Golf Trip Photos

We had a great trip and played at three of the five PGA National courses. Some rounds were better than others but overall we loved our golf vacation!

PGA national

I think Joe is more excited for this than any other vacation we have ever been on.

(Picture from: pgaresort.com)

I am excited too - but Joe is beyond ecstatic! We are headed to PGA National Resort this weekend. Hopefully we'll both play well but either way it will be fun!

PCH Road Trip - Post 5

When we arrived in LA, our schedule slowed down quite a bit. We stayed with Katie's good friend, Jenny, who lives in Santa Monica. On Thursday, we had a delicious late breakfast before taking on an uphill hike to Griffith Observatory. We attempted to continue our hike to the Hollywood sign but couldn't find the right trail.
That evening we went to happy hour at The Edison, a 1920's themed bar. The idea is pretty neat; upon entering you receive a token to turn in for 1 drink for the price it cost back in that era. We got a martini for only $0.35! However, my second drink was $12. The bartenders and waitresses are dressed for the period and the decor matches as well. It was a unique experience!
The following morning we had breakfast and then took route 1 toward San Diego. This was the slowest drive of our trip - there were many small towns to go through and we hit rush hour traffic upon our arrival to San Diego. We quickly changed and had appetizers at the hotel bar...
...before heading to the Old Globe Theater in Balboa Park to see Engaging Shaw. It was a romantic comedy and the three of us were amazed that a cast of 4 people could put on such an entertaining show without even a scene change.

Picture from: http://raecosta.smugmug.com/Travel/California/Night-Photography/8926163_Pspuu/1/1184808643_HeK3e#1184808643_HeK3e

The next morning we packed our bags and headed to the airport. It was a great trip and I was glad to be able to spend so much time with Katie since I don't see her often enough.

PCH Road Trip - Post 4

After our wine tasting on Tuesday, we headed to our hotel in Solvang. Solvang is a small Danish community that appeals to tourists like Katie and me! It was cute to walk around and we got Aebleskiver for breakfast.

We were lucky to have a Bradley Ogden restaurant right next to our hotel. It was probably our best dinner of the trip.

The following morning we headed to Santa Barbara where we were able to park and do some of the Urban Wine Trail.

After a winery or two or five, we walked over to the Marina part of Santa Barbara where we had decent dinner at Brophy Brothers.

PCH Road Trip - Post 3

After our restful night at the Madonna Inn, we headed toward Los Olivos with one mission: Wine Tasting! We stopped at 3 wineries on Zaca Station Road. We were pulled in by the name of the first winery; Tres Hermanas (3 sisters in Spanish)

Our second stop was Fess Parker winery where we got to enjoy our vino outdoors.

Our last winery stop was Firestone Winery where we asked quite a few questions about the wine making process. Katie and I are now prepared to start our own vineyard.

We got to Los Olivos where we had time to do an olive oil tasting. This was a very unique experience and I was amazed I could taste the nuances in different types of olive oil. I had never put much thought into the type of olive oil I used but this opened up my eyes to a world of flavors!

PCH Road Trip - Post 3

After a long day cruising along route 1, we stopped at the popular Madonna Inn to rest our weary selves.

Katie had heard a lot about this outrageous hotel and made it a must stop for our journey. Each room is unique with its own name and look. Our room was the Wilhelm Tell...

My favorite part of the room, without a doubt, was the shower....

PCH Road Trip - Post 2

After breakfast in Carmel-by-the-sea on Monday morning, we headed to Point Lobos State Park. It was a little overcast but a beautiful park.

We continued to head into the Big Sur where there were stunning views around every bend. Our next stop was Pfeiffer Falls. It was a steep climb to see the waterfall but was nice to see. Unfortunately, I didn't get a very good picture to share. However, I do have a nice one to share of our lunch at Nepenthe...

After that we went to McWay Falls. This was actually the second time I've been there but I was excited to see it again.

We happened to stop at a vista point that had the following:

Elephant Seals! These things were massive and I was really excited to see so may of them so close up!

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

Wordless Wednesday: Bright Lights

Jersey Shore.

I had a great weekend in Sea Isle City, NJ. It doesn't matter where my Spain friends and I go, we always have a good time. We all (minus Olivia) got there on Friday afternoon and the earliest arrivers got to spend a little bit of time at the beach. We spent time catching up before going out to a few bars that night.

We spent all day on the beach on Saturday - the weather was perfect; sunny skies and low humidity. SPF 30 worked well enough and I didn't get burned. We had a nice dinner and went out again on Saturday. We were all headed home on Sunday but got to spend a few hours on the beach again. We ocean kayaked which was a lot of fun. Rachel and I successfully did not capsize the first 2 times we went out and back through the waves but capsized on the 3rd and 4th. We regressed I guess. Can't wait until our next reunion, whenever and where ever that may be!

Rio Wine Cellar

The Rio doesn't have a whole lot to do which is unfortunate since that is where all of the World Series of Poker events are played. However, Mrs. P and I discovered the Wine Cellar which is the best hidden gem in the Rio and dare I say, the entire Strip!

You head down these stairs and arrive in a wine cellar. You will be the only person there besides the bartender and you can enjoy a flight of wine and cheese. How they have stayed alive all these years is beyond me but I'm glad to have my own personal wine cellar in Vegas.

Danke Lufthansa!

I received a check from Lufthansa today! Not just a partial payment for the laptop that was plundered from my suitcase on our trip to Berlin, but a complete - to the penny - reimbursement! This was more than I had expected but exactly what is deserved!

Berlin Bears.

The bear is a symbol we saw alot of around Berlin. Not only on their flag, but also on random statues about the city:

Berlin Photos.

Our first day in Berlin we saw the Reichstag (Parliament Building) as well as the Brandenburg Gate:

While Joe and his Dad played poker at the Spielbank Casino...

Mrs. Patrick and I toured the Charlottenburg Palace and the beautiful gardens behind it:

Otherwise we strolled the streets of Berlin. We went through the Nikolai Quarter, the reconstructed "Old Berlin."

Museum Isle:

Headed home...

After a great week in Berlin, we are headed home tomorrow morning. It will be a long day of travel but it will be good to get home and go back to our routine and see our dog! Everytime I saw a dog it made me think of Bailey and how much she would have loved all the walks we went on.

Anyway, see everyone soon!

Dresden Photos

I had a little bit of time to upload the highlights from our trip to Dresden yesterday:

Dresden.

Yesterday was Day 1 of the EPT and unfortunately for them, they did not make it through the day. I figure it is a good thing because now they get to spend more of their time experiencing Germany.

For example, today, we took a two hour train ride to Dresden. It is south of Berlin and gave us some nice time to relax and see the country side. Dresden has a lot of history and the architecture was beautiful. We had a nice time strolling around, having lunch and taking in the sights. We were happy for the train ride back to rest.

East Berlin Wall.

Not Wunderbar.

We had a safe and relatively hassle-free trip to Berlin after our cancelled flight yesterday morning. We were forced to check our luggage on our flight from Charlotte to Munich and they said they would check it all the way to our final destination of Berlin. However, they did not get our luggage on our connecting flight (there were 3 hours between the flights - plenty of time for transferring luggage in my opinion).

This was disappointing but we went to our hotel to freshen up and then went exploring. We saw the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag as we wandered near our hotel. We had our first beer and german sausage at a cafe by the river. Here comes the not so good part. We got back to our hotel to find our luggage had been delivered but that my MacBook Pro laptop had been stolen. They left the apple charger (not very worthwhile to me without the laptop) and my Canon camera.

Not the best start to the trip but I am trying to not let it get me down. The beer will help!