California!

I made a quick trip out to San Jose, CA, last weekend to see my good friend from high school, Kathy.  She is working for City Year (kind of like AmeriCorps) and will be there for a year.  It was a BIG weekend for me!  Not only was it my first time in California, but it was also my first time using public transportation -- first time on a bus, train, trolley, and subway!!

Kathy had to work the first day I was there, so I decided to walk around San Jose a little bit to explore.  (Random side note: there was a very strong Vietnamese population there!  Either that, or I just wandered around the one part of town that they lived/worked/had shops in.)

After meeting up with Kathy at work, I managed to buy a bus ticket and get on a bus headed for Santa Cruz.  I've never been there before and really wanted to see the beach and boardwalk.

Aaaaand I took way too many pictures:

There weren't may people on the beach.  I guess it was early afternoon on a weekday...  

I walked all the way out to the end of the boardwalk, watched the seals for awhile, and was so pumped to get my toes in the ocean!

Of course I had to do a little shopping in that cool little town!  I actually ended up buying to super cool pairs of shoes:  some bright purple Saucony tennis shoes (perfect for K-State football games!) and some white/green/turquoise other shoes...that just looked cool.  They are my 'souvenirs' from Santa Cruz! ;)

I hopped on the bus back to San Jose and met up with Kathy and her friends (and roommates) for dinner that night.

The next day Kathy and I and some of her friends from City Year took the CalTrain from San Jose up to San Francisco for the day/night. 

I was SO excited to ride a train!

(I don't even remember that guys name, ha...one of Kathy's friends I think.)

  

 

This picture                           ...                                quickly turned in to THIS picture 

Pulling in to San Francisco!    (Just a little blury...yikes!)

 We walked...and walked...and walked in that city!  From the train station all the way through China Town and down to Pier 39...and all over some more.  San Francisco is SO HILLY and I had on flip-flops the whole time!  It's a wonder I don't have blisters! 

Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz

Needless to say, I was exhausted by the evening!  We took BART (subway) to a different part of town where our ghetto hotel was.  Most of the people went out for the night, but I crashed.  Too tired for that business! 

All 6 of us managed to fit in to two beds.  We're cheap, what can we say! 

We took the train back to San Jose the next day (Sunday), and I had to fly back to KC that evening.  

Looking rough the next day - and still wearing the exact same clothes!

It was SUCH a fun trip to California!  Thanks for all my firsts, Kathy! :)