SB 2012 (part 2): continued

In the spirit of catching up on VERY delayed blog posts, I have devoted this entry to finishing up my spring break travels!

After our weekend in San Fran, Alaina and I traveled a few hours south to San Luis Obispo, where Alaina teaches at Cal Poly University. When we arrived close to midnight, I woke up and instantly noticed that the entrance to Alaina’s house (really the entrance to her canyon) was marked with a sign to beware of mountain lions.  I promise that I am not exaggerating.  After traveling a few hours south, I felt like we were in a different world than the city of San Francisco.

Despite my initial concern over mountain lions, my few days in SLO were wonderful.  I spent my time in SLO going to the beach, exploring downtown, hiking and even horseback riding.  I can’t remember the last time I was on a horse.  Probably when Alaina and I were in middle school.  All our adventures were so fun and had the perfect balance of relaxation and adventures. 

 

Each night we made dinner and watched movies, Friends, and Jeopardy. And yes, I do know how incredibly cool we are.  I finally was able to read The Paris Wife, which I had been looking forward to reading for months.  This kicked off my new fascination with Earnest Hemingway and the 1920s, but that’s another story.  (Note: the dinner pictured below was our proudest meal of eggplant parm, brussel sprouts and sweet potato biscuits.  Any picture I ever take of food should be credited to Caroline Merrill.)

The most important thing about this part of my trip was the wonderfulness of spending time with Alaina.  The friendship I have with this girl is one of the most treasured relationships I have.  It is amazing the importance and balance that a best friend can bring to your life.  If only California wasn’t so darn far away. J

Thursday afternoon we packed up and headed down the coast to LA, where Alaina dropped me off for the next phase of my trip.  Arriving in LA was quite the culture shock after being in SLO.  LA and I got off to a rough start after my ticket at the LAX airport.  However, after I got over the ticket and picked up my friend Emily, our 24 hours in LA were much better.  The highlight was definitely the Warner Brothers Studio Tour, where we saw the Friends set and Harry Potter props. Amazing.

After our short and sweet LA trip, Em and I headed to Vegas for Ali’s wedding.  Vegas was a welcome quiet after LA and almost felt like going home.  Which I know sounds strange but I was so ready to leave LA, we really could have gone anywhere and I would have been a happy camper.

Despite that we had just been in Vegas two months ago, this trip was incredibly different.  We stayed in the north part of Vegas at the Red Rock Hotel & Casino, pretty far removed from the strip.  When we arrived Friday night, we were able to meet our friend Mo and make it to the rehearsal dinner after-party.  The weather was perfect on Saturday and we were able to do a little hiking at the Red Rock Canyon, only a few miles from our hotel.  After the hike, we got ourselves dressed up and headed to the wedding. 

From the moment Ali walked down the aisle, we all knew that her wedding was going to reflect her perfectly.  The dress, the colors, the venue, the dinner, the flowers and all the details just matched Ali and Steve so well.  We had an absolute blast at the wedding, catching up with old friends and making new ones.  After sending Ali & Steve off in style, the entire wedding party went back to the Red Rock to continue the celebration. 

On Sunday, Mo and I spent our last day in Vegas at the wedding brunch and then exploring the strip.  We stayed at the Bellagio (my favorite Vegas hotel!) and just enjoyed walking and exploring on Mo’s first Vegas trip.  Even though we had a fabulous time, by Monday afternoon we were definitely ready to head back to the east coast.  After a few airport adventures and canceled flights, I finally made it home at midnight.

Monday night when I got home was the most exhausted I had been in quite a while.  But it was totally worth it.  I have been so blessed with amazing friends who love me and love adventures.  And really, what else can a girl ask for?

SB 2012 (part 1): San Fran

Being back in school definitely has its benefits.  And after two miserable weeks of midterms, you get rewarded with a week off.  The genius of spring break.

For my week long break from classes, I decided to visit one of my very best friends, Alaina, who moved out to San Luis Obispo to teach at Cal Poly University.  It was timed quite well since I could spend a full week with Alaina and then head to Vegas to celebrate the wedding of my very first dc friend, Ali Hamrick.

Since San Luis Obispo (called SLO by the locals, apparently) is in the middle of the state of California, I had the option to fly into either San Francisco or Los Angeles and then Alaina and I would spend the weekend in either place.  I clearly opted for San Fran.

I was told that San Francisco is called “the city” in Nor Cal. And it was definitely unlike any other city I have ever been to.  It has the ‘anything goes’ attitude of NYC, the neighborhood feel of DC, and the ease of a Californian lifestyle.  I loved it.

I arrived Friday night and since I was on east coast time, we crashed right away.  Saturday morning we were up early and headed into the city to begin our day of playing tourist.  We headed to the bay and walked around Ghirardelli Square and Fisherman’s Wharf.  We walked down several of the piers, including pier 39 with all the sea lions! We had a delicious seafood lunch in the wharf then headed to Presidio Park on the bay and spent a few hours relaxing on the beach with a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Thankfully, the weather cooperated as it was 75 degrees and sunny for both days.

After our first day of adventure, we checked into our boutique hotel in the Union Square neighborhood.  The highlight of the hotel was this sign at which point we decided that San Fran was not meant for overweight people.

Saturday night we ventured out in Union Square for dinner and drinks.  After our sushi dinner, we ducked into a little dive bar called the White Horse Tavern.  At this point in the evening, highlights included the worst sangria I have ever had in my life, meeting members of the Duke basketball team, and Alaina legitimately spilling popcorn across the entire bar.

Sunday we did more exploring, this time by simply walking and walking.  We walked through several neighborhoods, my favorites being Nob Hill and Russian Hill.  The houses were beautiful and with those hills, we definitely got our exercise for the weekend. We had brunch in Nob Hill, walked down the famously crooked Lombard Street and then ended back up at the waterfront. 

After meeting up with a few friends, we had Ghirardelli sundaes as our last stop.  After making Alaina promise we could stop at In-N-Out for dinner, we were on our way to SLO J