California Girls
My amazing mother should start a travel blog because she uses the advice on other travel blogs so well. In August she took my sister and I on a trip to California, and our flights, hotels and rental car were completely covered by credit card travel rewards.
And Heather should start a thrift store blog. During our week in California, she made sure we stopped at a Goodwill in San Francisco, a Salvation Army and some other local thrift store in Santa Cruz (the millennial town that stands out in my mind as smelling like pot) and then a Goodwill in Monterey.
Our trip started in San Francisco. This is where mom was born and where she visited her grandparents each summer as a child. Later she lived there for a semester in college. My great-grandfather was an immigrant from Germany and an artist in San Francisco. We joked a few times that we were on a family history trip, but really though. We visited the Botanical Gardens where his ashes were scattered, we were able to visit their home and the church building close by where my mom was blessed as a baby. Other than that, we visited Fisherman's Wharf, Lover's Lane, Muir Woods, a beach with pretty rocks, Sausilto, Twin Peaks, and Golden Gate Park. I saw two of my mission companions - Mary who drove down from Sacramento, and Dashmaa who lives in San Fran with her husband and adorable little boys.
On our way to Monterey, we stayed the night in Santa Cruz. In addition to this being a thrifty, genealogical vacation, it was also a nature vacation. In Santa Cruz there is a state park called "Natural Bridge" which was a cool rock formation in the ocean near the shore that formed a bridge-like structure. One of my favorite activities on our trip was going on a bike ride along the shore with Heather to Natural Bridge, even though she couldn't get any good pictures of me on the bike. Not upset about that at all.
After our bike ride we packed up and drove to another cute beach town called Capitola. Mom said she used to go to that beach a lot when I was little and we lived in Monterey because it's such a cute beach. There were these colored villa condo things that had a European feel to them. This was an ice cream vacation too because we stopped at our 3rd ice cream place in Capitola (first was in Sausilito, second was the Ghiradelli Factory in San Fran).
We finally made our way to Marina (a rather interesting town where we lived when I was a little girl) and then to Monterey. The main attraction there is the Monterey Bay Aquarium and it was amazing. We even found a cool marine animal rubiks cube for my brother who needed just one more for his collection of like 40 rubiks cubes. If you can - try to get a 2-day pass to the Aquarium because there are just too many exhibits and educational programs to fit into one day, and you can usually get 2 for the price of 1 through your hotel.
I also loved the 17-mile drive. Mom is very adventurous and showed us some tidal pools, and taught us how to poke the sea anemones. We drove around Carmel as well and visited Big Sur on our last day in that area. It was so chilly on this trip - we were wearing coats and sweaters in August - that our beach visits consisted of laying on towels in our coats and sweaters and falling asleep.
So quick recap of trip themes: family history, nature, ice cream, thrift stores, sleeping on beaches. Perfect!
And Heather should start a thrift store blog. During our week in California, she made sure we stopped at a Goodwill in San Francisco, a Salvation Army and some other local thrift store in Santa Cruz (the millennial town that stands out in my mind as smelling like pot) and then a Goodwill in Monterey.
Our trip started in San Francisco. This is where mom was born and where she visited her grandparents each summer as a child. Later she lived there for a semester in college. My great-grandfather was an immigrant from Germany and an artist in San Francisco. We joked a few times that we were on a family history trip, but really though. We visited the Botanical Gardens where his ashes were scattered, we were able to visit their home and the church building close by where my mom was blessed as a baby. Other than that, we visited Fisherman's Wharf, Lover's Lane, Muir Woods, a beach with pretty rocks, Sausilto, Twin Peaks, and Golden Gate Park. I saw two of my mission companions - Mary who drove down from Sacramento, and Dashmaa who lives in San Fran with her husband and adorable little boys.
Flower pictures by Heather @ the botanical gardens:
Location where my great-grandfather's ashes were scattered:
Where my great-grandparents lived:
Twin peaks view:
Lombard Street:
Church my mom went to when she was a baby:
Lover's Lane walk in the Presidio:
Muir Woods:
Rodeo Beach (?):
Mary and I kept taking wrong turns but ended up getting some pics with the Golden Gate Bridge :)
Mongolian dinner at Dashmaa's:
Sourdough factory, Cable Car, Ghirardelli, Seals
On our way to Monterey, we stayed the night in Santa Cruz. In addition to this being a thrifty, genealogical vacation, it was also a nature vacation. In Santa Cruz there is a state park called "Natural Bridge" which was a cool rock formation in the ocean near the shore that formed a bridge-like structure. One of my favorite activities on our trip was going on a bike ride along the shore with Heather to Natural Bridge, even though she couldn't get any good pictures of me on the bike. Not upset about that at all.
After our bike ride we packed up and drove to another cute beach town called Capitola. Mom said she used to go to that beach a lot when I was little and we lived in Monterey because it's such a cute beach. There were these colored villa condo things that had a European feel to them. This was an ice cream vacation too because we stopped at our 3rd ice cream place in Capitola (first was in Sausilito, second was the Ghiradelli Factory in San Fran).
We finally made our way to Marina (a rather interesting town where we lived when I was a little girl) and then to Monterey. The main attraction there is the Monterey Bay Aquarium and it was amazing. We even found a cool marine animal rubiks cube for my brother who needed just one more for his collection of like 40 rubiks cubes. If you can - try to get a 2-day pass to the Aquarium because there are just too many exhibits and educational programs to fit into one day, and you can usually get 2 for the price of 1 through your hotel.
I also loved the 17-mile drive. Mom is very adventurous and showed us some tidal pools, and taught us how to poke the sea anemones. We drove around Carmel as well and visited Big Sur on our last day in that area. It was so chilly on this trip - we were wearing coats and sweaters in August - that our beach visits consisted of laying on towels in our coats and sweaters and falling asleep.
So quick recap of trip themes: family history, nature, ice cream, thrift stores, sleeping on beaches. Perfect!
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