If You're Going to Los Angeles, Be Sure to Wear...?

We have arrived. 3600 miles after we started, we are finally in La La Land. The weather has been bizarre here, cloudy and chilly at times during the day, but it might be just the fact that I'm not used to living by the beach anymore since my parents moved inland, away from the Jersey Shore. I just always expect LA to be hot, clear, and dry.

So, where did I leave off? Ah yes, Tonopah, Nevada. Well, after our free hotel room experience, which was great, because we loved the room in addition to having it be free, we drove the treacherous passage up to Yosemite National Park and arrived in Curry Village. We stayed in a tent cabin, which was way nicer than I had anticipated it being. However, the campsite was loud, with many small, obnoxious children running about. One child was climbing on my bike, but when I asked various parents to put a leash on him, they initially denied the child was theirs, but then conceded. He had also thrown a slushie on the ground by our tent. This normally would not be a problem, but in a national park, there is wildlife. We were so paranoid and cautious about bears that we locked our food away in lockers and threw our trash out in bear-proof trash cans. Thus, I was sure the slushie would attract a bear and convince him to eat us in our little tent cabin. Needless to say, that did not happen, and we lived to tell the tale.

Beyond our little camping village, the scenery was beautiful. There was a great deal of the two main ingredients in a national park: water and trees. I feel that every national park should have water and trees. When we went to Arches National Park, it was beautiful, but it got old quickly because it was hot and we were surrounded by red rocks. I never get tired of water and trees. It could be that green and blue are my two favorite colors, but mostly, it's the contrast of green trees with blue water and a light blue sky that really makes me happy.

In our time at Yosemite, we saw a bear cub, caribou, a moose, and thankfully, not many bugs to detract from my time there. On the main day we were there, July 3, we took a 7-mile hike up to Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls beyond that. It was long and parts were quite challenging, but it was totally worth it at the top of Nevada Falls. Pictures are coming tomorrow or the next day. The weather was spectacular, and the water from the falls kept us cool. When we got to the top of Nevada Falls, I dunked my head in the pristine - and frigid - waters, and it felt amazing. It was the only thing keeping me alive for the long hike down. We went a different way, so it was shorter than I had worried it might be, and much easier than the 4 hours up, but still, we were exhausted and hot by the time we got back to Curry Village. We ate an entire pizza in silence and then did showers after relaxing a little in the cabins. It was great to use our bodies again after 8 days in the car.

After Yosemite, I went straight to the wedding rehearsal in preparation for my best friend from high school's wedding. A and S were married on July 5, and I played during the ceremony with the organist/pianist. It was good to see my friend again, and the organist and I and my better half got along very well. Instead of going to the rehearsal dinner after 5 hours of practice, we went to a taco place to have beer and tacos instead, which was great. Good bonding time for the three of us. The gf sat through our rehearsing and the actual rehearsal, so she knew the whole procedure, and in fact, she got a chance to lead the congregation in song during the bride's favorite hymn, How Beautiful. Thus, my atheist girlfriend led a Lutheran congregation in the singing of a hymn about the beauty of the body of Christ. It was hilarious and amazing.

The wedding itself was a great deal of fun - I'll have pictures of that to come as well. It was fun, everyone was smiling and loving and happy, and no one was drunk and acting like an idiot. Thus, the perfect wedding. (~: It was mostly my friend's college friends (who knew the bride and groom together), with a few of us who had gone to high school with A. The maid of honor was a good friend of mine from high school with whom I had sort of lost touch in the recent years. She and I caught up and spent a decent amount of time together. She met my girlfriend and said she liked her a lot, which was nice to hear. We decided to be better at this communication thing, so we can't fall out of touch again.

After the wedding, we had brunch with the bride's family and the wedding party, which was even more fun than the wedding reception (at least for me - fewer people, more attention paid to me and my wit, haha), and then we drove home to Los Angeles. We were going to take the Pacific Coast Highway (Route 1), but sadly, there are forest fires all along the highway and it is closed by Santa Barbara and Big Sur. Apparently, they are quite out of control, which is sad. Anyway, after a hot, trafficky drive, we got here in one piece.

So, overall, a lovely trip, few fights, we're still together and lovey, no tickets, no flat tires, and all of my stuff is in good shape. No casualties of any sort. So, now the two of us have done the two hardest tests of relationships: extended travel and long distance. What could possibly get in our way now in our future lives together???

Alright, that is all for now. Like I said, pictures to come.