California Day 5 Friday, July 21

We woke up, had breakfast, and jammed over to Hakone Gardens where they filmed a little of Memoirs of a Geisha. It was awesome. We went through and looked at some things and when we were about to leave Ryan took a swim in the coy pond ( against his own will). He freaked out and his shoes stayed in the pond so his mom had to go get them while Ryan cried from fear of the huge coy fish coming after him. That was the highlight of the day. Well after we got some sweet souveniours we jumped into Julie's pool to get the sweat off of us because that day was probably the hottest day of the year. ( This was the same week as the huge heat wave and power outages). That night we had leftovers(lasagna). Then we slept.

California Day 4 Thursday, July 20

I woke up to sound of screaming kids. I had honey bunches with fresh blueberries and strawberries on top for breakfast. It was very delicious. Then we swam all day and brushed up on our diving board skills till we could do our flips and stuff again. We had sandwiches for lunch and lasagna for dinner. It was good. When we were getting ready for sleep time we came up with an idea of doing a music video to Allison's favorite song- Bittersweet Symphony- by The Verve. So we planned it and went to sleep.

California Day 3 Wednesday, July 19

7:ooAM rolled around and all was stirring in the nut house. Amanda and Megan took an early walk on the beach before anyone was awake. They found sea shells and came back to wake me and Allison. We woke and headed for the beach. Christopher and Ryan came too. We walked while looking for sea shells and had a fab time. I remember seeing an orange starfish on a rock that was out a ways. It looked so cool but I had forgotten my camera and it sucked. We made our way back to the hotel and got some breakfast. Waffles.

We all got ready to jam out of there and head to Aunt Julie's house in Saratoga. So me, Amanda, mom, and Megan went with Julie in her suburban while everyone else was in Christina's. We drove up to the elephant seal reserve and checked out the HUGE seals. They were lazy and didn't do anything cool. We returned to our journey up the coast and our next stop was the Bicksby Bridge. The bridge was awesome. We then drove to Big Sur to get some grub. We had the best burritos ever made. They were so good. After Big Sur we stopped by Carmel beach to get some sand and check it out. It was so pretty. The sand was so cool looking and it made the ocean look torquise. We drove up to the city and got a sweater. It is cool. We then drove the 17 mile drive. But we call it the 17 hour drive because it took so long. Pebble Beach golf course is in the 17 mile drive so we stopped by and got some souveniors. Yes we ate there also (out of the cooler in the parking lot). But that's only between you and me.

California Day 2 Tuesday, July 18

Day 2. I remember waking up to the sounds of loud whispers coming from the youngin's downstairs in the hotel. They thought they were quiet but they were really loud and awoke us all. We had set an alarm so that we could get ready for the days journey to the Hearst Castle. What we didn't realize was our alarm clock was the kids. They woke us before the alarm could even go off. I was lying there trying to get back to sleep. we hear the creek of the ladder and started yelling at the unknown child making his way up the ladder. The unknown was Nathan. The middle child thirsty for any kind of attention. He comes loudly up the ladder and asks why we were playing music. And we said it was a radio alarm. He told us that the music had awoke all the kids( which didn't because it had just gone off). He only needed a reason to come up the ladder. Those kids kept comming up and being really annoying. oh ya the night before when we were at the beach they brought some pistacheos up in the loft( in secret ) and some cheese and they had a little party and left the nut shells and cheese all over the place. They denied it of coarse but we all knew what went down that night. Anyway so all the kids and us 4 went across the way to the breakfast cottage and made our own waffles in the waffle maker. They weren't that good but hey it's better than a bagel and a muffin for your only choice. This place had so much for breakfast. It was excellent! Anyway we all came back and got ready. As soon as everyone was ready we squished into our 2 Suburban type vehicles and 1 car and headed off to see the castle on the hill. When we got to the parking area we could see it on the hill. It looked awesome. We got our tickets and got in line for the National Geographic movie of the Hearst Castle. The movie had a lot of information not about the castle itself but the man who owned it. It tells you that his father was very poor when he was about 20 years of age but he found silver in the mountians of some place and found gold and all that and he became of of the wealthiest men in the world. He married his girlfriend and they had a child. His mother was very interested in art and the way castles were built so she took her kid all around the world and showed him castles and old art and sculptures. The kid was named William H. Hearst and he got all of his fathers land and money when he died so he started to collect art from all over the world. He decided to build a castle that combined all the castles he saw as a child and had a woman architect help him build it. The castle was finnished in the 1930's though the main entrance was never finnished. Anyway we went on tour 1 and saw the main buildings but the kids were getting bored so Aunt Christina and Gramdma went back to the beach but me, Amanda, Mom, Aunt Julie, Uncle Russ, Allison, Christopher, and Megan all went to tour 2 and saw all the art. The castle was amazing. They say he had so much art that he filled all his houses and castles and still he could not fit all of his art. Anyway after Hearst Castle we met the others at the beach and chilled for a while. Julie, Allison, Christipher, me, Amanda, mom, and Megan all went to a pizzaria place and had good pizza while the others had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Ha Ha. Russ wasn't there because after we left for the beach he took my mom's car and went home in Saratoga. He had some stuff he had to do so we let him take our car. Anyway so we had 2 cars for 15 people. When driving home from dinner we turned out of the small town of Cambria and as soon as the ocean was visible the whole car screamed cause the sunset was so breath taking the only thing we thought to do was scream and yell. We pulled over and frantically snapped some shots before it was gone. It was so amazing. As soon as it was over we slapped on our suits and jogged on over to the beach for a while then it got too dark to see your own hand in front off you so we went back and got all the sand off in the hotel swimming pool and went back to the hotel. Oh ya when we were waiting for sunset right after dinner we stopped to get gas at the gas station. In the station was also a souvonier shop so we got some stuff. I got a Keychain, a shark tooth necklace, and a pirate skull/piggy bank. They are cool. Well after all that then we saw the sunset. When all was done we went to sleep setting our alarm clock for 7:00am.

California Day 1 Monday, July 17

So we drive out to California and it takes about 8 hours to get to Cambria. On the way the road was ugly.It looked like a wasteland. Nevada is a wasteland and then all of the sudden you see huge buildings. Las Vegas and Reno. As soon we left the state of Utah, I fell asleep and didn't wake up untill we were in California. Well anyways, we( as in my mom, Amanda, me, Aunt Christina(my mom's sister), her kids-Megan, Ryan, Nathan, Rachel, and Kyle, and Grandma) all pulled up to our little hotel called The FogCatcher Inn. It was so cool. The Inn looked like little English cottages and the best part was you cross the small street and went down these log steps to the beach. The beach was called Moonstone Beach and the sand was more like tiny stones. The ocean water was freezing. If you were in there for about 5 minutes your feet would all ready be numb. Plus you were walking on tiny stones not soft sand. Anyway, in the Hotel place there were 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen, a sitting area with a T.V., and a loft with 2 queen beds. Me, Megan, Amanda, and Allison got the loft and all the little kids were jealous because there are no stairs to it, just a creeky, old, wooden ladder which all the kids were getting hurt on. Oh I wonder why they couldn't sleep up there?? Well we all played at the beach for a while and then got our bags out of our 2 cars and brought them to the room. My mom, me, and Amanda went out for dinner and Christina's kids had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches( they were going to become very fond of the pb&j sandwiches later on the trip. Haha). We went to dinner somewhere, I can't remember the name, but I had chicken strips. They were slammin. After dinner we went to see the small town. None of the shops were open so we just looked in the windows and moved on. The sun was setting and we decided to got back to the Inn. When we returned we found Aunt Julie, Uncle Russ, and their kids-Allison, Christopher, Hannah, and Elyse had made it from their home in Saratoga. Me, Amanda, Allison, and Megan all went down to the beach. Maybe Christopher was there too I can't remember. We all talked and had a good time as it got darker. The sound of the ocean was awesome. I think it is different when you see the ocean than to only hear it. It is cool. Well after we stumbled in the dark to the hotel we settled in and wrote a message to the next visitor on the low ceiling in the loft. "Top of the mornin' to ya" I put. And Amanda told them that she was right there right now and not to look under the bed. We all had a laugh and then we read our books. I was reading "The Funny Thing Is....." by Ellen Degeneres, Amanda was reading "A Walk Though the Woods" by Bill Bryson, and Megan was reading the 9th Work and the Glory. Allison didn't read anything. Then we all went to sleep!