Golden Gate

It gets its own post, since I forgot to include it in the earlier one.

It seemed to be smaller in real life than pictures I had seen.

A view through it to San Fran.

One thing we were surprised by was the $6 toll charge to cross the bridge. Wowza.

San Fran Road Trip, part dos

Another Oregon picture.

I loved the mountain streams. I was really wanting to swim in this one, until I noticed all the crayfish in it. I know, I'm kinda wimpy.

Crater Lake National Park. It was exciting to find snow on July 20th! We had an impromptu snowball fight, and built a snowman, whom we named Alfred.

Look how blue! This lake was created by a volcano that collapsed (or something along those lines). The only way to put your feet in is by a two-mile hike down the mountainside. We decided no-go on the hike because we still had to find a campground for the night, and it was getting late.

After we left Crater Lake, we took the scenic Highway 1 from OR down the Cali coast. The redwoods were amazing! So big. Kayla loved them, as you can see from her high perch in the roots of this fallen one.
The road is up on the cliff to the left. For nine hours, it was 15-20 mph curves. I'm sure Sara got tired of driving them, but around each bend, it seemed, was another pretty view.

Finally, San Francisco. Our first stop was the Golden Gate bridge (and I just realized I forgot to put a picture of it in this post). We hiked up a hill and got some nice photos before the cold wind chased us back down.

The next day we spent mostly down at Fishermans Wharf.

Sea lions seem to do some human-like things. We spent a half hour watching them, laughing as one wife kept trying to wake up her sleepy husband.

Sourdough bread is a popular thing in San Fran. I thought the different shapes were pretty neat. We bought some sourdough toast, but to be honest, it just tasted normal. Maybe if I would have gotten the teddy bear...

This is the Bay Bridge, which goes out to Treasure Island, and continues through the island (tunnel) to Oakland.

Some random statue. I like it. Our pedicab driver didn't know much about it.

We rode a cable car up the hill to Chinatown. I held on to the bars and leaned way out. Exhilarating!

Lombard Street, famous for its crookedness. We didn't drive on it, because the line waiting to get on was pretty long.

We only spent a day and a half in San Fran, but it feels like we saw most of what we wanted to. On the way home, we stopped at the Great Salt Lake in Utah. I meant to touch the water, but when I got close, flies swarmed me. Yuck.

We camped in Park City, UT, at a nice RV resort with a stream just behind our tent.

The next day we made it back to Wyoming, where Mark showed off his new bow (which cost almost as much as my whole trip!) and made us feel at home again. Monday morning we left their camp for the final drive to MN.

We saw so many different things that our ten day trip seemed to last forever. I got a taste of the west, and I would love to go back, especially to Oregon, to explore further. Unfortunately, it now feels like summer is almost done. A few weeks of packing and cleaning, and then it's off on a new adventure.

142

is the number of hours I've spent in the car on trips in July thus far.

We arrived back in the cities late last night, dirty and exhausted, but so satisfied. Our road trip was so much fun!

Sara and Kayla K and I were the ones who went. We took along Flat Coralie, because notflat Cor couldn't get enough time off work.
Wyoming was great! Mark was the perfect host/tour guide. He took us exploring in a cave- we had to squeeze through holes and roll at some parts. I thought I would be scared, but it was too cool to be scary. Then we went on a drive through the Bighorn Mountains, which was picturesque.

After WY, we went through MT, then to Idaho. Our route followed the Snake River Canyon, which was neat. Lots and lots of waterfalls. This one is Shoshone Falls, which is called the Niagara of the West.

Oregon was the next state, and the prettiest. It seemed less populated, and more natural. This is taken at a scenic overlook.

The mountains in this picture are the Strawberry Mountains. We camped up in them, and hiked to a mountain lake and waterfall. Beautiful!! The wagon is a replica from the old days, because the road follows the Oregon Trail.

More trip pictures to come in the next few days....

Family wedding

Surprise, surprise, most of the pictures I took on the trip are on my dad's camera, which is inconveniently out in C. If you're friends with Joce on facebook, she put some up.

Darren and Allison got married at the chapel at Furman University in Greenville. It was a beautiful campus!

The weekend was busy. Dinners, brunch, doing flowers (rehearsal dinner ones only), and squeezing in as much family chat time as possible. I don't realize how much I miss Shane and Darren (and Brittany and Mya) until I see them. Mya is getting so big (she's 16.5 months)! She is sweet and calm, and in some ways opposite of Viv. I got to leave my bag on the floor the whole weekend, and she didn't dig in it once. :)

It was awesome to have Lynda and Aaron and their 5 youngest kids down there with us, just to see some familiar faces. I think my parents also appreciated it. Cousin Carl I. also attended the wedding, and it was nice to chat with him for a bit.

Sierra crawled for the first time while we were there. Unfortunately for her mother, we were at a ladies brunch, so only her dad and Grandpa witnessed it. Oh, and maybe Mya too.

I was glad to come home, but not as happy as Sierra. She was teething, and screamed for about the first quarter of the trip home.

Maybe after my next road trip out I'll do some big picture posts from SC and out west.

Hours in the car

19 to SC
19 back.

We're off tomorrow to Darren's wedding in SC. All of my immediate sibs will be there, plus half of the in-laws. Should be a busy, fun weekend!

After I return, I have one week of work, then off on another, longer roadtrip. That equals more hours in the car. They'll all be worth it, of course.

Celebrating early

Since his parents don't let him stay up late enough for fireworks, they got him some Pop-Its. I remember loving these as a kid, and he sure did too.

He had the drop, throw, and stomp (on the ones that didn't pop right away) method down pat.

Last night was fireworks to music in Plymouth. I have to admit, they were pretty darn good. Almost as good as my hometown ones, and maybe tied to the ones up north on the 4th.

A large crew met up and watched them together from our usual spot on the hill.

The kid in me wanted these super cheap fun bracelets, and I indulged her. There were 15 in the package, and no one turned one down :)

Having a little fun with night photos.