Going back to Cali

Only a few days after returning from our early road trip, a phone call came in from my Mother back in CA. The mum needed some help, and everyone in the family was coming to the call, myself included (private matter, but not health related at least). I was back on the road and headed West back to Northern California for a scheduled 2-3 weeks to help get things in order. This time it was just myself with my son still having school to deal with.

After 3 days of driving the 1200 miles to CA, I arrived to a somewhat orderly emergency. Most things were already settled or being settled and I worked for a few days just doing a little “cleanup” as more things were resolved. That weekend I took a drive up the coast (HWY-1) and planned an overnight camp, but it turned into a single day affair. But the next weekend, the same weekend as the Longbeach GP… which I nearly drive down to go see, was National Park week. Across the USA, all National Parks were free, and I was only 3 hours away from Yosemite National Park. You guessed it, the very next day I was in the van and making to climb up the mountain.

I spent 3 days in Yosemite; I hiked more than 20 miles, ran into my first bear on the trail (holy sh*t!!!), shared the trail with a couple deer (hey those things have hooves!!!), and climbed a sheer rock cliff to get to the top of a waterfall in the snow (slightly exaggerated but close enough). This was my first trip to Yosemite in 22 years and it was amazing. One odd thing that I noticed… most people visiting the park were not from the USA. We Americans are too lazy to even go to the parks? Well, not me…

After, I spent a few more days hanging out with my family before heading back to Colorado. We hit the Academy of Sciences in SF and drove over the Golden Gate bridge (not something a Californian does often as it costs way too much).

When it was all said and done, more than 5000 miles were driven (and at 13mpg, that is well over $1000 in fuel alone). I camped at countless Walmarts, Truck stops, and National Parks. I watched the sun rise at the Salt flats in Utah, ate lunch at mirror lake in Yosemite, floated above the land in Canyonlands, watched rocks balancing at Arches, climbed 600ft waterfalls, escaped a Brown bear in the Sierras, and … well, I had the time of my life this past month