as california as i get

The title isn't true actually, because I really like California. The two times I visited the state in recent years have been with Jon, and I've loved it more each time we've been. Our first trip there was filled with the spontaneity of being newly married. Jon picked me up after work and told me we were headed on a date. I figured out after a little while that the destination was Las Vegas, and when I suggested a couple days later that we go visit his grandfather in Newport Beach, plans further evolved. Then, when I graduated from BYU, Jon suggested we take a trip down the Pacific coast to celebrate. So that summer, with Paisley still a kitten traveling the roads with us, we spent a week after we visited family in Washington driving and visiting friends and family in Oregon and California. One of our main destinations was San Francisco, while staying with Jon's aunt and uncle in Napa. We took the ferry over to the city from Vallejo, and spent a day in what became one of our favorite cities.

After spending not even two hours on Highway 1 after the 101 gets a little boring, we bagged it and headed back to I-5. The road proved so windy it made Jon, who was driving, sick. And with me as the pregnant passenger, you can only imagine the results of a windy road.

The next photos are some classic scenes from our day trip to San Fransisco, June 2009. I never expected it to be so cold, so when you see my pregnant belly, silly beneath the clumsy zipper of my non-maternity jacket, that explains it all.





We took the next series of photos on our "boat tour" of the bay. We obliged the fisherman advertising his boat for cheap tours, and all was fun and games at first, as we putted out towards Alcatraz and over to the sea lions. Then a cigarette boat flew past us, creating such a huge wake which caught our captain off guard, that our boat literally almost tipped. We honestly still can't believe that we didn't end up in the drink, our precious camera included.





As the ferry pulled away, we definitely felt sad, but also felt like we could live there. I think it really reminded us of Seattle. And we've wanted to go back ever since.

ps today's song of the day is Katy Perry's "California Girls." I told Jon that if Katy Perry comes up on the jukebox tomorrow morning, I'm going to have to disown him.

today

loving this image, which I found thanks to this blog. yes, I'm a little excited to be flying there today.

savor the state: national park tour fall 2010 day 4

Zion National Park. Because why not add a fourth national park in 4 days? And we had to get back to I-15 somehow. Both times we've visited this park, we've missed out on taking the bus into Zion Canyon. But as a plus, last time we saw Kolob Canyons, and this time we went hiking.

on the way to the view point, we ran into a monster tarantula, who of course crawled above our heads for the trip back down (I probably almost died)

Emory slept, again

and we drove the long stretch of I-15 back home

savor the state: national park tour fall 2010 day 3, part 2

So we drove the 160 miles or so from Bryce Canyon to the Grand Canyon on Highway 89. The road is mostly scenic with a few small towns here and there, and side-of-the-road rock shops. In one of the small, southernmost towns in Utah, we stumbled on this little classic car dealership. Most places down there remind us of scenes from Radiator Springs.

and since we've talked about it for years and had the chance, we stopped by Coral Pink Sand Dunes, got a little disappointed with the park, and then played in the mud to make up for it
(I did tell Jon it would make him crazy to be there without an ATV of some kind)

the drive in northern Arizona began as a barren wasteland but turned into an astonishing scenic route through the Kaibab National Forest: sections of the road showcased nature's fury and the leftovers of wildfire; elsewhere, the view opened up to vast meadows amongst the thick trees



please forgive those who don't know how to operate our camera-we wanted a family photo

possibly one of the greatest moments was when Jon thought a much smaller side canyon was our final destination; it made his first view of the real thing even better

we loved how rustic and forested the north rim is (I visited the south rim probably 17 years ago)

and Jon loved the lighting at sunset, while Emory loved on Riley the fox, though we maybe should have gotten him the stuffed Kaibab squirrel they sold in the gift shop (at least we saw one in the wild on our drive into the park)

And then that was it. No hiking, no plans to return the next day, we just needed to see it, you know? Plus the next day was 10/10/10 and a huge group of bright-yellow-shirt-wearing folks of all ages were scheduled to hike from rim to rim. It was a zoo.

savor the state: national park tour fall 2010 day 3, part 1

On our third trip to Bryce Canyon NP in the past year, we finally got to hike amongst the hoodoos. (Last year we had a tiny baby and I was too recently postpartum to want to take a strenuous hike and our trip at the end of February was accompanied by feet of snow in southern Utah). Anyway, the hoodoos are so much larger than they seem from above. And the stone is much harder and colder than I would have imagined.

we started out on the Navajo Trail, but when we found it partly closed, we trekked through the park onto the Queens Garden Trail


I know I'm such a geek; I just couldn't get over how different the hoodoos are from what I imagined them to be

Emory thought holding hands on the trail was great and then he fell asleep
(thankfully he slept in his backpack since he boycotted naps in the car seat)


see how tall?


what goes down must go back up

After about 3-4 miles and an hour or two, we decided to head to the Grand Canyon. Jon really wanted to feel satisfied with the trip, and what can I say? He talked me into it.