Epic Road Trip: The First 9 Days

Philip and I went on probably the most epic road trips of our lives this past August. It was AMAZING!

3,000 miles, 55+ hours of driving, 17 days, 7 states (well, counting all the ones we at least drove through), 7 major cities, 3 theme parks, 2 animal parks, 1 prison, 1 wedding, and countless hours of fun!

Enjoy!

Jason and Brooke got Married!

Jason Alleger and Philip have been really good friends since their freshmen year here at BYU. Actually, Jason is the person through who Philip and I met. Without Jason Philip and I probably wouldn't even know each other! Basically Jason is awesome and he chose a stellar woman, Brooke, to marry. We were so happy to be able to celebrate with them on the day they were sealed for time and all eternity in the Portland, OR temple. 

 The beautiful and so happy couple!

Portland

We decided that since we were already there, we might as well stay an extra day to see Portland. Surprisingly, this is the first time I had ever been (even though I have lived only 4 hours away basically my whole life), and way surprisingly, this was not the first time Philip has been (although he lived in LA and TX his whole life). Portland was a beautiful city, with some interesting people to say the least, no we did not take pictures of them. 

 Riding the Max

 A dress made out of coffee filters...

 Yeah.....

Tillamook Cheese

So I have basically been in love with Tillamook cheese and ice cream for forever. I think it is fabulous. Since we were already going to be so close by, Philip and I decided to make a stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory to look around and eat some fresh Tillamook ice cream and cheese curds, Yum!

The Drive on HWY 101

Philip and I drove down US Highway 101 (Pacific Coast Highway) for about a third of this trip. It was beautiful and so amazing. Neither of us are fans of curvy, windy, tight roads, which this was, but the scenery made it so worth it. I didn't get very many good pictures of the drive because most of them were taken out of a dirty car window, but a couple times we did stop to take pictures of what we were driving by. 

 Brookings, Oregon

Next our adventures took us to a camping site at Harris Beach State Park in Brookings, OR. We camped here for 2 nights and enjoyed a beautiful relaxing day at the beach. The campsite was only a 1/4 mile walk from the beach, it was great! 

We Drove Through a Tree!!!

Yep, that's right folks, we drove through a tree! Highway 101 takes you through parts of the Redwoods and let me tell you those trees are HUGE! And pretty too! So when we saw the sign advertising that we could drive through one of them, we said heck yes, and we did it!

California

Next we arrived on the interstates of California. AKA traffic. 

Golden Gate Bridge

Our first stop in San Francisco was a drive on the Golden Gate Bridge. I am a huge fan of Full House and I have always wanted to drive on the Golden Gate Bridge because of that show, so we did! It is a cool bridge, but unfortunately it was really foggy when we drove over it, so we couldn't see much around us. But now at least we can say that we did it! 

San Francisco

I just have to say that I absolutely loved San Francisco. It was such a beautiful city and we just had such an enjoyable time while we were there. I would say that they day we spent there was one of our favorites on this trip. We visited Fishermans Wharf, Pier 39, Ghiradelli Square, China town, Alcatraz, and then just did some wandering around random parts of the city as well. 

Alcatraz

Well we were in San Francisco doing the tourist thing, so we decided to go to Alcatraz (actually we definitely way preplanned this and bought tickets online a couple weeks before we went). It was interesting to go to "The Rock". We definitely learned a few things about the island while there! 

 Apparently during the 60's after the penitentiary closed, some Indians held like a rally on the island.

 The island had a great view of San Francisco, which must have been torture for the inmates. Unfortunatly, our camera was terrible and I couldn't get a picture without those terrible black spots. We ended up buying a new camera while on this trip because those black spots kept showing up.

 "Warning: Persons procuring or concealing escape of prisoners are subject to prosecution and imprisonment."

Well, those are the first 9 days of our epic road trip. So many new places to be and things to see! It was awesome. MUCH more goodness to come. Here's a preview: Disneyland (1st time for both of us!), California Adventure, Sea World, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Universal Studios, and California beaches! 

Roberts Reunion

July was an awesome month. We went to Stadium of Fire, celebrated our 2 year anniversary, saw the Harry Potter Finale, and finished the month off with a Roberts Family Reunion. This reunion was awesome. The reunion was held in Estes Colorado. Philips parents, all of his siblings and their spouses and children were able to come. So there were a TON of people. 

Enjoy a few pictures, okay, maybe a ton of pictures of the fun:

Driving from Wyoming into Colorado. It was so crazy because Wyoming was just filled with beautiful rolling prairies and was basically treeless, and then pretty much immediately when we drove across the state line into Colorado there were suddenly forests full of trees. You can sort of see that in this picture.

Little Miss Emily and Me

At 12,000 feet!

I just love Mallory's expression in this picture =)

Emily, Hannah, and Abby

A deer that came up close to our lunch tables

 Aimee and Emily with the friendly deer

Just like a red anthill only these red ants don't bite!

There's snow up there all year

Ashley with her first snowball

This just looked  picturesque

As well as this

Abby pushing Maddy on the swings

Big sister Emily pushing little sister Maddy and Ashley swinging along

Katerina and Maddy

The kids gearing up for the doughnut eating challenge

Jacob calmly nibbling his doughnut

Hannah and Seth racing to the finish

Philip in the grown-ups doughnut eating contest.

He totally would have won if his doughnut hadn't fallen on the floor.

Rubber band shooting

Its Logan.

 Emily and Devony at the Carnival that Doug and Sarah put together

Yummy snow cone and cotton candy

Rob and Philip and Philips lips match his shirt

Blue shirts and blue lips

Petting zoo at the carnival

Cute, clean, little pigs

Julianna, Hannah, Samuel, and Ashley with their awesome face painting

Devony, Abby, and Emily with their face paint

Jet and Maddy lovin their snow cones

Maddy and Me

 Jet and Grandpa with their blue mouths

Philip's parents took he and I paddle boating, it was a lot of fun

 Philip on the lake paddling away

At the creek flowing through downtown

I love snuggling babies! I can't wait to have my own someday!

Devony and Emily had some fun with dirt....

Grace and Philip

 A not even 2 year old playing angry birds, she found it and opened it by herself..... it is crazy how much technology these younger generations will grow up with from birth

Mallory and Me, technically she's my niece, but she's closer to me in age than any of my in-laws, so it doesn't really seem like it

Eating some frozen yogurt

Yougurtland, Yum!

The parents and the ten siblings, Oldest to youngest
Mom Roberts, Dad Roberts, Bryan, Doug, Amy, Mike, Susan, Charlotte (her hair isn't usually done so that it sticks right up, it was for a skit right after this), Warren, Daniel, Scott, and Philip

The siblings and their spouses
Jody, Bryan, Sarah, Doug, Amy, Dan, Ingrid, Mike, Susan, Rob, Lowell, Charlotte, Warren, Sharleen, Daniel, Hun, Scott, Aimee, Philip, Me

The Whole Bunch!!!

We really enjoyed this reunion and getting to spend time with family. They are all such amazing and fun people and it is just so great to be around them. I feel like I learned a valuable lesson during this reunion as well. When all 50-something of us were out and about there was a women who came up to me and asked why all of us were wearing red shirts. I explained that we were all here on a family reunion. She was shocked and commented that how could we all know each other and how was it possible that we could ever get together with everyone. Her comments really caused me to ponder. When I think about it, it does seem crazy that there were over 50 of us there, and that we all knew each other. It made me think about God and how He knows each and every one of us individually. Sometimes it seems impossible to me that God could really know us all individually, but to God we aren't a billion people, we are Jenepher, Philip, etc., etc., etc. I saw how this could be possible at the family reunion as it wasn't suddenly 50 people, but each person had a name and a face and were individuals. As I thought about the individual people, it suddenly didn't seem like there were so many people because I knew each of them. I feel like it must be this way with God as well. He does know each of us, and He loves each of us too.