Pics for Trip 6

Disneyland











I'm terrified getting ready to go down Splash Mountain








Now Kristi's scared on Thunder Railroad








Me at the park entrance

Pics for Trip 5

Kristi with elephant seals behind her sun bathing.








Monteray Aquarium








Interior pool at Hearst Castle. The tiles are made out of real gold. and this was built in the early 1900's.







Hearst Castle atop a mountain

Pics for Trip 4

Alcatraz penitentiary








The hole in the wall just below the sink is where 1 of 3 inmates dug through the wall and escaped the island. They were never found dead or alive.






Alcatraz mug shots. The far left is Al Capone








On the island with San Fran in the background.

Pics for Trip 3

The Aveo driving through a large tree











Kristi inside one of the trees











California Coast








Golden Gate bridge and San Fran in background. Shortly after this is where I proposed to Kristi.

Pics for Trip 2

Sand Dunes in south of Florence, OR








I'm ripping up the dunes








This was the game park where we pet wild animals











Kristi feeding a baby spotted black panther

Pics for Trip 1

Kristi hanging ten at a local surf shop








Oregon coast








The coast was stromy and windy








Sea Lion cave above ground








Sea Lion cave 200 ft below the surface

More Stuff

I know I'm lacking on the posts I should be able to catch you up to date.

Day Five
On Thursday morning we went to Hearst Castle in San Simeon. The castle is up on top of a mountain over looking 9,000 acres and the ocean. It is now a state park but was once owned by Adolf Hearst. He was a huge news paper giant in the early 19th century. Quite a powerful figure who rubbed elbows with manny famous/interesting ppl. He let Zebra, Lamas, Elk, Moose, bears, and lions. He built his castle out of artifacts found in Spain, Italy, Greece, and Egypt. A very interesting property. Then it was several hours down the coast to LA. We drove around Sunset Blvd, saw Beverly Hills, the gates of the Playboy mansion (there wsa a mistake at the gate and we somehow didn't get out on the list to get in). Then ended the night with a comedy show at the Laugh Factory.

Day Six
We were finally ready for Disneyland. After sleeping in for the first time during the last six days, we drove to the theme park and after about an hour of trying to park we finally made it inside. The lines weren't horrible so we got to see quite a bit. My favorite ride was Space Mountain and Kristi's Indiana Jones. After spending most of the day at the park we drove down to Huntington Beach the surf capital of the US. I was hoping to see some surfers but it was too late in the day when we got to the beach. The area was stunning with surf, sand, beach volley ball nets, and a nice walkable downtown with freindly locals. I could get used to a place like Huntington Beach. After that we drove up to Hollywood to see Kristi's cousin perform a hip-hop show at a club. The show was great, the drinks over priced, the club was ok but not our usual type of place to hang. We prefer our local taverns to a dress code club any day.

Day Seven
We're making our decent home up I-5. We did stop in Bakersfield at an animal shelter that Kristi works with in Seattle. This shelter gets many dogs and will sometimes drive up I-5 to other shelters dropping off dogs at select shelters along the way. It was nice for Kristi to see the shelter and appreciate what they do. Other than that lots of driving in flat desertlike conditions. More tomorrow if we do anything fun.

Day four

Wed morning we went to the rock (Alcatraz). This place was cool and erie at the same time. You felt trapped on the island and once inside it was like a tease knowing San Fran was so close, yet unreachable. Then we went to Coit Tower which had amazing views of the city, we traveled down the The Crookedest Street, and checked out Twin Peaks lookout. One of the main stops I was excited to see was the San Fran museum of modern art. I've heard nothing but good things about the facility. Unfortunately its closed on holidays and Wednesdays. Lovely. So we continued south down 101 to Monteray to see an aquarium by the bay. The person who built this was co-founder of Hewlett-Packard. The aquarium was smaller than we anticipated but very cool and interactive. A great learning facility for kids. Finally we traveled 90 miles along the steep and windy coastline in the dark. Kristi scared the hell out of me driving (she was driving good, it was the fact that there was no guard rails and 200 ft cliff to the right of me).

Our trip

So unfortunately, I've been having issues uploading photos to this site. Therefore none of my posts are coming thru. So I'll recap now.

Day One
Drove down to Portland, OR then roughly 2hr to the Pacific. We trided to go to the Tilumuck Cheese factory only to discover it was closed do to a bursted pipe. So we headed south along HWY 101. The coastline was beautiful and the weather was wet. We stayed in Florence, about halfway down the state.

Day Two
Went to the Sea Lion caves just north of Florence. We took an elevator 200 ft down to the caves where over 200 sea lions were lounging. This was one of the most beautiful natural things I've ever seen. From there south to the famous sand dunes where we rented an ATV and drove all over the dunes catching air on some jumps and almost flipping our ride. Finally stopping in Cresent City just into California. The weather turned into a thunder storm off the ocean and got pretty gnarly.

Day Three
We drove most of the day. The roadway took us thru the Redwood National Park. Where we drove thru a cut out tree. The trees where huge, 22 ft in diameter. Only part of the drive was along the coast. The rest of the drive was hwy thru mts and wine country. Around the evening we entered San Fran where I proposed to Kristi with the golden gate bridge and the city in the background. She said yes. It was great. More tomorrow.