AT THE END OF June, I went on a trip to Big Sur all the way up the coast on the 101. We had planned to rent out a VW camper van-- one of those cute green pop-tops, you know? That's the one they told us we were going to get, but when the time came and we went to pick it up, the only one they had was a less-cute tan one. We were okay with it though, until right outside of Santa Barbara when it crapped out on us-- the radiator blew-- and we were stranded on the side of a winding mountain road for about an hour. The rental company was being kind of sketchy about it once the car broke down, wanting us to wait while it got repaired. But by that point, no one was willing to trust the safety of it, so we ended up renting an SUV for the rest of the trip.

{Most of the following photos were taken with my new lomography film camera, and it was the first time I've used it, so they came out kind of shoddy. I even tried some multiple exposure shots as you can see but they didn't quite come out right. Oh, well. If you click on one of the thumbnails below, you'll see both a Mexi-Coke and Mexi-Pepsi. This is because J likes Pepsi and I prefer Coke. Anyone care to weigh in on the debate?}

The rest of the trip, nevertheless, was amazing! I have never been to Big Sur, but now J and I want to move there at some point. It is really spectacular. We camped at Fernwood, right along the river and went hiking, rafting, s'mores-making, and stone-skipping. J and I also went to the Henry Miller Memorial Library, out in the middle of redwoods. It's really secluded and pretty, and there was a band playing that night that was actually surprisingly great! We had an amazing dinner at Nepenthe too, which is built on the side of a cliff, with a beautiful view. After a couple of days camping, we drove up to San Francisco for a night. All in all it was a great, great trip. ♢