California Dreamin'

Well, we made it back from our trip. California was GREAT, but it is nice to be home and starting our summer here. Hopefully, I can getback on board with the weekly blogging. Maybe weekly is too much to ask from someone who does not like sitting in front of a computer. I did really well for awhile, so we will give it a go. I think just knowing that I have a lot to blog about overwhelms me, so I avoid it altogether. Anyway, our trip.

DAY 1

We arrived in San Francisco around 1:30. I don't have any pictures of this day, we were just trying to figure everything out. We figured out the buses and went over to meet Ben. That evening we went out to eat with Ben and Brianne.

DAY 2


Now this is where the pictures start. Tom and I got up early and walked to this breakfast place Ben told us about, Brenda's. It served French Soul food. YUM! Basically it was like eating in New Orleans. We both had beignets, of course. They weren't quite as good as Cafe du Monde's, but who's could be. After breakfast we headed down to the piers. We were going to tour Alcatraz. That was really cool. We met Brianne at Ghirardelli Square and went to eat on Fisherman's Wharf at the Crab House. I was exhausted!

DAY 3


Another day of sight-seeing and walking. Let me tell you that I got my workout walking up and down the streets of San Francisco! Those are some big hills! We started off walking to China Town and walking around there, then we went to see Lombard Street, "the crookedest street." It was really crazy. I was wondering the whole time what it would be like to live on that street. I mean, you have tourists in your garage and walking in the middle of the road all the time! People were just standing in the middle of the road taking pictures, and not letting cars through. After that we went to Haight Street. This was the part I had been waiting for! Here I am at the corner of Haight and Ashbury! I am just about 42 years late. There are still Hippies walking around and it is still a very cool area. I could just imagine what it was like in the 60's. We ate lunch at a place called Cha Cha's. It was a New Orleans style place. Very good. After lunch we walked to Golden Gate Park, which is bigger than Central Park, and went into an observatory where we could get an all around view of San Francisco. It was beautiful, and free. Everyone should do this if they are visiting.

DAY 4


Wine Country!! We drove north, over the Golden Gate Bridge, to Sonoma County for some wine tasting. Of course, I couldn't fully enjoy all the wine, but I tasted some of them. Mainly I was looking for a wine that my parents might enjoy. :) We had a picnic with Ben and Brianne after our first stop at Kunde Winery. We went to two more wineries and really liked the last one, Enkidu. It was small and the people there weren't snobby, or pretentious. I drove back, and we rushed to change for the fashion show we were going to that night. It was awesome, and I didn't bring my camera! It was the coolest thing, to see the models and the lights and music, and outfits! Anyway, we were all pooped at the end of the night.

DAY 5


And we're off! We started our trip down Hwy 1, with our goal being Santa Barbara, or somewhere warm enough to lay on the beach and maybe swim. This drive is AMAZING, but very scary at times. My first dip in the Pacific Ocean was right outside of San Francisco, and it was freezing. There were tons of surfers, with wet suits on, but there were kids swimming in the ice water! Crazy! We kept driving through Monterey, and we stopped in Carmel to see the most "perfect town" on the west coast. It was actually a great little town, with shops lining the streets, no stop lights or neon signs allowed. We didn't do any shopping though. We mainly wanted to see the beach, and also, Tiffany was just one of the "little shops" in the town. We did not see Clint Eastwood. :( I'm not sure how much he hangs out on the beach. Still too cold to swim. We kept driving and started entering a lot of National Parks. I was a little concerned that there would be nowhere to stop for a very long way. We drove through Big Sur, which is crazy, and beautiful, and scary, all at the same time.
We were driving on the edge of winding cliffs, and no cell phone reception, and no way to get off the road. It was a little unnerving. We stopped at a couple of inns to check for vacancy, and phone/TV. There were 2 stops and they kind of reminded us of driving through the mountains in West Virginia. I don't want to offend anyone, but this is a little scary when you aren't used to it. Anyway, we finally made it through Big Sur National Park and onto more level ground around 9:00 and stopped to sleep in San Simeon, home of the famous Hearst Castle.

DAY 6


We woke up, thankful to be alive. Ok, so Tom wasn't as dramatic about the whole thing as me, but he was a little nervous. We continued our quest for a beach. Pismo Beach wasn't far and it was really nice. Mo's is the BBQ place we ate lunch at, and then we walked around. After we spent some time at Pismo Beach we set off for Santa Barbara. It was a nice drive and we made it there in time to find an ocean front room and yes, lay on the beach! We promised ourselves that no matter how cold, we were getting all the way in the water. I mean come on, if the kids could do it, we could too, right? It was cold, but not terribly freezing. It was doable. That night we went out for dinner and had oysters rockefeller - yum! The next day we went kayaking on the ocean! It was awesome! At first it was a little intimidating, with the big waves and all, but it was really a lot of fun. I don't have any pictures of that. The camera would have been soaked. We walked around and had lunch, then we were off for San Francisco again. That night we stayed with Ben and Brianne, and the next morning were on our way to St. Louis to get Connor! I couldn't wait to see him. It was an awesome trip!

Connor had a lot of fun and grandparent's houses too. He swam everyday, and played really hard. A good time was had by all.