C A L I F O R N I A - The Endless Summer
After having survived Mexico, I got a flight from Mexico City to San Diego. My friend Chris from San Clemente picked me up at the airport and we drove up the coast and everything looked a bit like I had imagined before. But I had no idea that there's so much to do in California and you would probably never get bored!
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| Arriving in San Diego with a stunning view on the harbour and downtown |
A short summary of this trip you find as always on my Vimeo.com account
Y O S E M I T E N A T I O N A L P A R K
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| World famous climbing dreams El Capitan on the left and Half Dome in the very back. |
After a couple of days in San Clemente, the swell dropped and Chris and me decided to head to Yosemite National Park, a six hour drive from Orange County. And it was definitely worth driving it, despite a couple of very untalented drivers on the road. Check out our photography!
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| Our campsite, we got first unlucky being the first without a spot at Camp4 and finally got the last camp spot at a campground near Glacier Point |
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| We did a lot of hikes down into the valley, checking out waterfalls and see animal wildlife |
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| Midday camp hanging in hammocks |
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| The view from Glacier Point to Half Dome is probably one the most famous photographies in the world - Here at sunset |
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| At night |
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| Shooting the milky way and coming back early in the morning to get even better footage... |
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| ...of us - downhill longboarding the street to Glacier Point |
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| Sunrise behind Half Dome |
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| Chris getting his camera equipment ready |
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| A very nice lookout point right into the valley |
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| Gazing at the top of El Capitan |
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| California the "Golden State" - right now you know why! |
S A N C L E M E N T E & O R A N G E C O U N T Y
Most of my time I stayed at 'Casa Meinhold' or you could also call it 'Hotel Meinhold'. Chris had his semester break, most times we were waking up early, going either surfing, swimming, longboarding or did something else before we ate the perfect power breakfast. Acai bowls together with fruits, oats and all kinds of seeds. Some lifestyles here in California are definitely healthier than ours.
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| One of the first days surfing Trestles with quite alright conditions |
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| Acai for breakfast, other good food for dinner! #organic |
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| San Clemente State Beach and its surf spot T-Street |
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| Riding a new, but not yet inaugurated street up and down |
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| Another alternative when there's no swell around, go Stand Up Paddleboarding! |
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| Chris training on a Prone Board, me trying on a SUP |
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| Crowd Yoga in the Baseball Stadium of San Diego |
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| Chris competed at the waterman challenge in Huntington Beach and had some good results. |
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| Signing Session! |
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| Fancy Laguna Beach at its best |
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| Laguna Beach from another perspective |
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| Classic Longboard Sessions at San Onofre State Beach |
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| Chris' car is the perfect outdoor and watersports car! |
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| Going another time to Lower Trestles this time with a decent swell! |
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| Lowers |
H I G H W A Y N O 1
For my last week on my trip I rented a car and drove it all over California. Mostly along the coast, but also to some great spots like Lake Tahoe. I was camping twice and both times I met really cool people with whom I was hanging out for some time.
But let the pictures speak!
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| Venice Beach |
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| Skater at Venice Beach |
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| Venice looks nice, but it is a little bit dirty and appeared to me a little bit unsafe |
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| Malibu - world famous point break |
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| Somewhere in between Santa Barbara and Ventura |
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| The last beach just before the Ventura Bay starts |
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| Ventura - The Pier |
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| Incredibly stunning morning mood |
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| Checking out the Patagonia headquarters and its first store ever |
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| As I was too early at the Patagonia shop, I got invited by some of their employees to have a coffee in the official headquarter - such a cool and mellow working atmosphere! |
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| Car park including a lot of solar panels |
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| Stopping by at a very danish town next to Santa Barbara |
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| And surprise! Met these two fellows from at home. |
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| Arriving to the beautiful and lonesome beach of Jalama |
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| My new tent setup worked out quite well |
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| Having a beautiful sunset; have a look at the top right corner - the whole hill burned down during that night. Wild fires are serious in California and during my stay there were several close by |
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| Beautiful views at sunrise... |
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| ...and after sunrise |
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| Pismo Beach - but no waves! |
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| Pismo Beach has a cute little beachtown |
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| Driving up Highway No 1 - here at San Simeon |
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| The area around Big Sur is supposed to be the most beautiful part of the Highway No 1 |
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| And yes, I can confirm that. But way too many tourists, especially a lot of Germans. |
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| Having arrived to the main surfing destination in Central California. |
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| Santa Cruz! |
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| Not a lot of waves but some surf on the streets |
L A K E T A H O E
Definitely one of California's most beautiful places. Cold and chilly at night, hot during the day, chrystal clear blue water. Luckily I had very nice people hosting me and making me have the full Tahoe Experience during these short two days.
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| Thats how you live in Tahoe - beautiful houses! |
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| Going to the lake - he likes it! |
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| Donner Lake on my first evening |
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| Lake Tahoe is surrounded by a lot of mountains, most skiable and in winter there is a little bit of surf on the shore. Incredible isn't it? |
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| Hiking some easy tracks together with Chelsea and John |
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| Tahoe shows its beauty early in the morning |
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| And the best thing right now: You can wakesurf the lake, in case you have a boat! |
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| And thats how it pretty much looks like!!! Stoked! |
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| That was definitely one of the best things I've ever done in life! |
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| Its a bit of wakeboarding and most about Surfing! |
S A N F R A N C I S C O
And what about San Fran? Everybody loves the city, I saw a lot of Germans visiting the city. I mean, I couldn't really enjoy the city as I had to take car of my surfboard to store it somewhere and I saw it only half a day.
Its a cool city, but I don't understand the hype about it, maybe because I'm more a person for the beach. And surf at Ocean Beach (30min from SF) is super cold...
I'll give it another chance for next time visiting California!
Its a cool city, but I don't understand the hype about it, maybe because I'm more a person for the beach. And surf at Ocean Beach (30min from SF) is super cold...
I'll give it another chance for next time visiting California!
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| San Francisco on a cloudy day - most times in the morning |
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| The area around the Golden Gate Bridge is supposed to be the cloudiest part of the city. |
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| On my second day I was lucky and SF was even early in the morning pretty sunny, as here in Downtown |
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| Patagonia Store in North Harbour |
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| Cablecars for the tourists |
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| Steep roads and Alcatraz in the background |
T H E E N D
Yeah and that was it. 20 weeks of adventure, surfing, hiking, being outside, enjoying nature and especially enjoying every moment. For sure, I'm looking forward to get back home and see my friends and families, but thats not the end. I hope and I'm pretty sure, that there more journeys will follow.
Andi
Andi
