Road Tripppin

Here's the story of our road trip (26hrs total) - from Provo, UT to San Francisco, CA

Decisions. It's 8 o'clock, Thursday night.We were sitting in Bajio's shoveling down burritos and quesadillas, making fun of each other, laughing out loud, and acting like really mature college kids.  The long weekend would start the next day and we were trying to figure out what to do. Lots of ideas were up in the air: St. George, Park City, Midway, and San Fransisco.  Taylor's birthday was the next week and all of his family would be in San Fransisco that weekend, so we thought "why not?"  Yeah, we decided to go to San Fransisco 12 hours before we actually left.  And that, my friends, is the joy of college.

Getting There. Morgan and I packed, cleaned our room, finished our essays by about 2 am, set our alarms for 8 am and passed out.  Somehow, Morgan and I have this amazing ability to sleep through every alarm we set. So, by 9:52 I started coming to and I checked my phone to see what the damage was.  Realization hit and I jumped out of bed, yelling at Morgan on the way.  We had missed our tanning session at 8 and my review at 9.  I had class at 10 and had been late to it for the last 3 days, and I had a paper due at the beginning of class.  I threw on my Victoria's Secret sweatsuit (a NECESSITY for college life), grabbed my backpack, and RAN like the wind.  Amazingly, I got there at 9:59.  Ironically, my teacher came in at 10:10. What. The. Heck. Anyways, Morgan and I got back from class around 11:20, grabbed our bags and hopped in the car. We hadn't showered, our hair was frizzy, and we were half awake, but we were on the road! We arrived in Concord, CA around midnight... after a 12 hour car ride - almost crashed the car a few times.. but somehow we made it alive. We were staying with Taylor's older brother Chris, his wife Jennie, and their kids Macy (2) and Kate (5) - ADORABLE.  We talked with them all night and fell asleep around 2 am.

Taylor, Macy, Kyle

Sailing. We woke up around 8 am after shivering all night...  Morgan and I almost resorted to spooning. We grabbed some breakfast and headed out to the marina.  Taylor's older brother, Chris, had connections with a friend with a huge sailboat.. so we went SAILING! We also met up with Taylor's sister Jen and her kids Kyle and Nolan.  The boat was beautiful inside - beautiful wooden interiors, 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, leather, and a nice kitchen - but we spent most of our time up top.  We sailed across the bay from Concord to San Fransisco in about an hour.  It was windy but stunning!  The sun was out, the weather was warm (compared to Utah), the water was glistening, the city was shining, and I was with some of my favorite people ever! We were so lucky!! The four of us hopped off at Pier 3 and spent the rest of the day in the city.

City Life.What a day! We walked to Ghirardelli Square and back - about 3 miles each way.  On the way we ran into street acrobats that were mmm,mmm,mmm... tastey.  Morgan and I were drooling - the main guy was from Australia and had the hottest accent, along with body! Phew....  After the show ended we realized how famished we were and headed to Boudin's Bakery where we we snarfed down delicious clam chowder.  Nearby, the famous arm wrestling machine that was used in The Princess Diaries was on display, so we made our way over to find it.  It was in a way cool arcade place called Musée Mécanique.  It had old wooden arcade machines from the beginning of time that actually worked! Almost an hour later, our fortunes had been told, our palms had been read, our strength had been tested, and our stomachs were hurting from laughing so hard.  It was getting cold, but we continued walking and found the famous bush man.  He's a man that sits by the side of the road and hides behind two "shields" of bushes.  He would move them right before an unsuspecting victim would walk by, and he would stick his head out between them and scream.  The bystander would jump five feet in the air and everyone standing by waiting and watching would get a great laugh.  As we were watching, I overheard a man talking to his wife about how this guy makes over 3 figures. Go figure.  Maybe I should just drop out of college and be a bush woman instead.

The "bush man"

Sunset. Next, we wandered down to Ghirardelli Square and enjoyed the rolling waves of the ocean crashing down on the beach as the sun was setting... can you say breathtaking?  We walked up to Ghirardellis and got a sample piece of chocolate, yum!  The music, people, and atmosphere was so chill.  My yearning to live in California hit an all time high.  The sun was going down so we headed back to the BART (we learned this meant "bay area transit system") and stopped by to see the sea lions. Two of them ended up getting in a fight! We continued onward, and got lost on our way back, but somehow made it to the BART.  Taylor managed to keep me awake for the most part of the transit ride by explaining to me what relativity is, how time slows down in motion, and time travel.  But after our great intellectual discussion ;) I was mentally and physically exhausted! Morgan fell asleep on Ryan's shoulder, and I fell asleep on Heyman's. We got back to Chris's house and ate pizza that they bought for us - they are the PERFECT hosts.  We ended up watching heavy weights and falling asleep.

Taylor, Jen, Chris

Temples. The next day we woke up, got ready, ate yummy breakfast and made our way to Chris and Jennie's church. Their neighbors were outside as we walked to the car and it was fun to see their reaction as 7 adults and 4 little kids all dressed in church clothes shuffled out the door.  The spirit touched me and made me realize how important it is to be a good example for our church everywhere I go, you never know who you will  make an impression on or who you will influence.  After church we relaxed and then drove to the Oakland temple.  The temple grounds were beautiful! And the view from the temple was amazing as well, you could see all of San Fransisco.  We also visited the visitor's center there and listened to "The Christus" in English, Spanish, and French.  Ryan and Taylor will be serving LDS missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Ryan will be serving in the Dominican Republic of the Congo speaking French, and Taylor will be serving in Chile Concepcion mission speaking Spanish.  Talking with the missionaries there brought the spirit so strongly and made me want to serve a mission more than ever!  I only have to wait 2 more years... We returned from the temple and enjoyed a delicious dinner of steak, homemade roles, berry salad, and baked potatoes.  We also had cake and ice cream to celebrate both Kate and Taylor's birthdays.

Oakland Temple

Road Bumps. We were trying to wake up by 6:30 and leave by 7 am, just enough time to say good bye to the bed bugs - Taylor's nieces and nephews.  We slept in until 7:10 somehow though, and ended up leaving by 8.  Jenny made a great breakfast of waffles and strawberries!  Yum (they are too nice!).  We got on the road and what a trip.  I slept for the first three hours and then decided to get some school work done.  About an hour or two later we fly past a cop and the lights go on and we get a ticket... $200! I guess a road trip isn't complete without one, right? We kept driving and made our way to Winnemucca, NV - a small town where Ryan's Aunt and and Uncle lived. Ryan's uncle is legit.  He is a wrestler and his kids are the perfect display of it - we watched his 8 year old daughter and 3 year old son almost kill their brand new kitten, as well as tackle and take down Morgan.  Intense.  We got back on the road again and tried to make good time.  Soon enough, our tire blew out.  Even worse, we were literally almost out of gas. Ryan and Taylor put the spare on and we limped our way 20 miles into Wells - a small town with a few fast food places and luckily a tire store.  They threw on a good tire for us - it wasn't cheap either! ($130) - got gas, and grabbed McDonald's.  The road welcomed us back and we slowly made our way back to good old Provo, UT. Even though this road trip put a nice ding in our wallets, I wouldn't take it back for anything.  The people met, the sites seen, and the memories built were 100% worth it! Now... time to get back to school and real life....

Taylor and Ryan changing
 the tire

On the road again, can't wait to be on the road again.....