Summertime in California

Wow! Summertime in California is hot and dry. As Kayle put it, "California has brown grass, green trees, and big hills." Most of the wildfires in the state are out or under control (from 1000s to around 300) now, so we shouldn't have any detours as we move north. We've seen some blackened countryside but no flames. Every field sure looks like a fire hazard though!

On Saturday, we ended up hanging around our hotel for most of the day, just about tired of sight-seeing. We met Ben in the late afternoon to go to a free outdoor concert near some shops surrounding a movie theater. There, we met one of his Intel friends from Canada and another girl, Selah, that he brought along. The one-man band (named "Rock Minstrel") was disappointing, so we meandered along the little streetway, stopping in a coffee-shop and Bistro. We had fun, just conversing and walking around in the well-watered, scenic shopping center. It was a nice night.

On Sunday, we left Folsom for the San Francisco area, stopping at the Jelly Belly factory store on the way. We took the factory tour, learning about the 20-day process of making a gourmet jelly bean and preparing it for shipment. We got free samples of different flavors at the sample bar and purchased some "belly flops," jelly bellys that didn't quite pass the quality/shape inspection. The tour was fun, including the mandatory little hats we had to wear. They even had a little cafe where all the food served was shaped like a jelly bean (actually quite strange). Also interesting was the colorful jelly bean artwork, each piece of which comprised over 10,000 jelly bellys and featured famous people, eagles, Mr. Jelly Belly, and, even Donald Duck. It definitely looked tedious! Also, apparently Ronald Reagan was practically addicted to Jelly Bellys and made them a staple at all his meetings as governor and president. They even designed special containers to keep them from spilling on Air Force One! We left, sugared out and hauling 6 lbs of belly flops (buy 2 get 1 free 2 lb. bags)- basically, we're hoping some of you visit us soon and eat them for us! We got to the hotel in Pleasant Hills, a place where we could scarcely find a car comparable to ours (everyone seems to drive luxury automobiles, big trucks, and SUVs). Our hotel was comfortable, so we decided to just hang out again for the night.

Today, we made plans to pick up my friend, Hallie Brewster, from her house and go to San Francisco to tour the city. Hallie is an upcoming sophomore at Notre Dame and in my accountability group for bible study last year. We went to Fisherman's Wharf (lots of fresh fish and crabs...one guy tried to entice us to eat from his stand by sticking a moving crab in our path), the first Ghiradelli's store and factory (where we left with 5 bars of gourmet dark chocolate...yum!), and Pier 39. We stopped by Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co. but decided to eat at the Sea Lion Seafood Restaurant. Outside, we saw 6-7 sea lions sleeping on the floating docks and could watch them a bit during our meal. Apparently, summer is the off-season for seeing sea lions, since most of them migrate south for breeding. But we were happy to at least see a few! After returning to our car, we drove down the most crooked street in America, the super-steep and winding Lombard St., before driving through Little Italy and Chinatown. One funny thing to see was the segway tours through the city, 10-15 tourists all on segways behind a leader zig-zagging through the streets. The street cars and buses were also cool but a little scary to drive next to on the narrow, hilly roads. Saying "goodbye" to Hallie, we returned to our hotel and are looking forward to another restful night.

We are anticipating the end of our trip now, weary of traveling and anxious to finally settle in and get acquainted with our new surroundings. We plan to make it to Redmond, WA (and our condo) by Wednesday evening after driving up the coast, seeing Redwood National Forest, and, possibly, stopping by Crater Lake. Only 15-20 hours of driving left and we're both ready to put the open road behind us for a while!

We hope you're enjoying all these lengthy (and, at times, overly informative) posts. We wish we could tell all of you everything in person!

With much love and a slightly homesick heart,
Angie (and Kayle)

P.S. San Francisco was pretty foggy today, so we don't have many clear pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. It looks much taller when the top is obscured by a giant cloud...