Road Trip 2014: Day 7

Day 7 started very, very early. Here's why...the previous night we decided to get to the edge of the Redwood National Forest so we would have all day to check it out and get to Portland the next day. So, we spent day 6 driving down the Avenue of the Giants and stopping a lot so by the time it was time to stop for the night it was dark.  We had picked out a town and heard that it was pretty quiet so we drove until we got there. When we got there though it was crazy sketchy. It's a long story but believe me it was not a fun night and we were up at 4 a.m. and ready to get out of that town by 6. The early morning led to some really nice early morning beach photos though.

I didn't realize that most of the Redwood National park is actually a bit more east than the small section we drove through but it was still really cool. We got to see Paul Bunyon and his blue ox, Babe.

Many times on our trip we'd just see places to stop on the side of the road and we'd stop to stretch and take a few photos. This was one of those times. We saw this beautiful river and just had to stop and check it out. 

I took these first two photos of the river. ^^^ And then Fletcher took my camera and climbed down the hill and out onto some of the rocks and took some great photos. I just love that he's getting into photography with me. 

We got to the Oregon state line and as soon as we snapped this one photo my camera died. I forgot to charge it with all the excitement the night before so the rest of the photos from this day are on my phone. Before we went to Portland we stopped in Eugene, OR to see one of my best friends from middle school! I hadn't seen him in 10 years! It's so crazy how friendships work. It's weird too how similar we are now when back in 8th grade we seemed very different. It was really awesome seeing him and checking out where he works and meeting some of his new friends. They were all super nice. He works at a bar/coffee shop/restaurant in Eugene and it was really cool. He made me a delicious latte and we ate pizza at a local pizzeria a couple blocks from his work. It was a super fun day and I'm so glad we got to make a stop. Then we headed on to Portland. We stayed with one of Fletcher's best friends from his childhood just outside Portland. He was waiting on us to get there and we hadn't seen him in probably 4-5 years so that was a pretty fun reunion since we were all tired and a bit giggly.

Road Trip 2014: Day 4

Fletcher wanted to spend the day at the beach in LA but the weather didn't really permit so we decided that we would swim the next day at the first beach we saw. We drove up the PCH to Santa Barbara and decided it was pretty much the perfect place so we got some coffee then hit the beach. We parked out on a wharf which was awesome and scary at the same time. Haha! You could hear the wood creaking as we drove out on it. There were some adorable shops we checked out on our walk to the beach. 

After we left Santa Barbara we got back on the PCH and headed towards Big Sur and McWay Falls.

My husband, the model.

We were racing daylight to get to the falls. I think we got there at the perfect time. It was getting foggy and the lighting was perfect. It wasn't too bright so there weren't any harsh shadows. It was beautiful. I've seen so many pictures of the falls before but it didn't make it any less amazing to see in person. The water was so blue!! 

Sadly, once we left the falls it got dark really fast so the rest of our drive that night was a little scary. One thing that was pretty cool though was driving through Big Sur in the dark. Once you get to the little village where Big Sur Bakery is it was just so magical. We stopped at the bakery and got the most delicious hot chocolate. I won't lie, half the reason we stopped there was because Taylor Swift had been there recently. If you know me you know I love her. The other half was because it was just so enchanting. It was pitch black outside and the adorable little cabin was lit up with dim candle lighting. It's so difficult to describe. It's one of those things you have to see it to know exactly what I mean. It was so cozy and being in the middle of the coastal forest with the giant pines and redwoods was just perfect. We're already planning a stay in Big Sur sometime.