93 Million Miles

Song for the day: Jason Mraz – 93 Million Miles. An old favourite of ours and very appropriate!

Hi Readers,

Nice to see you again! We’ve certainly had a few more adventures since our last entry and lost count of how many miles we’ve driven and hours sat singing in the car. All of our journeys over two hours are now complete for this trip.

Our stay at Yosemite was pretty amazing as expected except for a fairly wasted first day where I felt quite ill and we couldn’t do very much. We drove in and had a look around the visitor centre, watched ‘The Spirit of Yosemite’ film and planned a few other things we wanted to see, then just went back to camp to relax and get a good night sleep. Our camp site was heaving with different treks and groups passing through so it was always very busy but apart from the occasional outburst of the Spice Girls or a Cub Scout camp fire medley they were fine.   

The morning of 7^th August dawned bright and shiny just like me after a good sleep. We dressed

Beginning, Vernal, Nevada, Oasis!

and left with our pre-packed bags full of cold water, chocolates, pop tarts, bagels and salt & vinegar Pringles - the perfect hiking picnic! The trail ahead of us was familiar to me but no less daunting, it completely wiped me out three years ago to the point that I was too tired to eat for a day and had to be marched to the shower covered in dust and old sweat. We planned to head up to Vernal and then Nevada Falls via the Mist Trail and once at the summit we were to come back via the John Muir Trail to see everything from the opposite side. John Muir was one of the first supporters to protect Yosemite and fought for its status as a National Park.

We hit the Mist Trail at 8.30am and the path gets steep nice and early so I quickly shut up and focussed on my breathing. Lots of stops, snacks and water sips along the way and six hours, seven steep miles later we were done. It’s hard to decide which parts to describe to share this snippet of the journey with you. Yosemite is beautiful everywhere. It is creation under the microscope; huge boulders that dwarf you that would be mere grains of sand to God, waterfalls so majestic but powerful you’re full of a reverent fear before them, chirps and squawks all around from cheeky creatures of the forest.

The sun beat down on us as the day wore on and we sought out shelters of shade to pause in and catch our breath while admiring our surroundings. We munched on lunch at the top of Vernal Falls after seeing the rainbows created from its spray, Jimmy had a battle with about eight squirrels who were determined to get into his bag while he sat and ate. We pressed on to Nevada Falls where an oasis is hidden just back from the falls which we took full advantage of by taking off our sweaty shoes and wading into the freezing cold fresh water. It was glorious!

There aren’t enough words to describe the joy of reaching the top and the camera just won’t capture what your eyes see so I’ll stop trying. But if you’re ever there – do the hike! It’s worth it.

Needless to say, the rest of the day consisted of food, hot tub, reading and sleeeeeeep.

Before we set out for San Francisco the following morning we drove down to the Mariposa Grove to see the Giant Sequoia trees. A two mile walk to see some trees sounds like a pointless exercise but these trees are unreal. Most of these bad boys took root around the time Jesus walked

big fat tree!!! 

the earth, that’s how old they are. It’s as though you’ve stumbled into a movie set or been caught in a shrink ray. Again, the camera doesn’t quite do them justice but we tried. They remind me of hometree in Avatar, you could literally hollow one out and comfortably live inside it. Add this place to your bucket list.

Friday evening we arrived in San Francisco and crashed out in our hostel near Union Square, connecting to civilisation again with reliable wifi. After a good sleep a dozen or so French travellers woke us up by stomping up and down the hallway at 7am, but it turned out to be a blessing because I opened up my laptop and received a call from some super special friends on Skype and got to see their little bundle of joy who is growing way to fast while we’re away. It was great to catch up. Just a few more weeks until we see you again and I get a cuddle with that cute little munchkin!

Determined to have a lie in we stayed put in the hostel until everyone had gone out and the showers were free. Our first stop for the day was at the public library to get some more forms printed that we needed to send back for Uni in September. We tried to do this as quickly as possible because

Pier 39 fun and sea lions

we had to use the fifteen minute computers with people who can’t get library cards because they don’t have addresses - and San Fran has some fairly crazy homeless people. Not the safest I’ve ever felt in my life…
Next we caught the historic F trolley up to Fisherman’s Wharf for an afternoon at Pier 39. Buskers, magicians, crazy shops and dozens of sea lions! There’s nowhere quite like Pier 39. Just a sample of the shopping opportunities on offer: Alcatraz bookstore & gift shop, Candy Baron, Chocolate Heaven, Houdinis Magic Store, Leftys and We Be Knives. Plus a piano staircase! And a Christmas store!

To finish an epic afternoon we waited a very worthwhile hour to get a sea view booth at Bubba Gump Shrimp co. While eating tasty coconut shrimp and being quizzed on Forrest Gump trivia (all answered correctly) we gazed out at Alcatraz and watched pelicans soar on the breeze – oddly looking a lot like the opening credits to Jurassic park with the ! It was a great atmosphere and the food was delicious, as was my pomegranate cocktail – Dear England, please learn how to make these.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

To save $4 and waiting an hour in the cold for a trolley we walked off our dinner with a 22 block stroll back to the hostel and saw some real city life.

Sunday was exciting in a different way as we visited a small church plant called Redemption. They are only about a year old but well on their way. It was a simple building shared with another church with a great worship team and relevant visiting preacher. The played a couple of The SingTeams songs which we could join in with! Afterwards we caught up with a lady who we’d been put in touch with by someone at LifeWay in Nashville. Linda has been in church planting for 34 years so having lunch with her and 

Street art work

her husband (at a very tasty Indian restaurant) we had lots to talk about and advice to gain. Afterwards they gave us a little driving tour of the city and then a stroll down an amazing graffiti ally. Although it’s not exactly graffiti, its art work with a lot of meaning, usually political. We had so much to think about for the rest of the day – as well as having sweet skype catch ups with both of our lovely mummies! They miss us and we miss them J

The next morning we set out to do a big old driving tour of Jimmy’s choice to lots of inspiring stops before we headed further on up the coast. 

We visited Pixar, the garage that Steve Jobs started Apple in, Infinite Loop 1 where the Apple Offices are today, the Facebook house the Mark Zukerberg and his team first lived in as well as Facebook itself and Google HQ as seen in The Internship. Twitter, Evernote, YouTube and many more are all in this area too, it’s tech central and totally fascinating to realise how much of our generations development is created and generated here.

The afternoon/evening was a long and very foggy drive up to Eureka for the night.

The morning of Tuesday 12^th dawned with more fog and a wet tent. It was all a little gloomy and our food supply was low after being in the hostel so we went to Denny’s for a sturdy breakfast. Note to self: Minute Maid Mango Smoothies are the best you have ever experienced!

We wove along the coast for another six hours in passing fog up to Lincoln City. It was a pretty drive but quite tiresome. We were so grateful for a night in a KOA Cabin where we had enough room to empty everything out and reorganise the car and bags and do some much needed laundry – double day socks and t-shirts had begun… The kids in the next cabin screamed the house down when they went to bed and our neighbours on the other side almost set fire to their eyebrows when they put some petrol on their campfire to get it started – all highly entertaining while we cooked dinner in the dark.

Powell's City Bookstore

Our last long journey of the trip took place yesterday from Lincoln City up to Port Angeles. We broke up the journey in Portland where, on Jimmy’s sister’s recommendation, we visited Powell’s City of Books – the biggest new and used book store in the world. Amazing! I skipped all over the place and sat down in aisles to browse and smiled at all the fellow book lovers I saw. We discovered some great buys and hit the road into Washington four books better off. I’ve started reading the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis aloud so we can read it together and discuss. It’s a must read for any Christian, baby or adult, relevant and relatable for all time.

We arrived from the remote roads of the 101 to a lively KOA that we popped up our tent in and made some tasty dinner. The wifi there is also pretty good so we watched Bear Grylls, ‘Running Wild with…’ the Channing Tatum episode from the comfort of our tent with some homemade hot water bottles – literally water bottles with boiled water in.

                        

Today we had the most almighty lie in because the phone we use to check the time and set alarms died in the night. But we must have needed it so that’s okay, we’re on holiday.

This afternoon we have found a great little café with big sinky sofas called the Bella Rosa. It has delicious hot chocolates and lush brownies (So good I assured Jimmy it was awful and I would eat his half for him.) Jimmy has been catching up on e-mails, working hard on a new project and reading another of our books from Powell’s. Tomorrow we might hit up a cheeky Twilight tour as Forks and La Push aren’t that faraway. It’s easy to see why the books were set here, the fog hovers so low over the trees that it’s always a little creepy until the sun shines through for a few minutes and reminds you the rest of the world is out there!

For now, I guess that’s all followers. Speak to you soon!

Love J&J x

P.S Thank you again to my mummy for reading my other writing work and leaving such lovely comments. If you’d like to join her, here’s the link!

“Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s [God’s] will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

C.S Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Smell bound Josie at Powell's