looooooooooooooooooool
Detailed notes, plans and directions for the California trip.
Departure date: May 26th
Arrive in SF: May 28 oh christ you guys are getting here as fanime's ramping down hahaha this is going to be epic HEY DO YOU WANNA MEET ELODIE LOL Sure. Can we punch her too?
Leave SF: June 1
Arrive in Phoenix: June 3
Due to Paul having huge amounts of work to get done, this trip may be deferred to a later date or converted into a more abbreviated camp-out.
Day 1
Route: Phoenix to Big Pine, ~9 hours driving. http://g.co/maps/uqzeu
Lodging: There is a camp ground on the top of the mountain range to the east, along Route 168: Westgard Pass in Inyo National Forest. About 30 minute drive from Big Pine. See http://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/inyo/recreation/camping-cabins/?recid=20228&actid=33 for reservation info; $25. 7000 feet elevation.
Sights to see:
- Fucktons of desert.
- Hour 3ish: Joshua Tree National Park
- Salton Sea, if we want to make a minor diversion (20 minutes)
- Hour 5ish: San Bernardino
- Hour 8: Owens Lake
- Hour 9: Big Pine, camp, stargazing
Driving time:
Notes: Should buy wood somewhere once we're in california (shouldn't bring firewood across state lines)
Day 2
Route: Big Pine to ???
Lodging: Yosemite??? See http://0.tqn.com/d/gocalifornia/1/0/Z/E/yosemap2.gif . Might be quite tricky to find time/place in the park itself. Stanislaus National Forest is probably a better bet, once the freakin' website works again: http://www.fs.usda.gov/stanislaus/ . Looks like most of the campgrounds are first-come-first-serve though.
Sights to see:
- Long Valley Caldera
- Mammoth Lakes
- Lookout Mountain?
- Obsidian Dome? If we want some hiking.
- Mono Lake
- Gas station at the intersection of US 395 and Route 120 apparently has good food. "Woah Nellie Deli", if you can believe it.
- Tioga Pass -- SNOW. The road was plowed open on May freakin' 7th.
Select a few from http://gocalifornia.about.com/od/cayosemite/a/valley.htm . El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, find a few hikes... could easily just stop at the lodge and see what is there to be had.
Notes: Make sure the pass is still open, http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tioga.htm. If it's closed you can route north along US 395 then west along route 108, cutting through Stanislaus National Forest.
Also find out more about Mammoth Lakes
Maybe give Yosemite most of a miss on the way there, then return with Daniel on the way back and hang out for a day there? Then he drives back home and we continue onwards back to Phoenix. That solves the dilemma of finding a place there to stay.
Day 3
Route: To the Bay!
Lodging: Danielville
Sights to see:
- Daniel
- Daniel's mom
Blueschist: http://www.bahiker.com/northbayhikes/ringmountain.html
Day 4, 5, 6
Chill out easy
swim in the Pacific not all it's cracked up to be but yeah we can hit up Capitola and Santa Cruz Look I gotta dip my toes in it at least.
that sort of shit I guess there are toilets Good to know!
Any good museums? Computer museums, tech museum, stuff like that. Sounds potentially cool
Museums made out of naval ships USS Hornet's up in the East Bay Sweet!
Drag race? any ole street will do oh gods
Remember to resupply for the trip back.
We need to find lodgings that don't involve Daniel's mom, at least for backup.
Day 7
Return
Day 8
Keep returning? The trip is easily doable in two days if you feel like it. San Francisco, through Yosemite, and to Big Pine is a 6 hour drive. Would mean a rather more burnout-y 9 hour drive to Phoenix all at once though. But honestly I might not mind spending a fair chunk of a day around Big Pine and Owens Valley wandering through mountains and such.
Day 9
Get home