Through San Francisco...

As I write this we are at Avila Beach, staying in a super nice hotel called Avila Lighthouse Suites. This was the only hotel with available rooms as we arrived tonight about 6:30pm. From our patio door off of the bedroom we have a great view of the pool and in the distance the ocean. After we checked in we walked to a restaurant for dinner. On our way we noticed that the hotel had a ping-pong table and small miniature golf range. It also had this really cool chess set that was definitely “super sized”. Take a look at the picture below. It’s a very cool idea.











Earlier today we drove through San Francisco. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and also walked a little across it. I thought it would be much larger and longer than it was. As we arrived in San Francisco we got to experience a typical foggy San Francisco day. As you can see in the pictures the fog was heavy so we weren’t able to see the top of the bridge. From the bridge you can see Alcatraz. It’s hard to believe that people use to live on that little island…perhaps that’s where some should still live.

Pictures below: Us and the Golden Gate Bridge






























We left the Bridge and headed towards the Fisherman’s Wharf. We parked our car and walked to a restaurant for lunch. Had a nice lunch and then returned to our car with 2 minutes to spare on the parking meter. We then drove around the Wharf and then onto other parts of SF. The Wharf was so packed! There were tons of people everywhere. It was a VERY touristy place. There was a Princess Cruise ship at one of the piers getting ready to leave. Driving around the Wharf area and other parts of the city made me realize that I really have absolutely NO desire to return to that city…ever! I really didn’t like it. It seems so crowded, hilly, and even dirty. So I’ll stick with Arizona for right now.

We left San Francisco and headed south. We were going to take HWY 1 down the coast but the HWY only had 2 lanes and they were so narrow with no guardrails along the edge of the southbound side of the road. In many areas one wrong turn and you would find yourself plunging over the edge. Plus besides this the road was so curvy it would have taken us days to go 60 miles. So we ended up changing our plans and heading down HWY 101. It was much quicker even though we were still on the road today for about 11 hours.

Pictures:
1. Hilly streets
2. A San Francisco Trolley




















Tomorrow we will head into Los Angeles. We’ll be taking HWY 1 as we get closer to Santa Barbara so I’m sure it will be beautiful. Hopefully it won’t rain and the fog will lift and the sun will shine brightly. It looks like we may get home sometime on Monday.

More tomorrow…

Through the Redwoods...

Woke up to a very foggy ocean, but it was still better than an inch or more of snow. It was great being able to lie in bed, watch the waves roll in and hear the sound of the ocean. What a treat we had.

We left this morning around 8:30am. Drove until about 5:30pm. We went through a portion of the Redwoods called “The Avenue of the Giants”. The trees were HUGE and gorgeous! As we drove through them I couldn’t help but think what heaven would look like. God has given us awesome scenery here on earth…the Grand Canyon, Redwoods, Ocean, Mountains, Stars in the sky at night. I wondered what spectacular things He is preparing for those who call Him Lord. It’s an interesting thought and it’s actually hard to imagine.

We drove through little towns today and stopped along the way. The roads we traveled were very curvy. I think by about 4pm I was beginning to feel carsick. We traveled on this 2-lane road (Route 20) from Willits to Fort Bragg and we dare not go much over 20 mph the whole way due to the curves in the road. I was so glad when we finally got through that leg of the trip.

Rick and I are really having fun together. It’s been a great trip. We thought we might get home on Sunday but we may not make it there until Monday or Tuesday. Tomorrow we plan on leaving Fort Bragg and heading down HWY 1 along the coast to San Francisco. We aren’t sure where we are going to stay. We haven’t made reservations anywhere for the trip home, we are just staying where we want once we get tired of driving. It’s a bit more adventurous doing it this way.

More later…now it’s time to hit the sack. Hope you enjoy reading about our journey. We are having a blast!

Pictures:

1. Picture of what we saw most of the day while driving through the Redwoods
2. The Redwoods early in the morning before all of the fog lifted...the sun shining through the trees
3. Us in the woods...there's a stream behind us but you can't see it in the picture

More Pictures...

More Pictures:

1. Me inside the trunk of a tree
2. Rick standing next a trunk of a tree, where the root system once was
3. Rick driving through the base of a tree

Leaving Seattle...heading home

We left our Seattle hotel this morning at 4:15am. Our first stop was the airport to drop off my dad. His flight left around 6:30am. It was sad to say goodbye. I haven’t seen him since 1997 so it was really nice seeing him and being able to spend some time with him. Picture below of Dad and I at the airport:











Once we dropped him off, then we were off. We headed out of Seattle down I-5 and then picked up HWY 101. We followed the 101 through Oregon and are currently in Crescent City, California.

The drive was breathtaking! The ocean, the trees, the mountains…the sand dunes…all of it. It was just intoxicating. I’ve included some pictures below:










We drove for about 12 hours today. It was a long drive but we stopped often to take in the views. Once we got to Crescent City we found a Hampton Inn right on the beach and stopped in to see if they had an available room since we didn’t make any hotel reservations. They did have a room so as I write this I am also looking out of our open window at the ocean and listening to waves roll in. It’s an amazing view. I wish we had a view like this everyday. We are so blessed to have gotten this room and view. Below are 2 pictures from the window of our hotel:










Tomorrow we are going to visit the Redwoods and then continue heading south. So I’ll try to post more tomorrow.

A couple of pics

Here are two pictures:

1. My brother-in-law, Bob, my Dad and Rick
2. The Space Needle at night

Last day in Seattle

Today is the last day we will be in Seattle. I've had a fantastic time spending time with my husband, sister, brother-in-law and dad. We have laughed so much and just really enjoyed each other. It's one of the best "vacations" I have taken.

Yesterday, we spent most of the day at Pike's Market. What a great spot! I wish I lived near a place like this. It's a fish market, flower market, artist market, you can find almost anything there. The flowers that are sold at the market were just gorgeous and they were pretty inexpensive. I would have fresh flowers weekly if we lived here.

We all went to Seattle's Best coffee shop today. Wish we had one of these in Arizona...who knows maybe we do...I haven't lived there long enough to know what is there and what's not. I really do think my Dad is hooked on the stuff. I think he'll be taking his wife and exploring Florida for coffee shops now....I'm not sure how good of an influence I have been on him.

Rick and Bob decided last night to take a ride up to the top of the space needle. They said it was remarkable to see all the lights from the top.

We took Laura and Bob to the airport this afternoon about 2pm. They head home today and will probably be home about midnight. Dad leaves tomorrow morning about 6:30am, so we'll drop him off at the airport around 5am and them we'll head out. We are planning on taking HWY 101 down the coast on our return trip to Arizona, visiting the Redwoods, stopping in San Francisco and seeing the Golden Gate Bridge. I'm excited about this. I've heard it's a beautiful drive and I've never been through northern California. I'll be making posts and posting pictures of our journey.

Pray for safe travels!

Pictures:

1. All of us at Pikes Market
2. Rick at the Market
3. Me and my favorite sister, Laura at the Market
4. Pikes Market
5. Another picture of the Market

The Original Starbucks Coffee Shop

Here I am at the original Starbucks Coffee Shop. It's a small little place and it was filled with people.

In Seattle

Late post...written Tuesday, April 25

We made it to Seattle and it has been just beautiful. Today is 71 degrees...it's is so beautiful. They say it rains alot here and I'm sure it does but thankfully both times we have been here it has just been absolutely gorgeous.

My sister, Laura, her husband, Bob and my dad are all up here to take care of a family matter. It has been great spending time with them. We all went to dinner last night at a restaurant called "The Fisherman's. We sat outside on their deck which is on a pier and had dinner. We all enjoyed "FRESH" seafood. The weather was perfect, even though as it got a little later it became a little chilly.

Earlier today we tried a new coffee house. My goal is to try a new one everyday since we are in the coffee capital of the US. Yesterday we went to Tully's. It was okay. Today we tried Seattle's Best and it was fabulous. I tried a Mocha blended drink and an Espresso Brownie...boy, were those good. My dad tried a blended coffee drink for the first time today and I think he's hooked.

The pictures below are of me and Rick, my sister Laura and her husband Bob, and The Fisherman's Restaurant.

Redding to Portland, Oregon

Hi -
We are now in Portland, Oregon. Today was only about a 7-hour drive but it seemed like 24 hours to me. I was just so tired. Looking forward to a good night sleep tonight.

The drive was beautiful. Below are 2 pictures. One was taken at a rest area and the other one as we were driving down the interstate. There are tons of evergreen trees and they are everywhere. And then you will round a corner and a huge mountain that is still covered with snow will be right in front of you. Our drive was nice and again the scenery was magnificent.

That's about it for now. Tomorrow morning we head to Seattle, which is only about a 2-hour drive from where we are now. It will be really nice when we leave Seattle since we will be driving down the coast stopping to see the Redwoods, the Fisherman’s Warf in San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.

I really want to thank Jesus for His blessings and provision to allow us to take this type of trip. We are able to see His magnificent creations, spend time together and share our trip with you.

Until tomorrow...

Stop in Sacramento...Overnight in Redding

We are currently in Redding, CA staying overnight. Our trip from Buttonwillow to Redding was a rather enjoyable one. We stopped for a few hours in Sacramento, CA...the capital of California. We actually toured the capital building. It is a gorgeous building. In the entry way there were huge bouquets of flowers that filled the room with a beautiful fragrance. The view of the ceiling was magnificent!

We walked around the downtown area for a little while. Sacramento is a very pretty and clean city. It is about the same size as Omaha. We began to drive out of the city and we noticed a Joe's Crab Shack restaurant...so we stopped and had lunch. Joe's was located on a river so we had a great waterfront view. After lunch we strolled through the old Sacramento district. This district actually looked like an old western town with many different shops throughout. We arrived back at our car, and our parking meter had just run out and about 2 cars down from us was the "ticket patrol lady”. Thankfully we arrived just in time and prevented getting a parking ticket.

We left Sacramento and arrived in Redding about 5:30pm. It is really beautiful here...lots of greenery and trees and the city is surrounded by mountains. There is still snow on the mountain tops. Again, it is really beautiful. We explored a bit by driving around the city and then decided to have dinner at Chevy's...one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.

So now we are in our hotel room and I'm going to be signing off for tonight. I'd like to get a good night sleep since we are planning on leaving tomorrow morning at 7am. Our next stop will be Portland. Good night!


A picture of Joe's Crab Shack...where we had lunch.

Capital building in Sacramento

Here are some pictures of outside and inside of the Capital. Sorry, none of Arnold, he may have been on vacation.

Heading to Seattle

We are on our way to Seattle. We decided to take a little vacation and drive up the coast. We did think about flying but soon we will both be working and who knows when the opportunity to drive up the west coast will come along again. Neither Rick nor I have ever driven up the west coast. I've done some driving on the east coast but not the west.

I was really kind of bummed leaving Arizona today. I really like it and want to explore the city. This weekend they had a NASCAR event taking place...that would have been fun to go to. Plus I also have an old roommate who lives in Scottsdale that I'm looking forward to seeing again. Well, since we will be living there I suppose we'll have time to do all the things we want to.

We left Phoenix this morning at 7:00am and drove to Buttonwillow, CA. Arrived here at 3:00pm. Tomorrow we'll stay in Sacramento, CA. I am amazed at the hills between Los Angeles and Sacramento. Since I have never been to this part of California I was amazed to see the greenery and all of the hills. I said to Rick, this is what I would imagine Scotland to look like. Just amazing. There are so many places in the United States that I would like to see.

I was also amazed at all of the smog as we drove through LA and it's suburbs. I told Rick to try not to breathe. Seems like it would be so unhealthy to live in that for a long period of time.

We drove into Buttonwillow tonight after we had dinner and a Starbucks Frap for dessert. What a small little town. And I couldn't believe all of the electrical towers around it. There were tons! I wondered if it was really even safe to live there, but I didn't see anyone glowing so maybe it's fine.

Looking forward to going to Sacramento tomorrow...maybe we'll run into Arnold.

Life in Phoenix

So far, so GREAT! We really are enjoying it here. Our apartment is nice. We are feeling right at home at our new church. We attended the Good Friday service and then again on Easter. I think it's rather profound that Easter was our first Sunday service. Easter represents so much...a new life, new beginning, a fresh start... How awesome is it for God to bring us to our new church on that day. He really does have a way of speaking to us and encouraging us. During the Good Friday service a gal who we had met in January came up and gave me a hug and said to me "Welcome Home". It was so sweet. So many have made us feel so welcomed. We were also blessed with a couple dropping by with dinner on our first night in our apartment. It's been so refreshing!

We've walked over to the mall twice for dinner. It's nice with the mall being so close to us.

We have an orange grove right down the street from us. The grove puts off this amazing fragrance. I mean it is AMAZING! When we drive by the grove we will roll down our windows just to take it all in. I've never smelt anything so wonderful. When I smell it I think that Heaven must smell similar.

We are pretty much settled in to our apartment. We need to buy a couch and some end tables and will do that soon. Other than that we are pretty much set until we move into our home. On our first night in the apartment our air mattress went caput! So the following day we headed to the bed store to buy a new bed. We got a fabulous firm bed and we both love it. It is so much nicer than our old bed and of course the air mattress. We are so blessed!

Flagstaff to Phoenix

Our last leg of the trip...to Phoenix. The Camry did very well on all of the hills and we made it to our apartment complex by 11:30am. We arrived on the hottest day of the year...so far. I believe it was 98 degrees. Even though it was that hot it really didn't feel that hot. Rick and I unloaded our 2 Uhaul trailers in less than 2 hours and I was surprised at the fact that I wasn't overheating. It actually felt nice outside.

The apartment is really nice and there is a huge mall within walking distance. The greenery, all the flowers, shrubs, palm trees, and cactus are just beautiful. It's hard to realize that this is where we now live. :0)

Colorado to Flagstaff

We left Pueblo, Colorado about 7am and headed towards our second destination....Flagstaff. The drive seemed to go by quickly; perhaps it was because of a prayer that I had prayed that morning. I had hoped that the day would go by somewhat quickly. I was anxious to get to Arizona.

We arrived in Flagstaff about 5:30pm. It was cool and very pretty with tons of trees. We checked into our hotel and noticed an Outback Steakhouse in walking distance from our hotel. So for those who know us we walked right over and made ourselves at home. Had a great dinner.

After dinner we went to the hotel lobby since our key wouldn't work to our room, though it did work prior to heading over to the Outback. At the front desk we find out that the clerk at the front desk had given our key to another customer. I about freaked out...I mean we had left our computers, my purse and belongings in the room. We had no idea that they would issue another key to the room. Thankfully nothing was taken. This hotel had the loudest guests I have ever heard. About midnight the people above us seemed to weight 600 lbs. they made so much noise just walking around. Then about 1:00am the neighbors to the left of us must have invited a group of friends over. Finally, I just got up at 5:00am when some guests were leaving and one of them decided to have a discussion with her dog right outside of the door to our room. Rick was so wonderful in planning our trip and adding some time for me to sleep in that morning but it just didn't work out.

We head out for breakfast and decide to fill our cars up with gas before hitting Cracker Barrel. I had to pay in advance, so I left my credit card with the cashier. When I came inside to pay I notice that she is handing my credit card to the man in front of me. I poked my head into their conversation and said, "Is that my credit card?" The man seemed confused and the woman then realized what she had done and took the card from him and handed it to me. Then she handed him his driver’s license with his picture on it. Maybe she was going to give me his driver’s license but I didn't look like at 5'5" Hispanic man. Again, thankfully God was watching out for us.

We finally ended up at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. This is not one of our favorite restaurants but it was close and served breakfast so we ventured out for something new. I must say I learned from that visit that they have the BEST Pecan Pancakes. I couldn't believe how good they were...and I usually don't order pancakes...but I sure am glad that I did that morning. When the check came we noticed that the cashier gave us someone else's check. It was a better deal for us but we did ask for our bill and got that taken care of.

Finally on the road by 8:00am to Phoenix, our home destination.

Omaha to Colorado

We left Omaha on Monday, April 10 for Phoenix with a stop in Colorado. We were able to stay in Colorado for 2 nights to visit with Rick's sister, Alyce. We had a great time with Alyce. It would be great if we lived closer to her, she is so much fun to be around.

Our trip to Colorado seemed to go by quickly. We both drove our vehicles with Uhaul trailers attached. My poor little Camry really had it's power and strength tested. At times I would have the gas pedal pushed all the way to the floor and I couldn't get the car to go over 65 mph. But we made it safely...that's all that matters.

While in Colorado we visited we visited Pueblo's River Walk. It's a very nice area with a stream of water, small waterfall and some interesting artwork. It was nice to walk around since we had been in the car almost the entire previous day.

Next...Colorado to Flagstaff.

My first Blog

I finally have my very own blog...and this is the first of hopefully many postings. So much has happened in the past week moving to Arizona and setting up our apartment and now we are getting ready to head out for Seattle tomorrow. I am kind of sad about leaving Arizona, though I know it's only for a week or so. I really like living here and now that we are somewhat settled I'd like to go "exploring". I suppose there will be time for that when we get back. I'll write more as we travel...but for now I'm heading to bed.

:0)