So, once again, Jaime has asked me to contribute to the onerous task of blogging about our road trip. So, here it goes.
This was our first California trip going north of Anaheim...ever. For that alone, I was pretty excited and this represented the crux of what I wanted to accomplish with the road trip, I wanted our family to see and do things they had never done before. I think you'll see by the end of the post that we accomplished said objective. :)
From Anaheim, we headed through LA towards Los Osos where my Aunt Shelene lives. We had the chance to see her and her family during our California trip in March and had promised to come her way during the summer, in fact that was the genesis of my idea to drive the coast from San Diego to San Francisco. Anyway, we drove north after a good day at Disneyland and ended up stuck in downtown LA around 7PM...pretty typical from what I hear. After a nice nighttime drive that took us through Santa Barbara we got to our hotel in Los Osos late that night. The next morning we got up, got ready and headed to Aunt Shelene's house. Aunt Shelene lives in an amazing place right by the water in Los Osos. She showed us her beautiful home and the surrounding nature. We then made plans to go to lunch in Cambria, do some tide pooling, see some elephant seals, maybe Hearst Castle and then wind our way up north toward Monterey. The following pictures depict how the plans turned out:
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So amazingly beautiful! I absolutely loved tide pooling in Cambria!
Jaime and Harris winding their way through the rocky terrain.
Harris touching a starfish and some anemones.
Liv holding a little crab.
Members of the team out and about. It was so great to see Shelene and her family!
I waded out a little bit and took a picture looking back.
My beautiful daughter checking out the sights.
I took Harris out with me, great bonding moment while helping him not to wash out to sea.
I could have spent days here.
After Cambria, we headed out to see the elephant seals in San Simeon. Observe;
For some reason, Liv is really into seals right now. Maybe it's a phase...anyway, so she was super excited to see seals in their natural habitat for the first time. They didn't disappoint.
Yeah, we got to see them fight. That was pretty cool.
So, we decided to drive a couple miles back south of San Simeon and check out Hearst Castle. Turns out you have to take a tour bus up to the top of the hill from the museum (where we were) but they were all sold out for the day so this is as close as we got. Pretty cool though.
Once we wrapped up, it was around 5PM, we said good-bye to our friendly compatriots and made the decision to drive to our next destination, Monterey, via the Pacific Coast Highway. What made the decision an interesting one was that the PCH had only opened the night before because of mud slides that had shut it down for about a month. So, good timing on our part but a little unnerving...
Before I show a couple pictures I have to say that driving up the PCH from Cambria to Monterey was the most spectacularly beautiful, most terrifying drive I have ever made. The road was so narrow, there were so many switchbacks and the ups and downs were so much but at the same the scenery was so breathtaking that it made it a truly singular experience. I also loved this.
Admittedly, it was pretty cool that day, as you can tell from the kids expressions when I made them exit the car for a cool photo opp as we wound our way north on the PCH. Yay, road trip!
OK, we arrived safe and sound in Monterey, grabbed a bite and hit the sack. The next morning we debated whether or not to hang out in Monterey or just to get a start toward San Francisco. We ultimately decided to head toward San Fran. San Francisco was a very cool experience (cool, like awesome cool as well as cool in temperature. I am so funny!)
On the way up to San Francisco from Monterey we stopped for fresh strawberries!
Poor Liv is terrified of bridges. Driving across the bay from Oakland was a special treat for her.
I've had some really cool hotel experiences in San Francisco while there for conferences and work and decided to have the fam stay at the Westin St. Francis while we were there. I really wanted them to experience that early 1900's glamour.
The room they gave us had a beautiful view but was in the "new" tower built in the 70's. We liked the view but wanted a classic room...
We went and grabbed some lunch across the street at Union Square and snapped a pic with the hotel in the background.
When we returned to the hotel after lunch I asked them to move us to a classic room (built in 1904) and it had a great view of Union Square.
I love the classic architecture and weird decor (like this oversized chair)
Our first destination (after the hotel and lunch) was down to the wharf.
Turns out they had an aquarium so we checked it out. It was pretty cool.
Harris had inherited his mother's love for sea life in general and sharks in particular (he has no less that 9 shark-themed t-shirts)
Dizzying, but cool.
This was our first time seeing a 7-gill shark so that was pretty cool.
After we left the aquarium we continued our touristy...tour I guess, of the area.
Alcatraz on the right and the Golden Gate Bridge on the left.
Again with the seals, Liv just loves them!
It was actually quite cold walking around that day so we made our way to Ghirardelli Square for some hot chocolate!
The famous trolley cars.
So, the wait was forever long and it was super cold, so we ended up just taking a taxi back to the hotel. The driver would drive crazy fast up and down these ridiculously steep roads! Harris thought it was a ride.
Before we took off towards Utah the next morning I made everyone drive with me to Dynamo Donuts for their maple bacon pancake batter donuts. So tasty it hurts!
So, that was the central and northern parts of our California trip. I was so glad to see and do such cool things with the family and hope to do it again next year! :)
