Floggin the Bishop...

After a typically stressful flight and time alone with the US embassy, I made my way to Los Angeles International airport. I usually get searched/stopped when flying, but this flight was one step beyond...

Because I had booked my flight using my current Canadian address and hadn't bothered to book a flight out of the US (planning on driving across the border) the 'nice American man' at immigrations decided that a young male, who hadn't declared his nationality and who hadn't booked a flight out of the country was indeed worthy of interrogation, sitting in an office on his bill for an hour and consequently ready for a sprint through the departure lounge to become the last person on the flight! Although, having my name called over the airport speakers over and over was kinda fun! Despite all the faff, my flight into sunny Los Angeles was quick and comfortable. I had a few hours to kill before I met Steve, so wandered around the airport and surrounding streets people watching (one of my favourite things to do, when I have nothing to do) and boy are there some interesting specimens! From the stupidly rich to the unfortunate poor, with the odd transvestite thrown in. So time passed and Steve's flight had arrived, the poor guy had flown for hours and crossed lots of time zones so was pretty beat. I on the other had only lost an hour so was on better form. We spent a couple of hours getting shuttle's and calling around to find the cheapest car rental and finally succeeded with our very own Toyota.

We had around 450 miles to drive and it was already 10pm. A sugary quarter pounder meal and numerous coffee's later we arrived in the dark, star filled sky town of Bishop at 4am. We parked up at 'the pit' camp site put the back seats down and squashed into the boot for a well deserved kip. We awoke to a clear sky and the already rising heat of the sun. Were surrounded by snow covered mountains and arid Volcanic table lands. I haven't seen much beyond snow and spruce tree's in months and there's green stuff everywhere, it's a surprisingly refreshing thing! It's incredibly beautiful here and were both extremely excited to go bouldering!! First though we need a tent, food and water...so it's off to the shops.

Our first view of Bishop 6am

Breakfast at the Pit

Next post will have rock in :)