One of my best friends, who was also my maid of honor in my wedding, suggested to me a couple months ago that we should take a vacation together. We rarely see each other because I'm here in Ohio and she lives in a tiny mountain town in Colorado...so a couple times per year is usually it. We always have tons of fun together despite our completly opposite lifestyles. She is single & childless and plans to stay that way for life...and I think we all know my position on marriage & children! She enjoys living up her youth and traveling across the states with nothing holding her back. She graduated college with a degree in interior design, but gags at the idea of having a 9-5 job in the "real world"...waitressing and bartending suit her just fine! We have such similar interests outside of these differences though. Lord knows we would not be best friends if either one of us was afraid to live life...to get dirty and camp in a tent...or sleep in my old yellow bug on Panama City Beach (spring break '04)...or go a couple days without a shower...or rent bicycles on vacation and work up a sweat riding 30 miles round trip to La Jolla, Ca...or put on our hiking shoes and hike for miles (Grand Canyon trip already in the making for next year!)...or enjoy good quality food so much that we just cannot stop eating....or just kick back together with a beer (or wine!) in our hands and talk for hours about life, family, and relationships..and I mean good quality talking...the kind of conversations that leave you thinking for hours after you're finished. I love this girl....
When she asked if I would go on vacation with her this summer, I will admit, I had some initial hesitation. I thought,"you mean...me & you? Just me & you? I'd have to leave my husband & baby at home & travel across the country without them?! Is that possible!!?? Yiikes!!!!" Not that I wouldn't love a trip and some quality time with my best friend...but I'd have to leave Ava! What if she forgets who I am!!? So...I talked it over with Eric, who bless his heart, encouraged me to get away for awhile and have fun on a girls trip. He said, "you should go hun, I take guy trips all the time, you need a getaway!" I thought, "wow, what a guy. Did my husband just tell me to go enjoy a vacation in California? Without him?....wait a minute...was he serious??" Turns out...he was...AND he handed me the cash from one of his sidejobs for my vacation. God, you have blessed me...I am not even sure I deserve such an awesome husband, family, and friends. Not only did my best friend return me a favor by paying for my plane ticket to get to San Diego, but another of my best friends volunteered to keep Ava overnight for 2 nights and my mom kept Ava over the weekend while Eric worked. I'm at a loss for words...
Enjoy these awesome pics! I want to go back already!!!
Hello California!!!
We rented bicycles as our only mode of transportation on our trip! They were perfect. Pretty fancy Schwinns, eh? So, I just have to add that this picture was taken by a 78 year old woman. I told Chantel that I would stop and ask the next person who walked by if they would take our picture...it happened to be 2 old ladies. Sweet as pie they were. The cute old lady said, "oh you girls have such pretty colors on!" Bless their hearts... :)
Riding down the boardwalk. We really felt like we needed to be on roller blades with our walkmans on like in the early 90's movies... we could've pulled it off. :)
Okay, this fella's name is Scott. Scott picked us up from the airport because we were staying in his condo rental. We didn't know Scott from Jim Bob, so I was sneaking pictures of him from the backseat in case anything happened to us and I happened to get away with my camera. Scott ended up being very nice and showed us around San Diego a little and where all the happening places were to eat (because food was our main concern...always is!). BUT, just in case he turned out to be some creep...I have a few pictures of him. ;) Hey, a young mom away from her family has to protect herself. I might've even memorized his license plate number...just sayin'!!
Our oceanview rental! Not bad...really it wasn't. San Diego hotels are not cheap...especially not beach front! For 100 bucks a night, there was absolutely no beating this place...Chantel found it on craigslist...which might've been another reason for my hypervigilance. ;o)
Oooooh, we ate so good in San Diego. Being 20 miles north of the Mexican border you can imagine that the mexican food was unbelievable. Just unbeatable...P.S. I ate this entire burrito and licked my fork clean! ....okay, Chantel had the last 2 bites... ;o)
Mmm...mmmm. Are you even surprised that I took pictures of the food? You shouldn't be. :) These are banana pancakes with orange infused maple syrup and cinnamon cream. We felt entitled to eat whatever we wanted because we got plenty of exercise on our bikes. Did I mention that it is extremely hilly in San Diego?
On our way to Temecula for our wine tasting tour. Temecula was about 50 minutes northeast of San Diego. The wine tour shuttle picked us up...there was absolutely no way we were riding our bikes there! 5 hours of wine tasting plus bike riding is a recipe for disaster! Anyway, this is a picture of California's avocado trees! Pretty cool. They grow on hills or flatland, so the land they're planted on is usually pretty affordable, but the trees require TONS of water and the harvesting of the avocadoes is extremely laborious, which is why avocadoes are 75 cents to $1.50 each. Workers basically have to climb the trees, pick the fruit, and toss it into a sack on their backs. I would not want that job.
Farmer's Market in Temecula! This was a pretty neat tourist-y city. Lots of shops and boutiques. Anything and everything that could have a shop did....candy & sweets shop....cheese shop...rock shop...coffee shop...clothing shops...etc. We sample lots of popcorn at this farmer's market...and right across the popcorn tent was a clothing tent where Chantel bought a really cute long dress. One stop shopping right there! :)
The first winery we stopped at. Breath taking views. It was incredible. I wished time would just freeze when we got here. Warm sunshine, sweet air, cool breeze...just amazing. Look at those rolling hills....ahhh, I wanna go back! This was a cutesy little winery where we sampled 5 wines and then they fed us lunch. And Franny the mut was by our side the whole time. Should've gotten a picture of Franny...she was a cutie.
The second winery. Way more commercialized, but just as cool as the little winery we just came from. I think they were setting up for a wedding reception when we got here. Can you imagine your wedding reception being held here? Here at Wilson Creek they made the famous Almond Chamgagne. It was tasty. They also had dessert wines that tasted like chocolate...which I found to be pretty gross...but I'm sure in the right atmosphere they might taste better...or not. Anyway, I was a big fan of the dry white wines...those with undertones of peach and pineapple were my favorite. Not too sweet...just right. The red wines weren't bad either. Normally, I'm a white wine girl...but the reds at this winery were pretty darn good.
I just wanted a picture of the breath-taking blue sky...
This picture was taken by a nice gentleman who sat back and watched us struggle with trying to create a makeshift tripod so that we could take a picture of ourselves...he gave us about 3 minutes and a few good chuckles before offering to take our picture.
This is real...there are scenes like this in the world...it was nice to somewhat capture this view...and I say somewhat because sometimes pictures just do not even compare to being there...those are grape vines at the winery...in case you can't tell.
Wine tasting in the barrel room at the winery...gave it an authentic feel. ;o)
Riding our bikes to La Jolla (pronounced Lah-HOYA)...what we thought would be a 30 minute bike ride really ended up being a 50-60 minute bike ride. But, it was worth it! So much fun!
The seal cove in La Jolla. We ventured out on the pier to get a better view.
The waves were crashing away on the pier...occasionally splashing cold pacific ocean water all over us. :o)
Some dude swimming with the seals that wandered up to shore...they must be friends. :)
Our parking spot every night. Had to lock those fancy Schwinns up so nobody would steal them!
Entertainers on the beach. This was our entertainment one night while we waited 45 minutes for our table at the World Famous restaurant.
They were pretty talented!
Getting ready to watch the sunset! We met a family on the beach who invited us over for a cookout and to watch the sunset from the best location on the beach...their balcony. Let me tell ya...San Diegan cookouts are nothing like Ohio cookouts! We had BBQ chicken and potato salad...which was very good...but cooking out on a balcony is nothing like grilling out on the back deck! :) Anyway, they were a very nice family and did have something Ohio can't offer...the most amazing sunset I've ever watched.
They even had sunset watching binoculars... I would too if I lived in their condo!
Aahhhhh.......
Our last day on the beach...and it was gorgeous out! Apparently, San Diego experiences "June gloom" which means that the mornings are very cloudy and gray until about 11am when the clouds clear and the sun comes out. Pretty weird. I had never heard of this kind of thing until we got out there! But the weather was still beautiful everyday. Not quite as warm as I was expecting...but still perfect!
Our last night in San Diego...might've stayed out a little too late...it was very difficult to wake up for our flights at 9 am and even more difficult to remember where we put things...like our ID's and money... which were pretty important since we needed BOTH to board our planes home. And for some reason we had these massive headaches. At least by the end of the trip I was able to drink more than 1 beverage before feeling completely hammered...Chantel was traveling with a super-lightweight...one that was not even going to attempt to keep up with her!! :)
I had an amazing time in San Diego! It was fun to feel young and responsibility-less...no work...no child...no grocery shopping!..haha....but I am soooo glad to be home! I feel so refreshed & ready to start thinking about planning baby #2! Ha!
