OCEAN!
Our blog has been a little neglected over the past couple of days, but that definitely does not mean we haven't had enough to write about! Since Seattle, we've driven over 1,000 miles through the redwoods and along beautiful Pacific coast line ending up in Southern California near Los Angeles! Who knew California was such a long state?
After spending a second afternoon in Seattle, we drove down through Seatac (Seattle-Tacoma area) and prepared for another city adventure in Portland. Our neighbor recommended that we check out Portland's famous Powell's Book Store, which is one of the largest bookstores in the country taking up an entire city block!
Most of our time in Portland was spent getting lost in thousands of books--we also found a cute coffee shop called Anna Banana's which is housed in an old Victorian House. (I bought a packet of wheat grass from Anna's...anyone ever tried straight up wheat grass in water? It was like drinking the clippings after mowing the lawn!...pretty sure most of that mixture is still sitting in the car...)
One of the most awe-inspiring moments of our journey so far was when we drove through the redwoods and eventually stumbled upon the Pacific Ocean after miles and miles of dense forest packed with ginormous ancient trees.
We ate at a small town diner where we were told to backtrack on the highway till we found the old road leading to the town through an amazing forest path. We followed the instructions and ended up in an enchanted land where trees seemed to stretch up to the sky and a river with extremely blue water rushed below in a little canyon. We took a short hike along a roadside trail--the trees are truly amazing, they make you realize how powerful nature is and also how small we are compared to it.
Following Highway 101, we soon found the ocean. Running onto the beach and into the waves, we quickly lost all sensation in our feet and headed back to the car with soaked, sandy clothes and frozen smiles...nothing beats the ocean. We found a campsite somewhere south of the California border, this spot was probably one of our very favorite camping locations. We had a spectacular view of the ocean, built a nice fire and cooked a potato couscous dinner, we even found a couple of friends...
This is the sunset from the beach located directly behind our campsite!
We probably could have spent a couple of days here, but decided to drive down to San Francisco and see the golden gate city! Unfortunately, our experience with SF was not the greatest. We must have entered the city during rush hour, and it is anything but a driving city...horns honking everywhere, tons of traffic, $26 parking, and extremely steep hills! 
We had dinner at an Indian restaurant in the city and then decided that we didn't want to see San Francisco again until we could plan a little better and not have to drive!
After that crazy adventure, we headed down to Monterey where my aunt lives! Monterey is famous for its aquarium, but without even walking into this landmark spot, we saw seals, otters, birds, and all kinds of cool creatures! With many thanks to my aunt, we explored the whole Monterey area, ate some delicious pesto pizza, and slept in the most amazing hotel ever! I think this must have been our reward for surviving SF.
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| Seals on the beach! |
After leaving Monterey, we hit the Pacific Coast Highway headed for Southern California! The coast was bright and sunny, waves crashing on the rocks and ocean for as far as our eyes could see. Due to heavy rain a couple of months ago and a missing chunk of road that disappeared into the ocean, we had to take a detour over some insanely steep mountains that led us up through a military base away from the coastal highway. Luckily, Kelly was driving over the mountain...I made the mistake of peaking over the edge of this tiny, one lane road that led us up, up, and up along a cliff right next to the ocean...beautiful but terrifying!
We drove about 10 hours yesterday and landed at my grandma's house way past bedtime, but are now relaxing and will be spending some time here in the sun with my family!
Stay tuned for the last installments of our road trip blog as we make our way to New Mexico!
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