Wednesday, October 19, 2016

TrekAmerica: Four Highlights

So, if you'll cast your mind back a couple of months, you my remember me getting my trek on round Cali with TrekAmerica. Yees? Today's post is about my 4 highlights (it took me longer to narrow them down than it did to write the actual post), but for my next posts I'll be going into a little more detail about what we got up to and what it was like. SO, if anyone's thinking of doing a Trek themselves and has any questions then please either comment below or send me a wee email/tweet so that I can answer them for you then! I know it's a big thing to do - I literally didn't sleep the entire night before we left, it was like the first day of school all over again - so I'll try and help you out as much as I can! The questions can be as big or as little as you like, hit me and I'll try my best. 

So, without further ado, here are my four highlights from the trip (in no order, because that would make me too guilty).

YOSEMITE
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This was one of the places I was most excited about, and holy moly it did not disappoint, it's like walking about inside a giant screensaver. You can look at as many photos as you like before you go, but nothing will prepare you for the sheer beauty of it. And the size actually, it's bloody massive. But, yes, truly one of the most breathtaking places I've seen in real life and I'm so, so glad to tick it off my bucketlist. Don't fret, I'll go into a little more detail as to what we got up to in Yosemite in my next post (spoiler: it involves a lot of sweat). 


BIG SUR
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Another bucketlister ticked off and done, a-thank you very much. Big Sur is incredible; each view is better than the next, and driving along in our little van with some music blasting is a real happy memory of mine. This particular one was taken at Bixby Bridge, which was one of my favourite points we stopped at. Like I say, it was very, very hard to narrow it down, so I'll go into it in much more detail as we go along and you can decide for yourself what your favourite is. I'll probably have changed my mind about five times over by then. Side note: about ten seconds after this was taken I stood up and slipped down the little hill and almost onto the road and was covered in mud and grazes for the rest of the day. So there's the story behind that Instagram. 


HOLLYWOOD HILLS
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 This isn't something that I'd given much thought to (I really was just using all my energy getting excited about Yosemite), but once we got to the base of them I realised that I was, in fact, very excited to get my hike on and see the famous Hollywood sign. Did we make it? ...No, no we didn't. As a group we were spectacularly good at going slow so we only made it to around the halfway point, but I can tell you we each have a good 1000 photos of every moment up until that point. The view was still amazing though, you can see right across Beverley Hills and LA and you feel like you've really accomplished something because you've done a little hike to get up there. Yes I'm wearing a dress to hike, but the less said about that the better.


THESE LITTLE WEIRDOS
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 I don't think I've said before now, but TrekAmerica is not only the best trip I've ever done, but one of the best experiences I've had overall in life so far, and a huge factor in that is this wonderful group you see there. A couple of us already knew one another, but I'd say overall we were quite new to each other at the start, and it couldn't have worked out better. I remember someone once saying that on your average trip, there'll be one weirdo. You know, one person who you feel a bit, 'please God don't sit next to me', about. That guy. But on this trip there was no weirdo (Oh. Unless it was me); I loved each and every single person we were with, and still think about them all on a daily basis. Not in a soppy way, or maybe a little soppy, but just little Trek memories that come into my head and make me laugh. There really is nothing that bonds you with people quite like Trek does; from the long drives spent in the van together, to trying to find a toilet in the middle of the wood (spoiler: there are none), to setting up (or failing to set up) a tent, I promise you you'll leave with a whole new set of friends as well as a whole lot of memories that'll last you forever. Ooh, it did get quite soppy there didn't it. 


Amy

Find out more about California here and the specific tour that we did here