Oh... you crazy kids!

We're heading to San Diego!!!
Scott has one week until he reports for duty and we don't move into our apartment until August 1st so we figure - what the heck. Deanna (one of Scott's best friend's from back in the day) is moving to Australia in a few weeks and her goodbye party is tonight so we're going to blow into town and surprise them. It's about a 6 or 7 hour drive but there is some beach and bodysurfing waiting for us! We decided about 10 minutes ago so I guess we better get on the road to make it in time for the party tonight... : )

We've spent the last few days checking out the town, went to Berkeley and meeting up with family. We went to the IKEA superstore yesterday - which is an excursion in itself. We also went into a motorcycle shop and talked to them about scooters - I am thinking about getting a scooter to get around in the city when I don't want to take mass transit or bicycle. (But really it's just an excuse to rock a scooter - which I have always thought would be great fun).

Reality is going to catch up to us pretty soon so we're enjoying the last week of our nomadic life. I've been bad about taking pictures but we'll post some soon.

Hope all is well with everyone!!!!

San Francisco it is!!!

The last week has been a whirlwind of here, there, and everywhere. We drove along the Mendocino coast on Tuesday and met up with a friend of Scott's (Kam) from the Peace Corps. He has a huge chunk of land up in the boonies there and is building himself quite a compound. It was great to meet Kam and it's even better that he is only a 2.5 hour drive from where we'll be living. We already have a kayaking trip in the works and will definitely be back to the beautiful Mendocino coast.

We drove into Alameda on Wednesday and began looking at apartments. We drove through the neighborhoods looking for rental signs and would excitedly jump out of our car and write down the information - only to be disappointed that it was gone, woudln't accept pets... etc.

We looked for more apartments on Thursday and I had a job interview in Oakland. I wasn't really prepared to interview but it had to be that day since they were going to be leaving town for a couple of weeks. So I bought an outfit and changed in a Starbucks bathroom and went to my job interview - sometimes that's just the way it works. It actually went pretty well so we'll see what happens! : )

We drove to Monterey, CA to meet up with family and attend Mike's (Scott's stepbrother) change of command ceremony. He is now the commanding officer of Station Monterey. I got to meet my niece and nephew that I hadn't met yet and tour the lighthouse that Mike and Alli live next to (being CO has its perks!)

BUT... the most exciting thing is that we found an apartment yesterday (Sunday)! We are going to urban it up for a bit. The picture above is our new apartment in San Francisco. The picture on the left is the park that is 3 blocks away (and yes, that is the Golden Gate Bridge in the background!)

After debating and looking at places and meeting plenty of crazy landlords we decided to jump in and do the city thing. We found a 2 bdrm apartment in a great neighborhood that is several blocks from a park, the water and everything we need - not to mention it's 10 minutes from Ghiradelli Square. It's in the "Marina" area - which is decidely yuppie but manages to be quiet and residential while also being in the middle of everything. The price of rent makes you want to cry and it would be $400 extra if we wanted the garage (ouch!) but we're going to do it for awhile and enjoy being young and living in the city. The good news is that we'll have space for guests!!! : )

Heading South

Well... we're alive and well and are staying in Salem, Oregon tonight at my grandpa's house. We were out of cell phone and internet range for awhile while traveling on the ferry. We occupied our time with Yahtzee, movies, books, and plenty of random conversations as well as enjoying the scenery and walking around random little coastal towns in Alaska.

During our ferry excursion we explored Yakutat, Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan. The ferry stopped briefly in Petersburg and Wrangell too but it was in the middle of the night while we were sleeping so we didn't get off the ferry. I had always wanted to visit Sitka so it was neat to get to see the town and walk around a bit. We stood on the hill where the ceremony took place when Russia sold Alaska to the U.S.

We arrived in Bellingham early Friday a.m. and hit the road after grabbing some breakfast that wasn't served on a tray (ferry food was good... but got old!). We stopped in Seattle to see a good friend of mine from high school and then we hit the road again and ended up in Seaside, Oregon. We found this cute hotel and the only room available was a oceanfront room on the top floor with a king bed. (poor us, I know!) We arrived just in time to watch the sunset and take a stroll along the beach and watch the fireworks. I know, it sounds so ideal and romantic but don't worry the evening soon digressed into some pinball and air hockey at the local arcade and ended on the beach at a bonfire drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon with some Oregonians that we met and hung out with most of the night.

The next day we drove along the Oregon coast and stopped at this area called "Cape Mears" and decided to go for a hike. The hike was really cool because everything is so different - the leaves, trees, little critters, etc. It was a nice hike until the trail just kind of ended and we found ourselves boony stomping through the woods slightly lost. Just as I was about to give up hope of ever making it out we climbed up over a ledge and saw that the beach and a town were less than 1/4 mile away. We ended up walking along the beach and asking some locals how to find our car. They pointed us up some random trail that was unmarked and looked like it was asking for us to get lost "exploring" again so we walked along the road until we found the Jeep - yeaa!!! We stayed in Lincoln City, Oregon that night.

We are now in Salem and plan to cross the California border tomorrow and stay in Arcata, CA - my old stomping grounds from when I did a student exchange 7 years ago. We're going to go hiking in the Redwoods somewhere and I'll relive my youth for a day and then we'll head south. We plan to be in Alameda on Wednesday and have a few places lined up to take a look at. We would love to line up an apartment before we head further south to Monterey for a few days but we'll play it by ear.

We're enjoying out trip and the differnt sights and locales. Pictures to follow...

Our 2nd Honeymoon!

We made it to Juneau yesterday and there has already been all sorts of happenings and amusement. The first portion of the ferry ride was awesome - we couldn't have asked for a better trip. On the way to Whittier we saw a boar tide coming in the Cook Inlet (something neither of us has seen while living in Anchorage). The weather was amazing - hardly a cloud in the sky. It was probably one of the nicest days in Whittier. The scenery in Prince Williams Sound was out of this world. Pictures can't portray it and words can't explain it.

We feel like we're on our second honeymoon (though I don't think many people have bunkbeds on their honeymoon) : )

It's been so crazy and hectic getting ready to move that the relaxation of the ferry was welcome. The ferry stopped in Yakutat on Thursday and we went on a long walk down to the harbor and explored a bit. The highlight of our walk was running away from a beagle that was trying to adopt us as owners. We felt pretty silly when we were running from the beagle and ran into some other people and explained to them we were running away from a small droopy eared dog wagging it's tail. I guess danger is in the eyes of the beholder.

We saw some deer and a few totem poles in Yakutat. The scenery, native culture, animals, etc. are all very differnt than the interior and Anchorage. It's been really neat to see another side of Alaska.

Our first day in Juneau we wandered around, went to a few local spots and listened to music, and went on a long walk. Today we rented mountain bikes and rode to the Mendenhall Glacier. That was a Scott & Meghan adventure at its finest. It's usually about 26 miles round trip but we went the "special" way - aka. had no idea where we were going so it was more like 30. While getting lost we found the Juneau jail, a few trailer parks, and the local Walmart - I guess some things are the same in all places. The ride took us about 5 hours and our butts paid the price for that much time in a bike seat but it felt great to get some exercise and see the glacier.

Having a blast - Juneau is beautiful. I keep asking myself why I never spent any time here before and then I remember it's only accessible by boat and air and it costs the same to travel here as it does to Seattle and I answer my question. BUT... now I wish I would have made the trek and am glad that we were able to.