A Perfect Weekend

This past Friday was James' birthday and since we haven't been doing much celebrating of anything for a while now, I suppose you could say that we did this one up.  I didn't mind though--it came at the perfect time and gave me the adventure and relaxation that I was needing :]

On Friday we woke up early and hit the road with our snacks--we like to be frugal, ok?
We even got matching water bottles, which were extremely useful!  :P

We started up PCH towards our destination -- San Luis Obispo -- and along the way we were blessed with great weather and no traffic!  We passed through Malibu, saw the Getty Villa, and lots and lots of coastline.  Once we got a little more inland there was pretty countryside, but about that time I was a little distracted because I was busy doing car karaoke...you know me.

When we finally arrived in SLO we met up with James' friend Steve and before we knew it we were whisked away on a hike up to the top of Bishop Peak.  Problem 1) I was in flats (OLD flats), Problem 2) I had no hair tie.  Did that stop us? Nope!  It was great, and though it was a rigorous hike we made it to the top just as it was getting dark.  We felt extremely accomplished.... and hungry.  We hiked down in the dark by way of headlamp and then indulged in large Mexican feast and explored the little downtown area of SLO (I had never been there) before calling it a night, since we all had to get up early the next day.

(On top of Bishop's)

(the peak reminds me of the Grizzly ride at CA Adventures)

On Saturday we got up at dawn and headed back up the 1.  I pride myself in taking maybe ten minutes to get ready on this day--getting closer and closer to being a  low maintenance girl every day :]

 

(Breakfast in Morro Bay)

Our first stop, just outside of SLO, was to Morro Bay where we had breakfast and saw the big rock.  I had been told about this rock but I didn't really know what all the hype was about.. it's huge! And the beach there is gorgeous!  We took a bunch of pictures (James' favorite thing to do..) and then kept on our journey...

I love this guy.

We stayed on PCH and so our trip was full of lots of pretty coastal stops.  We stopped at Ragged Point and then for gas in Big Sur, San Mateo, and later in Monterey.  Then I fell asleep, so I don't really know what San Jose was like... (James tells me I didn't miss much)

One of the coolest stops we made was in San Mateo at the Elephant Seal Vista Point.  Because of the large amounts of kelp and rocks at this particular beach, sharks are deterred and seals abound.  These aren't like the cute seals you see at Pier 39 or Sea World though... these are weird-looking Elephant seals...

Nevertheless, it was a fun little stop.

(Ragged Point)

We arrived in San Francisco around 3.. I've been to SF before, but never with the one I love the most :]  It was a great evening on the town.

We had sourdough bread bowls from Boudin and then walked around Fisherman's Wharf up to Ghiradelli Square.

He loves me a lot, and knows my love language...

We were both exhausted so we called it a night pretty early on.

Can I just say, for all of the people who wonder and are trying to draw conclusions, we are responsible adults.  We didn't sleep together, figuratively or literally.  We both are committed to staying pure and we wouldn't dabble in that in the slightest, so please don't worry or speculate...

When we got up in the morning we ate and read through 1st Peter before heading back into the city.  We cruised down Lombard street (the crookedest street!) back to Fisherman's Warf, had lunch at Boudin's (we couldn't get enough) and then saw the sites for a bit before carrying on.

We travelled up and over the famous Golden Gate Bridge, and then headed for home, passing through Berkley, Oakland, and a bunch of other random little towns...  The quick road home is very straight and boring.  I fell asleep and when I woke up we were in a town that smelled like a Porta Potty.  We stopped at the most IL-legit Burger King ever, and we both took years off of our lives together, nom-noming away...

We got back to LB on Sunday evening, both happily exhausted but fulfilled.  I would've assumed after 3 days together we would get sick of each other, but this was hardly the case--spending time together never gets old.  We don't usually run out of things to talk about, but if we did we'd just be silent, cuz we also like to do that together--just sit and "process" side by side.

Oh my best friend, how I love you so!  I am so glad you were born, and even more glad that we got to spend this truly wonderful weekend bonding and growing together.  My heart is full, I am so incredibly blessed :]