I left my $ in San Francisco.

Tony Bennett says "I left my heart in San Francisco"

... and I did. I just left a lot of $$$ there too.

 

We started out our road trip to San Fran with the traditional Dr. Pepper.

Now let me preface this post by saying that if you haven't taken a really long road trip with just you and your hunny before... you need to do it, STAT. There's nothing like endless hours in a car together. Mike and I have taken a handful of trips together but usually with others. This time around it was just me and my babe.
It was grand.

The road trip started after work on a Thursday. I picked him up at 5:30pm with a car fully loaded with carrots, Snack Pack puddings, Gatorade, string cheese, our favorite tunes and a full tank of gas. We made it all the way to Reno, Nevada and- thanks to the time zone change- we got in just before midnight. The next morning we took the beautiful 4 hours drive to Muir Woods (Redwoods and Sequoias just outside San Fran).

Muir Woods is beautiful. Breathtaking. Peaceful. Almost Spiritual.
There's something about the place that makes all the people speak in a whisper, if not at all.
The smell is unlike any other. Fresh.

After Muir Woods was Sausalito. We didn't spend much time there.
Just long enough to stroll along the bay, visit a dozen specialty shops and grab a margherita pizza.

Then we were off to San Francisco!
After we crossed over the bridge, found ourselves lost in Golden Gate Park (with no GPS because Mike's phone made an untimely parting), drove though Japantown (in circles half a dozen times) then we finally found a place to park the car that wasn't outrageously expensive. Only mildly scandalous $60 a night. We sucked up the cost and forked it over and then checked into our little hotel on the Wharf.

 

The next two days were full of food, shopping and tourist attractions.
Alcatraz, Pier 39, the famous sea lions, the Aquarium, Lombard Street, Ghiradhelli Square (complete with hot fudge sundae), Chinatown, the Exploratorium and mastering the bus/trolley system.

 

 The Bay Area proved to be the perfect long weekend getaway.

Although, my travel bug is coming on again (I'm sorry...  It's genetic. I just can't stop!)

so let us know of any fun travel plans we can join in on! Pleeeeeease.

Weekend Roadtrip

The best thing about these past 4 days... no school or work.

The best thing about having nice parentals... they let us borrow their brand new car (once again!) for a weekend road trip to Phoenix.

Since Mike is an officer he volunteered/was forced to be a representative of the University of Utah chapter of Golden Key Honor Society at their regional conference down in Phoenix, AZ. So with our requests in for days off from work and excellent friends taking notes for the 2 classes we missed, we were on our way for a long drive!

After an entire tank of gas, a pit stop at a gross gas station bathroom, a can of peanuts, 4 string cheeses, 6 nutri-grain bars, a half gallon size Powerade, more random music than you've heard in your lifetime (Anberlin, Dashboard, 50 cent, Backstreet Boys, Michael Buble and Mariah Carey) we made it to our destination for the night... Vegas!

We got settled into our hotel and headed across the street to a delicious restaurant called Bahama Breeze. It was DELICOUS and decked out like... the Bahamas, obviously. After we stuffed ourselves fat we headed over to the strip for a free show. I mean the water works in front of the Bellagio... but we definitely got more of a "free show" all over the strip! I tried to shield Mike's eyes when at all possible and scowl and the poor people who tried handing out those dirty cards. I'm sure I hate their jobs as much as they do.

Although, we did see something that seemed a bit out of place for Sin City...

After 4 chocolate Snack-Packs, 4 more string cheeses, 2 bottles of water, another tank of gas, more random music, lots of laughs, thousands of cacti and joshua trees, a stop at the Hoover Dam and a chat with a nice biker from Ogden, and six MORE hours of drive the next day, we finally made it to PHOENIX.

We loved Phoenix. We could totally see ourselves living there. We loved the warm weather (although, Mike is afraid of their summers). We loved the red rock everywhere. We loved the excellent shopping venues. We loved the nice people we met. We loved the easy freeway system (big thanks to the GPS too!).

Mike loved the ASU campus.

I loved the Blue Bell ice cream and CiCi's Pizza buffets there (don't judge me).... and I loved the GOOD DRIVERS.

Thank you Phoenix for such a wonderful time. We hope to see you again sometime very soon!