It's a Jungle Out There?

Or maybe a zoo. Or maybe, just maybe, a public restroom that hadn't been cleaned in the past decade. No joke. It was at a state park, and well... it reminded me of several exhibits at the Cleveland Zoo. Except the zoo might have actually smelled better ...and was probably cleaner. Well, wasn't that an interesting note to start my post with? Hey, I just had to share it with someone. You're welcome.

It's sad that it's the last day to spend in California. I wish I didn't have to go back to Ohio :( I mean I guess it's still cold here, but at least it's sunny in California! They could do a show called It's Always Cloudy in Cleveland. Although as we were heading back to the hotel we saw some storm clouds. But, ya know, I can deal with some clouds occasionally.

First we stopped by Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey to buy some jackets! When we woke up in the morning, it was FREEEEZING and we decided to get jackets before we headed down to the state park. My dad just loves Monterey, so he made us all get jackets there. I wish we had been closer to Winchester House, 'cause I would have loved a jacket from there! But it was funny as we were walking around the wharf because we were trying find presents for the other kids that didn't come with us, remember which stores the presents we decided on were in, and then buy the presents...and we were in a hurry. I think we found pretty cool stuff though, even if we took a few minutes longer! I ended up getting a goofy fleece jacket that I'll probably never wear again :/ But I did get a great blanket! It looks kind of like this--only blue. My mom had a red one while I was growing up and it brings back lots of memories. I always wanted one for myself so I'm really happy I found this.

After Fisherman's Wharf, we drove down to Julia Pfeiffer State Park. And yes, that's where the bathroom was. The bathroom. Yes, that one. Anyways, enough of that. Where was I? Oh yes, State Park. My dad's wanted go here every time he's been in California, but he never made it out. Last time it was really late in the evening and I got really sick right before he wanted to make the drive. We didn't end up staying that long, but we finally made it out there and it really was beautiful! I'm not sure how to describe it, but there are pictures below. I'll just leave it at...well, it was beautiful.

We then drove to Cannery Row and stopped at a few places there. There was a great pirate store, a shell store, and...lots of stores. Honestly the shopping in Monterey Fisherman's Wharf and Cannery Row was so much better than San Francisco. We were hungry though, so we didn't shop that long. We ended up eating at Louie Linguini's...and I kept thinking of Ratatouille the entire time. Especially the part when the head chef is just yelling "Linguiiiiini!" ...I couldn't find a clip on YouTube though. Sorry :( I was really in the mood for crab, but I decided to go really adventurous and order some clams and mussels and some other stuff all served on noodles. I now know that outside of clam chowder I really don't like clams and especially mussels. But, I did try both! I don't know why, but the mussels just looked...weird. There was a bunch of other meat with the noodles so other than that my dinner was great. Then we stopped by the Nestle Toll House place and got some ice cream. It was great though 'cause you could make your own ice cream sandwiches and pick your own combination of cookies and ice cream. It was awesome!! I got fudge tracks ice cream with a triple chocolate and an English toffee cookie. I'll have to run for a week to burn those calories! Oh wait...I don't run. Anyways, we didn't want to get to the hotel too late, so we left around 8:30 PM.

Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf

Yes.

Two years ago...same place. same shirt.

At the state park

Pirate Store at Cannery Row in Monterey

Two years ago--same place.

Apparently the person on the packaging doesn't know how to use this product...

He has no eyes!

Shirt - Old Navy // Skirt - Thrifted // Jacket - Forever21 // Cardigan - New York and Company (Thrifted) // Tights - George // Shoes - Faded Glory

Well it was a busy, but fun, last day. You can check out my first trip here. Here's the link to my sister's blog. And here's the link (finally!) to the conference my dad spoke at. And his bio. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day!

PS I didn't really feel like taking pictures on the trip home. I was just really tired and wanted to sleep. I did, however, watch The Guilt Trip and Oz the Great and Powerful. I thought The Guilt Trip was really dumb, but I really loved Oz! Anyways, I'm home now and I'm really looking forward to getting back to normal outfit posts. Oh, and I basically wore the same thing as I did on the way to California, but with the shirt in today's outfit. And my tights look they they were in a cat fight....

Science and Sea Lions

I really don't feel like writing anything, but I know if I don't I'll regret it later. It was a great day, it's just super late and I want to go to sleep...except that I got a second (or perhaps third) wind and now I'm not really that tired.

Well today we finally went to the California Academy of Sciences. Dad's wanted to go to a science museum in Cali every time he's on a business trip here, but he never made it. And I wasn't too keen on wasting a day there when there are science museums back home :/ But, much to my dad's chagrin, it ended up being a natural sciences museum. I, on the other hand, love natural sciences! There was a rainforest exhibit, an amazing IMAX planetarium presentation, an aquarium, and a bunch of other cool stuff. So really, it was great because it was a science museum, which dad liked, but it was also a natural science museum, which I liked! Another cool thing was the roof was totally covered in vegetation. And, there was an interesting earthquake exhibit as well--with an earthquake simulator!

Then we headed back to Fisherman's Wharf via Lombard street which was only a little out of our way. This time to actually check out the stores! Haha, we went to Fisherman's Wharf 3 times and never actually made it on the pier until today! We then walked down to Pier 39 and did a bunch of shopping there. We stopped at The Shell Cellar and Treasure Ireland--two stores I remembered from last time. They were both just as cute as I remember! I didn't buy any shells, but I did buy an air plant 'cause it was inexpensive and looked really interesting! I didn't buy anything from Treasure Ireland, but I seriously want a Celtic birth charm! I'm so glad Laura got to see Treasure Ireland though--it's a great store

Oh, on the way to Pier 39 I saw this awesome guy doing spray paint paintings in a booth on the sidewalk! He painted so fast and had some awesome techno music in the background as he worked. Now, I've seen a video of this, but I've never seen it in person. This guy was really creative and painted in a color scheme that I love and did lots of fantasy paintings of landscapes with planets in the background close to the horizon. I thought this was so cool and I really wanted to support him, but I assumed he would sell his paintings for around $40. I was right...but he lowered the price to $10 for a special sale. Well, really he just lowered the price to sell more paintings so people would think they were saving money and be more willing to buy. Anyways, I was so excited that it was only $10 so I could buy one! I'll take a picture of it for y'all to see probably when I get home. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm gonna get it home without bending it...

For dinner we ate at what used to be Sea Lion Cafe (probably because all of the Sea Lions that like to lounge right outside...), but was bought out by Neptune's Palace and now just called Neptune's Waterfront Grill and Bar. I ate at Neptune's Palace last trip to California and it was great! But, a little expensive. Anyways, I've decided to try to be really adventurous and random when I order off the menu. I mean, I know what I like and what I want to eat. So...I usually end up with just mac n cheese or something like that. This time I got Dungeness Crab on noodles. It was pretty great tasting! Oh, and our waiter was from England and had a very cool accent :) So, you know I'm a dorky person anyway, but it was just ridiculous in that restaurant! Normally there's a good amount of space between my dorkfish moments, but not this time. Somehow in a short period of time I ended up basically throwing silverware...twice, dropping hand sanitizer in my dad's water (don't ask...), and eating noodles (which, you know, is pretty messy).  Yeah, I'm ridiculous. Well, we made it out of the restaurant alive (no thanks to me) and headed down to Ghirardelli for dessert. We all got free chocolate samples and awesome ice cream!

The living roof of the science museum

Lombard Street

The sea lions!

Signed by Hugh Jackman! So cool! But the price was...not cool.

Bowties are cool. And so are Matt Smith's and Karen Gillan's signatures.

This made me think of Cougar Town! Sorry you can't see the small print :/

We didn't actually eat here, but this is the diner that I almost went to on my first California trip. It's a really cute 50s style diner! Too bad we didn't eat at it this time, but hey at least I got a picture of it. 

Shirt - Thrifted // Skirt - Thrifted // Belt - Catos // Shoes - Faded Glory // Tights - George // Cardigan - Thrifted // Jacket - Forever21

Well, thanks for stopping by my blog! You can check out my first trip here. Here's the link to my sister's blog. And here's the link (finally!) to the conference my dad spoke at. And his bio. Well, thanks for reading and I hope y'all have a wonderful day!

Daisies and Spiderwebs

I've been looking forward to this since the last time I was in California....Winchester House! I went the last time I was in California, and I loved it so much that I couldn't wait to go back!!! Having been on the tour before I actually remembered some of the things on the tour (weird, I know! I usually remember next to nothing!). But, it was still so amazing. No photography was allowed in the house, but I got some outside pictures. If you're ever in the San Jose area or just California at all, for the love of Pete you MUST go see Winchester House. (Plus, Winchester...Supernatural...yes.)

When Sarah Winchester's husband died, she inherited tons of money which she eventually used to finance the building of the house. Apparently a psychic in Boston told her to build a house continuously to confuse/appease the spirits of those who were killed with the Winchester rifle. So she bought an 8 room farmhouse and just remodeled and added on to it 24/7 until the day she died. She spend over 5 million dollars on the house. It really is a beautiful house and it's really bizarre. There are doors to nowhere, doors that open to several story drops, windows on the inside, stairs that go nowhere, and lots of other weird things. She loved daisies, spiders, and the number 13--these appear throughout the house. The design of the house is so weird and apparently she met with spirits everday and got the design plans from them for the next day. Ahh! There's so much more, but you'll have to go and see for your self. Or...watch this clip perhaps (...with the wacko psychic at the end)? This clip might be better...yeah, this one's definitely better. Way better.

We ended up going on the behind the scenes tour as well, which was super fun! Then we drove out to Muir Woods for a few minutes. Well, we wanted to stay longer, but due to a ...wrong turn...we ended up getting there right before they closed the park. But, it was so beautiful! That was another place I went to last trip, and I even tried to get a similar picture to one I got last time. Kind of like I did with the gorilla in RFC. I'm surprised we made it to Muir Woods though because I saw a sign that said Muir Woods --> but the GPS said to go the other way. But, it turns out I was right all along! We almost ran out of gas...and the wrong turn put us a wee bit behind schedule. Just so y'all know, I am absolutely horrible with directions. I have no sense of direction whatsoever. So, the fact that I was right when the GPS was wrong is just ...amazing. I will never forget this. Ever.

Day's not over yet :p We were tired after that, but we decided to head back out to Fisherman's Wharf to eat 'cause it's close-ish to our hotel. We ended up eating at Boudin Sourdough. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl? Yes! 

Well...get ready for a ton of pictures. Hey, we went to Winchester House and Muir Woods in the same day.

Awesome hardhats for the behind the scenes tour!

Don't Blink

Blink and you're dead

Dress - INC (Thrifted) // Cardigan - New York & Company (Thrifted) // Jacket - Forever21 // Tights - George // Shoes - Faded Glory

Thanks for reading! You can check out my first trip here. Here's the link to my sister's blog. And here's the link (finally!) to the conference my dad spoke at. And his bio. Well, I hope y'all have a wonderful day!