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 [View Full Entry]

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First off sorry there aren't many pictures. (only 1) I left the camera at the hotel. So.. Today we left Carmel and embarked on the 5 hour drive to Santa Barbara. We drove along the Pacific Coast Highway which was pretty cool. I made feeble attempts at taking pictures while Jamie drove. The drive was pretty nice and drama free, until we arrived at our hotel. When we arrived at the State Street hotel we quickly understood why this hotel was so cheap. First off, we were warned that the hotel had shared bathrooms. We thought this would be ok, and [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Today Bob treated us to a private tour of San Francisco. We started with breakfast in San Bruno, and then we drove around the really nice neighborhoods to gawk at the beautiful houses. We then drove around Richmond to see Jamie's sisters old apartment. Jamie and Bob disagreed on the actual location of her apartment but since jamie was only there for one afternoon when he was 11 and since bob has lived here for 23 years, we have to think that Bob probably knows better than Jamie. Maybe Gail could confirm the house we think it is? (See picture) After [View Full Entry]

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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 othe [View Full Entry]

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After 2 straight days of camping and a close encounter with a slug, we were very ready to get to Sonoma and more importantly, the Inn at Sonoma. We woke up early, packed up the tent and supplies, and headed out. We made one stop to drive through The Chandelier Tree (pretty cool and worth the $5) and then went straight on to Sonoma. The ride seemed to take forever but was well worth it once we got to our hotel. We stayed at the Inn at Sonoma, a great little place right off the plaza. Our room had it’s own [View Full Entry]

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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 sp [View Full Entry]

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A three hour drive further east from Sutherlin, OR brought us to Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake is basically an old Volcano that erupted about 7700 years ago, then collapsed in on itself and then filled up with rain and snow. It’s the deepest lake in the country and it probably the bluest lake we will ever see. We spent most of the day driving around the rim of the crater stopping at every single scenic overlook there was. At one point we hiked down to the water’s edge and actually jumped in the water. The water wasn’t as cold [View Full Entry]

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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 fo [View Full Entry]

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Before we start, a couple of things: 1. Sorry we have not been responding to comments. Finding internet access has been challenging and by the end of the day we have just enough energy left to create these entries. But to those of you who have left comments, thank you and keep them coming! 2. Super happy birthday to my wonderfully great dad, P Daddy, aka Rich. I hope you had a great day, I miss you! This entry will be a lot shorter than our last entry, I promise. We woke up this a.m and did not go running, despite [View Full Entry]

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