All without using my precious vacation time!

We used this time to visit some of our dearest friends in Oakland …. and we took the long way there.

We’ve used our Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America’s Two-Lane Highways book in the past (on a road trip to Las Vegas) and on New Year’s Eve we used it again to drive up the 1, along the California coast, to the San Francisco bay area.

This is roughly the route that we took: 101 to the 1 through San Luis Obispo and Big Sur, small little stop in Santa Cruz, then inland to Oakland.

This route did take at least twice as long as driving directly north on the 5 freeway, but it was totally worth it.

We didn’t have anywhere that we needed to be at a specific time, so we were able to meander, take a wrong turn if we wanted, stop to just look and take pictures, and just enjoy our road trip together.

We left early early early and stopped by Andy&Julie’s to borrow her Garmin GPS system – better known as “the Garmin Girl.”

Having a GPS was SOO helpful in allowing us to take whatever turn looked like fun and still be able to find our way back to the main route. Thanks Julie!

One of the sights to see on the central coast is this small beach where the elephant seals come …you can find it here if you’re in the area:

There is a small parking lot, and a long boardwalk where you can look over the beach… Learn more about viewing the elephant seals here …

The babies make the craziest little noises. The adults make noises that sound like farting.

It was highly entertaining!

(more photos of the seals on Friday)

A little bit farther north we stopped at another overlook with a view of an amazing bridge ….

The self-portrait of us below looks like we’re in heaven, I know, but it’s really just overlooking the ocean and with huge amounts of back-light.

Big Sur is gorgeous ….

We drove through Big Sur on our way north and stopped at the Big Sur Bakery and Restaurant for lunch.

This place was a little …. more than I wanted to spend (about $25/person after tax and tip) but super cute in the trees with wood floors, etc. I think the building *might* be a former home (we ate in a room with windows that weren’t really being used and a fireplace).

Our final stop – just outside Santa Cruz – was at the Mystery Spot.

From their website:

The Mystery Spot is a gravitational anomaly located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California. It is a circular area of effect around 150 feed or 46 meters in diameter. Within the Mystery Spot, you will be stunned as your perception of the laws of physics and gravity are questioned.

Unfortunately, we got there at 4p on New Year’s Eve and there was an hour long wait. So … no dice.

Such a fun drive. 10 hours or so up the California coast.

We’ll be headed up the same direction in April, and I think maybe there are some good day-trips on this route…

What is your favorite part of the California coast?

{link to Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America’s Two-Lane Highways is an Amazon affiliate link}

Phoenix, AZ – July 3-5, 2009 – I have some flexible availability for portrait sessions that weekend. I KNOW it’s so hot in summer, but if you love your house or your backyard pool, what a great chance to capture your family as they really are.

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho – August 13-15, 2009 – This is just a quick turn-around trip to photograph a wedding. I have very very limited flexibility this trip, but please contact me if you’d like to see what some options might be.

Rome and Florence, Italy – October 10-17, 2009 – I’ll be bouncing around between these 2 cities all week, with a wedding on that Wednesday. Again, it’s best to just contact me with questions and we can likely work something out.

This is what I have at the moment, but I’ll be sure to update as more trips materialize!

Miranda’s dorm – Founder’s Hall at Royal Holloway – is Old. … it is an old old building. The building, I believe, was originally the only building for the university …. mid-late nineteenth century.

The rooms originally only had fireplaces, but eventually (seen below) upgraded to little radiators the students can snuggle up next to … (Miranda told me when it was really cold, she’d stick her fingers in between the slats)

The rooms/hallways all have really high ceilings … below is Miranda’s door, with a window above (papered to keep out the light) and then there’s still several inches above that til the ceiling.

The window and radiator in one of the bathrooms:

(view from the bathroom window)

Because I happened to be there during spring break … all the hallways were empty. Cavernous. It reminded me (very unnervingly) of the movie The Shining.

(stairwell just down the hall)

The END (of my England pics)! Thanks for reading/looking this far … I had SO much fun and can’t wait to go back with Andrew..

Just after you pass the London Eye, you view, across the Thames, Parliament and Big Ben .. completely amazing. One of those situations when you can’t quite believe you’re really there … especially at 9a in the morning?

Just gorgeous.

(So nice of Londoners and other tourists to do this …. ALWAYS help out a tourist who wants their photo taken)

We crossed the bridge, walked passed Parliament and through Parliament Square to Westminster Abbey.

Oh my word – Westminster Abbey.

I think this was my favorite part of the trip. …. now, I don’t usually link to my ‘personal’ blog, but if you want the full blow-by-blow of our Westminster Abbey visit, please go here.

Or, just take a look at a couple of the shots I got outside (no photography allowed indoors):

After about an hour and a half at the Abbey, we walked up Whitehall (where #10 Downing street is) to Trafalgar Square . …

Stopping, of course, for the obligatory red phone booth photo … man, that thing smelled … blech!

One of the reasons I wanted to go to Trafalgar Square is because on one corner is St. Martin-in-the-Field church, which has free lunchtime concerts a few days each week – including Monday. …

We got up there early enough to have lunch first too … . in the Crypt.

That’s right. One of the church’s fund-raising tactics (to keep this piece of history in business and in one piece) is to have a restaurant (cafeteria-style) underneath the church where the crypt (headstones, graves, etc) is …

Check out this floor, just about under our feet while we were eating lunch…

The lunch was great … and then we went back upstairs to the church for a 45 minute organ concert….

Sooooo gorgeous.

It was such a beautiful experience … just sitting back and listening to music in this old British place of worship …

The front/top of St. Martin’s :

And a view of Trafalgar square, looking down Whitehall to Big Ben:

After our lunchtime concert, we visited the National Portrait gallery for a bit, then took a walk …

We found ourselves in St. James Park (just down the street from Buckingham Palace) …

On a Monday afternoon, eating ice cream in St. James Park. … one of the many unexpected highlights of my trip – and one that never would have happened if I had been more strict about my itinerary…

The weather was just perfect, the scenery was gorgeous, and the people-watching was prime!

I highly recommend letting a little relaxing slip into your travel plan … .

Through the rest of the afternoon, we walked around London a bit more (looking for a locksmith for Miranda) … visited Trafalgar square again, and the National Gallery, then walked back down Whitehall where we were going to meet near Parliament for our walking tour….

And there ….

We found this:

A Tamil protest outside Parliament …

It was. …. so interesting to watch and be that close to. We stuck around for a bit getting pictures, listening, watching.

I’ve never been that close to a protest (and never actually been part of one). Such an interesting little gem for my trip.

Even though the protest WAS interesting, it was soo crowded and loud, and I kept feeling like I was in people’s way ….

So Miranda and I headed over to Westminster Abbey (closed by this time) just to get some cute pics …

Finally, our last ‘touristy’ activity of my time in England: a walking tour of the Westminster/Parliament area “by gaslight”

2 hours, so informative. It had to be altered from the normal route due to the protesting. But still well worth the $$.

This was Sunday, and I had wanted a more low-key day to break up our 2 busy days in London.

If I’m remembering my history correctly, the Cotswolds used to be a big wool area, then around the Industrial Revolution most of the population moved away (likely to London or other more metropolitan areas). Because the towns in this area were pretty much abandoned, the building/houses/etc weren’t torn down to make room for more modern conveniences. As a result, when these towns were ‘rediscovered’ in the last century, all these old 19th cent buildings were still around.

The church on High Street:

and High Street itself -

Town was pretty crowded when we were there – next time I go, I’ll try to visit the Cotswolds on a weekday….

I had a hard time finding transportation around town. Trains only stop in 1 or 2 of the villages in the Cotswolds and buses don’t run at all on Sundays. There wasn’t any point in renting a car for the day … but my father-in-law had the brilliant inspiration: bikes!

SO! We rented bikes for the day … totally reasonable pricewise. And so so much fun.

P.S. Miranda’s friend from school – Phoebe – joined us on this day too…

The absolute highlight of the day was our bike ride …. I can’t even describe it. It was exactly as wonderful and magical as you would think a bike ride through the English countryside in April would be…. .

The weather was perfect, the scenery was breath-taking … the only downside was the street was kind of busy, but we had our own bike path, so it wasn’t as if we were in any danger …

To avoid riding too much this day, we chose to go to a relatively local attraction … only a mile or so outside town … the Batsford Arboretum. One of those amazing places/gardens that is beautiful at any season of the year.

I’ll just let these photos speak for themselves …

I handed off my camera to both Phoebe and Miranda for awhile…. which was both liberating and nerve-wracking … the entire time I kept seeing shots I wanted to take (but I’m not going to take the camera out of their hands) … but the flip side is, I actually got photos of myself …

We rode the bikes back to Moreton-in-Marsh in the afternoon … did some walking, some shopping … there was a carnival in the middle of High Street for some reason that I don’t understand.

I think it would have been more quaint (as Rick Steves calls the Cotswolds) if there were far less people.

We were feeling a bit ready for dinner, but it was nearing 5p and a lot of places were closing …. we came across a little place called The Marshmallow … who were only serving ‘tea and cakes’ …

so we enjoyed that instead:

And then home for an early night …

I have to tell you, by this time my feet were aching and it was so nice to go to bed ‘early’ to rest up for my final day in the city.

Just for a few days, but I took so so so many photos…

wanna see some?

I’ll try to break this down as best I can … but there ARE a lot of photos in this post. You’ve been warned.

I arrived in England – at Heathrow airport – about 11a on Friday … running on only a couple hours of sleep and a headache …

My dear friend Miranda met me there and took me back to her dorm where I was able to take a shower and a short nap. hurrah!

After my lovely nap, we walked down – from her school to the town of Egham – for some dinner. She walks through this residential neighborhood pretty much anytime she needs to go to town for food, shopping, or the train station.

after dinner, walking back up the hill to school. That is the Founders Building of Royal Holloway through the trees (Miranda’s dorm). … the daffodils were EVERYWHERE when I was there …

We did some touring around campus … visited the school’s chapel (Royal Holloway was founded late 1800s, so even though the chapel was empty this night, I’m sure it had been used extensively in the past)

Saturday was our first day in London!! London, seriously. My first-ever visit to Europe and I was in love …

I made a rough itinerary before arriving, but it got all changed around once I got there. The original plan was to do the Tower of London first thing Saturday, but because of Tube closures, we switched it up and did St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Gorgeous. Just beautiful, especially in the morning air with the remnants of night-time fog….

No photos allowed inside, but check out some interior images here…

Once you get inside, you can walk up some 300+ stairs into the dome … and exit to the outside at the Stone gallery.

A couple photos taken from up there:

Note: there were cranes/scaffolding EVERYWHERE. We assumed London is getting ready for the 2012 Olympics.

After St. Paul’s, we walked through The City toward the Tower of London … passing by The Monument to the fire of 1666

The Tower of London was so fun … we walked around on our own, saw the Crown Jewels, and then took a guided tour from one of the yeoman warders.

Look at these gorgeous blue doors … I believe one of these is the residence of the Tower’s doctor, and one for the chaplain ..

Our tour guide Simon. He was great! He reminded me of a cross between Ricky Gervais and the Cowardly Lion.

After the Tower, we did lunch and then headed up to the British Museum.

The British Museum is sooo amazing. There is so much to see and learn there. I could have spent several days there. … plus it was free!

The Rosetta Stone!

Being in England, where there is history everywhere is just so …. overwhelming. And moving.

Maybe I should go back to school and study history …

After the museum, it was time for dinner … a little relaxing, downtime and food …

We found a pub called ‘Ye Olde London’ by St. Paul’s … and I had the BEST bangers and mash … I usually don’t eat an entire portion when I go out to eat, but after walking all day I had no problem finishing this whole thing.

Don’t believe it when people tell you British food is bad. .. . I had ONLY good food when I was there.

Our final plan for Saturday night was a walking tour with a local company …

“Ghosts of the Olde City” ….

It was so entertaining. Well worth the time/$ … Our guide (Shaughn) was a great actor, with the most expressive voice. Told us all about the ghost stories in this old part of the city….

London is the best. I can’t wait to go back …

Thus ends day one.