We've arrived safely in Ventura, CA. It's cooler than I expected. Much cooler than, say, the Badlands in South Dakota. Which, by the way, were absolutely incredible. If it weren't so hot, it'd be a great place to live. If it weren't so hot, I guess it wouldn't be the Badlands.
In the course of life, learning never ceases if you're open to it. We've already learned a lot, and we're not even halfway through the trip. For instance, find out everything you can about a place before you go. The Badlands was incredible. Mount Rushmore, on the other hand, was really just kind of ok. The Crazy Horse monument is going to be amazing, but it's NOWHERE near done yet, and the National Parks Pass didn't mean anything there, so we spent 30 bucks to walk through a little Native American museum. Probably the worst 30 bucks I've ever spent. All that's currently near done is the face, and it isn't even chiseled to the point of being recognizable as a Native American face, much less a specific person's face.
Yesterday we went to Yosemite and climbed a mountain. Just one. Climbed it, then ran around on top of it for probably an hour. It was like a rock, but there were probably 10 plus acres on top of this one rock... it was pretty awesome. The views were absolutely incredible. If I ever have a month of free time and extra cash to blow, I'm DEFINITELY gonna go camp at/hike/explore/climb Yosemite. 5 million acres of land, and we only planned part of one afternoon for it. THAT was poor planning. But I guess it was a learning experience.
Ventura is nice. We didn't really hit traffic until today going to the surf shop, and that was partly because the California State Fair started today. Also, they have parking on the medians here... which is different, but not a bad idea for saving space. Of course, if you've ever seen skid marks across medians, you know why more states don't park people there... I guess they figure, if you live in CA, you have enough money to afford a new car every couple months. *shrug*
Surfing. In California. In freezing cold water. We wore wetsuits, though, and I *totally* underestimated how well those work. In addition to buying a surf board, I'm gonna have to pick up a wetsuit. That water was probably around 40 degrees, and there wasn't even an initial shock to getting in the water. Totally awesome.
What else have we learned? Oh. Gas can vary as much as 30 cents from block to block. It's worth driving around. Also, just because it *looks* hot outside doesn't mean it *is* hot outside. Sometimes it's even cooler than it is in the air-conditioned vehicle. Of course, there are also times when it *is* as hot as it looks outside. Water is a good way to plan ahead. Keeping your water *cold* is an even better way to plan ahead. Walking through the desert for an hour and a half and coming back to hot water is probably one of the worst feelings. Ever.
The other thing we learned... or rather, validated... was that we wouldn't have time to do everything we wanted. On that note, I'm signing off, so that we can... do... more of the things... we wanted. -Hollywood
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