We had so much fun at the Balloon & Wine Festival yesterday! We got up EARLY to watch the balloon launch and meet up with my dad, his girlfriend and her daughter.
After that we came home to chill for a while. My dad came over to hang out too until they could check into their hotel. THEN we decided we had to take them to Sweet Lumpy’s for a BBQ lunch.
I ordered the tri-tip burrito and I have to admit that the nacho cheese was the selling point for me. It came with freshly made fries too! I was only able to eat a little less than half the burrito.
Matt had my fave – the pulled pork sandwich!
After lunch my dad and crew headed to their hotel and Matt and I decided a nap was in order. What was planned to be a 20 minute power nap turned into a 2 hour sleep-fest. Oops. But we made it back to the festival around 4:30. Just in time for some fun wine tasting and exploring!
Only made it through a couple of wine tastings before I switched over to beer. Shock-Top to be exact. Beer just seemed more refreshing in the 90 degree heat than wine. Although the wines I tried from Thornton and Wilson Creek were ah-mazing!
For dinner I went with a BBQ Chicken Pizza from CPK and Matt had a tri-tip sandwich.
Matt says relax!
We met back up with my dad & co and listened to the Gin Blossoms! I think I know exactly 3 of their songs. But it was fun to watch.
After the concert we headed over to watch the balloon glow. Somehow Alyssa and I convinced a balloon operator-guy to let us in a basket. We know people.
I posted all the pics from the day on Flickr, so feel free to go check them out!
I’m a little frustrated because this morning I wrote this great post about our ride around Silverwood Lake and now it’s gone! I SAVED the draft because I still had to upload the photos and embed the video. So annoying. I’m just going to blame it on Matt even though he’s been at work all day. That’s how I roll.
Anyways I’m going to make this one short…we rode around Silverwood Lake on Saturday. In Aaron’s Manx. The end.
Just kidding. So I’ve been wanting to get a helmet cam for Matt when he rides his motorcycle, but I didn’t really want to spend the dough on a good one. Well, I found an Action Cam on Amazon Gold Box a few weeks ago for $50 and ordered it. I wouldn’t say it produces the greatest quality videos, but for the price it’s awesome! The camera will record 1 hour with a 2GB SD card. OK, back to the ride…Matt had the idea to attach the camera to the Manx so we could shoot our entire ride. We ended up with over 5 hours of video, so Matt sped it up to make a short 22 minute video. I’m pretty fond of the part at about 11 minutes in when all the guys are running to the bathroom. I suggest you watch the entire video, but make sure you set aside 22 minutes of your life first. Oh and wait 30 minutes after eating to watch otherwise you might get sick.
Matt and I did’nt really have any plans for the 4th of July this year, so I decided to call up my friend Tracy and invite myself to do whatever she was doing. That’s how I roll. I’m not ashamed. Her and her family just so happened to have a drive up to Santiago Peak planned for that afternoon. And we were invited to meet them up there.
Matt and I didn’t even know Santiago Peak existed before then. They were all headed up through Orange County, while Matt and I found a trail that started in Corona. It took us at least 2 hours to make it up to the peak. It was so much fun!
There are several antennas on the peak.
The views from the top were amazing. We could see downtown LA, San Clemente, Palomar, Ontario…all over southern CA!
We a fun picnic lunch and a little wine at the top! So fun and I can’t wait to do it again. Although parts of the trail going up were questionable in the truck. So, on the way down we followed the Carlsons back down through Orange County.
Matt wasn’t involved in these shenanigans, but I got to attend Tracy’s bachelorette party weekend in San Diego a few weeks ago. I met the ladies in Orange County Saturday morning and we drove down to the Carlsbad outlets to get a little shopping in.
After our shopping extravaganza we made our way to the Marriott Hotel and Marina in San Diego. The hotel is now on my list of faves and I will be back there soon!
We had dinner at Dick’s Last Resort…too crazy! We had a blast and a few shots.
After Dick’s we headed to The Double Deuce. What a fun place. Poll dancing, bull riding and a little twangy music…what could be better?! Oh and more shots.
The next morning we all woke up at 7 a little groggy. The comment was made, “you know you’re getting old when you go to bed at 3 and still wake up at 7.” So true. But we rallied and made our way to Lips for brunch wearing the bachelorette shirts we made. The shirts are based on the movie Anchorman. Go watch it.
Brunch was fun…the pregnant Cher was my favorite part.
Wow, I haven’t posted in over a month! Bad girl!! So, what have we been up to? Well, we went to Vegas Memorial Day weekend and saw our good friends, Tracy and Anton, get married on a Harley. Yep, they drove through The Little White Wedding Chapel on the Harley.
The official wedding is coming up soon…in Puerto Vallarta!! They had to make it legal in the states, so they decided to do it while we were visiting. Others in attendance include the brides brother and his wife.
I got to play Maid of Honor, which basically meant I got to carry Tracy’s crap around in my purse all night! But I didn’t mind because I’m nice like that. She also shared a ginormous cocktail with me.
Congrats Tracy and Anton! We are so glad that we got to be apart of your (un)official wedding!
By the time Sunday morning rolled around I really wasn’t feeling well. My headache started out small but grew worse throughout the day. But I managed to power through it. Tracy and Anton hosted a fun Super Bowl party at their place. I helped a little bit and made my artichoke dip and wrapped the gifts for the prize wheel. (I ended up winning a cute football tray!) One of Tracy’s friends baked a cake shaped like a stadium, so she got to decorate it! It turned out really cute!
I had planned to take more photos during the party, but my body wasn’t having it!
We left their house on Monday morning, happily missing the Sunday night traffic! We made our traditional stop at Freed’s Bakery before leaving town. They have the best cakes! We got 3 slices to go…Oreo Cheesecake, Carrot Cake and Strawberry Wedding Cake! All were delicious as usual!!
On Thursday afternoon Matt and I decided that we needed a trip to Vegas. We figured we could leave Friday after he got off work and come home on Monday. So, I packed our bags and loaded up the car while Matt was at work and within an hour of him getting home we were off. Surprisingly, traffic wasn’t as bad as we were expecting and we arrived in about 4 hours. We crashed at Tracy and Anton’s place, which isn’t too far from the strip. It was our first trip to Vegas where we didn’t stay on the strip, but we got to hang out with some great friends! Tracy and Anton have completely remodeled their entire downstairs and it looks amazing! Anyways, Friday night we pretty much just hung out and chatted with our friends.
Tracy and Anton had plans on Saturday to finish up their crown molding with her dad, so Matt and I were on our own to hang out. We decided we’d do the usual and wander around the strip. We parked at Caesar’s Palace and had our first drink, which turned out to be too pricey. So, Matt headed back to the car and grabbed a bag of mini bottles I had been saving for a rainy day. Man, this blog post is going to make it seem like we have a drinking problem and I cannot confirm nor deny the allegations. Anyways, we ended up finding a vendor that had Red Bull’s, so we bought one and added our own vodka.
At this point we figured it would be a good idea to actually eat something and headed over to Margaritaville for a snack…OK, and more drinks. We found our spots at the bar, which just happened to be the same seats we sat in the last time we were there. We started with some drinks and nachos. Then it was time for our tradition..I asked the bartender to make us shots of her choosing. After she consulted with her co-workers she made us a concoction of pineapple, sour apple pucker and vodka. My favorite kind of shot because it didn’t taste the least bit like liqour!
Later we walked around the strip some more and ended up back at Planet Hollywood in Caesar’s Palace. Matt had to sober up so we could head back to Tracy and Anton’s for dinner. We shared a sandwich and I enjoyed a couple of more drinks.
I don’t remember too much that happened the rest of the night. I remember playing a dice game with Tracy, Anton, Gary and Matt…it had something to do with 1′s and 5′s. Oh and I remember yelling, “Go Anton, it’s your birthday, do a shot” over and over. It’s something THEY will remember and remind me of the rest of my life! I’m sure I was annoying, but I think I had fun!
Matthew just remided me that I never wrote about day 4 of our trip up north. I suppose I forgot! Our day started off with a trip into San Francisco to get our coffee on. We had heard about Bluebottle Coffee Company and wanted to give it a try. Matt really isn’t much of a coffee drinker, but he’s always up for an adventure and trying new things. Bluebottle was a little dificult to find as it seems like it’s in a corner, but we finally made it after several u-turns…there was seriously one street where we coludn’t make any left turns. Anyways, it is the coolest little cafe. The place was packed and took a while to get a seat and our order, but I was well worth it! I ordered the New Orleans Iced Coffee, which is flavored with french chicory. It was the most fabulous coffee I had ever had. No comparison the the burnt, watered down crap from Starbucks! Matt ordered a mocha…which was good too. We also split the poached eggs on Texas toast with proscuito. I have been craving it ever since! We will definatly have to make it a tradition to stop there whenever we are there! Sorry, we were enjoying the experience too much to stop and take any photos. We will have to remember next time! I am also planning to order some coffee from them soon…unless one of my friends in the SF area want to pick some up for me so I don’t have to pay for shipping. Hint, hint.
We sort of took our time going home. We thought we would go check out the Googleplex in Mountain View and the Apple Campus in Cupertino. We thought that would be more exciting than what it turned out to be. They should have stores open to the public or something. But we took a few pics while we drove around.
Our trip included several stops to various Costcos looking for a Nintendo DS Lite for ME…but they were all sold out.
We had so much fun on our road trip. Matt and I get along so well and we laugh so much…at each other and others! We can’t wait for our next road trip and look forward to seeing our SF friends again soon!
Sadly, Jessy and Wes had to work on Monday. However, Jessy just happens to work at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco! She was able to get us in there and we spent the morning exploring. Jessy was able to show us around a bit before going to work. The Academy is located in Golden Gate Park, so it was absolutely beautiful. We were lucky enough to see the first showing at the planetarium, which was pretty cool…(I must admit that I fell asleep for a moment or two during the show though). I think my favorite part of the Academy was the roof and the albino alligator.
After lunch, Matt and I headed out for more exploring in the city. We first thought about going to the wharf and doing the usual sight seeing; however it was such a beautiful day we decided to go for a drive instead. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, which is something I had never done before. Then we made our way to the Point Bonita Lighthouse. The views were spectacular!
We then decided to make our way to Lombard Street…niether of us had driven down Lombard before, so it was fun! I’d have to say driving up Lombard was a bit nerve wracking since it was so steep, but the drive down was fun! I’m so glad we were able to make up our own adventure!
Later we met back up with Jessy and Wes for dinner! We had such an amazing time visiting the city and catching up with our friends!
The evening we arrived at Jessy’s we went out to the Conga Lounge in Oakland! It’s part of Pizza Rustica’s restaurant downstairs. Oh man it was good! I had a drink, but I can’t remember what it was called…it had banana liquor in it though!
After a lovely night of food and game playing we woke on Sunday to a sunny day in NoCal. First on the agenda was brunch. We ended up at a cute little place called Marzano. Matt ordered the most delicious huckleberry french toast and I had a side of homemade sausage. Delicious!
Then we were off to Fairfield for the Jelly Belly factory tour. In case you are ever in the area you should at least stop by for unlimited FREE samples! After that we spotted an olive oil shop that also had free tastings. They had some good stuff and we bought a bottle of the zesty garlic olive oil. Mmm…
We were pretty pooped after our busy day so Jessy decided she would just cook dinner instead of going out. Oh and we watched the Chargers kick the Broncos bootys!
