Last night

Well, it's my last night here in LA and I'm just chillin at the Holiday Inn.
I know I haven't been doing a good job of keeping this thing updated recently. I'm always so exhausted by the end of the day that I get into bed and that's it. Lights out.

here is a brief recap of my adventures in LA the last few days.

I took a Warner Brothers Studio tour yesterday morning. Shows like Ellen, Big Bang, mike and Molly, friends and many more have filmed there. It was a neat tour but unfortunately being a Friday there was no filming going on.
We did, however get to go see the Ellen and big bang theory sets. Both are done taping for the year so nothing was going on.
The one thing I will say about these sets is that they are so much smaller than they appear on TV.

I did some LA touristy things yesterday as well. The Hollywood sign, Hollywood blvd and rodeo drive were the main stops. These particular sights didn't appeal to me as much but I figured I should see them anyways!

I also got to catch a show at the Groundlings Theatre. It's a comedy club/school that has trained some of the best comedians out there and some of my personal favourites, Kristen wiig, mya rudolph and Melissa McCarthy as well as many other SNL alum.
It was a fun show and I fit right in with all the 20 something hipsters in the audience (I think it was the glasses).

I did some more surfing today in Sants Monica and got rocked a couple times by the big waves. Lots of fun though!

Those were the highlights. Los Angeles wasn't my favourite stop. I enjoyed the untouched coastline and natural beauty of Northern California, Yosemite and Oregon much more.

However, I am excited to say that I survived LA driving. Hit a couple traffic jams but no turn arounds and no close calls. Although I did almost hit a crazy old man running across the street with a cane.

It's been a great trip! I would not hesitate again to travel on my own. Because I was on my own, I had the opportunity to meet some cool and interesting people and I got to do whatever I wanted!

Travelling on my own has definitely been a significant experience in my life this far.
I feel like I'm Elizabeth Gilbert (eat pray love) who travelled to exotic places to find herself. I think I'll write a book about my experience. Seems like the thing to do these days.

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon. I'm getting quite comfortable here lying in bed in my Ellen underwear but, I have a giant mess to try and pack up!

Big waves at Surfriders beach in Malibu. Too big for me!


Sitting on the friends couch in Central Perk


Ellen's parking spot! Unfortunately she wasn't in the office that day.

Howard's space shuttle from Big Bang

Groundlings theatre


Finishing the trip the same way I started.
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Good evening everyone.

I'm back in Santa Barbara tonight. I started my day in Big Sur which is about 3 hours north.

There are a couple national parks along the coast in the Big Sur area so I stopped in and did some hiking. Nothing major, just wandering around.

Late morning, I continued down the coast and stopped in at Hearst Castle. This mansion was built by a Californian millionaire on the top of a mountain overlooking the ocean. It took 20 years to build and even the owner (William Hearst) did not live to see it finished.
The mansion has since been turned over to the state and become a popular stop along the coast.

I spent the evening in Santa Barbara wandering around the harbour and then downtown. Again nothing exciting to report. It has been a relatively low key day minus all the driving.

I've also cleaned out my car today. For those of you who have seen my bedroom on a daily basis, take that image and put it in a car. I've started misplacing things so figured I should clean up.

Speaking of misplacing, I ran into a little trouble yesterday. I lost my credit card at a gas station and have had to cancel it. oops!
It's made booking hostels/tours difficult but luckily I have my debit card to take out money with.

Fun fact: the gas station I left my card at in Big Sur has the most expensive gas in the nation at $6.70/gallon. I googled this station last night and it is actually the most expensive. Conveniently they don't post the prices out front and I didn't notice until half way through pumping.

Tomorrow I'm going to do some surfing in Santa Barbara in the morning and then make my way down to Malibu.
There is a big 'swell' (surfing lingo?) coming in from the south all the way up the west coast. It's expected to create big waves and all the surfers are stoked!

Santa Barbara won't get much because they are protected by the Channel Islands but my new surfer friend said Malibu will have some good waves. I won't be surfing these of course, just watching.

By tomorrow evening I will be in my last stop, santa Monica. I am glad for the majority of the driving to be done but sad to be almost done my trip!















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I'm still alive!

Hello everyone!

It's been a few days since my last post but I am still alive and well. I'm writing from Santa Barbara tonight.

It has been a busy but very fun couple of days.

I drove into Santa Cruz on Sunday afternoon with the intention of heading down to the beach but that did not happen as I could not find parking. That's how busy it was!

Instead I met up with a couple of local surfers who I had a connection with from my previous airbnb stay. We hung out for the afternoon and then had dinner downtown.

On Monday, I took a surf lesson in Santa Cruz which was a lot of fun. By the end of the lesson I was able to catch my own waves and ride them out. Basically I could almost go pro.

Today I was in Santa Barbara on a sea kayaking adventure on the Channel Islands. Again, lots of fun. Met some nice ladies from Hawaii who were fun to talk to and gave me all their leftover food and snacks. I've been eating PB&J, gorp, cliff bars and bananas since I arrived (with the occasional meal out) so free food is always welcome!

we took an hour boat ride from Santa Barbara to this island which is actually a protected national park. From their we suited up and headed out kayaking for a couple of hours, paddling in and out of caves.

Did a little bit of snorkelling in what the floridians called the frigid waters of the pacific. According to my tour guide i should be used to cold water because i'm from canada. it was still cold - not 80 like im used to In the pool!

Most of my pictures are on my other camera so I've posted from some the scenic drive!



Sea lions in Santa Cruz





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I had another full day of hiking today, although not as strenuous as yesterday.
I started my morning off with a couple trails along the valley floor. Most of these trails follow the Merced River and other creeks. It is still quite scenic with great views of the cliffs but relatively flat.

This afternoon I went a little touristy and took a bus up to Glacier Point. This look out spot is at an elevation of 7214 and you get great views of the entire park. I booked a one way trip and hiked a 4.5 mile trail down to the valley floor.
In retrospect, I would have much rather skipped the bus and hiked up to Glacier point myself but by the time I realized this, it was getting late in the day. The hike, had I gone up and down would have taken about 5 hours.

I've found you appreciate the scenery so much more after a challenging hike up!

I was lucky to see a lot of wildlife today, aside from squirrels and deer which are in abundance.

On my morning hike, I came across a black bear digging for food in the forest. It scared me at first because he was so close to some of the hotels where I started. We had a 2 second stare down, I snapped a pic and carried on my way.

On my way back from Glacier point I ran into both a Grey Fox and Mountain Lion. These guys were both walking right on my trail (yes, my trail!). I had to slow down my walking and wait till they wandered off the trail to be sure I did not to sneak up behind them.

Yosemite was great but I only got a small taste! I will definitely be back one day to do some more hiking. I've only covered about 20 of the 800 miles of trails in this park. And Katrina, I have now too put hiking Half Dome on my bucket list. It can be done in a day but I think an overnight trip would be much cooler!

I am extremely temped to stay an extra day here but I think the ocean is calling my name! Will be up very early tomorrow and heading over to the coast, just north of Santa Cruz.



That rock sticking out is Half Dome.


Hike down from glacier point.





There is a bear there. Most of the black bears in the park aren't actually black. If you look close you can see a white tag on the ear. All the bears are tracked and park staff actually go out and shoot them with paint ball guns to try and scare them away from the populated areas.


There is a cougar there. Didn't want to get to close to this guy

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Location:Curry Cabin Acc,,United States

Yosemite!

Today was my first of 2 days in Yosemite National Park. I am staying three nights here in a hostel just outside the park.

Yosemite is known for it's gigantic granite cliffs, waterfalls and big sequoia trees. Sequoia trees out rival redwoods in diameter but not height. I think some are up to 300 feet wide.

I had signed up to do a group hike today figuring it would be a good way to familiarize myself with the area and allow me to hike with some new people.
I ended up being the only person to sign up but it worked out great. The tour guide took me on the scheduled hike which we finished in 3 hours. It usually takes him 6-8 with a group.
Since we were so speedy and we were having a good time, the guide, Marty, took me on another trail leading up to some great lookout points. By this point in the day my legs were burning and this was only made worse by the mile of scrambling we had to do to get to the top.

Once at the top, I got a view of all the waterfalls in the park. It was pretty amazing! The vast and endless cliffs and rocks that you stare out at don't look real. And I don't think the pictures ill post will do it justice.

Overall we hiked about 16km, gained 2000 feet in elevation on 2 occasions and sweat out the majority of the water in our bodies.

It was a fun day. Marty was hilarious and told me lots of stories of all the idiotic tourists that come in to the park as well as the dumb things they do.
For example, approximately 11 people per year go over the falls because they get way too close to the fast moving water. You would think that it would be common sense not to climb over a railing and stand at the edge of the waterfall cliff.

I'm off tomorrow to do another day of hiking in the park. I am exhausted and sore right now so hopefully ill make it out of bed in the morning.



Half Dome


Nevada Falls


















Fun Fact: the bear in the California flag is a grizzly bear but ironically there are no grizzly's in the state anymore. They were all hunted and killed in Yosemite in the early 1900's and have been gone from California for a long time. Black bears are in abundance in Yosemite though.

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Location:Yosemite

Strutting my stuff in Ukiah

I spent most of my day yesterday in Ukiah. This wasn't a scheduled stop as it was only meant to be a half way point between the north coast and Yosemite.

My host, Katherine ended up giving me some great places to visit in town. I did a short but steep hike in the morning. Katherine directed me to the Hill Valley trail just outside the city and figured it would take me 2.5 hours. It took me an hour because I made a wrong turn early on and ended up walking straight up the face of the mountain. If you are ever looking for a way to get a good cardio workout and leg burn, walk straight up a mountain (as opposed to switchbacks).

In the afternoon I ventured to the Orr Hot springs which are just out side the city, nestled away in the mountains. This little secluded hippy-esk resort provided for a relaxing afternoon in the sun and water.

The resort has 2 communal hot tubs, a cold pool and individual hot tubs all sourced from the same spring. It also has a clothing 'optional' policy which provided for an interesting experience. I felt a little out of place walking around in there in my bikini, which is odd.

I wrote about naked yoga in one of my blog posts last year and how liberating and empowering it could be. So in the spirit of adventure, I decided to embrace the 'optional' and stripped down. Was it liberating? Sure. But mostly it was nice to even out some tan lines.

After I finished in the hot springs, I made the 7 hour trek to Yosemite. Got stuck in traffic and didn't get to my hostel until 12:30 am. I was worried there would be some winding roads through mountains on the way but the drive was surprisingly smooth in the dark.

Coastal views!

More redwoods!

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Trees! Big ones, old ones, red ones

Good evening everyone!

I've had another full day in California! Was up at 7:30 this morning and headed out to the redwood forests! I spent about 4 hours this morning hiking through the many trails that are in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. It was a little rainy and muddy but beautiful nonetheless.

I don't think the pictures can really show how big and tall these trees are. Some reach heights of 350 feet. Unfortunately due to logging, pollution and fires, these trees are becoming endangered. Much of the redwoods in California have already disappeared. Also, side note, the trees aren't actually red.

I actually lost track of time during my hike and had to turn back a bit earlier than I wanted so I could make it to my next stop in time. it was very peaceful on the trails and I think my neck was a bit sore from looking up so much...
I'm just kidding. That was a lame joke.

I'm in Ukiah, California tonight. It is a nice little town off highway 101. I'm still about 5 hours away from Yosemite which is where I will be heading tomorrow afternoon.

I'm staying in the house of a very nice lady named Katherine tonight. On my flight over, I was talking to the guy next to me and he hold me about this website called airbnb. It's very similar to couchsurfing.org. People create a profile and list their house or a room in their house for travellers to stay in. its much cheaper than a hotel. And because I am paying to stay in a host's house, it means they can't kill me.

I stayed with a nice couple last night in Crescent City and tonight when I arrived in Ukiah I was greeted with a plate full of food!
I had sweet potato hashbrowns, breakfast quinoa, frittata, and chai seed tapioca pudding. She was hosting a cooking lesson party with some friends that was vegan themed and I got all the leftovers. It was delicious! (That is not sarcasm)

I've got my own bathroom and bedroom and Katherine provided some great company tonight. We got to talking and she even reviewed my résumé and gave me some helpful tips!

It is nice staying with locals because they are able to give you the inside scoop on what to do in the area. All the trails I hiked in the redwoods today, I found out about from Julie and Chris last night.

I'm quickly realizing that 2 weeks might not be enough! I could have stayed longer in Crescent City and would like more time to explore the Mendocino County. I'll have to start planning California 2.0.

My scenic drive has changed a bit from the Oregon coast. I drove through a lot of redwood forests today as well was tons of mountains. It is really beautiful but I'm looking forward to getting back to the coast after Yosemite.
I'll be in Yosemite for the next 3 nights and will be in a hostel just outside the park. Looking forward to some more scenic hikes and with some company this time!




A family of elk caused a traffic jam on the highway this afternoon.

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