So Many Places in Under 36 Hours

The first leg of our trip was a 3 hour drive from Raleigh to Charlotte, NC on Friday after work.

We managed to get 2 weeks worth of stuff into 3 "carry-on" bags. 

Eleven hours later, we were on the first leg of our trip, a 2.5 hour flight from Charlotte to Dallas/Ft. Worth.  I would have preferred to not sit in the last row of the plane. It wasn't even the bathrooms that were the problem, it was the loud engine that blocked the view out the window.  Thank God for earplugs!

After a quick, 45 minute layover, we got back on the same plane, in the same seats, and cruised 3.5 hours to San Jose, CA.  Traveling with the sun meant our 7.5 hour flight got us into California only 4.5 hours past our departure time.  Yes, I know it will suck coming back against the sun.

We were welcomed in San Jose with beautiful skies and mountains!

Leaving the airport, we saw an In-N-Out Burger that just happened to be on our way. Our meager breakfast and lunch left us salivating at the sight of the fast food joint. We had to google the secret menu, and managed to successfully order an "animal style" burger and a 2x2 "protein style" burger. Don't know what that is, check it here.

Colin is a huge fan of In-N-Out Burger

Since the weather was so nice, we decided to make our way through San Francisco to John Muir Woods north of the city.  

Heading into San Francisco

Crossing the city on one of the awfully hilly streets.

I was quickly reminded of how scary these are!

The view back to San Francisco Bay from north of the city was beautiful 

We saw a lot of San Francisco when we visited back in 2010 and took lots of pictures in and around the city at that time. During that trip, we also drove to Muir Woods, but it was getting too late to hike.  We later learned that we had missed a great deal in the park, so we knew we had to get back there. Once we got out of the car and walked into the park, we were in awe. Neither of us could believe that we had missed out on seeing the massive Redwoods when we were so close.

This time, we enjoyed a leisure stroll through the woods, taking in all the protected natural beauty the park could offer.  I think experiences like this cannot be justified by pictures, but I will share a few anyway.

Experiencing the massive Redwood trees in John Muir Woods

So glad we decided to visit this park on our arrival

Our trip did not end with our nature exploration. Colin wanted to get something to eat in San Francisco, so we made our way back into the city to the Mission District, where we found ourselves in a small restaurant reminiscent of the many in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  At Weird Fish, Colin enjoyed the fish and chips and I opted for the smaller famous clam chowder. We also indulged in the vegan cheesecake.  All of the food was delicious, especially after working up our appetite on the hike.

Chowder and fish and chips at Weird Fish in San Francisco

Just after 9pm (midnight east coast time), we finally left San Francisco for our accommodations in Napa Valley.  The hour and a half drive was brutal after all of the adventures of the day. It did not help that the last 15 minutes had us twisting and turning up a mountain.  But, this is how we Millers usually travel - there is no rest for those who want to see everything! 

Check back in soon for all the things we got to see on our latest adventure!

Have you ever been so close to something really awesome and you didn't get to see it?!

Did you end up going back?

Share your tips for our upcoming adventure

I have been so excited to share the news that we have booked flights for a trip to northern California and the Pacific Northwest! Colin and I have been talking about this trip for a few months, trying to find the best time to go, and we finally found dates that worked for us.

We will have 15 and a half days to explore northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia/Vancouver.  As I read through the travel books on the area, I look forward to all of your suggestions on places to visit and things to do while in the area.  We have a flight into San Jose and a flight back from Portland, but the days in between have yet to be filled.  My initial itinerary has us spending a few days in San Francisco, followed by a drive up the coast of California to the Redwoods. From there, I'm torn between heading inland versus staying on the coast. I think it'd be cool to check out Crater Lake, but I also really want to see the Oregon beaches.  We will definitely be visiting Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, but I would like to see some of the national parks that are around the cities.  Some of the parks I'm interested in (based on travel book reviews) include Olympic National Park, Mt. Rainier National Park, Mt. Hood National Forest, and we can get into all of the national parks for free with our America the Beautiful Pass.  But every day we spend in one of the parks, or driving to a park is a less day we have to explore the cities.

I can't wait to get some use out of our National Parks Pass

Here is my challenge to all of you, my friends, family, and blog readers who have some knowledge of the area: please share any amazing things to do, places to see and stay that I should consider on our journey.  


We will likely camp in some of the parks, and look for airbnb.com room rentals and hostels in many of the places where we go. We'd like to keep our itinerary fairly flexible so we can spend more time in places we love and avoid places where weather might dampen our experience (pun intended) as we go.

I look forward to your suggestions and can't wait to share our experience with you later in August and September!

For now, I'll leave you with the process for booking our flight:
For the past 7-9 weeks, I've been checking flight prices every Tuesday and Wednesday, looking for a good deal from Raleigh to San Francisco (and surrounding airports) and back from either Seattle or Portland. During most of those weeks, roundtrip flights were ~$499 per person.  About 2 weeks ago, that rate went up and I got nervous that we hadn't made any plans.  These past two weeks, I've struggled to not look at flights daily.  I think flight searches are monitored and can cause prices to go up, so I kept waiting until Tuesday to look again.  With Raleigh flights hovering in the $530-$550 range this week, I extended my search to other airports in the area.  This search proved fruitful when I found a flight from Charlotte to San Jose (near San Fran) for $135 and a flight from Portland back to Charlotte for $153.  That's right, the roundtrip flight came out to $385 per person. Even if we park at the Charlotte airport for 16 days, at $5 a day plus the cost of gas ($35 a tank), the $885 we'll spend flying through Charlotte is still less than it would have cost us to have one less day on our trip and fly out of Raleigh.

I will admit the process can be tedious, but being able to take a great trip every year is worth it and Colin and I are overdue since we didn't get to take a "vacation" to a new destination since 2010. That year we were so lucky to visit New Zealand/Australia for the Christmas and 2009-2010 New Year, and then use miles to go to Cabo San Lucas for a wedding just 3 months later!

Thank you all for reading the blog.  And remember to share with me your suggestions for our trip. I can't wait to hear them since so much of my joy comes from the planning!