Road Trip Day 3 - Jan. 8th

We did so much stuff today, it's hard to believe that it's only been one day! We stayed at Esther's house (in Santa Clara) last night and left around 8:30am on our way down to Santa Barbara. Esther came along with us in her car, and her friend Cambri came too. I rode in Esther's car for most of the day, and we got to catch up on about a year and a half's worth of stuff since we last saw each other at alumni.

 Our first stop was at a giant redwood tree grove... we walked a 1.3 km loop and saw some ENORMOUS trees. The next stop was at the Santa Cruz boardwalk to take a look at the beach and get some lunch. There were some crazy people in swimsuits on the beach playing volleyball... it's not quite warm enough for that people! We went to a pizza place called "Pizza My Heart" for lunch... apparently it's a famous little chain, and we got a huge slice of pizza each and a free T-shirt! It was yummy, and we got free clothes... can't beat that.
So the NEXT stop (there were a lot of them today) was along the coastal road to take some pictures of the beautiful Pacific ocean... we actually stopped a few times to do that, and once or twice for coffee, ice cream, and bathroom breaks. We drove along the windy road on (what felt like) the edge of a cliff for several hours, watched the sun set over the ocean, and even saw some elephant seals up close and personal. It was a jam-packed beautiful day.
We left Esther and Cambri at San Luis Obispo (what a name), and drove on to Santa Barbara (about an hour and a half more) and found a cheap hotel to crash at. All four of us are crammed in a little (but still nice) room on two queen beds... haha. At least we get our own beds.
Tomorrow we're off to see Los Angeles and the Malibu beach, the night lights of Las Vegas, and the Hoover Dam...  and somehow we're going to do all that in between 8 hours worth of driving :)

Here are some pictures...

Walking to see the giant redwood trees

In front of a cross-slice of a giant redwood that is over 2000 years old

Jordan photographing an enormous tree

Sarah standing at the foot of a giant redwood

Eating at "Pizza My Heart" in Santa Cruz for lunch

Driving along the beautiful Californian coastline

Stopped to take a few pictures

Thomas, Sarah, Esther

Cambri and Esther

And then we saw elephant seals! These were literally 4 meters away from me down a little hill.

This one was right underneath where I was standing, and would look up like this when I whistled at him :)

A beautiful sunset over the Pacific ocean

Had to get a lighthouse picture in there somewhere (that thing in the distance is a lighthouse)

And this is the itty bitty hotel room that all four of us crowded into for the night of the 8th

What a crazy, fun day! And more fun to come tomorrow... better get some sleep.