California Adventure

We went out to California last weekend for a few days. These pictures ended up backwards, so you get to see the trip from the end to the beginning. It's easier than trying to rearrange all the pictures in the correct order.

Our New Friends- the Bears
These guys were at the visitor center in the Muir forest. They were just so fun, so we had to get some pictures.Ryan says I made him jealous.

They're good buddies you know

Muir Forest National Monument

We didn't make it up to the big redwood forest in far northern california, but there was a small one just outside of San Francisco. Here's a few fun pictures. Hopefully they'll give some idea of the massiveness of the trees. We'd walk by one and exclaim about the size of it and then just around the next bend there was one even bigger! We took picture after picture. The size was just so hard to fathom.

Pier 39 and Alcatraz-San Francisco

I love this picture as well. After we got back from Alcatraz we went and wandered around on Pier 39. At the back of the pier is a view of Alcatraz. So, here I got the pier, the island and Ryan in one shot. I was proud of my photography skills.

The island from afar.

On the island. We enjoyed the island. It was fun to tour the jail and, I admit, a little creepy. I wouldn't want to be locked up there, that's for sure. The island itself, however, was beautiful. There were all these old stone stair cases and architecture that was falling apart. It was picturesque surrounded by the sea as it was.

Behind bars.

Just don't leave me here!

Sailing on the Sea

They served wine on the trip. In order to get wine you had to get an octopus stamp on your hand before boarding and you had to be over 18. When it was my turn to go down to the boat the man held out the stamp. I told him no. As I continued past he said while shaking his head, "17." If my age is going to be mistaken, I guess I'd rather be younger than older. . . Funny thing is I had just handed him a waiver form stating I was over 18.

It was freezing out there on the bay! I think this was one of my favorite parts of our trip. We stood in the bow of the boat most of the time just far enough back so we didn't get splashed by the waves. I loved feeling the wind on my face and watching as the boat crested the swells. It felt like you were flying across the sea. Unfortunately we didn't see any large sea creatures, only a few seals, sea otters and tons of jellies. There were jellies everywhere! That was kind of fun to see.


This is one of my favorite pictures of Ryan taken on the trip. He wasn't posing either, as far as I know, it's a candid shot.

These seals were so funny. They were almost under the pier. When they would talk to each other with their "Arf! Arf! Arf!" It would echo underneath the pier. One wet one kept bouncing on the dry ones appearing to try to get them to come play. All he managed to do was to get them to vocalize their displeasure at their naps being so rudely interrupted.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Kelp Forest

This was probably the coolest part of the aquarium. Aren't they fascinating?

Ryan squooshing the jellie- he didn't get stung.