California

     I just got back from a great week in California visiting Anna and her family. It was a nonstop week. We were doing something fun and crazy everyday. Here's a recap of my trip.

Day 1 and 2
     We drove from Provo, UT to Hollister, CA on Saturday. It was a 12 hour car ride. I don't think I have ever been in a car that long, and I don't plan on ever being in a car that long again.haha It seemed like it took forever. We got to Anna's that night and then went to dinner with the family. We drove around and the Dickson's gave me the tour of Hollister. It is such a cute little town. On Sunday we got up early and went to church. It was fun being in a family ward again. After church we just relaxed and took a trip to the San Juan Bautista Mission.

Day 3

     Monday Anna and I spent the day going to different beach towns and walking around the shops. We started off in Capitola where we watched all the local surfers try and catch a good wave. 

     We then just laid on the beach for a few hours. It was pretty overcast but it was still really nice weather. We both got some color, which is what we wanted. We walked around and just went into some of the shops right along the shore.

How fun would it be to live in one of these houses??

     After Capitola we went to Rio Del Mar Beach. Its Anna's favorite beach. It is pretty hidden so there are never really that many people there and the water is fairly clean. As we were laying there we saw a huge group of dolphins and a few sea lions just right out in front of us. It was pretty cool. 

     

     The craziest part of the day starts now. Anna's dad calls us and tells us there is a Giants game that night. It sounded fun the only problem was that the only tickets left were standing room only. So it would really be worth it to get those tickets for the whole family. So Anna's dad tells us we should just drive up to San Francisco and see if we can get some tickets. The idea intrigued us. If you know me or Anna at all, we are always up for a spontaneous adventure. We left the beach put the AT&T Stadium in the GPS and headed to the game. Luckily we had brought some clothes with us to the beach so we changed in the car up to SF. So we got to the stadium and found parking. We just got out of the car and headed to the front. We saw some guys selling tickets on the corner of the street so I asked how much and where they were. One guy was selling tickets on the lower deck right on the third base line. He wanted $50 each but we got him down to $40. We decided we would take what we could get, especially for those seats. We decided we needed to get some team gear so we bought shirts. We got to our seats just in time! 

The Giants beat the Padres 7-1, it was a fun game to be at. Luckily Anna and I are willing to be adventurous and just go to a different city and buy tickets off the street to a baseball game:)

Day 4 and 5

     Tuesday was another long and relaxing day at the beach. Once again Anna and I got fried! It was pretty bad. Tuesday night we met up with Anna's family at went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Its a fun strip with rides and games and shops. We also ended up meeting Krista and her family there. 

Yet another embarrassing face I made on a roller coaster.

    On Wednesday we went north and hit all the little cities leading up to San Francisco. We went into Morgan Hill, Santana Row, Oakland and a few other cities. In Oakland we stopped at the temple which is absolutely gorgeous. It looks out right over the bay, words cannot describe the beauty.

We eventually made it to Brentwood. A two in a half hour drive, for one soul purpose...To prank Eric back for the crow. We couldn't think of anything to outrageous right on the spot. So we just decided to leave a little something on his doorstep. He had no idea we were going to do this. 

Day 6

     Anna, Krista, Dawn, and I all headed down to Monterey Bay on Thursday. We went on the pier and had lunch at a fancy little Italian restaurant. It had huge windows so we had a great view of the bay while we ate. We all felt so classy.

     We found a place that rented tandem bikes for really cheap so we decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity. We biked all along the shore and then down to Cannery Row. 

 Day 7

     My final day in California:( Anna, her sister, her mom and I got up and headed to San Francisco. We decided it would be fun to spend the day up there since my flight was not until 11:30pm. We hit all the tourist attractions. We first went to Pier 39 and got some delicious cheese, bread, and salami to snack on. We walked down the pier and we were able to see Alcatraz. It was pretty spooky.

     After the pier we walked to Ghiradelli Square! It was delicious, we all got some really good ice cream and malts. It was fun walking the streets and looking into all the shops, watching the street performers, and seeing the trolleys go by. 

     We then went and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was so cloudy and so windy. But I was still amazed by it. We also drove down some of the more famous streets in San Francisco, Lombard Street and Filmont Street. They were both extremely steep and curvy. Its crazy to think that people can actually live on such streets. 

           

     It was a great way to end such an amazing week. I was excited to come home but I was so sad to leave the Dickson family. I love them so much, and thank them for being so awesome and showing me around everywhere all week. It was so much fun to be with them. I just felt like I was apart of the family:) And after two extremely long overnight flights I barely made it home to Connecticut. I am already loving it here. It is so different from everywhere else we have lived. The house is really coming together. It feels like this has always been home. I am excited to keep exploring the town and getting to know everything a little bit more.