leaving CA.

so, Mary-Beth explained most of what we did Saturday. minus the part I wanted the write about. that's the Cornfield Maze. it was about 30 minutes away I think. we decided to do it at night, with flashlights. greeeeeeeeeaaaaaaat idea....

this isn't any cornfield maze. this is the 2007 Guinness World Record Cornfield Maze. or so they say. it's 40 acres. so large there are markers in it to make it into a grid, and each group is given a map.
our group is made up of Sam, myself, Mary-Beth, Angie, Jordan, their friend Spencer, and 2 of their other friends, whose names escape me. between us there were 2 maps, sam had one, and one of their friends had the other.

we figured the maps are for pansies, and told sam and the other guy to put them away, and don't use them. now, as soon as we get into the maze, sam waits until we're not looking, then goes the other way. does it by himself. pretty soon we lose their 2 friends too. so now the people with the maps are gone, and it's myself, Mary-Beth, Spencer, Jordan, and Angie. piece of cake eh? no. we spend a couple hours going in circles, find out that their friends, and sam are all finished and waiting for us. we're not even half way. we finally get someone to give us a map, and have to use that and only that to get out. if there had not been a map, it could have been another 4-5 hours at least. it was ridiculously big, and too hard to do entirely without a map. assuming you want to do it in less then 12 hours.

I even asked the staff at the front if they ever have to go in after people and they said no. there's always someone outside the maze, 24/7, but they never got in after someone. people always eventually make it out. that's scary to me, what if I have a heart attack? (of course, if I had a heart condition that puts me in risk of a heart attack, I shouldn't go in a 40 acres maze in the first place.)

anyway, the maze was alot of fun. very interesting, we had a good time. tiring tho. after that we went home and slept. next morning, as Mary-Beth wrote, we went to San Francisco. only think Mary-Beth forgot the mention that I found fun was that there was an air show in San Francisco that day, and so while we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, and around SF, there were Blue Angels flying low over the city, and a couple other types of airplanes too. pretty cool.

then, on Monday, Mary-Beth and I said goodbye, and headed to our next stop. Klamath, CA, in the middle of most of the Redwood Forests. Northern California. very pretty.
I don't have too much to say on that right now. partly because it's 4:30 am. we got to drive through a tree. that's always fun. and it was so amazingly pretty up there. so much green, and other colors that have come with fall. but mostly green there, the rest of the color was mostly in Oregon. anyway, we stopped several times to walk through the redwoods and explore. we spent one night there, in Klamath. then headed out again to go into Oregon. we found a beach right outside Klamath, which was really pretty. cloudy and overcast, but we stopped for a while anyway. that was really cool. good break from driving.
once we got back on the road it was only another hour or so before we crossed the Oregon border. instantly it started raining. not hard, but still, it was rain. that was when our tire blew. our brand new tire, we had purchased less then less then 72 hours before. brand new, and it just exploded. parts went everywhere. I actually had a really tough time getting it off, because the rubber kept getting in my way as I worked. but I eventually put on the spare, and drove back into the last town we had passed, which happened to be Brookings, OR. and that's where I'll leave the story, for tonight. I'll pick it back up in Brookings, without a tire.

as always, there are more pictures up on our Flickr.

EDIT:
AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I forgot one of most important things about San Francisco. while we were at Pier 39 with Jordan and Angie, they took us to see the World Famous Bushman. haven't heard of the Bushman? neither had I...I'm not sure many have. but, anyway, we saw him. on the sidewalk of Pier 39 is the Bushman, and old black homeless man, (I assume homeless,) that sits, with his bucket for change, and some bushes. some leaves and a couple branches. and he holds them in front of him so people can't see him. now there aren't near enough to hide him, and anyway, brush on a sidewalk is out of place. but that doesn't stop him from shocking people. we stood and watched for a few minutes. he waits, with a big smile on his face, hiding behind his few branches until he sees someone walking towards him that is zoned out. meaning not really paying attention. and then when they get close, he shakes the branches or moves or something. he knows how to pick too, cause it always scares them so bad. they jump or scream. pretty funny to watch, cause everyone's standing right there watching him, but one person will walk by that's not paying attention and be scared so bad. I think creative homeless people are a big step ahead of the rest of the homeless population. good stuff.