North Coast and SilvaK!!!

Well, Ang and I had our first successful (well, semi successful) fire going at our campsite in Big Sur...we roasted hotdogs and made a can of the grossest baked beans ever. I then found myself a nice stick and roasted marshmellows by myself--Andrea doesn't like them?!?! WHO goes camping and doesn't roast marshmellows!!??!! I guess I'll be eating the whole bag myself...

So anyway, on the road pretty early yesterday and this time I got to be the lucky one to cling to the windy road cliffs. But seriously, driving in Big Sur is like opening Christmas presents---you're so excited to see what's around the next turn!! The mountainous central coast eventually turned into the sandy dunes of the north coast---different, but just as gorgeous...we stopped and got coffee in Monterrey, a town we both liked a lot...then off to be wowed by the expanse of San Fransisco!!

We spent the day as total tourist divas....negotiating the CRAZY hills, saw china town, walked down Haight street and gawked at all the hippies and weirdos, saw 2 people get arrested, walked around Fisherman's Wharf, ate a crab salad sandwich (me) and fried shrimp (ang) from the grotto, went on a harbor tour that took us under the Golden Gate bridge and past Alcatraz---btw, tour was complete with the best sound track EVER--you felt like superman flying around saving people as you approached the bridge, and then like Lex Luther slinking around menacingly as we cruised around Alacatraz. Of course our day in SF was finished up with a split ice cream and dark ghiardelli hot fudge from the square...YUM!

We decided it was best to leave San Fran right around 6, so we could witness a little of the city commute (nice), and made our way to Oakland to visit with Kristen and Josh. Kristen warned that they live in a little oasis in the middle of "the ghetto", so Andrea and I felt right at home in our pimp mobile....Josh was just a smidge worried that it wouldn't be there in the morning :) They took us out to downtown Oakland to this great Vietnamese restaurant and we got our MSG fill, followed up by lots of chatting and Kristen getting to bed waaaaaaaaaaaay too late for someone who gets up at 4:30am to go to work!!! BUT, alas, it was so great to see them---Thanks so much Kristen and Josh for being such wonderful hosts, and proving to me that Oakland is not just a city filled with people weilding weapons and wearing Raiders starter jackets about 3 sizes too big...

Today we are off to do the last leg of our coastal trip---up to Sonoma county and Bodega Bay, perhaps some wine tasting and def some beach time is coming our way!!!

OH---and I need to give a shout out to Katelyn for those awesome CDs, we rocked thru middle school yesterday, and listened to the "greatest song of all time" 3 times!!!

Second shout out--HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRENDA!!!! Today is the 14th, right? We keep losing track of days...

Third shout out---Erin, welcome to Tennessee!!! Salem is sad already...hope the flight with the D-man went okay and that he played with his weeble!! :)

Adios friends, we'll catch up with more stories once we get to Napa!
~Susie