Murphinelli

We are writing this sitting at home in Weymouth, MA. Its been a couple days since we've been home and almost a week later from our last entry. I think we were more tired from the trip than we expected. In LA we really didn't do a whole lot of sightseeing and spent most of our time around the pool and Bar-b-q with our friends out there. We got in late afternoon on Sunday to our friends' condo in Encino, CA and after settling in, Kara and Melissa went off to get some much-needed pedicures. (melissa said that not me. I wouldn't tell melissa that she needs a pedicure.) When they returned, everyone was down by the pool barbecuing and hanging out. It was so great to not be in a hotel anymore, and to just ... read more

Thursday: So we decided to put these 2 days together because there isn't a whole lot to tell you about since San Francisco. On the drive down we stopped in Santa Cruz. we saw some surfers and we had breakfast. It looked like there were a bunch of surfing lessons going on and I think we are going to take a lesson when we get down to LA. The drive from San Fran to Monterey took about 3 hours. Our bed and Breakfast is in Carmel (by-the-sea) but we stopped in monterey before checking in. Melissa wanted to see the aquarium so we killed a couple hours in there. there wasn't a lot to see there but there were a couple of otters that melissa wanted to take home. After the Aquarium melissa and I had ... read more

Sonoma to San Fogcisco This morning we had breakfast at the inn and then went to a couple more wineries. We went back to Ravenwood and had some very tasty wines. We bought a couple bottles- a red and a white, and then went to Gundlach Bundschu (pronounced Gun Lock Bun Shoe). It is the oldest family-owned vineyard in California, and all their wines are made from estate-grown grapes. It is run by sixth generation Gundlachs, and the vineyard is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. The wines here were also tasty, but since Massachusetts doesn’t allow alcohol shipments from other states, and we already had a couple of bottles from Ravenwood, we didn’t buy any more. Art, we seriously considered having the wine shipped to your house in New Hampshire… maybe next time. One of ... read more

Redwood National Forest First off, let me say that you’ve never truly seen trees until you’ve visited the Redwood National Forest. The coastal Redwoods are amazing. The older growth Redwoods are anywhere from 250 to over a thousand years old. The newer growth Redwoods are 250 years and younger. Either way, that adds up to some big trees. After leaving Crater Lake in the a.m, we stopped briefly at Grant’s Pass for some breakfast and Dutch Bros coffee and hit the road. The Redwood National Park runs several miles along Rte 199, and we stopped at a couple different spots. At the first stop, we were amazed at the size of the giant trees, and took a ton of pictures. The second place we stopped was called Big Tree Wayside. And yes, there was a very ... read more

Well we experienced the notorious Pacific Northwest Fog today. We woke up to a cold foggy morning in Lincoln City. We’re sorry there weren’t many pictures from yesterday. Lincoln city didn’t have too many picturesque moments and unfortunately the morning didn’t offer many more either. We were surrounded by fog until about noontime, which was just in time for when we came across a great overlook spot somewhere near Cape Perpetua, OR. Huge waves were crashing over these rocks that we could walk right out on. Pretty amazing. From there, we decided to shoot for Florence, OR. The drive on the way there was perfect. The fog was gone and the sun was out. There were more great viewpoints and some scary driving conditions. Real fun though. Florence, OR was surprisingly nice. There was a quaint ... read more