San Francisco or Bust: What I did on my Summer Vacation Part 5

We didn't want to leave the beautiful redwood forests, but it was time to move on and see the rest of the western coast. Our next stop was San Francisco, the city by the bay. As we were approaching the Golden Gate bridge I noticed signs informing us of tolls on the bridge. Oops, I declined the toll option on our rental car and had no idea the Golden Gate was a toll. Blame my small town thinking for that. So we had to pull over and pull out the cell phone to go online to pay for it in advance because there were no toll booths on the bridge. I don't know how that's supposed to make it easier for everyone, but the sign told us it was. Anyway, we were really tired so we were thrilled to find that the hotel we booked was right in the heart of the city near the museums, China Town, and the piers.



Our first adventure was to spend some time in China Town. We found that it was a lot like the little villages in Mexico we have frequented in that it was stocked full of cheap touristy crap mostly made in China, however, in this case that was totally appropriate -- being that it was China Town. But there was a lot of flair and color and character to the place and we enjoyed ourselves.



The next day we headed out to Alcatraz. This was one of the most interesting parts of our vacation. I didn't expect it to be so beautiful on the island. I'm a fan of abandoned buildings as well so I had a field day with the camera.



After Alcatraz we did some driving around the city. We drove on the crookedest street in the world, rode a trolley car and people watched. We had a really great conversation with a guy on the trolley car who appeared to be a genius. SF is among the places we'd like to return some day to spend more time. The next day we hit the long road down to L.A. along Highway 1. I'll share photos of that trek next.

Lisa On Location Photography

The Magical Call of the Redwoods: What I did on my summer vacation part 4

After a long strip of gorgeous beaches in Oregon, we were thrilled to enter the land of the giant redwoods. I remember being overwhelmed by these gentle giants as a child and I wasn't disappointed this time around either. It seemed like every corner we turned we happened upon tree after tree that was even larger than the last tree we saw, which we thought must be the biggest on the planet.

After spending so much time on the road, the kids were thrilled to be able to stop for a while and go on some walks through the forest. They loved the ancient feelings, the magical views and the banana slugs. Yes the banana slugs.



When I was a kid I fell in love with the banana slugs too. But I didn't pick them up and make friends with them the way Calista did. She called herself the queen of the banana slugs and she carried this one around on her arm for at least an hour. I had her put on a pretty dress to pose for some photos for me and she insisted the banana slug pose with her. Can you find the banana slug in each of these photos? Come on, pretend it's one of those Where's Waldo games from the 90s, only it's not waldo, it's a yellow and black slug.



I wish there was a redwood forest near my home because the photo ideas were limitless. I could shoot the mother of all engagement sessions or the most beautiful wedding on the planet under the canopy of these trees. It would be amazing.

It was a challenge to try to capture the sheer size of these trees.



We made a little side trip to a tourist trap known as the "Drive Through Tree." And it was most definitely a tourist trap. You pay $5 to get onto the property and then you drive a winding twisting road to this monster of a tree that has been carved out with enough space to drive through. Unless of course you have one of those monster SUVs, in which case you're S.O.L. Remember my complaint a few days ago about getting stuck with a car that was too small for our needs, well it paid off here in our ability to drive through this tree that's probably older than Jesus.

Calista refused to participate because she thinks it's wrong to exploit this tree in such a manner as to cut a hole in it for a violation like ramming your car though it's trunk. I agree in principle. I didn't drive through it either. I left that to Jayme while I stood aside to take the photo. Here they are right after driving through it. Notice Calista's defiant stance and pouty face. That's my girl.

We spent a couple of days in the top part of California surrounded by this majesty before heading into the city of San Francisco. I'll show you some of that tomorrow.

Lisa On Location Photography

The Oregon coast line, on which we found our own little mermaid and took her home with us: What I did on my summer vacation part 3

We spent more time in the Forks area than we had planned so we pushed hard to get to the Oregon border by bedtime. We made it into Astoria -- better known for being the filming location of The Goonies, a classic 80s movie starring a couple of Cories.

We didn't stay long enough in this little town but I really enjoyed the scenery while we were there.



We didn't drive long before we happened upon one of the most beautiful places on earth, Ecola State Park. It was the perfect location for Keela to put on her mermaid tail and pose for some photos. I pictured her sitting on a big rock next to the coast line. I chose the perfect rock for her to climb on but as we approached it she said "I don't want to climb on that rock." When we got next to it we saw that it was actually moving. Like it was alive. Well, the rock wasn't alive, but all the thousands of sea creatures that were clinging to the rock were alive. It was amazing. These rocks were under water at high tide, but it was low tide at the moment so literally hundreds of thousands of sea creatures continued to cling to the rocks waiting for high tide to return.



We did manage to find a rock with very little life on it in one spot near the end so we chose that for our mermaid rock. It was a bit awkward getting her tail on, finding a dry spot for my camera gear away from the waves and sea creatures and then posing her. We had to wait for people to clear away as well because we did not have the beach to ourselves. In the end I think we did great with our beautiful mermaid.



At the end of our vacation we asked each other what our favorite part was and this particular stop was the majority for the family. If we had to choose one spot from this vacation to return to to spend more time, it would be this beach.

But we did move on and explore the rest of the Oregon coast line. We drove all down Highway 101 and saw one breathtaking view after the other. Here are just a few of them:



Jayme enjoyed stopping at the Tillamook Air Museum, one of the few hangars built for the large war airships of World War II. Jayme has a thing for big airships.

We made it near the California border that night and stopped to sleep. We would be heading into the Redwood forest the next day and we intended to take it slow through that.

Lisa On Location Photography

Welcome to the Land of Twilight: What I did on my summer vacation part 2

When it comes to summer vacation road trips, teenagers are not pleasant. But, being the brilliant mother that I am, I was able to placate our darling 15-year-old by making a side-trip to an area she could relate to --- the land of Forks, Washington. Also known as the rainiest place in the country, allowing sparkly vampires to hide their true selves from the ignorant humans with whom they share a high school.

Our first stop on our vampire tour was Port Angeles, where we stopped in at the book store and the little Italian restaurant nearby. Calista felt silly posing in front of these places, but it was obvious by the non-interest on the faces of the people around us that they were used to seeing giggling teenage girls taking photos in front of these otherwise run-of-the-mill locations.



If you're not familiar with the Twilight series then none of this blog post is making any sense to you. I would not be offended in the least if you stop reading right here and went about with your daily routine. Seriously, go about your business because it's about to get really geeky.

Are the non-fans gone? Good, so now we can talk more about these places without fear of judgement.

This little town is actually quite lovely and it's hard to believe they found places seedy enough for the rough characters who hang out here. It was seriously Norman Rockwell on a much more modern level if vampires and werewolves happened to exist.

We were going to eat at the Italian place, but they don't open for lunch, only dinner, so we pushed on to Forks. The drive between Port Angeles and Forks was actually pretty breathtaking and hard to believe that Edward could take the trip at such a fast speed. Not just because of all the switchbacks, but also because it's just so darn pretty.

We reached Forks and were starving so we pulled into a quirky little diner, Sully's, that got into the whole vampire thing by naming it's specials things like "Bella Burger" and "Twilight Punch." I pulled out my phone and found a nifty little map of all the locations for the book -- it was actually put out by their Chamber of Commerce, which I found hilarious.

We stopped at the high school and of course the welcome to the city sign.



We then made our way into the local drug store where the sign outside claims that "Bella gets her headache medicine." We paid more than we should have for sweatshirts and trinkets (and of course our traditional souvenir spoon) and then we headed out to La Push, home of the werewolves.

We decided to let Calista drive for a little bit to try out her brand new learner's permit, but that mistake only lasted a few minutes when we realized the road was quite winding and we were getting scared stiff with her lack of driving skills. With Jayme back in the driver's seat, we were able to enjoy the quick little drive and even found the border line for vampires along the way.



La Push looked pretty much like I expected. A poor reservation community on the edge of a gorgeously scenic beach.



Calista left her own little brand of vampire humor when she wrote "Team Edward" on the bathroom wall of a heavily grafittied outhouse. My little rebel. She knows she's team Jacob all the way.

Tomorrow we hit the Oregon coast line -- home of some of the most breathtaking views I've ever seen.

Lisa On Location Photography

What I did on my summer vacation part 1: Seattle or Bust

With Independence Day behind us, most of us are in the full swing of summer. I had a slow June this year so we decided to make our summer vacation start as soon as the kids were out of school. We had ambitious plans of doing a west coast road trip but didn't want to drive the whole way. It's hard enough being in the same car with all three kids on short trips to Grandma's house, let alone a cross country adventure. So we shortened it some by flying to Seattle instead of driving. From there we rented a car and drove all along highway 101 and highway 1 down to L.A.

As a child I was fortunate enough to do a partial west coast trip with my parents but since I wasn't in control, there was a lot that was left off my wish list for sight seeing. So now that I'm in charge, I was able to choose our spots of interest. We started with Seattle, a city I've always wanted to visit and was very near as a child, but I still never got to see.

First glitch in the plans came when I arrived at the airport rental car place to find that the company I'd reserved a car with, Advantage, was shut down and out of business. The guy in the spot next to them said Thrifty had taken over all their reservations so we made our way across the way to the Thrifty area and were given a car -- at twice the cost of the one I'd reserved through Advantage. Doh! But the bigger Doh came moments later when I saw the car. I had asked for a "large" vehicle but what I got was not in my opinion, very large. The kids were cramped in the back and not happy about it. Mile one out of our 2,000 mile trek was just as difficult as the remaining 1,999 would be.

But we were in good spirits and excited to be there.

The first stop on our tour of the city was the underground tour to see the city's creepy remnants of the old underground city. That was beyond cool. Creepiness around every corner.



Then we went for a walk to see the oldest Starbucks and ran into some interesting areas along the way including this cool wall covered with gum. Thank you Roadside America app for telling me about that little treasure.



We ate dinner in a quaint little bohemian neighborhood and did some driving around some of Seattle's seedier areas, where I captured this thought-provoking image of some of the troubled people of the streets of the city.



The next day we drove up to Vancouver to get a little taste of Canadian life. I was bummed that I didn't realize until halfway through the day that this is the city where much of the X-Files was filmed. I would have totally been stalking out filming locations if I'd only planned ahead. But I swear I saw the sports stadium where Mulder met Deep Throat. I was really excited about that.

Our visit to the Seattle area only lasted two days. Sadly we had to move on if we wanted to get to L.A. in 10 days. There's so much to see along the way. The next morning we left for our Washington road trip and hit the land of the Twilight vampires. I'll talk about that tomorrow.

Lisa On Location Photography