Day 9

It was great to wake up to beautiful weather this morning.  I was worried about the fog that always seems to role into San Francisco when we are here.  It was cool, but sunny.  We drove downtown and crossed the Gold Gate Bridge and got out to take a bunch of pictures.

We got back in the van and headed north to Point Reyes National Seashore to meet Brad's younger brother Mark, his wife Amanda and our sweet little niece Brynlee.  We haven't seen them since last summer, so it was nice to catch up.  Both Mark and Amanda are serving in the Airforce and are stationed not far from here.  We stopped at a local sub shop before meeting the fam for a picnic lunch.  Once you are at the visitors center for Pt. Reyes, it is one crazy drive out to the lighthouse and shore.  When you get there though, what a view!!

My favorite picture!

Walking down the stairs and ramp to the light house.  This is the windiest and foggiest point on the whole Pacific Coast.  The wind was gusting around 40 mph that day. 

Gorgeous!

The whole crew.

Now for the hike up.  Not the easiest hike, especially with the wind!

Brynlee and Mark walking back to the car.

A short drive down to the beach.  Much less windier on the beach, but the cool temps did not stop the kiddos from playing in the sand and getting their feet wet. 

When leaving and driving back down the Pacific Coast Hwy we had a beautiful sunset.  We also realized now that it is a bit more scary being on the inside lane.  Yikes!

We stopped and took pictures of the Golden Gate from the other side.  Amazing!  No wonder there were professional photographers lining the streets to take pictures of this at sunset.  Spectacular shots.

A stop at In and Out burger was just the thing we needed after a long day.  Brad's favorite part was there was an In and Out burger and a Krispy Kreme sharing the same parking lot.  So dinner was picked up along with a treat for breakfast the next morning.

Day 8

After a good nights sleep and the best hotel breakfast I have ever eaten, we left for our drive up the Pacific Coast Hwy.  What an amazing drive.  I had been there before, but only drove part of it.  Crazy cliff driving, ocean viewing roads.  Many pull offs to take pictures of waves crashing into rocks hundreds of feet below-bridges that seem to come out of nowhere.  Waterfalls dropping into the ocean.  Small quaint towns like Big Sur, Carmel, Pebble Beaches 17 mile drive and then Monterrey.  We figured out later that this drive didn't seem as scary, because we were on the North bound lanes.  Going south is a whole other story.  After arriving in Monterrey, we walked down to Cannery Row and found a local sandwich place to have dinner.  Then our short drive to our hotel in San Mateo, near the airport, just south of San Francisco.

 Near the start of our journey...

One of those amazing turns

Can you see the road up ahead?

Bridge up ahead..

A waterfall...

Fog moving in

The famous Pebble Beach Lone Cyprus.



Day 7

We took our time this morning.  We didn't have to check out until 11, so we let the kids swim for a while.  After we packed up, we headed on our 5 1/2 hour journey to Santa Barbara, California.  After hours of not seeing any civilization through the Mohave desert for over two hours, it was so exciting to turn that corner and see the Pacific Ocean.  Brad and I have been to California, but the kids have never.  We had finally made it to the coast. 

Here is much of our view from Las Vegas to the coast...

The path along the ocean in Santa Barbara.

A beautiful town with lots of history.  Our hotel is a great local place.  The name of the Sand Man sounded so sketchy when I was making reservation, but it got great reviews.  It ended up being one of the best places we stayed. 

We drove the kids down to the beach and pier.  Even though the temps were in the 60's, it didn't stop them from playing in the sand and touching their toes in the ocean.  At sunset, we walked downtown and had dinner at a local fish and chips place.  What a great day!

Day 6

It was much warmer last night.  We all woke up around 5 am.  Darn sunrise!  After getting everything cleaned up and packed we headed out of camp.  This was much of how our drive looked...

It was about a 3 hour drive to Hoover Dam.  A beautiful drive with 360 degree views of the mountains.  When we arrived at Hoover Dam around 11 am, it was around 100 degrees.  We walked around and took lots of pictures of the gorgeous views and headed out.  The heat was intense and the kids were ready to get to the pool. 

One more hour drive and we arrived in Las Vegas.  It was near 95 degrees while there (thank goodness we missed the "heat wave" they had this summer). 

Vegas strip

We finally got to our hotel.  The Cancun Resort.  We could have hung out just at this resort for a week.  There was so much to do including this cool pool with waterfalls and water slides.  The kids didn't want to leave.  We had a 2 bedrooms 2 bath villa that fitted our family perfectly.  Brad and I are not big casino people, but this resort convinced us that we have to come back!

A mini New York City is what it felt like walking around.  Below we are getting ready to cross the street to go see the Bellagio fountain water show.  Much to our surprise most of the parking is free if you park at a casino.  Our resort was on the south end of the strip, so we drove closer to the big casinos, parked and walked around.

I have heard so many things about this water show.  It was pretty cool to see it is person!

Walking around Freemont Street.

Visiting the Venetian.