california

on the loooooong drive down i took time to document our trip, so i thought i'd share some of it with pictures.

friday
june 26, 2009

i got home from kelsey's stag at midnight. i came into the apartment only to notice darcy sleeping on the couch. as he had been since 6pm. i showered and we slept until 3am and then packed up in the pouring rain and we were on our way.

saturday
june 27, 2009
day 1

we had a real jerk at the boarder, it was pouring rain on a tin roof and he was mumbling. he asked many questions some of the usual and some other this is how it played out
"where you going?"
darcy "california"
"why there?"
d "it's nice and hot there"
"it's hot other places. why there?"
d"umm, that's just where we picked this time."
"where do you guys work?"
d"westfield"
"what's that?"
d"we build augers"
"and you miss?"
r"i am a student"
"where?"
r"massage therapy college of manitoba."
"when do you need to be back at work and school?"
"monday -- september sometime?!"

and so on and so forth, there was more but i got tired of typing in story form! after the boarder it stopped pouring some what and by fargo it had cleared. after walmart, some breaky, gas and a few wrong turns we were headed on the I94 west for 1199 kms. 1 mile from medosa, ND it started to rain again, then it started to rain harder and harder, and hail, harder and harder. we pulled over and were creeping along the I94 until it passed. we took the more scenic route on the way down, going through yellowstone national park. the roads were so narrow and windy, i was glad we drove there in sunlight. i kept telling darcy mom would have never made it driving with him! there were many white crosses on the shoulder i'd say 25+. this did not calm my fears but darcy drove great. i drove for a while in the mountain area -- in the dark! i was freaked out, to say the least but d needed to sleep so that was the only option. we stopped to sleep at 12.45am our time (we gained an hour). it was a long day of driving, but lots of fun, and we stayed safe. praise the Lord!

the above two are of yellowstone national park
God's really good at creating mountains

sunday
june 28, 2009
day 2

we started driving again at 6am. we stopped in twin falls for gas and breaky - where they got my order wrong. after lots of driving and darcy almost losing it because he saw a cop on the other side of the highway and then turn around to come our way...he fears cops with a passion....but all was well. we stopped in some unnamed city and picked up a pizza for lunch. we gained another hour in nevada and just into california there was what seemed to be a toll booth coming up. so darcy got out his wallet and pulled out some 1's. he opened his window and was greeted with "hello sir, this is just an agricultural check stop, i don't want your money. coming from canada i see, that's a long drive. do you have any meat or fruit with you?" to which darcy replies no and then we were free to carry on - forgetting we had apples in the back. oops! we finally got to oakland (thinking it was san francisco, we had crossed one bridge but not both.....) and got lead astray by the gps. after about an hour of being lost (and actually being in san francisco for a while w/o knowing it) we found a hotel to rest our weary eyes. on our way out for some supper we were confronted by a woman in the hotel. she told us she had booked a room but didn't know they didn't take cash. she wanted to know if she could use our credit card to book her room and she'd pay us cash. obviously we said that we couldn't and she said she understood why. i felt really bad for her, she seemed genuine but i know better than to give my credit card to a complete stranger. i told darcy it's sad that the world has come to this - not trusting anyone.

these mountains we went over and down were scary!
they had areas where you would go down for a few
miles and then have to go straight, then down, straight,
and back up...etc. plus people were riding their brakes the
whole time!

going through a mountain in nevada, d woke me for it.
got the picture just in time!

monday
june 29, 2009
day 3

we got up and headed to the zoo in san francisco. it was shockingly cold, we were unaware that the bay winds were so chilly. it was nice to walk around the zoo in cooler temperatures though, 115 would be just too hot! after spending the morning and afternoon at the zoo we hunted for a hotel. we came across a super 8, not too far from everywhere else we wanted to go. i wish i would have taken pictures of it, it was really nice for a super 8! we crashed for a while and then walked around looking for a place to eat supper.

san francisco

this bird almost bit my hand. i tried to move a leaf
to get a better shot and he tried to nip at me! i screamed

more to come!