Michael and I were looking forward to this trip for months! It was so fun to finally be able to make it happen. This is definately the biggest trip we've taken just as a couple. It was a lot of driving (about 3000 miles) but we saw some amazing sights!
On day one, we headed from Provo to Sacramento to stay with Mike's aunt Shawna and her husband David. We stopped at Lake Tahoe on the way there because we couldn't miss seeing the views and it only added about 40 minutes to our trip. We wanted to rent a pedal boat, but as you can see in the pictures, it was way too windy! There were waves that were CRASHING on the shore.
Shawna and David were great hosts! David made us a delicious meal of pork roll and sweet potatoes then he gave us a tour of the refrigeration plant he runs.
The next morning we headed to San Francisco. It took about 3 hours to get into the city with traffic. We drove into the city on the Bay Bridge and headed straight to Alamo Square to see the Painted Ladies made famous by Full House. We spent a little time walking around Golden Gate Park to view the gardens. There was people doing Tai Chi near the Japanese Gardens which was really interesting. There are so many cool museums there that I wish we would have had more time to explore. We then headed to Fisherman's Wharf. We were able to park at a nice hotel with the Best Parking App and only had to spend $11 for five hours of parking which was a really great deal compared to the other options! We walked along Pier 39 and ate Sourdough at Boudin for Lunch. We then, of course had to head to Ghirardelli Square for chocolate! We shared a Salted Caramel Chocolate Ice Cream Sundae. Oh. My. Gosh. It was to die for! We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge then pulled over at Vista Point to take pictures. We walked about half way across as well. Mike was in Civil Engineer Heaven. He appreciates a good structure when he sees one;) We drove a loop around Mount Tamalpais State Park. It was so beautiful around that area. We wanted to stop at Muir Woods in the park, but all of the parking lots were full and we didn't have a lot of time.
The next day we headed towards the Oregan Coast and drove through the Humboldt Redwood State Park along the Avenue of the Giants. The forest was so so beautiful and of course the trees were giant! Driving along the coast was also amazing. The sun shining on the water was breathtaking. It was such a long drive to our campsite, but it was pretty!
When we woke up at our campsite the next morning it started raining really hard, so we had to quickly pack up our tent and eat our breakfast in the car. We took a short hike from our campsite to see the sand dunes nearby. We drove a few miles North to Heceta Head Lighthouse. We took the 1/2 mile hike up to the lighthouse and got to take a small tour to learn the history of the lighthouse. It was fascinating! The views of the ocean were awesome too!
Saturday morning we headed to George, WA for the Jack Johnson Concert! We stopped at Snoqualmie Falls and the North Bend Outlets on the way there to kill some time. There was a resort near the falls that was displaying some Ferrari's and other fancy cars. Mike really enjoyed that;)
The concert was amazing! Pretty much ever since we've met we decided if we had to pick one concert we wanted to go to together, it would be Jack Johnson. We were right in front of the stage in the pit and had a really good view! It was pretty rough driving another hour to my Grandparents house after the concert because we were pooped! The next morning after going to church, we headed back down to Utah and brought my Grandma Barnes with us so she could visit my Family in Bountiful for a few days. This vacation was a lot of traveling and driving, but we were able to see so many sights and create so many memories!
