PCH - 17 Mile Drive

Driving up PCH - part 1

California - Hearst Castle

Tuesday morning we left Los Angeles and started our drive up the coast. We drove about 4 hours from LA to San Simeon, stopping in the really cute town of San Luis Obispo for lunch. That afternoon we toured Hearst Castle - an amazing estate built by William Randolph Hearst. Talk about gorgeous!!! The place constists of the main house (la casa grande), 3 guest houses, a GORGEOUS outdoor pool call the Neptune Pool, beautiful gardens, amazing views, an indoor pool that is completely tiled, and much, much more. After touring Hearst Castle we spent the evening in Pacifica, which has a really cute downtown area, and then walked on the beach.

Californ-i-a Part I

We went to Chicago this weekend, both to visit my friend Steph, and to see the White Sox vs. Tigers game. However, it rained ALL weekend, and needless to say, the game was canceled. We had a great time anyway - with the exception of the drive home. It took us 6 hours to get home from Chicago - six hours... and it wasn't a snow storm. They closed 80/94 just over the Indiana border due to flooding, so 5 lanes of traffic had to get off at one exit. Many other road were closed in the area as well. Basically, it was chaos.

When we got home I decided I need a little sunshine, so I sorted through a few of my Cali pics. These are from our first few days there, which were spent spending time with friends. We spent Saturday and Monday at the beach, where Brian taught Ben how to surf. We also got to catch up with some of my college friends. It was wonderful. The pics of Ben surfing are from the same day. It started so gray with a thick marine layer, and less than 3 hours later the sky had turned into a beautiful blue! (And if you notice... I got a bit burned).

We're back!!! We actually got back Saturday night, but as things tend to happen, life has been busy! School started at Calvin on Monday, so work got a lot busier for me. On top of playing catch up, I had a bunch of other things to take care of us well.

Ben and I have started the house hunting process, so we've been busy this week searching GRAR, getting pre-approved for a loan, and touring some homes. We found one house that we love, in our #1 neighborhood that was recently foreclosed... which could be good for us! It will take a few weeks to go through the legal processes before it is back on the market, but we still managed to get an appointment to go through it - TONIGHT! I am really excited, but also a bit nervous. I'm afraid I will fall even further in love with this house. It's at the very top of our price range, so if it comes back on the market even cheaper, that would be great!

The rest of our Cali trip was wonderful. Napa was beautiful, but hot! It was over 100 degrees both days we were there. It rarely gets that warm there. It was still fun though. I've been sorting through pictures and hope to get some up soon.

Vacation

Just a quick update...

We're having a great time in California!!! We got some nice sun at the beach, Ben learned to surf, saw some great friends, went to Hearst Castle, drove up PCH from LA to Pacifica (so far.. over 2 days), went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, drove 17 mile drive and stopped at Pebble Beach... I love vacation!

Tomorrow is driving across the Golden Gate Bridge, seeing the coastal redwoods, and on to Napa!!!

MANY pictures to come.