California is my new favorite place

My brother and I recently decided we needed to take a brothers only trip. This of course, resulted in extreme awesomeness...... and baseball (also awesome). Ben will be starting a church in San Francisco next year so we decided we would go to Los Angeles for a day then head to San Fran. First things first, the Los Angeles airport is the most disorganized, jacked up place I have ever been and I will make it my life's work to avoid ever going there again. The same thing goes for downtown LA. There is no need/desire for me to ever go back. So without further ado, lets start the show.

These pics are from LA/Anaheim/Newport Beach/Irvine. I know I said bad things about LA, but the surrounding areas such as Newport Beach, Anaheim, and Irvine were beautiful places. We got to take in an Angels game three rows from the field. The fans there provided a really great atmosphere. The stadium is very unique and it was one I hadn't been to before so I can now add it to my list. The picture of my feet is of the first time they were in the Pacific Ocean. We did all this stuff in our first day. Now its time to head to the bay.

Some wonderful people from Ben's church in Missouri allowed us to stay at their house in Novato, which is about 25 miles from San Fran. This was very helpful because we didn't have to pay for a place to stay. The house was beautiful and these are pictures of the views we had plus some of the outdoor area. Every morning we would walk outside and see deer just laying around. It was a wonderfully peaceful place.

Another thing my brother and I enjoy apart from going to different baseball stadiums is visiting colleges that are well known for either academics or athletics. Since we were so close to Palo Alto, we decided to visit Stanford University. The campus was gorgeous and massive to walk around. The architecture was stunning and we also got to throw the frisbee on the big lawn at the front of campus. Downtown Palo Alto is my new favorite city that I have visited. Its hard to explain that but just trust me on that one. Plus it was 75 and sunny and perfect weather and it was the end of July so that didn't hurt.
The other pics are of Muir Woods in San Fran. We didn't actually have time to check everything out but the view was amazing. Any of you that have ever been to San Fran know that the fog just sits on the city from time to time and its very low.

The Golden Gate Bridge is the most recognizable landmark in San Francisco so of course I took lots of pictures. It was very interesting to see when the fog was low because the top of the bridge could not be seen. The other pics are of the crookedest road in America. We drove it in a standard and we had to go up a massive hill so that in itself was a lot of fun. There's also a small picture of Alcatraz.

This is the San Francisco Giants ballpark. It is one of the best stadiums I have ever been to and I consider myself a connoisseur of baseball stadiums. Ben and I went to two ballgames to see the Giants vs the Phillies. The second game we got great seats for a cheap price because we went in during the third inning. We paid 15 bucks for 90 dollar tickets and we sat on the fourth row behind the Phillies dugout. It was pretty sweet. This area is also significant because it is the part of San Francisco that Ben and his team will be starting their church in. Please pray for this area and for all those that are contributing to this vision.
Lastly I want to say that my time in California was a time for me to reconnect with God and sort some things out. Ben, thanks for helping me with that. I pray that God will do amazing things in my life through the things I realized while on this trip.