I am going to start off this blog entry with some emotional stuff I've been dealing with. Well, it's kind of emotional, but it depends how you look at it. Anyways, it is emotional for me. Before leaving Sacramento in November I had lost about 30lbs. In August I was the heaviest I had ever been. I felt ugly, fat and I was disgusted with myself for "letting myself go." That is when I set the goal to lose 50lbs. It was August 2nd to be exact. I was very dedicated and strict with my eating habits and exercise. I was losing almost 10lbs a month. That is pretty good for anyone who is trying to lose weight. I wasn't starving myself or exercising at the gym for 5 hrs a day. I simply walked for 4 miles six days a week, which takes about an hour and 15mins to do, and didn't eat over 1500 calories in one day. I never missed a day of walking and I think I might have went over on calories once or twice in a three month time span. I was eating a ton of fruits, vegetables, and nutritious stuff. My clothes started to feel comfortable to wear again and I even was able to get rid of some clothes that were too big. I had a really good routine that worked for me. Well, now that I'm on the road traveling that routine has basically dissolved. I haven't lost any more weight for about a month now. I have been fine on exercise because Alex and I walk or bike ride everyday pretty consistently, but the eating hasn't been so good. We have been eating at cafes and restaurants almost everyday. Eating out is almost always more calories than making your own food. It is hard not to eat out when traveling. I also haven't been as self-controlled when choosing what to eat on the menu. The other day I got fish and chips, that is a horrible thing for someone to order who is trying to lose weight. The entire meal is fried and then the tartar sauce is loaded with more fat. So, I'm feeling very conflicted. I love food so much. Everyone has some sin that they struggle with, whether it be gossip, stealing, lying, lust, or whatever, and mine is gluttony. Food is always on my mind. Alex has really been a nazi when it comes to eating lately. He has lost about 40lbs now. We both started our weight loss venture at around the same time. He is the one putting on the kibosh when I want to get a pastry or a cheeseburger. He makes me feel really bad for wanting to eat out so much and that's where the emotions come in. The other day I suggested going somewhere to eat and he got in a really bad mood. I asked him what was wrong and he was mad at me because he felt like I have given up on losing weight. Then I got upset because he was upset. Ugh. I reassured him that I haven't given up, but that I am struggling. I'm actually glad that he has been there to keep me in check, although it is not always fun. I really hate it that I love food so much. My twin brother is the opposite. He actually forgets to eat sometimes. Obviously food is not always on his mind. Well, that's the end of my food/emotional rant. Now on to more of our traveling adventures....
San Luis Obispo was fun. It was graduation week for the college students. The city was a little more crowded than usual. We headed down to Pismo Beach and that was a ton of fun! The sun was out. It got up to 80 degrees. Alex and I laid out on the beach for a few hours. It was so awesome! It is December and we were able to lay out on the beach in our bathing suits. It makes me wonder if people in SoCal know what its is like to experience different seasons. For the most part the weather is always warm. We watched the sunset on the beach and it was a beautiful thing. Another cool thing about Pismo was we went to a church service and almost everyone in the church went out of their way to introduce themselves to us. They were very friendly. We talked with the pastor for a little bit about our trip and he took us aside after the service to pray for us. I thought that was really neat.
Soooo sunny
Cool spider webs
Pismo Beach Sunset
After Pismo we went to the little town of Solvang. My Road Trip book calls it a "Tourist Trap Town." It was established in 1919 by Danish emigrants. The entire town is designed based on Danish architecture. It felt like we weren't in America anymore when we were there. I would definitely recommend going there if you have never been.
Danish Architecture church. Built in 1919
One of many windmills in the town
Before going into the town we went to Anderson's Pea Soup restaurant. I think that is where the restaurant first originated. They have many restaurants around California. I had to get their famous pea soup and it was good, but not as good as my Mom's pea soup.
When we were in Solvang we went to The Hans Christian Anderson museum and learned a little bit about his personal life. He is famous for all the fairytale stories, like Princess and the Pea, Hansel and Gretal, Cinderella, etc. He had a rather lonely life when it came to romance. He fell in love with three different women during his life and all three of them rejected him. He was a handsome man, but I think he was too subtle in showing his affections. He would write letters and poems to these women that hinted at his love for them, and in the meantime the were off getting ready to be engaged to someone else. Then when it was too late Hans would openly express his love. He died a bachelor, never to be married. By the way, that is a true story, I didn't make this one up:)
We have been in Santa Barbara for the last few days. It is a very beautiful city. It is known as the Red Roof City because most of the buildings are of Spanish architecture. In 1929 there was an earthquake in Santa Barbara that devastated most of the town destroying over 600 buildings. After the earthquake the town decided that the buildings had to be rebuilt in Spanish style Architecture. It give the town a Mediterranean feel. It has been overcast yesterday and today, so that is not fun, but no rain. We met up with an old friend of mine from high school, Sarah Davis. It was really cool seeing her. We went to a lovely Mexican Restaurant. We rode our bikes down the beach trail and went by Ty Warner's house. He is the maker of beanie babies. His house was pretty big. We actually found where he lived from a local, I didn't actually know who Ty Warner was until the local told us about him. We have a week of traveling left until we will be back in Sacramento for Christmas and New Year's. I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends!
Alex and I have done so much traveling since my last post! I’m only going to highlight my favorite parts instead of telling you everywhere we went and everything we did. Okay, here it goes…..I think the last time I wrote we were in Santa Cruz. Well, we went to the Santa Cruz lighthouse, which has been converted into a surfing museum. It was pretty interesting, but there was no information about the lighthouse itself. After looking around the museum, I gathered that the lighthouse was actually built in the 1960s as a memorial for those who have been lost at sea. It was never used as an actual lighthouse. I did notice that there was a large foundation structure right outside the lighthouse next to the cliff. The foundation had mostly been eroded away by the crashing waves. I thought to myself, “I bet that is where the old lighthouse used to be.” I asked the guy at the museum what used to be there and he gave me a blank stare like he didn’t know what I was talking about. I then said, “It looks like a building used to be there because of the brick foundation.” He mumbled a little bit and said, “I think that used to be an out-building for the old lighthouse, but I’m not sure.” He definitely wasn’t very knowledgeable about the history of the lighthouse, but I’m sure he knew a ton about surfing, or at least he should since he works at a surfing museum. Anyways, that got me thinking. At pigeon point lighthouse I learned that 59 lighthouses were built along the California coast and there definitely aren’t that many along the coast today. I think that some of these lighthouses just eventually had to be torn down because of the shore line eroding away. Someday there won’t be any more lighthouses because the waves of the ocean are slowly washing away the land they stand on. It makes me think of that children's song, “Don’t build your house on the sandy land; don’t build it too close near the shore. Well, it might look kind of nice, but you’ll have to build it twice, oh you’ll have to build your house once more.” It makes me feel sad for the lighthouses.
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
The Lone Cypress along 17-mile drive
We went onto Monterey and dove down the famous scenic 17-mile drive. I have driven down this road before and I love it every time. On one side you have the beautiful rocky beach and then the other side you have beautiful 20 million dollar homes. Lovely. Alex and I joked about setting up a fund for people to donate money to us so we could buy a house on 17-mile drive and whoever donates to us can vacation at our million dollar home. Sounds like a good idea, right? It costs $9.50 to drive along this road, but you can get your money back if you spend $25 at any of the shops or restaurants along the drive.
Alex and I stopped at a café and I ordered some tea and tea-time food; scones, cucumber sandwiches, fruit and cookies. It was divine. The presentation of the tea and food was very elegant. We enjoyed our tea and crumpets as we watched people play golf.
Tea time
We saw a crazy amount of Jellyfish at the Wharf in Monterey. It was kind of like being at the aquarium, except it was free:)
The highlight of this traveling adventure for me so far has been visiting the Carmel Mission. The original name of the mission was Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, but people today refer to it as the Carmel Mission. It was built in 1770 and was actually the first of the California missions to be built. Parts of the building were destroyed, but it was rebuilt in 1884. It still has the original bell tower and is still used as a church to this day. It is beautifully decorated and the cathedral art is amazing. I felt a true sense of love and worship to God when I walked through the Mission. It was a very different feeling from when I saw St. Peter’s Bascillica in Rome. When I went there I felt a sense of darkness and emptiness. It was very beautiful, but the beauty seemed superficial and vain. It was a lot more crowded at St. Peter’s and people were praying to statues; it just didn’t feel like a place of worship. It felt like a museum. The Carmel Mission was different even though parts of it were a museum. I really enjoyed my time there. The Carmel mission is also home to the first California Library; I thought that was neat.
The Library
The amazing waterfall
Big Sur was next on our destination after leaving Monterey. One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Big Sur was because there is a waterfall that pours directly into the ocean that I wanted to see. Well, We went to where the Falls were, but the fog was so bad that we couldn’t see much. We stayed at the place for about an hour to see if the fog would lift, but I think it actually got worse. Too bad, so sad.
Famous Bridge at Big Sur
We went to Hearst Castle and I wasn’t too impressed. It was beautiful, but it almost seemed too overdone. It was built by William Randolph Hearst starting in 1919 and wasn’t finished until about 1928. It looks like it should be in Europe; I think that is what he was going for. In 1919 W.R. Hearst was making $400,000,000 a year in the newspaper business. That is the equivalent to $100,000,000,000 today. The indoor pool cost $400,000 alone to build, and he has a tapestry in the entry room to the main house dating back to Joan of Arc’s time that cost him $100,000. He never told anyone how much money it cost him to build and decorate the castle, but I’m sure it was a ton of money. I’m guessing maybe 1 billion dollars. I couldn’t take very many pictures because my camera died.
Heast Castle Guest quarters
The Castle
Indoor pool
We are now in San Luis Obispo. We parked along the street last night and some stupid, I’m assuming, college student messed with our van while we were sleeping. He was with some friends and he knocked on the window really hard then started shaking the van for a brief second. Oh, college kids. He probably had fun, though. So, that’s good.
We have now made our way to Hwy 1 and it's been great. No more car problems since I last blogged. It's been good. We stayed in Half Moon Bay for two days. The first night we boon docked at a Safeway parking lot. The parking lot sign said there was a three hour parking limit, but Half Moon Bay is a small town and we didn't think it would really be enforced. I had the hardest time falling asleep. I think I finally fell asleep at around 4am and then I woke up at 7am. A truck rolled up next to us that morning and then we heard someone on an intercom say, "Good morning! Did my truck wake you up?" There was no way I was going to look out the window. I thought, "I wonder if they are coming to kick us out of the parking lot?" I quickly got dressed because I needed to use the bathroom and I said to Alex, "It feels awkward coming out of the van right now because I can see a car parked in front of us with their head lights on." Well, as I looked closer at the car I realized it was a police car and the police man was standing out next to his car. Then another police car rolls up next to him. I said, "Alex I think it's time for us to leave or else the police are going to make us leave." Alex quickly got up and started up the engine. The two police men walked away. I kept my eye on them and saw them chatting for a bit and pointing at our van. They never ended up talking to us. So, who knows if they were coming to kick us out or not, but I don't think we are going to park in a lot over night that has time limited parking anymore.
Half Moon Bay Historic Jail
We took an extremely long walk along Half Moon Bay's coastal bike trail; probably 10 miles total. It was nice. Most of the time it was overcast, but the sun came out for a bit.
After Half Moon Bay, we made our way to Pescadero, but made a short stop in San Gregorio first. At the visitor's center in Half Moon Bay they suggested we stop in San Gregorio to see their General Store. The General Store consisted of a saloon, book store, bakery, clothing and grocery store all rolled in to one. I think it was the only store in the town because I didn't see any other stores around. It was cool and I bought a Mark Twain book consisting of 14 short stories written by him. I haven't started reading it, but I will soon.
On our map I saw that a road called Stage Rd takes you straight to Pescadero instead of getting back onto the Hwy. So, I told Alex to take it. Bad idea. It was a hecka, crazy, scary road. We shot a video of part of the road.
Pescadero was originally a resort town with two hotels and two saloons. It is not a resort town today, but basically that's all that is still there to this day with a few small additions.
Oldest standing church in the area
Pescadero Bakery
We stopped at Pigeon Point Lighthouse, which got it's name from a ship that was wrecked there. The ship was named the Carrier Pigeon and after the shipwreck the lighthouse got it's name. Back in the day when ships sailed more often there were a ton of shipwrecks in that area. At the lighthouse there was a display of some of the shipwrecks that had happened in that area. Most of the wrecks happened because of the dense fog. The captains of the ships would mistake the fog signal at the lighthouse for another ship and they would mistakenly turn toward the rocks to avoid what they thought was a ship, but instead they were headed straight towards doom. Or sometimes they actually would collide with another ship. One ship that sunk within 5 mins of crashing was a passenger ship and a lady on the ship had just sent a letter to relatives in San Fran explaining that she took the ship instead of the train because it was cheaper and her kids needed shoes. Only one child had survived that shipwreck. It is really kind of sad. Since there were so many shipwrecks, 59 lighthouses were built on California's coast. Pigeon Point lighthouse has been converted into a hostel, and the lighthouse itself needs a lot of work. The steel rings are eroding away and it needs a new coat of paint. Point Arena Lighthouse is in much better shape.
Pigeon Point Lighthouse
We are in Santa Cruz now and we went to the Natural Bridges State park yesterday. Every October Monarch butterflies migrate to this area for the winter. It was amazing. We saw hundreds of butterflies. They are attracted to the eucalyptus trees that are in that area. So, that was neat.
The swamp at Natural Bridges SP
A Natural Bridge
We also went to an awesome Farmer's market and got some pizza by the slice and some persimmons. It was so good.
We then went to the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk and played some games at the arcade and I won a ton tickets. I looked at all the stuff at the prize counter, but nothing seemed good enough to buy with my tickets. I had 703 tickets and I saw this girl, who was probably 9 years old, and she only had 180 tickets. She was deciding on what she should spend her tickets on. There wasn't much there you could buy with only 180 tickets. So, I gave her my tickets and she was so happy that she forgot to say thank you, but her mom reminded her to thank me. Alex and I ended up getting too many game tokens; we had $10 of tokens left, it was getting dark, and we still needed to walk back to our van, which was about a mile or more away. I looked around to find some lucky kid to give our tokens to. I saw this little boy, about 5 or 6 years old, and he had a few tokens in his hand. It looked like he wanted to play one of the arcade games, but it cost too many tokens to play. I tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Do you want $10 worth of tokens?" He looked at me with wide eyes of shock as I held out the tokens. He then gave me an excited smile and nodded his head. He quickly took the tokens. His facial expression was classic and I don't think I will ever forget how excited and happy he looked.
Alex and I went to another Presbyterian church this morning. We parked in front of the church overnight and then one of the regular attenders invited us to attend the Sunday service. It was a very traditional conservative service, except the sermon was preached by a women, but everything else was very structured and conservative. We sang hymnals and the choir was dressed in robes. The majority of the congregation was over the age of 60. They celebrate the Advent season, which I liked because growing up my family always participated in Advent and they still do. After service we chatted with a few people and they were very friendly and welcoming.
We are at a really cool coffee shop right now as a write this blog. It is run by a church called Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz. It is really popular with the young folk. If you come to Santa Cruz then check it out!
Alex and I are done with our visit in Sacramento and now we're back on the road. We stayed in Sac for a week and Alex was busy being occupied with the bus and we both were hanging out with friends and family so, we didn't really make time to do anything touristy. It was fun to hang out with everyone. We left on Sunday to the small town of Isleton. We didn't leave Sacramento until the evening. So, when we got to Isleton it was dark. We stayed at an RV park that was overpriced and had gross bathrooms. Our plan was to spend the next morning in Isleton and walk around the town, maybe get some crawdads, but plans don't always work out so well. Isleton was the coldest place we have been so far. It got all the way down to 32 degrees, but surprisingly I got really hot at night. I think I over dressed because I was anticipating it to be so cold. I wore three pairs of socks, long johns, and flannel pajamas, plus we had three very warm blankets. To say the least, it was too much warmth! So, the next morning we took a short little walk and then decided to drive the bus into town, which was about five miles away. Guess what? It happened again. Another oil spill! Ugh. This time we didn't realize it right away. As Alex and I were driving down the road I said to him, "Are you sure you let the bus warm up long enough?" He replied, "Oh, the suns out and I don't think it needed to be warmed up that much." As soon as he said that he looked down at the dash and said, "Oh Sh%#!" Then he pulled over. Another oil leak, all because he didn't let the car warm up.Oh, and by the way, this is the third time this has happened. I didn't write about the second time because it happened in Sacramento while we were visiting. The rest of our morning and some of the afternoon was spent fixing the oil problem. So, our plan to see Isleton didn't go as planned. After the oil spill we left and drove to Hayward and stayed at my Aunt Linda's house.
I love my Aunt Linda. She is so nice and friendly, outgoing and so hospitable. Being around her always makes me happy. When we got to her house my cousins Noah and Kevin were there, as well as, Noah's finance and her son. So, it was a packed house, but it didn't seem crowded. Alex and I got to sleep in a Cal-King bed and it was so comfortable, especially compared to the bus. We took the Bart train to San Francisco the next day and walked all over the city. The weather was nice; sunny with a little bit of clouds. We walked by all the expensive designer stores, Chinatown, Little Italy, Coit tower, Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, The Exploratorium, then back to the Bart. We seriously walked all day.
I was scared by the Tree Man at Fisherman's Wharf and it was pretty funny. For those of you who don't know who the Tree Man is, he is this guy who holds two tree bush branches and crouches down and hides behind the branches. Then, when an unsuspecting passer-byer, like me, walks by he quickly reveals himself from behind the branches and says, "rah!" If he scares you then you are supposed to tip him, but I was so scared that I totally forgot about the tip and continued to walk by. I said to Alex, "I can't believe I got scared by the Tree Man!" I've seen him do it to other people and thought it was hilarious. Now I just became another one of his victims.
Coit Tower was pretty cool, except for the fact that it was closed due to renovations, but the outside of it was nice. It's a tower that was built to help make San Francisco look nicer and Lille Coit commissioned the building of it. She was a rich lady who was a volunteer firefighter and was known to be pretty eccentric. Coit Tower is very beautiful, I just wish we were able to see more of it.
We also, went to the Exporatorium. Man, talk about sensory over load! If you are in San Fran and have never been there then you need to go. It has all kinds of science stuff. My favorite was the different brain exhibits. There were memory games and different tools to measure emotions and test judgement.
After spending a few hours there my brain started to hurt because I guess I was using it too much. It was a ton of fun. It started to get late so we decided to head back to the Bart, but first we had to visit our friend John at RickHouse. He served us some delicious drinks. More than we probably needed.
We left Hayward this afternoon and decided to stay in Half Moon Bay. We walked through Main St and got some food and are chillin for the rest of the night.
After Pismo we went to the little town of Solvang. My Road Trip book calls it a "Tourist Trap Town." It was established in 1919 by Danish emigrants. The entire town is designed based on Danish architecture. It felt like we weren't in America anymore when we were there. I would definitely recommend going there if you have never been.
When we were in Solvang we went to The Hans Christian Anderson museum and learned a little bit about his personal life. He is famous for all the fairytale stories, like Princess and the Pea, Hansel and Gretal, Cinderella, etc. He had a rather lonely life when it came to romance. He fell in love with three different women during his life and all three of them rejected him. He was a handsome man, but I think he was too subtle in showing his affections. He would write letters and poems to these women that hinted at his love for them, and in the meantime the were off getting ready to be engaged to someone else. Then when it was too late Hans would openly express his love. He died a bachelor, never to be married. By the way, that is a true story, I didn't make this one up:)
