Day 9: LA to San Francisco (home!)

We started our day at about 4 am, and woke to find Sam awake and working away at his computer. Apparently, there was an earthquake during the night! Sam checked on me and Jenna after it happened, but we didn't feel a thing and stayed fast asleep. We said goodbye and hopped on the road. The original idea was to go up the Pacific Coast Highway the whole way, but soon realized that it wouldn't be worth the slow speed limit until at least the sun came up so we could see the view. And oh, what a view. It's tough to say what the most beautiful sight was on the trip, but the PCH was up there in the top 5. We happened upon Hearst Castle, so we decided to check it out.... at least, until we found out how much it cost. We had been dropping a lot of cash to see random stuff, but the cost compounded with the fact that the tour would be about 1.5 hours out of our day meant we decided to skip it. Instead, we watched the videos playing in the gift shop and looked at the postcards before getting back on the road.

It was probably about this time that we got on the PCH and stayed there for a few hours. I had never driven on roads like these before. We couldn't go any faster than 20 most of the time so we could get around these curves. Unfortunately, GoogleMaps must have calculated the travel time using the posted speed limit of about 50 mph, because it took much longer than expected to finally reach Monterey. Every sign seemed to be like those cartoons where the clock moves backwards, except in our case the miles to Monterey seemed not to change as the hours flew past. We decided to skip Carmel and went to the Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. We ate as quickly as possible to get back on the road, where we drove to Castroville.

Castroville, for those that haven't talked to Jenna, is the artichoke capital of the world. We got lost trying to get there (my fault, surprise surprise) but were determined to see the "World's Biggest Artichoke" statue. So, instead of saving time and keeping going after we missed the turn, we turned back on our quest. And oh, was it worth it. We got fried artichoke hearts which you dip in ranch dressing. Mmmmmm... delicious. Jenna then drove us up to Menlo Park and Palo Alto. She showed me her high school, which was under construction, and her old house before we went to Stanford Shopping Center.

And this is where the tale ends. Jenna's friends met her at the mall, so we split up and I left to go to my new home in the city. The adventure was over, but it was one of the best trips I have ever taken. If there's anybody out there that needs a car driven across the country, you let me know- I'll do it again in a heartbeat.

Day 8: Vegas to LA

After breakfast in Vegas, Jenna and I said adieu to her parents and hit the road. We made it to LA in about 4 hours, but that was one scary ride. No cell phone reception, the temperatures were boiling hot, and everywhere we looked things were dead. On top of all that, we then had to drive on the highway in LA. Blech! Not my favorite driving day.
We first went to Sam's apartment, where we dropped off our stuff and played with his kittens :) . Afterwards, we headed over to Santa Monica Blvd and kept singing that song as we shopped along the street and walked on the pier. Afterwards, we went to the famous El Cholo. Jenna has talked about this place about much as I talk about CalTor (and if we've ever met, you know how I love my CalTor). The guacamole was very good. A bit too much lime juice, but overall it was delicious, as were the margaritas. We crashed pretty much as soon as we got home after dinner.