Santa Barbara is a cushy town with a fifty fifty split of wealthy to lower middle class. Hungry after sightseeing we ate at the Taco Bell (my shameful guilty pleasure). One of the main attractions in downtown is the Court House. While it doesn’t sound glamorous the building offers a surprising mix of western architecture and beautifully painted murals. A short elevator ride up brought us to the tower which has a terrace offering a 360 degree view of downtown Santa Barbara, the mountains of course, the Pacific ocean.

Later that day we headed further down the Pacific Coast driving through Malibu and ending up at the Santa Monica Pier just in time to see the sun set. The view and the weather were perfect We stopped by the Arcade to play a few rounds of Skee Ball in which Jack proceeded to beat  me a few rounds in a row…with his winnings he bought me a plastic spider ring…he is the most thoughtful man I know. Our stomachs were rumbling so we grabbed veggie burgers at Swingers Diner. It was about 10pm so we headed south on the 405 towards LAX where our hotel was, and we hit tons of traffic! I always knew LA was notorious for their traffic, but at 10 at night its a little absurd. I’ve never seen so many cars and I wouldn’t be surprised if LA was the main reason for climate change.

The next day we did a bit of sight seeing at the usual tourist places: the walk of fame, a fancy brunch place, the Hollywood sign and also to the Griffith Observatory.  At the observatory we walked around the lobby area and exhibits for free, we had just missed the planetarium show which is only seven dollars per person. Griffith also had a working Telsa Coil which I was very excited about and proves how much of a dork that I am.

After Los Angeles we headed south to San Diego where we spent an entire day at the zoo mingling with all of the fabulous creatures that live there. We saw Koalas, Pandas, Polar Bears, Lions, and even a Jaguar! The Zoo is incredible and offers activities, an aerial tram and of course hundreds of gorgeously photographed animals.

Also in San Diego we checked out the La Jolla area and hung out at the beach at dusk for a little bit as people cleaned up from their Sunday picnics. While I didn’t get to see “downtown”, San Diego was a nice city and of course who can argue with the weather?

Our entire Southern California collection can be viewed here.

We stayed in Morro Bay, CA for two nights and headed back up the Pacific Coast Highway so that we could see Big Sur and Monterey.

On the way to Big Sur we stopped at the Hearst Castle, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Again, poor planning on our part meant that all tours were sold out for several hours and we could not go into the Castle for a guided tour. And again, there was unexpectedly an influx of tourists!

We drove a little further up to Big Sur Park, asking directions for where “Big Sur” actually was. We took a narrow, and I mean narrow road where you have to pay $5 to park so that we could enter the beach. We walked down a modest shaded trail and came across the Pacific Ocean at its strongest, smacking its large turquoise waves against jagged rocks. The wind was whipping sand in our faces, the bright California sun shining down, and there was a quietness that each person there possessed as if they knew they stumbled upon something special.

There were a few brave surfers but we weren’t that brave…there are warning signs everywhere stating that the tide rises often unexpectedly and so we kept safe up  on the beach and far from the waves. There are also two tunnels formed out of the rock which the waves break through every few minutes or so.

After our relaxation we drove up to Monterey in hopes to go to the oft-reviewed Aquarium, but we arrived a bit too late and did not want to be rushed. Not to mention meter parking is several dollars per hour! Instead, we grabbed a coffee, saved a few dollars and headed home after a nice day of driving Highway 1.

More pictures located in the Northern California album on flickr.

Yosemite National Park did not offer the grander or views that I was expecting….it did however offer traffic and lots of tourists! Despite the fact that the “peak” season is over all of the campgrounds were completely booked! We heard previously that its reasonable to book camping reservations weeks, even months in advance but we did not expect the park to be so heavily saturated with tourists come the fall. The Yosemite waterfall is hyped up in reviews and in the Lonely Planet US, but beware, there is no water in the waterfall after the summer season and the best views are in spring when the winter snow has begun to melt.

A lot of the main attractions of Yosemite such as Half Dome can be seen from the road. However a back country hike would offer better views and a connection with the wilderness in the area. Unfortunately, without a campsite, we needed to leave the park rather quickly in order to find accommodations for the evening, and so our experience was limited to the car.

We decided to head south to Kings Canyon where we easily found a campsite for the evening. Black bears are extremely prevalent in the area and are habituated to humans in the region as well. The park does not take bears lightly, and we needed to put all food, toiletries, soaps, towels, etc into the secure lock bear boxes located in our campsite. The bears are able to see in color and they can and will easily locate an object in your car and rip it apart until they get what they want. As they say in the parks “A fed bear is a dead bear” and it’s no joke. Bears who become aggressive once they have had high-calorie “human foods” will be euthanized for the publics safety, understandable on one level, but sad on many others.

We were in a bit of a rush to get back out to the coast but we did get to drive through Sequoia, overlooking Kings Canyon from viewpoints, seeing the mountains in the distance, and even getting to drive through a fallen tree. And of course, we got to stand in the shadow of the worlds’ largest tree; The General Sherman Sequoia – a massive wonder with a 102.6′ base circumference, a 275 foot stature, and  is around 2,500 years old. The tree was absolutely beautiful.

You would need to stack over 50 of me to equal the General Sherman Tree in Height!

San Francisco. Where do I begin?

San Francisco, above all things is expensive. We had much difficulty finding a hotel within the city that wouldn’t break the bank. My mom however came through and let us utilize some of my parents hotel points to get a room for two nights at the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf! Thank you mom and dad.

BUT….Our first of three nights in San Francisco we actually stayed at the Holiday Inn near the Civic Center. Apparently the Civic Center is a dangerous neighborhood. We saw lots of homeless people but no violence, which we found out after the fact, is very high in that area. Phew for us. And I will just mention quickly that we had a few issues with the Holiday Inn as well as most guests checking in, so I would highly recommend not staying there. Starving from a long day of driving we headed on the bus over to Herbivore for a late dinner of fresh squeezed juice and tempeh sandwiches.

In the morning we went to Fisherman’s Wharf and walked along the water seeing the individual piers. We then went to Coit tower and overlooked the city and Alcatraz. Being a fan of Jack Kerouac I wanted to see Jack Kerouac Alley where the writer used to frequent in his youth. The walls are painted with various poetry of the beat generation and it was surreal to know I was standing in the same place where some of the most influential American writers spent their nights.  We then walked down to the Chinatown district where a very crowded street fair was occurring. I felt like we had walked through a time warp and ended up in Asia, there was so much going on, colors, food, and culture! It was great.

Next we checked out the farmer’s market which is every Saturday AND all year long! It easily rivaled Pike Place Market and I would guess that 99% of the goods were organic AND local which made us very happy. After sampling some local fruits we hopped on the trolly car to check out the Castro District, San Francisco’s famous LGBT neighborhood where the once Castro Camera store (now turned furniture store) still stands with a huge painted mural of Harvey Milk in the window. This neighborhood, once a refuge for gays and lesbians across the country, turned turmoil fueled neighborhood, then back to refuge is proud with it’s rainbow flags and openly accepting attitude. The Haight Ashbury district once heavily plagued by drugs is now a happening artistic neighborhood comprised mainly of young professionals and artists alike.

Our third day in the city we got up early and went to Pier 39 to check out the Sea Lions which live their and bask in the sun on floating docks. We then went to the SFMOMA so Jack could check out art exhibits and I could browse the Richard Avedon exhibit. What an incredible photographer he was! Avedon makes me want to learn so much more about portrait photography. The rest of the art at the SFMOMA was intriguing as well, and they also boast an outdoor rooftop sculpture garden where you can take off your sandals, lay in the sun and sip on a cappuccino.

That evening we met up with Joey, an old college friend of mine and got some food while we caught up and reminisced about college. Hard to believe it’s been three years since we graduated…time is really flying by! It was great to see him and know that he’s using his engineering degree to it’s full extent, but I cant help but be a tad jealous.

On our way out we stopped in San Jose to check out the Winchester Mystery House. Striking and odd architecture set the scene for this Victorian home. Thirteen windows are in most rooms, staircases lead to the ceiling, and chimneys end before even exiting the house. Sarah Winchester, heir to the Winchester fortune, started creating the house after she lost both her husband and daughter. She blamed the spirits of those killed by the Winchester Rifle for the deaths of her family and set out to build a house that would never stop being built, to confuse the spirits that followed her. It’s sad to think that Sarah Winchester really just had a broken heart and was in mourning for her entire life after losing her loved ones, but her house is a testament of dedication and perseverance, and for that I must admire her.

I absolutely loved San Francisco. We were able to hop off the trolly car and buy a veggie dog, or venture further into the heart of the city where you could mingle with the locals, find yourself lost in one of the many boutiques, or lazily lay about in Golden Gate Park. One day, I would like to call San Francisco home…but it’ll be a while before I can afford to move out there.

Update We fixed the link and our full set of San Francisco pictures are here!. Also, I’m embarrassed that I completely forgot to mention a fabulous little Mexican place we went to for dinner on our second night in the city. Colibri located not too far from downtown and easy accessible by the trolly car offers a moderately priced home-style mexican menu with a twist. The service and ambience were great as well as our meals. I had a mashed cauliflower dish topped with creamy mushrooms and cheese in a light tomato sauce and Jack had the Chiles Rellnos. To top off our night we had coffees and melt-in-your-mouth Mexican chocolate cake. We would highly recommend this place!