California

Before Jordan and I got engaged, we went on one of the most amazing trips with his family. Just a month after starting a real, full-time job where I no longer got to go to the beach with little kids and write articles about sports every now and then, we flew out to San Francisco for a week of West Coast adventures. That picture right up there, was the view from our first stop in Carmel.
The weather was unseasonably warm when we got there (in the 80s), which is right up my alley! Sadly, Steven couldn't make the trip because of Lacrosse commitments at school. But, he got to go to Aruba in December...so I think we're all even.


Before we arrived in Carmel, we got the rental car from the San Francisco Airport and drove through Palo Alto to see Stanford University. We had a great lunch on the main street and walked throughout the campus to get a feel for what it would be like to be a West Coast brainiac.

Once we got down to where we were staying, we relaxed by the pool and took in the amazing views! Immediately, I was considering how I would pack up and move to California:)

The 17-mile drive was amazing as we made our way to see Big Sur.

Again, we stopped for lunch at this really trendy and cute outdoor bistro. Apparently every other person visiting thought to do the same thing so we sat and waited for what felt like 5 hours:)

We also took a hike in the Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park where we saw some awesome waterfalls.

Jordan and Brandon hikes up the side of this cliff to prove their manliness.
Our last night in Carmel, everyone told us we needed to see the sunset. What the failed to mention was that the walk there was much longer than expected so we missed all but 7 seconds of it. Luckily, we had our cameras out and ready! It was beautiful.

Then, we drove back up the coast to San Francisco to finish out the trip. We stopped in Pebble Beach to make it seem like we golfed there by buying a bunch of stuff the course name on it.
And, what I had been waiting for, we saw the SEALS! You can't tell in this picture, but behind us are rocks with hundreds of seals hanging out on them.
Then, we took an awesome bike ride along the coast through Monterey. We biked through the town, along the coast and through some sand dunes that took us up for some more amazing views of the coastline. And of course, we saw more seals, and as always, stopped for lunch on the way back.
Then, to San Fran! Our hotel was AWESOME. If you every travel to San Francisco, the W hotel is amazing. It's trendy and hip--just what I like:) I think the real difference is just the feel of the west coast. It's so different from anything we've grown up with and I absolutely love it out there. The city of San Francisco feels a lot like Boston and is shockingly, even more expensive. I love the artsy culture, the architecture and the whole feel of a city with SO many hills.

Our first full day there, we took a day long tour to get a feel for the whole city in the short time we were there. I learned a LOT during the tour but I think most of it overloaded me and went right out of my brain. (Story of my life). But, below is a picture of the Crookedest Street. Very awesome and terrifying and amazing that people actually live on it. It's a zoo with so many tourists everywhere but its awesome.
We also stopped at the Presidio National Park where George Lucas opened offices for LucasFilm and some other digital arts facilities. There were statues of Yoda, Darth Vader and hundreds of figurines.
We saw the floating boat houses in Sausalito which is both incredible and terrifying all at the same time. I'm scared to death of floods and any form of natural disaster and this is a little too risky for me. But, it is awesome to see people's boats outside their doors and the character each home has.
We went on ANOTHER hike through a Red Wood forest. (sorry, too lazy to flip this photo right side up)
We spent our second that in San Fran on the Marina and Fisherman's Wharf. The weather was a drastic change from the beginning of the week and was in the mid 60s. It was still sunny and beautiful and there were still plenty of Seals everywhere:)
We saw the Golden Gate!
We went to dinner at the Slanted Door for our last night! It was delicious!
And you can't leave San Francisco without taking the Trolley...so we walked to the top of the highest hill (lines to get on one of these things are ridiculous!) and took the trolley downhill. It was awesome but scary.
Finally, we saw Alcatraz and took a tour of the whole prison. We hit all the top places to see and go to in Northern California in about 6 days! I am SO thankful that the Burkes took me along for the ride!