*the* Trip

I know you've been waiting with bated breath for me to return and let you know how our Central California trip was. Well, the wait is over. I am here and I will let you know the details!

By the numbers:

number of days in the car: 4

number of nights in a hotel: 3

number of different hotels: 3

number of people in my toyota sienna: 7

number of miles driven: 860 (give or take a few)

number of vineyards: too many to count

number of giggles: many

There are probably more. For those of you not in the know, my husband, children and I took a short vacation with my inlaws who are here visiting from Iowa.

On Sunday we headed out for a small Danish community in Central California called Solvang. All of the people I know that are California natives always speak highly of it and we thought we'd make it part of our journey. We spent a few hours walking the streets after having a much needed lunch. It was fun and interesting. We were all still fresh and ready for whatever adventures would come our way.

After the unseasonably warm weather there (and at home where we'd been having record breaking heat!) we headed to the coast. More specifically, Pismo Beach. We stayed at Pismo Lighthouse Suites. Let me be the first to tell you - if you need to stay on the central Coast -stay here. It was a really nice, updated hotel with fun activities for the kids right on the ocean. It was here that the boys got to play oversized chess and ping pong -- Harrison got to dip his toes in the Pacific Ocean for the first (and I'm sure won't be last!) time!

I would have been perfectly happy to stay in Pismo Beach for the rest of the time, but the others insisted we move on. (Plus, I *HAD* been waiting over a year to see those dang Sequoia trees!) So, we headed north for the tiny town of San Simeon and Hearst Castle. Before we could tour the total opulence of the remarkable home WR Hearst had built, we stopped in San Luis Obispo to visit the mission there. It was far smaller and less commercial than the mission in San Juan Capistrano that we visited in November, but it was still lovely and full of history. There were beautiful gardens in the back and I took that opportunity to take a few photos of my darling (yet sometimes wild) boys.

I absolutely loved SLO. It was a fun and funky Iowa City with much better weather! There was a fun downtown with cute shops and it just had a really nice feel.

Hearst Castle was absolutely over the top and I highly recommend it. I'm not sure what to say about it other than it was just completely decadent. (the indoor pool was amazing. as were the guesthouse and dining room!)

The last stop was the Sequoia National Forest/Park and Kings Canyon. Despite the road that would make anyone sick to get there (lots of turns and twists going up, up, up!) it was an amazing day. The trees were completely unbelievably large. Their sheer volume was unimaginable! We learned a bit about their history and how they compare to other trees, both smaller and taller.

It's impossible to understand how big they are without something ordinary to compare them to. So, that is why there are things like people and cars in these photos. :)

On Tuesday night we stayed in the Park. I had thought that it would be fun to sleep in cabins versus in one of the lodges. (Who am I kidding?! The lodges were all full when I made our accomodations. Okay, so it would be so bad to sleep in cabins. We booked the "honeymoon" cabin (the one single cabin - not a duplex) and a tent cabin. The tent cabin had 4 walls but a canvas roof. It had no electricity and used a shared bath house. Luckily, our honeymoon cabin had it's own bath for all of us to use. Andy and the boys bunked up in the tent and Tom, Carol and Harrison and I shared our own private honeymoon cabin. How romantic.

I thought the boys would enjoy touring a cave so before we departed we did just that. We walked through Boyden Cavern and saw all of the fun formations within. The cavern is located up in an area that is less full of sequoias and more dramatic in its landscape.



It's taken me all day to write this less than thrilling account of our trip. If you've read this far, much applause to you. This trip was loads of fun, first and foremost. Secondly, it totally made me remember why travel to all of the corners of our country and this earth is so great! I'm very glad that we're not the type of people to only vacation to one place over and over. There are so many amazing places to see and this trip just gave me a few more of those images burned into my mind. I've been to 29 states (I would have thought this was more. Plus, Andy and I have some definitions of what constitutes this) and 6 countries other than our own.

Over the rest of my life I will continue to make it my goal to visit more new places and see new thrilling things. It's going to be hard though - because I live in a great state for travel. California has SO MUCH to offer and I've only experienced a small part of it - even though I feel as though I've been all over this great state.