Westward We Go Free: One Couple, One Clown Car, One Cross Country Move

Happy Holidays!!! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We had a nice time out here in California, starting some new traditions, but definitely missed seeing all of our loved ones at home. It's hard to believe that we've been out here for two months now...it feels so much longer! The past few weeks, we experienced our first Bay area storm, started exploring the area, and got ready for our first Christmas out here! It's been a total whirlwind, but we're really starting to enjoy our new life out here.

The storm we had out here was absolutely bonkers. The rain just wouldn't let up. Both Pat and I worked from home, as the BART was temporarily shut down, and the roads were flooding everywhere! One of my co-workers lost power for almost the entire day. Fortunately, we didn't have issues out our way. The night before it started we walked up the street, to one of our favorite spots, and watched the storm roll in over the bay. It was absolutely breathtaking.

After the storm finally let up, we had made plans to go to SantaCon in SF with my friend from high school, Taylor. It was a great day, with probably too much drinking.... We had a blast getting dressed up and bouncing around the city. The next morning we got up and went to breakfast in Montclair Village and poked around the farmer's market.

Pat and Alex in their Christmas best

The kitchen at the Montclair Egg Shop

Pat's insanely good potato pancake and eggs

The next weekend we decided to venture out to Point Reyes National Seashore. It was a misty, grey day, but we were thrilled that the rain held off. The ride up there is just absolutely stunning. You go through rolling fields and dense, dense forests only to arrive right at the seashore. It is one of the most breathtaking places either of us has ever been to. Pat commented on the similarities to Wales, with the livestock and the sea cliffs. After exploring the area, we popped into a little Czech bar, Vladimir's, and had a beer and chatted with the owner. She gave us a map and showed us some really great spots to go hiking, so we're looking forward to going back and checking out some new areas.

We stopped by the Visitor's Center before venturing out towards the coast line. They let us know that there had been 10 whales sighting that day, but unfortunately we didn't see any.

There was still quite a bit of flooding leftover from the storm out here. It was pretty fun to drive through

The walk down to the lighthouse wasn't so bad...

This was a desk used by some of the lighthouse keepers. They had some old diary entries for you to look at. It must be an unbelievably lonely place to live and work.

You can see the tideline here. The surf was unreal that day.

About half way up!

We thought we'd have no problem zooming right back up these stairs. Needless to say, we got half way up and had to take a break, haha.

This was the little Czech bar we stopped off at for a beer. They had one pilsner on tap, which thrilled Pat, and they had live music as well.

Before heading back home we stopped off at another local restaurant and indulged in some unbelievably delicious crab cakes! So good

After that amazing weekend, we were excited to get ready for the holidays! We bought a Christmas tree that is WAY too big for our tiny apartment, but we're enjoying it nonetheless. For Christmas Eve, we had some afternoon cocktails and appetizers, and for dinner we had a brisket, some parmesan, garlic green beans, and some roasted potatoes. For dessert, we had a little apple pie and some ice cream. Needless to say we ate and drank our way through the day. After dinner, we walked back up to our favorite spot in the neighborhood, and enjoyed some beers while looking out over the bay. For our first Christmas Eve away from home, we had a great time together :-)

Our GIANT tree

Post dinner lounging on Xmas Eve

Our view of the bay

Cheers!

On Christmas Day, we headed over to Marin county to spend the day with the Buttis. We had such a great time, having brunch, opening gifts, and then going on an incredible car drive with Larry. He took us all through Marin, along the coast, into the woods, past the Golden Gate, really just everywhere, in his convertible. It was such an amazing feeling to have the sun shining on you, with the top down, driving through such beautiful scenery.