I left my heart in California

We arrived back in San Antonio last night after a 3 day road trip including stops in San Diego and Las Cruces, New Mexico. And I decided I don't ever want to do that drive again. No, it wasn't as horrific as last Summer's drive back, which included pieces of our car falling off on I-10 and a coolant leak in Vegas. But it was just way too long. Next time I want to go on a 3000 mile road trip, tell me to tie my shoes cuz I'm trippin'!

With that said, we had a great time visiting friends and family in California and by the end of our vacation we had successfully completed the entirety of our Summer to do list (minus the Getty Museum... we drove up to it and the parking situation was a hot mess so we'll do it next time.)

The highlight of our trip was obviously our week in Alaska, but between my mom and I we took over 9,000 pictures and 27 GB (including video) of footage, so I might need a year day or two to sort through all of it. Suffice it to say, Alaska is unbelievably beautiful and we had the adventure of a lifetime. The grizzlies were just icing on the Alascake. Don't worry, I'm all over it and the pics will be posted soon!

Here are some pictures of the west coast portion of our travels.

Where to begin...

We drove straight from that fancy resort in Phoenix to our hometown, Pismo Beach.
Here it is on the map:



Pismo Beach is conveniently located an hour north of Santa Barbara
and right in between LA and San Francisco.

There are some things we always do when we are on our beloved central coast...

We eat at Splash Cafe and watch the cute little otters in Shell Beach
Actually, this visit there were whales cruising by. So cool!
Oh, and a great white shark. Yuck!


We go to Farmer's Market and eat delicious BBQ and fro-yo

We go out to eat with friends

We get In N Out Burger and visit friends and family

Yes, we do A LOT of eating. But isn't that what vacation is all about?

Sometimes we get a little exercise...

Hiking trails

Taking the doggies for a walk on the beach

Walking around the Mission in San Luis Obispo

Spending the day with Andrew's parents in Santa Barbara

Catching up with friends in San Diego

Running around Santa Monica and Venice Beach with mom and dad
before we left out of LAX for Alaska

 "Muscle Beach"


I practiced my little circle bar flying thing for the olympics.
Turns out it's not really my thing.
Ok, so I couldn't reach it and I have the upper body strength of a miniature daschund.

Too bad I wasn't in the market for medicinal marijuana,
they were practically giving it away at Venice Beach.

It's true what they say, Venice Beach is totally cray cray.
Check out these looney birds!

Having fun at the beach 

We have only been in Texas one day and I am already homesick :(

But this is Andrew's last year at UTSA and then he just has to crank out that dissertation,
which he can do from anywhere... San Diego Summer 2013? I'm just sayin' :)