San Francisco and Highway 1

Let me start by saying "hell yeah" for the Carolina Hurricans and Miami Heat. Yes lawd, my two teams won their titles in the last two days. And the two MVP's for the titles were named Ward and Wade. Hahaha, just like the two MVP's of Mrs. Hansen's second grade class, Ward and Wade. So yeah, I called my good friend Chad Wade and told him that we should have an MVP party. Word!

Anyhow, so I spent yesterday wandering around San Francisco. Let me start by saying that I really dig San Francisco - it seemed like there was something interesting on every block. I saw the Museum of Modern Art (or the MOMA as they call it), Coit Tower, Alcatraz, robot-dancin'-panhandlers, China Town, porn shops, Lombard and Fillmore streets, the beautiful bay, etc etc. So it was a day well spent. My only beef with the city, though, is that there were just sooooo many damn hills. Manoj warned me about them, but shit, walking around San Francisco for a day was probably the best workout I've ever had. Anyhow, I also really enjoyed catching up with Erin, who was gracious enough to let me crash at her great apartment for two nights. Thanks Erin! I was also able to reunite with Griff and James, who had made it into town from Wyoming on Friday. The three of us and our friend Brent Reid got some drinks at an Irish pub called KT's Monday night, and it was good to have some beers after my walk-about. Yes lawd.

This morning I had planned on going to Yosemite and then taking the direct, non-scenic route to Ventura for the night. Well, I decided that since I'd seen Yosemite before (albeit when I was 14), that I'd take the long, scenic route down to Ventura on the Pacific Coast Highway, route 1. This ended up being a good decision, as it was simply an amazing drive. I took tons of pictures along the way, and I was even fortunate enough to see some elephant seals who were doing some sun bathing. Nice. Oh yeah, and apparently Santa Claus Lane is off of route 1, somewhere near Los Alamos (see the picture above). I guess Santa rolls down to southern California during the offseason.

Tomorrow it's a quick drive through LA and a visit to Joshua Tree NP before heading to Vegas for the night. Time to get a little crunk in sin city.