The Finale - - San Francisco

I love San Francisco! The last time I was there, I couldn't stop thinking about Joey. I wanted him to ask me out again a.s.a.p! So I was thrilled when I came home from that trip to his phone call, asking if he could take me out for my 21st birthday! What does that little story have to do with the final part of our road trip? Nothing really. Other than that was my way of convincing him we had to go there because it had been far too long since I had my S.F. fix! 

Back to the road trip!

My parents met us in San Francisco. We decided to get there a day earlier than planned so we could see more of the city and explore together. We rode B.A.R.T. into the city and began our walk from the Ferry Building, all along the pier to Boudin's then over to Ghirardelli (mmm). Later than afternoon, we picked up  my parents from the airport and went to a family favorite, Thai Town (!) for dinner. Favorite thing there - - definitely their coconut juice with these long pieces of soft coconut. So good.

Sunday, we went to a Somoan Ward for Church. It was the best. They sang so beautifully. I would just close my eyes and listen, absolutely loving it.

That afternoon we drove into the city. We had a delicious lunch at Tony's Napoletana, super good pizza and brussel sprouts!!

At lunch. 

From there we went to Lincoln Park. It is such a beautiful park. It's right along the ocean and has a great lookout at the Golden Gate Bridge. The only thing, it was so windy there!!! Hence the following picture:

 I love this picture of him! 

That night we went to Ghirardelli with my mom's friend Audrey. They have been friends since the 3rd grade! We LOVE to get giant ice cream sundaes there. 

We enjoyed a lovely dinner from Whole Foods. The only problem... mine always costs so dang much. The price is based off of the weight. You would think a salad really won't be that heavy. Yeah, not mine. 1 1/2 lb salad!! That dang tofu adds a lot of the weight. But it is so good. We took our salads home and enjoyed them in the comfort of our hotel rooms. Perfect!

Our final day in San Fran we walked a long ways to a fun store called the Sport's Basement. I love the walk! The best way to see San Francisco is by foot. The weather was perfect and the views are so beautiful. Yeah it's fun to shop there and see the city, but I can do without all of that. I just want to be down by the water, walking through nature along side my husband. It was perfect.

We finished the day at "The Stinking Rose". Go there if you LOVE garlic and don't mind smelling like it or tasting it for days. Everything is full of it. It is so so good!! Favorite item: Bagna Calda!! It is a pan of olive oil and about 100 roasted garlic cloves. It just melts like butter on to bread and is full of flavor. But it may make your husband not want to kiss you the rest of the night :) It helps when he had a ton of the good stuff too!

"Stinking Rose"

See you next time San Fran! 

Before hitting the road for the long haul, we drove to Santa Cruz. I have always wanted to go there. The boardwalk was desolate and a little creepy. But we could picture how fun it would be in the summer! We walked along the pier, watched the sea lions, and had a slice of yummy pizza from Pizza My Heart! Even though it was short, I'm glad we made the stop!

View of the Boardwalk from the pier.

Our plan was to get up and drive the whole 12 1/2 hours back to AZ the next day but we were feeling a little fried by the time we reached Ontario so we decided to stay the night. But not until we filled our bellies with In-N-Out and Yogurtland! :) It was my first burger in at least a year. A monumental moment for me. 

After a good night's rest, we were ready to hit the road and drive the final 5 hours. 

We were excited to get back after our 16 day adventure. We missed our families and nieces and nephews like crazy!! 

The stats of the trip:

Miles traveled - 4,133 

Hours of driving - 57 hours

Tickets - 0!!!!! (Miracle!)

And here's how it looks... Sorry Nevada, we don't like you very much.

Funnest trip!! I wish we could do it again! 

Next Adventure: CHINA!! 

We leave February 7th for 4 1/2 months. 

Excited. Scared. Curious.

Wish us luck!

Week 2 of 4,133 MILES of FUN!!

After driving for a few hours from McCall we arrived in Moscow Idaho to visit the University of Idaho Law School. Moscow is a small town about 4 to 5 hours north of Boise. We liked it there! Rolling hills, older yet quaint homes and a killer food Co-Op! We drove around through the neighborhoods to see where we could potentially live and we found a cute home for sale! So I grabbed a flier and started looking it over. It was definitely beautiful inside and newly renovated, lots of windows with an incredible view! Only one thing... it was $320,000. Bummer. Maybe someday! 

We liked the school. Nothing fancy but we loved the admissions lady we met with. She told us right then and there that Joey was accepted!! We were excited!! Our options were growing! 

View from one of the neighborhoods. Down below is a walkway to the school. 

After a short visit to the U of I we drove a few more hours through narrow, winding roads to Selah, Washington. Joey served 6 months of his mission there and he hadn't been back since then so we were both excited to visit! Instantly old memories started coming back to him as we drove through the streets of Selah. He would say, "This is where so and so lives" or "That place gave missionaries free food". We visited a couple of families that night. I had heard so much about the Brown's and Hodson's so I was thrilled to finally meet them! We stayed the night at the Hodson's home and stayed up light chatting up a storm with them. They were so great! 

This is us with Sister Hodson right before leaving.   

That morning we visited one more family that Joey taught while he was there, the Upsons. A great family with cute kids, even a 3 year old break dancer! We were impressed!

I was more than excited for the next part of the trip. We were heading to my "Heaven on Earth"! Cannon Beach, Oregon. I have been wanting to go there with Joey ever since we have been together!! Even the drive to the Oregon Coast was gorgeous. We passed multiple Lakes high up in the mountains that were unlike any I had ever seen. 

A Christmas Tree Farm!! We passed so many of them!

57 hours spent like this! 

Yes... I said 57 hours!

Pretty much I could talk about Cannon Beach for a really long time. I have so many memories there. I wish we could have stayed there for weeks!

We stayed in Seaside, about 10 miles from Cannon Beach.

I was a little depressed to find out my favorite pizza place, Pizza a' Feta was closed for the week along with my favorite bakery. Tears may have actually come to my eyes. Apparently the week we were there is considered to be the slowest week along the north Pacific coast. At least we had most of the beach to ourselves! 

Oswald Beach

You have to hike down through super tall, lush, moss covered trees to get to Oswald Beach. Love it!

A little goofy? Maybe. But we were excited! We had just received a call from the 

University of Nebraska telling us he'd been accepted there too! It was an awesome moment. 

Welcome to Ecola Park! 

(why are my pictures not clear when I load them on blogger?? Annoying.)

 Oregon at sunset. Love it! We ran many miles on this beach. 

View from our balcony. 

From there we headed to the Tillamook Cheese Factory! Favorite thing there... 

TILLAMOOK ICE CREAM! It is the BEST. 

Chocolate-Peanut Butter and Sweet Centennial. Mmmm. I miss it!

From there we headed to Vancouver, Washington to visit more of Joey's mission. One of Joey's friends, Curtis, took us out to dinner and drove us around these neighborhoods in Brush Prairie that had the biggest houses!! They were so pretty! And most of them had these incredible views high up in the moutains. 

We visited another family that Joey taught on his mission. They were such an awesome family!! We loved being able to talk with them and hear about their lives. Thank you for letting us visit Fosteers!

After a late night there we decided to drive to Albany Oregon so we could get a head start on a long day of driving the next day. We arrived at midnight, got a quick nights sleep, then headed to Eugene, Oregon. Do you understand how much I love running? How much I WISH I could be this incredible runner racing at the University of Oregon or training there?!? It is a beautiful place and the second we turned into the school there it was... Hayward Field. I was thrilled!! I ran in to snap pictures because I just couldn't believe I was there. They had the 2008 Track and Field Olympic Trials there and will have them again this Summer. Oh how I wish I could go to it!! 

Running in my socks! But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to run a bit here!

We visited the Law School there and it was beautiful. Joey loves Oregon so he'd enjoy going there and I would love to be there simply because of the running community. Too bad tuition is a bit more expensive there, but you never know! We'll see what happens!

Next up, an 8 hour drive to San Francisco. But we had to pit stop at this beauty.

Mount Shasta! My Aunt has climbed this! It's 14,000 feet! 

She is a-w-e-s-o-m-e!

 I look forward to hiking this someday!!

After a long 8 hours, we finally made it to San Francisco. 

But that deserves a post of it's own! 

4,133 Miles of Fun!

Where do I even begin?

For the past couple of months, Joe and I have been planning to go on a really long road trip. And when I say "long" I really mean long! We were on a mission, a mission to search out the law schools on our list and get a feel for the school and communities we may potentially be moving in to.

We both graduated from ASU in December so we wanted to run away and celebrate our accomplishment and sense of freedom from the daily grind of school! We were school-less, jobless, and homeless. Quite the triple combination huh? So why not embark on a 4,000 mile excursion!?

On January 2nd we picked up our rental car and loaded up.

First stop: Flagstaff! We like to break up the drive to Utah so staying at the West's house is the perfect place! Rhonda is always so hospitable and we love being there!

The next morning we headed on up to to Salt Lake. Staying at the Slater home is one of our favorite places to be when away from home. It feels like home there! We expected to drive into Utah and see snow everywhere but nothing. Only high up in the mountains. That night we were treated to a delicious homemade soup and artisan bread, so yummy!! While in Utah, we visited BYU Law School and sat in on a criminal law class and toured the school. It was fun!

That night we attended the beautiful  Jordan River Temple... Loved it!

The next day we began training for our upcoming adventure in China! We spent two days at the Provo City Library learning all sorts of things about the school in China and the culture there. Wow. It is going to be crazy fun there!

Provo City Library. Beautiful building!

Our friends Mark and Melissa had us over for dinner while in Provo. They recently had a baby boy and he is one handsome guy! It was so fun to see them and catch up! Talk about being baby hungry after leaving their place though. Man oh man I can't wait for us to have our own!
Thanks for a fun night guys!!

 Our last night in Salt Lake it snowed!! Finally!!! I was so excited when we woke up and saw everything in white! So Joe went right out to help clear off the driveway. It brought him back to the good ole days of his mission when they would shovel snow for people in their area for hours on end.

 That snowy morning we drove to Boise, Idaho. My first time to Idaho! The Boise Temple was being re-done inside so we were bummed to not be able to walk around it or anything. But I loved the beautiful stone work on the outside of it!

We then went to visit Joey's uncle Kurt's house. I don't know many of his mother's siblings so it was so great to meet more family!

That night we slumbered at Vicki's best friends house in Boise, ID. It was so great to meet Selena and her husband! I'm ticked we didn't get a picture with them before we left!

The next morning after Church we drove to McCall, Idaho. Joey's heaven on earth! His family just loves this place and I have heard so much about! I have been dying to go there and experience it. I was so happy we included it in our trip!

There were kids sledding on to this frozen lake, it was so awesome! We were jealous and wanted to give it a go but we ran out of time before the sun went down!

Instead of the sledding, we went to the HOT SPRINGS!

 This was my first time going to hot springs! And I loved it! It's so amazing, that this steaming hot water comes out of the earth like that. I always pictured natural hot springs as basically a big muddy whole in the ground. But this place was so far from what I expected. It's all beautifully built with piping hot water.

We were excited to be there! 

The next morning we went to the PANCAKE HOUSE! Joey's great-grandmother on Vicki's side started the original Pancake House in McCall so we had to visit this place. It was so tasty! The pancake that came with Joey's omelette was 12 inches in diameter! And the cinnamon roll we ordered for the road (they are also famous for their cinnamon rolls there so how could we pass that up!!?) was the biggest I have ever seen! It took 3 days to eat it.

We were sad to leave McCall so soon but the road trip needed to continue to our next destination... Moscow Idaho!