Arrival in San Simeon

Wow!  A lot has happened. You got a brief update from San Francisco, but I skipped a very important part of my trip by writing that entry!

After Seattle, I drove down to Portland to meet up with my friend Ellie, who just moved out there after a cross-country drive of her own (with her husband, Chad). We met up at Powell's City of Books, which is a bookstore covering an entire city block, several stories tall, and in which I easily could have spent the rest of my life browsing books. But instead of being antisocial by burying my face between two covers, we all went out to lunch and then went out to Maltomah Falls to do a bit of hiking.

After hiking, we went into a fun shopping/dining section of Portland and explored shops before catching a bit to eat at an awesome Thai place.  Mostly, it was just fun catching up with Ellie and getting to know Chad, since we are such kindred spirits. The next day was the 10-hour drive to San Francisco.

Not much to say there.

You already ready mostly about my first day in San Francisco. That night, I picked up Charles, at long last, and we managed to find a Mexican place open late enough for us to have dinner together before collapsing from exhaustion.

The next morning, we headed out for Muir Woods. This would be a good time to mention the stowaway in Charles' luggage:

Meet Roosevelt T. Bear.  He was a gift several years ago, and decided that he wanted to come along for the ride.  He was very excited for his first National Park visit (he's also interested in blogging and might do a guest post). After Muir Woods, we headed back to Pier 39 for lunch, a bay cruise, and a visit to the aquarium. I have recurring dreams about visiting aquariums, so the last was very important.

After spending the day on the Pier, we had a delightful seafood dinner followed up by creme brulee. Yum!

Today, we hit the road to San Jose to visit the Winchester Mystery House before heading out to the caost to follow California 1 down as far as San Simeon. On the way, we stopped to see the redwoods at Big Sur and visited some elephant seals. I'd post pictures, but it's getting late, and the internet is slow.  But if you click here you can check out the ones that I posted on Facebook (I know, I'm getting lazy).

Tomorrow, I finally get to see my sister and her fabulous family in the L.A. area!