Yosemite, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz

Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Mileage: 7,800

We enjoyed a much needed recharge (and dirty roadtripper sanitation session) with Herb and Marion before setting off on Sunday morning for Yosemite National Park. The drive across the state was easy and quick, save for a stop at Trader Joe’s for victuals. We entered the park and drove straight to Yosemite Valley, rightfully nicknamed “the incomparable valley” for its splendor and beauty. After about 40 minutes of driving from the park’s south entrance we emerged from a tunnel and the view of El Capitan and the Half Dome looming over the green valley struck us head-on. Yosemite Valley is such a beautiful sight that it takes all the fun out of amateur photography by removing any challenge from the process of finding a beautiful shot. Nevertheless we pulled over immediately to do our duty as tourists and take the first of many, many Yosemite pictures. We then continued our drive into the valley and made our way to the visitor’s center where we looked at maps and got some recommendations from a park ranger. She pointed us towards the popular but breathtaking Nevada Falls hike, the same one Herb and Marion had recommended to us. We set our minds to do that hike the next day and decided to go set up camp somewhere to get in an early night to be well rested for Nevada Falls.

One of our first views of Yosemite

To save 10 bucks we decided to drive outside of the valley to one of the less popular campsites. We drove up Tioga Road into the Upper Sierras and found our campsite. We had our camp set up quickly, the two of us having become quite used to our own camp establishing rituals. Alina is the Organizer and Unpacker of Car, and Creater of Dinner, while I am Finder of Wood and Maker of Fire (we both set up the tent). The night went as camp nights usually do, a filling and simple dinner with some wine and a small fire before an early bedtime. This night was slightly tedious because we had to unpack all food and anything with a scent from our car and relocate it all to our site’s bear-safe container. I had never even heard of a bear breaking into a car for food, but apparently this is a persistent problem at Yosemite. Collecting all food and scented items (mainly toiletries) was much easier than it would have been had Alina not spent a few hours the day before cleaning and reorganizing our mountain of assorted luggage as well as cleaning out a full bag’s worth of delicious and tragically uneaten dark chocolate M&Ms I’d dropped under the seat back in Michigan and then forgotten about. Gross. We were careful to get everything out not only because the last thing we want is to have someone else destroying Speedblazer (we seem to do very well at that sans bears), but also because once a bear has tasted the left out food of some thoughtless tourist it quickly becomes habituated to looking to humans for food and is usually killed. We slept well that night, and though temperatures dropped quite low at such a high elevation, we were bundled up in our tent and sleeping with the peace of mind that comes only when you know that your granola bars and your shampoo are safely stowed.

The next morning we slept in a bit mostly because I thought that Alina would get up when it was time to start the day and she assumed the same thing about me. We’ve since started using alarm clocks again. By the time we ate and packed up our stuff and made the slow drive across the park to the valley it was a bit late to start our Nevada Falls hike, which we were advised to leave at least 6 hours of good daylight for. Instead we decided to check out bike rentals and possibly do some cycling around the valley. After a healthy dose of aimless wandering to find the rental stand we discovered that bike rentals in Yosemite are more than we deem reasonable (read: not dirt cheap) so instead we did some perfunctory exploration from the much more reasonably priced (read: free) valley shuttle. The ride around was beautiful and helpful for getting a feel for the geography of the valley. The drivers were also worth seeing, or rather hearing, as they talked about Yosemite and working for the National Park Service. One was particularly funny, relating his experiences as a tour guide at Alaska’s Denali park, where he had to drive treacherous cliff lined mountain roads and always promised his passengers that he would have “at least three wheels on the road at all times.” We rode the bus to Yosemite Falls, a quick and easy mile loop that offers nice views of the falls, which, because they are almost solely fueled by snow melt, were very low. After that we rode to Mirror Lake and hiked around there until we decided that it was about time for dinner.

The view of Half Moon from Mirror Lake

We camped that night in the Valley at Camp 4, where our guidebook promised us a more “bohemian” experience. Well, if sharing a communal campsite with a group of aloof, chain-smoking French rock climbers is your idea of bohemian (and I’ll bet it’s not too far from the mark) then the guidebook got it right! We set up camp and enjoyed an early spaghetti dinner before driving up to Glacier Point, an overlook from over 3,000 feet of sheer granite rock face above the valley. We had been read that on nights with a near full moon Yosemite’s abundance of exposed grey-white rock glows purple and makes for a spectacular sight. Unfortunately the moon was covered by a large mass of clouds by the time we made it up there, though the lights in the valley and the half of the sky free from clouds and full of stars made the drive up there worthwhile. We made a half-hearted attempt to wait out the clouds, but the temperature dropped quickly (it snowed later that night at that elevation) as did our enthusiasm for waiting for purple rocks when we, good sensible people that we are, could be getting warm in our sleeping bags at our bohemian campsite. And so we drove the twisting roads back down to the valley and crawled into our tent for what we used to call in college an old man bedtime. In college that meant anything before midnight, but this was a more authentic old man bedtime that put us in bed no later than 8:45, occasionally shaking our fists in dreary rage at our partying neighbors, lamenting those “damn bohemians,” until we drifted off to sleep.

The next morning we got up early to get a good breakfast in us before tackling the Nevada Falls trail, a seven mile journey that would have us ascending nearly 2,000 feet and promised to take up most of the day. We packed lunch to eat at the top and took the free shuttle to the trailhead and were well on our way by 10. The hike was absolutely amazing, featuring two beautiful waterfalls and plenty of Yosemite views along the way. The climb up was tough at places, especially the mile or so right before Vernal Falls where the trail turned into nothing but steep steps carved into the rock, but overall was really not too bad. When we made it to the top of Nevada Falls we were rewarded with a spectacular view and our lunch. We were also rewarded with some very bold squirrels that approached us in hopes of getting some food. We wanted to discourage them from associating ‘tourists’ with ‘free handouts’ so we thought how to best get them away. Well, they didn’t blink regardless of how loud we yelled or stomped our feet, but we didn’t want to throw anything at them in fear that they would think it was food, which would reinforce their ideas of food. After some time, we came on the bright idea of taking big swigs from our water bottles and squirting it at the squirrels. The other tourists at the top probably thought that the water-spitting Americans were weird, but we were the only ones who no longer had squirrels bothering them during meal time. After eating and then enjoying a brief repose we made our way back down the trail, taking our time to tread carefully so as not to tumble down the boulders and rock steps. The way back down was pretty but relatively uneventful, save for a rainbow at Vernal Falls. When the bus picked us up at the trailhead we were expecting it to be at least 4, since the trail is supposed to take 6 hours. We were surprised to learn that it was just 1:30 and that the hike hadn’t even taken us 4 hours. I’m sure they give inflated hiking times to make sure people don’t get stranded at dark, but that didn’t stop us from feeling that we were probably record-setting trailblazers due to our immense physical prowess and stunning good looks. It feels nice to have delusions.

Alina walking up the stone stairway to Vernal Falls

Rainbow at the falls

Looking up towards the top.

Nevada Falls from below

Nevada Falls from above

Lunch at the top!

Bad (but cute in a rodenty way?) lunchdates.

Pleasantly surprised to have an unexpected free afternoon, we made our way to Yosemite Village to watch the free film “Spirit of Yosemite,” which we’d read was great. It was a little hokey and we were surprised the film had earned such accolades, but then again our source had been banners on the Yosemite Valley bus so I suppose we shouldn’t have been so surprised. We finished the short film and made our way back to the campsite to rest and read until dinner. After dinner we again retired early and enjoyed a good night’s sleep as a reward for our long hike that morning.

We rose early the next morning to pack everything back into the car and start our trip back towards the Bay Area. Before leaving Yosemite, however, we wanted to make a few more stops. First we drove back up to Glacier Point to enjoy the views during daylight. I was spellbound by the view, as well as by the fact that we tried to enjoy this view in the darkness, which we both had a good laugh at when we saw the splendor of what we had been staring blankly at a few nights prior. Note: it is better to appreciate stunning vistas in daylight. We are learning so much. At any rate, we really enjoyed seeing Glacier Point and took some quality time to just soak in the vastness of the view before jumping back into the car and making our way to the Miraposa Sequoia Grove. After enjoying the redwoods up north relatively free of crowds, the sequoias seemed a bit less awe inspiring when outnumbered by herds of tour groups and screaming children. Still, the massive sequoias, the largest living things on the planet, were incredible, particularly the famous Grizzly Giant. We stared up at it in awe until our necks were tired, and then decided it was time to hit the road.

View of Half Dome (on the right) and they valley.

The drive across Central California, parched and brown this time of year by a long dry season, was again uneventful and easy. We made our way to the home of the Lenn’s, parents of my old roommate Roy, in San Jose and arrived late in the afternoon. After a little rest they suggested dinner and generously treated us to a meal at a really nice restaurant featuring trendy Singapore cuisine. Though Alina and I, greasy and perhaps a bit smelly from camping and hiking the previous days, didn’t quite fit in with the stylishly dressed Silicon Valley crowd at the restaurant, we had a really great time eating and chatting and getting to know Roy’s parents. By the time dinner was over it was getting late so after returning back to their place we just relaxed before falling asleep.

The next morning Alina and I got up early to take advantage of the pool in the Lenn’s development. It felt great to get some laps in, and by the time we had returned Mrs. Lenn was putting out an incredible breakfast feast with the works: eggs, yogurt, strawberries, grapes, muffins, breads, and more (just another example of what incredible hosts they have been). We ate and they advised us how to use the commuter train system to get into San Francisco. After breakfast we got ready and walked to the nearby light rail stop which took us to the San Francisco-bound Caltrain. It’s great to be in a place with such great public transportation, and I enjoyed the having some downtime on the train to relax and not worry about parking.

The Transamerica building that so defines San Francisco's skyline

Famous cable cars

Our two days in San Francisco were primarily focused on walking around and just getting a feel for the city. When we arrived that first day we made our way to Union Square and then walked around that area until finding a little café to get a small lunch in. Then we followed the Barbary Coast Trail, a self guided historical trail that uses plaques and arrows in the sidewalk to lead those interested on a 3.8 walk through historical San Francisco. The trail wound through the city streets somewhat ridiculously, and about half way through it, again finding ourselves backtracking, we decided we might just be better guides ourselves. We took some time to stroll through Chinatown and then made our way to the bay and walked along that for a while. Eventually we decided that we shouldn’t stray too much farther, already being quite a distance from the train station without knowing what time the trains stopped running (the train schedule I thought I had grabbed at the station had actually been the special schedule for Sharks games). We walked back via Russian Hill, home of the most crooked street in the world, and made our way to the North Beach area for dinner. It quickly became evident that we were out of our price range in this city, and especially in the swanky North Beach area, where outside of every restaurant is somebody in a tux trying to lure you into their establishment with promises of the best homemade pasta in the city for just $24 a plate!! We found a hole in the wall burrito joint where we spent less overall than just what the tip would have been in the neighboring restaurants, and enjoyed huge and tasty (cost effective = tasty) veggie burritos.

Lombard Street: the most crooked street in the world

After dinner we hit up the City Lights Bookstore, once epicenter of the Beat cultural and literary movement and still a really awesome bookstore dedicated to publishing local poets and writers under their own label. I bought myself what I thought was a very fitting souvenir, Kerouac’s Dharma Bums, only to realize on the following walk back to the train station that Kerouac probably wouldn’t have been proud of me for paying $16 for a paperback, even his paperback, in the name of Beat literature. Oh well. We arrived at the train station with about 30 minutes to kill, so we went to Safeway to get some ice cream. I was thinking we’d split a pint but Alina, get this, refused to split a pint of Ben and Jerry’s! Surely she’s mental. She made us get these tiny single serving containers which, though practical and probably healthier for me, certainly don’t give that satisfying “I just ate 1,400 calories of pure heaven” feeling that I like to get after my Ben and Jerry binges. Oh well again. At least I had something good to read on the long train ride back as we passed the “campuses” of every high-tech company I know of (plus many I’d never heard of). Taking the commuter train through the Silicon Valley; it’s not Kerouac but I suppose it works alright for us.

The City Lights bookstore, once a cradle of Beat literature

"You call this ice cream?!?"

We returned late and I made a relatively futile attempt to write a post before falling asleep. The next morning we again rose quite early to get some swimming in. We tried to be sneaky and just eat cheerios breakfast before Mrs. Lenn troubled herself to put out the entire spread for us, but she was cleverer than us and a great deal of carrot bread and fresh strawberries I did eat. We again took the train in and spent an entire day walking around. This time we walked directly to the north part of the city where we walked through the kitschy Fisherman’s Wharf and then made our way to the Ghirardelli chocolate factory. The factory is now an assortment of pricey shops around the nice little brick square, but it keeps its chocolate roots and you can take a self guided tour around to look at some of the old chocolate making equipment as well as sample and purchase all types of chocolates and sweets. We decided that, having packed lunch, we could splurge on splitting one of their huge ice cream sundaes, heaping with homemade dark chocolate fudge, caramel, and crushed almonds. Pure delectable gluttony. Fantastic.

"This is ice cream"

Escape from Alcatraz!

After the chocolate factory we started walking (well…waddling) towards the Golden Gate Bridge. We walked the four miles along the park-lined bay to snap our Kodak moment type shots in front of the bridge. Originally intending to walk across it, we decided to change our plans because Alina’s cousin who lives in Santa Cruz, Sasha, had called to say he would be in San Francisco that evening and would like to grab dinner. So we decided to go by foot (why don’t we ever take buses?) the long and hilly way down to the Castro and Misson district, the area where we were to get dinner. We had a nice walk around the Castro district, purported to be the LGBT capital of the world, and having heard so much about the flamboyance of the area, were surprised to find it less like a 24-7 pride parade and more just an interesting and very individualistic neighborhood. We sat down to drink some tea and get off our feet momentarily at a café before walking towards the Mission district, where we met up with Sasha and drove to his friend’s house. One of his friends had heard about a really great Burmese place nearby, so a group of six of us left for the restaurant. The walk there took us through south Mission, a more, uh, unique area full of Latino evangelical services and interesting characters on the streets, one of whom approached Alina and Sasha as they were talking to each other and fondled Alina’s hair and offered to buy her for $200. The walk was worth it, however, and we arrived at Yoma, the tiny Burmese place, to find the prices incredibly cheap, the food great, and the two Burmese women cooking for us right on the other side of the bar quite charming and funny. After dinner we walked to a nearby bar called Zeitgeist to hang out some more and have a beer. Sasha had generously offered to drive us back to San Jose on his way to Santa Cruz, so we were freed from concerns of getting back to the train station and could relax and hang out. We had completely missed the fact that it was Friday the 13th until our walk back to his car where a man in what appeared to be a crazy tie-dyed spandex jump suite serenaded us at a crosswalk with his recorder. After that last bit of excitement we made it back to the car and Sasha drove his friend home and then took us home as well.

Obligatory cheezy Golden Gate Bridge shot

The next morning we took our time doing some laundry and getting packed up. The Lenns asked us to stay for lunch so we enjoyed a really good vegetarian lasagna that Mrs. Lenn had prepared. After lunch and getting everything into the car we said goodbye to them and headed towards Berkeley once more, where we were to meet up with another cousin of Alina’s, Nichole. We got to Berkeley a little before Nichole was free to meet with us so we busied ourselves by walking around downtown and eventually into a used bookstore where we bought even more used books. Soon after that we met Nichole and walked around Berkeley with her. She showed us to Amoeba, a huge record store that sells all kinds of new and used music. After that we sat down with her at a café and her and Alina got to catch up some. It was getting later and we knew we had to get to Santa Cruz that evening so we left Berkeley after a quick dinner at an Indian place and drove south to Santa Cruz. When we got there we went on a walk with Sasha to the nearby beach and listened to the sea lions barking in the distance. After our beautiful walk to the beach we returned back to Sasha’s to watch “Thank You For Smoking” before falling asleep.

The day was largely a recharging day for us. We went to brunch with Sasha downtown and then walked around some really cool rock formations called the moon rocks, formed hundreds of thousands of years ago when they had been the coast. From there we went to Panther Beach, which was absolutely beautiful with both cliffs and sandy beaches. My favorite part of Santa Cruz came next: the strawberry farm. Here strawberries grow year round, and for next to nothing you can come and pick your own. We spent a long time in the fields loading up with more strawberries than I ever dreamed six dollars could buy. Some of them are so huge it’s like eating an apple. Having picked and eaten an ungodly number of strawberries we returned to Sasha’s where we relaxed, read, watched tv, wrote an enormous blog, and ate more strawberries. Sasha had plans to go to a show back in San Francisco, but he let us just hang out at his place so we took the time to enjoy a nice Sunday night in. Today we’re going to do a few more of Santa Cruz’s sights before heading down the coast towards Big Sur en route to LA!

Cheers,
Paul