Our whole trip was made possible be Ellen Degenerous. Just a week before our trip JD and I got tickets to her 12 days of giveaways and she provided us with everything we would need! Rolling Luggage, a digital GPS, video cameras, $300 gift card to starbucks, $1,000 to shutterfly, a new LG vacuum, and two 3 night stays at the new Cosmopolitan Hotel in Vegas complete with $500 spending money and free treatments at the hotel spa! THANKS ELLEN!!
Back to the trip, we had to first battle through the LA traffic. JD and I are obsessed with a place a little north of LA called Thousand Oaks. (A couple months before we saw Brian Regan at a theater in Thousand Oaks and we have not been able to stop obsessing over it- we love it- and hope to live there someday!) After oogling over our future residence, we make it to highway 1. If you have not taken this drive before, we would recommend it to everyone. It is truly breathtaking.Our first stop was in Santa Barbara. One of my best friends went to College here and used to rave about it. It is such a quiet little beach town. Everyone rides their bikes everywhere, and everyone waves hello to everyone. Very cute. This is Downtown Santa Barbara.
One of our favorite stops, and one that we could have spent the whole day at was Solvang. It is a cute little Danish town, further in from the coast. The drive out there feels like you are the only person on the road.
Solvang is the epitome of what you would see in a movie. It is quaint and peaceful. They have a downtown with cute little shops (lots of specialty stores) and Solvang has the BEST Chocolate. Those Danish people have really figured it out!
We went to lunch at the famous Solvang Restaurant. The Danish are famous for this little pastry called the Aebelskiver. It is moist and fluffy and served with toppings such as fruit, powdered sugar, chocolate and caramel. They are AMAZING!
We said goodbye to Solvang and made our way up the coast. I have been telling JD about this little gem called The Madonna Inn. It is a tiny little hotel in central California. It is gaudy, and loud, very pink and I love it. This hotel has theme rooms and from what I hear they are pretty amazing. It is a hot spot for honeymooners and celebrities!
One of the most alluring things about this place is their bathrooms, particularly, their men's bathroom. Instead of urinals, they have a huge fountain. It is motion sensored and every time someone steps in front of it a waterfall begins to flow- and you pee into it!
This picture is perfectly PG rated, I just wanted you to see how excited JD was. Is there anything more awesome than peeing into a fountain!?
Our Next stop was in Cambria, California. Back in the early 1900's there was a wealthy newspaper mogul named William Hearst. He found a place in the middle of nowhere, up on a mountain and built a castle, literally, a castle. It is state owned today and open for tours- and it is unbelievable. There is no comparable wealth in today's day. This first picture is small but it is a panoramic view of the estate from the bottom of the mountain. 
Hearst Castle has 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, 127 acres of gardens, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, movie theatre, an airfield, and the world's largest private zoo. It's total square footage is 90,000. You would not believe it unless you saw it.
JD and I just barely made it in time for the last night tour- which is awesome because it is like 2 day tours combined. It took us 3 hours and we only saw a fourth of it! This is the main tower.
The outdoor pool is one of its most breathtaking features. It is gigantic and beautiful. I cant believe it was someone's house!
This is one of his guest houses. This house alone has 7 bedrooms in it. It is south of the main house. William Hearst used to host all sorts of celebrities out his castle.
Most of his rooms were built around the ceiling. The ceilings are works of art. Many of them were flown in from all over the world. Here is one of them.
I could go on and on and on about this place but I will let some of the pictures do the talking.
The last stop on the tour is the indoor pool.
You can see in this one. The detail on the walls and on the bottom of the pool, thats REAL gold!
Our next stop was in Monterey Bay. Beautiful!
We heard about the Monterey Aquarium and how amazing it is. It is one of the largest in North America.
Please don't flash the flamingos.
JD is obsessed with fish so I could do an entire post on the aquarium alone, but I have probably already lost most of you I'm sure. So, if you're still here, come with us to San Francisco!Unfortunately, we caught San Fran on one of its very common rainy days. Here is what we could see of the Golden Gate Bridge.
We went to Alcatraz Island.
I am usually not one for touring this kind of stuff. I would rather be on a beach or eating at a cool restaurant. But Alcatraz was very interesting. And you don't have to stay with a tour group. You have your own headset and you can go at your own pace. That's my kind of touring!
This was considered the scariest prison of its time. Famous inmates consisted of Al Capone and Robert Stroud, AKA The Birdman. There were many escape attempts but only 2 succeeded. They never did find them.
The rain had started to fall so we sought shelter at a restaurant on Pier 39. Some very fresh seafood for JD and tacos for me, perfect!
And of course a stop at At&T park, en light of our new sister- in- law who is a Giants fan! Home of the defending 2010 Champs. 
My Aunt and Ucle, Julie and Dave, live in Pebble Beach. Their house is ALMOST as nice as Hearst Castle!! They live in a California State Park, so there is an entrance fee to their house! Luckily, we were on "the list." 
They are the sweetest people in the world and we had such a ball with them. They showed us all around downtown Carmel and we ate dinner at this little french restaurant where we couldn't pronounce anything on the menu! This is downtown Carmel. It is adorable!
And for you golf fans, Im sure you recognize the Pebble Beach Golf Course. This is where the 2010 US Open was held. Famous people such as Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake are members at this course. Here is the lodge.
The Pebble Beach Course sits right on the cliffs of the ocean. 
Well, we sure came back with a bang didn't we? We haven't blogged in almost a year and then I bombard you with pictures! We are so blessed that we are able to take lots of trips like these. It will be fun to go back and do it again someday and see everything that has changed.This trip definitely makes the Top 3!
Oh, and all photos are courtesy of the illustrious JD Price.
