The Last Stretch of Cali

One of the many lakes tucked away in the mountains around Tahoe. 

Husky lovin' on Maddox. 

We got a late start leaving San Francisco, heading towards Lake Tahoe. On the way there, Kyle wanted to hit up a skatepark he'd been to before in Placerville. We skated for a bit at Joe's Skatepark. If you're ever in the area around Halloween, there is a festival hosted by Railroad Earth called the Hangtown Halloween Ball. You can skate while music is going on!! In this same park, there is plenty of green space and also a car racetrack. Quite an odd conglomeration of activities... We made it to Tahoe kind of late so we chilled at Kyle's friend, Angel's house. He has a Siberian Husky, Maddox. This is the first time I've gotten to play with one since I gave Salty away! Maddox is just like Salty too. It made my heart smile. The next day was spent by me running errands (my social security card got stolen in SF) and Kyle skating at the South Lake Tahoe Skatepark, which is in a great location right across from the community college. We met up with one of my friends, Emily, who has been living in the area and she took us on an awesome hike. Everybody knows about Lake Tahoe, because the city is named after this lake, but did you know there are many other small lakes tucked away in the mountain ranges?! I didn't... We did the Eagle Falls Trail, which leads to a waterfall and a hidden lake. Our plan was to rent kayaks in the afternoon, but it was so windy we decided to embark on a culinary mission: making herb infused coconut oil. The project turned out wonderfully. We've got the best massage and cooking oil around now. Kyle and I were kind of scoping Tahoe out as a place to live in the fall, but after visiting we're not sure if it's the right place for us. The ski season wasn't too great this year and we really want to ride a lot. I think Tahoe is definitely somewhere I'd rather spend the summer, because there are soooo many hikes around the area. It would be nice to get to take a dip in some of the lakes during the heat of the summer. Our last stop before we headed out was a coffee shop called Alpina Coffee, which was cozy and affordable. We got our Starbucks usual, large White Mocha, and two bagels for like the same price we pay at Starbucks. I love local joints like this!

South Lake Tahoe Skatepark

Sequoia seat!

The fam at Yosemite!

Our next stop was Yosemite, where we got to meet up with Gussie and Tommy for a birthday celebration!! They stayed at a swanky resort called the Evergreen Lodge, which has all the amenities. There is a bar on site, where we ordered many of their specials (a few compliments of Kyle's neighbors who sent Gussie a gift card). There is a pool and hot tub, where we soaked for many hours. There is a zip line, which we all rode even if we were too big. There is an activities desk with the best tours of Yosemite available and the best tour guides. There are games everywhere: ping pong tables, shuffle board, connect four, pool. This resort is seriously tucked away in Yosemite. To get to the lodge, you have to drive down an extremely long and bumpy road, but it's all worth it when you pass "boob rock" or the "yosemi-tittie," which is a rock that is breast-like and the nipple has been spray-painted pink. Truly a landmark you don't want to miss. Along this road you will also notice severe devastation from the Rim Fire, which broke out in 2013. The official story is that the Rim Fire was started by a hunter, but there are conspiracy theories. It burned 257,000 acres! The Evergreen Lodge probably would have burned down, but they had 200 firefighters standing the perimeter! Gussie treated us to a guided hike and it turned out to be spectacular. We saw everything worth seeing at Yosemite. Our guide's name was Bethany Kindiger (you can read about her and the other guides that work at the Evergreen Lodge here) and I highly recommend her. She was very knowledgable about everything Yosemite. She taught us the difference between Sugar Pine and Sequoia pinecones. The Sugar Pinecones are the huge ones and the Sequoias are rather small. The only other thing that can help you understand the sheer size of the Sequoias is seeing one that has fallen over! In Mariposa Grove, there is a fallen tree known as the Fallen Giant, that you can walk through. There was another dead Sequoia along the trail that had been carved through to make a tunnel for the old wagons. There were engravings on the tree from the 1900s! Bethany took us to a secret lunch stop (you have to take a tour with her to go), which had ancient native american grinding stones where their staple food, black oak acorns, was ground into flour. We saw two waterfalls on the tour: Bridalveil Falls (620 ft.) and Yosemite Falls (2,425 ft.). Bridalveil Falls deserves its name because it looks like a veil blowing over the edge. Yosemite Falls are incredibly immense. Bethany taught us a trick where if you stare at the waterfall in one spot and then look at the rock, the rock squiggles. It was a super trippy optical illusion. That Bethany... she knows her stuff. She even took us to a natural spring, Fern Spring, where we all filled our water bottles up. That was something we definitely would have missed without Bethany, it's pretty much just right off the side of the road. Bethany took us to some amazing overlooks of El Capitan and Half Dome. El Capitan is the largest exposed piece of granite in the world! The tour ended around dinnertime. We grabbed some food at the Evergreen Lodge's restaurant and soaked in the hot tub. It was a great day!

Yosemi-tittie.

Official members of L.E.S (League of Extraordinary Slurpers).

From Yosemite, we headed straight to Sebastopol, CA where Les Claypool of Primus owns a winery called Claypool Cellars. We had a tasting booked for 3:00pm and we got there riiiiight on time. The tasting room is in a train car and is filled with Primus art work. Our wine connoisseur, Cinnamon, was very knowledgable about all the wines. She hooked us up with some stickers, some salted caramels, and a Primus and the Chocolate Factory CD. We bought three bottles of wine, a pinot noir and two roses. We ended up loving the town of Sebastopol! It seems like a lovely place, centered around community. We lucked out because there was a skatepark super close to Claypool Cellars. We spent the rest of the evening at Laguna Skategarden, which is a unique combination of a skatepark and a community garden. There was a bird bath bowl perfect for me and I started to understand pumping in a bowl for the first time. Kyle was in heaven and unfortunately ended the session with a popped knee. The park had two bowls, a bunch of side rails, a rainbow rail, and a bunch of DIY gaps that were made from concrete stepping stones. The best part is that if you live here, after you skate you can go work in your plot in the community garden! This park also has a wall that you are allowed to paint on to encourage creative expression. Quite a hip little town... We treated ourselves to a sushi dinner at Sushi Tozai and I think it was the best sushi I've had in awhile. We got this roll that was baked and it was to die for!! Highly recommend this restaurant. On the way there, we drove down the oddest little street called Florence Avenue, which essentially was a sculpture garden of Patrick Amiot and Brigitte Laurent's work. These sculptors use recycled items and make larger-than-life sculptures. Turning down this street will certainly make you feel like you wandered into another world because every single yard boasts one of these quirky works of art. We parked the truck on Morris Street for the night, which was a nice dark street without much traffic.

A diner dash waitress sculpture on Florence Avenue. 

The Skategarden at Sebastopol. 

Glass Beach (Fort Bragg, CA)

Redwoods National Park was our next destination, but we didn't make it all the way. We had to stop by this seaside town I read about online called Fort Bragg, which has beaches entirely made out of sea glass! That's heaven to me! We found Glass Beach easily, except there were no trespassing gates around the beach. That wasn't stopping anybody: there were at least 10+ people on the beach and good for us!! The beach was a dream come true, except the beaches origins are not too glamorous. Apparently, this area was once used as a dump. Sad, but at least they've cleaned it up and it's left this treasure trove for us all!! To sleep, we stopped in Ferndale, CA at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds where tent camping and RVs are welcome. For tents, it's only $10 a night and they have hot showers. It was a deal to me! I don't think you can have campfires, but they have grills and picnic tables. If you are road tripping in the area and in desperate need of a shower, they cost $3 if you aren't camping here. I thought that was pretty cool, because it's not always easy to find a place to bathe.

Fern Canyon, site of Jurassic Park 2.

We left early in the morning because we had two short hikes we wanted to do in the Redwoods. The first one we did led to Fern Canyon, which was used in Jurassic Park 2, so you know it's gotta be lush! As it's name depicts, this canyon's walls are completely covered in ferns. The best time to visit is probably in the summer because I don't think it had reached it's green potential at this time in April. Still an incredible walk either way and on the road out we saw tons of elk! I have never seen elk in the wild, I do believe. The second hike we did was called the Tall Trees Trail which leads to the Tall Trees Grove, which boasts some of the world's tallest trees. Getting to the Tall Trees Trailhead is somewhat of a hassle, but so worth all the extra work! First, you have to obtain a permit with a gate combination from the Kuchel Visitor Center. They limit the amount of foot traffic on this trail, which means it's pristine and never overcrowded. On the way to the trailhead, you pass another popular trail, the Lady Bird Johnson Trail. We were especially glad we went and got the permit to hike the Tall Trees Trail when we saw that the Lady Bird's parking lot was packed. Once we got through the gate, it was a 7 mile drive down a winding, one lane gravel road. We got even more excited when we got to the trailhead and we were the only car out there. The combination of the fact that it was a rainy Easter Sunday might have attributed to the fact that we were the only ones out there, but I think the Tall Trees Trail is a safe bet if you're not in the mood to share the trail. You walk down the trail a little more than a mile before you reach the grove and then you walk a mile loop that wraps around some GIANT trees. There is one part of the loop that hugs the bank of a river and all the trees were covered in a thick green moss. It looked unreal. There are also holes in the trees that are big enough to sit in. We had a picnic in one!! I highly recommend this trail. At only 4 miles, it's a great day hike and shows you everything you expect to see in the Redwood National Forest.

Ain't nothing but a G thing. 

Unfortunately, our time is dwindling and we have to cut out some of our planned stops from our road trip. :( Next is Hood River, OR though!! Then we'll see what else we have time for...