**ROAD TRIP**

Michael and I have only been able to spend less than 2 weeks together in the past 3 months because he has been working in Alaska again!! (It was actually a little less than 3 months this time... but still - 2 months and 3 weeks is a loooong time to be with out your hubby!) So, to celebrate him being all done, and to just have a little M & L time- we decided to go on a ROAD TRIP!!

Michael originally wanted to go to the Redwood National Park... but then decided that it would be a lot of fun for us to go spend sometime in the gorgeous San Francisco on the way! Neither of us had ever been, so we were both really excited to go.

We left on Thursday morning... drove all day, and got into San Francisco at about 8 p.m. (it is about a 12 hour drive). This is the beautiful sight we saw as we drove into the city...

Going over the bridge into the city: So, I have to admit, I have always had this romantic idea of San Francisco. After seeing so many movies, and hearing all about it, I was super stoked to go see it all. But WOW... there are A LOT of people in San Francisco!! Getting to our hotel that first night (we stayed at one right in the heart of downtown... big mistake, it was SO LOUD at night, we both had a rough time sleeping with all of the people and honking and sirens. CRAZY!) First of all, the streets are SO slim, and you have to try and find parking, which is a joke, we ended up driving the block of our hotel 3 times trying to find a spot, finally, after getting honked at and yelled at (there are some very HONK HAPPY people in San Fran!!) we just decided we would Valet it :).

After kinda sleeping on Thursday night, we were so excited to get out on Friday, ride the trolley around and see all the exciting sights that San Francisco has to offer!
Seriously, San Francisco is GORGEOUS!! There are so many amazing things to see! The weather was perfect, not too warm, but not cold either.
I heard the Clam Chowder was to "die for" in San Francisco.... and I'm not much of a clam chowder gal... but DANG! This chowder was INCREDIBLE!!! (THANK YOU MIRANDA!!!) Seriously, SO good. We decided to go for a nice seafood lunch on the Pier, and it absolutely did not disappoint! Some of the best Salmon I have ever had! YUM!

We walked all around Pier 39, and Ghirardelli square (where we of course got some yummy samples).

There was one point on the Pier, where you could see The Golden Gate bridge to one side of you, and Alcatraz to the other! Again, San Fran is BEAUTIFUL!!

Also on the Pier, was a wax museum. A-W-E-S-O-M-E! It was so much fun to walk around... some of the figures looked SO REAL... but then again, some didn't look real at all. We totally loved it though!

One of these is real....can you tell which?!

While walking around the wax museum... they have a "Haunted" area... seriously, there were some REALLY creepy things to see! There was "Execution chair" so I of course had to try it... it scared the crap out of me! Ha ha, after sitting for like 15 seconds, it suddenly blows air in your hair and back, I wasn't expecting that at all!!
Here were all of our favorites:
That day we also saw a little bit of China Town, and went to their HUGE mall! Absolutely THRILLING!!!

The next day we headed across the Golden Gate Bridge...
And drove to Napa Valley. Oh. My. Hannah!! SOOOOOOOOOO Beautiful!!! Seriously, I could ABSOLUTELY live there! It was such a peaceful drive! We stopped and walked around one of the MANY vineyards..... Such a perfect day - Saturday it was in the 70's! AHHHH!!!

After Napa Valley we drove waaaaaayyy up the coast to Eureka to spend the night, so we could hit the Redwood National Park on Sunday.

The next morning we woke up to a little bit of drizzling... not too bad though - it was the first time it rained the entire trip, so we weren't complaining!

We were so excited to find the "Drive-Thru Tree"!

These trees were HUGE! And they are all so straight too! We made a quick stop to see Paul & Babe the Blue for a bit...

Then we headed up thru Cresent City into Oregon and headed back home again. It was about a loooong drive... we put in about 2,100 miles! It was SO GREAT to get to spend so much time with the just the two of us! 5 years later and we are absolutely, 100% still smitten with each other! ****Couple of funny random stories from the trip:

*Walking past a woman, that was definitely a man... and a homeless man - their conversation went as follows: Homeless guy: "I have been clean for 2 weeks now" She-guy: "Oh well your hair looks fabulous!" HA HA HA!!! Michael and I had to try so hard to keep a straight face.

*Seeing an old guy blow a snot rocket then wipe his fingers on the wall! EW RIGHT?! LOL!!!