Northern California

Cody and I just got back from California. We spent time in San Francisco, Big Sur, and the Napa Valley. In a nutshell our trip consisted of soaking in mineral tubs, visiting cool colleges, wandering around San Francisco, and driving north and south in search of the various parts of California that make the state feel like numerous countries all squeezed within a single border. The trip was a healthy combination of exploration and relaxation, which we have learned makes for the best experience for both Cody and me.

The first two days in California were spent driving south along Highway 1 in the direction of Big Sur. The first stop along our mini road trip was Stanford University. Cody often boasts that he recently completed some online classes through Stanford. This pretty much means that the University offers free public seminars on random topics that my husband is interested in and he's one of the weirdos that has enough time on his hands to take free online classes. Nonetheless, he sort of considers himself an alum. Stanford was cool and the hoodies and tshirts we bought are even cooler.

After Stanford we continued on to Santa Cruz. We stopped and spent some time at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk which felt a lot like what I imagine when I think of the west coast. There were amusement rides and palm trees and not too pretty ocean water. It was sunny and cool, which seemed to be the theme of the entire trip. Not exactly hot and not exactly cold.

A panoramic view of the boardwalk and the ocean.

It was a bit windy. 

After Santa Cruz, we drove through Carmel By The Sea - a small town that Clint Eastwood used to be the mayor of and a lot of artists, celebrities and rich people live or visit there pretty regularly. There were tons of dogs and lots of expensive stuff that we didn't buy. I ate a really weird peanut butter and apricot jelly sandwich and Cody ate an awesome grilled cheese and bacon sandwich and then we were on our way.

Carmel By The Sea. And yes, people in California just sit outside and sleep or read or eat or do pretty much anything. I guess that's what life is like where there are no bugs and not so much humidity. 

After Carmel, we made our way to Big Sur. Before this trip, I didn't really know what Big Sur was. I had heard of the Pacific Coast Highway and read about how pretty driving through this part of the country was, but I hadn't heard of Big Sur specifically. After having visited this area, I would describe Big Sur as a ridiculously pretty, somewhat daunting, treasure trove of some of the coolest natural happenings I've seen in the U.S. We stayed the night in a cabin at a campground somewhere along Highway 1. We spent the rest of the daylight exploring the area, and we found some pretty cool stuff.

Cody being Cody somewhere along the Pacific Coast Highway.

Behind me is the Bixby Bridge, which is the most photographed part of Highway 1. 

This was taken on Pfeiffer Beach, which is a fairly secluded beach that has huge rock structures in the water. 

The wind was crazy and sand was blowing in my face. 

This is the path leading through our campground. There were Redwood Trees dispersed throughout Big Sur and they were big and all sorts of regal in a tree way.

Taylor Swift recently posted pictures of her and one of her model friends travelling through Big Sur, which made me feel much more hip and cool for being in this part of the country in the first place. We went to sleep in our cozy cabin tucked far below the tops of the Redwood trees. What was sort of weird about our second night in California was that we set our alarms for midnight to wake up and drive to a nearby resort where Cody and I were going to soak in mineral baths overlooking the Pacific Ocean; this is where our trip got sort of weird...