Smoggy California

  Concord, California, United States
Monday, November 17, 2008

Left Tehachapi early in the morning bound for Jessie & Nick's house on the outskirts of San Francisco.  I drove through one of the agricultural meccas of the US, the center of Cali.  It was cool to see the lemon trees all around.  I wanted to pull over and pick some ;)  I was immediately struck by the amount of smog in the air, then thought it may be some of the smoke from the fires, which it probably was.  Then I got too far North for that to be the case.  It is so gross to look out over the horizon and see grey, and to think that a lot of the food we eat endures this kind of atmosphere - yuck.  Having come from the most pristine part of the country the day before, it made for a very contrasting environment.  I must admit, the most unpleasant areas I have traveled through are Amarillo, TX and most of CA.  San Francisco can still do no wrong in my book, though.
 
It has been very nice to catch up with Jessie, one of my good friends from childhood.  We went to Berkeley and walked around.  Ate some wonderful concotion they tried to pass off as pizza.  It was delicious, but not real pizza.  I am such a snob when it comes to pizza.  It was yummy though.  I drank my first red bull, as I have been feeling extremely tired recently.  Unfortunately, I did not feel any more awake after ingesting it.  It did taste good though.  As Jessie says, like a liquid cherry sweet tart. 

me & red bull

We came across a super cool second hand clothing store.  Andy, wish you were here, you would have been in heaven!  Then took BART (their equivelant to Metro that pales in comparison) back to her area and went to dinner, then dessert.  Corinne, guess where we went???  Yep, Dairy Queen!  You were with me in spirit - Jessie got your favorite, Oreo! 

Today we went for a walk/hike on Mount Diablo.  It was nice to get my body moving again.  Sitting in a car for atleast 7 hours a day is starting to take its toll.  I have still been feeling very tired, and am looking forward to getting settled.  I am on the last leg of the trip.  Once I leave here it will feel like my "vacation" is over.  
I will be leaving tomorrow morning headed to Corvallis, OR to see Kirsten.  Then from there, Portland or bust!