Holy Week 2008

We drove straight down to San Diego, and it only took us 14 hours, which is six hours faster than the MapQuest estimation. Once we got to San Diego we went straight to the beach to take naps and hang out in the sun for the day. We ended up playing rugby on the beach with four french guys. That night we stayed with one of Drew's family friends in downtown San Diego. The next day we drove into Tijuana, Mexico and drove 160 kilometers south to Ensenada. After we ate some tacos and decided that Ensenada wasn't really what we were looking for we decided to drive across the Baja Penninsula. It took us about four hours and the drive was beautiful. The entire drive was spent on a curvy road winding it's way between boulder strewn hills. We got out and hiked quite a bit along the way. 

Once we arrived in San Felipe we saw some Mormon missionaries walking down the road, so we deicided to ask them about the beaches and places to eat. They didn't really help us in that department, but as we were leaving they told us that they had four extra beds at their house and that we were more than welcome to crash there since all of the camping and hotels were full because of Holy Week (which we later found out to be the largest vacation week in Mexico, hence the thousands of people everywhere we went). We spent two days in San Felipe just hanging out on the beach and playing on the abandoned ships. The water was warm and it was about 85 degrees. On Monday morning we took off and headed north to the border, and we crossed back into the United States just north of Mexicali, Mexico. We decided to go to Joshua Tree National Park to climb, hike and potentially do some backpacking. We ended up getting to the park at 4:00 pm and it was stunning. 

Joshua Tree has some of the most remarkable desert landscapes I have ever seen. All of the campgrounds were full so we decided to hike into a backcountry area to camp. At this point we had all decided that we were midway through thr best road trip any of us had ever been on. That night however, ended up being the worst night of my life. I was so sick with a terrible cold, I was coughing and congested all night, I was hallucinating for some reason and I had a mild case of vertigo combined with a migraine, vomiting and freezing cold temperatures. I thought that I was going to have to hike out and go to a hospital. Strangely, the next morning I felt great and we spent the whole day hiking and climbing on the huge rocks that identify Joshua Tree. 

We ended up spending most of the day in Joshua Tree, and in the afternoon we drove to Redlands, California. We stayed with one of Drew's best friends who happens to go to University of Redlands. The next morning we went into Los Angeles and had Chipotle with a couple of friends from California. After eating we drove north to San Jose, where we stayed with a friend from linfield, whos father is a psychology professor at Stanford. 

Thursday morning was spent playing pick up soccer and basketball games at the Stanford Campus. That afternoon we headed into San Francisco and saw all of the tourist sights. A bunch of people were in San Francisco for spring break, so we met up with them and spent the evening with them. Tom, amazing redheaded friend of mine from Longmont, goes to school south of San Francisco and he met us with us. It was really great to see him, and to check out his stomping grounds. The next morning (Friday) we woke up early and drove across the golden gate bridge, and drove all the way to Redwoods National Park, which is along the northern California coastline. It was so humbling to be driving and walking amongst those giant trees. They are truly massive. 

The rest of the drive was spent on curvy roads, winding through Oregon's southwest mountain ranges. Sadly, after driving 2900 miles I got the first and only speeding ticket on the trip. I was in Oregon and there weren't any speed limit signs for over five miles, and I thought the speed limit was 65 miles per hour and I later found out from the ranger that the speed limit was 55 mph. Because I have a Colorado license they aren't able to take points away, so instead they stuck me with a hefty fine. As I said before, we got back to McMinnville last night around midnight. All of us were tired, sick and ready for our own beds, but the trip was truly incredible.