Pacific Coast Highway

One of my lifelong dreams has been to drive down Route 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway.  My dream was finally fulfilled and I was not disappointed.  We drove along the coast from San Francisco through Big Sur and continued a bit farther south before cutting back east and heading to Bakersfield.  It's no secret that I love the ocean.  Rhode Island is the Ocean State, after all!  I spent many evenings in RI, particularly winter evenings when there were no crowds, sitting along the wall near the Coast Guard House enjoying the sights and sounds of the ocean.  So to be able to drive down the PCH and enjoy breathtaking views of the Pacific was one of the highlights of the trip for me.  Our drive along the PCH required frequent picture taking pit stops which was probably a good way to alleviate some of the stress of driving along the edge of a cliff (it was like we were in Colorado again!  Except this time, if you plummeted to your death you'd end up in the ocean instead of in a valley).  I can't even begin to describe how amazing the scenery was so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.  In fact, my favorite picture of the entire trip was taken during our drive down the PCH (well, my favorite nature picture, at least...the SLC temple pictures are probably my overall favorite for obvious reasons, but as far as the nature pictures go, nothing beats the ocean).

Favorite nature picture of the trip

 

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Well, I once again failed to finish updating this blog about my road trip which ended like 10 months ago.  But I am true to my word.  I will finish writing about it and I will write about my European/African adventure from last year too.  And I'll also write about some other small trips I've taken recently.  Sorry for the major delay.

Sea lions at Pier 39

Okay so my title for this post is entirely inaccurate.  I spent two days in SF and didn't particularly like it.  After our first night at Harry's we got up early the next morning and Harry took us out to breakfast.  After we ate, Brianne and I headed up to SF.  I really enjoyed getting to see the city, but it's not necessarily a place I'd be super eager to get back to.  It was June, but it was cold.  I hate the heat, but I certainly wasn't expecting it to be so cold in California in the middle of the summer!  Our first stop in the city was Pier 39.  We took a bay cruise and got to enjoy watching the sea lions on the docks bask in the sun.  We also got some great views of the city from the water, made our way around Alcatraz Island and passed under the Golden Gate Bridge.  The bridge isn't all that nice looking, but it was pretty impressive.  I think Alcatraz was my favorite part though.  We heard some fantastic stories about attempted escapes.  The rest of our day in SF was spent eating...lunch then ice cream...and exploring/buying postcards.  We went back to San Jose to stay at Harry's that night and then drove back to SF the following morning.  We were able to meet up with Liz Kemp for brunch!!  We went to a place called Mission Beach Café and it was awesome!  Seriously.  The bacon was PERFECT.  Not too crispy and it had a very sweet flavor to it.  I was obsessed.  That's probably one of the only things that could get me back to SF.  Bacon.  So after finishing up with brunch we headed out of San Francisco and down the California coast.
 

Alcatraz