LOVED {our first road trip}

We're back! Evan + I had such a great time exploring the California Coast. We left verrrry early Wednesday morning (4am?), had breakfast at a local joint called "Cajun Kitchen" in Santa Barbara, and then heading up Highway 1 to Hearst Castle. What an amazing place!

After touring the castle for a couple hours, we drove another 60 miles to the Fernwood Campgrounds in Big Sur. Our site was tucked under a dense forest of enormous redwood trees, just above the Big Sur River. We spent Wednesday + Thursday hiking, feeding salt and pepper kettle chips to dozens of blue jays, eating turkey sandwiches on a jagged cliff overlooking the ocean, cooking a dinner of lemon pepper fettuccine w/ alfredo sauce and garlic bread on Andrew Molera State Beach, then drinking red wine and watching the sun set all alone on a big, sandy rock, making s'mores back at camp, and watching the movie Coraline in our tent on Evan's Powerbook. All-in-all, it was an amazing camping adventure.

{sunset @ andrew molera state beach}

Friday morning, we packed up camp and headed up north to spend some time in one of our favorite cities, San Francisco. Luckily, my mom still lives just outside of the city, so we also got to spend some time with her. Imagine her surprise when I called and said we'd be at the house in about an hour! It was so nice to see her. :o)

After chatting with Mom for a bit on Friday afternoon, Evan and I jumped on BART and travelled into SF . As usual, we went straight to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Sam Wo. Best chow mein EVER. After devouring our entire plates, we wandered through Chinatown and past Union Square. We browsed through Urban Outfitters, but neither of us found anything worth buying. The SF store had some pretty weird stuff! Evan and I left rather perplexed. Plaid sleeveless tanks for men. Hammer pants with really low crotches for women. I'm still trying to process it all. After UO, we decided to hop back on BART @ Powell Street and head back to Pleasanton. We were BEAT!

Mom picked us up at the Pleasanton BART station and took us through the Taco Bell drive-thru. Just like old times! We watched an episode of Big Brother at the house, then drifted off to sleep. We were in the Bay Area. Trip out!

I woke up on Saturday to the sounds I grew up hearing- the neighbor's sprinklers going off at 4am, the 580 freeway rushing along in the distance, small aircrafts taking off from Livermore Airport, and Mom opening and closing the garage door- she had to go grocery shopping for breakfast food. Evan slept in while Mom + I got breakfast ready- scrambled eggs, hash browns, brown sugar and honey sausage, and english muffins. Mmm. My mom's good friend, Regina, brought over some almond champagne and joined us for what turned into quite a feast!

After breakfast, Mom and Regina dropped us off at the BART station. Ever since we saw a special about it on NatGeo, Evan + I have been dying to visit the California Academy of Sciences. The building is all eco-friendly, from the low-flow toilets and solar panel-covered awnings, to the 197,000 square foot "living roof," which has nine native California species growing all over it. The designers wanted to museum to look like they picked up a corner of California and slide the museum under it, and it really does. So cool. The museum also houses an entire aquarium, planetarium, natural history museum, and four-story rainforest. Evan's cousin, Ian, met up with us and we explored away. What an incredible place.

{solar panels}

{who's happy to be @ the california academy of sciences? me!}

We worked up quite an appetite at the Academy of Sciences, so we hopped in a cab and headed straight for Sam Wo. Can't get enough of that place. After lunch, we all walked back to BART and headed home. Mom recorded the UFC fight for us, so we ordered pizza and watched the fights. Evan was determined to start our drive back to San Diego at 3am Sunday morning, so we crashed out pretty early.

First alarm, 2:25am- snoozed. We didn't actually get out of bed until around 3:30am, and we weren't on the road until 4:12am. I was still pretty groggy, but I offered to drive home. Evan drove all the way north, so it was my turn. Protected by darkness, I cruised along the 5 at a rapid pace. It was nice to see the sun come up for the second time in less than a week. :o) We made it home, safe and sound, in exactly six hours (and that's including filling up before the Grapevine AND getting burritos in Escondido.) Evan swore I couldn't make it in six hours. Skills!

I'd have to say our first road trip was a HUGE success. We made great memories, took some amazing pictures, and got to spend time with our favorite people in the most amazing places. We can't wait to go East next time!

{I'll add better pics once we upload the photos off our good cameras!}