A vacation for Caroline and I can never be reduced to a single day, hour, or moment. It is the collection of all moments of every hour and each day seen as a tapestry of experience that helps define the journey. Maybe because I focus on the nicer photos I’ve captured of the trip, it’s easier to remember the brilliant times out in America instead of the random ugly moments that have certainly occurred. Other than the travel book industry focusing on hard times out on the road and the evening news that requires tragedy to be the center of attention, we do not and hopefully never will focus on the small and slightly aggravating instances when weirdness happens. Instead, we focus on the sunrise and pinch ourselves that even though we might race around on these jaunts into far away places, often we seem to be at the right place at the right moment and are rewarded with scenes such as this sunrise over Monterey Bay, California.

By this time, we’ve lost count of how many times we’ve visited Monterey Bay, but what I do know is that it was back in January 1992 that Caroline Engelhardt (we were just dating then) made her first visit to America with me and it was right near here that she took her first good look at the Pacific Ocean.

Finally timed our visit correctly with the migration of the monarch butterflies wintering over in Pacific Grove.

Out of the coastal range and into Salinas Valley near Soledad.

On the road to visit our next national park.

Look way down at the bottom of the photo for tiny little Caroline to better understand the scale of that boulder at Pinnacles National Park in California.

The canyons and rock spires are amazing at this national park. Sadly, we will not be able to stay long as we still have 10 hours and 650 miles left to drive before getting home.

On the way back to our car in Pinnacles National Park.

My chicken feeding another chicken at Soledad Mission.

A perfect yellow rose at Soledad Mission.

Remember what I said about how much time we’d need to drive home? Well, we are still relatively young….a little exhaustion never hurt anyone. We had just arrived at San Miguel Mission and had to stop because it was right there on the way home anyway.

That’s an early television on the left prior to the electrified version arriving. Back then, people would place a circular or rectangular frame next to the wall and stare at it while telling stories. To the right of that is a spinning wheel for turning fibers into yarn, and behind that is a broken-down loom for weaving that yarn into cloth. You might also notice the floor is uneven and made of stone, along with a fireplace to warm this area; this is because back in 1797, when the mission was founded, this was the way things were done.

Twenty-one days after our visit a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit the San Simeon area that was strong enough to cause serious damage here at the mission about 30 miles away. The church seen here was closed for the next six years for repairs.

Mission bells like these at San Miguel are one of the iconic images of the entire chain of 21 missions across California.

Lucky for all of us, California and the Catholic Church have been caring for these historic sites that stretch from San Diego in the south to San Francisco in the north.

In a landscape of brown, tan, and blue, this fountain at the Red Cedar Vineyard, flowing with purple water, demanded we pull over and snap a picture. This would be the last stop for photos as we still had 580 miles to drive home, and it was already 3:30 p.m., putting us home after midnight.