Trip to SD: Round 1

Just some fun pics from our trip to SD. We went down to look for a new place to live, and found some time to enjoy the area as well! We went to Old Town San Diego and visited the Maritime Museum (which meant touring around on five different boats). It was a lot of fun! Well...except the part where the pregnant woman had to crawl through the small submarine doors (hatches?). I think that was just entertaining. Ah well, it was nice to see more of SD attractions!

Our First Ski Trip

My Christmas present to Keith was an Arctic Adventure - a trip full of skiing, waterparking, and general bumming around. We drove up to Kellogg, Idaho to stay at the Morning Star Lodge at Silver Mountain. It had been years since Keith went skiing or snowboarding, and I had never gone before. (Well, that's not entirely true. I went once in high school and had a miserable time. Why? Because I was so hot the entire time, since I was bundled head-to-toe. And my nemesis the rope-tow did not help either. But that is for another time.)

Once we arrived to the lodge, we checked in and then explored. There was an indoor water park associated with the lodge, to which we had weekend passes. We hadn't packed any swimsuits (it is freezing winter of the Palouse!), so we had to purchase some at the water park. It was such a blast to splash around, floating on intertubes, and going down crazy waterslides. One of the slides actually curved outside of the building, but I didn't notice since I had my eyes closed the entire time!

After splashing around and relaxing in the hot tub, we found a cute restaurant and had dinner. Then it was off to sleep, so we could attack the mountain in the morning!

In the morning we purchased our lift tickets and away we went...up the mountain via the World's Longest Gondola! It was pretty impressive and the views were fantastic. When Keith and I finally made it to the top, we rented our boots, poles, and skis. And then the terror began. Even though I had promised to be willing partner in this adventure, I was so scared! The packed snow made everything feel like it was moving fast.

We made our way to the bunny slope, where I promptly fell just trying to ski a little bit down the hill. The kids on the hill looked like naturals compared to my stiff-legged and stiff-armed approach! Keith skied down the hill, just to refresh himself on the technique and to show me that it wasn't going to be bad. Besides, how bad could it be since there was no rope-tow...only a carpet-tow!?! On his way down, Keith fell once and was so cute showing me that it wasn't bad at all! But on his way down, he ended up tweaking his knee turning.

So we headed inside to get some cocoa and to collect ourselves. But the longer we waited, the more Keith's knee continued to swell!! In the end we abandoned the remainder of our day and headed back down to the lodge. We haven't given up though, we plan to return...and this time I am planning on ski lessons! Thankfully the outdoor hot tub was running when we got back, and we took a quick dip to help ease our bodies. We left that night, as a snowstorm was headed our way...and it was already snowing heavily in Pullman (a 2.5 hour drive away in good weather). That evening we went to one of our favorite restaurants in Moscow, The Red Door. As always the food was excellent! The bonus of returning home early...we got to sleep in our own bed!

All in all it was a fun adventure and I got to share it with my best friend. (note: Keith's knee got better - after a few days of rest)

Learning about Hotel Living

Things I have learned after staying at the Fansy-Schmancy Hotel* while I was in California checking out possible internships:

1.  Valet parking is cheaper than self-service parking. Also that it's kinda odd to have your Kia rental car valet parked.

2.  The lobby is so big that I got lost trying to check-in.

3.  The rooms are pretty sweet.  Huge flat screen TV and crazy expensive mini-bar...aw, yea!  Gotta love the $12.00 keepsake jar of nuts (plus the 20% restocking fee).

4.  Wireless internet is not free or even cheap.  And you have to pay for it every 24 hours.

5.  Room service is sweet.  When you call they already know who you are.  Weird.  And it comes with miniature bottles of condiments.  (note: the hotsauce was approximately 1.5ml)

6.  Room service food actually comes covered with silver thingys.  And it all comes on a tray.  The person also uncovers it for you.

7.  They serve Diet Dr. Pepper with a fluted glass.

8.  They have Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries, but normal cheap toilet paper.

9.  I have a patio that overlooks a landscaped garden.  That's not that enlightening, but it was unexpected.

10.  Wallpapering the outlet makes it classier...somehow.

11.  The person who cleans the room has handwriting of a child.  This begs many questions, all which I will let you decide what ones crossed my mind.

12.  You can purchase items found in the room to have hotel comforts at home.  They even have a website so you can order it, probably using your costly WiFi.

13.  You can order a fancy-schmancy breakfast and have it delivered at any time with just a mark of a pen.  Note: the price of a cup of orange juice = ouch!

 

 14.  Even a nice hotel can have design oversights.  For example, placing the toilet directly in front of the bathroom door.  Not a problem, you say?  It is if there is a full-length mirror on the back of the door.  Or maybe rich people like to look at themselves...all the time.

 15.  They make a wicked awesome bread pudding.  It was fantastic.

*Note: The hotel name rhymes with Filton, Dilton, or Milton...and does not rhyme with Fa Minta or Mest Questern. 

Lanai at the Cove

On our anniversary trip, one of the thing that was very memorable was our hotel. First of all, we weren't really sure why it was called Lanai at the Cove, but it sounds exotic and nice. I had found it online via Trip Advisor, and they had a great website. I am a snob about websites, if a business is going to be online (and they should these days), then they better take the time to make it look professional.

Well, they had pictures of all their rooms and of the views for each room. Then I got to make reservations for the room I wanted. Well...the pictures were nothing compared to how great our room was. When we opened the door, Keith and I were amazed (astonished, awed...you get the idea) at the view we had. We knew we had a view of the beach, but this was spectacular. The ocean was practically at the backdoor! We could hear the crashes of the waves and the smell of the salty sea air.

Little did we know how great our view really was. Every day we saw sealife from our lanai, including: Whales (3 out of 4 days), a sea lion, pelicans, seagulls, surfers and 1 crazy kayaker. The most exciting thing was when we saw our first whale. Keith and I were just enjoying watching the ocean when Keith spotted something large and dark stick out of the water. He kept watching, and then it happened. Keith saw the telltale sign of a whale, the spray from the blowhole. It was pretty exciting. I am pretty sure I jumped up and down when I finally saw it. We couldn't believe that they were so close to the shore, probably only 100 yards away! We think they were feeding, since there were multiple whales and tons of birds in the area. The fun part was they came the same time every day, around 5 pm. I called it the whale dinner time. We also saw a spunky sea lion, who was swimming around the surfers. We also took the time to walk the beach a lot, enjoying the ocean and the beautiful beach houses beside us.

Our room even had a little mascot, a wooden seagull I named Marcus. Our room had a general nautical theme, but he was super cute where he sat our little dining table. I wanted to take Marcus home as a memento, but Keith wisely convinced me that he would be happier by the sea and making other couples happy. Seriously, isn't he cute!?!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was falling asleep listening to the crashing waves of the ocean. We slept with the patio door open every night. The first night I had a nightmare about Keith and I drowning due to a flood that was overwhelming us...and we were at the top floor of a three story building! I woke up crying and had to wake up Keith. Then we realized it was the sounds of the waves that had crept into my dream and scared me. How embarrassing! But after that, I found the ocean sounds relaxing and fell asleep without hesitation!

*note: this is a video of the ocean and its wonderful sounds taken from our lanai. It's probably not that exciting, but we took it as a reminder of what we fell asleep to everynight. So please don't watch the whole thing, since there isn't anything exciting happening in it. Unless you also love the ocean. Or are super bored. Or you don't trust me. Fine, whatever.

I know this sounds like an advertisement (pronounced in the British form, please) for this place, but it was seriously the nicest place we have ever stayed. And I have to admit I am pretty proud that I picked the place (hotel and Seaside) by myself. Usually Keith does the travel plans, so it was definitely a relief that I didn't mess it up. Whew! I especially love that Keith loved the trip so much, it definitely makes all the planning worth it! Mostly, it sums up how much we both love the ocean and beach!!

Celebrating the Passage of Time

Our ninth anniversary:

Reconnect, review, and renew
Remembering the past
Enjoying our time now
Making plans for the future
Hand in hand, together side by side
Promises & commitments
The life we build together

It is amazing how quickly time can pass. This summer Keith and I celebrated our NINTH anniversary and twelve years of couplehood. Amazing. Not amazing that we are still together (at least I don't think it's a surprise), but amazing that it has only been nine years. It seems like we have been always together.

We celebrated our anniversary by taking our first trip out to the Oregon Coast. It was fantastic! Before driving down to Seaside, we went to a Mariner's game. Sadly they didn't win, but it was still lots of fun to spend some together enjoying some very Washingtonian food (Ivar's!!). And of course, I took pictures of our food at the game! Even though the Mariners didn't win, we had a great time and as always I had fun people watching.

The drive down the coast was beautiful. Most of the drive was on a 2 lane road through a bunch of little coastal towns. We actually stopped at one of those scenic views, which we never do, just to look at the gorgeous landscape. This was my first time to the Oregon coast, and I was definitely impressed. It was breathtaking to see the sand beaches up against the high rock cliffs. There were beautiful pine trees growing at the top of the cliffs, which were amazing. It is hard to believe that one area could have all the parts of nature we love: the sea, beach, and forest. As we traveled south, we became more and more excited to spend some time on the beach.

Keith and I traveled up and down the coast, from visiting the Tillamook for their cheese factory and airplane museum...

... to a lot of time exploring Seaside and the Promanade. It was the first time paddleboating for me, which was pretty fun once we figured out how to steer the darn thing.

The best part of the trip was just the time we got to spend together. We love having adventures together and exploring. This trip was a wonderful time for Keith and I, as it allowed us to spend time together without the stresses of the house, work, and school. We always have so much fun together, which I suppose should be expected since I am married to my best friend.