My kinda town

When planning the travel for this trip, I gave the lovely G Adventures people some simple rules: no Air Canada, and below a certain price point. These should be fairly easy to meet. Fortunately, I found the right person at G who was willing to work with me and was very apologetic that I'd have 8 hours in Chicago. That sounds like a bonus day to me!

The flight from San Francisco was a lot shorter than I expected. I planned on sleeping a lot more but my brain forgot time zones are a thing, whoops. This just meant more coffee for me.

When I got to the transit hub, I was impressed. It was clean, organized and the people were super helpful. I had to go to the washroom and it was probably the cleanest bathroom in an airport or transit hub I have ever seen; the toilet had a plastic seat cover that you waved your hand in front of before sitting and you'd have your own fresh seat cover.

The Chicago Transit lady was very helpful. I told her where I wanted to go and she told me not to buy two tickets there - it would be cheaper to buy a one way ticket at the airport to downtown, then buy a ticket from downtown back for less money. Sold! She also searched and searched for a tourist map but couldn't find one and felt bad about giving me a full service map. I didn't care.

I got down to the stop I needed to be at and immediately took a wrong turn. Well, it was the right turn but we'll get to that. First I needed coffee and wifi. Once I obtained that, I set off again with new directions from google maps - and went the wrong way. I went back to Starbucks and started again - in the direction I went in the first time. I thought it was wrong the first time because I hadn't walked far enough and didn't see a landmark I was supposed to that indicated I was going the right way.

It's no secret that I'm a big architecture nerd. I collect architects. I like seeing the buildings, learning about the process, learning the history, and so forth. I like the hidden works of art in every day life. I have a list of architects I want to see in my life and when I'm in a city I know has one, I research it and get my picture.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize is like the Oscars of architecture. The Pritzker family are also pretty big philanthropists as well, so of course I planned on seeing the Pritzker Pavilion.

If it looks at all familiar that's because it was designed by Frank Gehry and looks like every other Frank Gehry building ever. I no longer need to seek out another Gehry. He's very talented but all of his structures look alike.

A few metres away is Cloud Gate. Also known as "that giant bean thing".

I love that even on an overcast day, this was flawless against the sky.
Also to everyone who says I should take pictures of myself, there you go.

I took a wrong turn to get back to the train. You would think this isn't difficult given that I'd just come from there but you would be incorrect. I came in to the park at a different entrance and it was just enough to throw me off. However, it worked out better than planned; earlier on this trip I was on Route 66 through Arizona and Nevada. While in Starbucks, I saw that Route 66 started not too far from the park.

The marker for it even happened to be on the same street I needed for the train! The ride back to O'Hare was uneventful.

What I thought was pretty cool about this airport is that they were giving out flu shots. I think they cost like $10 US. An excellent idea. Kind of ironic that I caught travel crud here (I got my fly shot in October). The airport was CRAZY busy but so efficient. I really liked it.

Next: HOME YAY!!

Flowers in your hair

San Francisco reminds  me a lot of St. John's. It is hilly, it can be foggy, it has stunning Victorian architecture. It does not remind me of St. John's in ways that include an efficient transit system, a thriving harbour front, a thriving and diverse economy, and a grid system to get around.

Our last night together as a group is spent on a boat. Well, theirs is. I wandered around Pier 39. Pier 39 is a magical place where you can get sourdough bread, Biscoff cookies for free, and see some wildlife.

These harbour seals have taken up residence at Pier 39 since the earthquake in 1989. On this day there are hundreds of them but it is not uncommon for there to be upwards of almost a thousand. They are loud and smelly! No one seems to mind because there's even an area set up where tourists can sit and take pictures.

The first question people ask when they hear I went to San Francisco is, "did you see Alcatraz?"
Yes. Yes I did.

The long and short of why I didn't go to Alcatraz is simple: boats. Not cool.

After much bread and many free cookies later, we headed back to the hotel. Well, after Uber stood us up twice.

The following day, we parted ways with the group. It was Mel, James, Nat and I vs the city. We set out for brunch at a place but they had a 45 minute wait. Across the street was a no minute wait that took pity on the poor tourist who forgot to order coffee with her french toast and gave me one for free.

Before looking at a map properly, we decided to head down to Golden Gate Park, foolishly thinking it was near the Golden Gate Bridge. It was lovely but nowhere near the bridge. We figured ourselves out eventually and got on the right path to the bridge.

Path, in this case, being literal.

Mel, James, and Nat

Our plans for the day included going to the bridge, crossing the bridge, coming back, going to Fisherman's Warf and Ghiradelli Square. We had two option when it came to getting to the bridge: take the road, or take the path that ran parallel to the road but was much more scenic.

The path deviated from the road. Greatly. And in miles. We're all from metric countries and as a result miles are hard, yo. We ended up walking about 20 km from the park to the bridge.

We were about to give up hope when:

We saw it!! There it was! It's not deceptively far with no further wayfaring point at all! C'mon, team, we got this!

It happened to be Remembrance Day. We stumbled upon a WWII memorial. We took a minute to rest and reflect.

With a fork in the road and no method of telling where we were actually going, we got our first full view of the bridge.

Magnificent.

We also met our first - and only, and most awesome - stoner.

Our stoner was a slightly older man, just over middle aged. He had a spread of cheese, fruit, wine, and jam. He'd ridden his bike up the god awful hills to get there and seemed to be having a great time. When we asked if we could join him, half joking, he replied, "Well I would not feel so all alone..." and continued to speak the song. Much like Dylan himself. As we walked away, he called out some life advice to us: "Remember what Mama Cass said - feed your head!!"

I took so many really good pictures of the bridge. What none of them tell you is that the bridge is 3.5 km long. Which is really long.

We got to the other side of the bridge much later than we expected. We'd also put on about 25 km at this point and lost the will to carry on.

Oooh, pretty.

 I like when others participate in James pictures. We'd spent a good 20 minutes taking pictures of everyone else looking like they were holding or squishing the bridge, or doing yoga poses in front of it. James the person had an idea for James the bear; he should high five the bridge! While it didn't work out exactly as he planned, it still looks good.

None of us listened to our guide the day before and didn't know how to get back. We thought there was a ferry we could take on the other side. Oh no. We had to go to Saulsilito and  get a ferry. Fortunately we swung a deal with a hop on/hop off bus that as also going there and we got to bypass the gigantic line at the ferry terminal with pre-purchased tickets.

Next: no cows or lamps in sight.

Living dinosaurs

Sequoias are giant. That's why they're called Giant Sequoias.

On the path to the grove of sequoias, a deer jumped out of nowhere and charged across our path. I tried to get a picture of the family of them but apparently "shhh! There's deer over there!" means TALK LOUDER THE DEER CAN'T HEAR YOU. So there's no pictures of deer.

There isn't really a way to capture the scale of these trees. This particular tree was easily 10 metres around and I can't even begin to think how tall. They're pretty much fireproof; you can see evidence of a years old controlled burn in the area and the sequoias are left untouched. Their bark feels kind of like styrofoam. As you can imagine, they're lightening rods - you can see the exit scorch of a bold of lightening on the base of the tree.

Breathtaking.

Further up the path, a sequoia had fallen many years ago. Did I get a picture of its length? I sure did not. But I did get its root structure.

I don't know if it was time or people or the natural internal structure of the tree, but you could walk through it. Well, crouch walk through it. Only one person did it with me. I'm glad I did because how many times in life can you say you walked through a fallen giant sequoia?

Next: places to leave your heart.

In good company

Yosemite National Park. The second UNESCO of this trip, huzzah!!

Yosemite reminds me a lot of Banff. I know that's not something I'm supposed to say about a place, but it really does. They're both glacier carved valleys protected by tireless enthusiasts and over run by tourists - myself included. The park was remarkably busy for this time of year.

No Half Dome, but we do get a nice view of El Capitan.
El Capitan is a rock face people climb when they're insane. The most insane people somehow climb it in two hours, 19 minutes. I think these people may actually be Spider-man.

I think this guy is going to take longer than 2:19.

We went for a nice walk up to Lower Yosemite Falls. I wasn't feeling up to the lung buster to the Upper Falls.

When we got there, it was crawling with tourists. Absolutely lousy with them. (Myself/my group included). We went around the loop trail and after the falls there was almost no one.

As we drove on, I amazed our guide by knowing what a glacial erratic is. Apparently in 500 guests he's had, not one has known what a glacial erratic is.

Next: Sequoia? I hardly knew ah! (I'm tired and it's funny in my head.)

of tarantuas and lessons learned

Many moons ago in Spokane, Washington, I placed my bare hand on the metal handle of a west facing door to Macy's in the baking summer sun.

That was a mistake.

In Death Valley, California, at the Visitor Centre, there is a digital read out displaying the temperature. I was not smart enough to take a picture of it but it was about 80F. The read out is not far from this door:

Do you think I opened that with my bare hand? Or do you think I wrapped the sleeve of my unworn hoodie around my hand and opened the metal handle that way? I can learn things!

Among the things I learned at the visitor centre: common fauna here include scorpions, snakes, and tarantulas. 

We stopped at Zabriskie Point. it reminded me a lot of Drumheller.

I also felt a bit like U2.

As we were walking back from the look out, Jason jumped about a foot back. he did it again, which made us all jump back because we didn't know what was going on. Jason had jumped at a butterfly. He swears it was a flying tarantula. I imagine after nearly being killed by a rock, flying tarantulas are not outside the realm of possibility.

Badwater Basin is 282 feet below sea level.

last of the annual rainfall in the basin.

In the upper middle of this picture is  a sign that shows where sea level is.

The basin itself is a dry lake bed covered in salt and other not so great for you minerals.

The salt is really soft in the parts that haven't been trodden down.

We carried on to Mesquite Flats. There are sand dunes here with the softest sand I have ever stepped foot in.

We ended the day in Bakersfield, CA. This is far closer to Charles Manson that I'd ever like to be. Our excellent guide gut me a cake!

Next: part one of my second UNESCO of the trip.

They're all livin' devil may care

Las Vegas is warm. It is tacky. It is everything you expect it to be.

While in Vegas, I went on the roller coaster at New York, New York. I went on all three rides at the Stratosphere. I won $1000 US.

See, my gramma cheated at cards. All card games, gramma cheated. She also swore like a sailor when she lost. In order to combat her cheating, I somehow learned to count cards. When she started losing to the smart mouth kid, she stopped playing the smart mouthed kid. I make no apologies. 

This talent has never paid off for me. People don't like playing me at cards because I call their bluff. It's not difficult to figure out the cards you have based on the cards I have. I've been told I should play poker but I don't have the willingness to learn that. Bah.

I swore that I would only put $10 in a slot machine and that would be the end of my Vegas gambling experience. Nope. They had $5 single deck blackjack tables at Stratosphere - that's just asking for it. I got $100 in chips and played $80 before walking away with $1100 US. I know I could have doubled it in no time but I chose to walk away. A grand US in Vegas isn't a bad day at all. Such an obvious newbie however; I asked the nice blackjack dealer what I do with the chips after I won. She gave me a tray to take them over to the cashier and I guarded those things with my life and made a beeline to the desk! THANK YOU MINE GOODBYE!

The roller coaster was amazing. Jade and Xuilin didn't exactly want to go on it but I left them with very little choice. It was mildly frightening! Okay more than mildly. I was glad I peed beforehand!  This isn't my video - as we went at night, did not sit in the front seat, and did indeed scream and laugh for all it was worth - but it gives you a good idea.

Me on the climb: it's not that bad!! It's not that bad!!
Me on the drop: I LIED.

Next: Things are about to get deadly.