Monterey, San Francisco, and Napa.

Our trip from the giant Sequoia's to Monterey was uneventful and fairly long. However, the scenery was still beautiful and when we first got a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, it was a moment of elation and celebration (and other words that end in -tion). Rebecca's parents had suggested (almost demanded) we head to Monterey for the 17 Mile Drive - a stretch of road that runs through some of the most amazing coastal scenes I'd ever had the pleasure of seeing. Nestled among the sandy beaches and cyprus trees were world-famous golf courses that I only ever heard of from video games (Pebble Beach anyone?).

As we approached the first strip of white-sand beaches, we hopped out and spent a good half-hour walking it, hiking up our jeans (well, me only as Rebecca was wearing capri pants or something) and feeling the cool but not freezing Pacific on our feet (and ankles and calves and almost thighs - yeah, I ended up soaking wet). It was awesome and I had to call some friends to brag that while they were at work, I was on the beach! Suckers!

We continued the drive and each stop beat the previous for excellent vistas of the ocean. In one location, squirrels had gotten so acclimated to people that if you just looked at them, they'd amble right up to you and stand up on their incredibly fat haunches, hoping for a tidbit or a goodie. We both decided it was much better not to get them any fatter (and besides, I doubt they wanted the last of our gross, veggie burgers anyway).


Fat Squirrel

We stayed in the area, driving up to Palo Alto and checking into a European-style hotel called the Cardinal. It's European because there was one shower and one bathroom on the floor and the rooms had to share them. However, not many people were staying there so it wasn't a problem. The hotel itself looked like it came straight out of a Bogart movie. The lobby was very stylishly decorated and the rooms were very nice. It was also the cheapest hotel we'd stayed at (probably will stay at as the Quality Inn I'm writing this from cost $30 more). A very elegant place to say the least.

In Palo Alto, I was in geeky delight as I saw the headquarters for Adobe, Intel, and various other tech-companies driving around. I wanted to get a picture in front of the Adobe building but it was not to be. As we looked for dinner that night, we found out that both of the suggestions in a guide we saw were not available. One (Original Joe's) was under renovation while the other (Picasso's) simply ceased to exist it seems. Suckage. Boo on that guide!

Driving back to the hotel dejectedly (and also very hungry), we finally just stopped at a 50s-style burger joint a block from our hotel and had the best burgers ever. Honestly, these were amazing. Coupled with *real* Cherry and Vanilla Cokes it was a welcome end to a great day.

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Our next destination was San Franciso but we decided to have a nice, leisurely start. We had breakfast at this small French crepe place right next door (I had a fantastic spinach, goat cheese, and mushroom crepe) and both decided that Palo Alto was a great place (but probably extremely expensive due to its close proximity to both Silicon Valley and Stanford University). Either way, it made for a great stop (though I wish we could've gone BACK to the Adobe building and maybe stop by Cupertino so I could pay homage to Apple).

San Franciso started out cloudy and a little rainy, which was too bad as our first trips over and then back over the Golden Gate were a bit dreary. I saw a Porsche Cayman and a Maserati (one of two this trip) driving around, with endless amounts of other high-end cars mingling with the VW bugs (old ones, mind you) and other relics. We had lunch at R&G Lounge in Chinatown, a true Cantonese restaurant that boasted some excellent shrimp and Hong Kong-style pan fried noodles. Was it better than Boston? I'm not sure. All I know was that it was welcome compensation for the limp and illness-inducing Chinese we had in Las Vegas.

We then headed to Haight-Ashbury and decided to locate the Giant Robot store. Another mecca for me! A store opened for the magazine of the same name, it carried t-shirts, books, and little Asian toys, all impeccably designed and very, very cool. I love the magazine because it has such varied content and also champions the idea that great design can also be art - an idea I heartily agree with. Rebecca got this wicked Kozyndan bag (one of our favorite artist teams) and I picked up an Ultraman t-shirt, just to show off how bad-ass I am. Space monsters better step off before I wreck they ass!

The remainder of the afternoon was spent in a sweet coffee shop and driving around the hills of San Fran before heading to Napa for the evening.

While in Napa, we stayed at a Bed & Breakfast called The Napa Inn. We'd never stayed in a B&B before so it was an interesting experience (never cancel a room too late, it doesn't work like a hotel). I definitely believe we were the youngest people staying there - the Victorian decor and frilly surroundings spoke volumes about their intended target audience. However, the room was near opulent (fireplace anyone?) and the service was beyond excellent.

That evening I had arranged a meal at the Auberge du Soliel restaurant, deep in the heart of Napa Valley. It was a dinner for our anniversary (we had both forgotten when it happened last month) and quite possibly the nicest restaurant we had ever been to. Seriously, it's not often we eat at a 5-star French restaurant (or stay in a 5-star hotel like in Vegas). Not often? Make that more like never.

We had seats on the terrace, overlooking the valley, and enjoyed some of the best food I'd ever had (this trip has been very good to us food wise I must say). And that was when I proposed to Rebecca. It was something I had been planning for quite some time, but I couldn't do it quite too soon because of the noisy table behind us (not a fan of big scenes and such).

Well, yeah, Rebecca said yes so no worries there. That would certainly make the remainder of the trip awkward and uncomfortable, heh.

The following day was spent driving. Driving, driving, driving all the way to Eureka, California. Seriously, we did not arrive at our "Quality" inn until midnight. We had a very beautiful drive through Lassen but ask us about that some other time. It was a long and arduous day. And right now we have another long drive ahead of us, but we'll be hitting the Redwood National Forest for more big trees and then a stop in Oregon before hitting Seattle.


Auberge du Soliel...with the gaping void behind us