Spotted ❤ Welcome to California

You have to be fast to get off on the side of the road to get a photo of the Welcome to California sign.  It's in the hills between the Oregon and California.  We had a nice drive from Portland, Oregon to Mountain View, California.  We saw sooooo many cops.  I wished we counted.  We counted on the way back and saw 16 cops, but I think on the way down we saw more.  My brother works in Silicon Valley and we stayed with him.  It was funny because my mom (also from Portland) was already down in California visiting my brother.  My friend and fellow blogger Warren and I took the trip to X Factor auditions.  It was also a nice little North Cali vaca.  I lived in North Cali before when I was getting my bachelor's degree at Stanford University.  I was spoiled rotten with the gorgeous campus and beautiful palm trees.  I also worked in San Francisco at the local ABC news station.  But it's been a while since I've been back and I actually like it a lot, more than I remembered.  We took our trip in mid-April and the weather was absolutely gorgeous!

One of my must dos on any Cali trip... is In-N-Out!  I have loved those cheeseburgers since I was in college.  Now they have the calories posted on the menu though... so that definitely deterred me from ordering a shake.  59o calories?  The shake isn't that good... 

We also visited my alma mater...

Stanford was gorgeous as always!  And I got my shopping fix at the bookstore.  I picked up a great hooded gray and black hooded jacket, cardinal red t-shirt and little souvenirs. :)

We went to Zibibbo in Palo Alto.  It's one of my brother's favorite restaurants.  And the truffle fries where delicious.

My mushroom pizza was also yummy, although overpriced ($17).

Palo Alto had lots of pretty lights at night.

I'm already missing California's sun!!!