Vacation

So to start off. Our vacation was not a relaxing one as we drove 2400 miles in 5 days and were in the car for 40 hours. YIKES! So, it was definitely I need a vacation from my vacation. Although I had no such luck as we were moving the week after vacation. So to start off we left Tuesday morning June 10th and went to Cedar City to pick up Brad. We then hopped in the car and drove on to Las Vegas, stopping at Jimmy Johns in St. George. A Funny story, on the way to Las Vegas, Brad got pulled over by a highway patrolman. He came to the passenger side of the car and asked that the driver step out. He thought Brad was drunk. My husband is a really swervy driver (sorry baby) plus it was really windy. Anyhow, Brad had an eagle with a 77 on it. The guy said, Hey, what does that 77 stand for?? Brad was flabbergasted. He didn't even realize there was a 77 on his shirt. He said, I don't know. Well, that's the year I graduated from high school, so I was just wondering. then he said. How can you guys afford the gas to drive through here to California anyway, Gas is just astronomical? WEll, we sort of budgeted it through our vacation money. Anyhow, we all had a good laugh and kept asking Brad what the 77 meant on his shirt. We were staying at the stratosphere which is on the far north side of the strip so we had to walk a while to get to anything fun. Then Brad saw the bus drive up. He said, let's ride the bus. It was only 5 per person for the whole day, air conditioned, and got us places a lot quicker. Vegas was really fun.
Here we are on the bus.  Was the best 5.00 we spend on the trip!  =0)

Then we woke up and drove to San Diego to go to Sea World. I have only been there once when I was a little kid so it was fun to see all the animals. The Sea Lions are my favorite I must say. They are just adorable! Missy then remembered a restaurant in San Diego that served really good sea food. The clam chowder was great!!

Shammooo the great!

Sea Lion show

Us in front of the ocean on the San Diego bay.

The we drove to Long Beach to  get on the fairy to go to Catalina Island.  This island was actually bought by the guy who invented Wrigley's gum.  He donated most of it to the conservation society so only 3% is inhabited and the rest it is illegal to  inhabit.  Oh Catalina Island.  This was really fun.  We decided to rent bicycles and ride through the sights.  There isn't a lot to see, but it is a very pretty little island.  Very Quaint.  My most favorite thing was seeing the glass bottom boat which is also the title of my most favorite movie!  

We rode up the hill to this botanical garden.  As we were all very out of shape, it was quite difficult and we all ended up walking our bikes up the hill.  It was nice to come back down though!

In front of the fountain in Catalina

What a silly

The majestic sequoia forest!  This was the next stop on our trip.  They were huge.  I never knew how huge until i've stood up next to one.  It was amazing!  The road was really windy and curvy so it took forever to get to where the sequoia's are.  If you ever get the chance.  Stop there.  But spend more time because there is a lot to see that we didn't have time for.  

Beautiful sun as we were on our way to San Jose.

Our next stop took us to San Jose to see the winchester House Museum.  It is a bizarre house built by the widow of the man who invented the Winchester Rifle.  Some fortune teller told her that if she would continually add on to her home rooms for the souls of the people that were killed by the rifle she would never die.  She only stood 4' 10" and was  a wicked old woman.  She liked playing practical jokes on her servants just to get the chance to yell at them.  Anyhow, there are stairs that go no where, a stained glass window which is the most expensive thing in her house on a north wall so no sun could go through.  Doors that drop into sinks, rooms that have 3 exits but only 1 entrance.  It is just very bizarre.  They say the only reason that it survived the earthquake in the 1900's was because it wasn't built on a foundation so it moved with the earth

Doors built specifically for her

Stairway to nowhere.

Stained glass

Some of the roof system

Chimney that never reached through the ceiling because she was superstitious. 

Pretty Designs

We then finished off by going to San Francisco and went to the fisherman's wharf.  It was cold so we bought sweat shirts and just walked around window shopping and watching the bay.  It was a lot of fun.  

So that about covers it.  I hope you all enjoy the pictures!