She says: As you can imagine, we did a lot in Cali.  I had no idea that California had so many winding roads!  I kept calling them morning sickness roads.  🙂  John was not enjoying his driving so much and it seemed to take forever to get anyhwere.   However, when we did finally arrive it was always worth it.

Let’s see.  We really liked San Diego.  We hung out at the beach and got some fish tacos. Yummm.  We also went out to the gaslamp district and listened to some music and grabbed a few beers.  The next day J surprised me with a sailing trip for my bday.  I had never been and it was awesome.  Thanks babe!! After SD we headed to LA to meet John’s cousin Amber.  We stayed with her and her bf Jaymar (aka – Hines Ward).  I really liked both of them.  They were very hospitable and a good time.  J and I drove to Malibu and got some good lunch at a restaurant right on the beach.  We wish we had more time to spend with them but we will be back!  Apparently we skipped town right in time.  Carmaggedon was happening the day after we left.  If you aren’t sure what Carmaggedon is, Google it.

Sequoia National park was great.  We were able to see the largest tree in the world, in terms of volume.  These things are HUGE!!  We stayed the night in the park and got up early to head to Yosemite.  Oh Yosemite and your 20,000 visitors.  There were so many people here.  All the campsites inside the park were full so we were hoping that the other 10 or more located outside the park were not.  No such luck.. 😦  Would you believe that ALL of the ones located outside of the park were full as well.  And these camps were not close.  Once we got about 80 miles outside of the park we finally called it quits and decided we would have to visit Yosemite another time.  Honestly, for winging this entire trip with no reservations, we have been incredibly lucky about getting in places.  I was disappointed but knew we would be back so that made the situation a little better.

San Fran.. San Fran was nice.  Not my favorite city.  I didn’t enjoy the traffic so much which seemed to be everywhere.  Alcatraz was sold out for the next two weeks and the sidewalks were packed!  Don’t go in the summer.  I am sure its a great city but I was having a hard time enjoying much besides the weather.  Wine country however, was awesome!! Not crowded at all.  Usually we were the only ones in the tasting rooms.  We stayed in a beautiful B & B with our own pool.  The owners made us fresh muffins and zucchini bread :p.  Highly recommend going.  Wine tasting is an absolute blast!  I plan on doing a girls trip there sometime in the future. J enjoyed it as well.  I finally got him drinking wine and he is starting to really like it.  This makes me happy…

He Says: California is a beautiful state despite the winding roads. A couple times we decided to take the scenic byways but apparently scenic byway means driving 15 mph on hairpin turns for 30 miles. So happy to not be driving those anymore. San Diego had the perfect weather and a great vibe. TB and I place it at number two on our list behind Boulder for possible places to settle down. 🙂 The Gaslamp district is a must see. We got to watch a musician at a local bar walk out to the middle of the street and strum away on his guitar while taxi’s weaved around him. Definitely a great sight to see. Sailing was a great time too but would’ve been better with some mixed drinks. 🙂

After riding the winds of the San Diego bay for a few hours we drove North to stay with my cousin Amber and her boyfriend Hines Ward. 🙂 Amber, we had a great time at your place and appreciate the hospitality. It’s always a pleasure hanging with you!!

Next, more National Parks! Camping in Sequoia NP was amazing but wish we would’ve set up camp a little earlier. They have sites literally on the edge of a cliff looking out over the forest. Unfortunately, like TB said, we weren’t as lucky in Yosemite. After driving too many miles to count outside the park we finally found a recreation area with unimproved camping areas. It actually turned out for the best. The campground was right next to a huge lake. We built our own fire ring with rocks we found, made some dinner and drank all the wine we had. 🙂 We talked all night and I got to take pictures of the moon coming up over the water. So despite not being able to enjoy all of Yosemite, the night turned out much better than we expected.

San Francisco was…..San Francisco. We did a few of the touristy things and tried to see Alcatraz but no luck. We ended up grabbing some lunch on the pier and then booked it as fast as we could out of the traffic and crowded streets.

Wine country was a great time and beautiful. The B&B we stayed in didn’t have a TV so we ended up playing 6th grade Brain Quiz, drinking wine and listening to jazz on the radio. Extremely relaxing to say the least. Just wish I knew more of the Brain Quiz answers considering the target audience. 🙂 We bought some amazing wines and will surely be drinking them over the next few weeks….or days. We need to save at least one bottle for the family back in Ohio. 🙂

Next stop….Crater Lake National Park, OR.