San Francisco-Day 11

On our last day in San Francisco, we woke up and went down for complementary breakfast.  Then we went back up and packed up our room, got ready, and packed the car.  We checked out and started driving through the Presidio to the Palace of Fine Arts and Exploritorium.  We had to drive around a bit before we could find a place to park, but once we did, we jumped out and went to explore.  It was beautiful!  And to think they even contemplated tearing this place down.  Crazy!

I wasn't feeling so good at this point and we both needed a bathroom break, so we drove back up to the Inn to use the bathroom and then found a snack of pita chips and humus to tie us over until lunch.

Our next stop was the Full House house.  On Broderick Street...the neighbor's bought the red front door after the show stopped filming and the house looks different than the opening credits of Full House, but I was happy to see it.

Next, we decided to drive down curvy Lombard Street in our car.  I tried to film it and it was horrible, but it was fun driving down.  We drove towards the wharf to find a place to eat, but we didn't see anything we really wanted, so we kept driving.  And driving.  And driving.  And ended up at the airport turning in the rental!  We struggled to get all of our bags in, but we checked into our flight and waited for take-off!  Our first flight was down to LAX, where we waited a few hours before taking the redeye from LAX to RDU around 10:30pm.  And believe me when I say that redeyes are no fun!  I was so pumped because I always fly out of RDU at 6pm when I'm going to London and I land at 6am.  It's great food, great sleep and makes it easy to hit the ground running.  Not so much coming from California.  The flight was around 4 hours and with the screaming child in the row in front of us, it was not conducive to sleeping at all.  The little nap and lack of food we got was not enough!  Fail!

The swift kick in the junk came when we arrived at RDU, grabbed our bags and went out to catch a cab to Kevin's office to retrieve his car.  A 45 minute wait later.  Seriously?  It was embarrassing to be with business people from California that had never been to Raleigh and kept asking if that was normal.  Not only was it bad customer service, but we wanted to be home too!  No more redeyes for me in the near future!  Maybe that was just a hint to us that we should keep honeymooning!  Welcome to real life! HA!

So there it is!  Our honeymoon!
And as I was sitting here thinking, I started counting the different types of transportation we took on the trip.  Anything to get us from point A to point B and here they are:
1. airplane
2. shuttle bus
3. elevator
4. moving sidewalk
5. gondola
6. escalator
7. helicopter
8. monorail
9. double decker bus
10. car
11. safari vehicle
12. hot air balloon
13. bike
14. boat
15. city bus
16. 18 passenger van
17. taxi
18. cable car

I've probably missed one...but that's pretty crazy!

San Francisco- Day 10

Our first full day in San Francisco was jam packed!  We woke up and enjoyed our complementary breakfast at the Inn.  Then we got ready and made our way down to the free bus into downtown San Francisco.  We got off the bus and walked straight uphill about 4 blocks.  Seriously, it was so strenuous, I was sweating and we were both panting!  I had shin splints in the first 5 minutes.  Forget it in the winter...seriously, I don't know how people do it!  And kudos to the runners.  You people are truly insane!

We were walking up near Lombard Street...at the most crookedest street.  Kevin had no clue where we were, so I decided to surprise him!  There were all of these people in the street...mostly Asian, so I told him I had a surprise for him and that all of those people were waiting for him.  What a laugh!  Kevin had no clue what was going on!  HA!

We continued on and walked down to the wharf!  We went over to Pier 43 1/2 and caught a Red and White Fleet boat for a bay tour!  It was awesome!  I'm so glad we went on the bay cruise!  We both had headphones that were playing a tour of what we were seeing!  It was great information that we wouldn't have otherwise known!  We cruised under the Golden Gate Bridge, around Alcatraz, and near the Bay Bridge before docking again!  What fun!

Alcatraz!

We were fairly hungry after our bay cruise, so we stopped at Alioto's for some lunch!  It was so good!  We enjoyed just relaxing and looking out the window at the bay!

After lunch, we continued our walk towards Ghirardelli Square and passed the one and only sea lion we saw all day long!

After watching the swimmers in front of Ghirardelli Square, we got in line for a cable car ride. 

And that ended our fun!  We were in line for at least 30-45 minutes with only two cable cars going by.  We were at the front of the line when the last car came rolling back where it had just come from and no one could tell us what was going on or when it would run again.  I was content to walk to the next stop instead of just standing there, so we took off past the wharf again and walked about 7 blocks to the next stop.  We got on that trolley more quickly!  Only having to wait for one group to ride!  Once we got on, we rode down to Union Square Park.

We got off and I lead Kevin over to the gates of Chinatown, that I thought would be impressive, but weren't.  Then I decided to surprise him with another Ghirardelli shop, but it didn't serve ice cream, just the chocolates.  So, we struck out again.  We walked back over to Union Square Park to trolley back to the wharf, but 30 minutes passed and then an hour as we walked between stops around the Square...and no cable cars were coming our way...so we started walking towards the wharf.  We ended up walking about 10 blocks...all uphill...to another cable car line in hopes we would get picked up.  No luck, so we walked about 5 more, past the cable car museum and asked for help and they directed us to a stop that we reached RIGHT as one was pulling up.  I didn't care if they were full, we were getting on!  And we did!  And rode the cramped ride back down to the wharf.  What a ridiculous afternoon.  3 hours wasted on freaking cable cars!  They are NOT the San Francisco treat!

Our treat, however, was an amazing treat at Ghirardelli Square in the malt shop!  We shared the World Famous Hot Fudge Sundae!  It was to die for!

And then came the moment when we had to decide how to get back to our Inn.  Kevin was done.  He was done walking, he was done with everything.  He wanted to cab it back, but I couldn't see spending $20 plus when we were so close to the free bus.  So, I lead us to the bus stop on a route that had the least amount of hills as possible.  Kevin gave in begrudgingly!  It still wasn't a fun walk, but it was easier than all of the others we'd done during the day.  We made it to the bus stop and only had to wait about 2 minutes for the bus to come!  Perfect timing!  And we were back to the Inn in no time at all!

We threw our stuff in the room and then went down to grab some cheese, fruit, crackers and wine for the afternoon wine and cheese reception.  Others were outside by the fire pit chatting, but we ran back to the room, unseen, to unwind!  We just relaxed and watched some of the Giants game.  We showered and got ready and then I looked in a book in our room for a place to eat!  We tried our luck on a place called Yoshi's.  It was REALLY good!  They had sushi, which I got, and other things.  Plus, they were a jazz club, so they had a live band playing!  It was an awesome evening out! 

We were both stuffed when we headed back to the Inn.  When we got back, we put on our pjs and crashed!

Napa to San Francisco- Day 9

On the 9th day of our honeymoon, we woke up and packed all of our bags to leave Carneros...and boy was that hard!  We WILL be back there someday!  There are no fast food restaurants or any place to eat along the highway by Napa, Sonoma, or on the way to San Francisco, so we drove into Sonoma to get some coffee and breakfast sandwiches before making our way to the highway!

When we got in the edge of the San Francisco area, I saw the signs for Muir Woods, so we followed the signs to the National Park!  We got out and walked around for awhile.  We did the 2 mile loop and got our fix of Redwood trees again!

When we got back on the road, we saw a sign for Muir Beach...umm, no-brainer!  We weren't able to put our feet in the ocean in Westport, so we wanted to walk on the sand here.  We parked and headed out to the water.  We didn't get our toes wet, but I did run in and touch the water!  It was really cold!

Back in the car we went and made our way across the Golden Gate Bridge and then immediately jumped off the highway to drive around the Presidio. 

We stayed at the Inn at the Presidio, so we checked in and got settled...ate a little snack...and got info for taking the free bus into San Francisco so we could walk to the Giants game!  Game 1 of the World Series!

The bus dropped us off about 20 blocks from AT&T Park, so we had to walk a little ways, but we got there in perfect time to get in early, buy gear and get in our seats before the pre-game started!  It was really surreal being there!  Don't even ask how much we paid for tickets because we had to sell one of Kevin's kidneys...but we knew it was worth it because we'll never have that experience again!  We were sitting in such a fun section in the outfield and we were so close to catching two home run balls!  The energy was just contagious!



This Guy: Marco
Crowd: Scutaro
Guy: Marco
Crowd: Scutaro
(Fun Times)

Upon leaving the game, we walked back as close to the Presidio as we could (which was not even close) and then caught a cab back to our Inn.  When we pulled up out front, there were 3 raccoons walking across the porch that then ran down and behind the cab and into a tree.  I was scared to get out because they looked rabid, but we did.  The cabbie thought they were going to jump in the cab.  Made us laugh!  We got ready for bed and quickly fell asleep!

Napa- Day 8

On the morning of October 23, we once again woke up at 5am to prepare for our hot air balloon ride.  The weather was perfect!  A little chilly, but no rain!  We drove up into Yountville, just north of Napa, and gathered at Domaine Chandon Winery.  Everything was pitch black, so it didn't look much like a winery to me, but whatever!  I think we were like the second couple to arrive and we went to check in.  The two ladies at the table had NO record of our reservation.  WHAT???  I explained that we were scheduled for the day before and we had gotten rained out and called right on the dot at 8am to reschedule.  Too bad.  They didn't see our names.  I was livid!  They wanted to know who we spoke with to reschedule.  No clue...we spoke to a lady and she confirmed our rescheduling, but we never got her name.  All they could tell us was to go enjoy the coffee and pastries and if they had room, we could fly.  UGH!  I was so upset!  So we ate, and we sat, and I pouted, and we waited.  And a hour went by as other happy and scheduled people arrived.  One of the pilots came out to address the entire crowd and encourage others to purchase Napa Valley Balloons ball caps, if they hadn't brought one..because of the heat in the balloons (we had ours).  And we were all asked to load up into vans outside to drive to the lift-off location.  And we STILL didn't know if we could fly.  I was trying to be optimistic, but, let's face it, we know my luck!

We literally drove right down the hill from the winery and got out of the vans at a driving range for a golf course.  The balloons were out and being blown up and ready for flight.  And then it was time to know our fate.  Names started being called off to split us up into our balloons...and they said "Ewing" and everything was right in the world!  Thank goodness!  We were placed in the Grasshopper group with pilot Gabe.  We walked over to our balloon.  It was already blown up and ready to be righted and us pile in, when something happened and the whole thing deflated.  GREAT!  Yup..my luck!  If a balloon is going to fail, it has to be mine!  So, they began blowing it up again as we waited.  It wasn't so bad because we ended up being the second balloon ready, but still, the wait was painful!  We all piled in...4 people per section of the basket...4 sections, 16 people in our balloon plus our pilot Gabe.  And before we knew it, we were off the ground.  We seriously didn't even feel it.  One minute we were on the ground and the next we were in the air!



Grasshopper Balloon!!



We ended up traveling about 7 miles total.  It was a very interesting feeling!  We were in the sky, we were off the ground, but because we were moving with the wind, we felt like we were standing still.  I'm not really terrified of heights, but I don't particularly love them.  It wasn't a problem though!  The only time it was scary was if we leaned out of the basket and looked straight down.  Then you felt like you were high up!  It was fun flying over the vineyards and spotting rabbits between the rows.  Out pilot was helpful in pointing out landmarks and telling us how to balloon operated.  When it was time to land, we were in a bit of a bind...we missed two landing spots.  When we'd go lower, we'd loose the wind speeds and just hang in the air...when we moved higher, the wind would move us more...so we needed to be closer to the ground to land, but then we didn't move.  Catch 22.

We finally went down in the edge of a vineyard and the crew pulled us onto the vineyard road (that still didn't give us enough space).  A man in a very nice house, who had the cable guy in the yard, offered to let us land in his yard because he had more space.  That was fun!  Kevin and I did get tired of the people in the balloon making stupid jokes about how we were a competing cable company swooping in to take the guy's business, but I guess that's part of the trip...being in a small space with strangers!  Once we got the balloon loaded up, we packed back in the vans and returned to the winery for a mimosa brunch, which was WONDERFUL!

After our early and eventful morning, it was only like 10am.  We stopped to grab some starbucks and then drove over to Sonoma to walk around and take in the sites!  We started in the square and walked around from there.  Remember Ben Flajnik from The Bachelor?  We saw some of the sites from the beginning of his season...the outdoor amphitheater where they had a group date and he brought in kids to help him put on a play and the movie theatre where he took Kacie on the first date of the season.  I couldn't find the restaurant they ate in or the gag gift shop where she bought a baton, but it had to be there somewhere, right?  He does have a winery in Sonoma and I hadn't done any research, so we missed it.  But, the photo of Kevin leaning against the wall...that walkway leads to the tasting room for Ben's winery...so close!  I was pretty excited we stumbled upon this area!

After our quick trip to Sonoma, we headed back to Carneros and walked around, viewing the pool by The Market and then took a well deserved nap (because of our early wake-up) lounging on our porch lounger at our cottage.  When we woke up, we hopped on the computer and found tickets to Game 1 of the World Series, that would be the very next day!  WHOO HOO!  We went up to the registration area to print off our tickets and we borrowed a movie for later that evening.  Then we walked over to one of the restaurants at Carneros, The Boon Fly Cafe.  We enjoyed our dinner and took our dessert to go (mini donuts and chocolate sauce-AMAZING!).  Then we went back to our cottage and watched My Fair Lady while eating our donuts and enjoying some wine!  With the fire going, it was a great final night at Carneros!

Napa- Day 7

Monday, October 22, we woke up at 5:00am to get ready for our hot air balloon ride.  Unfortunately it rained all night on Sunday night...like stormed and heavy rain.  So, our 5am wake-up call was really Napa Valley Balloons saying "sorry, it's too wet to fly, but if you call at 8am, you can reschedule."  So, we attempted to get some more sleep before 8am and called on the nose to reschedule.  Success!

Then it was all, "okay...it's rainy all day...what in the world should we do?"  The answer came in the form of an alcohol angel saying "Go wine tasting."  And that's exactly what we did.  We ordered breakfast in bed and got ourselves ready and then it was off to the Calistoga area again for a special wine tasting I had researched months before...in an authentic castle!  Castello di Amorosa!

The castle is the work of Dario Sattui, owner and winemaker.  He has another successful winery, V. Sattui, but the castle, opened in 2007, was an idea of many years that finally came to fruition.  Dario spent decades studying medieval castles, their blueprints, and traveling to see them all over Europe before building his 121,000 square foot castle complete with 107 rooms...most underground to house the wine.  And he didn't just slap it together...he hired a crew from Austria and Italy...men educated in medieval building techniques to come and build and also teach his crew.  The entire castle is made from stones and materials from Europe.  And it includes all of the elements of a true medieval castle- a moat and drawbridge, high walls and towers on a hillside, a great hall, courtyards, an apartment for the nobles, a big kitchen, an outdoor brick oven for baking bread, a church, horse stables, secret passage ways and a prison and torture chamber (that have NOTHING to do with the wine, but he figured if he was building a castle, better make it authentic all the way.)  And as Kevin and I saw...the torture chamber is stocked with ancient torturing devices that would scare the crap out of any criminal!  I know I was shaking in my little leopard ballet flats!

The castle truly was impressive!  We went on a full tour, saw the wine making process and the wine caves in the hallows of the castle and then enjoyed a wine tasting complete with chocolate pairings!  It was divine and PERFECT for a rainy day!

View from the top of the castle!  Gorgeous!

When we were finished at the castle, we headed back to Napa, following a rainbow...and attempted to eat at Sweetie Pies, a spot Kevin had enjoyed the last time he was here, but they were completely finished serving lunch, for the second day.  We were out of luck again!  We went back to Carneros, stopped at The Market for sandwiches and took them back to our cottage to eat and relax!  We ended up putting on the baseball game, National League Championship Game, and watching as we both drifted off to sleep!  We both woke up a few times to see the score before dozing off again.  And when we finally woke up for good and found out the Giants had won, we were SO PUMPED!  We had been saying that if they won, depending on when they did, we might could catch a World Series game in San Fran!  We celebrated with the Giants, ate some cheese and crackers and then headed to bed fairly early again to prepare for our hot air balloon ride, take 2.

Rainbow!

Calistoga and Napa- Day 6

After waking up at the Hampton Inn in Rohnert Park, we took advantage of their awesome breakfast buffet and fueled up before getting showered, dressed and packed for the day!
This day had absolutely no plans...we just had to check into our hotel in Napa by that evening.  I had seen something in my honeymoon research about a petrified forest.  I've seen petrified wood before, but I thought it would be something fun to see with Kevin.  So...we gassed up the car and off we went towards Calistoga, via Santa Rosa!  Yes, we passed right by Safari West again!  Too funny!

The Petrified Forest was a little pricey and didn't even look much like a tourist spot...it was kind of quiet and abandoned.  We weren't sure if it would be worth it, but we took the hour-long stroll anyway, just to see what we could see.  It was actually fun!  So, a volcano blew in this part of California over 3 million years ago (Mount Saint Helena) and as the hot rushing lava flowed down the mountains, it took with it the ancient redwoods.  They were knocked over, uprooted and the ash of the volcano settled on top of them.  The ground was then saturated with water containing dissolved silicon and oxygen (silica). One by one, the molecules of silica replaced the molecules of the wood, turning wood to solid stone.  So, with the money they earn from tourists visiting, archaeologists have been able to unearth some of these "rock" trees and that's what we saw!  Pretty cool!  Especially because they were the size of redwoods, but solid rock!

 

Upon leaving the Petrified Forest, we saw a sign, similar in nature, pointing us in the direction of "Little Old Faithful".  Thus starting the google party!  Kevin and I argued if Old Faithful was even in California.  Then we swore it had to be a tourist trap and couldn't be real.  Google did not lie...indeed, it's a legit spot, so we found ourselves there.  Also known as Old Faithful Geyser of California, it is one of three geysers in the world with the designation "old faithful"...meaning that it performs at regular intervals.  It too came about from the volcano.  There is a natural deep subterranean supply of water, a source of heat and a series of fissures, fractures and cavities that provide a path to the surface of the earth...the water flows over the hot molten magma deep in the earth, boils and expands and is collected in large cavities.  Under that pressure from the heat, it explodes upwards and erupts with an outpouring of steam, followed by shooting water.

It was awesome!

I'm very happy we hopped on the tourist train and gave this spot a chance!  I don't know when I'll ever see Old Faithful, but this was great!  The cool thing about "Little Old Faithful" is that it erupts every 5-10 minutes, so we were able to see it about 5 times while we were there.  In the 60s and 70s, it would erupt every 40 minutes or so.  So, we got lucky!  Also, the folks there are an official seismographic station.  They can predict earthquakes based on the punctuality of the geyser.  The longer time in-between water shows, the more likely there is to be an earthquake in a 500 mile radius.  It was all pretty fascinating!

Another cool thing about the area of Calistoga is the natural springs and mud baths that are offered at many of the hotels and spas around.  That same volcanic dirt/water has healing powers and many of the locals advertise their mud baths.  We didn't participate in this, but it sounded really fun!

After our fun morning, we traveled on down HWY 29 and stopped at the Culinary Institute of America to eat lunch.  However, the cafe area in their bookstore was closed and the regular restaurant was really expensive, so we continued on into Napa for some lunch.  Seriously, EVERYTHING was closed!  What's one to do for food on a Sunday in Napa?  We FINALLY found Downtown Joe's, which was a bar.  And I was starving, but I wasn't expecting much.  However, the food was awesome!  I got an avocado and bacon club sandwich and it hit the spot!  They also make their own beer, so we were able to sample a few. 

When we left there, we walked on the waterfront for a little bit before hopping back in the car to check into the Carneros Inn.  WOW!  Kevin stayed here last year when work sent him to Napa for an event at the Culinary Institute of America and it was every bit what he described!  The perfect tranquil place to honeymoon!  We were treated like royalty checking in..escorted to our own private cottage, and greeted with a plate of cheese, fruit and crackers and a bottle of wine!  They really know how to treat a lady! :)

Our cottage at the Carneros!

Let me not forget to mention the heated floors in the bathroom!  My favorite part of our cottage!  We were spoiled!
After settling in, we walked back up to the top pool and restaurant area and rented bikes to ride around...the place is pretty big, though you can walk it.  We rode down to the market to grab some extra snacks and then went back to our cottage.  Around sunset, we rode back up to turn our bikes in and had a sunset swim in the hot tub looking over the vineyards.  It was PERFECT!

Pool overlooking the vineyards

Kevin riding his bike!

Hot tub fun!

Then we were off to bed fairly early because we were to be up at 5am to get ready for our hot air balloon ride the following day!  Pictures on facebook...my link hasn't been working, so just go find them!

Safari West- Day 5

October 20, 2012 was our fifth day of the honeymoon and we woke up in the most unusual place...a tent high above the African plains...in California!  Yeah, figure that one out!

Most amazing sight when we woke up!

It was so so so cold when we woke up and I did not want to leave our warm bed or the electric blanket!  Especially not to go into the freezing cold bathroom for any reason!  Kevin went out to film the foggy/misty morning and the animals waking up.

We finally got up and threw on the warmest clothes we could find to walk down to breakfast.  We weren't at breakfast long, just enough to chow down on a bagel and get some coffee before heading back to our tent.  We showered and got ready for the day and packed up all of our stuff.  Then we walked down to the registration area to check out and had a nice guy drive his open-air jeep back up to our tent to take all of our bags to our car.  Then, we spent about an hour walking around the caged animals, filming them and exploring on our own.

Dwarf Antelope

Cheetahs

Monkeys

Watch me get in trouble for trying to feed the giraffes!  Oops!

Then it was time for our official tour!  Leslie was our guide and she had been at Safari West for 15-18 years.  So, her knowledge of the animals was outstanding!  We started with a tour of the caged animals and actually got to enter some of the cages for a closer look at birds and smaller animals!  It was really cool!  We had seen all of them on our own wanderings earlier that morning, but to hear about them made it meaningful!  I'm really glad we did the walking part first, because it lasted about an hour to an hour and a half and we would have been ready to go, if we had done it after the real safari.  But, our "official" safari was next and we loaded up on the old safari vehicle...used in WWII and headed out.  Kevin and I got to sit up top for the first part of the trip and then we switched somewhere in the middle to let others ride.



Up top!



Zebras

It's a fight!!!

Wildebeest!

Goldie was less than 2 feet from my face!  I was seriously scared!

The safari was amazing!  To be just a few feet from these animals was unbelievable!  Better than a zoo!

We reluctantly left Safari West and drove over to Rohnert Park, CA for lunch at the Olive Garden.  We were starved, so it was PERFECT!  Then we checked into the Hampton Inn in Rohnert Park for a relaxing afternoon/evening.  Rohnert Park was seriously just a stop before our next big stop...it was cheaper, so we decided on a night there to save a little money.  We rested and caught up on our e-mail and watched movies.  On towards evening, we finally got up and went out for some exciting shopping!  We hit up the Target for some snacks, chocolate, a bathing suit and then popped over to Burlington Coat Factory for a bathing suit for Kevin and a top for me (yeah, we forgot to pack ours and remembered we'd have an awesome pool at our next stop).  The cashier at the Target wondered why we were so happy and taking pictures in the Target and we told her we were on our honeymoon.  Her only response was, "why in hell are you here?  This place is a dump."  She said it, not us, but it made us laugh so hard!  Who else has visited Rohnert Park for any reason, much less for their honeymoon?  HA!

We stopped at a Thai restaurant to get take-out for Kevin and I reheated my leftover Olive Garden and we watched tv while we had our dinner.  The staff at Hampton Inn had left us an awesome bottle of wine, so we popped that open and enjoyed that.  Kevin feel asleep early and I spent more time on the computer and read a little before it was lights out for me!

Westport, CA to Santa Rosa, CA-Day 4

Day 4 started in just the perfect way!
We opened our door at the Westport Hotel to find fruit, scones and coffee.  Perfection!

After eating, we threw on some clothes and literally crossed the street to the ocean.  It was a foggy, misty morning and the landscape was just gorgeous!  We sat on a little bench and soaked in the morning and the sounds of the crashing waves for a bit before heading back to the hotel.

We showered, packed and loaded the car before enjoying a homecooked breakfast at the hotel to really jump start our day!

Amazing breakfast!

After leaving the hotel, we headed up HWY1 towards Leggett, CA.  We just HAD to stop on the way because of this gorgeousness:

It truly was a perfect/relaxing morning and such a change from Vegas.
So, once we got away from the coast and into the hills, the road got rocky for me!  Kevin was driving and it was non-stop twisty/turvey roads with hairpin turns the entire way.  I think the speed limit was 40mph, but no one should have gone over 25mph, seriously!  At one point, we had a guy on our bumper pulling a camper and because of the extra weight, he was just flying down the road.  I finally got Kevin to pull over and let him pass so we could go a little slower!  I was definitely getting carsick with the terrain!


A 45 minute drive, put us north in Leggett, CA where we visited the Chandelier Tree...a drive-through Redwood.

We drove through it, barely!  And then spent awhile just hanging out and looking in the gift shop before we jumped back in the car to head south to Santa Rosa, CA.

The route to Santa Rosa was about a 2.5 hour drive down the 101 and the views were amazing!  We drove through little towns and by fields and mountains of gorgeous golden wheat and rocks.  We stopped about an hour out of Santa Rosa to have lunch at a Subway!  I know.  We're so adventurous with our meal choices!

We finally arrived in Santa Rosa around 3:00pm and checked into our next adventure: Safari West!  Yes!  A safari in California!  I had read so much about this place and we were both so jacked about it, but we were both still a little nervous, not knowing what to expect.  Well, we were blown away!  First by the exceptional service: guys who loaded up our bags in their open-air jeeps and we jumped in to ride up to our tent.  Second: by how close we were to the animals and how amazing they were!

We were in tent 18: Nyala!  The tents were truly tents, but this was more of a "glamping" experience!  Ours was raised up off the ground and was the closest to the animals.  We had a king size bed and furniture in the room, a little deck with a table and a full bathroom.  Welcome to Safari West!

After settling in, we enjoyed some wine and chocolates that had been left for us and then a knock at the door brought in our massage therapists.  Oh yes!  Romance on the Safari!  The massage was seriously like non-other.  There was no need for soothing music.  Who needs that when you have a symphony of animal noises wafting through our mesh windows?  I have never been more relaxed!

Post massage, we dressed and walked down to our campfire dinner.  I was a little unsure about this too because of the reviews of the food, but I'm so glad we took part!  The food was phenomenal!  We had way more than we could have ever needed and got to pick our chicken straight off the barbecue above the fire!  We also got to walk around and see the animals a little bit before it turned dark!

We were once again tired and went to bed earlier than usual and the night was VERY interesting!  We could hear the animals throughout the night and because it got dark early and we went to bed early, we both woke up multiple times before dawn to check the time.  Restless sleep!  However, we were so snuggly in our bed with the electric blanket that at the first sign of daybreak, I didn't want to move a muscle into the cold!

Vegas/California-Day 3

A traveling day..forgive the lack of pictures!

The morning of our last day in Vegas, we awoke rather early and rushed over to the Spice Market Buffet in Planet Hollywood.  We had purchased a 24 hour pass to the buffets the night before, so we knew if we went early, we'd be hungry early for lunch and we could get at least 3 meals out of the pass!
I don't remember much about breakfast, so it must have been pretty uneventful!  I know we rushed, thinking it would be packed and there was NO ONE out!  Must have all been hungover from a night of gambling.  Not us!

This photo was taken the day before when we went to find the buffet for easy access in the morning!



After breakfast, we went back to the Bellagio to semi-pack and I fell asleep for a good 2 hours or so.  The time change was really messing with us!  Also, remember the end of my last post where my eye was giving me trouble down at Fremont street the night before?  Well, I woke up with it crusted shut and it was bloodshot and bright red.  Both of my eyes...but one much worse!  So, I had to wear my glasses (which are not a current prescription and make me just as blind with them as without), leaving me feeling sleepy and just blah!  Not sure about you other blind folks out there, but for some reason not having my contacts in and not being able to see, makes me sleepy...maybe because I don't wear contacts to bed, or because I'm so blind, I can't function, so I might as well sleep.  Whatever!  I also think I dream in fuzzy on a regular basis, but when I occasionally nap, I keep my contacts in, and those dreams seem more vivid.  Don't believe me?  I'm convinced it's true!  Subconscious playing tricks on me!

After napping and Kevin being frustrated that I was wasting the day away, we got dressed and headed out to the monorail to ride down to the Mirage because I wanted to see their volcano.  Not sure what changed our plans...we got off the monorail and walked through Bally's and out to the strip...but instead of going to the Mirage, we decided lunch was more important and we walked to the Flamingo for the Paradise Garden Buffet.  Food is definitely a motivator!
Lunch was relaxing!  We are silly!  We thought this buffet would be packed too and no, there was no line, nothing, we walked right in and sat down!  We enjoyed a leisurely lunch and then walked out into the gardens at the Flamingo hotel to see the flamingos and other animals they have out!  Still sporting my glasses and no make-up!  Enjoy these glamour shots!

When leaving the Flamingo, we still didn't think the Mirage was worth the walk just to see the volcano, so we walked back to the Bellagio, packed up for good, checked out, and grabbed a taxi to the airport.

So long Vegas! 2 days was plenty of time!

More like "Goodbye Las Vegas"



We flew my favorite airline: Jetblue, to Long Beach, CA for a layover to Sacramento.  This took most of the afternoon.  We finally arrived in Sacramento around 6pm and enjoyed the joys of picking up a rental car and still having to wait in line for 45 minutes (even though we had a reservation) because their reservation kiosk wasn't working enough to recognize Kevin's ID.  And then we picked her up...wonder of wonders car..the dreaded Impala with standard everything, even though they promised it was the deluxe edition.  Liars!

When we finally got settled in the car and I pulled up the GPS with our route, the next item of business was FOOD!  And you know it's coming!  The only thing I HAD to try was In-N-Out Burger!  We were like giddy schoolchildren ordering!  #1 we were famished and #2 we couldn't wait to try it!  Boy did they deliver!  The meal was awesome!  The onions were a little strong, but who cares!  Sadly, we didn't know about the secret menu, so no "animal" anything, just the standard menu.

Yes, we ate every bite!


Here we are way too excited about our meal!

I told you, we were really excited about In-N-Out!



And then it was in the car for the 4.5 hour drive to Westport, CA on the coast.  Driving US5 was fine, by the time we got to the 20, we were done.  Non-stop curvy roads with drop-off cliffs on at least one side of the road at all times!  The trip probably only took 4 hours, but at night, we couldn't see anything!  Oh and then after 3 hours of the windy trip, I decided we were not going to drive through a state park that looked like an even curvier snake on the map, so we took the 101 up to Laytonville and drove an even more lonesome, twisty road through the redwoods, to our destination...thinking the whole time, someone was going to jump out of the woods and off us!  No joke!

The moon!  Notice how completely BLACK everything is.  Wonderful (almost 5 hour) drive!


We arrived at the Westport Hotel (Westport, CA: Population: 60) around midnight and THANK GOODNESS I had called the hotel from the Vegas airport to tell them we'd be arriving late, because everything was dark and shut down.  We had to use a code on the backdoor to let ourselves in...oh yeah and it worked after about the 10th time even with my specific written instructions...yay!  By the time we found our room and went back to the car to bring up only our necessary stuff, it was lights out!  We were both pooped!

Vegas-Day 2

Day two may have been even more eventful than day 1!

I was woken up at 5am by a phone call from a Raleigh number.  I let it go to voicemail then, but at 8am, found it was a lady calling from the Register of Deeds office to let me know that we could not get our marriage license because there was information left off of the form we signed the day of the wedding.  WHAT?  I'm telling you, there is nothing easy in my life!  Crisis adverted and we ordered room service!  Breakfast in bed!

We then had to rush to get ready and be dressed and downstairs at the Bellagio tour entrance by 9am for a Maverick shuttle to pick us up and take us to their offices.

Riding on the Maverick shuttle

3 stops later, we arrived at Maverick, read the safety instructions and got weighed and then we were split up into different groups for our HELICOPTER RIDE!!!!!  OVER THE GRAND CANYON!!!!
Oh yes!  The ride was about 30-45 minutes long on the way in.  I was really impressed by the smoothness of the ride.  I thought we'd be jerked around and that my stomach just wouldn't be able to take it, but it really wasn't bad at all.  We all had headsets so we could hear the pilot and each other (and the background soundtrack).  We were going about 100 miles an hour, if not more, and it sure didn't feel like it!  Much smoother than a normal airplane flight, but maybe our pilot was just that good!


Ready for take-off

We flew over Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam and right into the middle of the Grand Canyon!  We landed with the other helicopters and had a picnic snack complete with champagne.  We took some photos and explored a little in the small area that we were in, and then we loaded back up to head back.  

Hoover Dam

Doesn't do it justice, but shows more than the photos, I think!

With our helicopter in the Canyon

Kevin being goofy and acting like he was falling over.  Can't take him anywhere.

Snack Time!



In the Grand Canyon!

(Warning: Could cause nausea because of the filming!  I promise it didn't make us queasy when we were living it!   Also, you may want to turn the volume off or down...just noise as we flew!)

We stopped about 10 minutes in to our ride back to fuel up at the lone fueling station and were able to get out again and take some photos.  Then it was back in the air and we circled the strip before landing back at Maverick's Offices.

Fueling Station



What an adventure!

If you ever get the chance to do this, jump at it!  I was a little upset at myself after booking the tickets because I wanted to see the south rim of the Canyon.  It's supposed to have the best colors and the most spectacular views.  And it's possible with Maverick, but not in a helicopter...you have to fly by plane and then get into the Canyon by shuttle.  That just didn't seem as fun.  All-in-all, based on the time our trip took, it was the best bang for our buck!  And we can now say that not only have we seen the Grand Canyon, we've landed in it, walked in it, and taken off from it's floor!  So cool!

Once we were back on the strip, we took the Maverick shuttle back to our hotel...and then decided to be adventurous and we stayed on the shuttle until the last stop, so we'd be further down the strip and wouldn't have to walk...sharp minds here folks!  So, we got off at the Mandarin Hotel and proceeded to walk towards New York-New York, where we rode the roller coaster on top.  WHAT?  What were we thinking??  I wasn't that scared until we were strapped in and then I didn't want to do it anymore!  I'm not opposed to roller coasters, but this one, we both agreed, was a little bit more rickety than ones we've ridden in the past.  My head was banging on the back of the seat the entire time.  So, that's all I could concentrate on! 

Yes, we rode that crazy thing!

When we finally got out of there, we decided it was well past lunch time and we stopped at a Subway for a bite to eat and then sat on a bench at the back of the MGM Grand, in the shade, to eat.  Subway hit the spot...except, in Vegas, prepare to pay double what you pay at home.  Ridiculous and we didn't even get chips or a drink!  After lunch, we were tired, so we decided to ride the monorail from the MGM Grand to the Stratosphere.  Two good things came out of that...#1 we were able to see the inside of MGM, that we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise...#2 we were able to sit and relax for a bit.  It had to have been at least 80 degrees that day and we were tired and pooped!  Once we got to the stratosphere stop on the monorail, we decided we didn't want to walk all the way over there, so we sat at the monorail station for a little bit before we rode all the way back! :)  We're so fun!

Our treat for that strenuous activity came in the form of Pinkberry!!!

So excited about Pinkberry!

I've been dying to try Pinkberry for awhile now and I got my chance right on the Vegas strip, outside of the Mandarin Hotel!  We ate and then made our way over to Planet Hollywood to check out the indoor thunderstorm...except we had just missed it.  So, we walked across the street to our hotel, the Bellagio, and made it just in time to catch the entire water show!  Spectacular!

Watching the water show!

 

We went inside, intending to go back to the room and rest a bit, and found an area of fall decorations we had missed before.  A little greenhouse/flower garden of sorts.  So, we walked through that...found the pool area and admired how nice it was...tried to sneak into the little wedding chapel (that was booked)...and finally made it up to the room to crash!

Inside the Bellagio

After lounging for awhile and then showering and getting ready, we made our way over to the Paris hotel for their dinner buffet-Le Village Buffet.  Where we proceeded to stuff ourselves!  Then, we walked outside and hopped on a Deuce bus to go down to Fremont Street.  The bus ride was long and many people kept shoving themselves on.  It was not fun.  We actually got off the bus early so we could stop in and see The Golden Nugget Hotel.  It's definitely old Vegas and more glamorous than the newer hotels on the new strip.  When we left there, we walked over to Fremont Street and basically just had fun people watching.  They were filming for CSI, so there were many people gathered around.  Kevin said he saw someone dressed like a zombie, but I couldn't see that much.  There was a band playing.  There were showgirls in the costumes taking pictures with random people, etc.  We walked up and down a few times and then caught a bus back.  My eyes had started burning and hurting and I was ready to go to bed!

All dressed up for dinner at Paris and Fremont!

More pictures on facebook here.