My West Coast Adventures

Due to my full time job teaching art, my side job of photography and my love of being a couch potato, I find that I often neglect this blog as well as my own artistic need to express myself. Sometimes I will stay late after school to make a teacher example for a future art project- I always make the same project as my students, usually multiple times- but that's pretty much the extent of my art making these days (something I'd like to change in 2014). Photography has become my main source of creative expression. So I want to share more of that on a personal level (not just client photographs). In my last post I shared my favorite photos from the Botanical Garden in San Francisco. Now I want to share a bit more from my trip to the West Coast. I've already posted many of these photos on Facebook, but it's not quite the same to see them all laid out together here with the narrative to go along with them. 

Our trip all started because a friend of ours invited us to her wedding in Oregon and then asked me to be her photographer. We decided to make it into a road trip to see parts of the US that we thought would be interesting. Nathan and I flew into Denver and met our friend Kevin there. We stayed with Nathan's parents in Colorado for a few days before starting our road trip. We took a hike around Red Rocks Amphitheater with Nathan's parents during our visit. Our first stop on the road was Twin Falls, Idaho. We drove through Colorado, Wyoming, and a little bit of Utah to get there.

Red Rocks:

Wyoming:

When we arrived in Twin Falls we had some delicious mexican food and then watched TV until we fell asleep at our hotel. We got up bright and early and went to Shoshone Falls. They say it's the Niagara of the West. It was really beautiful. We were there on a day where the water level was pretty low, but it still looked amazing. We took in the view, then took some pictures, then we got back in the car and headed towards Portland. 

We made it to Portland, Oregon. Nathan and Kevin wanted to stop at a Rouge Brewery so we got a photo of them there. Then we went to our friend Carrie's apartment (the one that was getting married). We walked around outside to take a look at the ducks and nutria and eat some fresh blackberries. Then we played karaoke video games until it was time for bed. 

The next day we headed to the coast of Oregon. We were all staying at a lodge for the wedding at Gearhart Beach. The whole wedding party was staying there, along with us and some other people from Carrie's group of North Carolina friends. We went out on the beach- it was so cold so only put my toes in the water. Nathan ran and jumped in with his buddy, Ethan.

Then it was time for wedding festivities. Rehearsal and dinner, sleep, then wedding day. The wedding was beautiful. It was kind of a rockstar wedding with red, black and skeleton decor. You can see the blog post for that wedding here. And here's a few more shots from the lodge at Gearhart Beach...

Before leaving Oregon, we had to stop by the beach that has this famous rock from the Goonies movie... I only saw that movie once when I was a kid so I don't really remember this- but everyone else was excited about it so I went along for the ride! I have to admit that I was miserable on this beach and I didn't try to hide it. The wind was freezing my brain (probably not really) and gave me a killer headache and I wanted to leave as soon as possible (I know I'm a big baby- but I don't deny it).  Here it is...

Time to head to San Francisco! Nathan and I have friends (Dani and Tim)  that live there so we were lucky enough to have a free place to stay there. We got there pretty late and the guys found some street parking so that we only had to move the car once. The next morning when we woke up we set out to explore the city. Our fist stop was to get a bus pass from the grocery store. Then we started walking through Golden Gate Park. That's where we found the Botanical Garden that I loved. We had lots of other adventures in San Francisco. Here are the ones that I managed to get photos of...

My first time ever driving through a toll booth!

China Town in San Francisco. Nathan wanted to try some unique food so he got a quail. We all tried it. Not my favorite, but Nathan loved it. Also, we got to meet up with our friend Katelyn that day! She went to China town with us and then we walked around the Wharf and went to the

Ghirardelli chocolate store.

 Golden Gate Bridge!

We took a tour of Alcatraz. I could make a whole separate post with all the photos that I took there. It was a cool and slightly creepy place to see. They had the cells set up as if people were still living in some of them. We got to see the kitchen and the medical rooms and visiting area. I am just showing a few bare minimum photos now, but I have a ton of pictures from this place.

This is a view from the island:

Inside Alcatraz:

On our way back to the pier:

We ended the night at Boudin eating delicious sourdough creations.

We found the most crooked street in America...

This is where I thought the Full House house was, but I was incorrect.

It's here..

We walked up a lot of hills on this day trying to find these different landmarks. We came across this mail box and I couldn't help but take a picture of it. I censored the image because, as you can imagine, it's not exactly polite. So excuse the crude humor here, but we knew exactly where the author of this graffiti was coming from- I have never seen (or tried to walk up) anything like the hills/streets of San Francisco. My camera bag began to feel as if it weighed 500 pounds. The guys helped me out by carrying it part of the way! It was kind of a work out for us since we just weren't used to the inclines. But then- check out the view!

We spent a good amount of time at Fisherman's Wharf. It was a cool place with lots of stores, restaurants, and many many street performers. I took photos of a lot of the street performers. We did see the bush man- but I didn't get a photo of him.

This guy did a flip over 7 guys laying on the ground!

We also went to the San Francisco Zoo. It was a chilly day so the animals were not moving around very much but I always love visiting the zoo. Here are a few of the animals that I got close enough to photograph.

We also got to see Japan Town. I didn't get any pictures, but the food was tasty. We got to experience a lot of things in San Francisco that I didn't really capture in the pictures- the bus/train rides, the time with friends, the cold West Coast air, the homeless people, the bus app to see how far away the next bus is... It was a fun time for sure. 

Then we went to Las Vegas. We stayed at the Flamingo. Nathan had never been to Vegas before, so we took a walk up and down the strip. Nathan and Kevin entered a poker tournament while I relaxed by the pool. We had the most delicious dinner at one of Gordon Ramsay's Pubs in Caesar's Palace. We saw the cirque du soleil O show. And of course played a few slot machines. It rained one night while we were there. It rained and it poured and it flooded. Those buildings were not prepared for such rain. It was a short but fun Vegas trip. 

When we left Vegas we headed to the Grand Canyon. We weren't really worried about taking a tour or hiking it, we just wanted to see it and take some pictures. So that's what we did.

 After the Grand Canyon we headed back towards Colorado. We stopped at the Four Corners landmark. 

 View of the Grand Canyon from the road.

Rain in the dessert.

Then we went to Mesa Verde- a place where Native American's made homes in the side of cliffs (cliff dwellings). Ancestral Pueblo people made Mesa Verde their home from about the year 550 to 1300. It was an awesome sight to see. 

Finally we hiked the steep trail to Hanging Lake. Our last stop before making it back to the Denver area. This was a fun hike- it was challenging. We were passing lots of people that were taking breaks on the side of the trail. The view at the top was gorgeous. The lake had a big fallen tree in it that we walked out on (don't worry- we saw other people doing it first so we knew it would hold us).

We made it back to Nathan's parents' house after traveling 3,815 miles in the car (almost 64 hours of travel time)! Needless to say, we had an amazing trip but we were ready for it to end.  It was without a doubt an unforgettable experience and I'm so glad we took the time to road trip through the West!