As you have probably noticed by our lack of posting recently, the summer was just plain crazy--busy would be an understatement; therefore, the reason for our lack of posting recently if you hadn't guessed. We've been doing so many things, working on items, wrapping up projects, etc. We will provide some fun updates on some of this later, but since fall is now being ushered in, we thought we would spend a few days breaking down how our summer unfolded/ended and pay a tribute to the ending of summer. (one of the saddest things to me, since I love summer)
We've been asked by several of you why we hadn't posted our trip pictures from this summer and so we're finally getting around to it now. (better late than never, right?)
This summer we both knew we really needed some time away, some time to unwind and focus on something more than just the day to day busy lives we sometimes find ourselves living. After having a lot of things going on earlier in the year, we decided to take a vacation. Since we hadn't taken one in two years, we thought it was about time and much needed. We had tons of ideas, but decided since we didn't vacation the year before and hadn't had a chance to celebrate our 5 year anniversary the year previously, we wanted to take a road trip. God blessed us in an amazing way and we were able to get the cheapest tickets we've ever gotten for a flight out West (which pretty much compared to flying somewhere on the East coast) Quite truthfully, it was really the only reason we took the plunge and moved forward to fly to the West Coast for vacation. So in a matter of just 2 weeks, we had booked tickets, mapped out our trip,
and off we headed to San Francisco...
and off we headed to San Francisco...
... and Seattle!
Now it would be our luck the night we flew out that devastating storms, that ravaged Oklahoma this summer, were going on and they had to re-route our flight South to avoid the dangerous weather. (which of course was certainly fine by me, but not the most reassuring thing you want to hear the pilot say over the loudspeakers right
before you depart!)
Late that night we landed in San Francisco pretty much exhausted since we had taken a red-eye flight. We had booked a hotel close to the airport so caught the shuttle and we all but crashed for the night.
To give you a little background, Nate & I are bargain hunters by nature and will "wheel and deal" for a good deal anytime we can, so though we've been skeptical in the past, we decided to take a risk on this trip and use Priceline and Hotwire to book our hotels, even though in some cases we didn't know exactly where we were going to end up staying until after it was booked. A bit risky you might say, but I have to say it turned out incredibly well and in our favor as we stayed in some great places in some great locations along the way for some ridiculously low prices. (I just might have done a few happy dances over the good deals we found...just maybe) Once we headed downtown and realized where our hotel was and saw the views we were blessed to have right outside of our window-- let's just say it was stunning and we were more than thankful!
These were the views from our hotel room window and the rooftop deck. (which was a fun surprise to find) The great part of this was that by dealing through Priceline, you usually will get the lowest class room at a great deal; however, when we arrived in San Francisco, we found that the entire block was having a power outage (which they said NEVER happens) and so things were in a bit of disarray upon our arrival. That said, they had assigned us several floors up, but the elevators weren't working, so they asked us if we wanted to just walk to our room and then come back a bit later once things were up and running. We decided to do that and went up to our room only to find that someone else was already in the room we were assigned. We quickly found someone to alert them that we just found someone in "our room" and could wait for another room.
They moved us down the hall to another new room, but upon entering our room it smelled like a bonfire (and mind you, we both actually love bonfires, but not as a room freshener) The funny part about this was that this was a pretty amazing hotel we scored for a great deal, so you could tell they were a little freaked out by the smell and issues. They had realized that a wedding that was being held there later that evening and the caterer had already started smoking some meat outside and somehow the odor was coming through the vents and into several of the rooms on the upper levels. We decided to just ignore it at that point and go out on the town for a bit and then come back and see if the smell had dissipated. They were extremely apologetic and so helpful throughout all of the confusion and chaos that had ensued due to the power outage.
So off we went to explore the beauty of San Francisco, heading down Embarcadero Street and along the many beautiful piers that San Francisco is known for.
Of course you have to stop at Pier 39 to take a few photos of the sea lions and get a view of Alcatraz. These were the funniest animals to watch. If sea lions can have a "personality" several of these certainly did...I just wished I had taken some video instead of photos- they were really funny to watch.
We quickly found out that San Francisco is the city of hills and very chilly breezes, even in the summer. Something we knew and had been told in advance, but you just don't quite realize until you experience it for yourself.
We decided to head back to our hotel to check out the issues from earlier in the day and to get ready for dinner. Not a bad view on the way back near our hotel is it? We decided to stay here a little while and enjoy the view and sunset.
Upon returning to the hotel, we found that unfortunately our "bonfire room" still had the funny smell of smoke and unfortunately we would need to change rooms. What happened next was pretty amazing as the same guy who had brought us up to our current room came back with new keys and said they apologized for all of the issues that day and wanted to upgrade us to one of their balcony level rooms. Let's just say we basically had gotten upgraded twice and now were staying in one of their best rooms with a view of the Bay Bridge and the Ferry Building. (insert a little excitement here) I was just a little excited as it was also our anniversary week, so how fitting that God would give us a great place to stay, would upgrade us several times for free, at the price of the cheapest room option from Priceline. (thank you "Mr. Meat Smoking Man" for messing up our room so that we could be blessed by an even better one. We both thank you.)
During our time in San Francisco we visited the Ferry Building which is a foodie's paradise. Some random lady just pointed at these as we walked by and told us to buy some as she comes there every Saturday to purchase breakfast. Of course you have to trust a local's advice when it comes to food--
I will assure you that these DID NOT disappoint.
We'd actually say that SF is a food lover's paradise in general. You can find just about any type of cuisine there and suffice it to say, we found our way to North Beach ("Little Italy") and had some wonderful Italian food (Nate might have been just a wee bit excited- ok, we were both excited for some authentic Italian)
...and of course there is the famous San Fran sourdough and clam chowder...
Obviously, this is not clam chowder, as I don't do clams, but Nate did try some.
Of course you can't be on the West Coast even if you're not a big fan of "fast food" and not stop at "In N Out Burger"...it's pretty much a requirement.
(yes, we see the grease, don't judge)
Though food is part of the San Francisco street scene, this little mode of transportation just might have been our favorite part of the city...
Someone at our hotel also gave us free tickets to ride these beautiful pieces of history, so since we had friends from San Francisco, they had given us advice on the best place to catch a ride so that you get the best possible ride to see a large portion of the city. Nate swears that in the process of me trying to get photos and ride one at the same time, I almost got my head taken off. I'm pretty sure I had my little system down, but he wasn't convinced I wasn't going to lose an arm trying to lean out for photos. (you have to do what you have to do to get a good city shot, right?)
At least he kept me safe during our ride, since we were the like the photo above, holding onto the outside bars since there was no room to sit inside. Our ride dropped us at Ghirardelli Square (& I'm pretty sure that is self-explanatory) where we received free chocolate and had an amazing ice cream sundae.
Of course a visit into the city isn't complete without a visit to Coit Tower, which boasts of amazing views of the city...
....and of course you can't skip spending some time in the largest Chinatown in the world outside of mainland China... (and obviously if there is anything Chinese close by, I can pretty much find it-- or at least that is what Nate seems to think...)
Ahhh...the streets here looked all too familiar for some reason...
This photo doesn't do it justice, but these grapes in Chinatown were the biggest grapes I've ever seen.
After we visited Chinatown, we were off to see Lombard Street-- deemed the crookedest (if it's not a word, it just became one) street in the world...
It's quite the hike up to this spot, but interesting to watch cars navigate down this steep and winding road...
Of course you can't miss the the Palace of Fine Arts...
Amazing architecture in both the Palace of Fine Arts and in St. Peter & Paul's cathedral where Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were married...
But of course, you can't leave San Francisco without a visit to its iconic landmark- The Golden Gate Bridge (or Golden State Bridge as Nate liked to refer to it as-- in a joking manner of course)
This massive red structure beside the turquoise water...truly an amazing site to see.
From what we heard, it's pretty much unheard of to obtain a lot of clear photos of this amazing architectural landmark, but we had some incredible days where we caught it just in time before the fog began rolling in...
To drive across this bridge was absolutely beyond words...
Within just a few minutes, the fog would roll in and you'd never even know this incredible structure even existed.
To say I had a fascination with this bridge is an understatement- let's just say that if Nate hadn't convinced me there were many other beautiful things to see in San Francisco and other parts of California, I might have just put up a tent and camped out here
at this amazing spot the rest of the week admiring this view and taking far too many photos of the same thing.
One of our last stops before heading South was Muir Woods, the Redwood forest that was probably one of the greenest and most serene places I've ever stepped into...
This would be my "Whoa, these are big trees" face...(no comments)
I love how God chooses to reveal Himself even through nature...
Though we loved our time in San Francisco, it was time to begin our road trip and head South to Carmel and Monterey by way of Route 1 heading towards Big Sur. What we didn't know was that what we had seen in San Francisco was about to be topped by our coastal drive down the incredible California coastline. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, it's absolutely true as you'll soon see.
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