To celebrate four wonderful years of marriage, my husband and I packed our bags and headed to a place we’ve never been before: San Francisco, California. We were debating whether to fly or drive, and after looking at the driving route we realized there were a few places on the way down we have always wanted to go. It was about a twelve hour drive with all the stops we planned, but we split the driving between two days and had an amazing time!
I wanted to share some photos from the road trip, and if you want to see all the fun we had when we got to our destination, check out this post on our favorite things we ate, plus this post on all the things we did in San Francisco.
Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
The first stop on our trip was 280 miles from home and the only national park in Oregon. Crater Lake is the remains of an erupted volcano and I was surprised to find out it’s actually the deepest lake in the whole United States! We were so lucky to arrive on a clear day, because I hear that if the weather is cloudy or foggy, the view isn’t as majestic. Behold:
In-N-Out Burger
Next up before we reached the California border, we made the obligatory stop at In-N-Out Burger in Grants Pass, Oregon. This is one of the closest In-N-Out Burger locations to our hometown, so we were excited to make the stop.
There are a ton of secret menu items, but I like the cheeseburger with onion and peppers, fries, and a strawberry shake.
HWY 101 Roadside Attractions, California
After crossing over the California border, we took the picturesque HWY 101 and made an impromptu stop at Crescent Beach. It was beautiful at golden hour and I ran up to dip my hand in the water just to see what the temperature was like. It was definitely not as cold as our Oregon Coast. We watched the sunset for a little bit before continuing down south.
Next, we passed the Trees Of Mystery and couldn’t help but notice the giant statue of Paul Bunyan. We drove past it before we got the nagging urge to do a u-turn and take some pictures with Paul.
We also couldn’t help but stop at one of the drive thru trees in the Redwoods.
Avenue Of The Giants
On day two, we were so excited to see the Avenue Of The Giants in the Redwood Forest. Never before have I seen trees so tall, and I felt like an ant the whole time. Immediately upon entering the forest, the smell of the trees was so present and beautiful. It reminded me of Christmas.
We got out of the car to hike one of the trails inside the Avenue Of The Giants and hugged some trees.
From the Redwoods, we headed right to our cozy Airbnb in San Francisco and crashed. It was a long drive, and we were eager to rest up for our time in the city. Check out this post to read about all the amazing food we ate and this post to read about all the things we did!
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