Favorite Adventure

[AT Hike 2010]

What has been your favorite adventure, hike, or backpacking experience
in your life thus far, and why?

[Emily Ginger]

My favorite adventure is my road trip along California's coast from San Francisco to San Diego.  Kate and I decided to take a trip down to L.A. so we packed up my car with blankets, pillows, and all the food we had in the cupboards (mainly consisting of protein bars and ramen noodles) and headed for L.A. stopping in a number of towns on the way.  The trip is so memorable to me because of the endless adventures we had during that one week, including sleeping on the beach in Monterey Bay, sleeping in the car on the side of a mountain road right off highway 1, using a Los Angeles Public Library to charge our cell phones, using the "rinse" showers at Malibu Beach to bathe ourselves, going to a Denny's just to use their bathroom so we could brush our teeth,  we were a part of Craig Ferguson's live studio audience, we spent an afternoon at Venice Beach, we spent a night chilling in Tijuana (where we went to strip clubs), and hitch-hiked a ride from an old couple in their 70's who told us "not to take rides from strangers" as they dropped us off at our destination and drove away.  Last but not least, my favorite memory of the trip was when we hiked up to the Hollywood sign past the many signs that said "no trespassing."  Kate and I sat on the giant letters for a few minutes before being chased back down the mountain by an LAPD helicopter for trespassing.  It was an unpredictable and wild ride the whole time, the kind of road trip you would only see in a movie.