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!
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!
