Did the title catch ya? Good! That was my point :) However, though there were some serious rough patches on this trip that made it feel like nothing could get any worse, "Roadtrip from hell" might be a bit of a stretch. It defiantly could have been worse. I have always said everything happens for a reason and I do truly believe that but sometimes when you're in the moment and the moment is not good, it's hard to keep telling yourself that.
Monday March 24th, 2014
We began our journey at 6am on Monday morning with leaving Klamath Falls and driving to San Francisco where we explored the big city. The two things I learned in that city 1. My little 1.4 engine does not like the hills ;) 2. I need to remember to bring Advil next time I try to drive around that city. Don't get me wrong. We had a great time seeing all kinds of things but it is a little crazy to drive in! I think next time, when we have more time, we will rent bikes :)
The dogs decided they were coming with us!
And this is the face that makes it sooooooo hard for me to leave anywhere! He truly knows the meaning of "guilting with no words" ;)
The beautiful Mt. Shasta.
Jesse and I plan to climb to the top of it this coming June:)
I love adventuring with him♥
The Cliff house and Lands End was our next destination
The Sutro Bath's
A fun little cave we walked through
It looks like a heart shape in the rock ♥
SO many stairs!
The beach will forever have my heart no matter where it is♥
I had never been to the Haight district before this. It was a fun little area to explore and walk around
I love the look of the San Francisco houses
The FULL HOUSE house! This was one of my favorite things I saw. As a little girl, I remember watching hours of full house back to back so seeing the actual house was pretty awesome in my book :)
Twin Peaks View of San Fran
The Transamerica Building
While Jesse and I were walking down the streets of San Francisco we came across the exploratorium and found these cool history stories.
We had just got into China Town and this was the one of the first windows we passed...
CHINA TOWN!
We walked 15 or more miles from the pier, through china town, into downtown, through the union square and back to the garage our car was parked in.
Union Square
I couldn't just walk past this place! Mmm :)
San Francisco streets were so much more fun to walk down rather than drive. Plus we caught a beautiful view of the sun setting as we made it back to our car♥
Funny/not so funny story: We made it back to the garage that our car was parked in, walked to the spot we parked in, and it was empty. No car. Nothing. Before panicking (I do drive a Honda, the most common, easiest car to be stolen), I considered that maybe we were in the wrong garage (even though the name was the same). Maybe there is two of the same garages (there's not). I began to panic a little, when we ran into another lady having the same problem. So then I'm thinking one of two things, either A. There HAS to be another garage or B. A group of people had fun stealing cars earlier that day. We go talk to the guy operating the exit area and he tells us that there is only one garage. We show him where we parked and he said, "you're sure it was on this side?" With keeping every bit of composure I had left, I said NO. As I'm thinking, obviously I can't find my car, what do you mean THIS SIDE?? Apparently there were two different sides of the garage that you had to walk through a hall way to get to. It makes me wonder how many other people that happens to. It can't be uncommon seeing as how there is no sign pointing to the other side of the garage.
This was the cherry on top of the day we had been having :)
We then went to the city of San Carlos to have dinner with Jesse's sister and her boyfriend, Oryan. It was a very cute little Italian restaurant in a quiet beautiful little town, outside of the city. Just what we needed to end our long day♥
Love these two amazing people♥
After dinner we had a hotel already booked in Monterey so we began our 2 hour drive. When we arrived, the hotel office was closed. The lights were off and door was locked. I had never had this problem before at any hotel I ever stayed in. I didn't know that hotels even closed. Ever. It was almost 1am, Jesse and I had been up for 20+ hours at this point and wanted nothing more than a bed to sleep in. I got on the phone with Expedia and after getting disconnected with them 3 separate times and explaining my situation 3 times to 3 different people, I finally was able to get some help. They called the hotel manager who was sleeping in the back office room. Apparently they have a "night bell". It's right next to the window, HIDDEN behind a water drain pipe going down the building-_- Needless to say we finally got to bed.
Tuesday March 25th, 2014
The original plan was to get up at 6am and get started on the rest of our trip however our day began at 11am :)
So thankful it's a new day!
We drove to a little downtown area called the Cannery to find a place for breakfast.
This was the cutest little cafe and the food was delicious!
Jesse ordered the breakfast burrito
I ordered the veggie bagel and every time I see this picture, I want another one, it was that yummy! :)
After we had a wonderful breakfast we walked around the town to explore and find the beach
This area was so beautiful and warm♥
To our surprise, we got back to the car to find a $35 parking ticket on the window... We had parked in an expired parking zone I guess..
This was our favorite part of our trip so far. It felt like paradise♥
That smile.. ♥
Our journey down the 101 Coast Highway began here
Bixby Bridge
Elephant Seals
Hindsight: This next paragraph was written on Tuesday March 25th.
Currently I am sitting in the car driving down the 101 Pacific Coast Highway heading for Santa Monica. I was sitting here beginning to think "I'm so board.." "Are we almost there yet.." and so on. Then I stopped for a second and remembered THIS is what I love! I love travel and adventure! Even the driving part of it! After 8 hours in a car that can sometimes slip my mind but never for long :)
And then........
I was sitting in the passenger seat, writing on my blog when I felt my car jolt a little. I looked up at Jesse and he didn't even seem to notice so I figured it was just the California road bumps and went back to writing. No more than 3 seconds later Jesse says, "what the heck.." and begins to try and shift only to realize that we had lost all power in the car. Thankfully there was an exit right there so we took it but didn't even make it off. We pulled to the side of the road and got out to look under the hood. Not being able to see anything, I called my superhero. My dad. It was looking more and more like I needed to get my car into a shop. I didn't even know what city we were in though, let alone a car mechanic who really knows what he's doing. Plus it was 6:30pm so most auto shops were closed.
I called my insurance to get me a tow truck. The lady informed me that the only place still open was a Honda dealership. I know. Wonderful. Right. So with having no other choices I told her that would have to do.
I called the dealership just to verify that they would be able to take a look at my car. I had high hopes of it not being a big deal and getting back on the road that night to make it to our hotel in San Diego. Turned out that the auto shop had closed at 6 though.
The tow truck showed up and before I could even inform him that the Honda dealership was not open he told me that he had a friend whose mechanic shop was right over the overpass less than 3 minutes away (Talk about a God thing).
The guy was extremely nice and told us to get in the truck as it was getting a little chilly.
This was the sign right in front of where we pulled off the road at. Auto Center Dr. pointing in the same direction as the Mechanic shop..
On our way over to the mechanics shop, the tow truck driver made the comment, "Well, you kids must have done something good along the way. God is always watching out for his kids. My buddy is almost always closed by now but for some reason tonight he is still open." Then he proceeded to say, "Situations like this suck but you have to remember that we can only see things in hindsight. God is the only one who knows the 'what ifs', and there is a reason your car broke down. You never know what would have happened if you would have stayed on that road." Hearing that guy say those things was exactly what I needed. Before he said those things, I was so mad that this was happening. But he is absolutely right. Everything does happen for a reason. So I took a deep breath, put a smile on my face and decided I was going to make the best of the situation.
We got to the mechanics shop and in the process of us telling him what happened (before he looked at it) he told us the worst thing that it could be is a broken timing belt, so as he began to look at the car, I was praying that it was anything but that. 5 minutes later, he looked over at Jesse and I and the look on his face said it all. We snapped the timing belt going 80 mph down the highway. I began asking, how much the fix would be, could he fix it, how long would it take? He answered with "without doing any research $1800 min. because chances are, we will need to re-build the engine. Yes I can do it and probably 5 days providing all parts are available in town." This is when the tears began to fall and I got back on the phone with my dad.
We then began looking for where we could get a rental car from and still make it to San Diego since we already had a hotel reserved and it was non-refundable at this point. Only to find out that both Enterprise and Hertz closed at 7pm and it was 7:30pm. So then we found a motel 6 to stay in. Eddie (the mechanic) gave us a ride to the hotel. It was truely a blessing to have ended up with the tow truck driver that we did who was able to take us to such an awesome, caring, knowledgeable, kind mechanic. I couldn't have possibly ended up with better people for the situation we were in.
Eddied dropped us off at the hotel, we went to check in and the guy at the front desk asks for ID's. We hand them to him, he looks at me and says, "Oh, you're not 21..?" Then proceeds to tell me that I can't stay there because you have to be 21 and over to stay in motel 6's. That was the last string for me. Lets just say I made a fool of myself but he did end up letting us stay there.
After such a rough day, Jesse and I walked to Taco Bell for dinner and then the store for ice cream before a movie in bed.
Wednesday March 26th, 2014
A new day :)
Jesse and I caught a cab from our hotel to the nearest Hertz. I had never ridden in a cab before. Nothing special ;)
Only expensive! I was sitting in the back watching this little meter just keep going up with every second we were in the car it felt like. We only went 4 miles. $20 later...
This was the car we ended up with. While we both continued to look for the positives in our situation, one that we came up with was that we now got to make the rest of our trip in a sweet car.. Well, compared to my little Honda that is:)
After getting the rental car and picking up our stuff from my car, we were back on the road heading for San Diego where I had plans of sitting on the beach all day and soaking up the sun :)
We ended up skipping the 101 route and taking the 5 the rest of the way to San Diego to save some time.
It was lunch time when we got there so we made a sushi stop :)
My sunny, hot beach, was more like a windy, cold, raining beach.... :(
A friend use to live in San Diego and he recommended Ocean Beach, when we got there it was sunny and no longer raining so that was very nice. It was crazy windy though. We sat on this beach for maybe an hour enjoying the sound of the ocean waves and beautiful view ♥
This smile helped me keep going :)
On our way towards Fallbrook we stopped at Mt. Soledad to see this view. It was gorgeous! Again with the city thing, Jesse and I learned alot of things on this trip, one of which being that neither of us like big cities. I had a massive headache after trying to get around with so many cars and people. Sitting on top of this mountain was perfect. Very quiet and peaceful with a beautiful view♥
This was also the spot where my dad called me and said that Eddie was able to just put a new timing belt on my car and it started right up meaning that we didn't have to re-build the engine!! :)
Traffic -_- EVERYWHERE.
After making it to Fallbrook and checking into the hotel we would be in for the next three days, Jesse and I went out to dinner at Firehouse Restaurant
Delicious fish tacos
We finished the night with relaxing in the hot tub♥
Thursday March 27th, 2014
These next two days are what made this roadtrip completely worth everything!
These next two days are what made this roadtrip completely worth everything!
This was at the venue where Christina's wedding was it. It was such a beautiful place.
Waiting for everyone before the rehearsal
My love :)
We did get a little time next to the pool but mostly in the hot tub :)
The rehearsal dinner was so pretty and so much fun. It was a private dinner for the wedding party and family in a wine aging room.
The menu for the night
Tiramisu. Coffee to end the night :)
The most amazing desert I have ever had!
Ian's sister Katy
After the dinner we all went back to Christina's hotel to meet more of her family :)
Friday March 28th, 2014
WEDDING DAY!! ♥
One of Tara's (Christina's sister) friends came to Temecula to do all of our hair before the wedding. Between getting our hair done and going to Mac to get our makeup done, we we're all over the place that morning :)
In the car driving to the venue. 2 hours before wedding time!! :)
Sisters♥Mom
A completely stunning bride♥
I think back to when she was still in college with me and we would talk about her and Ian getting married someday:)
Christina and I met during my freshman year of college and her senior year. We both worked in the tutoring center at OIT. While I could say some things about how we both felt about that job, I will spare everyone ;) We had so much in common and very easily she became one of my best friends. More than that though, she became the big sister I never had. Even though she graduated and moved to Denver, CO with Ian the summer after, I know she will be one of those lifetime friends♥
"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something BLUE"
Bridesmaids
♥
Their first dance♥
CJ, Ian's best man rocked his speech :)
The sunset that was behind Christina and Ian as they cut the cake. I can't wait to see the photos their photographers captured.
At the reception
We ended the night with dancing and lots of laughs:)
I am so thankful to have a friend like Christina in my life.
Her and Ian will make such a beautiful life together. I can't even explain how happy I am for them♥
Saturday March 29th, 2014
The drive between Fallbrook and Temecula
Christina's car :)
After waking up, we went to Christina's hotel, watched them open their presents and visited for a little while. We had a long drive ahead of us however so we weren't able to visit as long as I would have liked to.
We said our see ya later's and hit the road toward Ventura where we would be able to get my car and drive it home.
We just wanted to get home so we decided to drive straight through to Klamath, however about 3am we were just hitting Sacramento and we were both completely exhausted so we ended up getting one last hotel.
Sunday March 30th, 2014
We had breakfast at IHOP and made it back home about 5pm.
Though this trip was a little rough, and continues to drag on still to this day.... As my mom put it "the vacation that keeps on giving" as she sends me a picture of a ticket for not paying a toll (which we thought we had paid all of them). I do believe that everything happens for a reason. I also lost my journal on this trip that I had been writing in since my junior year of high school. That one got to me the most probably but I just keep telling myself, there must have been something in that book that somebody else needed to read... It makes me feel better to think of it that way rather than it being in the garbage.. :(
Anyways, the point is even when life gives you hell, or what you think feels like hell just remember there is a reason for it. So put a smile on that face of yours and push through it because until you do, you will never know what is on the other side.
♥
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