San Francisco, Oct. '08

Since one of my best friends from college - Lindsay lives in LA, we try and plan trips to visit each other every couple of months. In lieu of doing the usual LA/Seattle swap, we thought it would be fun to meet in the middle - picking the fabulous city of San Francisco. It worked out well because I had free miles and enough hotel points saved up to get us one night free at the glamorous Westin in Union Square. The weather could not have been more perfect - 70 and sunny with almost no wind (which is almost unheard of for SF). We got in late Friday night, checked in, and almost immediately hit up the Mission. We somehow managed to squeeze ourselves into a tiny table at "Cha Cha Cha." Our table was totally an afterthought, a little 2-seater piggy-backing off a birthday party in the backroom. After our amazing meal of fresh cerviche, spicy mushrooms, fried potatoes and plantains, we found ourselves singing "Feliz Cumpleanos" along with the birthday goers, cheers-ing everyone over sangria. Good times! We hit up a few more places in the Mission including "Beauty Bar," which is the coolest bar ever, there was a manicurist on duty until midnight, and old fashioned hair dryers, and great 80's music.

We spent the majority of the next day shopping around, even did the touristy Ghirardelli Square and Marina waterfront walk where we met up with Lindsay's sister Ashley who lives by the Marina. We took a trolley ride back up toward Union, and met up with Ashley again that night for at a Middle-Eastern/Mediterranean restaurant.

On our last day, we went out to brunch at "The Grove," on Chestnut Street and shopped around the cute boutiques around there. A little later, Ashley picked us and drove us to the old military base Crissy Field and we took a short hike up to view the Golden Gate bridge. Except, unlike the gorgeous cloudless skies we'd had Friday and Saturday, Sunday was chilly with so much fog, it completely concealed the bridge, walking across it felt like walking into an abyss! Despite the weather, we still got some great pictures, and had an opportunity to see the gusty winds in true San Francisco fashion. Overall, a great (and packed) weekend, I definitely slept well on the plane ride home!

The Gorge, September '08

Made the drive to Eastern Washington to see Dave Matthews Band in concert at the most gorgeous outdoor venue there is - The Gorge in George. Quite honestly, I'm not a huge Dave fan, but it sure was a much needed, relaxing last hurrah of summer before the start of the school year.

I met up with Bobby and his friends from Purdue at the campsite. I wasn't able to drive in with the group since I spent the majority of the week setting up my classroom, in nervous anticipation for my first day. (eek!) I arrived to cloudless skies, and warm sun...perfect tank-top weather! The last time I was at the Gorge for Sasquatch my friends and I found ourselves trapped in the middle of a hail storm, so needless to say this warm weather was well received. Bobby brought quite the spread, and cooked up a sausage, vegetable, egg, and cheese casserole for breakfast, and then shrimp tacos for lunch. We hung around the campsite, people watching, playing Catchphrase, and catching some rays before the concert started.

The show was great, he played the few songs I actually know the words too, "Cornbread," "Satellite," and "Crash," so I actually felt like a legitimate fan being able to sing along. The evening was cool but not too chilly, and we laid back and enjoyed listening to Dave croon, laying back to enjoy the melodies under the stars.

I had to leave pretty early the next morning, after Bobby and I walked to the one coffee stand on the campgrounds and got my much-needed fuel for the drive home. All in all - a great little getaway, back to reality...

North Peninsula, August '08

Camping trip 2008! Jody scouted out many a place for us to spend a weekend out of the city, and apparently everyone else had the same ideas...so we opted to spend 2 nights at their camp friend Murph's property in the North Peninsula, about 2-hours north of Seattle. Eight of us ended up making the trip; Jody, Anton, Anna, Alex, Kostas, Andy, Margaret, and myself, a great group. We arrived at the campsite which had a stealthy firepit, kitchen area, and wall-less shelter that was floored with thick red gym mats - perfect!

The weather could not have been more perfect, we made a trek up to Costco prior to departure and stocked up on all of the goods to make foil dinners (Anna, Jody, and Margaret's specialty from the camp years)...We unloaded our cargo, sleeping bags, and food and chatted around the fire, telling stories until the wee hours. The next day we set off on a canoe expedition, packing trail mix, fruit, water, and sandwich supplies to keep us going. The sun was scorching, and the paddled grueling - roughly 4 hours on the water, but it was well worth it to hang out with friends, playing various games across boats; 7 Degrees of Separation, sing-a-longs, and connect-the-songs...

We weren't entirely roughing it, we did drive into town for some drive-through coffee at a local barista, but we figured after our day of paddling, we deserved it. O a side note, I ended up red as a lobster, my entire back was so burned that I couldn't sleep on my back for a week after the trip, but overall it was a great bonding experience and an opportunity to venture outside the sweaty reaches of Seattle for a day or two. Definitely going to do this again next year!

Whistler, May '08

Sarah's "hen night," became a bachelorette weekend, in Whistler, B.C. With Canada being the destination du jour, we were able to bring our one youngster, maid of honor Samantha along with us. We started off at the Galando's where Alicia presented all the girls with t-shirts to commemorate the wedding of Sarah & Nathan with the tag line, "White is the New Gai." We piled into the suburbans and began the 6 hour trek up to Whistler to begin the bachelorette festivities. After opening presents we got all dolled up and headed out on the town, with Sarah sporting her bachelorette sash. It was a rowdy, roaring good time! The next day we laid by the pool, and shopped Whistler village before getting ready for another night out. We headed to a fancy dinner at a Japanese Steak House, where we treated the bride to a fabulous meal cooked right before us, and a few sake bombs, just for good measure. We rallied at Longhorns with a bachelor party to whom Sarah knew the groom, and proceeded to dance together, before a late night trip to ZogDog for some sustenance. All in all, a fabulous bachelorette weekend, cheers to the bride!

Seaside, Oregon, March '08

In celebration of Anna's 27th birthday, 12 of our closest friends took a road trip to Seaside, Oregon for a birthday weekend getaway. Anna's grandparents have a sweet little pad about 3 blocks from the beach, which built to accommodate her enormous family, made for comfortable sleeping arrangements for all. On Friday we rolled into Seaside late in the evening after work, and the festivities began.

Saturday we played Frisbee on the beach (and found an awesome sand castle) while walking en route to Seaside proper. While in town, we took in the local attractions: Tilt-A-Whirl, mini-golf, video arcade, and other small town novelties that shouldn't be missed, including saltwater taffy...Yum! Jody and I stumbled upon $5 viking hats in a hat store, which we simply couldn't pass up. All 12 of us ate lunch at Be-Bop Burger before walking back to the house, resting and relaxing before our Greek counterparts whipped out an amazing birthday dinner for Anna.

Nick, Kostas, and I made a trip down to the local grocery store and snuck behind the deserted bakery case to select for Anna the perfect b-day cake (the selection was minimal)...a tall, pink frosted cake, upon which we wrote "Happy Birthday." We drank wine and toasted to the birthday girl, before an evening of beach bonfires and relaxing. All in all, a great weekend!

Vail, Colorado (February 2008)

Presidents Day is the greatest holiday! A free day off in the middle of winter, perfect opportunity for a ski-weekend getaway. My family rendezvoused in Vail, Colorado for four sweet days of skiing. Unfortunately my sister Allie was unable to attend because of school, but Katie was able to fly in from New York City.

I had a terrible cold before we flew to Vail, and it stuck with me for most of the weekend, but I did manage to get 2 days of quality skiing in. The snow was AMAZING, at least a foot of fresh, lightweight, dry powder that completely covered my ski's.

At night we made the best of Vail's restaurant scene, eating at great locale's including Sweet Basil and Larkspur. I tried to make the best of it, even though my Sudafed cocktail did not mix too well with wine and spirits. It was great being all together again, especially since we hadn't seen Katie since she came home for Christmas. All in all it was a great, short but sweet family vacation.