California Trip

Travis and I packed it in this Summer. Here is a little run down of our California trip. We pretty much covered all of Northern California: Stockton (Valley Springs), Sacramento, Chico (Willows), San Francisco, Monterey, and Oakland. All in all we covered about 1,961 miles. There is nothing better than a good road trip with your spouse. We saw LOTS of family and had LOTS of fun.

The map. June 12-21.

Welcome to Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe. It is feed by tons of streams that never reach the ocean. We took the long way to our first destination, Valley Springs, so we could see this pretty place.  

We played with the Reese crew for a few days and helped them move to a new place. Between moving boxes and cleaning we found time to make some cream puffs.

Cream puffs! It only took consistent begging for a month.

Sacramento.

We stopped for the afternoon on our way up to visit cousins in Willows. We spent most of our time in Old Sacs. I am not one for shopping, but it was fun exploring some of the un-seens and a very cool record store. 

The boys.

The girls.
These are my cousins Missy and Willie. They are wonderful and it was worth the drive up North to spend some time with them. They treated us to amazing Chinese and Frozen Yogurt with original granola.  I also learned how to play a mean game of bad-mitten up there. 

Muir Woods.

We decided to stop here on our way into San Fran. These trees always astound me.

He's astounded too. The park was a bit crowded with people, but we found some quiet spots to take in the beauty. 

I can check San Fran off the bucket list. I can't believe how different every street is and how steep they can be.  You for sure stand out if you are wearing heals and huffing up a hill. 

Too bad we missed the sea lions. Pier 49 will still fun to check out.

Stood in line down at the pier, so we could ride one of these. It gets pretty cold at night near the ocean. It's a good thing I read a quote by Mark Twain before we traveled,
 “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”

Stood in line for an hour to eat here. I knew we would because people have raved about this place. It was delicious, but worth the wait....that is up to who eats there. I think it would have been better if people hadn't been watching me eat (see person standing by the door). Eat the Mote Cristo if you go.

The fog rolled in and I got worried we wouldn't be able to see the bridge, but then the fog cleared out. 

We walked up to and across most of the bridge. We didn't do much in San Fran, we relaxed and took in the sights. This was my favorite part. 

After San Fran,we drove down to visit some more cousins. It was a short trip but worth the drive. They inspired us to finally take the leap and get a puppy! Cousins are he best. 

Thanks for letting us play with your family while you worked Matthew. Such a good trip!

Oakland Temple.

This is sister Hill and she is another cousin. She is serving in the Oakland Temple Visitor Center. Travis and I stopped in just to see if she might be there. She was the first person we saw when we came through the door. She gave us a tour through the visitor center in Spanish. She is such a good missionary because she taught me something new through the spirit that I felt. The temple has a true power here on the earth today. 

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