San Francisco

Golden Gate Bridge

And now for the first time in my life I am in California!  Woo!  I've been staying with Matt Wing and Matt Betten for the weekend.  We took a tour around Stanford and then went to Palantir (where they work) for dinner.  Apparently a ton of RPI people work there because I ran into a lot of them.  The dinner was soooo good too!  I almost wish I was staying in SF but I'm hoping LA will be cool too.  Palo Alto (where they live) is a really nice area.  We also went to Ikea with Erez to get a futon for their apartment and spent some time assembling that and a bike rack.  The next day we had brunch with some other Palantir people and then I took a day trip out to San Francisco via train (with a train conductor who would ask trivia questions throughout the journey) and met up with my friend from UCL (who is originally from SF) and we walked across the Golden Gate bridge and back.  Had a great time with him and then had lunch with Henry, a friend from RPI, before catching the train back.  On my last day we went on a cool hike.  I wish I had more to say but now that I've waited a few days to post this I've kind of forgotten what I was going to write about hah :(

I left around 7am on Monday morning to drive to Los Angeles via the Pacific Coast Highway / CA-1.  It was an awesome drive despite being really foggy.  I didn't go across the cool bridge so I'm not sure where I went wrong there but I took the highway for most of my trip down the coast.  The geography is just so cool.  The coastline follows you along your right side while mountains rise and fall with the occasional ranch of cows or horses on your left.  When the mountains are at their highest you can look up and see the clouds drifting over them like smoke signals from the tops.  Eventually the road drifts away from the coast and you'll find yourself greeted into central California by various vineyards in the valleys.  Occasionally you'll drive through some desert before finding smaller cities and then Santa Barbara and then finally, Los Angeles!  I'm staying with some Stone Ridge friends, Sara and Becca while I look for housing.  More on LA to come!

P.S. I forgot to write this part earlier but then remembered it.  As my car was approaching 4,000 miles for the trip, Coldplay came on the radio (Hurts Like Heaven).  And then another Coldplay song (Lovers in Japan which was even followed by Chinese Sleep Chant!).  And then ANOTHER (Clocks).  I was so taken by how awesome it was that 107.3 decided to play so much Coldplay that I decided at that moment that it was the best moment of my entire road trip. :)

Left: Someone with DC tags parked in front of me!  Right: Skateboarding must be okay here :P

The entrance to Stanford's campus in Palo Alto

Stanford is ridiculously nice.

Matt (Wing) and Matt (Betten)!  Left: touring Stanford.  Right: testing futons.

We had dinner at Palantir where they work and it was really delicious!  Makes me wish I had done Computer Science haha.  There's still time... :)

Downtown Palo Alto

Got to see one of my besties from London (though he's originally from SF), Devin!!!  We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge and back.  As we were crossing he chose to tell me the story about the earth quake and the treasure island bridge collapse.  Terrible tour guide haha.  But I saw an AC72 in the bay!!! Totally worth it.

View of San Francisco from outside Henry's apartment.

We assembled the futon and bike rack.  Then Matt Wing decided to make a coffee table haha

On my last day in SF we went on a hike in the Rancho San Antonio Space Preseve.  They some animals there too!

Erez and the Matts resting at the top of the mountain.

The guys

The view

Heading back down the mountain

The end of the trail!  We, sadly, did not see any mountain lions.

Pacific Coast Highway--The thought of falling off the side is a little scary, haha.

It was pretty foggy for half of my drive but still pretty cool looking.

Hut on a rock?  (Harry Potter reference..)

ooo ahh

Most of the time there was ocean on my right and this on my left.

Nevada

Most of Nevada (the first FOUR HUNDRED MILES) was really boring.  A lot of desert with a few hills thrown in there.  Once I hit Reno, though, things started to really look up!

This was by far the worst drive I encountered.  Worse than South Dakota.  First I drove 150 miles through Utah.  As soon as I entered Nevada on 80-West, I saw a sign that said such and such city: exit 403.  I cried a little on the inside when I realized I'd be driving almost 400 miles through this dessert before reaching Reno.  Reno was alright and Carson City (the capital!) was actually quite nice downtown.  Next door they have several mountains and the beautiful Lake Tahoe.  I can see why people would live there (but not the rest of Nevada, hah).  The lake is partially in California so that was when I finally entered California for the first time in my life.  The drive improved almost immediately (on 80-West, that is).  I first drove through the Donner Pass area and then the Tahoe National Forrest.  Trees were a welcomed sight--something I may have taken for granted on the east coast since I haven't seen too many of them (except maybe in CO) since, maybe, Minnesota.  From the California border I drove another 200 miles through Sacramento to Palo Alto where I've been staying with Matt Wing and Matt Betten.  It was a really long day of driving (about 12 hours) and I had to drive in the dark for the first time a bit but it was worth it to be in the San Francisco region!  More to come on my California adventures in the next post!

P.S. Raya suggested I download some podcasts and so I listened to some NPR and Radiolab for a lot of the drive--highly recommended!

P.P.S.  I've seen some strange signs while driving across the states.  In UT I saw the "Open Range" sign I mentioned in the last post.  In NV I saw signs that said "Prison Area Hitchhiking Prohibited".  Seems logical.  Some signs say "Slow Trucks" because when you're going uphill the trucks tend to go about 35 mph.  This sign can be directly translated to "Slow Volvos" :)  At least for my car!  Oh!  I also saw these eyes that someone put into the side of a mountain (Mile 2,989--might have been in UT but I think NV) and they were so cool.  They reminded me of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg.. overlooking the dessert wastelands.  Some people spelled things with rocks in what looked like some small salty areas outside Reno.  Those were entertaining.  That's all for now!

The beautiful drive around Lake Tahoe.  Totally worth the detour.

Lake Tahoe

3,000 miles for you Volvo, you go Volvo!

Utah

My favorite photo from Utah, the Salt Flats!

I had a great time staying with Raya and Isaac in Utah.  The drive through the state was pretty miserable but once I got to Salt Lake we toured around a bit.  Isaac told me a lot about the city, the Mormons, the "hipster-y" scene, the gay scene (largest in the country), among other interesting tidbits!  Then we went out to dinner at The Bayou which was fantastic.  Afterwards we hung around their house and played some Call of Duty (PS3) before heading to bed.  We had breakfast at Alchemy (also really good) before I headed out to San Francisco.  I drove past the Salt Lake which wasn't that interesting (note there are no photos of it haha) but the Salt Flats were really cool!  The flats were about 50 miles long which is a long way but I'd take the salt flats over the desert of Nevada almost any day! :)  Thanks for reading, as usual!

There are a lot of different kinds of "nothing" to drive through in the US.  This is one of them.

LDS Temple (Latter Day Saints/Mormon Temple)

The LDS HQ and Isaac and Raya

Cruisin' past the Capitol building

Sunset from a hill/mountain overlooking Salt Lake City

Capitol Building and the LDS HQ

Raya and Isaac took me to this great place called The Bayou.  Super tasty!  Highly recommended if you're in Salt Lake City.

The roads through the salt flats were the straightest, flattest roads I have encountered but the flats themselves were pretty cool.

Some info about the flats.  (Click on it to make it big).

Salty, salty.

Colorado Cruisin'

Driving through the Rockies (round two)!

I picked my car back up after sitting in a bar for a few hours.  The car mechanic took a Volkswagen muffler and welded some pieces on to make it fit my car, woo!  Afterwards I went back to meet up with my RPI friends and we made some dinner and then played some Scrabble.  Later that night we dropped Janine off at the airport and then I headed out the next morning.  Check out the pics for more! :)  Thanks fo' readin'.

Airport.. made of tents?!

Driving through the Rockies.  I could get used to this :)

The only downside is that my car typically goes about 35 mph up these mountain hills.

I've learned throughout my driving that the United States is like a shape shifter.  One minute you're surrounded by snowy mountains, the next you're in a rocky canyon, and then in no time, the flats.

Not the flat, empty roads again!

From flat to a few dirt mounds

On Interstate 70-West I had to take a detour around some construction at the border.  I pulled into a town that seemed to be comprised solely of trailer homes.  Makes me really thankful that I grew up in such a nice place.

Then on the detour I had to ride on this ridiculous road.  It started out like the road that was paved in the movie Cars when he rushes it--really crappy.  It didn't have rumble strips because the road itself was a rumble strip.  I didn't think my car was going to make it (after having already lost its muffler).  The dirt road then cut through an "Open Range" (according to a sign) which apparently means cattle can go as they please.  I thought it meant hunting haha.

Denver

I drove through the Black Hills and then got into the Buffalo Grasslands

I've decided to do a few more "mile markers" again.  I left Rapid City, SD with the intention of going to the Badlands but the weather was looking a bit stormy so I chose to just head straight for Denver via WY.  I was originally going to head to Yellowstone.  Change of plans!  Heading to Denver to see Janine and Elyse.

Once I got to Denver we went out to Red Rocks and walked around a bit and then headed out to the Breckenridge Brewery for some dinner.  Then we drove around Denver a bit and then went to bed!  So tired.  The next morning I was planning on heading out to Salt Lake but roughly an hour into my drive in the Rockies my car broke.  The muffler and the exhaust pipe were no longer attached so I drove back to Denver to get that fixed.  Hopefully Salt Lake tomorrow! :)

Mile 2,039: A rancher is herding his cattle on a horse!  So neat. :)

Mile 2,116: Mingle, WY.  Population: 510

Mile 2,210: Cheyenne, WY!  Lunch time.

Mile 2,234: Rockies in sight!

Mile 2,246: Oil in my car is almost bone dry.  I think I have a leak?  Put in a two quarts, hopefully that holds it over for a while!

Mile 2,330: Denver!  Woo!

Mile 2,345: Lookout Mountain

Mile 2,365: Exhaust pipe and muffler are no longer one :(

I'm sitting in yet another pub for some soda and chips & salsa across the street from the Midas that is fixing up my car.  Hopefully it is finished soon!  Thanks for reading.

I drove over to Crazy Horse but it was $10 to see it which I didn't really think was totally worth it.  I was going to drive to the Badlands but there were some bad clouds over Rapid City so I decided to just head for Denver.  I've been caught in enough rain for now!

And then I drove through absolutely nothing.  Occasionally there'd be some ranches or animals (mostly horses--so cool--or bison or cattle) hanging out.  A few small towns would pop up every so often.

I had lunch in Cheyenne, WY at a great place that served wraps and smoothies called Ruby Juice.  (The state capitol building is pictured here).

Once I made it to Denver I was too tired to do much so I waited at a bar/grill near Elyse and Janine's place. Elyse met up with me there after work and then we headed out to Red Rocks!

Red Rocks is one of the coolest venues in my opinion!

Playin a concert, nbd. :P

Red Rocks from the trail we went hiking on by it.

My RPI friends, Janine and Elyse (left).  Janine climbed up to the top of the rocks which is apparently against the rules (we didn't know that) so we got yelled at by a park ranger and then finished out the rest of the trail.

The trail

The next morning I hit up Golden (where Janine and Elyse live) to tour around a bit.

Drove through the School of Mines

A golf course near the school!

Went up to Lookout Mountain and this was the awesome view!

View to the East-ish

View to the West-ish