JENNBLECH: california adventure 1 :: part 4 heading north

After several days relaxing in Palm Springs, a trip to Joshua Tree, and two full days spent in Disneyland it was time to start the final portion of our adventures, the long drive home. Luckily, we had a few pit stops scheduled to break the trip up a bit, and I definitely have fun with road trips and all of their little twists and turns (minus the traffic).

friday 6/22 :: day 7
We got up in the morning, reluctantly packed our bags, checked out of the room, and walked up the street to grab some breakfast before heading for the road. Driving through LA was a nightmare, but I did get some pretty good video for a compilation of the trip that I will be making soon. Hopefully I got a little glimpse of the Hollywood sign in there. After a couple hours we were finally on the move heading for San Jose. I wish I could say that our drive North went off with out a hitch, but there were some major accidents and lane closures, so what should have taken about six hours quickly turned in to eight and a half. By the time we finally reached my Grandparents condo we were both pretty exhausted so we just ate some dinner, talked with mi familia, and then passed out.

[[ passing through la. crazy traffic. hollywood hotel. ventura blvd. oregonians pumping gas. scenic views. ]]

saturday 6/23 :: day 8
I had made plans a few months in advance to spend the day with my cousin Ashley and her boyfriend Jake in San Francisco, and my older cousin Nicole decided to join us as well. In the morning me, Pat, and Nicole said goodbye to my Grandparents, grabbed some coffee, met up with Ashley and Jake, and headed for the city. I will be putting this in its own post since I took a ton of pictures, but here is a little preview for now.

[[ breakfast. ]]

[[ bay bridge. cousins in san fran. ]]

[[ around town. texting fail. giants game. ]]

[[ cha cha cha. haight street. ]]

sunday 6/24 :: day 9
This was the last day of our trip, the long drive home, so we got up fairly early, said our goodbyes, grabbed coffee and croissants, and headed for our long long patch of I-5. I had originally thought that Pat's GPS would take us along the Golden Gate Bridge, which I was happy about since I had missed out on seeing it the day before, but we ended up in the middle of nowhere instead on some other road, which, though in the right direction, was not exactly the scenic route I was hoping for. Luckily, we did not have the same traffic issues on this leg of the drive as we did traveling from LA to San Jose, so we made really great time all the way through Mt. Shasta area (which was gorgeous).

Once we crossed the Oregon boarder around 3pm (I believe) Pat agreed that we could stop in Ashland for some lunch! I was super excited because I lived in Ashland my Freshman and Sophomore years of college and have been dying to get back for years, if only for an hour or two. Driving past my dorms and all of the places I used to hang out was awesome, and as we headed in to downtown we decided to stop at a restaurant I used to frequent, Standing Stone Brewery. Of course I was never 21 before, so I had never tried any of their brews previously. Lunch was delicious, and much needed for me, but the best part of the stop was seeing my old friend and roommate Paul. He recently moved back to Ashland and works at a little skate shop downtown, so we stopped in to say hi and catch up for a little while before getting back on the road.

Eventually we made it to our final, and very familiar, stretch of pavement and a few hours later were pulling in to our driveway, and very excited to sleep in our own bed.