Love and Haight

it started on the drive from Reno, NV to San Francisco--the beautiful morning views that i now look forward to every morning when i wake up. that morning i woke and saw that we were surrounded by breathtakingly beautiful views. i've always had a sneaky suspicion that the northwest might be my favorite part of the country, but i am just now seeing it at the age of 26. such beautiful sights can only be bottled up and tucked away in my memory--no picture on camera can ever capture it right. so i haven't even bothered to try.

coming out of the 'desert' areas in california going into northern california, the transformation is gorgeous. the rocky and barren hills turn into rolling green hills with grass (finally) and sparse trees. higher up, huge evergreen trees dart high up into the sky. i have never seen these trees before, and never even knew i was missing anything. approaching san francisco, the land opened up to the water, the large bay areas and islands and bridges, surrounded by the rolling hills i described above, except now there were houses up and down the hills, whose windows catch the light of the sun just enough to make the landscape appear to be sparkling. so, i'm wondering.....

why do i live where i live?

ahh san francisco. i was so happy to finally be there, yet the reality i found was that i really needed a week there to experience it all. we had halloween off there, so our family took the bus over to Haight-Ashbury district. there are so many freaks there, and Lord knows i love freaky people. and they were all dressed up for Halloween. very fun... even my little munchkin was dressed up all day. he was a boxer. 

Haight street is lined with the coolest boutique stores and consignment stores. i wouldn't advise anyone to visit there without having some money they plan on spending! i unfortunately did not, and it was a miracle that we managed to get our of there without spending a dime. we did stop in the Pork Store Cafe to eat a late brunch

after that we headed down to the water to Fisherman's Wharf. It was getting chilly, so we looked around, saw a thousand sea lions (to our surprise), and then went back to the bus. little man fell asleep at 6:30 that night, which was just as well.... we figured downtown SF was no place to be out late on halloween.

This morning i awoke on the drive from SF to Eugene, OR and it was the same----amazing. surrounded by high mountains filled with tall evergreens, with streams and rivers going through the valleys. large rock formations jetting out of the ground, and farther out snow-capped mountains. we get the day off in Eugene today, the half-way point to Seattle tomorrow.  i've been wanting to come here to Oregon ever since I started reading Don Miller books.