Day 3: Outrunning storms and tornadoes!

The few days or week before I left there had been a lot of storms and tornadoes in Oklahoma and Arkansas....the exact states I would be driving through on my way home! When I left NM Thursday morning I checked the weather once again just to make sure what was going on. There were still watches and warnings, so I decided that once I got to Amarillo I would go south and get back on I-20...

Well, sure enough I should have stopped once I got to Amarillo to check the weather... I thought there would be a place to use the internet when I got off the interstate, but there wasn't. So, I just kept driving. About and hour and a half or two hours later I did stop.... rested a while, and checked the weather. Insanely enough, there were no longer tornado and thunderstorm warnings in OK and AR, but in Texas, in the very part I was heading to!!! Oh my gosh!!! I couldn't believe it!!! So, I rerouted back up to Oklahoma and Arkansas. It was about 70 miles out of my way total, but I'm at least glad I was able to go through OK and AR after all! I got to ride through the country a good bit and saw pretty shades of green and yellow and abandoned towns. I think I even saw a Buffalo, but I went by so fast before I realized what it was.

And, to top it off, I didn't even see a drop of rain the WHOLE DAY! Just the beautiful sun :)

I ended up staying in a place east of Little Rock. Can't lie, I was a little nervous about a crazy tornado hitting during the night, but not a thing happened! Glad to say I survived that part of my trip! Like always, it's an adventure! :)

**will add pictures later**

Day 2: AZ to NM!

Thankfully I got to feeling better and was able to leave AZ when I had planned to. But I did leave later that planned which means I didn't get as far as I had hoped. It was fun to drive through the northern part of Arizona...and through some of the forests/rural areas. It was cool!! I saw a lot of cacti, mountains, and rocks.

I stopped by the Snowflake Temple which was fun to see!!

Then I made it into New Mexico, and that state just goes on forever!! I stopped by the Albuqurque Temple, too! It was harder to get a picture of it though because it was so close to the street.

I was able to ride along some of the historic Route 66 (the highway in Cars) and take some pics of old towns etc.. so that was fun!

I was really starting to get tired of driving, so I recorded myself singing and dancing along to Vanilla Ice! haha. Have to keep yourself entertained somehow!

Ended up staying the night in Santa Rosa, New Mexico....I was glad to get out of there, haha!!

***will add pictures later!!***

OH and Thank goodness I got my radio to working again!! Thanks Judson!

Last Day in CA and Drive back to AZ!

Last day in CA! (pics of blessing and with Karen)

My last day in California was special! Karen and I went to her friend Ilana’s ward for her baby’s blessing. It was such a great day! Ilana is super sweet and I’m so happy for her and her little family! They are so blessed and so happy!

Later that evening we went to another get together, so I was able to meet a lady from Karen’s ward…it was kind of a senior gathering… we were by far the youngest ones there. But they were all nice and we laughed a lot.

I couldn’t believe my time was up!

I love California, especially San Francisco and the Bay Area!! In addition to seeing Karen I got to see some new places I didn’t see during my last trip to CA. I loved it and wish I could have stayed longer.

Day 1 of trip back home: pit stop in AZ

On my way back home I drive south through CA. It was kind of boring… but neat to see some of the scenery…farms, hills, mountains, etc... However, the state is entirely tooooo big and long so it took forever! Luckily I didn’t get in bad traffic around LA though.

It was raining some which is never fun for a trip! Not to mention it’s gloomy and I was hoping for some sun! Oh, and also that morning before I left I realized that my windshield was cracked! Ahh!! Just my luck! Later I called and of course my insurance doesn’t cover it. It’s been over a month though… and while it has gotten bigger since I’ve been home, I’m just going to keep driving with it until I absolutely have to get it replaced!

Also, at this point I still had NO RADIO b/c of the whole battery issue. So I was having to listen to my ipod which means my ears were really hurting after 12 hours of driving… okay I wasn’t listening to music the whole time, but at least a good amount. I know you’re really not supposed to have headphones in while driving, but I would have gone crazy being in a silent car for that long!!!

I drove through some areas where I saw signs to places where a few friends served their missions, so that was cool. Then I went through this section, probably about 5 miles long, of nothing but windmills!! It was a neat sight to see!!!

I finally made it to my aunt Lora’s house in AZ around 10 or so that night!! I was dead tired! Of course they wanted to hear all about my trip and things I had done, etc… It was good to spend an extra day with them. I stayed two nights with them before heading back to GA. Sadly we were all kind of sick the day I was there which wasn’t fun. I love them though and hope it’s not forever before I see them again!! Sadly since we were sick we STILL didn’t get to take pictures!!! :)

**I'll post pictures of this later!!**

I heard it through the grapevine!

The next day we went up to Napa, and it was beautiful as well! I loved getting to see all of the vineyards! There are tons of rows and rows of grapes! It just goes on forever. My favorite was seeing how they even grow over the hills and all. It was a lovely sight, and it was warmer up there which was a nice change!

The night before, Karen and I went to see "Letters to Juliet." Such a cute movie! It's set in Italy... and it showed vineyards and of course the beautiful architecture. So when we went to Napa Valley it looked a little similar to places in Italy which was really fun! And of course it really made me want to go to Italy.

Anyway, I'm so glad I was able to see this part of California... something different that I hadn't seen before.

I'll post pictures later.... I'm just trying to write thoughts right now before I forget all the exciting things that happened... especially because I'm about to be really busy and won't be able to finish blogging about my trip!

Muir Woods

One of the neat places we went to was Muir Woods, a redwood forest. It was beautiful! To get there we drove along highway 1 which is curvy and like a roller coaster. We had fun! The trees there are HUGE!! and so TALL! I had never seen anything like this before, so I'm glad we went.

soooo tall!

there I am, so small compared to that tree!

I love this pic!

I have more pictures but it takes so long to upload!!! Maybe another day I'll add more.

We were then going to go see Point Reyes... but we never really made it there. Or it turned out to be different than we had expected. Thankfully we did get to see a beach along the way.

California is beautiful!!

"I left my home in Georgia, Headed for the 'Frisco Bay"

Well, I finally made it to the Golden Gate (my blog's subtitle)!! My aunt's house has the greatest view of the city as well as the Golden Gate Bridge. It's beautiful!! Here are some pics from her patio:

I love California and really wish I could have stayed there longer. There is so much to see and do. I was so tired from my drive though that I rested most of my first day there. Now I wish I had just gone to sight see anyway. Karen lives in a neat little area... the streets are all up and down like a roller coaster... we went for a walk around her neighborhood, and the houses are so nice... the trees and flowers were also soooo pretty!! And of course the view!

Funny looking metal dinosaur in the neighborhood!

These are various pictures of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. I just loved them all so had to post them!

Then I went in to San Francisco... rode on BART which was a fun and interesting experience. I don't really know my way around so I had to guess and look at maps, but it all worked out. I went to the SF Ferry Building and walked around... then walked along the Embarcadero and saw all of the piers... finally ending up at Pier 39. Looked around there, saw the sea lions..... went down to Fisherman's Wharf. It was fun!! Lots of people out walking, roller blading, riding bikes, running, etc. And I love to people watch!! I saw some interesting folks and took lots of pics!! I had a good time.

I love the colors on this cable car!

Pier 39!

Love this fruit stand!

there are all sorts of shops, restaurants, and fun things to do!

view of Alcatraz

they were so cute!

good sourdough bread!

that's too bad!

thought this was cute

this was creepy... I think a man was inside and it was glaring at me! the funny thing is there was a radio next to it with loud Latin music playing, haha.

this man had these limbs/leaves that kind of looked like a bush. he sat behind there and would start to shake it and the jump out and scare people as they walked by. It was hilarious!

this guy had his dog riding on the bars of the bike! I couldn't get a very good picture, but I was impressed.

so when I first walked by this man was talking on his phone and seemed upset b/c he was cussing every other word... well when I walked back by him later he was still going at it... just louder and even more profane. It was kind of funny but sad... something not all right there!

After my long walk I met up with Karen and her friend Manny. We went to eat at:

The pizza was so good!

(I didn't mean for that to be so big but I couldn't figure out how to change it). I got to see more of the city... Little Italy and Chinatown areas. I love seeing all of that!

It's definitely a neat city and I can't wait to go back and spend more time there!!

We also spent a little bit of time in Berkeley and ate at some great restaurants!! I love me some good food! The neat thing about a lot of these restaurants is that they all use organic and locally grown food... and it's healthy and all. So that made me want to start eating better and get to exercising. It was fun!!! Here are the places we went:

good food!

Bette's Oceanview Diner

this place was amazing!! :) :)