Road Trip!!!!!

I hope everyone is ready for picture overload...and these are just the highlights!!!!

So I have family in Oregon and due to schedule restrcitions with the rest of my family, Dryw and I made a trip up to Oregon to visit my family alone. At first we were both kid of sad, but then we thought about how this was a great opportunity to take a road trip up the coast of California, stop in San Francisco on they way since we both had never been, and finish it off with the visit in Oregon. We also took this oppotrunity to stop at as many Temples as we could our entire trip...it was awesome!!! So here are some of the many pictures we took...

Here is one of the very first pictures we took while on our way up the coast. It was pretty early in the morning and it was kind of drizzly...but it was so pretty!!!

We used the car as our camera stabilizer...dont you just love timers!!!! This was a huge cliff that we sat on the end of and looked out over the water--pretty amazing!!

We stopped a few times on the way up to San Francisco and got to see some very cute towns like Carmell...so nice, but very expensive!!! Maybe some day we can retire there!! lol...

SAN FRANCISCO HERE WERE ARE!!!

I am sure you have all heard of the famous Lombard street in San Francisco...it is super windy and has super sharp turns...well Dryw and I decided we wanted to work off our Italian dinner from a cute little restaurant in "Little Italy," so we walked all the way up Lombard street!! It was so much fun...we later drove down it so we could get both affects!

This is one side of Ghirardelli Square...and for those of you who don't know what Ghirardelli is, well it's pretty much the most amazing chocolate ever!!
Our hotel was pretty close to Fisherman's Wharf so we were able to walk everywhere we wanted. We were going to try and ride a trolly but the lines were so long...and we never rode a cbale car but we were pretty amazed at how they worked!!

We had heard so much about these Clamchowder Bread Bowls and we decided we had to get them. We asked a local for the best place to get one...they were pretty awesome!! So good in fact that we had them twice while in San Fransicso (different days).

This was one of the many candy stores down in Fisherman's Wharf...I couldn't make up my mind because everything looked so wonderful!!!

We decided that we wanted ice cream and in the suqare you can go in and order from the Ghirardelli store...Dryw is allergic to Chocolate so he got a scoop of Strawberry Cheescake on a cone and I got a scoop of the Ghirardelli Rocky Road--it was amazing--very expensive but so worth it!!

Here we are enjoying the beautiful sunset down on one of the docks...if you look closely you can see Alcatraz in the background!!

This is a view of the Golden Garte Bridge at night...I had never driven across it before and I was a little nervous doing so, but it was pretty cool once we got across and took this picture.

This is Alcatraz...we decided that we really wanted to go to the Island because we werent sure when we would get another chance to take the tour. The way they had the tour set up was pretty cool. You had your own headset and it told you where to go and where to look and gave you the history...it was awesome. The feeling there is kind of dark...we heard interviews from some of the prisoners on the tour and it was gnarly. I can't imagin what it must have been like!! They even had a lady there that day who had grown up there as one of the officer's daughters. They had living quarters there and they would take a boat into San Francisco for school...pretty crazy!!!

The cells were soooo tiny!! I don't know how they liverd in such confined spots!!!

This is on our way out of San Francisco...this is a very famous picutre spot. That bridge is awesome!!!

We drove through some of the edwoods while on our way up to Oregon and I saw a sign where we could drive through a Redwood tree...we had to do it. You can see Dryw giving a thumbs up as he drove through it. I think you are only supposed to do it once, but we did it a couple times...it was cool!!!

Here is the Sacramento Temple..a little out of order here--we actually stopped by this one and the Fresno Temple on the way home...so beautiful!!! We were also able to go to the Okalnd Temple...but somehow I cant get the picture in here to show you!!!

FINALLY...OREGON!!!!

This was one of the many sunsets we enjoyed while we were there. This is the rive right across the street from where we stayed. It was very low and we could stand all the way out in the middle of it...pretty sad because it was so high when I was a kid that I would have drowned even trying to swim out half way!!!

We went into an Old Historic town by the name of Jacksonville. We took this trolly around the city and learned about the history of it. It was pretty neat...we also drove through the cemetary there. Some of the headstones are so old that they are just leaning against the trees...

We were able to enjoy a sessin at the Medford Oregon Temple...it was very small but very pretty!! We enjoyed being able to do this while on vacation.

We went fishing twice and the first day we didnt catch anything--I dont even think we had a bite!!! The second day was much better...I kept getting several bites and the next thing I know I was reeling in a fish!!!! I ended up letting him go because I felt bad and he didnt swallow my hook.

I am standing in the middle of the river fishing...

Dryw was upset that he still hadnt caught anything after I caught my fish and then all of a sudden...what do you know!!?? This fish put up such a fight...I laughed so hard when Dryw held him up...he was just a tiny little guy. We had to let him go because he wasn't legal size.

We also went to the wildlife reserve while we were there. They had tons of animals...most of them had been hurt or were pets and they were brough here to be brought back to health or to be protected. Most of the animals they bring in they are able to let go, but the ones at the reserve that we were able to see were permanent residents. Tis is one of the black bears there...he wa so polite, he looked at the camera as I snapped the picture!! lol...

Dryw brought his shotgun on the trip...I didnt think he was going to get to use it, but he lucked out and we were taken up to a spot where he could let lose. I shot it a couple times...it has such a big kick on it though...

We had such a great time on this trip. We were able to spend so much time with each other...time that we dont get to spend otherwise.