joyeux anniversaire

I have my second batch of California Adventures to start posting, but first I wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my bestest friend Meguenther!!!

I made her this glorious card this morning (pardon my French if it is incorrect, I took Japanese in high school, so I know not). I kinda like this one. Perhaps I will try more like it.

[[ birthday card for megan. ]]

See you this weekend my love.
butta.

california adventure 1 :: part 6 the drive home

On Sunday (6/25) me and Pat got up early, said our goodbyes, grabbed some food and headed out on our long drive home from San Jose, CA to Corvallis, OR. 

Instead of going the way of San Francisco and catching a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge, our GPS had other plans and we were soon in the middle of nowhere approaching a toll booth with no cash on hand. We pulled off in a random town, who's name I cannot even begin to recall, and thankfully found an ATM outside of a bank I had never heard of. We were somewhere near a bay because there were sail boats down the street, but we were on a mission, so it was back on the road to pay, and across an unknown bridge to continue on the journey. Everything from here was pretty much just rolling hills, farm land, and watching the terrain gradually become more green and sprinkled with pines. Driving up through the Shasta area was gorgeous so I snapped several pictures. As we finally got close to the boarder I was expecting some sort of "Leaving California" sign and was disappointed to find none, but across the boarder we went and I at least got some shots of our very own "Oregon Welcomes You" one.

As I mentioned before we took a pit stop in Ashland, which was by far the highlight and most nostalgic part of my day, before heading out on the final stretch home. We pulled in to our driveway sometime around 8:30pm I believe which marked the official end of our Summer vacation together, and California Adventure part 1 (though at this exact time I did not know I woud be returning quite so soon).

[[ pictures from our drive back to oregon from san jose. ]]

Though this was the last event of this portion of the trip, this is not the end of my California Adventure posts... I will be posting more for at least another week. 

california adventure 1 :: part 5 san francisco & a giants game

On Saturday (6/23), me, Pat, my cousins Ashley & Nicole, and Ashley's boyfriend Jake had made plans to drive in to San Francisco and spend the day exploring the city and catching a Giants game against the Oakland Athletics. 

We all got together early in the morning and headed downtown to make our reservation for brunch in the city. Jake is a chef by profession, so obviously he is very interested at pursuing good eats and took us to a hidden little restaurant called Bar Tartine. Us girls ordered Mimosas right away, and I ended up with the restaurants twist on Eggs Benedict for breakfast. While we were eating, Nicoles friend who lives in the city, met up as well. With the addition of an extra person, the driving situation was a little tight and we ended up pretty crunched in the back seat trying to figure out where to go next. We ended up at the San Francisco Ferry Terminal and Pier Building since we only had a little bit of time to kill before we needed to make our way to Oakland for the Giants game that my uncle got us all tickets to.

((( Funny side story... while me, Pat, Ashley, and Jake were all crowded in to the back seat of Nicole's car, Jake started rubbing Pats knee thinking it was Ashley's! This went on for a solid 10 seconds before he realized what we were saying. It was hilarious! That is one way to get quickly acquainted with someone and was an on going joke and cause for bursts of laughter throughout the day. )))

The Pier provided great views of the Bay Bridge, and the interior and reminded me a lot of a little market near The High Line that Leah had taken us to last summer in NYC. The boys, who we left alone for a few minutes, managed to find a little beer and wine shop, so we all stopped inside to try some fancy beers. One was around thirty dollars and tasted more like champagne. I thought it was delicious, though I think Pat preferred the more classic beer varieties. We stuck around here until it was time to head for the game, but picked up a few bottles to tail gate with.

[[ around the pier. wind blown. inside the market. the bay bridge. beer & wine shop. the group. ]]

This was only my second professional baseball game, the first being at Yankee stadium last summer. It was a major bummer (*major bummer* <--- you will only get that reference if you watch How I Met Your Mother regularly) that the game was not in the Giants home stadium which is a LOT nicer and I totally wanted to buy a hat to wear. The game was still a lot of fun though. We found our seats, grabbed beers and hot dogs (of course) and sat down to watch the game. They were ahead almost the entire time but started having some serious issues towards the end and after a couple extra innings they finally pulled it together for a win. Jake, as you will see from the pictures, was very excited.

By the time we pilled out of the stadium it was getting dark and we were all pretty hungry again, so we debated for a long time about where to grab some dinner. After a series of traffic jams and a lot of detours we finally ended up somewhere by Haight Ashbury at a little place called Cha Cha Cha. We got some sangria and ordered a ton of tapas to share. We ate, drank, and closed down the bar. Our driving issues did not however end there. Apparently the next day was the Gay Pride Parade in San Francisco, which, is a pretty big thing, so... there were essentially giant block parties/raves happened around every corner and cops posted everywhere. Nicole even got "hit on" by a Jeep full of drag queens. "Oh giiiiiiiiiirl, you are gorgeous!" to which I instructed, "Say 'thank you' Nicole..."

Eventually we were able to drop off Nicoles friend and make our way out of the city and back to Ashley's condo where me and Pat crashed.

[[ us at the giants game. ]]

Admittedly, I was a little sad because I had wanted to actually spend the day exploring the city itself, going in to eclectic little shops, spending some money on small treasures, eating street food, snapping shots of the Golden Gate Bridge... you know, the usual stuff. I suppose I just need to make sure I get another trip to the city so that I can fulfill my San Francisco adventure needs. If only we had one more day... It was however a lot of fun.

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.

[[ driving home preview. ]]

[[ in ashland: standing stone brewery. aedion aesthetic. ]]

I will also be posting pictures from the drive home by themselves since there are some really nice scenic ones around Shasta in particular. 

lucky number 7

I am definitely not done with my California Adventures posts right now, but I wanted to take a break to note something very special to me.


Today is me and Pats 7 year anniversary. :)
We began dating a month before I turned 19, and a few weeks before he turned 20. We were babies, and we quickly fell in love with each other despite our long distance adventures. Nothing has changed in that regard, and looking back I am still excited about how we grew up together and that I continue to have this amazing man in my life. I can not be certain what the future has in store for us, but I know that we will be in it together. Love you babe. Always.

...smile...

[[ years 1-6 represented by 1 picture each. ]]

♥

california adventure 1 :: part 3.2 disneyland :: day 2

thursday 6/21 :: day 6

These pictures are from our second and last day at Disneyland, which we spent jumping back and fourth between the parks to get on all of the rides.

[[ lego installations in downtown disney. ]]

[[ california adventure. grizzly mountain peak. cars land. fishermans warf. california screamin'. boardwalk. indiana pat. bears! alice sign in disney. ]]

[[ cars land scenery, i loved the look of this area. ]]

[[ a bugs land. ]]

[[ old timers. star wars. turkey leg pat. angry ducks. churros! late. chip n' dale. ears. ]]

[[ it's a small world. ]]

[[ toontown! reenactment. minnie mouse house. busting out of jail. strong pat. ]]

[[ disneyland parade. ]]

[[ cars land at night. ]]

[[ storybook land rides: mr toad. snow white. pinocchio. peter pan. alice in wonderland. ]]

We decided to start in California Adventure this time, after grabbing some breakfast in Downtown Disney and visiting the Lego store. We got Fast Passes for Tower of Terror and Grizzly Rapids, wandered through Cars Land and went on the roller coaster a few times. At this point it was time for the Rapids, and then back in to Disney for Star Tours and It's A Small World, then back to California Adventure for Tower of Terror, and then back to Disney again for Toontown. I told you we did a lot of running around back and fourth this time... 

Since by now we were both exhausted we headed to Downtown Disney for some dinner where we spotted a serious Snooky look a like, and a really inappropriately dressed patron. We decided to order a bottle of wine with dinner, so by the time we headed back in to the park we were both a little tipsy, which made going on all of the Storybook Land rides even more fun! Pat's coworker and her boyfriend also met up with us so we had some company. We stayed until the park closed down going on Mr. Toad, Pinocchio, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and The Materhorn. The only ride that we missed at all (aside from the new Cars attractions which had just opened and had obscenely long wait times) was the Jungle Cruise. Not too shabby for a two day stint. Perhaps next time we will go for three so that we don't have to run around so much. We are definitely not too old for Disneyland. I even caved and bought some Minnie Mouse ears when we were in Toontown because I have always wanted to, but resisted. I felt ridiculous, but I couldn't help myself.

I also have pictures from all of the roller coasters and such that we went on, but I will save those for my "Extras" post.