Hawaii

I am spoiled rotten and am currently in Maui celebrating my 30th birthday. We will be here for a week and have already enjoyed ourselves immensely.

We arrived yesterday morning around 10 am. We went to a farmers market, got my free scoop of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, then went to the local taco shop, Maui Tacos, for a quick bite to eat before hitting the beach.

We tested out the water, enjoyed the view and took a nap before checking into our B&B. We got some great restaurant recommendations and had some poke and blacked mahi mahi for dinner. Then we went to bed early to get our beauty sleep before seeing sunrise at Haleakala this morning.

We listened to the guide books to go to a look out before the summit and were tickled to have the whole place to ourselves.

It was magical.

We then had a delicious breakfast the The Kula Lodge. We stuffed ourselves silly before heading to some farms: a lavender farm and a goat farm. More on that later.

More pictures and video to come. Stay tuned!

New Digs

We are currently in the process of moving from a beach front one bedroom studio that is less than 300 sq feet to a 900 sq foot 2 bedroom apartment a 1/2 mile from the beach 30 minutes north.

We have about 3/4 of our stuff in the new place.  We need to bring up the fridge (apartments in our price point don't necessarily come with a refrigerator ..you'd think that paying over $1500/mo would mean you would get a 'fridge!), pack up the kitchen at the old place and move the last 1.5 loads into the new place. Oh, and completely clean the old place and the new place.

The Best Man and I are so excited to have a bigger place AND to have our first year lease together. Ever. We have been together for 6 years and have been married almost 2 years.  I can't believe we will be in one place for 12 consecutive months!

I am most looking forward to having furniture, friends and a place to call home.  I'm hoping to find a gym here soon. It has been hard to stay in shape when I haven't been able to run.  We haven't been making an effort to go to yoga class either.  I'm hoping to drive the 30 minutes south to our yoga studio to use more of our classes before they expire in August.

In the mean time, here's what we have planned:

Hawaii for my 30th birthday (next week!!!)
Disney and an Angels game for our 2 year anniversary (the week after we get back from Hawaii)
In-laws visit at the beginning of June
Then we are hoping to go to Joshua Tree to camp and hike at the end of June

So many exciting things coming up!

Gearing up for vacation

My Kid Brother and A Girl Named Leney will start making their long journey here in just over 4 hours. My Sassy is driving them from Richmond to D.C. at 1 PM EST.  They will then catch a flight to us here in SoCal. The Best Man and I will play tour guide for a WEEK!

This week will be spent walking on sandy beaches, toasting in wine country, beading for the girls and surfing for the boys, gazing at the animals at the San Diego Zoo, strolling down numerous piers, perhaps riding a feris wheel, enjoying sunsets, touring LA, hopefully spotting a celeb or two- just to name a few things.

So excited!

 Oh, and The Best Man and I may or may not be running the LA Marathon on St. Patty's Day.

Dreaming of Aloha

I'm starting to scheme up ideas for my 30th birthday trip + 2nd anniversary trip. Doesn't everyone go on a trip for their 30th?  Isn't that a thing? If not, it most definitely should be and would someone please tell The Best Man it's a thing? 

I haven't decided if it was a good idea or a bad idea to get married two weeks after my birthday. Now for the rest of my life I will be trying to convince The Best Man that these are two separate holidays and need two sets of presents and/or trips.  Hmm, sounds materialistic.  Oh well.

So, I want to go to Hawaii. I should have some time off by May. I get every 7th weekend off, but still have to work every Friday. I'm hoping I can use some PTO (I don't start accruing PTO for another two weeks) and take a 8-9 day vacation. 

Now the trouble is to first get the time off, then to have the money for this trip. We have started saving, but other things have come up to ruin the fun. I broke my implant (tooth) while comping on some popcorn. If you've never seen me eat popcorn, please, lets keep it that way.  It's not a pretty sight. Another problem is that I have to stop spending money in other places in order to have the funds for this trip. Hawaii seems like a good motivating factor, but I need new bathing suits and sun dresses...and sunglasses... 

By the way

It is currently warm enough for me to bask in the sun in my bathing suit.

I really do love this weather!

Obligatory New Year Post

Well, it's a New Year.

This past year I lived in Texas and California.  On New Years Day we drove from my in laws to my sister's place in NC.  We ate all the "lucky" food she could think of to give us all luck over the course of the year.

We then stopped in Memphis, were amazed by Graceland and underwhelmed by Beale St.

The drive then took us through some boring states to end up in big, 'ol "Everything-is-bigger-in" Texas!

The Best Man and I lived in Fort Worth Texas for about 7 months.  We lived "downtown" and loved walking to restaurants, shops (well, I did anyway), and the local trail system for running and biking.  The two of us got more into running and ran several races (a couple of 5k's, one 10k and two 1/2 marathons).  We made some really good friends with my local co-workers including other travelers.  The Best Man also found some local work and really liked have co-workers (especially local ones) for a change.

Some how we survived the summer in Texas, though it was not a pretty sight!

We then packed it all up at the end of the summer (including my new cowgirl boots!) and made for California.  Along the way we went to Monahands State Park and sand dunes, hiked the highest point in Texas (Guadalupe Peak), explored the caves of Carlsbad Caverns and wondered at the bats, hiked along and under the rim of Bryce Cannyon, hiked Angles Landing and the Narrows in Zion National Park, stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, and hiked to the bottom and back up to the top of the Grand Canyon with hundreds of pictures, a few scraps and just as many new friends and one scorpion sting to show for it.

We've been living in California for the past 3 months.  The weather is perfect.  There is so much to see and do.  We have only been down to San Diego a couple of times, however have plans to continue exploring the city and the surrounding area.

Here's to 2013 and more adventures to come!

Angles Landing

Today we hiked Angles Landing.  It started off very steep with countless switch backs.  I didn't think it could get any harder until we saw a sign 0.5 miles to the summit.  Here is where the real work began.  The rest of the climb was straight up over the ridge with the ground 1400 ft or so below.  We held on to chains staked into the ground to help with ascent.  There is only one way up and down, so we had to pull over numerous times to let people going down pass us by.  The view of the valley was spectacular once we got to the top.  Tomorrow we plan to do a run in the valley (ie. flat!) before heading to Knab, where we will meet up on Monday morning for our REI Grand Canyon trip.

The Narrows

We hiked the Narrows, a slot canyon, today.  It was wet and now I'm tired.  I'm glad to have both my ankles intact.

Zion Day Two

Zion Day 2.  After sleeping in until 8 AM, we began the day with one of the hardest hikes in the park, Observation Point.  With over 2100 ft in elevation gain over the 3.5 to 4 miles to the top, this was one steep hike.  It wasn't as steep as the hike up Guadalupe Peak in TX, but it was pretty hard.  It took us just under 2 hours and 10 minutes to reach the top.  I huffed and puffed the whole way.  The Best Man kept making me take breaks because apparently, not only did I feel like I was going to pass out, I looked like it too.  We finally reached the top and enjoyed the view during lunch.  Had a quick phone interview, then made our way down. 

On the way down it was The Best Man (and our knees) turn to complain, "Where's my icecream?!"  We finally made it to the bottom, did a quick 0.4 mile round trip hike to see Weeping Rock (seep springs which make a hanging garden on the rock face), then made our way to ice cream.  Soft serve.  Plain vanilla for The Best Man and Swirl for me.  So good.  We did a few more shorter (and thankfully flatter) hikes before making our way back to camp.  After showering we had some really good Thai food followed by more icecream. 

Tomorrow we explore "The Narrows" which are some slot canyons, much of the hike will be wading through water. 

Valleys and Canyons

Yesterday we went through the Valley of the Gods and then Monument Valley.  Valley of the Gods, appears to be the less known or at least less visited of the two.  We went "off roading" on a cinder path through the valley.  The enormous orange and red structures jutted out of the ground haphazardly.  It was neat for the first 3-4 miles.  It was a 17 mile journey.  We stopped half way and had lunch then bounced and rolled out of there. 

Monument Valley was a complete and utter zoo.  There were hundreds of tourists, most of them foreign.  It was funny to see how different cultures pose for pictures.  Though I'm sure The Best Man's handstands and my jumping for pictures were amusing to them.  One of the tourists tried to cut in front of everyone in the bathroom line.  When it was my turn.  This did not go over well with me.  I told her there was a line and she apologized in broken English.  I'm going to assume this was a cultural difference and not that she meant to cut in front of 5 women in line.  We got our pictures at the viewing spot and left because we didn't want to deal with another 1-2 hour drive over a dirt road.  And this time with more people.

Then we ended the day in Bryce Canyon.  We didn't have time for a several hour hike, so we opted to go out as far as we were comfortable before turning back.  Looking down from along the rim provided the best view of the canyon, though it was interesting to see the "hoodoos" up close as we made our way to the bottom of the canyon. 

The next morning we started our day with a run along the rim trail.  We logged in just over 3.3 miles and got many stares from old travelers huffing and puffing as the leisurely strolled along.  Next stop, Zion.

Though it is only a 2-2.5 hour drive between Bryce and Zion the weather changed drastically.  We were so cold over the night and had to keep moving to stay warm during our morning run.  When we arrived in Zion, I couldn't change into less clothing fast enough.  First, we found a campsite, The Best Man set up the tent while I made lunch.  After eating we did a 3 mile hike that included some waterfalls (minimal water, but tall in height).  We just had a gourmet dinner of Chef Boardi Ravioli.  Such is camping life.  We have several more days to explore Zion.  Then it's off to the Grand Canyon before heading to California! 

Please note, the first part of this post was written yesterday.  I do not have the battery power nor patience to correct the wording. 

Cliff dwellings and fauna sightings

We spent the afternoon exploring Mesa Verde, a National Park with hundreds of ancient dwellings ranging from pit houses to cliff dwellings.  We were taken back in time as we explored these small villages that cling to alcoves in the rock face.  We got to climb huge ladders and even crawl through a tunnel (The Best Man barely made it through!). There are many mysteries and holes in the knowledge about these cliff dwelling people.  However, they are able to date many of the dwellings, tell what they ate, how they built their homes and much more from the archealogical work they do in the park.  It was really interesting to hear about this culture and the communities this area of the country.

This is where we had our best spotting of wild life.  Shortly after entering the park, we spied a mama bear and her two cubs crossing the road.  We were able to stop and frantically snap a few pictures before they scampered off.  Perfect way to spot a bear if you ask me.  From the car!  We saw about 7 deer in total throughout the day, as well as 4-5 turkey, many bunnies and birds.  Tomorrow we are taking a winding route through the 4 corners, Monument Valley and maybe Antelope Canyon.

Cinders and Aspens

Today was my favorite part of the trip thus far.  It was a great way to end our first of three weeks galavanting around the southwest.  I awed and oohed over the caverns and enjoyed the view from Guadalupe Peak.  However, today's train ride quickly rose to the top of the list for best of this trip.  We arrived in Durango yesterday, pleased again to have even colder weather.

We woke up early today to catch our train from Durango, CO to Silverton, CO 45 miles north.  The train has been running this route since the early 1880's (I'm not sure if it was 1881 or 1882).  The built the track in 9 months, including building the steepest part in the dead of winter.  The owner apparently burned the records of the cost (and lives lost) to keep the outrageous number from his investors, so the story goes. The Best Man and I opted for the open air car. We were able to enjoy the weather (and flying cinders and smoke) and take unobscured pictures.

The views were absolutely stunning.  We sat on the right side of the car after reading tips suggesting to do so.  The tracks followed the Animas River up the mountain, with the river to the right for much of the trip.   The river waters were greenish-blue, which is a nice contrast to the brown rivers we were used to in Fort Worth and in Richmond.  While we were still leaving town we saw a doe and a buck running along side the tracks.  We weren't quick enough to snap a picture.

As the little train began to climb higher and higher into the mountains we noticed the famed aspen trees were starting to turn yellow.  The higher in elevation we went, the more yellow aspen trees we saw.  It was beautiful.  I can only imagine what it will look like in 2-3 weeks time.

Once in Silverton, we had lunch and walked around the shops.  The town has around 600 residents, only 200 of which stay for the winter. Silverton was once a mining town.  Silver and gold mining were the reason the town existed.  With the mining over, the town now relies on tourism.

Instead of taking the (slow 3.5 hour) train back to Durango, we opted for the bus tour (1.5 hours).  Our guide, Lester, told of the towns history and showed us landmarks.  The views were again breathtaking on the ride down the mountain.  I saw three doe just as we started down the mountain on the bus.  I was on the look out for other wildlife, however we didn't see anything other than birds and marmot (is the plural marmots?).

Overall, despite the cinders in my hair and my now sooty running shoes, I had a wonderful day and now have a love affair with Colorado.  Too bad The Best Man says it gets too cold to ever live here.

Guadalupe Peak and more Carlsbad Caverns

The Best Man and I celebrated Labor Day by hiking the highest peak in Texas: Guadalupe Peak.  The elevation gain was over 3,000 ft with the highest point measuring around 8,750 ft.  The total mileage was 8.4 which makes this one steep climb.  It was hard to say the least, however the views made it worthwhile.  It was amazing to look down and see how high we had climbed once we reached the top.  There was one small mountain range close by, otherwise it was extremely flat from our vantage point at The Top of Texas.

After the hike we managed to find ESPN on our motel t.v. and were able to watch the VT season opener vs. Georgia Tech.  VT was up (10 to 7) near the middle of the 4th quarter so we muted the game to do some trip planning.

I skimmed my notes on New Mexico and noted there were some hot springs in the general vicinity of our travels.  After looking into it we decided to book a small room at an inn in Truth or Consequences, NM.  Yes, that's the name of the city.  Definitely curious as to the history of this city's name.  After the inn was booked we glanced back at the t.v.

Overtime?!  14-14 with VT about to punt.  The kick was good and VT won their first game of the season.  Barely.

Today we headed back to the Caverns for two guided tours.  The first of which was a lantern tour where explored the cave on dirt trails with only the light of our lanterns.  We learned a lot about the history of the caves and how the first visitors must have felt venturing in the darkness with an oil lamp or candle.

After briefly surfacing for lunch, we walked down into the cave from The Natural Entrance to meet up with our tour of The King's Palace.  These chambers are the most decorated of these caves and are truly stunning to see up close.  My little camera couldn't do it justice.  The Best Man's camera however was able to capture a lot of the detail my pictures left lacking.  Even with The Best Man's Cannon, external flash and multiple lenses, it is so hard to get an idea of just how enormous these caves really are.  All I can do is recommend you make the trip and see for yourself.  You won't regret it.

After emerging from the caves for our final time we headed to Carlsbad KOA for the night.  We ended up with tent site with electrity.  We soon had a visitor- a bunny! It wasn't very shy, which leads me to believe it was hoping we'd toss it some food.  This KOA has a spectacular bbq dinner.  We split a beef bbq sandwich and 1/2 rack of ribs.  The sauce was fantastic!  I love vinegar!

Next stop: Truth or Consequences, NM for the hot springs.  We are both looking forward to relaxing and recharging.

Texas to New Mexico

The first day of our road trip brought The Best Man and me to Monahans Sandhills State Park. We made camp nestled between sand dunes, leaving the rain fly off the tent in hopes of feeling the breeze all night. We both tossed and turned for hours, unable to get comfortable in the sticky heat of the desert sand. Eventually, the night grew cool. Then, we battled the need to stay warm and the want to remain in the relative safety of our tent. Around 4:30 AM the desire for warmth drew us to our cars for jackets and a blanket. We spied several nocturnal creatures. One was very close to crawling into The Best Man's shoes. It looked like an enormous ant. It had 3 body segments, 6 legs, 2 antennae. However, it was 2 inches long. We snapped a quick picture in order to figure out it was in the morning (and by morning I mean when the morning starts for me...which is hopefully AFTER the sun is up- any time before that is still the night in my world). Upon returning to the tent we noticed a large toad perched under the edge of the tent. He quickly hopped away after we got inside. We were finally able to get a couple of hours of sleep until sunrise.

After taking plenty of pictures on the sand dunes as the sun rose we planned to clean up and get on the road. At this point, we had had our fill of the desert's creatures and sand which seemed to stick to everything. The ranger, Arturo, pulled up at this time. He asked if we had reservations/had paid and then gave us a short (by Texas standards) history of the sand dunes, the park, Indians and some creatures. He tried to excuse himself sevearl times, yet kept on talking. After an hour he went on his way and we finally got to freshen up.

The bathroom was crowded when I got out of the shower, so I headed to the car to finish getting ready. I turned on the radio in the car, but didn't turn on the engine in an attempt to save gas. . . this then lead to a dead battery, which was a quick fix. Lesson learned. Burning gas saves your battery. I know, I know. I should know these things.

Next we went to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico where we explored the caves and later saw the bats flight. The caves were enormous. I felt like I was in The Lord of The Rings, down in caves of Moria. Yes, I'm a nerd (to the point that some friends and I once watched all 3 movies- extended versions- in one day). Seriously overwhelmingly huge place. Loved it, but felt a bit of self imposed time crunch because we hadn't mastered the whole time zone thing. Cut us some slack though because we were relying on our phones which got horrible reception. Which reminds me, I need to find my watch. . .

Tomorrow we plan to hike Guadalupe Peak, which is the highest point in Texas.

Charlotte, NC

They say Greenville, SC is "close to everything and next to nothing." The Best Man and I have been seeing a lot of the "nothing," so we ventured up to a close by "everything" which happened to be Charlotte, NC.

We saw a Ben Folds concert on Friday night, which was a perfect way to start off our laid back weekend. Hysterical! Chatroulette is the way concerts are heading. At least I hope so.

The two of us spent the rest of the weekend wandering around, eating, drinking, seeing. Normally, I feel the need to plan every minute of time in a new city. Besides the concert, the only other plan we had was getting margaritas at Cabo Fish Taco. The rest of the time we poked into art galleries, boutiques and bars.

It was so nice to have a slow pace without plans. I may have to change the way I vacation! Perfect trip. Now, unfortunately, back to reality!

San Francisco: Day 2

San Fran was MUCH colder than I expected. I mean, this is the west coast we are talking about! It is supposed to be warm! Right? Well, the previous day ended up being warm in Napa Valley, so I thought I'd be fine with my sun dress and a sweater. I ended up having to buy an over priced ($60!) pair of Levi's to put under my sun dress to keep warm. We spent the morning riding the trolley, exploring Fisherman's wharf and window shopping. There was a National Park on the bay, which was pretty cool. Below is a picture of me as a feisty, captain of a ship! Aaarg!

After a lunch of fish and chips with a great view, we checked out Lombardy Street. We got a few decent pictures of it. On our way to check out the Golden Gate we saw a LONG line of tourists waiting to drive down this famous street.

Next, we drove over the Golden Gate for the second time. We went to a cool overlook spot that The Best Man had found the day before I got there. We had spectacular views (despite the fog and wind) with only a few other people.



Then, we drove and drove for at least an hour to get to the Pacific. Below is a picture of the first time my piglets ever touched the Pacific Ocean! Not only was it cold, but it was also contaminated! This was as far as I went in! Afterwards we found a dive of a restaurant for dinner. It looked somewhat questionaable from the outside, but we ended up being pleasantly surprised. We came back and took a bit of a nap, then drank some wine and chatted and ended up getting some really good Indian food from across the street.

That was our trip via pictures. Sorry it took so long to post on the second day. I was busy catching up Grey's Season 4 before the new season started this week (it was spectacular by the way!).

Ps. I'd like to mention that TK has officially gotten me hooked on box wine. The good kind, not the shaddy kind. I do have to agree that the only down fall is not knowing when it will run dry.

San Francisco: Day 1

After traveling for nearly 10 hours, I made it to San Francisco only half awake. I did sleep the whole way (but very fitfully because my limbs couldn't stretch out and my legs and butt kept falling asleep), but arriving at 12:30 AM, which was 3:30 East Coast time, really threw me off. Sam was awake of course and chatted my ear off on the way to the hotel.

After a few hours of sleep we got up a little before 7 in order to leave for The Ferry Building at quarter til. We hopped on our first trolley after walking up a hill or two. San Francisco, like Rome (and Richmond!), has 7 hills. I was so surprised at how hilly the city was. I've never seen a city with that many HUGE hills. I think the only reason such a hilly place turned into such a big city is the fact that it's on the water; a port city. I digress. The morning trolley experience wasn't terribly exciting because it was so early and we were one of the few groups of people on the trolley. However, this was great for watching how those things work!



On the way to Napa Valley we crossed over the Golden Gate bridge for the first time and got to see some of the country side.

The first winery was all sparkling or bubbly wine. We learned that only vines from France can be called Champagne due to a treaty. Of course, the U.S. did not sign this treaty with France, but we do honor it and don't use the term Champagne. The tour guide of this winery was very animated for 9:30 in the morning and drank along with us. I'm sure he must have been toasted by noon. The Best Man bought a bottle of bubbly at my request (I'm hoping to use it to celebrate in the next 3 years or so).


Next, we had a picnic lunch of sandwiches and pesto pasta at the second winery. Then, we tasted the wine. This was by far my favourite winery. Everything tasted great and I actually wanted to drink these wines. The Best Man ended up buying THREE bottles of wine.

Then, I get a little fuzzy. We went to two more wineries. One of which we tasted outside and I really enjoyed getting to walk along the vines. The other winery had pretty terrible wine, but since we each got 10 off a bottle we bought two bottles for 9 dollas total!

We ended the afternoon on a ferry back to San Francisco. Even though the wind and speed made it colder, we sat outside on the back of the ferry. We had a much better view than sitting inside.


I'll try to update on day 2 sometime soon! :)

Best Coast here I come!

SO very excited for my trip to San Francisco this weekend! I don't think it will really hit me until I get on the plane/s. I had to work this past weekend for the first time and have subsequently worked the past 7 days in a row. At this point, my main focus is getting through tomorrow's work day (especially since TEN more patients were admitted on my floor alone today). THEN, I will be even more excited. I even have a friend here who is going to drive me to and from the airport! Yesss! I love that I've known her for less than two months and she's willing to go out of her way to drive me around. It probably also helps that she lives 5 minutes from the airport and just bought a sexy, new Beamer this past weekend. It's nice to find girl friends down here who are like the ones I left at home- or like the one I've known since kindergarten at least.

Besides drinking Californian wine in Napa Valley, I am most looking forward to hugging The Best Man. I think that will be the highlight of this trip. I am a very huggy, touchy, feely kinda person. I have only gotten a handful of hugs since I've been down here. These hugs were fleeting and sometimes obligatory and/or awkward. I can't wait to be hugged by someone who knows me and loves me. I think that's the best feeling in the world. Just getting lost in a hug. That is something that I took for granted in the past. Now that I don't have close friends and family to hug I am dearly missing it. It's amazing how much we need another human's touch. Maybe that's part of why I do what I do? Just a thought.

Also, of note, I will be having my first guests next month (unless I can con other friends and family to come sooner). The Dietary Student from my best clinical will be visiting in October to run the marathon (I'm doing the half). This is also right when The Best Man will (hopefully slash better) make it into town. I'm looking forward to showing off my town. Now, I just have to trick my family, KO & Mike, The Newly Weds, TK & PB, etc. to come visit!

Rendevouz

Did I mention The Best Man and I are meeting up in San Francisco next weekend? Yay, I'm pretty pumped on life! We're going on a wine tour in the Napa Valley. On the way back from the tour we ride a ferry and go by The Golden Gate. You should be very jealous. Oh, and I got a new camera last week and it looks like I'll finally get to use it!

Also, of note, second Girls' Night Out outing tonight: Sushi for 2 dolla! Mmm wasabiii! :D

The nerd brigade

Boards review class is this weekend. It was from 8ish to 5:15 today and will be 8:30 til 4 tomorrow. It's torture! But, the good thing is that it just may be the trick to scare me into studying!

ALL of my classmates have jobs lined up already. Okay, so not all, but a decent number of them do. Of course, this is taking a sample out of the other nerds whom are taking the review class. They are reassuring me that, yes, it is awesome that I'm moving away. One of the girls' bf's actually lives in Greenville (if that is actually where I do decide to go). So, it's nice to know that they've made their relationship work over the past few years while being so far apart. Also, maybe I could have one acquaintance in that lil town?

I hope to get a life once my last clinical is over (and boards are taken) and will thus be able to write about more exciting things. Did I mention The Best Man is taking me to Cozumel, Mexico for graduation??? :D