drove the Scenic Canyon Road to see King's Canyon. The Canyon is deeper in places than the Grand Canyon and it is gorgeous.

Then, we drove General's Highway (which has about 1 million switchbacks) to Giant's grove to see the biggest tree on Earth (a giant sequoia called General Sherman Tree). This is the most awesome place I've ever seen. In my life, I've never seen trees this big. It is breathtaking. That's me at the bottom of the picture in the grey hoodie.

And if that wasn't enough, we saw a black bear and her cubs.

Yosemite with pictures this time

Blogger is allowing me to upload photos tonight so I thought I'd give you just a taster's spoon of what we saw yesterday since I was told that my Yosemite post from yesterday was a "poor effort" (not naming any names, but it was Gavin O'Neill).

Everything about Yosemite is beautiful - from the smallest blade of grass to the highest mountain peak. It's so unspoiled, peaceful, and picturesque. It almost feels like you are looking at a painting. I was not prepared for this at all, but I think this made me appreciate it so much more.

There's no zoom on this. The deer was that close to us:

There are waterfalls all throughout the park, and they are gushing at the moment because the snow is melting.

Half Dome - people actually climb this. Crazy.

Yosemite

This thing won't let me add any pictures tonight for some reason. Pictures and any words I have do not adequately describe Yosemite anyway. Just go. You won't regret it.

Napa and Sonoma

We had a lovely night last night with Conaill, Aya, and Jon at Betelnut. The locals know how to have a good time in SF - lots of cocktails and lots of delicious food. I'm still dreaming about pork confit with scallion pancakes.

Today was so relaxing. We drove around Napa Valley and Sonoma, drank some wine and champagne, had dinner at Mustards Grill, and an ice cream from Three Twins. Check out Three Twins Ice Cream - interesting story about a green company - and the ice cream is yummy too.