I have always wanted to go to California. I actually considered transferring to a college there, but only got around to visiting colleges on the East Coast, before deciding on ECU. Since then, I’ve always been a bit scared to visit California because I felt like I would love it so much that I would want to move there and my native North Carolinian husband would most definitely have nothing of that idea. Luckily for me (or actually maybe luckily for Chris), Christmas 2015 in San Francisco was rainy and cold (my two least favorite weather types). In fact, the rain they received while we were there was some of the first they had had in months. And, the temperature was fairly normal, however knowing that it was 60-70 degrees back at home while we were on “vacation” was a bit depressing. Self-pity about the unlucky weather aside, we did enjoy our time there. We got to do a bit of sight seeing, we got to see my parents (who were also visiting) and spend a few days with some of my extended family!

The thing I was most excited about on the trip was taking a day and driving as far North up Highway 1 (the road that follows the coast line) as we could go. So, the first day, this is what we did. Or tried to do. This is the best and one of the only photos I took. Between the fog, crazy wind and rain, the exploration was cut short and we found a brewery to spend our afternoon at instead.

The very last day of the trip, Chris and some of the rest of my family went out deep sea fishing and my mom and I went to Point Reyes National Seashore to see a bit of what we missed the first day. Don’t mind my lack of landscape photography skills.

One day, we decided to go see the Golden Gate Bridge. I looked it up online and found there was also Golden Gate Park that had some other sights and activities so we’d make an afternoon of it. So we Uber’d to Golden Gate State Park and started walking. Turns out, Golden Gate Bridge is no where near Golden Gate Park. I feel like this should be a banner at the top of the Park’s website. But, I digress, we did arrive to the bridge just in time to see a storm coming across the Bay, creating a rainbow.

My mom and dad. It only took 8 shots and me yelling to get Mr. Rogers to smile. 

The view of Alcatraz across the Bay. We actually went and toured Alcatraz (there are a few photos later on in the post). It’s definitely something I would suggest doing!

Even if you don’t know me at all, you should know by now, I love animals. I literally watched these Sea Lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco for over an hour. There were hundreds of them on the floating rafts. Some were sleeping, some were playing King of the Raft and pushing each other off. They immediately reminded me of one of our dogs, Porkchop, their “fur” color and consistency, the noises they make and the way they snuggle. The one below that is trying to squeeze in between two others, is Porkchop all day long. Here’s a few shots of the inside of Alcatraz, there were way too many people around to get creative and not get tons of people in the shot. Again, if you’re in San Francisco and have a few hours, I highly suggest checking out Alcatraz.From the rooftop of the building we stayed in!

So far, Chris is safe and I don’t have an uncontrollable desire to live in California. I would love to go back in the spring/summer and start further south and drive up Highway 1 (and 101) into Oregon and Washington.