Sorry I haven't posted much in a while!

Sooo... when I was in Utah I went to Bryce Canyon and Zion N.P.'s.. both quite cool with a lot of interesting rock formations and whatnot. Then I went through Nevada and to Death Valley N.P. in California. While there I went to the lowest natural outside point in the Western hemisphere.. it was only around 100 degrees F when I was there though... so didn't experience the real hot stuff... that's pretty hot I'd say for October though.
Next I went back to Nevada for a cheaper hotel rate in Las Vegas. Stayed at Circus Circus.. gambled a little bit but not a whole lot 'cause I kinda sucked and didn't feel like throwing away too much money. Also saw the Lion King play while I was there. Pretty cool stuffs.
Neeext I went to back into California for reals this time. Went to Joshua Tree N.P. and camped there. It's a pretty cool place.. a lot of big rock areas that are really good for rock scrambling.. did a fair share of that.. quite awesomely fun really.
From there I continued closer to the close. Along the way slept in my car in a turnout off of the road going through the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. Oddly two people stopped that night to see if I was alright.. I guess it looked like I was having car problems or something.. though I'm not sure how they even knew I was in the car since I was laying in the back seat mostly covered up.. anyways.. kinda disturbing but fine (the second person to stop I think was either a cop or park ranger.. but after they checked that I was alright (seemingly seeing if I was drunk or something too) they seemed fine that I was sleeping there.
Next I drove through Los Angeles. For some reason I wasn't that interested in sightseeing there.. I think I was in Hollywood for a little bit.. drove through some area with some Warner Bros. studios. Then I continued on to Ventura and the coast! That night I slept in my car in some neighborhood there.
Next day I went to the beach and went swimming and body-surfing for about 2.5 hours. Pretty fun stuffs.. cool waves and nice beaches. The water was pretty cold but I didn't think that cold.. I'd say Barton Springs in Austin is colder.. however.. everyone else in the ocean were wearing wetsuits (and real surfing).. I'm pretty sure they were all just a buncha babies.
Next I started driving North again. Didn't go that far though when I got into this town called Ojai.. and they were having a little town festival of sorts. So I stayed there for a few hours just 'cause and had a couple beers and whatnot. Then I went a bit further into the National Forest in the area and slept in my car at a camping area there.
The following day I went a bit further North and into the Carrizo Plain National Monument. It's basically a plain between two small mountain ranges that has the San Andreas fault running down the middle of it. There's also no drainage for the plain so there's a large salt flat in the middle of it. I drove around in it for a while and up into the mountains at its edge to get some good view of it. Was thinking of staying there the night.. then decided to continue on because I didn't really see the trails that were supposed to be there and just felt like continuing on anyways. So, I drove all on up to Big Sur and slept in my car at the Southern part of Big Sur at an parking area for trails going into the Los Padres N.F. there.
The next day I did some nice sightseeing and a couple hikes at Big Sur. Big Sur, by the way, is a stretch of coastline that rises up abruptly from the ocean to mountains. Pretty awesome cliff vistas and such. Also redwoods grow in the area and got to see some of those (some pretty big ones.. but I think the biggest ones are further North). But yeah.. just the drive along Highway 1 through Big Sur is pretty awesome... really very nice. Then I continued on up the coast and slept in my car in a neighborhood around San Jose.
Fiiinally (today) I continued on up to San Francisco and got a room at the Green Tortoise Hostel here... and that's where I am now! I'll be here at least the next 3 days and hanging around the city and whatnot. Catch you guys laters! I'll try to upload some photos soon on here and significantly more on facebook.. There are free computers here but uploading photos takes a while.. so we shall see how many I get up!