Northern California Vacation

Shane and I just got back from an amazing trip around Northern California. I had a week off from work so we hopped in the car and drove to California! It was a lot of driving but we actually had a good time. We listened to 2 books on tape while we drove. We stopped off at several different places and saw and did a ton, while still sleeping in, relaxing and just enjoying being away from home for a week. And I must add that we had perfect weather. It was in the mid 80's and didn't get that cool weather you get in San Francisco a lot. It was sunny, clear, and warm the entire week.

Here's a little re-cap of our week.

Quincy
We started off by surprising Shane's mom in Quincy, CA. That is where Shane grew up and it's way up in the forest, Northwest of Reno, NV. Needless to say, we really surprised her. We were going to call her when we pulled into town to at least give her 2 minutes to prepare but when we called she was on the phone and her phone was busy. So we just pulled up and rang the doorbell. She was still on the phone and luckily she was talking to Shane's sister because she screamed into the phone when she saw us. We only stayed one night but it was fun to visit and I even got to meet one of Shane's uncles that I had never met before. Here is a picture of our drive from Quincy to San Francisco. It was such a pretty drive.



San Francisco
On our way down to San Francisco we stopped at the Jelly Belly factory. We took a tour and it was so fun and informative. They can make 35,000 centers of the Jelly Belly every minute and it takes 7-21 days to make a Jelly Belly depending on the flavor. They can also stamp 20,000 per minute with it's Jelly Belly logo. We got lots of free samples while we were there and of course picked out a bag of our favorites to enjoy for the rest of our trip. I had no idea that Jelly Bellly makes Candy Corns...I LOVE candy corns. So I had to take my picture in front of this wall. I got to try one and while I am usually very partial to the Brachs brand, they actually tasted really good.





Sunday we drove down the coast for a while and found a small, secluded beach right off the highway that wasn't crowded at all. It was beautiful. We finished listening to our first book on CD that we had and then watched the waves crash against the rocks and just enjoyed the scenery. One piece of scenery I could have done without was a naked, old man walking down the beach...yep completely naked. Sick! After the beach, we went and walked around the Oakland Temple.









The next day we headed into San Francisco. Shane and I have both been there several times so we didn't do a lot of the touristy stuff. We each wanted to do one thing. I wanted to ride the Cable Cars...of all the times I have been to San Francisco, I've never been on the cable cars. It was pretty fun watching how the work them and I got to hang off the side of it as well. Shane wanted to eat Shrimp on the Pier. So we headed into town, caught the cable car over to Pier 39, walked around the shops and then ate dinner on the Pier. Shane was soo happy he got to eat 'Shrimp Fest' (yes that was the name off of the menu.)





Santa Cruz
After San Francisco we headed down to Santa Cruz. Shane went to college for 2 years in Santa Cruz so we drove around and looked at the town for a while. I got to see where he lived, etc. Then we walked down to the boardwalk. We were really disappointed that the rides they have on the boardwalk close during the week after Labor Day (no wonder our hotel room was so cheap.) We were sad, but still had a good time. We walked around the pier, saw the Sea Lions that hang out all around the pier and then had dinner overlooking the ocean. So gorgeous! Later that night we went back down to the beach for an after dark walk along the beach. I love the sound of the waves and just walking along the beach. The next day we went and walked around Steamers Lane and watched the surfers catch some waves and then headed out of town.







Lake Tahoe
We spent a short time in Lake Tahoe but enjoyed it just the same. We didn't do much, we walked down to the lake from our hotel, ate dinner and then just enjoyed some down time back at the hotel.



All in all we had a great vacation and it was nice to be gone for a week and get away. It was also nice that while we did lots of fun things, we didn't try too pack to much in and had some nice down time as well. I even got to read an entire book while I was gone, which I loved!!