Road Trip

Jojo and I decided to take a short vacation (starting today till Monday). There are several reasons for this 3-day get-away. For starters, we both need a break (actually Jojo needs a break from work and I need a break from taking a break!). Second, this is part of Jojo's birthday celebration. Instead of throwing a party this year, we decided to do something different and travel instead. Third, Jojo got a little bonus from work and after putting some of it into a time deposit, we had a little left over to do as we pleased. We decided to take time off and see another part of the beautiful state of California. Lastly, we have never taken a vacation as a couple. Believe it or not, we have been married almost 5 years and every time we go somewhere it's always with family or friends. Even our honeymoon was a group affair. No complaints about that but we just had to do this for ourselves. So with all these reasons, we thought, "why not?", and decided to take a road trip up north to Monterey Bay. We are looking forward to exploring cities such as Carmel-by-the-Sea, Pebble Beach, Monterey and Pacific Grove.

Our vacation started today. We drove through the scenic route (101 Freeway). It took us almost 6 hours of driving to get here. We listened to the entire audio-book version of Christian Lander's book, Stuff White People Like: The Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions. (This is a hilarious book - maybe even better listened to than read. Jojo and I were laughing the whole way!). Anyway, if we took the less scenic route (5 Freeway), it would have saved us about 30 minutes. But it would not have been worth it because some of the views we passed were just plain breath-taking. We drove through Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Montecito, San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Salinas and other major cities. We also drove through many smaller towns I have never heard of. We saw lots of ocean views, lots of vineyards and wineries, countless orange groves, apple orchards and wide open farmlands growing strawberries, olives, lettuce, avocados, and tomatoes. We also saw lots of happy looking cows because according to the California Milk Advisory Board, "the best cheese comes from happy cows and happy cows come from California".

Today was a pretty jam-packed day. I have lots of pictures to share but unfortunately the internet connection here (we are staying at the Days Inn - Monterey) is as slow as molasses. I will have to do it when we get home. Till then, look out for my posts!