Sea Spray and Golden Gateways… (Part 1 City Peaks)

What an adventure!

Have you ever returned from a trip and thought that it was all just a dream? That is how this trip was for me…But let me start at the beginning because this is going to be a long ride so fasten your seat belts and hold on tight!

The beginning of my adventure starts off before the sun has had the chance to warm one early morning, the car is packed up for my long road trip to San Fransisco from Idaho. However, for the first time in AGES, I wasn’t just hitting the road alone. I was also bringing my little girl with me, and I was splitting the cost of gas with a friend and her two children (ages 16 months and 6). My little Luna (the name of my car) was beyond full. I was a little nervous because I had never done a road trip with this many people in my car before, Harmony had never taken a road trip longer than 4 1/2 hours and I am not used to traveling with kids (other than my own). But hopeful for the best situation outcome I picked her up, packed up and we hit the road!

For the first several hours things were going well, music was play, children were being entertained nicely or were sleeping and all was well with the world. As time continued though things started to decline… By the last three hours of our nearly 12 hour (total) trip we were ALL about to lose our minds! The babies were screaming because they were over being in their car seats, the six year old started to get sick and threw up in the car and we still had several hours left to go! All the while I am thinking to myself “what have I gotten myself into! I still have to get home too!” After a lot of time just breathing calmly we pushed through and finally arrived at my sister’s apartment in Oakland. We couldn’t get out of the car fast enough, it this had been a cartoon we all would have piled out and landed on top of one another.

From there my friend and her kids and I split ways. Settling in at my sister’s studio apartment for the night, the baby finally asleep and I was nested into the couch I don’t even remember shutting my eyes.

The following morning, feeling slightly more refreshed than the day before we set out for our first day of exploration! We weren’t able to do a lot of exploring because our dad was flying in that evening, my sister had some personal work to take care of and I had a work assignment I had to get done in the city so exploration time was limited. If you don’t have a lot of time that still shouldn’t stop you from trying to see as much as possible when you are somewhere new!

We took a drive, up through winding roads we found our way up to the peaks of the city, Twin Peaks actually. There is a park on the high slopes of the city crest where you can see the entire valley in a 360 degree view. From the Golden Gate bridge to the dry slopes heading out to wine country.

I am loving the diversity in the city! Even up in the peaks of the city you can see every corner, there is still sounds of the city reaching far up into the peaks overlooking the valley. There are local musicians on every corner and several within every square.

More to come!

Traveling Photographer Out…