July 7

Well, it has been a month since we updated this blog! Amazing how time flies. We have done quite a bit in the last month. Most importantly we got all moved into our apartment, but we don't have internet. Long story short, AT&T couldn't get our order correct for weeks and we decided to stop trying to force them to take our money. So we use the apartment complex's business center (with really slow internet) when we need to do something online. Plus I have internet access at work.
We have really been enjoying our time out here. California is such a different atmosphere than the midwest. We have been up and down the Pacific Coast, which is amazing! The cliffs are awesome. This is the link to our album of Pacific Coast pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2110996&id=47202178&l=b9726fb9ee

We drove Highway 1 through Santa Cruz and Monterey down to Big Sur. What should have been a 2 hour drive took us an entire day because we stopped so much to admire the view and take pictures.

We have been to San Francisco several times. We had been driving over, which is a pain because of traffic and parking, but finally decided to take the BART last time. So much easier than dealing with traffic! Plus we live about 7 blocks from a station, so that helps. We also went to Muir Woods (lots of big trees) and over to Stinson Beach. The beaches up here are very chilly, not what I imagine California beaches to be like. Beautiful, but too cold to go in the water. Here is an album of random California pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2108228&id=47202178&l=2b8acaaa2

Two weeks ago we made the 6 hour trek down to Long Beach to visit Kent. The drive was desolate and hot. It was mostly desert and temperatures of 115 degrees. It took my breath away just getting out of the car. That was until we got to LA, then it cooled off. The weather was beautiful all 4 days we were there. We went to several beaches in the area- Seal, Sunset, Newport, Huntington, and Laguna. Laguna Beach was my favorite. Here are our pictures from Laguna: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2111071&id=47202178&l=eed8512ccb

We did some sight-seeing around Long Beach. Went to CSU-LB, Signal Hill, and out to Riverside and Mt. Rubidoux (which we climbed). We are planning another trip down there next week.

This past weekend we had some friends out from Wisconsin. We went with them and our friends from here to San Francisco a couple times, and enjoyed the fireworks over San Francisco Bay. We took the ferry there and back, and that was a fun way to get a different view of the bay. We drowned ourselves in chocolate and ice cream at Ghirardelli, yum.

The last couple of days we have been relaxing and figuring out what sight-seeing we want to do next. Next will probably be Point Reyes and Napa. Fun!

Hope everyone else is enjoying their summer, where ever you are!