California

We made it to Cali. We ended up staying in a hotel which at first was annoying but then heavenly. We totally vegged out the first day, enjoying being clean and cozy. On Friday, we woke up and decided to head to San Fran. Jay had never been which was cool because I got to play tour guide. We went into chinatown first and found a sweet gallary of some crazy art. Then we walked to the bay and walked along the piers. When we got to pier 39 I was all excited to show Jay the sea lions. As we got closer I couldn't hear them and I couldn't smell them either. As the docks came into sight I got my hopes up to see that, what? there aren't any! There were like 5 sea lions out of the normal 100-200. Apparently the Califronia sea lion goes down south in the summer, total bummer.

The empty piers where the sea lions usually are...

We kept walking along the bay to see the golden gate. When we got to Ghiradelli Square we were going to take the trolley but the line was ridiculous so we decided to walk. We walked by Lombard St, the crookedest street in the world, and kept walking up and down hills through the city. Finally, we got to the BART and headed home, exhausted.

The next day we met my friend Hope for lunch. It was so great to see her and for Jay to finally meet her. She told me I had done well and it meant alot. We also got to grab a movie which was nice. We saw Wall-E and we both loved it! If you haven't seen it, go! You will like it.

We said goodbye to Hope and got onto Highway 1. Jay and I both agree that this is a favorite of the trip. Highway 1 is amazing! It runs along the coast on this crazy winding road. I got pretty sick while on it but Jay was totally loving driving on it. You drive through lush Redwood forests one minute and then hud the coast line the next. It was just amazing. We took a detour to drive along Avenue of the Giants and this was so awesome. The Redwood forests have an almost spiritual presence, a hush, like it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for a fairy to cross the road or for me to see an centuar out the window. We stopped to walk around in one of the more well known groves and it was so wonderful to walk among these giants. While on Highway 1, we also got to drive our car through a tree, which was a little silly but a must do for sure.

Massive redwoods...

We stayed the night at a really cool campsite along the highway once we got into Oregon. Jay was really excited and he began pointing out everything that Oregon had that was better than any place else. Immediately the people got nicer. We stopped for gas and the attendant came over and chatted with Jay while he pumped. At the campsite, our tent neighbors invited us to play apples to apples with them. The camp host was also super friendly. It def. gets contagious too, Jay and I are way more friendly around people than normal, not that we are usually mean or anything, but lets face it, I am a New Yorker, I consider making eye contact to be pretty darn friendly. We went to the grocery store and the cashier was really chatty as well. Crazy.

The other thing about Highway 1 that I forgot to mention is that you drive through these totally awesome small towns. It makes it hard to just drive right through because they draw you in. The stores also have the best names ever. Coffee places named "the human bean" or "brewed awakenings" Craft stores named "keep it art sea" Places like this are all over.

Highway 1 along the coast.

Jay and I are now sitting in downtown Portland in the library. My time is running out but I will attach the link for the rest of the photos and we will update soon!

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=248151216146783386/l=400466624/g=7887130/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB