Over the water and through the rapids, down the river we go! Wooooo hoo! I love white water rafting! Jon, Mary, Dario, and I went white water rafting on the American River - South Fork (near Sacramento) with All Outdoors. Our guide’s name was Ryan. He was so much fun! We went through Class 2 and Class 3 rapids. We purchased the beginner’s rapid trip. Jon and I had never been white water rafting before - Dario and Mary had. The beginner’s one is easy. Nobody in our boat fell out. Though we took on a stray for a few minutes [View Full Entry]

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We made it to San Francisco! We've been here a whole day now. This city is a stark contrast to all of the other places we have stayed on our trip. I miss the peace and quiet! Here's where we've been these past couple of days: Day 8 1. Avenue of the Giants (huge redwood trees!) 2. Drove four hours south to San Francisco 3. Checked into Hotel Whitcomb 4. Walked around the city Day 9 1. California Academy of Sciences 2. Golden Gate Bridge 3. Ghirardelli Square 4. Ate lunch at Lori's Diner (50's retro) 5. Walked to Fisherman's Wharf [View Full Entry]

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Start: Bandon, OR End: Fortuna, CA Travel time: 6 hours Miles: 211 miles (340 km) Lodging: Super 8 Motel Today we left the coastal town of Bandon, OR and drove, what would normally have taken four hours, to Fortuna, CA. We swapped an ocean for a river (except this time the river is a few blocks away). We aren’t here for the view (which truly surprised us). We are staying in Fortuna because tomorrow we are driving to the Humboldt Redwoods State Park to drive the Avenue of the Giants, which is about 15 miles south of here. Today was by [View Full Entry]

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Start: Yachats, OR End: Bandon, OR Travel time: 3.5 hours (We made a bunch of stops.) Miles: 98 miles (158 km) Lodging: Sunset Motel We’re in Bandon, Oregon! No, not Brandon. It’s on the South Oregon Coast. We have a spectacular view of the beach from our oceanfront room at the Sunset Motel (Vern Brown Addition). We left Ocean Haven (Yachats) yesterday. The owners are so nice. When Jon and I were sitting in the car about to leave, Christie (one of the owners) waved us off. Bill (the other owner) must have told her that we had checked out so [View Full Entry]

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Start: Crescent City, CA End: Yachats, OR Travel time: 5 hours Miles: 206 miles (332 km) Lodging: Ocean Haven Day 2 Weather now: 45°F (7°C) - raining 1. Breakfast at the Hampton. 2. Drove to Yachats. 3. Settled into our cabin at Ocean Haven. 4. Went down to the beach for a few minutes. 5. Stayed indoors after 5 pm. It’s too dark to go anywhere! We made it to Yachats finally! (pronounced “yah-hots”) This is the farthest north that we are driving. We will be staying here three nights. We will stay in Bandon (two hours south) on New Yea [View Full Entry]

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Start: Los Angeles area, CA End: Crescent City, CA Travel time: 15 hours Miles: 721 miles (1160 km) Weather now: 44°F (7°C) - raining Lodging: Hampton Inn & Suites It took us forever to get up here! Jon and I left my house at 4am and got here at 7pm. That’s bloody insanity. I had planned on it being 14 hours anyway but still. What was I thinking. O_o It was easy peasy from San Fernando Valley to San Francisco. We drove through the dark morning abyss and the boondocks (lots of cows) of 101 North. Better yet, I got to [View Full Entry]

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I finally found the paper that I had written the blog on! ---------------------------------------- Today was our last day in Arizona. We spent the morning visiting the Meteor Crater and the rest of the day driving the 528 miles home to good ol’ San Fernando Valley in California. We didn’t start the day off as early as we have been for the last three days. We actually got to sleep in!—‘til 6 am… I actually woke up before everybody else because my sunburn made me overheat and get sick. Yum. I felt as good as new after though! We drove an hour [View Full Entry]

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I can't take the credit for all of these pictures. A third are mine, a third is Jon's, and a third is Dominique's. ---------- It was a cool and damp morning at the Grand Canyon. The morning fog had yet to clear. Life on earth, it seemed, was waking from its slumber. I could almost hear time passing in the silence of beauty. It was the beginning of a gorgeous day. Standing at the canyon’s edge, I felt myself shrinking into a tiny, insignificant creature that was no less at the mercy of nature than the squirrels or the chipmunks. The [View Full Entry]

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I was sitting at the front of the bus exchanging pleasantries with the bus driver, Gigi. The sun was barely in the sky. The morning mist had yet to clear. Gigi picked up her microphone and made an announcement. “Sneak peak to your left.” And that was when I saw it - the Grand Canyon. Rarely do I use the word “breathtaking” but this experience merits its use. My two second glimpse of the Grand Canyon was breathtaking. Aside from oceans, never have I seen anything so vast. Gigi calls this experience a 1-on-1 with the canyon. All I have to [View Full Entry]

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Today I woke up at the ungodly hour of…oh wait. I never went to bed last night! I had to be showered and packed by 3 a.m. when Jon would be picking me up. We still had to hit the bank and pack his stuff in my luggage AND be ready for Mary to pick us up at 3:45 a.m. Sure enough we got all of that done with time to spare. We’re good. Mary arrived at Jon’s house at about 4:30 a.m. - she was a wee bit late. No worries though. We still had plenty of time to get [View Full Entry]

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