California part 2

Mom and I had a day to go to the Oakland temple. It was a wonderful day and an adventure. We took the Bart by ourselves and we could see the temple on the side of a mountain from the Bart. We were glad that we got the right stops because we had to catch a connecting train to Oakland. When we got off at our stop we walked a bit toward where we saw the temple but we never found a taxi. We found a pastry shop in Fruitvale and had some breakfast. No one we came in contact with spoke English to direct us toward a taxi except for a boy in a group that was about 6 or 7. We had turned the wrong way from our stop. When we got to the taxi, we were in business. The driver knew where to go. We were amazed by the beautiful flowers and palm trees when we arrived on the grounds! We had lunch there in the cafeteria and went to the visitors center.

The view was amazing.

Another one of my favorite little trips was to the Redwoods. It was truly mesmerizing to see how tall and beautiful the trees are. I could never fully explain the feeling, so I really want Tommy and the kids to go there with me. There were campers there, and that would be my dream camping trip!!

We are standing by some of the redwood trees. You could get inside of the middle of the trees, the trunks are so huge and so tall.

This is the beach of Santa Cruz. We went for a walk along the beach and had lunch on a pier. There were shops selling fresh fish and crabs on the pier. We watched the sea lions and birds. It was beautiful but the water was very cold. Ryan went for a swim and was ok, but mom and I didn't.

Mary got to join us for a few evenings for dinner. We had some very nice and different foods. Argentenian food...Kobe mini burgers, brisket tacos, ceviche, etc. Of course we had to try In N Out burger. It was good and fresh. Mary took us to Palo Alto to see the campus at Stanford. It was very nice. Thanks Ryan and Mary for an amazing week!