San Francisco, CA

We left Eugene and drove south, making it to California but not avoiding the rain. We spent the night in Jedediah Smith State Park, and used my stove for the first time to make lentil soup. We set the tent up, stupidally, directly under redwoods so we were soaking wet in the morning from the drip drip drip. We continued to drive in the morning, stopping for lunch in Arcata at a vegetarian cafe called Wildflower, that I learnt I'd been to when I was little and living in the area. Humboldt County is incredibly beautiful, made more so by Hannah's unbridled enthusiasm for the size of trees and incredible vistas. We drove off the 101 to the 1, on 22 miles of windy, narrow road I thought was going to be the end. We spent the night sleeping outside (the tent was too wet) in Mendocino County right next to the ocean off the one. The surf was incredibley loud, and it was so cold we didn't get much sleep. Yesterday we drove through Mendocino, Marin, and Sonoma Counties and ended up driving right over the Golden Gate Bridge. On the way, we cooked oatmeal with peanut butter, granola, dried cranberries, walnuts and honey on the side of the road. Sonoma County remided me a lot of Vermont, with cows and hills and red barns. We also passed a number of posh spas that were probably ridiculously expensive. In the city, we found a cheap place to eat in chinatown and absolutely STUFFED ourselves. We stayed the night at Tiffany's family friends' house, and it is so nice here. The beds are warm, large, soft, perfect...I even got to take a hot bath with jets last night. Today we're planning on going to the Museum of Modern Art to see Frieda Khalo, Georgia O'Keefe and Jackson Pollack. I hope all is well in other parts of the world, and the nobody else ha gotten swine flu. Give my phone a call if you want to, I'm going to charge it today. Oh yeah, and I'm currently uploading photos of my NOLS trip, so check ch-check check check ch-check them out!