We made the all night dash from Vancouver to my friends place in Tracey in about 16 hours. The co-occupants of the vehicle are all relatives of my friend so this trip was kind of like a family reunion for them. For the cousins that is. Four other people flew in from New Orleans and Wisconsin for the weekend.
On the first saturday, we walked along the pier, the beach and finally to the golden gate bridge. I think it was about 13 miles in total and along the way, there were many things to see. Sea lions on the marina, the air show farther down and the many local or american exhibits on display in tents for the Columbus day holidays. The army included. It was a great surprise to see the canadian snow birds flying squadron perform their precision maneuvres. I found them to be more impressive than the americans blue angels display of simple patterns. Though the sound of the engines of the american air force plane was awe inspiring as well.
The next day we packed two vehicles and drove through Yosemite stopping along the way for some shot of various lakes and mountains. Half dome was within site at one point but our destination was INYO national park. At 8800 feet, we set up camp here where it was freezing. Minus seven degrees celsius to be exact. All year my friends have been trying to get me out into the woods camping so I finally gave in. Everyone tried to tie up their mummy bags as tight as possible except that I didn't have one. One friend did give me her puffy down jacket - thank god.
The next two days we stayed at another friends house in San Jose. A nice couple with four dogs. They were really cute except for Sam. Sam is a large chocolate coloured or cocoa dog and liked to hump everyone. I can't remember what breed he was.
We went to the aquarium in Monteray as well as did some shopping at the Gilroy factory outlets. Lots of stores and some good sales. Then we returned to Tracey for one final day with my friend again. On the way there we stopped and had dinner with LifeRaft and his wife at a great indonesian restaurant in downtown San Francisco. Parking was horrible on a Thursday night but the food and the company was worth it. Our last day in the San Francisco area was spent driving away to Pinnacle national park. Here we hiked and rock climbed a bit. Large natural rock formations were everywhere. We found pine cones almost as big as a regulation sized football.
On the return trip, we decided against another all nighter and stayed at my friends place in Portland, Oregon. It was a good chance to see him and his family again. Their twenty-two month old baby daughter had grown at least a few inches since the first time I saw her around May. Back then she found the greatest pleasure in just crawling up and down the stairs on her butt. Now she can practically walk up and down those same stairs. The older daughter is taking horse back riding lessons. Previously, she had a leg cast on.
The backyard has been covered in bark mulch and there are also some small fruit trees and flowers. They had tried to find a grafted dwarf fruit tree which I think I told them about before but couldn't find one with the asian apple pears. My brother had managed to find one and planted it in his backyard last year.
Pictures will be added to this blog later. With sixteen rolls of film developed yesterday, there's a lot of editing to do. Some turned out good, and some will go into the garbage bin. I never found the digital camera I wanted so I'm still stuck with my 35mm point n shoot. It took some more beating on this trip as the case is only made of plastic. Sooner or later, the body will probably crumble into tiny little pieces.
The past month or so has been rather hectic with all the travelling and some quiet time will be good. Now back to work...
Posted by LeanPorkLei at October 19, 2004 04:13 PM | TrackBack