The next day our plan was to drive through San Francisco on our way to Mendocino. Andy asked if we wanted to stop by Google's headquarters in Mountain View on the way. The kids and I had never been, so we thought that sounded like a great idea.

We had the best time exploring the huge Google campus. It's like a college campus.

The best part was that we got to use these "Gbikes" to ride all around.

This is the building where Andy's team works. It is massive inside.

When we left Google, we headed to the Golden Gate Bridge. As we were driving, Andy asked me if I thought we should stop by Westlake Joe's for lunch. Papa J grew up in the area, and that was his family's favorite restaurant when he was growing up. He still always stops for a visit if he's in the area. About 5 seconds after Andy asked me, Papa J texted us to see if we were going to stop there. We took it as a "sign" and immediately navigated to the restaurant. It turns out we needed to get off at the next exit, so our timing was perfect. 

It's actually kind of an upscale Italian restaurant. We all ordered sandwiches for lunch, and the food was great. We got there at 11:30, and it was already bumping. When we left, the place was packed. 

Our next stop was the Golden Gate Bridge. We got to the lookout area and literally could not see the bridge at all. I figured we would be able to see it when we actually drove on the bridge, but even then it was just a tunnel of fog. So the kids have been on the bridge, but they haven't actually seen it.

Our next stop was Mendocino. The girls and I were excited to see Jessica Fletcher's house from "Murder She Wrote," which takes place in Maine, but was at least partly filmed in Mendocino.

When I researched Mendocino, I found out about a hike in the Russian Gulch State Park that leads to a 36-foot waterfall. The hike reminded us of hiking in Alaska because it felt like we were in a rain forest. It was beautiful and lush with a lot of pretty views.

When Hannah researched Mendocino, she found out about a cute little lighthouse called the Point Cabrillo Light Station, which was originally built in 1909. We had to walk about a mile to see it because you can't drive your car there, but it was worth it!

After our time in Mendocino, we wanted to watch "Murder She Wrote." Joey had never really watched an episode, and we wanted to see if we recognized any sights from Mendocino. Andy found the show playing live on Google TV which meant we couldn't pick the episode, and about half of the episodes don't take place in Cabot Cove. We just happened to get an episode where they are in Cabot Cove, and Jessica's car goes out of control and almost drives her off a cliff at the "Cabot Cove light house." As we were watching, we started freaking out because it was the light house we had just been to. It was so funny! 

Hannah took the picture on the left in person and the picture on the right is from the show. What are the chances we would see that episode?!

In Mendocino we stayed at a cute little resort that had its own small private beach. We had a hard time finding it at first but finally made it in time for the sunset.

It was a gorgeous night!

 

We left San Luis Obispo and drove up to Monterey Bay along the coast on Highway 1. That drive is so breathtaking! It was worth the extra time it took to go that way. Thank goodness for Bonine because it was quite a twisty road. At some point you almost get desensitized to all of the beauty! It's just hour after hour of gorgeous views.

When we got to Monterey Bay, we knew the first thing we wanted to do was drive through the 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach. I thought we literally just drove through, but there were multiple stops and points of interest along the way.

Our first stop was called Shepherd's Knoll. We got to see a cute little group of sheep and goats.

This gorgeous beach was called Spanish Bay Beach after some Spanish explorers camped out there when they were trying to find Monterey Bay in 1769.

This was Bird Rock where there are a bunch of harbor seals and sea lions that like to sun bathe on the rock.

The tree in the background is a famous tree called "The Lone Cypress." It has been there for more than 250 years and is the logo for Pebble Beach resorts.

At the very end of the drive we arrived at the Pebble Beach golf course.

It's ranked the #1 public golf course in America. It was beautiful.

After our drive, we went to downtown Monterey Bay and walked around the shops for a while before heading to our hotel for the night.

At the end of July, the five of us took a road trip up to the Redwoods. Andy and Chatgpt planned out all of our stops, and then the rest of us researched what we wanted to do at each stop.

Our first night we stayed in San Luis Obispo, but we've explored SLO a couple of times before, so we decided to explore nearby Morro Bay.

Hannah was especially excited to see all of the sea otters in the water.

We walked around the big rock and found a little tide pool area.

After we explored the beach, we walked around the cute little shops downtown. The weather was beautiful!

That night for dinner we met up with Andy's cousin Brian, his two kids and Andy's Aunt Terry and her husband. We've seen them the last couple of times we've been to San Luis Obispo, so it was nice to catch up with them. Unfortunately Brian's wife Emily was out of town and Andy's Uncle Frank was not feeling well. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant that Andy's grandpa used to love coming to when he was in town, so that was a special connection.