0031 -- the bay area

Friday was dedicated to getting up to see Rexy and her little girl Sophie. I've been following Rexy on her various blogs for about 3 years now but we never have gotten the chance to get together. 

On the way out of Monterey we made crazy good time so we decided to stop in Santa Cruz since I had never been. It was a little to busy/packed for me. But we did get some crazy yummy garlic fries on the boardwalk!

From there we moved on to Mountain View for lunch and treats with the girls. It was magical and I have no words to describe how amazing they both are. I am so excited that there are many plans for future hangs!!! Plus, Sophie is such a special little lady I can't wait to play with her again. 

We left the girls and started heading towards Oakland for a show that our friend Brandt was playing at. We only heard one band before needing to roll into the city to check in on a friend's dogs. 

The view from this joint was insane to say the least. My photos only have it during the day, but we walked in on twinkling lights from 38 floors up and then a symphony began to play in a courtyard down below...incredible. 

The filling day we had plans to meet up with an interweb friend of ours for brunch at Straw in the city. This place rules, their food is carnival themed and done so well! I cannot sing its praises enough!! 

Keir happens to live wonderfully close to the painted ladies so we took a stroll around the park to work off breaky. As well, it was easily the prettiest day for a stroll!

We parted ways with Keir here and went on a little driving tour of the city before rolling back into Oakland. 

The rest of our evening included Indian food take out, netflix, browsing Brandt's hand typography, cats, and ultra hangs. 

Monday morning we woke up ready to repack the car and continue heading north. With intentions of making it a long driving day we were out of the city by noon, not without a drive over the elusive Golden Gate Bridge. 

Update again soon!

xxo

0030 -- monterey and carmel

We left big sur and continued north stopping at a few spots for pictures of the historic bridges. While paused at Bixby Bridge there was an old toothless man playing songs with a raven and bunny sitting on his head. Jordan went up to give him a dollar and the man handed him the bunny which Jordan was going to bring to me to hold but instead the little guy jumped on to my shoulder where he would have stayed until I finally needed to remove him. What a trip!!

We made great time getting to Monterey, giving us lots of time to explore the aquarium!! 

The aquarium always puts me in the best mood! And we were lucky enough to see the sea otters playing around! So so so cute!! From there Jordan and I went to grab some lunch and walk around the town! 

After walking around we headed to our hotel to clean up and get ready for our evening! My cousin Sabrina had booked us a dinner reservation at her old work Le St Tropez in Carmel. We decided to take the 17 mile drive since Jordan had never been and our timing couldn't have been better. The sun was just starting to set and there were wild deer everywhere! 

The meal was incredible! We split a cheese plate and the roasted duck which was to die for. Sabrina had already set up a specialty dessert plate for us which included lemon sorbet & cactus pear sorbet in almond cookie cups, flour less chocolate cake, creme brûlée, and puff pastry with whippe white chocolate cream and fresh fruit. By the end we could hardly stand up!! It was such a magical evening to top off our magical day!

Update again soon!

xxo

0029 -- big sur's enchanted forest

I have to say big sur has been surpassing my expectations. There is nothing not magical about this place. The drive, the campsites, the people we've run into. Of course we could have been a little more prepared with our supplies, but that aside, for two city kids we aren't doing half bad!

Now what I should tell you all about are all the rad details like the magical hikes through the redwoods next to the creek. Or the killer meal we were enjoying when a young skunk came over to check us out after the darkness had just settled in (don't worry we stayed calm so we wouldn't get sprayed and he scurried off to scare the campers next to us). I could tell you about the walk at dusk watching campfires spring up and squirrels run for cover. But instead I have to just show as best I can:

It was truly incredible and I would happily do it all over again!!! Thank you so much California for being so good to us on the way out!

Update again soon!!

xxo!