Warning: this is a long one, written mostly by Megan… Megan’s words… Jon’s words… enjoy. ( oh, and see if you can find Megan’s head hidden in one of the photos! )
Monday
Our amazing honeymoon started bright and early Monday morning, actually it was still dark out so I guess it was just early. We left Arvada via an Uber and took the shuttle to the airport. As my wedding bouquet was so amazing we brought it with us to strap on the motorcycle and share the journey. We arrived in Portland and lugged our giant and heavy moving boxes into the second Uber of the day and headed to Sven’s house where we would stay for the next 2 nights. Portland was really fun and beautiful. After Jon made the solo journey to the Harley Davidson dealership to commandeer our wheels for the next 2 weeks, we set off to explore the city on a couple of Sven’s bikes. The awesome part about Portland is that there are bike lanes and therefore people on their bikes, everywhere. We eventually made it to the International Rose Garden and were surprised to find out that despite being October, the roses were still in full bloom and looking as beautiful as ever. Peddling our way back home we stopped at a fish market and bought a whole Dungeness crab that rode with me in my front bike basket. Dinner was amazing. Fresh crab, butter, wine.
Tuesday
Today was the day we got to test out our hot new ride. Leather jackets, boots, stylish Harley scarf (for me), sunglasses, and helmet radios and we were set! We headed northeast to the Hood River area to explore some hiking trails and waterfalls. While hiking Eagle Creek trail I kept hearing a lot of splashing, I went to the river and saw dozens of giant fish flopping around in about 6 inches of water. Naturally, from being out of town and not really being aware of what season it was, I said “oh my gosh Jon! There are huge koi fish or something over here!” Another hiker kindly told me that they were not giant koi fish but rather the salmon that make this same journey every year. Oh right… Salmon. Wow did they smell! They were actively decomposing as we watched them struggling to make it higher up the diminishing stream, their lives purpose. It turned out to be a beautiful fall hike with many waterfalls to enjoy. Back on the windy mountain road we stopped at a fruit stand to sample a “huckleberry” and heard about someone’s grandpa who hikes 10 miles up to this certain bush during a certain time to find these certain berries. The asking price for a small bag of these “rare gems” was $25. We skipped out on buying the most expensive fruit known to man and settled for a few chocolate malts instead. Back in Portland and once we had showered, we went to “Noble Rot” for dinner. It was a classic Portland “back to nature” place as the veggies for the food were grown in a garden that they kept on the roof. We had a delicious mac and cheese and butternut squash concoction and my fancy drink even came with an edible flower in it.
Wednesday
Today was the day we left Portland to start on our coastal adventure. Before the trip could begin however we had to figure out how to put all the stuff we brought into the little saddle bags on the bike. After a little rearranging we managed to get the lids to latch and we were ready! With our “JUST MARRIED” sign strapped to the back of the bike alongside my bouquet of beautiful flowers we headed out of the city and into wine country! Our first stop was at Elk Creek Vineyard which was extremely picturesque and peaceful. Sweet Jon sat beside me as I enjoyed a sampler flight of Pinot Noir wines… cheers to being the passenger on the motorcycle! As we left we of course had to be sneaky and sample the grapes that were still on the vine, yum. We continued to head to the coast and briefly stopped in a small town to get a little caffeine. There was not much to see to say the least and most of the stores were out of business. We headed over to one store with a sign that said “coffee” and had a lot of random stuff in front of it. There was also a little old guy sitting in front of the store with his eyes closed and wasn’t moving, and we were hoping he was just sleeping… We went into the store and were surrounded by the most eclectic collection of “treasures” ever! Looking around we finally saw the small coffee pot on the store counter with a sign that said “coffee 75 cents.” The seemingly sleeping older gentleman said that the guy who owned the shop had been gone for a couple weeks and we were to leave the money on the counter. It may not seem like it but the whole situation was SO funny! Jon drank two cups and left the money on the counter.
Back on the road we finally made it to the ocean! We headed south on the 3 Capes Scenic Drive and cruised along beautiful lush surroundings. Just as the sun was starting to set into the Pacific Ocean we arrived at out destination for the night in Depoe Bay. The hotel we stayed at here was called Charter House and was definitely a favorite on the trip. Our room was called ‘Spouting Horn’ and was incredible. Upon arrival to our room there was a fire lit, romantic music playing, chocolates on the pillows and the best note labeled: “Dearest Mr. and Mrs. Cosgrove” yay! The highlight of this room was a giant bathtub outside on a private balcony looking over the ocean. Robes, slippers, bath salts, the moon… all quite perfect. We headed to Gracie’s Sea Hag for amazing crab stuffed salmon and some kind of cheesy seafood goodness Jon ordered and were so happy.
This cheesy seafood gift from the gods is known as Crab and Shrimp Au Gratin. If you’re ever in Oregon, its worth the trip. From the menu: ‘This Sea Hag Authentic recipe has attracted the attention of gourmets and food specialists from near and far. Crab and Pacific shrimp simmered in a sweet cream reduction with selected wines mushrooms, scallions and sweet peppers, topped with cheddar cheese.’
Thursday
After my morning bath by the sea, we headed to the breakfast room for some breakfast by the sea. We were met by GIANT spread of really yummy foods… we were the only ones there so I guess they did it all for us! Packing the bike back up was always a challenge, how did we have so much stuff? Jon took a picture of me in my bedazzled “bride” sweatshirt and then it was left behind. It’s funny, we had to leave the white bride sweatshirt behind however Jon’s cheesy seafood leftovers found a place in the storage box…. This is the same cheesy seafood that would eventually leak all over my other jacket. yay. Today we headed for Bandon, Oregon. One of our stops for that day was to explore some of the sand dunes. Harley Motorcycles do not like sand so it was a quick trip. In the middle of fog and drizzle we arrived at our Airbnb in Bandon quite chilly. Our host was very sweet and had hot tea and blankets for us which were perfect after being on a bike all day. For dinner we headed into the small town and had another fancy seafood dinner – Halibut and seafood pasta. The Airbnb was private cottage that was built onto their house, it was very private and cozy. My personal favorite part of this particular B&B was the blue glass fish toilet seat 🙂
Friday
Breakfast was eaten at a local diner that was filled with tourists and fishermen. Jon got a huge glass of whole milk so he was happy. After breakfast I was super bummed that we didn’t get to visit the infamous candy store that was located in town. While walking back to the bike we saw that although it was 9am the candy store Cranberry Sweats was open, quite the miracle! Oregon is known for it’s harvest of cranberries and thus this candy store got its name. The very best part of the store was that you could sample everything, and we did. Heading out of town we got to see several cranberry fields flooded and the berries being harvested – pretty cool.
This was probably our favorite coastline; it was SO beautiful with a lot of large rocks out in the ocean getting the spray of waves crashing around them. Another great part about Oregon’s coast was that it was not crowded. Two of the few people that we saw on this stretch were an older couple that were on a road trip to celebrate their 40th anniversary. They were very excited to hear that we had been married for 4 days and wished us well. Hopefully we’ll also get to come back here for our 40th 🙂 We later played our part of being tourists by stopping at the Trees of Mystery located in northern California. I think they called the trees a mystery because they were SO huge and grew in the weirdest shapes that words don’t give it justice when trying to describe it. We did the mile-long path through these great giants before riding the gondola up to the treetops. These giant redwoods are one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It was quite humbling to think how long they have been around and the stories that they could tell (if trees could talk). After taking a picture with the giant Paul Bunyan and the great blue Babe we headed for Eureka. This airbnb was a bit different in that we would be sleeping on a sailboat! After having fish and chips at the marina we sat out on the deck of the boat and drank beers and watched the stars… yes it was pretty awesome. The bed in a sailboat is kind of shaped like a “V” – no problem for short people, but Jon didn’t have a restful night.
This was one of my most memorable nights of the trip. The harbor was very peaceful the night we were there with minimal foot and boat traffic. The weather was cool but comfortable and sitting out on the stern of the boat with the surrounding boat’s rigging and sea birds all making a quite symphony made for a very relaxing evening.
Saturday
Breakfast was made in the boat kitchen by boiling water for our oatmeal and coffee. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go for a sail as the weather when we arrived was raining – oh well, we needed to leave things on the list to check off later! Back on the road again we were going into the one and only rainy day of our trip. We debated buying full rain suits but decided to roll with the punches and chance it. After a few hours were were both cold and decided to pull off for a coffee warm up. The town that we ended up exiting at happened to be in the heart of Humboldt County and was pretty much giving off the vibe of being the marijuana center of the universe. Lots of dirty hippies everywhere, they were actually dirty – not just joking. We bought a few twice baked potato, chips, and coffee from a somewhat less dirty hippie coffee shop. Haha.
We continued on the highway and took the detour of the Avenue of the Giants, which was a small twisty road that passed through a forest of giant, moss covered redwoods. incredible. We eventually made it to the coast again and check into our Victorian style hotel in the town of Mendocino. Jon and I now associate ‘Victorian’ style with just old – not the greatest hotels. We wandered down to town and had more snacks and then walked along the coastal cliffs. This is where Jon was convinced that a dog in the water was actually a sea lion, ha 🙂 As the sun was setting we bought wine, cheese, bread, mini-cheesecakes, and clam chowder at a small grocery and sat in big chairs outside our hotel to watch yet another awesome day melt into the ocean.
Thankfully the rain turned out to be fairly light and tapered off shortly after leaving the coffee shop in Garberville. At Leggett, just south of Garberville, Hwy 1 splits with Hwy 101 and heads generally West back to the coast over some small mountains. The hills here are densely spaced and the two lane highway was a challenge on the fully loaded big touring bike. Add in some light rain and areas of fog and this section ultimately was the most stressful and demanding from a riding point of view for me. Upon leaving Leggett, we saw numerous signs warning vehicles longer than 30’ to turn back due to tight corners and narrow lanes. Unfortunately, we still encountered numerous 35’+ Class A motorhomes which chose to ignore these rules. The combination of sharp turns and large setback between their front bumpers and front axle cause them to sweep the oncoming lane when navigating these turns and any of these turns could cause an ugly collision between these un-allowed RVs and an un-alert oncoming vehicle. I seem to never have my tack strips when I need them… Once back on the coast, the weather improved and blood pressure declined and we enjoyed more awesome riding along the coast.
Sunday
The continental breakfast in our Victorian hotel was pretty rough – a hard boiled egg and packaged pastries, so that just gave us the excuse to walk into town and eat a yummy breakfast burrito. While leaving this quiet town by the sea we stopped to buy gas and paid $5.36 a gallon – YIKES. Continuing down the there was more ocean air blowing in our faces, tunes by Johnny Cash, and lots of sunshine 🙂 We turned left and headed in-land for the next portion of our trip. At a junction we stopped at a little restaurant and had hot dogs right off the grill and did some more lounging in the sun. At this point we realized that we were half-way through our trip and got super excited that we still had one week left! “life on the road” passes slow and it had felt like we had been traveling for weeks… in the best way 🙂
We had made it to wine country! Vineyards were everywhere and stretched on for miles, it was so pretty. AND there were grapes on the vine still, I wanted to stop every ten feet and steal a snack. I admit we “sampled” many vineyards in this way too, yum. We stayed at another Airbnb in Rutherford, it was great and was walking distance to lots of wine and food. We went to Elizabeth Spencer winery and sat outside in a beautiful garden sampling delicious wines and we even managed to get two free pours – probably because we were glowing in love and I was wearing “mostly” white. (inside joke here). Dinner was at Rutherford Grill where we started siting outside on a glorious patio drinking more Napa wines and eating this amazing cast-iron cornbread that was so incredibly delicious (and probably had 4 sticks of butter in it). Dinner was served inside and consisted of roasted chicken and salmon. This was an ultimate honeymoon stop!
By this time, I was generally feeling some stress and fatigue from riding the big, unfamiliar, and heavy bike with my passenger loaded up through curvy roads everyday. Getting to Napa marked a big milestone in terms of the pace of our trip. From here we had five days to cover a little more than 300 miles which meant that each day was fairly relaxing leading up to the final leg which was scheduled be in Big Sur. From here on out I got even more relaxed knowing that while we still have some riding to do they would be very easy days with plenty of time to wait out any bad weather should it arise.
Monday
Morning held a walk through a vineyard sampling the merchandise and then eating breakfast burritos from La Luna, a local institution. Lucky for us, Napa Valley does winery tours in the morning. Grapes are a breakfast food, right? We had a reservation at Frog’s Leap for out official tasting tour. Frog’s Leap was amazing – it’s all organic and quite a cool story to hear about all they do and how they do it. It being October, we had perfect timing to get to see the wine being bottled. More samples of this fruit drink called wine (by me only, my trusty motorcycle driver just started lovingly into my eyes and wasn’t upset at all) hehe! We left Frog’s Leap and headed back up north because we had reservations at a spa for fancy mud baths, mineral water baths and a towel wraps. This was my idea and I chose it because it got such great reviews. We go in and follow a lady back to a room. Before we go in she says, “it smells really bad in there, but it’s super relaxing,” ummm…. what?? and yes, when we went in it DID smell really bad, pretty much like cow poop. In the corner of this room were two giant cement tubs that were overflowing with what looked like steaming cow poop. Our helper lady explained to us that we were to get in the nude and go butt first into the pile of mud because if you step down into the mud it is too hot and you may get burned. She continued to explain that once we were in, we were to push this thick, chunky, foul smelling mud on top of our skin and up to our neck. Jon was not excited about this and was a little angry and I thought that it was the funniest thing in the world – trying to slide into this pile of poop and get covered up in it.
Once minimally covered, our helper lady came in to put a cold towel on our faces and to push us deeper into the ‘mud’ so that we were suspended and definitely stuck. She told us to relax and enjoy. Not relaxing, but probably one of the funniest moments of my life. We called her to come back in early to explain how we were to get out of the over flowing bath as we were both about to pass out from heat stroke. Rinsing all the cow poop off (because that’s probably what was actually in there) we went to stage 2 and sat in a mineral water bath that was “cleansing for the body and soul” or something like that. For stage 3 we were led to a private room to get “wrapped” tight in towels and listen to calming music. I thought this part was nice but Jon was thrashing around so much because he was being strangled in his towel and forgot to lie still and relax. Well… at least we got to take a shower and use real soap before we got back on the bike! It was definitely an experience! One that we probably won’t try again but that will always make me laugh when I remember how miserable my sweet new husband was and that he put up with it for me. After our “spa treatment” (aka: paying to get covered in poop) we headed for our next lodging for the night… A TREEHOUSE!
After out ex-hippie host checked us into the house up in the trees we broke out our Whole Foods sushi and had our dinner watching the sunset – from the patio – of a tree house -it was awesome.
I will never again step foot in an establishment that advertises any of the following: mud, bath, facial, swaddle, or peat. The word divorce is now directly associated with any and all of these things.
The treehouse on the other hand was awesome. When we arrived it was kind of windy, and I found myself wondering about the skills of the carpenter who has built the tree House. But after talking with owner on the deck about all the years that have passed since building it I figured chance was on our side. We had a great night and I got to hear a great horned owl which, the owner confirmed in the morning, frequents the same tree we were sleeping in. This place along with the sailboat in Eureka got me especially excited about a future business plan which would allow me to own property all over Colorado, and give me a chance to build unique places to stay and list on airbnb.
Tuesday
Spending a night sleeping in the tree tops was another first for us. At first it was really windy and slightly un-nerving, but then after thinking that this guy has had hundreds of guests and hasn’t lost one yet – we slept great. Well I guess I should say that I slept great, Jon was too busy listening to the great horned owls that were also in our tree. At breakfast, our hosts explained that they had originally constructed the tree house for their autistic daughter, and as the years past and she never used it, they listed it on Airbnb. They said that every night they make available is booked and that they have guests come from all over the world – sometimes they have to block days off just so they can get a break! What a strange world we live in – people will pay just under $300 to stay in a tree house with no lights (except battery lanterns) and no bathroom… we are some of those strange people as that is exactly what we did. The tree house was very sturdy and well built and had a deck that almost went around the whole thing. There was a little sitting area with a couch and books and the area was decorating with eclectic nic-nacs. The sleeping area was up a ladder to a loft and was a giant feather bed. Before I said there was not a bathroom, but there was a little camping toilet thing that you could go into should you not make it to the main guest bathroom down below in the barn – that was located in another little room next to the sitting area. To top it off there was a fantastic tree swing to accompany this awesome tree house.
Back on the bike we headed west to Point Reyes National Seashore. On our way we saw a lot of areas that were being used for oyster farming – we didn’t stop to sample the merchandise this time. We did however stop in a cute little town down the road for homemade cookies and lattes – YUM and a little more appealing! Since we were here, we decided to do the additional long drive to the famous lighthouse. The drive was long and the road was really horrible – definitely the roughest stretch of road that we had seen on the bike thus far. Eventually we made it and were rewarded with a pretty great view. Back on HWY 1 and heading south we were very excited to be crossing over the famous Golden Gate Bridge! The red bridge was beautiful and I imagine was an even cooler experience on a motorcycle than a car…lucky us! By this time our beautiful flowers were looking a little rough from hanging on for so many miles – but we still got plenty of waves and shouts of congratulations from passer-bys. We drove up the insanely steep roads and then down the insanely steep roads until we reached our fancy hotel for the next 2 nights – The Donatello. With just an hour left of daylight we caught the old cable car from the famous wooden turn table and headed down to the water. While walking around we stumbled onto the yacht club and were invited in to watch boats being made by hand – really cool! We quickly checked the tourist trap “pier 39” off our list and then headed over to Lombard street to walk up the curviest road ever. Dinner was amazing Indian food and then we caught an Uber car back to our hotel. Before turning in, we headed to a chill local bar for drinks and dessert. Hard to believe that this was the same day that we woke up in a tree house!
I had been looking forward to riding across the bridge into San Francisco since originally getting the idea for this trip. Despite some traffic, it was awesome. Riding a Harley across the iconic bridge with Johnny Cash on the radio and my new wife on the back felt great. All along the way we have been getting honks and waves of congratulations, but along the bridge I think we got more than anywhere else, it was exciting. Once into the city we didn’t have too far to ride but I had a great time going up and down the steep grades.
That night when wondering down in the Marina District we happened upon an open door of what looks to be a large woodshop. After poking my head in we were invited inside for a tour and got to see some cool boats being built and restored. It turns out this place, known as the Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club has weekly volunteer nights where members can come use the shop help to restore old boats which are raced by club members out on the bay. It was a pretty cool place and something I may have looked to get involved with had we planned to move closer to the city.
Wednesday
It was quite a break for Jon that he didn’t have to drive anywhere today! Instead of taking off on a motorcycle, we headed out on bikes today to explore the city. The bikes were in the crappiest condition ever – especially to an ex-bike shop master like Jon, and after we rode down a huge hill and realized they were horrible we didn’t want to waste time to go and return them so we just carried on. Our Mr. & Mrs. Cosgrove bike tour led us to the Golden Gate park and then to the coast where we saw a Coast Guard helicopter rescue team practicing next to surfers catching some waves. We climbed more steep hills and had our crap bike chains pop off so many times that once we actually made it to the bridge we couldn’t wait to get off the bikes and WALK across the bridge. It was very cool to appreciate the greatness of the bridge and how huge it is. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at “The Long Now” headquarters that seconded as a bar. The Long Now is a group that is promoting long term thinking and thus is building a clock that will continue to tick for 10,000 years – Jon read a book about this project so we of course had to check it out! I was also intrigued and now want to read this book. The bike ride home was not enjoyable as by this point the bikes were pretty much disintegrating as we rode them, plus we got lost. Once back at the hotel, what better way to get away from all the frustration from the bikes than to go to the roof top patio for some afternoon tea? While sitting outside with our drinks Jon swears that he saw a bright green parrot fly by. I didn’t see this parrot, but after a little research we found out that there is actually a flock of parrots living in San Francisco… huh! who knew!
It had been a few hours since we had eaten anything (we were NEVER hungry the whole trip) so we decided to go to the Jellyfish Lounge for their oyster happy hour. We slurped back 1/2 a dozen of these slim balls. Next food stop was an amazing hole-in-the-wall sushi place, YUM. It was packed so we knew it was a gem of a spot, plus the restaurant was playing electronic club music… We were so full after this that we could only roll back to the hotel and sit outside on our patio with a cocktail while we digested.
I did see a parrot.
Thursday
Another night that I slept wonderfully and Jon was awake at 3 am. He thought it was a good idea to walk around the streets of San Francisco by himself in the middle of the night… not sure what he was hoping to accomplish there… haha 🙂 During his free time that morning he found our breakfast destination, crepes! Back to life on the road for us for today. We both said it felt good to get back on the bike – it was such a sweet bike after all. We continued to cruise down the coast until we wanted to stop for a nap. We pulled over and took a snoozer on some rocks by the sea. Next we were actually heading to Camel-by-the-sea. Carmel is a super rich, shopping, art town and I was really excited to stroll around it for a bit. Jon has to the be the worse person ever to go to Carmel with as it is very clear that he isn’t into the shopping/art thing…. I should have left him on the bench with a beer. After our brief stop in Carmel we bought crab to cook for dinner and then headed to our airbnb for the night. I think this was our most expensive stop – being Carmel and all. The little private “modern” house was located up in the hills and had a great view and a great patio. After a yummy dinner we took an uber back into town for some ice cream.
Having such a relaxing day on Wednesday caused me to not be very tired and I woke up early. Not wanting to wake up Megan I hit the streets to stretch my legs. San Francisco wakes up late. Even by 6 AM I struggled to find a place to get a cup of coffee.
It was great to get back on the bike today; I surprise myself with how excited I was with the prospect of getting back out on the road. I haven’t seen much of the stretch between San Francisco and Carmel on a previous trip, but it was really excited to show Megan the great scenery and cool towns along the way.
Friday
Oatmeal and hot chocolate (with Bailey’s for me) for breakfast. After we left that morning we headed into Point Lobos State Park for a short hike, so pretty! We later used more of our awesome Honeyfund and redeemed some “lattes for lovers” at a coffee/art shop by the side of the road. This section of the drive, the heart of Big Sur, was just incredible. We saw the famous Bixby Bridge as well as Julia Pfeiffer State Park’s famous waterfall falling onto the beach. It was such a bummer that you were not allowed to go down to the waterfall because I really really wanted to stand under it…. maybe they would not have arrested me if I wore my ‘bride’ shirt? Didn’t get to even try it… we’ll have to go back. Further down the road on a long beach we saw hundreds of seals! It was so cool to see them up close. Watching a giant elephant seal try to flop down to the water is pretty much one of the funniest things I have ever seen! It’s still funny now even thinking of it 🙂
We finally arrived at Santa Barbara after doing a very long day of 250 miles on the bike. Our hotel, Las Brisas del Mar, had wine, cheese, and champagne waiting for us. yay! After our appetizer we continued the ‘food theme’ and called an uber to take us to the Four Seasons Hotel where we dined at ‘Bella Vista.’ This was my favorite dining experience of the whole trip. The ambiance was amazing – we were seated out on the patio under a giant tree with sparkling lights hanging down and candles all around us. Dinner was delicious – lobster pasta and salmon. The service was fantastic and they made us feel so special – even bringing out a special dessert with the word “congratulations” written in chocolate across the plate. Our second dessert (yes we got two!) was a chocolate soufflé that had to be ordered 30 minutes in advance… no crumbs were left over needless to say. After this incredible meal we strolled hand in hand for a moonlit walk up and down the beach, very romantic:) Back in the hotel, Jon surprise attacked me with a champagne shower, haha!
Friday was a great day on the bike. The scenery in Big Sur was awesome and the traffic was light. At one point our rate of progress has slowed considerably because of all the stops we were making, but we were having a great time. Even south of Big Sur we got some good roads headed through strawberry fields and other agricultural areas. Finally rolling into Santa Barbara I was tired but a bit anxious knowing that our time on the road was coming to a close. Our hotel in Santa Barbara was great, and an ideal location. Our dinner Friday at the Four Seasons was a dining highlight of the trip for us and overall it was a great day on the trip.
Saturday
Breakfast at the hotel and then we took off on beach cruisers (SO much better than our last bike experience!) cruised around town, stopped at a giant farmer’s market, more latte for lovers breaks, and then an ocean swim in the Pacific! Santa Barbara really reminded us of Mexico – it was so great! At the arranged time we headed to the pier for our private sail 🙂 We had an instructor that was really laid back and cool, Jon took the sails and headed us out into the big blue! I did more hanging out on the boat than actually participating in the sailing technicalities. Jon was a pro by the end of the trip and now he wants to buy a sailboat.
Dinner that night was probably the most expensive one that we did – we went to Plow and Angle – a super fancy place way up in the hills. Unfortunately, it was kind of a let down, we kind of got looked over service wise and the food was just OK. Note to self – go to the Four Seasons again! After dinner we had to wait for our Uber anyways so we went ‘exploring’ around the gardens and were thinking quite seriously of joining a wedding celebration that was going on down the road 🙂
Sunday
Booooo!!! The last day of the most incredible honeymoon EVER 🙁
Jon and I woke up early and went down to the beach to pick a great spot on the sand to watch the sun come up. It was so fun to be so close to the ocean for all these days. So many great memories to choose from. Before returning the bike we gave it a bath and washed off all of the bugs and dust that we picked up on our 1600-mile adventure. We drove to the little airport at Santa Barbara where a friend of Adam’s Harley Davidson dealership was arriving to ride the bike back to Texas. Un-packing all of our stuff from the bike, taking down our “Just Married” sign and ‘guardian angel’ bell, and removing my flower bouquet from the luggage rack was so very sad. We handed over the keys and drove back to the hotel in a rental car – and I cried. bah! 🙁
We packed up our things and headed out to catch our flight back to reality. Our wedding day really was the BEST day ever, and this 2-week honeymoon was just an extension of it. My beautiful flower bouquet made the 1600-mile journey – each day we lost more and more petals – sprinkling our love across the California coast 🙂 It is the best feeling in the world that I get to spend my life with my best friend and lover. Let the adventure go on and on.
Our last day of the trip was a sad one for us, having to hand over the bike and pack up our things. I think we both we’re already reminiscing during a short ride to the airport to meet the guy transporting the bike back to Texas. Our trip was awesome, the bike was great, we stayed in some awesome places, and really got lucky with the weather we had. Heading back to Denver on the plane we both agreed we couldn’t have wished for better honeymoon.