yesterday i went with some friends for a bit of a drive.

section one, we left san josé and headed toward big basin. very cool. it's a state park filled with redwood trees. no, not the ones that you can drive through but some of the ones that are just monsters. it was so cool. absolutely awe inspiring. it's amazing that i worship the God that created such amazing things. and it was a day filled with thoughts like that.



this tree is so cool. you could seriously sleep 10 people in this tree, should you want to go camping. it was so incredible.



this is one of the tallest trees in the park i want to say it was 359ft tall but i can't remember exactly. absolutely humbling. it's amazing, it's sunny outside and it's like you're under this canopy of trees. and it's so cool, temp wise. plus, it's so moist there all the time, that there is moss everywhere! there are mushrooms all over the place and the trees and branches and everything just have really cool moss. we got out of the car there and i thought i was in heaven. the air was so incredibly clean and cool and you could actually breathe and take deep breaths and not choke. i loved it. i wish i had the whole day to hike and i wish i had a mountain bike. i think that the next time i come up, i'm bringing my bike and a tent.



really cool tiny mushrooms. so fun! or fungus, if you will. wow, that was bad.



another really humbling view. as we were crusing up hwy one, and the sun was setting, i saw a cliff off the side of the road that was really impressive so i whipped the car around and told everyone if they wanted to see the coolest thing ever, they had to hurry up and follow me. so i took off, in my flip flops and started hiking down this rock face/sandy VERY steep hill to get down to the beach. it was worth every, "oh crap" as i almost felt multiple times. the best part is that i was hanging out with four really great guys so every time i would slip or say, "oh crap," i'd get 4 very concerned, "you okay???" to which i replied, 'until you hear, oh crap and then the sound of someone summersaulting down the hill, assume i'm okay." and when we reached the bottom, it was worth it. it was un believeable. i immediately kicked off the flip flops and ran toward the surf. it was amazing, awe inspiring, breath taking, and every other word you could use to express something so gorgeous. after taking a roll of pictures (and by roll, i mean roll because i don't have a digitial camera but only film :( ) i climbed back to the top of the hill and just stood there and thought a series of things, 1. my God is an awesome God. 2. wow, i really live here. i can see something like this, every day.

and all of a sudden, i could breathe. i could take a deep breath and just know that everything is working out. i still don't have a place to live, and so many things are in the air. i'm taking 5 exams this week on some of the most difficult software that i have ever had to work in, and all of a sudden, i was at peace. my heart was calm and i could breathe. wow, what a feeling.

after that sunset we kept driving up the coast to san fran. we went to city light books, aparently a famous bookstore on broadway and columbus. and then did some walking. the bookstore was in the middle of this area of the city that was half strip clubs and half jazz/sushi places. i stood there on the stree thinking, my brother would love this for the culture and my uncle would kill to be here for the jazz clubs. it was so cool. we walked through china town...again. and then headed home after a while, but before we hit home, we stopped at in'n'out burgers. i love that place. i'm going to have to set a limit of eating there once every three months. they are fabulous burgers but i think three would send you into a cardiac arrest.

over all, it was an incredible day. such amazing things in california. i know i know, nor cal is different than so cal. (for people who didn't understand that, it's northern california vs. southern california ) people actually have HUGE stickers across their back windows that say 'NOR CAL' i think i might have 'NOR IND' or 'GRANGER' printed on the jeep. i think it would be entertaining. i love nor cal. it's amazing. i love so cal too. for different reasons.

one more thing. i called my grandpa tonight and he answered the phone, "murphy's mule barn, head ass speaking." i laughed about that one for a long time.

i report to the head ass,
k

to see more pictures from the day check out: http://homepage.mac.com/k_holt/PhotoAlbum5.html