San Francisco Bound

We left Texas the first week of March with the intention of making it to San Francisco in time for a friend’s wedding the following Saturday. We knew it would be a quick trip but we were excited to cram in as much as we could along the way. Although we have avoided the major expressways in the past, we had no choice but to jump on them now and put on the miles. We didn’t stop much in western Texas or New Mexico but we were treated to some nice scenery along the way.

New Mexico Scenery

Our first stop of any importance was at my aunt and uncle’s house in Sedona, Arizona. We were only able to spend one night with them but we plan to come back in a month or so and spend a week exploring the red rock areas near their house. For now here are a few photos to spark your interest for a later blog on this area.

Aunt and Uncle (Julie and Rick) in front of their house (Notice the tip of the red rocks in the background.)

Sedona Neighborhood

On the way out of Arizona we drove through the small community of Jerome. It is perched on a mountain side and had incredible views of the valley just west of the Sedona area.

Views from Jerome

From Arizona we headed into the Mojave Desert of eastern California. This was my first time in the deserts of California. In fact I had only been to California once before and that was just recently on my way to my cousin’s funeral ceremony in Hawaii. We got to this beautiful camp spot just as the sun was going down. The camp spot was located in the mountains and had an incredible view overlooking the surrounding desert.

Mojave National Preserve Camp Spot

From the desert we started north up Hwy 5 towards San Francisco. But there are only so many large scale farms you can see before you start to go crazy. So we deviated off the major expressway and made our way back into the mountains. Relief was not far away on this new route, hardly any people, crazy twisty roads, topography, and a nice beautiful sunny day as a backdrop. Although it took us a lot longer to go this route, we didn’t mind. It was worth the detour.

East Side of the Coast Range Mountains

We finally made it into the Bay Area at the height of rush hour. Actually it seems as though rush hour never ends here! After an hour of no movement the traffic cork must have burst and we were finally at our destination, Danny and Nancy’s house in Oakland.