From the Red Wood Forests to the Monterey Waters...

"Now let me welcome everybody to the wild, wild, West..." where the trees are straight out of Jack and the Beanstalk, and the water is straight out of a dream.

We began this segment of our venture in Jedidiah State Park--part of the Red Wood National Forest. If you need some perspective...this is the place to go.

The fallen trees are like bridges; the stumps as large as the Arizona mesas. After driving around and hiking around, we caught wind of dispersed camping in the park.

We stopped at Craig's Beach for a swim, and continued on in search of some dispersed camping.

This was easily the best camping throughout the trip. A pristine little pond, dubbed Redwood Lake, was tucked down below the highway and the most tranquil thing since Lake Trillium.

Probably better, given that we had it all to ourselves--save an intruiging group of French friends. Their group consisted of two men, a woman, and a dog they picked up in Mexico.

They were travelling in a van, and had been doing so for a year. After buying the van in Canada they drove all around America, dipped down into Mexico, and were on their way back up to Canada to sell the van and return home.

What an adventure. I wanted to climb right in their van between the French-speaking Mexican dog and the extra large bongo drum.

We bathed in the sun and in the pond and cooked some ravioli and drank some wine, and drank some more wine. Little slice of paradise. Don't tell anyone.

We reluctantly packed up and moved South, done with Highway 101.

San Francisco was in sight by morning, and we sleepily searched for some breakfast. Each place was more expensive than the last--$20 breakfast plates on average. So we settled for a 7-11 and roamed the alleys to inspect the art.

We also failed to find the frolf course. The traffic was horrible and once we made it across the Golden Gate, we were finished with San Francisco. It is a beautiful place, but only fun if you have a lot of cash.

Our final coastal moments were spent at Seaside Beach, in Monterey. There was a clean-up project going on while we were there, and I searched for a walk-in tattoo parlor as we sat on the sand.

After a quick detour into Iron Crown tattoo we ditched the shoreline. Headed East towards Yosemite, we were officially on the way back home.

We made it to a campground near the West entrance of Yosemite by dusk and set up camp by the creek. It was dry and sandy and there were snake holes all around. We were close to the desert, and the heated day and frigid night didn't let us forget it.

Yosemite was stunning. However, I had been looking forward to it for a couple weeks and was sorelydisappointed upon arrival.

Where I had envisioned nature-lovers and bear-seekers roaming around the trails, there were infinite screaming children and chattering tour groups in matching t-shirts.

I was also put out that I could not take my dog on many of the trails. I would love to return to Yosemite in the off season to get a more Ansel Adams experience of the park.

Boe and I went on a short hike up the base of the lower waterfall of two, which combined create the tallest waterfall in North America.

The Sequoia Grove was closed for reconstruction and the entrance we camped by was closed due to a rock slide.

Around 5:00p.m. we set off for Provo, Utah.