1st Roadtrip in US

yay so we finally got passed the phase of hesitation and just heck it. seized the opportunity of a long weekend (monday being public holiday; martin luther king day) and off we go!!

drove up from San Diego to Yosemite through the night. It was the usual gang of us (a pity my roomie gave it a miss) plus a new friend, Mariko from Japan. And that girl is really sooo sporting and spontaneous. She just decided in the morning to join us and tada that very night we're off.

It was a real crazy adventure. Super impromptu and last minute. Very very minimal planning was done if you can even call it planning in the first place. So we caught the breathtaking view of Yosemite and braved the freezing weather. I really think I grew crazier in US. it's freakin 2 degrees celsius but I am so not in the full geared winter wear. Just the same stuff I wear in san diego on campus. HAHA. Yosemite:

After Yosemite, the roadtrip continues down to Lake Tahoe where we spent our one and only sleeping night in this entire 3 days and 3 nights roadtrip. Stopped over at this really good ambience cafe for lunch/tea. heart the deco and ambience!

Explored the lake in the morning and left for Napa Valley for wine tasting. It's a real pity that it was all cloudy after a snowing night so the lake was not as picture perfect as it would had been. but none the less the sight of snow pretty much made up for it.

Napa valley was a real misery. Due to poor planning or rather no prior planning, we missed both the hot air balloon ride and the wine tasting. arghhh. so we just settled for a dinner and some good wine. Sad and unsatisfied, we pressed on and drove down to Santa Cruz at night only to see a dead town. Played laser tag at an arcade and we had our "hobo" style dinner by the wharf. Eating out in the chilly night air was pretty cool it turned out.

Lunner before our "hobo" style dinner:

Hobo dinner:

And then we went insane again by deciding last minute not to stay over at santa cruz but hit the road again. So it went. Another overnight drive!! All the way down to LA. Fortunately the time spent in LA was well spent! Did some shopping at the area near Farmer's Market and had a super yummilicious lunch at this restaurant called Cheesecake factory! As the name already implied, the cheesecakes were mind-blowing. Next we visited Ronald Reagan public library where we caught this huge american air force one plane. Pretty cool.

And I have to say, it was real adventurous not just in the spontaneous sense but also in the sens of "living on the edge"! Let's see, we kinda skidded up a curb while driving on the freeway, risking an overturned car... we kinda smashed our side mirror along the way in Yosemite and i was just seated on the right side of the driver where the smashed mirror was with my window half unwind... if i had wound down more i can just say good bye to my face... and we kinda got stopped by a police car for not stopping at the stop sign on the road...and we kinda kissed the bumper on the front of another car while we're reversing into the parking lot. Awesome!

Other scenic shots:

Check out the cross on the peak of the hill. The clouds kinda covered it the next instance that i saw it. really reminded me of God's words. Seek and you shall find. If u seek hard enough. God requires u to seek Him first for He has already done His part of loving you unconditionally.

another view off the hill where the Reagan Public Library was