I think I'm quite ready for another adventure

Thanks to Bilbo Bagins for the title! It's time to go places again! The last time I was writing for this blog was in at the end of my 6 months of "Studying" Abroad in New Zealand. There were so many wonderful weekend trips to mountains that blew my mind and I met a large handful of people who grew to be among my closest friends in just months. I learned things about engineering, culture, climbing, biking and adventuring. Even how (not) to sleep in a public park (with some good outcomes). This trip is certainly shaping up to have many of the same features; it even started with the same picture out from of the house. The plans are very loose and but I have a few things I definitely want to see. Topping the list are two WWOOF farms out in the rural mountains, Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, The Altiplano, and Bolivian Salt Flats and somewhere in the Amazon. These pretty well traveled places, but I intend to get off the beaten path as well. 

Off to Peru, August 2014

Off to New Zealand, February 2012

I'm not sure how often I'll have internet, but when I do get it, the first thing I'll do is start uploading photos (I hear the internet is slow, it'll take a bit). Catch those on Google plus. A selection of those pictures will appear here too with some stories of when they were taken. I hope you enjoy it, and I'm looking forward to getting to write it! To start, here's some of my trip to San Francisco on the way to LA to fly out.

Some highlights of the trip down were getting to meet Victor from Spain on the ride down. We shared the back seat of a little 4 seater car for the better part of 13 hours, toured the Arboretum full of New Zealand and Australian trees on the UC Santa Cruz campus the following day and played on the Santa Cruz beach in the sun.

I bused and trained up to SF to stay with Stephanie, a friend from Elementary school. She just moved into an apartment in the very heart of SF, right between Union Square and Chinatown. The cable car was only 3 blocks away, so my metro pass went to good use hanging off the cars as grinned my head off. I managed to consume every type of bun I saw in Chinatown as well... jury is still out on that decision, but I don't think my stomach was upset for more than a few hours.

Elizabeth, Myself and Stephanie had a little High School Reunion over ice cream in San Fran

By far the best way to learn your way around a city is to bike the entire thing. So of course I rented a decent little Trek road bike for 24 hours and went to town (well, out of town really). I did about 70 miles and spent most of the day biking or hiking... it was my favorite day all summer! Rode down Lombard, went through Sausalito, fixed a flat, rolled the long way over to Tiburon and through some estuary paths, rounded out that peninsula, then came back and went through the one way tunnel to the Marin Headlands (aka Narnia).  I was just in heaven. It was hot and sweaty, but there was hardly a cloud (amazing for summer here). I rode up to the top of the road facing the Golden Gate and crushed down the 28% grade. Little scary on a bike you don't know well, but it did the job. Didn't break my speed record... but got close.

One way tunnel! Cars wait 5 min, bikes just go :)

The Lyford house on Richardson Bay. The grounds are owned by an Audobon Society. Cool!

Bike counter! I was the 3000th biker of the day!

Rode down Lombard!

The next day, I met Abbas, a college friend, and we toured around SF more, ate the more exciting side of Chinatown, sprinted uphill after the cable cars until they let us on (highlight for sure, worked 100% of the time - twice).

We also starred (...as extras) in the final scene of Jukebox the Ghost's new music video for their song The Great Unknown. Check youtube again in a month or two and the video should be up!

He was nice enough to put me up in his brand new apartment in Berkely for a night. He assures me that it won't be as messy in a few days - send me the pictures :P. Either way, Berkely is beautiful. I was in awe. We went up the tower on campus (well worth $3) and had a spectacular view of the bay, San Fran and hills all around. The carillon there is really impressive too. It's definitely larger than the UR one and three short concerts are played daily, with a longer one on Sunday. Pretty organized!

And I'm up to date! I took Bart and CalTrain (my favorite) across the bay and down to Palo Alto where I spent the night with a good friend I've known since middle school. It was a great stay and I'm even more envious of the perks tech company employees get. He was nice enough to throw a few free beers, granola bars and a great lunch my way. I even have a guest badge now saying that my occupation is "FUNemployed". 

Next up, Mountain View, two more good friends and a sweet hike for tomorrow (Big Basin waterfall loop).

I'll write again in a few days, probably from Venice Beach in LA on Tuesday :)