California Vacation Pics

Yay... it's Friday!! And last night... my favorite show is back on. Yep, I am talking about Grey's Anatomy.  I love that show even though it makes me cry when I watch it. And my fox card was featured on CREATE blog HERE. Double yay... Anyway, I have a long post today as I am sharing some vacation pics.

For those who might not care about pics, etc., let me share this card first. I am not going to make you look through all the pics, unless you want to.:) I made this one last month for PSA Essentials. They actually featured this card on PSA Stamp Camp earlier this month HERE.

Now, let's talk about vacation. This vacation was much needed for hubby and I. Since I got laid off in April and unsure situation at hubby's work, we were quite stress out & unsure if it wise for hubby to take time off. However, things start to look up and at one point we decide, life is all about balance. We cannot just let work rules our life.

We started our vacation in San Franciso (where I had one of the best seafood ever at Tadich Grill, the oldest restaurant in SF) for a couple days, then spent a day with hubby's uncle who lives near by.

We love doing the hop on hop off whenever we're at a new place. Just because they took you to all  the major point. We went to Pier 39 and we had lots of fun watching the sea lions. You could hear them the moment we step off the bus. I could watch them all day long, but couldn't quite stand the smell. LOL. Smells like rotten fish if you stand too close. Hah!

Sea lions snoozing at Pier 39. 

Our hop on hop off your also include a day trip  to Golden Gate bridge & Sausalito and we passed the famous Painted Ladies (the 7 beautiful Victorian houses) that reminded me of Full House. Love that show back in the days. :)

Gorgeous view of The Painted Ladies.

The Golden Gate Bridge.

It was foggy during our stay in SF with maybe an hour here and there where it's actually clear sky. From SF we drove down to Monterey. I just love this place. Plenty of beach to check out. And while walking on the beach there we saw lots of squirrels playing on the rock. Now, having grown up with 2 squirrels in the house, I love watching them and yes, I took quite a few pics of them. I think they are adorable creatures.

Greetings to you! :)

On our way down, we passed this light house and I love light house, so of course we had to check it out. Love, love, love the view! Actually next to the light house is a small inn where you could stay. It looks a bit outdated from the outside, but hey you have gorgeous view right out the door.

Pigeon Point Light Station.

We stayed in Monterey for a couple days and of course, even though hubby and I said we're not going to visit another aquarium, we ended up visiting Monterey Aquarium. LOL, last year on our Seattle, Vancouver trip we visited each city aquarium. What can I say, I was born under Cancer zodiac, we're water babies. :)

From Monterey, we head down to Santa Barbara and drove down Pacific 1 through Big Sur. Oh my gosh, the view is unbelievable. I think at one point I got teary eyes just because it's that gorgeous and I was so grateful that I could see & enjoy it. Here's a pic of me jumping up with joy. I was actually jumping up pretty high in the air, but hubby took the pic from up the hill and the bushes covered my legs. So, no it's not me with my hands up because I got arrested, LOL. Come on the huge smile on my face say it all. :)

Garrapata State Park.

From Monterey to Solvang, our next stop before Santa Barbara is really not that far, but it took us the whole day just because we kept stopping by on the side of the road so many times. Easily we stopped 30-40 times. This pic below show the kind of view that we got to see along the way.

Big Sur.

Remember when I said I ended up with a pretty long grateful list? Here's some:

1. When I saw the view, my heart just swell. The ocean view is one of my all time favorite view. At this moment, I was so grateful that I have a pair of healthy eyes that allow me to see this amazing scene.

2. Grateful for my mind & soul healthy "sights" that allow me to appreciate this view. Not taking it for granted for even a second. 

3. Thankful that we're able to take the vacation. Just the fact we can take this trip is a blessing. So many others have to wonder where their next meals coming from.

4. Thankful that I have hubby to share the vacation with.

5. Thankful that God spoil us His creations by creating amazing scene like this for us to enjoy.

Big Sur.

I could go on and on. Hubby and I do acknowledge our blessings. Did you ever get that email that say if you could read, you are blessed than about half the earth population who couldn't, if you have a matching set of plate, you are blessed compare to the millions of people who don't even have food to fill a plate, etc. That's how we often remind ourselves to be thankful.

Like my mom always said don't be jealous of things you don't have. Look down and you'll see how blessed you are compare to so many others. Okay, I don't get to travel abroad as I want to, but many couldn't even afford vacation even inside the States. And, if I had just focus on travelling abroad, I'd have missed this view. Always, always be grateful for what you do have.

I feel like I want to drink the scene, if that makes any sense. I just want to stare at the view and record it permanently in my head. Probably the only thing that could top the whole experience would be to have my mom and my siblings to enjoy it with me. I just know they would LOVE this view. And when we all get together there's always lots of laughter and with a brother who's a superb photographer, I'd have tons of super cool pics. :)

Big Sur.

Only spent one day in Santa Barbara, but boy... the sunset view resulted in one of my favorite pic from the trip. The coconut tree, the sky color. This pic totally untouched. I only add my watermark. Gorgeous colors isn't it?

Hmm... I have maybe about 20 favorite pics from  the whole trip. Between hubby and I we took almost 1000 pics. Deleted maybe 300 pics? Many of the ocean view are only slightly different, but I want to keep it, just because even looking at it, soothe my mind.

Sunset in Santa Barbara.

You're still here. Reading all  the way down? Yay... you're my favorite person then. LOL. Hope you enjoy the post and I still have a few more pics to share later on. Have to share pics of all the creatures we saw on our trip. My favorite otters. I purchased a T-shirt that say "Hairy Otter" instead of Harry Potter and it has pic of an otter with Harry Potter glasses. Pic coming soon. :)

To my family in Indonesia (blog is such a great way for them to keep up with what's going on in my world) hope you enjoy the pics as well. Have a great Friday everyone and may your day be filled with many blessings!