Well. Once again, we had a completely amazing trip to the West Coast. We left Thursday a week ago, and flew into McCarren airport, which is in Las Vegas. We stayed in the New York New York casino, which was pretty cool. The shower head was AWFUL, but the room was nice:) We went out that evening after dinner, and in the interest of walking off our dinner trekked about 6 miles down the strip! My poor hubby; he's not used to all that walking:) We went into the MGM Grand/Venitian/Ceasar's Palace/Bellagio/Mirage. We went through a bunch of the shops/malls this time and got to walk through a Peter Lik art gallery, which was AWESOME!
Upon waking, we hopped in the car and drove Southwest to Carlsbad, CA. Carlsbad is about 30 mins north of San Diego. We stayed in a resort right across the street from the ocean called the Tamarack. It too had a sucky shower head, agh! Lol. We had dinner right there next door, then went out once again to walk in downtown Carlsbad, which is a really cool little beach town. Everyone ... and I mean, EVERYONE was either running, or riding a bike:) The Ironman triathalon was in town for the following day, so we got out of there Saturday and headed to downtown San Diego. We walked through the city (which was a MUCH bigger city than I'd anticipated), and had lunch outside at a place called Nicky Rottens, which was neat. I had my very first chili burger; I cut it in half and ONLY ate half of it;) We purchased a few souveniers for family members, then went back to Carlsbad. We again walked into town, had dinner at an italian restaurant, then headed out to the beach to walk in the Pacific Ocean. Let me tell y'all; it was NOT warm. The entire time, I had been wearing jeans, a long sleeved T, and a light jacket and was perfectly comfortable. The water was ALMOST cold enough to make my legs numb, but not quite:)
Sunday morning we began to trek up towards San Francisco. The goal was to hit the Pacific Coast Hwy (Hwy 1) so we could enjoy the breathtaking views. Of course, that means tight, twisty turns following along the craggy, cliff lined coast so after driving something like 6 hours, we began to look for a hotel. If you've ever traveled along the Hwy 1 ... you will know that in many places there is NOTHING. Nothing other than big green hills, and the ocean. No gas stations, no restaurants, no nothing. We used our trusty iPhones to figure out what was around us, and booked a B & B in Carmel. Carmel is right on the ocean, old, tiny, and twisty. None of the places in Carmel have actual ADDRESSES. Everything is "At the corner of A and B". So with a small bit of difficulty, we were able to locate the Wayfarer Inn. I admit, I was a little nervous because I'd read some reviews of the place after we'd booked it, and not all of them were favorable. What we found, though, was charming! Great wifi, HUGE room with a fireplace, HUGE windows, big comfortable bed. Loved it! Since Sunday was Easter, many of the eateries and shops were closed in Carmel, so we walked to one of the only open restaurants and had to eat inside because of a light rain. It was dark after dinner, so we went straight back to our room and hung out (Carmel has no street lights).
Left pretty early and had breakfast at the Hollywood Cafe in San Francisco. We ate there last year and it was FAB! Parked and spent a little over an hour at Pier 39. We saw all the Sea Lions, did some shopping, and basically walked off our breakfast:) After leaving there, we headed north to the Sacramento area. We spent quite a bit of time walking around and driving around the area, just getting a feel for it. Tuesday morning, we drove 2 1/2 hours north to Redding, where we went to the park at Turtle Bay, and walked over the Sundial bridge which is SO beautiful. It was FINALLY beginning to warm up, and I was able to toss my jacket in the back seat and not worry about it:) After lunch, we headed south again back to Sacramento proper, and drove around the city a little bit. Just like San Diego, it was NOTHING like I'd expected. Sac is a LOT like Savannah, GA. Very quiet, coastal feel to it, low rise buildings, clean. It is a beautiful little city. Much less traffic and people than San Fran. We spent the night in Woodland, which is just lovely:)
Wednesday, we headed back to Lake Tahoe! We drove through the Tahoe National Forest last year by accident, and just fell in love, so we came in a different way this time and went through the El Dorado National Forest in LT on purpose. At one point, we parked and walked down a STEEP non-trail down to the lake. It is so clear, in some places you can see literally 67 feet down. We took a ton of pictures and just soaked up the atmosphere. Lovely place. We came over into Carson City, NV (and was totally unimpressed), then drove south ... back to Las Vegas. We actually didn't expect to do that. We had 2 FULL days now in Vegas and I was a little concerned we'd be bored. Haha, I needn't have worried! Thursday morning we headed up to Red Rock Canyon ... Gorgeous! Spent a few hours there, then went and visited Las Vegas Motor Speedway (did I mention hubby and I are NASCAR fans?). Drove back up to the strip and parked at New York New York and had dinner at the same restaurant we'd eaten at a week earlier, then went back out and walked the strip again. We just did a LOT less walking this time! Friday, we found another vegas gem, the Valley of Fire State Park. WOW! Amazingly beautiful place. Valley of Fire was a little further out than Red Rock Canyon, but it was worth the drive. We got out and hiked one of the trails, doing a little "off roading" over some rocks. Headed over to Hoover Dam and walked over a bridge with a great view of the dam. We actually did the dam tour last year, so this time we just stayed afar and enjoyed the views. Turned our car back into the airport, then bunked down in our hotel room the rest of the evening. We had to get up at 4:00 the next morning in order to make our 6:15 flight back to Atl, so we repacked and prepared to return to reality.
GREAT trip, LOVE the left coast. It was so relaxing to have no agenda, no schedule ... and dare I say, no child. He stayed home with his grandparents. This was literally the first time since our HONEYMOON nearly 14 years ago that it was just hubby and I. No kid, no dogs, no inlaws, no friends. Just us. It was great! Can't wait to get back!
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