Our new home?! At last!

The drive out of Eugene into Northern California was beautiful, it actually looked a lot like the impressive parts of Montana with huge mountains, a glacier (Shasta Glacier) and pretty streams and lakes. We drove in shifts of 2 hours each to give the other person some time to catch up on some shut-eye in the passenger’s seat. We were so anxious to finally get to San Francisco after 13 days on the road! Random, but we were stopped at some point along I-5 at a place that looked like an outdated toll booth and were asked if we had brought in any fruit. We drove down I-5 for about 90% of the trip from Eugene to San Francisco, going through some very dry and hot towns in California – the car’s temperature reading outside read 101 at one point. We knew Marisa’s sister, Kristin (who lives in San Francisco), was anxiously awaiting our arrival (for several days), so we played a trick on her and texted her letting her know we were camping along the PCH and we’d see her the next day. We tricked her good; she was upset until we told her it was a joke. We knew we were close when we drove through Berkley, over the East Bay Bridge. We are staying at someone’s apartment in the Mission, who returns back to San Francisco on July 20th from the Philippines. Feeling a bit disoriented, but so excited, we parked our car near the entrance of the apartment and called Kristin who was waiting at the apartment. After several hugs, screams and a huge sigh of relief that we made it in one piece (and without a single speeding ticket!!), we unpacked the car (or as we like to call it, ‘our apartment,’ and headed out for what else – local Mexican food and a pitcher of Margaritas. On the Eve of Christian’s 27th b-day, and our first official night in San Francisco, we talked about what we had seen and done since we left Baltimore on Tuesday, June 30th. From Baltimore to NYC to Niagara Falls to Chicago to Minnesota to South Dakota to Montana to Seattle to Oregon to California (and of course all of the MANY states in between) – what amazing memories that we will have for the rest of our lives. Thanks for following our cross-country journey!