Our summer trip

Ok, so here's the beginning. We drove up the coast of California all the way to San Francisco, with many stops along the way.

Here is the view of the coast once we started heading up into the hills towards Solvang. You can see the island out in the distance if you look carefully.

What a spaz, she did so good in her carseat. We were very happy about that as you can imagine

Our first stop was in the city of Solvang. It was a Danish city established by immigrant farmers. It was out in the middle of nowhere and then all of a sudden you enter the town and there are tons of people and shops and everything but the scenery was beautiful as well.

We wanted this to be Anna's heritage/Halloween costume but they were all handmade and therefore far too pricey for our budget. But so, so, so, cute, so we stole a picture quick

They had a cute little toyshop with a bunch of oldschool toys

We ate in a Danish restaurant and Clayton got sausage with mustard sauce and red cabbage. It was delicious!!!

This shop was my favorite they had a bazillion clocks and they were awesome. I wanted to take them all home with me, I felt like I was in Pinnochio. The guy would change the time forward for us one clock after the next so we could see them perform. It was really cool.

I tried the famous abelskivers which were divine. (I don't know if that's how it's spelled or not)

Next stop was Hearst's Castle

This guy built this house up on the hill overlooking the ocean and he even built his own zoo on the property and imported zebras to roam his land because he liked zebras, etc.

This was the outdoor pool

This was one of the bedrooms in one of the guesthouses. Everything was covered in 22ct gold

Here is the view out one of the guest windows

Everything he used to decorate, inside and out, were museum pieces that he had imported from all over the globe. This is a statue that was imported from Egypt that predates Moses.

Here is the front of the house

This is the dining room, which inspired the room in Harry Potter.

This was my favorite, it is the indoor pool which was always heated and was covered in gold as well. That is the diving board in the center of the picture

Then we finished the day by driving further up the coast to Monterey Bay

We woke up in the morning and toured the Aquarium

They had this cool thing to see what it is like under a wave

Before

After

Sardines, yummy

"Our little pearl" (in a really cheesy voice)

They had a little area for kids to play so we let Anna get her hands a little wet, til she started eating the ledge. She is cute, she eats everything these days. Just the other day, we left the room for 30 seconds and we came back to find a whole 4th of a page missing from the ensign, she chewed and swallowed and everything. Sick

Sardines again

Funny story. So we watched a video of the male seahorses giving birth to the baby seahorses one after another after another. And as we are staring at it, Clayton says, "Wow, they just pop'em right out." And then I hear this little voice behind me ask his family, "They just pop them right out?" To which they all responded with laughter. The poor little boy was so embarrassed. Thanks a lot Clayton :)

There was a Nestle Tollhouse shop across the street where we just had to stop and it was absolutely fantastic

San Francisco etc.

So here is the second half of our trip and the first half will come soon. I had to split it into two posts and I'm also going to bed right now.

This is when we made it up to SanFrancisco and we went to see the redwood trees....

Muir Woods

I have the span of a vulture, glamorous eh?

Clayton is a bald eagle, way cooler

She has a mouth full of my hair. Delicious

Our new apartment, you like it?

Two trees in one, how cool is that?

Whoa honey, I don't think you're quite old enough.

Our little dinner. I wasn't having that great of a day so Clayton took me back to the hotel and we all slept for two hours and then went to a steak restaurant "to build up my iron" and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Thank you Clayton. I love you.

I think she enjoyed our bed as much as we did. However, she didn't get to sleep on it. Hahaha. This is her new thing, she puts her hands behind her head and chills. Then she kicks one foot up onto the other knee. She always seems to look so comfortable

A view of Alcatraz from the top of Lombard Street

Lombard Street. The crookedest street in San Francisco. ( I actually read that it is not the steepest or the crookedest, however it is the most famous) This is us at the top

And now the view from the bottom

Next we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf to start our journey on the bikes.

They made us put helmets on the babies. Odd but ok. It didn't last very long needless to say. She fell asleep and fell over and that was the end of that. But it was sure funny while it lasted.

Over the shoulder shot. Nice job Clayton. Me, Steph, Mike, and their kids in their trailer.

So we rode the bikes along the water from the wharf over to the bridge, up and over, and through the hills to sausalito where we got on the ferry, bikes and everything and headed back to where we started from the faster way. Then we just kept the bikes and used them the rest of the day. So fun! (And there are a million pictures because it was the highlight of our trip)

Skyline of San Francisco

Loved the picture on this sign

She just looked so peaceful and she slept almost the whole time

Yes, don't worry I know I look hot in these old people glasses.

Waiting for the boat

Ferry Boat! Back to Fisherman's Wharf

Sausalito

Alcatraz, well, the closest we ever got cuz I forgot to book our tour in advance, oh well. Next time. These girls in the background were from Venezuela and they were in love with Anna. They also were doing tons of weird poses trying to look sexy while we were waiting for the ferry boat. It was a crackup

What? Nice statue

Yessss!!! The Ghirardelli chocolate factory. Delicious

The Bay Bridge over into Oakland

A stunning view of the Marine layer on the way back to our hotel, however its always way cooler in person

Chillin in the hot tub after a long fun day

We stopped in Pebble Beach to do the 17 mile drive. Yes you pay a fee and it is officially called the 17 Mile Drive

This rock was covered with sea lions and seals and birds, there were so many, it was fun to watch but you can't really see them in the photog

We now know all about Cypress trees. We didn't even know what they looked like before, yes I know that's lame

The golf course. We felt like we were in the middle of our XBox PGA Tour with Tiger Woods

As we drove down the coast, traffic was getting bad out in the middle of nowhere, we finally realized it was from all the tourists stopping at this food stand. And no wonder Huh! I picked up some corn 9 for a dollar! And those grapefruits were the size of those small watermelons, what a great find, can they move next to my house please?

We stopped in San Louis Obispo to see the Mission but it had already closed for the day so we stopped to look at the outside instead. Loved that town btw. Way cute.

We finally made it home and then had a vacation from our vacation for the next week. What a good semester break. I love my little family