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.