Meir woke up early Thursday morning for breakfast with his mom, while LeeAnn and Becky slept in. Our friend, Jacob, from Nativ, came over for breakfast (before LeeAnn had even woken up). LeeAnn found out that to order the compressor for the AC, we had to go to the shop, so LeeAnn and Meir headed there while Becky and Jacob went to Jacob’s grandparents’ in Santa Monica to swim.
After a long drive and then only needing to sign LeeAnn’s name, we opted out of leaving the car overnight, and Meir and LeeAnn headed to Meir’s grandparents’ in Irvine. The traffic was ridiculous. It took 2 hours for what is normally a 1 hour drive. We might as well have driven down the coast.
The timer went off indicating that salmon was cooked, so we quickly hung up and went to eat. It was delicious. Salmon and caesar salad and eggplant parm. So good.
Despite everyone being stuffed, dinner was not over. It was time for dessert. We had chocolate fudge ice cream and fresh cherries and other fruit. There were also cookies from Ada ’s mahjong group, but none of us were interested with all the other delicious food around.
After clean up, we played two rounds of Rummikub. LeeAnn may have hustled everyone. She won twice.
David, Ada, and LeeAnn
Then LeeAnn took a few family photos and back to LA we went. David was going somewhere else, but we kept passing each other on the road and waving.
Meir, Ada, Hugo, David
Back in LA we were supposed to pick up Becky, but Meir wanted to stop by and see Jacob’s family. He said 5 minutes. It wasn’t 5 minutes. We stopped in and were greeted with many licks by the dog, Scout. Jacob’s parents, George and Lynn, and sister, Joanie, were all there and came out to meet LeeAnn and hang out with Meir. They talked a lot of basketball, and some travel.
We finally realized we should go get Becky.
Meanwhile, Becky and Jacob were at Jacob’s grandparents, who offered them donuts and asked for help figuring out their voicemail. They then went down to the pool, walked to the beach (Santa Monica ), and went in the hot tub before Jacob took Becky back to Meir’s mom’s. Her friend Orlie picked her up, and they went to a cute hip Mexican place where, as usual, Becky ate tacos, and then they went to an amazing Persian ice cream place. Then they went back to Orlie’s house, got pjs on to go to bed (waiting for LeeAnn and Meir to pick her up), and then just as they gave up and decided to have a sleepover, LeeAnn and Meir showed up. Way to ruin it.
Friday morning, LeeAnn and Meir woke up early and drove to the car dealership to drop off the car. On our way back, we made many wrong turns, ended up driving around the airport, and went back up the coast to Meir’s mom’s (Diane), where we finally had breakfast. Meir went to the embassy to get his Aliyah visa. LeeAnn figured she’d wait around until he was back, but David and Diane (Meir’s brother and mom) decided to come back and pick LeeAnn and Becky up (with a stop for sushi grade fish on the way). Instead of picking the car up and then LeeAnn and Becky getting Meir, we all just jumped in the car, picked Meir up off the corner he’d decided to walk to, and THEN went to get the car.
Unfortunately, nothing is simple, and they’d forgotten to actually write up the report, so we had to wait around. Thankfully, there was free popcorn and coffee. Becky ate 4 bags. She ate it all.
Unfortunately, nothing is simple, and they’d forgotten to actually write up the report, so we had to wait around. Thankfully, there was free popcorn and coffee. Becky ate 4 bags. She ate it all.
We went back to Diane’s and made lunch, which Jacob and Alex, our Nativ friends, joined us for.
We then all hopped in Jacob’s car and went to his grandparents’ inSanta Monica again to swim. We walked in and were greeted by his grandpa, who told us he might meet us by the pool, but we should just go down on our own.
Jacob, Alex, LeeAnn, Becky, Meir
We then all hopped in Jacob’s car and went to his grandparents’ in
Matching!
Shannah, Becky’s friend from University of Oregon
We got all sunscreened, the boys worked out a bit, and we all jumped into the hot tub, where 2 minutes in, a guy in a suit and sunglasses came over and told us to leave. Apparently every resident can only have 2 guests in the pool, and they have to be there. We were 0 for 2. He stood and watched us dry off, waited while we went to change, and walked behind us as we left. Intense much?
After we left the pool we saw Jacob’s grandpa and told him about the man with not enough to do with his day. We left the complex and walked down Main St. where we stopped at a restaurant to have drinks and eat a bit.
TheU.S. woman’s soccer team was also playing so while we were there we got to see parts of the game. Afterwards Becky and Shannah left to have their own Shabbat fiasco’s, Meir and LeeAnn went to Diane’s house for Shabbat.
Shannah, Becky, Alex, LeeAnn, Meir
Jacob showing off
Shannah, Becky, Alex and Jacob showing off with the biggest pita in the world
The
When Meir and LeeAnn got to Diane’s house there was time for some preparing for Shabbat: Showering, and changing, and LeeAnn and David preparing some sushi (David cutting, LeeAnn rolling). They thought it was for a pre-Shabbat snack, then it was going to be for after Shabbat Saturday night, and then decided it was for Shabbat afternoon. It was a group effort, with input from Bob’s daughter, Josie, Diane, and Meir. David and LeeAnn decided that they prefer using a whole seaweed sheet for each sushi roll instead of half, since then you can fit more goodies inside and make more interesting rolls. You live and you learn.
Dinner was great, with an extra special German chocolate pound cake with raspberries on top for dessert that Josie made for Bob’s birthday.
Saturday morning LeeAnn's college friend, Chris was supposed to come by. Meir woke up earlier to see David's friend who came over, and then woke LeeAnn up to get ready for Chris. We sat outside for a while waiting, then gave up when Jacob came back over with his sister, Joanie, for lunch. (We later found out that LeeAnn had accidentally given Chris the wrong address... :( Next time she'll have to plan better.
After a nice lunch, Meir, Jacob and David played some Settlers of Catan, while Joanie napped on the couch and LeeAnn went to nap in a room. We were all supposed to walk to the beach, but the weather wasn't great, so the boys didn't wake LeeAnn (who was supposed to meet another college friend, Robyn). The boys played all afternoon, and Becca who had been traveling with us before, came to visit with her brother Max for a while.
In the evening, with Jacob still over, we whipped out the sushi. It was delicious. We'd talked about possibly saving a piece for Becky, or what we'd do if there was leftover fish (since we hadn't made it all into sushi), but there was nothing left.
After Shabbat, we all got slow starts. David waited around for his friend to pick him up (she had made an awesome mix cd years ago that's one of our favorites in the car), LeeAnn was trying to make friends with her cousins which didn't work out, and Meir and Jacob weren't sure what they were going to do. In the end, David got picked up, and Meir, Jacob, and LeeAnn went to the 3rd Street Promenade to walk around for a bit.
We didn't do much there, but it was fun walking down the street and seeing a few musicians and taking pictures with the dinosaurs (why there are dinosaurs, we don't know). We were all pretty tired, so we called it a night pretty early.
Sunday morning Diane and Bob (Meir's mom and stepdad) took us out for brunch at a great at Marina del Rey, Killer Shrimp. We sat out back, looking at the water and the boats. We even saw a woman on a paddle board with her dog. There were actually quite a few dogs at the restaurant, which were pretty cute. The food was delicious, and one of Meir's friends showed up, so we all said hi to him on our way out.
Then it was about time to pack up the car and be back on our way. We did a quick drive around the marina for LeeAnn to see, then headed back to the house.
We cleaned up, packed the car, said goodbye, and went to pick Becky up along the coast. We started driving up the 1.
Back home, LeeAnn had tried a wine from Malibu Rocky Oaks, and really wanted to visit the estates. We found directions but stopped finding signs of where to turn.
We ended up finding a parking lot, and though it sounded like a different winery name, we stopped to check it out. We took a shuttle to the winery where there was an outdoor sitting area with grass and music.
It was a really nice hot day but we were all kind of tired so after looking around a bit and realizing it for sure wasn't what the one LeeAnn was looking for, we decided to head out. It seemed like a really nice afternoon for locals. It turns out that the Rocky Oak Estates is an event place and isn't open to the public.
On our way back to the car we found out that the winery we WERE at had a safari! We tried finding out how much it was, but it sounded like it would be outrageous. We did still manage to see a zebra, horse, and alpaca by the parking lot.
We continued up the 1 where we were treated to beautiful views of the ocean, horizon, clouds, and mountains.
We tried to eat few snacks as we were planning on eating dinner at Pea Soup Anderson's, which LeeAnn remembered from her last visit to California.
We walked around the gift shop for a little while before heading in to the restaurant. The soup of the day wasn't pea soup. Talk about confusing.
Meir ended up getting unlimited soup, LeeAnn got soup and salad, and Becky got a sandwich. She was exhausted and her sunburn hurt, so she spent most of the meal laying on the booth, while Meir tried to eat as much soup as he could. He didn't realize how big the bowls would be, despite LeeAnn's warning, but managed to make it through 3.
After filling up on soup and completing the maze and word search on the place mats, we took the manager's recommendation and went to an RV campground called River Park. When we got there it was dark so we could not see many of the campsites but we managed to find an open one and pitch our tent. It was pretty clear that most people lived there, or were there long term, as they were walking around talking to each other and partying. We just wanted to sleep.
In the morning Becky woke up first and was extremely upset about what she saw. Our neighbors who in all likely-hood lived in this RV park, were watering their little patch of grass. In a state where there is such a shortage of water and a dangerous drought, people were watering their "land" at an RV park.
When the ranger came around, he made us only pay for a tent spot, even though technically we had accidentally slept in an RV spot. Oops.
After we left the park we tried to find a farmer's stand to buy some cheap fresh fruit. We kept passing stands that were closed or we were driving too fast to stop and our rule of thumb was to not go back if we had already passed it. We finally stopped at one stand that was not nearly as cheap as we expected but we found a good deal and bought a huge bag of (15ish) oranges for $6.
We made it north to Pismo beach where we had some lunch and relaxed on the beach.
After playing around and having some lunch, we moved on. We drove for a bit on 101 and ended up in San Luis Obispo. We weren't positive what to do there, and asked in the police station where to find an information center. They gave us a map and we wandered over. We wanted to do one of those drinking tours where everyone is pedaling a cart together, but apparently it wasn't that day, so instead the girls in the visitor center gave us a few other options.
The plan was just to sort of walk around, so we started with some shopping (Meir wasn't really having it) and then tried to find the gum wall. As we were about to cross a street, looking a bit clueless, these guys asked us what we were looking for. They were about to cross the same street, but instead turned around and took us to the gum wall and started talking to us. We learned that one of them has a Jewish mother but is not involved in Judaism but would be interested in going to Israel, and the others were curious about us being Jews but were definitely Christian. They told us about their girlfriends and wives and jobs... we learned a lot in a short time.
They even tried to show us where they'd contributed to the wall, but the designs they'd made appeared to be gone.
We asked them if they knew of any short hikes around, and they said there was a cool hike that got you to the beach so we drove in that direction. We never really found the hike, but ended up backtracking a bit to Avila Beach. Becky really wanted to actually drink wine at a winery, so she somehow found out from a guy there that there was a winery nearby. He said he'd take us, but when we got to his van and realized he wanted us to get in, we all got iffy and decided against it. Instead he pointed us to a small wine tasting place and sampled different types of interesting wines.
Meir's tactic was to find the most expensive bottle and ask to taste it. Not a bad plan.
We then walked along the beach for a bit before deciding it was time to continue on. As we headed up to the car, these two women were standing and pointing at the water, and LeeAnn thought she overheard them saying something about whales, so she went over and asked. She was right! The women pointed out humpback whales out in the distance. They may not have been super close, but we managed to get in free whale watching from the beach.
From there we continued up the coast to Paso Robles where we went to Firestone Walker Brewery, which someone had recommended. The main walking tour was already closed since it was evening, but we decided to sit in their restaurant and drink some of their beer. Some of them were tasty but the Pig Pounder in Greensboro, NC was better.
We drove back towards the coast on the 46 and found a place to camp out for the night. It took longer than we would have liked, but we ended up at the campground in Hearst San Simeon State Park with very few amenities. There was a port-a-potty and that was it. No water (it must be California). It was slightly problematic since we'd planned to cook and were just about out of water, but we figured out something small. As usual we were exhausted and went to sleep quickly.
In the morning we started with orange slices then drove up the 1 and stopped by Hearst Castle. We found out how expensive it was and decided not to stay, but thought we could at least use a real bathroom. We were wrong. Due to California's drought, the bathrooms were closed and there were port-a-potties out front. At least we were there early so they were still clean.
We continued the drive and saw elephant seals on the sand. Many were sleeping but some were playing with one another in and out of the water. The biggest seal kept trying to cuddle with the seals around him as they tried to move away. He seemed like a bit of a pain in the elephant seal world.
Our next stop was Big Sur. We stopped in another bathroom, picked up a list of hikes (though no map for some reason) and thankfully didn't need to buy the absurdly priced gas.
We started with Salmon Creek Trail in order to walk up part of a mountain for a higher view of the coast and ocean. We actually started by going down to check out a stream.
Once we turned around and started climbing, we saw some nice flowers, but it was the view from up high that was very special.
We drank a lot of water as it was scorching hot and when we got low on water we made sure to get back down to the car.
The drive continued winding up the ocean and we stopped at a lookout because there was some dizziness in the car and we had a no throw up policy in the car. We stopped at a nice place with a bench and we got the privilege from a distance of watching whales exhaling water out of their blowholes. In addition, below us, we saw different formations that people must have put together using rocks.
We continued up the 1 and got a a beautiful place where we had lunch. Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is right on the ocean and there are picnic tables at the beginning of a short trail that led us to an amazing view of a waterfall that spills out onto the sand next to the ocean. We really wanted to find a way to get to the bottom of the waterfall but we were told there is no (legal) way. That's probably why it's still so beautiful. We ate lunch at the benches where there was a blue bird that kept coming towards us and then walked down the trail.
After seeing the Pelton Wheel, taking pictures of the area, reading about the land and the house that used to be there and the people who used to live there, we continued driving up the coast to Monterey, CA.
The drive was pretty foggy, but still beautiful as we drove by colorful landscapes.
In Monterey, we spoke to a person in the visitor's center and she gave us a quick 2 hour itinerary of what to do in the city. We walked to the water quickly where we saw lots of people enjoying the summer day despite a dead seal laying in the sand with birds pecking at him.
We then walked to the old Fisherman's Wharf where we saw many restaurants selling and giving free samples of clam chowder. After taking pictures at different places on the wharf, and looking out to see seals, we stopped in a place for happy hour and we were pleasantly surprised to get the 2nd half of the USA women's semifinals soccer game against Germany, so we stayed to watch.
We continued our journey in Monterey as we walked to the main street with the local farmers market. It was truly a packed venue with people selling different kinds of ethnic foods and everything else one would expect at a farmers market including a man with one hand playing the guitar.
We ate our dinner as we walked through the samples we got in the farmers market. We tried cookies and rice juice and honeys and hummus and fruits and veggies.
After we finished dinner and walked through and spoke to people at the market, we went back to the car to see the sunset from the car while we drove to Santa Cruz. It was the foggiest drive of the trip and sunset was not visible.
The sign said freedom next exit not sunset...
We got to Santa Cruz and after getting lost for a bit found the boardwalk. There was still some light out while we walked on the boardwalk. It was such a long strip on the ocean with so many rides and games (Santa Monica Pier on steroids).
At the end of the boardwalk we found a train track that seemed to not be in use and other people were walking on it, so we decided to do the same.
Meir did not realize that it was an old train track with gaps in between the wood planks and so a few steps onto the train track he became very nervous. Becky had realized, and opted out of walking on them.
We got across the tracks and stopped in a cool arcade for the bathroom. The whole bottom floor was a cool pirate ship mini golf course, but it was getting late so we had to skip it.
We got back to the car only to see that Meir forgot to roll his window up. Good thing nothing was taken!
We drove up the 1 at night until we got to Big Basin Redwood State Park.
We thought we would find campsites soon after entering the campsite but we were on dark windy roads for much longer than expected with poor signage so we were not completely sure we had gone the right way. Finally we saw promising signs and found a campground. Thankfully the first site was free, though some guy told Meir he didn't think there would be any open spots. After putting up the tent using the car's headlights we went straight to bed as we had just had a long day and the next day would be just as jam packed.
We woke up early and packed up the tent so we could take a short hike before heading to San Francisco. We went into the visitors center (surprise surprise) and didn't find anyone to help us, but did find a list of hikes. There was a super cool one that went to the beach, but is a full day hike which we had no time for. Finally Meir found someone outside who gave him recommendations, so after a few photos we started out.
We started on the Skyline to Sea trail to the Maddock Cabin Site. We saw a few banana slugs, a lot of big Redwood trees and a log that went across a creek. We climbed down and hung out on the log for a bit.
Just as we decided to turn around, we saw a couple, an older man with a much younger woman. They were very nice, but an odd pair. Had a cute dog though!
On the way back Becky ran ahead to find the bathroom, and Meir found a cool tree trunk he could fit into.
It was a short hour or so hike as we were meeting Becky's friend Charisse in San Francisco for lunch and had a two hours drive to get there.
We took the 1 to the 280 to get into downtown San Francisco where we parked (not easy in San Francisco) and walked to Charisse's office in order to go with her to get lunch. We went to a place where we got sushi burrito's. It was a strange sounding combination of rice and sushi material in seaweed but rolled and the size of a burrito. They were HEAVEN. Who couldn't like an extra big sushi roll? Seating was a big difficult, but we finally all ended up at the same table.
Charisse took us past a park with one of San Francisco's famous hearts, then pointed us in the direction of a hotel down the block because we wanted to take the elevator up to a high floor to see San Francisco from high up.
It was awkward having to wait for someone who was staying at the hotel because you needed a key to go into the elevator, but after waiting for a minutes we went in with two hotel guests. We stayed in the elevator for a while, and got a pretty nice view of the entire city!
We left San Francisco in time to hit some nice city traffic. The stop and go traffic gave us some time to see what was between us and Davis, CA where we were going to visit our friend Alex from Nativ who we also saw in Los Angeles, CA. Becky reminded us that the Jelly Belly factory was right on the way and we were not going to miss that opportunity. We took the 80 and got to the factory in time for the last free tour! They also gave us samples of different candies at different stages of their creation, our favorite being the kiwi (though blueberry was pretty good).
After eating our share of candies and having some more samples of fudge and jelly bellies in the shop, we headed out on the 80 to Davis, CA.
We got to Alex's house, saw his place, and relaxed for a few minutes before jumping into his car and going to campus area.
We parked close to the farmers market where we walked and sampled different foods. It was the day of samples between lunch and dinner! We had so many peaches and nectarines.
We then walked to a bar for a happy hour drink and on the way we saw some interesting art on the sidewalks. Although we had to go to get to Sacramento and our time in Davis was short it was still really nice seeing Alex and his stomping ground.
We continued on the 80 to Sacramento where we were staying with LeeAnn's cousin Anna and her fiance Ryan. When we got there we relaxed for a bit and then went out to dinner to a wine and cheese restaurant called The Rind. We ate delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and mac n' cheese with wine and beer. When we returned to Anna and Ryan's we were offered dessert. Anna makes dessert bars and the left over scraps were oh so delicious! http://www.eatmybars.com/
The drama of the night included Meir discussing with his Aunt Rona and his cousin Amber who live in Medford and Bend, OR respectively about who's house we were driving to the next day. Meir wanted to see as much family as possible but there seemed to be confusion if it were possible to see more family in Bend or if it were easier to go to Medford.
In the morning we were still unsure if we were going to Rona's or Amber's but we walked to the capital building in Sacramento regardless. Ryan works in the building so he gave us a little private tour which was extremely nice. The building was extremely large and not all of the government employees even work in the building. This might be the first capital we visited where there are different buildings for different departments. It had a really cool exhibit of all the counties though, each with its own display case.
We left the capital and walked a minute away to get to the rose garden and the Vietnam Memorial for California soldiers. At the rose garden there was a fountain without water (the drought effect). They should learn to conserve in RV parks as well.
In the evening, with Jacob still over, we whipped out the sushi. It was delicious. We'd talked about possibly saving a piece for Becky, or what we'd do if there was leftover fish (since we hadn't made it all into sushi), but there was nothing left.
After Shabbat, we all got slow starts. David waited around for his friend to pick him up (she had made an awesome mix cd years ago that's one of our favorites in the car), LeeAnn was trying to make friends with her cousins which didn't work out, and Meir and Jacob weren't sure what they were going to do. In the end, David got picked up, and Meir, Jacob, and LeeAnn went to the 3rd Street Promenade to walk around for a bit.
LeeAnn and Jacob
We didn't do much there, but it was fun walking down the street and seeing a few musicians and taking pictures with the dinosaurs (why there are dinosaurs, we don't know). We were all pretty tired, so we called it a night pretty early.
Sunday morning Diane and Bob (Meir's mom and stepdad) took us out for brunch at a great at Marina del Rey, Killer Shrimp. We sat out back, looking at the water and the boats. We even saw a woman on a paddle board with her dog. There were actually quite a few dogs at the restaurant, which were pretty cute. The food was delicious, and one of Meir's friends showed up, so we all said hi to him on our way out.
Then it was about time to pack up the car and be back on our way. We did a quick drive around the marina for LeeAnn to see, then headed back to the house.
We cleaned up, packed the car, said goodbye, and went to pick Becky up along the coast. We started driving up the 1.
Back home, LeeAnn had tried a wine from Malibu Rocky Oaks, and really wanted to visit the estates. We found directions but stopped finding signs of where to turn.
We ended up finding a parking lot, and though it sounded like a different winery name, we stopped to check it out. We took a shuttle to the winery where there was an outdoor sitting area with grass and music.
It was a really nice hot day but we were all kind of tired so after looking around a bit and realizing it for sure wasn't what the one LeeAnn was looking for, we decided to head out. It seemed like a really nice afternoon for locals. It turns out that the Rocky Oak Estates is an event place and isn't open to the public.
Trying to hide Becky's sunburn in the shade while waiting for the shuttle (that's what happens when she's away from LeeAnn and Meir)
On our way back to the car we found out that the winery we WERE at had a safari! We tried finding out how much it was, but it sounded like it would be outrageous. We did still manage to see a zebra, horse, and alpaca by the parking lot.
We continued up the 1 where we were treated to beautiful views of the ocean, horizon, clouds, and mountains.
View of Rocky Oaks
We tried to eat few snacks as we were planning on eating dinner at Pea Soup Anderson's, which LeeAnn remembered from her last visit to California.
The entire town is known for the pea soup restaurant
We walked around the gift shop for a little while before heading in to the restaurant. The soup of the day wasn't pea soup. Talk about confusing.
Meir ended up getting unlimited soup, LeeAnn got soup and salad, and Becky got a sandwich. She was exhausted and her sunburn hurt, so she spent most of the meal laying on the booth, while Meir tried to eat as much soup as he could. He didn't realize how big the bowls would be, despite LeeAnn's warning, but managed to make it through 3.
The place-mats with a map to Pea Soup Anderson's from any city in CA
Can't pass up a chance for a cutout picture!
After filling up on soup and completing the maze and word search on the place mats, we took the manager's recommendation and went to an RV campground called River Park. When we got there it was dark so we could not see many of the campsites but we managed to find an open one and pitch our tent. It was pretty clear that most people lived there, or were there long term, as they were walking around talking to each other and partying. We just wanted to sleep.
In the morning Becky woke up first and was extremely upset about what she saw. Our neighbors who in all likely-hood lived in this RV park, were watering their little patch of grass. In a state where there is such a shortage of water and a dangerous drought, people were watering their "land" at an RV park.
When the ranger came around, he made us only pay for a tent spot, even though technically we had accidentally slept in an RV spot. Oops.
After we left the park we tried to find a farmer's stand to buy some cheap fresh fruit. We kept passing stands that were closed or we were driving too fast to stop and our rule of thumb was to not go back if we had already passed it. We finally stopped at one stand that was not nearly as cheap as we expected but we found a good deal and bought a huge bag of (15ish) oranges for $6.
We made it north to Pismo beach where we had some lunch and relaxed on the beach.
Scaring off the seagulls for us
After playing around and having some lunch, we moved on. We drove for a bit on 101 and ended up in San Luis Obispo. We weren't positive what to do there, and asked in the police station where to find an information center. They gave us a map and we wandered over. We wanted to do one of those drinking tours where everyone is pedaling a cart together, but apparently it wasn't that day, so instead the girls in the visitor center gave us a few other options.
The plan was just to sort of walk around, so we started with some shopping (Meir wasn't really having it) and then tried to find the gum wall. As we were about to cross a street, looking a bit clueless, these guys asked us what we were looking for. They were about to cross the same street, but instead turned around and took us to the gum wall and started talking to us. We learned that one of them has a Jewish mother but is not involved in Judaism but would be interested in going to Israel, and the others were curious about us being Jews but were definitely Christian. They told us about their girlfriends and wives and jobs... we learned a lot in a short time.
One of the guys with us at the gum wall
We asked them if they knew of any short hikes around, and they said there was a cool hike that got you to the beach so we drove in that direction. We never really found the hike, but ended up backtracking a bit to Avila Beach. Becky really wanted to actually drink wine at a winery, so she somehow found out from a guy there that there was a winery nearby. He said he'd take us, but when we got to his van and realized he wanted us to get in, we all got iffy and decided against it. Instead he pointed us to a small wine tasting place and sampled different types of interesting wines.
Meir's tactic was to find the most expensive bottle and ask to taste it. Not a bad plan.
We then walked along the beach for a bit before deciding it was time to continue on. As we headed up to the car, these two women were standing and pointing at the water, and LeeAnn thought she overheard them saying something about whales, so she went over and asked. She was right! The women pointed out humpback whales out in the distance. They may not have been super close, but we managed to get in free whale watching from the beach.
From there we continued up the coast to Paso Robles where we went to Firestone Walker Brewery, which someone had recommended. The main walking tour was already closed since it was evening, but we decided to sit in their restaurant and drink some of their beer. Some of them were tasty but the Pig Pounder in Greensboro, NC was better.
We drove back towards the coast on the 46 and found a place to camp out for the night. It took longer than we would have liked, but we ended up at the campground in Hearst San Simeon State Park with very few amenities. There was a port-a-potty and that was it. No water (it must be California). It was slightly problematic since we'd planned to cook and were just about out of water, but we figured out something small. As usual we were exhausted and went to sleep quickly.
In the morning we started with orange slices then drove up the 1 and stopped by Hearst Castle. We found out how expensive it was and decided not to stay, but thought we could at least use a real bathroom. We were wrong. Due to California's drought, the bathrooms were closed and there were port-a-potties out front. At least we were there early so they were still clean.
We continued the drive and saw elephant seals on the sand. Many were sleeping but some were playing with one another in and out of the water. The biggest seal kept trying to cuddle with the seals around him as they tried to move away. He seemed like a bit of a pain in the elephant seal world.
Our next stop was Big Sur. We stopped in another bathroom, picked up a list of hikes (though no map for some reason) and thankfully didn't need to buy the absurdly priced gas.
We started with Salmon Creek Trail in order to walk up part of a mountain for a higher view of the coast and ocean. We actually started by going down to check out a stream.
The moment before she saw a snake. We went to check it out but it was gone.
Weird webs
We drank a lot of water as it was scorching hot and when we got low on water we made sure to get back down to the car.
The drive continued winding up the ocean and we stopped at a lookout because there was some dizziness in the car and we had a no throw up policy in the car. We stopped at a nice place with a bench and we got the privilege from a distance of watching whales exhaling water out of their blowholes. In addition, below us, we saw different formations that people must have put together using rocks.
GO BU!!
Whale watching
We continued up the 1 and got a a beautiful place where we had lunch. Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is right on the ocean and there are picnic tables at the beginning of a short trail that led us to an amazing view of a waterfall that spills out onto the sand next to the ocean. We really wanted to find a way to get to the bottom of the waterfall but we were told there is no (legal) way. That's probably why it's still so beautiful. We ate lunch at the benches where there was a blue bird that kept coming towards us and then walked down the trail.
Watching us eat
On to the view!
The drive was pretty foggy, but still beautiful as we drove by colorful landscapes.
In Monterey, we spoke to a person in the visitor's center and she gave us a quick 2 hour itinerary of what to do in the city. We walked to the water quickly where we saw lots of people enjoying the summer day despite a dead seal laying in the sand with birds pecking at him.
We then walked to the old Fisherman's Wharf where we saw many restaurants selling and giving free samples of clam chowder. After taking pictures at different places on the wharf, and looking out to see seals, we stopped in a place for happy hour and we were pleasantly surprised to get the 2nd half of the USA women's semifinals soccer game against Germany, so we stayed to watch.
We continued our journey in Monterey as we walked to the main street with the local farmers market. It was truly a packed venue with people selling different kinds of ethnic foods and everything else one would expect at a farmers market including a man with one hand playing the guitar.
We ate our dinner as we walked through the samples we got in the farmers market. We tried cookies and rice juice and honeys and hummus and fruits and veggies.
After we finished dinner and walked through and spoke to people at the market, we went back to the car to see the sunset from the car while we drove to Santa Cruz. It was the foggiest drive of the trip and sunset was not visible.
The sign said freedom next exit not sunset...
We got to Santa Cruz and after getting lost for a bit found the boardwalk. There was still some light out while we walked on the boardwalk. It was such a long strip on the ocean with so many rides and games (Santa Monica Pier on steroids).
Meir did not realize that it was an old train track with gaps in between the wood planks and so a few steps onto the train track he became very nervous. Becky had realized, and opted out of walking on them.
Carefully making his way across
Waiting for us at the end
Made it!!
We got across the tracks and stopped in a cool arcade for the bathroom. The whole bottom floor was a cool pirate ship mini golf course, but it was getting late so we had to skip it.
We got back to the car only to see that Meir forgot to roll his window up. Good thing nothing was taken!
We drove up the 1 at night until we got to Big Basin Redwood State Park.
We thought we would find campsites soon after entering the campsite but we were on dark windy roads for much longer than expected with poor signage so we were not completely sure we had gone the right way. Finally we saw promising signs and found a campground. Thankfully the first site was free, though some guy told Meir he didn't think there would be any open spots. After putting up the tent using the car's headlights we went straight to bed as we had just had a long day and the next day would be just as jam packed.
We woke up early and packed up the tent so we could take a short hike before heading to San Francisco. We went into the visitors center (surprise surprise) and didn't find anyone to help us, but did find a list of hikes. There was a super cool one that went to the beach, but is a full day hike which we had no time for. Finally Meir found someone outside who gave him recommendations, so after a few photos we started out.
An OLD tree
We started on the Skyline to Sea trail to the Maddock Cabin Site. We saw a few banana slugs, a lot of big Redwood trees and a log that went across a creek. We climbed down and hung out on the log for a bit.
Roommies forever!
Just as we decided to turn around, we saw a couple, an older man with a much younger woman. They were very nice, but an odd pair. Had a cute dog though!
On the way back Becky ran ahead to find the bathroom, and Meir found a cool tree trunk he could fit into.
It was a short hour or so hike as we were meeting Becky's friend Charisse in San Francisco for lunch and had a two hours drive to get there.
We took the 1 to the 280 to get into downtown San Francisco where we parked (not easy in San Francisco) and walked to Charisse's office in order to go with her to get lunch. We went to a place where we got sushi burrito's. It was a strange sounding combination of rice and sushi material in seaweed but rolled and the size of a burrito. They were HEAVEN. Who couldn't like an extra big sushi roll? Seating was a big difficult, but we finally all ended up at the same table.
Charisse took us past a park with one of San Francisco's famous hearts, then pointed us in the direction of a hotel down the block because we wanted to take the elevator up to a high floor to see San Francisco from high up.
It was awkward having to wait for someone who was staying at the hotel because you needed a key to go into the elevator, but after waiting for a minutes we went in with two hotel guests. We stayed in the elevator for a while, and got a pretty nice view of the entire city!
We left San Francisco in time to hit some nice city traffic. The stop and go traffic gave us some time to see what was between us and Davis, CA where we were going to visit our friend Alex from Nativ who we also saw in Los Angeles, CA. Becky reminded us that the Jelly Belly factory was right on the way and we were not going to miss that opportunity. We took the 80 and got to the factory in time for the last free tour! They also gave us samples of different candies at different stages of their creation, our favorite being the kiwi (though blueberry was pretty good).
After eating our share of candies and having some more samples of fudge and jelly bellies in the shop, we headed out on the 80 to Davis, CA.
We got to Alex's house, saw his place, and relaxed for a few minutes before jumping into his car and going to campus area.
Speed TABLE? How many names can these things have?
We parked close to the farmers market where we walked and sampled different foods. It was the day of samples between lunch and dinner! We had so many peaches and nectarines.
We then walked to a bar for a happy hour drink and on the way we saw some interesting art on the sidewalks. Although we had to go to get to Sacramento and our time in Davis was short it was still really nice seeing Alex and his stomping ground.
We continued on the 80 to Sacramento where we were staying with LeeAnn's cousin Anna and her fiance Ryan. When we got there we relaxed for a bit and then went out to dinner to a wine and cheese restaurant called The Rind. We ate delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and mac n' cheese with wine and beer. When we returned to Anna and Ryan's we were offered dessert. Anna makes dessert bars and the left over scraps were oh so delicious! http://www.eatmybars.com/
LeeAnn and Anna
In the morning we were still unsure if we were going to Rona's or Amber's but we walked to the capital building in Sacramento regardless. Ryan works in the building so he gave us a little private tour which was extremely nice. The building was extremely large and not all of the government employees even work in the building. This might be the first capital we visited where there are different buildings for different departments. It had a really cool exhibit of all the counties though, each with its own display case.
Sacramento's Golden Gate bridge (actually pretty ugly and out of place)
We left the capital and walked a minute away to get to the rose garden and the Vietnam Memorial for California soldiers. At the rose garden there was a fountain without water (the drought effect). They should learn to conserve in RV parks as well.
Every type of tree in California
Coolest parking garage
We walked back to the house in order to pack up and head out to Amber and her boyfriend Brian's in Bend. Goodbye California!
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