Day Four and Five: Yosemite

Me with the Yosemite National Park Sign

After a subway breakie I was ready to rock and we packed up the van and began our journey to Yosemite National Park.  A smaller journey today (sort of!) - about 315km.  We headed straight to Yosemite to do a walk to the giant Sequoia trees - respect...they are HUGE!  And then headed to our camp site and set up camp.

Trek routine is down pat now - one 'crew' of aprox 3 people put out breakfast/do wake up duty and clean the van, another group is on dishes, another on cooking and it all rotates.  We did our first group shop today where we went supermarket shopping for supplies which was...intense!  12 people require a lot of food to say the least!  I really like the way things run though, in terms of everybody knowing what to do when etc (good job Katelin!).

We had a little spare time before dinner (chicken pasta...yum yum!) and then it was time for dishes, a briefing of the next day and bed.

A Giant Sequoia Tree

The following morning I was on breakfast crew which all went well.  We headed off early to begin hiking to try and avoid the predicted rain.  Katelin gave us numerous options of what hiking trails we could look at doing which ranged in ability etc so equipped with maps we split into the appropriate groups and got to it!

Nevada Falls, Yosemite

I chose to do a 15km hike (8km of which was uphill...!) to the top of Nevada Falls.  It was a super amazing trail (in a "wow this is pretty but I am never walking up here again" kind of way!) that winded up to the very top of Nevada falls and then you had to climb over rocks and dodge waterfalls to get back down again (good entertainment value!).  We used our group food kitty money ($10 p/day pp) that we usually buy groceries with to have pizzas in the park before heading back to camp for further entertainment...supplied by Budweiser!  And then the rain set in...

Day Two and Three: San Fran

Me in one of the cities many beautiful parks

San Fran Tram

Before walking the Golden Gate Bridge

 Having survived the first night in tent town (not that that's difficult :p) we had breakie (cereal and nutella/toast and what not) and then packed up the van ready for our drive to San Fran.  The van rides are always interesting - someone new sits in the front seat every day and takes on air con and DJing duty...you learn very quickly some songs people should just never own up to having on their ipod!  I mix up where I sit each time I'm in the van so I can chat to more people (and find out everyones life story) which is always good fun too!  And then, of course, there is sleeping :p  Ah the joys of not being driver!

SuperLiz! :p

Today's drive was 200km, so after lunch on the road and a Walmart 'supplies' stop we arrived in San Fran and did a spot of sightseeing.  Katelin took us for a tour of town around lots of main attractions which was super helpful (and interesting!) before we headed to the Golden Gate Bridge for photos and a walk over top - what an awesome view!

We checked into our hotel (The Good Hotel...yes that's actually what its called :p ) afterwards.  We didn't have long to spare before we had to be ready for our themed night - super heroes!  Having picked up some sweet superman PJ's at Walmart (yay for the clearance section!) I quickly transformed into Superwoman (or SuperLiz...) and flew down to the lobby to meet the rest of the group.  Totally dug the costumes, just like being at camp again!

We were supposed to go for our sunset cruise afterwards (yes, in costume...) but due to unforeseen circumstances we missed the boat!  BUT we went out for dinner at pier 39 (why hello there American cheeseburger :D) which was delish and made up for it!

San Fran Pride Parade

San Fran Pride Parade

Our second day in San Fran was a free day and what perfect timing we had for our trek because we managed to coincide with the San Francisco Pride Parade - one of the biggest gay/lesbian/bi-sexual/transgender parades in the world.  And wow was it amazing!  So many supporters, sun, people watching, fun...the list goes on!  I also squeezed in a couple of other attractions - parks, china town, shopping etc.  Such a big city and so much to do, love it!

Me on our harbour cruise

At 3pm we regrouped at Pier 39 for our rescheduled boat tour and actually made it on board this time...yus!  Aside from navigating the best way to stay upright on deck it was a super awesome boat ride and gave a fantastic view of Alcatraz Prison, The Golden Gate Bridge, the harbour and the city.  And free drinks to boot!

For those who opted in we headed to a baseball game post-cruise (gooooo Giants!) which is a must do experience for anyone coming to the US, whether you like sports or not...it's all about the atmosphere!


So how did we end our last night in Frisco?  With a WIN! :D  Wahoo!

San Fran Giants Game

Trek Time! Day One: LA to Marina California

Our Trek Van!

Day one started with an early wake up where I headed to the lobby of the Hacienda Hotel (pre-trek accommodation where all LA treks start...nice place!) to meet my fellow trekkies.  We did a fair bit of paperwork before heading to the van for an overview of how to pack it etc (who knew it could be so intense!) and then we were on the road.

We headed up the pacific coast today - 550km worth of driving!   Nice.  Time actually went fairly quickly as the group started chatting and getting to know each other.  There are 12 of us - our tour leader (Katelin), 3 Koreans, 2 Germans, 2 Aussies (ew... ;p), an Irish girl, 2 Brits and me.  And more boys than girls which is unusual for a trek - I'm out numbered!

We stopped for lunch (wraps and fruit) at Pismo Beach - supper pretty - and then continued up the coast.

Pismo Beach

Lunch time 

Given we made good time we had a little time spare to take a walk around Monterey Bay - such a cute little town.  And so the souvenir buying begins!

After our first crack at setting up camp (which went well by the way!  Good on you modern day tents) a group of us took a walk to the beach whilst Katelin cooked us tacos for dinner (night one speciality...yum!).

Dinner was followed by an epic chat regarding what trek is all about/what we can expect/safety etc - all necessary and not too boring!  And then it was time for bed with my new roomie (tentie?) Esther :)

Santa Barbara Sun

Weeeeeeeee, USA I have missed you!

Me in the corner of my
sweet sky couch 

Thankfully no 'ash issues' delayed my flight (good on ya Air NZ!) and I had a sweet ride up here - shared a sky couch with a guy going to summer camp so he got personal filling out US documentation assistance...lucky sod ;p

Have a few days spare before my trek begins so I have spent them in the beautiful Santa Barbara - a coastal area about 2 hours from LAX - with some awesome friends of mine.  I spent the first day sightseeing and drove to the tops of the Santa Barbara hills for a wicked view of the ocean, followed by some reading in the sun (what a lady of leisure :p) and then Mexican for dinner...yum!  A must try for kiwis in the USA, super tasty (and different!).

The view before landing at LAX

On Tuesday a group of us went hiking in a local nature preserve - Arroyo hondo (check it out:  http://www.sblandtrust.org/arroyohondo.html ).  Future CCUSA counselors - I would really encourage you to do stuff like this during your post camp travels as it offers a fantastic opportunity for seeing things outside of the normal 'tourist spots'...and working off your Taco Bells :p Just don't go with people like my friends who make fun of the kiwi that comes from a land of no snakes, mountain lions or bears...which, though there was a sign up warning about them, we didn't run into (oh gee what a shame!).  Being the domestic goddess that I am ( ;p ) I had a cooking lesson for making Mexican food (enchiladas) with my American mom post hike, and I'll have you know dinner wasn't half bad - even if I do say so myself :p

Looking out over Santa Barbara from the hills

Keeping up with the Mexican theme (hey, you only live once!) I had a breakfast burrito (aka fry-up in a tortilla) on the pier the next day which offers an awesome view of the harbour.  Had a shop down State Street (Santa Barbara's main street) afterwards - and with no Glassons or Hallenstines in sight lets just say the suitcase has a few more kilos added to it already!  And as if shopping wasn't hard enough work as it is ( haha ;p) the sun really turned up the heat that avo!

Headed to LA today to spend the night in the Hacienda Hotel (pre-trek accommodation) and then tomorrow morning my trek begins...exciteeee! :D

Holla at you ina bit!

Liz

Swinging in Arroyo Hondon Preserve...weeee :D

P.S.  I forgot the bread here has sugar in it...ew!  WHY!?  Just why!

Packing and Mapping

As more and more of our 2011 CCUSA counselors head overseas for the experience of a lifetime our focus at the CCUSA NZ office turns to making sure next years counselors have the best possible camp experience (amongst other things like all our winter programs of course!).  And so, the challenge has been bestowed upon me...do a Trek America tour, take lots of photos and find out all the best places to tell our counselors to visit in their grace period (gosh you lot are demanding! ;p).

After creating a 'Trek America Live' profile (which is super cool by the way [ Check it out:  http://www.trekamericalive.com/User/?Section=1&UserId=3603 ] - it has a virtual map, blog, groups page for all your fellow trekkies and you can link it to your Facebook to keep all your buddies posted back at home with how much fun your having without them), googling my way through the 'must see's' of the West Coast of the USA and you-tubing trek vids under the code of 'research' I am totally pumped and ready to rock!

And so, the 'Westerner 2' and I are ready to get involved!  Its a two week trek of the West cost - LA, Pacific Coast, San Fran, Yosemite and Sierra Nevada, Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Lake Havasu and San Diego, and back to LA.  Jealous?  You should be! ;p

Totally enjoying that Trek tours involve camping and hiking and outdoorsy stuff (I hope I'm still psyched about that when I'm jet lagged and grumpy...), and they're small van tours so you get to really know your groupies (no coach buses for me, suckers!).

One day to go and I'm still avoiding negotiating the tower of doom (aka my suit case stash).  On the positive I am highly skilled in the area of packing (fitting months of your life into a bag to go traveling regularly will do that to you ;p) and procrastinating (because packing is the most boring task I've encountered in this little project so far - note the sleeping bag testing...say no more!).

Anyhow...assuming all that goes to plan and the volcanic ash chilling over NZ disappears in time for my flight to whisk me away to the USA I'll blog soon on the flip side! :)

                     

    Peace.  Love.  Trek.