We left Ashley's house in Southern Washington. We didn't exactly have a plan for where to go next so we headed south. We drove back into Portland and checkout out the rose gardens and the gorgeous mountain views. We didn't make it to far that night, we drove a short ways and decided to call a rest stop home for the night. We turned the Explorer into a home (check out the pictures for the grand tour), had some wine and cheese and watched a movie before going to sleep. We woke up early the next morning to a phone call from a nervous mother...the conversation was great...."are you sleeping?" "yes" "are you cold?!?!??!" Mom is convinced that at some point on this trip I will turn into a giant ice cube and die. Don't worry, I am staying warm in my booger green fleece.

We hit up a local diner for breakfast then got back in the car and headed to the coast. Wow! How amazing it was to see the water after 3 weeks. The Pacific is gorgeous. We stopped to play on the beach. The waves were great, but it was too cold for Chris to surf. He was bummed! There was a little fishing town in southern Oregon that we decided to picnic at for lunch. It had a great view of the water and best of all there were seals everywhere! I about lost my mind!! They were all napping on the dock, I thought they were dead at first, but soon found out they are just lazy.

The next stop wasn't too far. We kept getting distracted by the amazing beaches. We decided to stop and watch the sunset that evening. It was low tide so we went exploring in the tide pools. They had the biggest mussels I have ever seen. I thought we should take some, Chris didn't think that would be such a good idea since we were in a protected park. We enjoyed the sunset, made friends with some cool dogs and explored some more. After the sunset we drove a bit further before stopping in another little Oregon town for the night. We found a good place to park and got ready for another great nights sleep in our luxury sleeping bags.

The next morning we got some coffee and headed to the beach for breakfast. Lighthouse + Ocean View + Starbucks Coffee + Cereal = Perfect Morning. We made it to California early that afternoon. Our breakfast was amazing, so we thought we would try and top it....lunch in the Redwoods! I didn't think trees could get that big. Everyone MUST experience the Redwoods at some point in their life...it is indescribable. After lunch and hiking I had to drive because Chris couldn't keep his eyes on the road, he kept starring at the beautiful Pacific coastline and all its big waves. The entire drive was absolutely gorgeous! Later, Chris took over the wheel for the windiest drive ever. We both thought we were going to puke, multiple times. It didn't help that it was pitch black and we were in the creepiest forest. We thought for sure we were the victims in Jason's next horror movie. It was getting late, we smelled bad and we needed a night out of the car. Fortunately, God is so good because he built a small town in the middle of nowhere called Fort Bragg. Chris heard that I had never stayed at a Bed and Breakfast so he found The Country Inn. So cute!! We got checked in and showered the layers of filth from ourselves (Chris found some birds living in his hair). The owner pointed us to a great dinner spot where we enjoyed the best parmesan crusted catfish and sole with rock shrimp ravioli. Definitely beats peanut butter and nutella.

After a good night's rest and some homemade spinach and sausage quiche, we hit the road. Chris wants to open a "chair lunch dinner" across the street from the bed and breakfast we stayed in.

Until Next Time....Loving Life....

San Francisco or bust!