So I suppose the first thing I should tell you is how amazing the Yosemite trip was. It was an intense 4 nights and three days.
All the people who had to get on the bus had to meet up at the back of the greyhound bus Station. For those of you who know anything abou these places, you will know that they stick to high heaven of piss...
So 21.00 we were all there, All 35 of us! A very full bus load, in such a way that I knew that there was going to be a whole heap of problems keeping track of personal stuff all through the upcoming days.
I knew in advance that Jimmy the great Driver from my last trip was my driver again... but he had no idea, so when he said hello to the whole group, and I answered back in such a way that he heard me. I could see his face light up a little... that was fun. Especially as he singled me out... Oh dear!
Remember this was the first night on the bus for Heid so I thought I would give her a chance to get a 'good' night's sleep. So I arranged to get the cave rooms/beds under the table, occasioanlly called the 'honeymoon suites' because they are quite private. During the night however it got really hot and heid discoverd that she has a huge aversion to confined spaces (practically having a fit). So that made my night's sleeping equally comfortable.
So we awoke to find ourselves in Yosemite and after breakfast and some more driving we went on a hike up Vernal falls. Yosemite on the whole is mightily impressive with waterfalls, rocks and trees and giant granite stone faces. The hike we did was about 2-3 km but involved hiking up massive stone steps in the waterfalls rain drenching precipitation. An amzing Hike and thoroughly debilatating.
I should also point out that I have a really nasty little chest infection. That meant my voice now sounds like Barry White and I have a rasping cough that could choke a snake (ps it is getting better). So climbing was a bit harder than it should have been.
Once again this country's landscape is amazing, and it is scary to think how much of it have and haven't done in the past three weeks.
When we headed back to the bus it wasn't there when it was supposed to be so we were going through a minor mutiny thinking "Well we were here on time!!"
Thankfully and obviously the bus arrived and we drove to ur final destination... and we drove some more..... and then we turned around and then we seemed to be going down some darkened blair witch project roads at about 11.00. Jimmy wasn't sure were the camp ground was. So we all piled off the bus and I turned into the gentler form of Gordon Ramsey. Helping sort and organise the food preparation for dinner. I was a Cooking demon. Adam (the Co-driver who didn't drive but cheffed) described me as an excellent sous Chef. Which with his experience is worthy praise.
So at about 12.30 we arrived close enough to where we where mean to be to be able to get some sleep.
Day 2
After the breakfast we head straight to lake Mono which with it's Salt water and Calcium carbonate had a pH 10 and was 3 times saltier than the sea it had an eiree quallity the landscape round there. But it was fun to get a in, though I only went in to my waist. I will explain why later.
after lunch we then headed to the second of our day trips which was the hot springs nearby... they consosted of a rover which passed by a geothermal vent that heated the water up on a regular and semiirregular basis.
So in some spots your feet could be cold but your bum would be hot.
So there was constant cries of "ahhhhhh" "ahhh too HOT" "oooowwww fuck that's cold" and the rest in the space of 1 min. much fun it could us amused for hours.. and it did. PS this time due to the rules of the place we had to keep our clothes on!
The night was our big bonfire camp out night. Where we created the INFERNO. a fire so big that we all had to step about 10 meters away from the bad boy. ANd atfer some drinking we all decided to introduce our selves to each other. Jim (Captain) was a genius for doing it. Good one my man. and Jimmy did some more peotry recital from Howl by Allen ginsberg.
Awoken for the final day after we had slept out under the stars... in fact we had all drifted off pretty quickly despite having all said that we needed to see 10 shooting stars, we where klunked out in 5 mins flat. (I managed to see 6)
A quick ride up first of all to what was meant to be a strenuous hike to Dog Lake, but was nice and relaxed and ended up with us paddling around in a fun lake where the bottom never reached beyond 1-2 deep. we started to even through the frisbee around in the water... and again I had to be careful not to immerse myself completely.
Then off to the giant sequoias and redwoods... big wood....heh heh heh.
Bu the high light of the final night together wasn't some awe inspiring beauty... no it was the bar just outside of Yosemite.
They had cheep drink and wait for it....KARAOKE!
HIghlights of the night include:
Me, doing "The Lady is a tramp"
The Ozzies from melbourne Pete and Cam, doing "Can't touch this"
Dendi and Andrew, doing "Daydream believer"
Everyone, doing "The Lion sleeps tonight"
but it has to be said that when we walked into the bar myself, Mike and Jim. It was a bit of a scary Hick hole. where the worlds worst singing/depressing karaoke owner in the world... he sang the in teh most appaling way imaginable... it needed our crew of green tortoisers to kick the bar into gear... in the arse...
We then proceeded to drink at the front of the bus till 3.00 am and then collapsed and woke up slightly hungover in San Fran. trip over we stumbled our way to the hostel and collapsed.
Now that was friday and Heid did some shopping and I did some preparation work for the weekend to come. I will update you on how that weekendwent but to say that Heid is now on her way back to the UK and we did Surf California...
PS I now have a real permanent tattoo with the word science written in Japanese on my shoulder. Oh yes!
