California Dreamin'

About a week ago my sweet parents took our kids for a week and the two of us were off...ALONE...for a WHOLE WEEK! This summer we are celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary, so we wanted to take a fun trip together to celebrate.  We chose beautiful, sunny (sometimes foggy) California for a ROAD TRIP!!!

Arriving in LA we picked out this lovely car for the week....I mean who can resist a Smurf blue 'stang? We knew would couldn't loose it in the parking lot...although one time we did.

Upon arriving to LA we checked into our hotel, a bed and breakfast called The Inn at Playa Del Rey.  It was a beautiful bed and breakfast that was close to everything, yet not in the middle of all the craziness of the city.  

While in the LA area we biked from our B&B to Venice beach.  That night we went to the Santa Monica area to eat dinner and see the pier. 

I talked Ken into the Ferris Wheel, although he wasn't that thrilled to go up that high! 

I think I was cracking up at how scared he REALLY was!!

A more civilized picture...

The next day we went to all the touristy spots and even saw some REAL celebrities!! 

We saw Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, John Voight, Martin Lawrence, John Lovitz, Cal Ripken JR., Jim Rome who were all there for the Hollywood Blvd start ceremony of Jerry Bruckheimer.  

We enjoyed some yummy cheeseburgers at Mel's Drive!!

Before leaving LA that day we checked out an IKEA (Memphis sooooo needs and IKEA) and I only bought some yummy ice cream (Oh, and some swedish fish)!

Next Stop....Santa Barbara! This was the view from our room at the Santa Barbara Inn.

The one and only time I drove the car! 

Cruisin' to Santa Barbara!

Santa Barbara was very beautiful and interesting.  One interesting person we met was this guy One Feather. I really wanted to ask him what name his mother gave him that was so bad he felt to change his name to that...but I didn't.  This is One Feather's van.  He is trying to promote One Love through different characters and knick-knacks he has glued on his van. 

I found this little bus glued to his van....

After leaving Santa Barbara we hit the road for Pismo Beach.  When I was planning the trip no one really knew of it, but it seemed like a good stop for the third night.

Along the way we stopped at Pea Soup Andersen's a famous place for Pea Soup....Ken was unsure about the pea soup.  I think he was just going along with what I wanted to do.

The pea soup was delicious!

But Ken enjoyed his Monte Cristo sandwich much better...it truly was delicious!!!

We then went to a quaint little danish village named Solvang.  It was adorable and looked like we had been transported away from California! 

Another thing that caught our eye along the way were the miles and miles of strawberry fields!! It smelled heavenly!!

When we arrived at Pismo beach we saw this....

 and this....

and this....

and this....

The beach was amazing...very different from the beaches in the south!

We could have stayed in Pismo a few more days!!!

The next morning the beach was foggy, yet still beautiful! I was hoping to se some seals out early, but there was not one in sight!

We went to get some breakfast from Old West Cinnamon rolls while the fog burned off the beach.

They were VERY YUMMY!!!! I wish I had one now!!

After breakfast I had some down time here before hitting the road!!!

View from our room. This was at a resort called the Cliffs.

This was on Wednesday and so we headed toward San Luis Obispo for our first stop of the day...it was mostly to just chew up some bubble gum and stick it to a wall.  Now seeing how adorably cute the town is, I know we need to come back!!!

This is just part of "Bubble Gum Alley"...yes that is gum!!! Some of it more than 50 years old!!

It was gross and cool all at the same time!!

Ken used his gum to stick his testimony to the gum wall!! 

This would have totally freaked out my germ-a-phobic sister in law!! 

For lunch we stopped in Cambria for some yummy sandwiches and Pie.

After lunch we drove along Hwy 1 toward Carmel.  This was a long windy journey that took us many hours, but the views and sights we saw will never be forgotten!! God is an amazing creator!!

Morro Bay

A stop to see the Elephant Seals!

Winding our way up a mountain!

Can you see the waterfall?

This was at a beautiful place called Julia Pfeiffer Burs State Park! A must see!

A family used to live on this mountain and have this view! Can you imagine???

After our journey along why 1, we didn't have as much time as we hoped for in Carmel, but what we did see was pretty awesome! Another place I would like to return to!!

The next morning we woke up and took a quick ride through Monterey.  Again....time was running by fast and we had to get to San Francisco!

Coming into San Fran.

Arriving in the city we immediately crossed over the bridge and went straight into Sausalito!

After lunch we headed over to Muir Woods! Amazing!

We took some time to take more Golden Gate Bridge photos! 

Needless to say it was super windy and the guy taking our picture didn't speak English, so asking to take another was out of the question. 

For dinner we headed over to Ocean Beach to the Cliff House.  It was an amazing view with yummy food!!

On the way back to the car the sun was setting...it was amazing!!

Friday was our last day with a lot to see and do in San Francisco we opted for a bus tour to see as much as possible!

We stopped off in Chinatown for some lunch! 

We also had a good time traveling around by trolley!!

...and for fun.....The Full House houses!!!! 

It was bittersweet leaving, we had an amazing time, but we were REALLY anxious to see our babies!!!

After three flights, two layovers, some mickey dees and a few shipley donuts later....

We were back with our sweet kiddos!!!

This week would not have even been possible without my sweet parents taking the kiddos and entertaining them for the week!!! Thank you so much Mom and Dad!! The kids had a BLAST as well!!!