more road trippin' fun

day two of our fantastical road trip adventure started nice and early. 

we had a lot of ground to cover, with a couple of stops in between. armed with starbucks and a bag full of random snacks, we hit the road. 

the bean had the whole back seat to herself and she took full advantage. 

somewhere along that 101, we passed this and then immediately regretted not stopping for a look. 

there were a ton of cars parked there, though. we probably would've killed an insane amount of time there, so maybe it was better that we didn't stop. 

although once we reached gilroy, we definitely stopped. and while it was interesting enough to be in the "garlic capital of the world," what i was REALLY there for was...well, this:

not everyone was as thrilled to be there. 

i was happy to browse the racks of marked-down lulu merchandise, but i tried not to keep us there for too long. 

M

then it was back on the road for another hour or so.

our next stop came as we passed these super vintage signs:

i was really curious as to what this was. later, we found out that they were once used as movie theaters. 

we headed into the gift shop to pick up tickets for our tour of the mysterious winchester mansion.

with a little time to kill before our tour started, we picked up snacks and watwr in the cafe and then headed out to check things out. 

as one might imagine, there were lots and lots of guns on display in the museum. 

the last time we were here, the old lady was the bean's age. if you don't know anything about the winchester house, it was built by the heiress to the winchester fortune. she was convinced that she was being haunted by the ghosts of those who had been killed with her family's rifles, and so she bought this property and began adding on to the house. she kept staff working 24/7, every single day for 38 years. she had windows in the floors, staircases that led to nowhere, rooms with an entrance but no way to get out. she was eccentric and demanding, and the work continued on that house till the very day she died, right in her own bedroom. 

back in those days, people considered it a good luck charm to install one pillar in their home upside down. because she was so spooked, she put all of her pillars upside down...except one. 

the parts painted black are the areas that remained unfinished due to her death. 

you can't really tell, but this is a "13" for sarah's favorite number.

we'd opted for the tour of both inside and outside the mansion. the second part began at the stables. 

we had to put on hard hats for later, when we'd tour the basement. 

the girls liked the ghost story we heard as we gazed up at the water tower.

this little structure was built for the guard dogs. 
 

another view of the house from the front. 

these gorgeous front doors were only ever used twice - once by the guy who installed them, and once by sarah herself.  
 

from there, we were only about 40 minutes from san francisco, our final destination. we were greeted by this at target, where we stopped for some essentials. 

home for the night was the hyatt at fisherman's wharf. 

we had a lovely view of coit tower from our room. 

it had been quite a day...with lots and lots more to come!