We woke up at Gold Bluffs Beach at 6AM and quickly packed up camp with the knowledge that the eight mile dirt road out of camp would be closed from seven thirty till noon for maintenance (of which it was in MUCH need). It actually turned out for the best because San Francisco was about seven hours from our campsite, so we arrived (after "dozens" of bathroom breaks for Phil and Sarah) on time for our campsite reservation at Half Moon Bay.
After setting up camp and walking the beach a bit, we headed to San Jose to meet up with old friends of Sarah's parent's at a delicious Chinese restaurant the four of them (Brant, Laurie, Jimmy and Sherri) used to eat at all the time. We had been told over and over again that the food was amazingly spicy, and we weren't disappointed. Phil's eyelids were dripping sweat by the end.
During our delicious meal, a man came in and sat down at a table across from us and Dawson managed to get an inconspicuous picture with his iPhone of his epically GIANT unibrow.
Afterwords we went to Guitar Center for Phil to buy a guitar capo. While we were there, Dawson and Tim figured out the background chords to their new smash hit swing song, "Look Out, Boiling Water Coming Through, And it's not Very Well Secured." (It's a long story)
Then we went back and spent a relaxing evening in front of the campfire, resting up for our big day in San Fran.
Day 16:
Today we drove into San Francisco. We were going to take the trolley everywhere, but found out it was $13 a person, so instead we opted to walk through the city (as we had seemed to do in every city so far).
We walked ridiculously far to the Fisherman's Warf where we had some delicious sushi at a place called Miyabi Sushi. Connor decided to take the Yom Bomb (wasabi wrapped in ginger) to the extreme, as you see here:
Then we went to Trader Joe's, where Sarah bought a one pound dark chocolate bar, and Tim bought a carbonated chocolate protein drink with thirty six grams of protein in a twelve ounce can. Needless to say, he was rather energetic for the rest of the day (and night).
After walking though some of the market we walked up to the high point overlooking the city.
Where we saw the windiest road in the world:
And a building Phil likes a lot.
After some difficulty (it had been a long day of walking) we arrived at China Town where Sarah and Phil were very excited to find the Pokéman store where Sarah bought a Totaro purse and Pii (it's a Pokémon). You'll see them in a few days.
On the way out of town Tim stopped to hug a tree.
When we got back to camp, Phil and Tim set up a mini rail made out of firewood that worked pretty well.
We spent the rest of the evening around the campfire and saying goodbye to the ocean. Then packed up and left for Yosemite around 11:30 PM in the hopes that we could get a campground if we got there early enough.
Day 17:
After leaving Half Moon Bay at eleven thirty at night, we got to Yosemite at about four in the morning. While driving through the park we slowly realized that EVERY single campsite was either reserved a year ahead of time, or closed. After driving all the way through the park, we pulled over and slept in the truck on the side of the road just outside the park. Dawson, Tim and Phil slept in the bed in the back, Connor slept in the front seat, and Sarah slept on a giant pile of duffel bags and pads in the back seat.
We woke up to a stunning view of a timberline lake.
Dawson and Tim found a Geocache (sorta like a worldwide treasure hunt for outdoor nerds). We added our names to the log book and added in a few trinkets of our own before re-hiding the box in some rocks.
Then we drove back through the park and found a decent campground just outside the park called Shimmering Lakes. It was a surprisingly hot day, so we bushwacked our way up to a waterfall to take a swim.
Day 18:
We woke up early to climb Half Dome. We made it into the valley before the sun, and eagerly started up the trail.
We took the scenic route on the way up. It was aptly named.
Sarah got tired, so Dawson and Tim switched of carrying her backpack on their front.
The trail was quite long! Due to taking the scenic route, it was about seventeen miles round trip, with a forty-eight hundred foot altitude gain. At the top of the trail was Sub-Dome and Full-Dome. Sub-Dome had really steep stairs going up it.
The view was amazing, even before we were at the summit.
After some convincing, Dawson talked Sarah into going up the cables to the top. Tim was very excited!
We were lucky to get onto the cables with almost no wait, but getting up took about forty-five minutes, even though it was only four hundred feet. It was interesting being on top because it seemed like the summit of a fourteener. The rock was huge, and quite flat. You could have played a game of ultimate (if there wasn't any wind) up there. But none of us were short of breath because the summit is only at about eighty-eight hundred feet.
We took some photos:
And did the fork in the garbage disposal
Dawson and Tim decided to do a round of push-ups, and Phil decided to freak Sarah (and some of you reading this) out by peaking over the edge through a hole.
We found a plaque that had hundreds of names and dates from climbers carved into it. Some of them were pretty old.
Sarah had a much easier time on the way down.
We were told by people coming up that there was now a two hour wait just to get on the
cables. The view was pretty spectacular.
Sarah was quite happy to reach the bottom.
We took the less scenic (much wetter) way down. It led past several waterfalls and the mist from them soaked everything in the valley. It was like being in a heavy rain storm.
Phil beat us to the bottom and decided to spend his time meditating on a bridge.
Back at our campsite, we discovered several very large spiders.
And Phil discovered that his mustache is now big enough to hold snacks in.
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