What is up, my spitches?

So, I spent a few days in Reno, Nevada. I was there for the 2007 Society for Range Management High School Youth Forum, where I got to go on some tours, sit through workshops, and present a paper about western juniper... It wasn't exactly loads of fun, but it was definitely mind-expanding and interesting. All that stuff on the hill tops? JUNIPER. Muy mal.

After Reno, I headed over to San Francisco, CA. I'm in the process of visiting colleges, just attempting to get a head start, so I visited UC Davis. Um... Not my kind of school. They had an Ag program and everything, but the hippie commune was definitely not something I liked. Well, I'm not trying to be mean, but it was just not my thing. Oh, and the HUGE amount of bicycles... A little strange. Bikes are great, but there's a line, and they've crossed it...

After visiting UC Davis, I went to Fisherman's Wharf in downtown San Francisco. I've never been that far south in California before, but I instantly fell in love with San Francisco. It's almost like a cross between Seattle and Portland, but ever-so-slightly different.

The next day we went to Palo Alto to visit Stanford University. As soon as I stepped out of the car, I knew that I liked the place... Definitely different than UC Davis. The campus was absolutely GORGEOUS. I did visit on a day where we had 75 degree weather and it was exceptionally bright and sunny (this is a big thing coming from Oregon), but even if it were raining, it still would have been beautiful. I'm used to the rain, it really doesn't bother me. The tour was really interesting, and I can honestly say that I will be applying there this fall, for sure. My dad doesn't like the fact that it's a private school, and he's not too covinced that they have great academics, but they have amazing academics, and financial aid exists for a reason. Fit is going to be a big thing when it comes to picking a school, and I could definitely see myself going to Stanford.I'm certainly going to be heading back down to the area though. I want to do an overnight visit at Stanford to make sure that I really like the place, and there are still schools further south in California that I need to visit. So, that's when I'll go to the Exploratorium, the San Francisco Maritime museum, and spend more time down on Haight Street (Oh yeah. Forgot to mention that I went to Haight-Ashbury. And went shopping. Awesome.)

Overall, it was a good trip, and pretty relaxing. I really needed a relaxing vacation. Well, I still probably need a longer one, but a short one was nice. I'm still kinda laid-back tonight, which makes me happy!

More pictures later...