Go east, young man!

Two coasts.

One country.

Two days.

Whew!

As I'm writing this, we are on our way from RDU to Edenton.  We've dropped off the rental car, avoided the dog hair charge, and are sitting in the old familiar Subaru.

Alas, the trip was a too short blast.

Almost a blur.

We left Seattle Saturday morning around 7:00am west coast time.

This is what we saw:

The western side of Washington state.

  

Idaho?  No, you da ho!  (Edith, we had to!)

Big Sky Montana!

Yellowstone is in the background of this picture:

Wyoming:  The cowboy state!

South Dakota:  Mount Rushmore State

Minnesota, yah.

Iowa:  The Hawkeye State (and home to super friendly gas station attendants)

We also drove through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia but we breezed through these states during the night and we have no decent pictures.

And, of course, our last state:

You grab a line.  I'll grab a pole.

Thank you Scott (Will's brother) and Carrie (Scott's dear soon-to-be wife) for taking care of the Subaru for us while we were gone.

Thank you David (my brother) for house-sitting and ensuring mail was collected in our absence.

Thank you mom and dad for taking care of Penny as you all know how she feels about long rides.

Thank you Jean and Pop for your constant support throughout the trip.

Thank you Mac for being such a good backseat warmer.

Thank you Dr. Koen for signing Will's back and ensuring he'd be well for this trip.

Thank you hosts and hostesses:

Dave, Heather and Simon

K.C./Mom and Thom

Edith, Drew, Henry and William

Jon and Laurel 

So. Much. Fun.

Epic road trip for gettin' hitched.

Tsunamis and Space Needles

Thursday and Friday, we spent our time in the Pacific Northwest.

Gorgeous.

We chose to take a longer route up highway 101 in order to enjoy the Oregon coast.

Boy, was the extra hour worth it.

No joke.

From your car, you're able to appreciate an impressive mountain range on your direct right juxtaposed to the roaring Pacific on your left.

Portland, OR

Oregon was quite a journey from Santa Cruz; so, we stopped for the night in a lovely town called Lincoln City which sits just on the shores of the Pacific and under the watchful eye of the mountains.

Notice the sign to the left.  Tsunami?!?!  

Yikes.

It was a great choice for respite.

Early the next morning, we grabbed some delicious coffee from one of the many, many coffee-to-go booths in rural Oregon then headed north towards Seattle.

Seattle is home to many of our favorite people -both fictional and nonfictional- including folks like Frasier Crane, The Shins, and, of course, my cousin Jon and his lovely wife Laurel.

We arrived in Seattle Friday morning and, while Jon was finishing up at work, we yelped the best restaurants in Seattle to quiet our grumbling bellies.

Little did we know that one of "the top ten best restaurants in the world," according to the New York Times, is in Seattle.

Din Tai Fung

We had to be there.

Immediately.

Din Tai Fung is based in Taiwan with locations in only two US cities:  Los Angeles and Seattle.

They specialize in miniature dumplings filled with your veggies or meats of choice.

You order your food by marking on a slip your decided apps and entrees.

Will and I started off with an appetizer of seaweed and bean curd in a vinegar dressing.  

It was, dare I say, the best item we consumed during that lunch.

So good.

For our main course, we ordered one set of chicken dumplings and one set of fish dumplings.  

To accompany our meal, I ordered a jasmine tea and what did my husband order to satisfy his thirst from one of the best restaurants in the world?

A lemon-lime slushy.

Following lunch, we drove around Seattle for a bit and took in some of the city's many fantastic sites.

Including, of course, the iconic space needle:

It was a beautifully clear day and Mount Rainier was remarkably visible.  It's amazing that it's over 60 miles from the city.  You can see it on the right side of this picture.

We even took Mac to a dog park.

Cyclists love Seattle (probably because few people who live there know how to drive.  Just sayin...).

That afternoon, we headed over to Jon and Laurel's apartment and enjoyed catching up for a few hours.

For dinner, we walked a few blocks up and settled on a great Greek restaurant which was featured on tv.

Jon and Laurel

Jon enlightening us on some factoids about the neighborhood.

This morning, we said our goodbyes to Jon and Laurel then headed to one of the coffee shops in their neighborhood for some authentically awesome black Seattle coffee.

It was the perfect start to a long ride back east.

Farewell, west coast.

We hardly knew ye.

So this sea lion walks into a Chai bar...

Driving the coast of California is fantastic.  Rolling hills and looming mountains yield themselves to the mighty Pacific.

The ride from LA to Santa Cruz is roughly 5 hours.  We took the more scenic route of "the" 5 to the 46 to the 101, as Californians refer to their highways.

Along the way, we were able to see some pretty amazing sites:  the ruins of old missions, sprawling cattle ranches and long-stretching vineyards.

Upon our arrival in Santa Cruz, we located Will's sister's (my sister-in-law's!) house.  She, her husband Drew and their adorable twin boys, Henry and William, live in a great 1921 craftsman.

Edith, to celebrate our arrival, prepared not one, not two, but three delicious pies:  blueberry, butterscotch and -my favorite- key lime!
And, to celebrate our nuptials, she made this awesome banner (which we are bringing home with us).

The key lime pie on the left boasts my grandparents' wedding cake topper from 1942.  The blueberry pie on the right boasts Will and Edith's grandparents' wedding cake topper from 1939.

That evening, Drew was awesome enough to keep the twins while Edith showed us around town.

She shared with us the beautiful Victorian homes, the Santa Cruz boardwalk (which hosts the 1924 Giant Dipper and the 1911 Looff Carousel),  extraordinary sculptures, and great water views.

Santa Cruz sits on the Monterey Bay and is home to some pretty famous surfing spots as well as the founder of the O'Neill brand:  Jack O'Neill.

The following morning, we awoke to this view:

The garden of Edith and Drew.

We, later, loaded the car with the twins and headed to Carmel for some Pacific Ocean fun and a delicious brown bag lunch from the local market.

William prefers just sand to a sandwich.

Carmel is gorgeous.

The famous Pebble Beach may be seen from the public beach, where we ate lunch.

The town is full of super cute cottages, tudor in style.

It also plays home to Mission Ranch which is owned by actor Clint Eastwood who was actually the mayor of Carmel for a couple of years in the '80s.

On the way out of town, we passed this old mission:

Henry fell asleep in the car thanks to a great head-rubber named Uncle Will.

Before settling back in at the house, we picked up some Fernet (which I'd been dying to try) with the expert advice of Edith's friend, Tom.

We spent the evening hanging out, taking the dog for one last walk on the beach in Santa Cruz, and sipping Fernet.

This morning, after saying our goodbyes, Will and I headed to the Santa Cruz wharf to catch a glimpse of the ever-present California sea lions.

And we found one!

Before getting too far out of Santa Cruz, we stopped in Half Moon Bay to try, per Edith's recommendation, the absolute best Chai I've ever enjoyed.

The master behind this phenomenal Chai has achieved many accolades.  

The San Francisco Chronicle named his Chai "the best this side of Bombay."

They might just be right in saying such.

That said, however, we were definitely forewarned that, although he prepares the bomb.com Chai, he's not exactly a people-person:

He wasn't immediately at the counter when we arrived, so I had time to snap these photos before putting my c-phone away.

As of now, we're crossing the California border heading into Oregon.

But we didn't get this far without passing through this great town with its famous bridge:

And its famous former federal prison:

Alcatraz

Alas, California, it's been a blast.

We hope to visit you again soon!