PCH Road Trip - Post 1

After landing in San Francisco and picking up our Chrysler 200 convertible, Katie and I headed to Fisherman's Wharf to see if we could pick up tickets to tour the Alcatraz. The tour has been sold out for weeks and we were hoping to get lucky. We were not lucky so this is about as close as we got:

We walked around Fisherman's Wharf and grabbed a sourdough bread sandwich. After that we checked in to our hotel which was within walking distant to the very curvy Lombard Street. From there we were able to catch a cable car to Union Square.

To cap off the night we had a delicious dinner at a Tapas restaurant followed by a show of Flamenco. This morning we headed over the Golden Gate Bridge and had breakfast a Fred's Coffee Shop in Sausalito before arriving at Muir Woods. We took the Ocean View trail for a 2.6 mile hike in the redwood forest.

After that we started our trek south on Route 1 aka the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). We arrived in Monterey late this afternoon and took a walk around Cannery Row before heading to Carmel-by-the-sea. Off to dinner we go!

Planning.

I have been spending all of my internet time travel planning (excuse for lack of blogging) for an upcoming trip. At the beginning of July, Katie said she had vacation days she had to use before they expired. When a opportunity to travel knocks, I answer! We had talked about wanting to drive down the coast of California and thought this would be a good time to follow through.

I will be meeting her in San Francisco on Saturday morning where we will hop in our rental car and head south along the Pacific Coast Highway. Our end of the line is San Diego, which means... Saint Didacus in Spanish. We will stop to see the sights along the way and hopefully I will have time to post pictures and journal our journey.

Picture from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_1

Jeni's Ice Creams

Sunday, after the US's sad loss in the Women's World Cup, Suzi, Jon, Andrew, Joe and I went to Jeni's Ice Creams to drown our emotions. It worked. Shortly after tasting the salty caramel flavor, my thoughts were on how I didn't ordered a large enough cone. Should have ordered the 3 scoops! Still kicking myself.

Being based out of Columbus, the Chagrin Falls store is new so this was my first taste of Jeni's. It most certainly won't be my last. There are far too many unique flavors I want to try. Next time I think I'll go with Rhubarb & Lime Cardamom frozen yogurt. Yum.

2011 Main Event.

Can you tell who is sitting to Joe's right?

I know the glasses and hat make it a little difficult but it is...

Picture from: http://seinfeld.wikia.com/wiki/George_Costanza

Jason Alexander! Aka George Costanza from Seinfeld. He is actually a decent poker player and has played in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker quite a few times.

This was about the only exciting thing of the main event since Joe got knocked out today. He made it all the way to Day 3 but the money doesn't start until Day 4. We are going to golf tomorrow to forget about his unsuccessful summer.

Wordless Wednesday: Bright Lights

Outdoor living.

We were finally able to spend sometime using our newly stained deck and new outdoor furniture this past Friday. I like eating outdoors and can't wait to use it more frequently.

Our job isn't quite done yet...

We have 4 more stairs left and we will need to do a second coat on the stairs. The deck was in pretty bad shape and drank the stain/sealant like Joe drinks a beer after yard work. That is why we are on our 4th gallon of sealant.

We are going to put in a patio near the basement door. We want to have a fire pit so I can cook s'mores for dessert every night. We marked off the approximate space and can't wait until we can use that outdoor space as well.

Ugly Face.

Now before you judge the below photo, watch this youtube video.

I hope you understand what we are doing now and don't think we are complete freaks. Tara showed us this video on Saturday and we spent the rest of the evening making faces. I can only imagine what people thought.

Here's a normal looking picture just so you can tell we are a decent looking group of girls...

...ignore the case of Coors Light...

The 4th of July weekend.

Friday was spent with Suzi as we went wedding dress shopping at Pat Catan's. Mother-of-the-bride, Mother-of-the-groom and bridesmaid Kaitlyn came as well to see Suzi in something other than athletic wear... She looked very pretty in everything she tried on - Jon is a lucky guy!

Saturday brought about the end of my pining for my husband. Joe flew in and we stopped to get a cheesesteak before we got home and I put him to work assembling our outdoor dining table. Pictures of that coming soon!

Sunday we pulled a forest of weeds from one of the beds in our backyard. We had done a good job in the front of our house but kept procrastinating on the back. I mean only our neighbors can see them... We were tired but forced ourselves to play 18 holes of golf in the afternoon. I blame the morning labor for my poor performance on the course.

We kept the momentum going on Monday and finished weeding in the backyard. We even started to mulch. I'm sure our neighbors will be glad to see the unkempt beds gone. To celebrate the holiday, we headed over to Donna's for a cookout. Nicole and I were beaten pretty badly in cornhole by our husbands (they even played left handed against us one game). All in all, weather was good, food was tasty and a fun time was had!

So close!

Joe was supposed to come back on June 30th but refused to return to me! I suppose he had good reason to stay longer and I am just being salty.

Mr. P was doing well in a tournament. He made Day 2 so they pushed their flights a day back. Then he made Day 3 so again they pushed their flights back another day. Mr. P made a great run in the event, finishing in 26th out of a starting field of 817 players. Picture of Mr. P is below... Joe has, yet again, creepily and partially made it into the background of a photo:

Joe will finally be coming home tonight! Hip Hip Hooray!