10 Years of Marriage = CA Road Trip!

Ron and I celebrated 10 years of marriage by taking an 8 day CA Road Trip! First we headed North to San Francisco for a couple days. We visited Alcatraz, Union Square, Fisherman Wharf, Golden Gate Park, Haight Ashbury and many, many places!



March 4: We celebrated our 10 years together at Michael Mina's flagship restaurant in Union Square. I have heard great things about this place and really wanted to try it out. We started our 3 course meal with Lobster Corn Dogs and Black Truffle Popcorn. The second course was Lobster Pot Pie and Brandt Farm Prime Beef 'Bourguignon'. For the final course, we had the Rootbeer Float and Chocolate Caramel Mousse. It was all so WONDERFUL!

March 5: We headed out to Alcatraz for the day. We also ventures to Union Square for some shopping and Fisherman Wharf for some seafood!! We also stopped off at Buena Vista, the first pub to create the Irish Coffee. Ron and I both prefer the Bailey's and Hot Chocolate over the Irish Coffee, but the atmosphere is amazing and it is a must do in San Francisco.

March 6: We went to the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard St., Golden Gate Park and Haight Ashbury.

As many of you already know, I have been working on tasting all the Hamburgers on the GQ Best Burgers in America list. Burger Joint is number 16 on this list and it is located in San Francisco. We both ordered the Hamburger and Fries. It was not the best burger and I did question why it was on the list...I have had better at In& Out! However, everything was fresh and made to order...(However, In&Out is also fresh and made to order)...So, I wouldn't go out of my way for this place.

Alcatraz

Buena Vista Pub

Burger Joint

Lobster Pot Pie

Rootbeer Float with Warm Chocolate Chip Cookies.

March 7: We left the big city and headed North into the Redwoods forest. It is about a 250 mile trip from San Francisco to Humbolt State Park - Avenue of the Giants. While visiting the Giant Redwoods, I drove our little CRV through a redwood tree!! It was cool, but Ron said I was a little to close on the passenger side...lol.

After visiting the Avenue of the Giants, we headed further North to a small town called Ferndale, CA. I made reservations for a B&B up there called Victoria Inn. I had no real clue about the area before we booked the hotel, but it turns out this small town is famous for a few reasons: (1) It is the place Jim Carey filmed his movie The Majestic and (2) They have the oldest pharmacy in CA. Other than that, you are not missing much in this small town. The place was wonderful and the only restaurant that was open was good...lol.

Victorian Inn

March 8 and 9: We left Ferndale, CA and headed South for Napa, CA. We had big plans in Napa; Wine tasting, cute little B&B, Jelly Belly Factory and Hot Air Balloon ride. Well, Hot Air Balloon ride was cancelled because of winds, but everything else was a go!.

B&B: Pink Mansion....It was WONDERFUL! Our first night, we were the only ones in the house. It was so peaceful and quite. I sat by the pool drinking sparkling wine and reading my book and just enjoying the atmosphere. Every night @ 5:30-6:30 they serve wine & cheese...It was so yummy! Every morning @ 9AM they feed you a gourmet breakfast. First morning, we had baked pears, blueberry scones and egg souffle. Second morning we had baked apples, croissants and hash brown casserole. It was all yummy!

We did two wine tastings while we were there; Mumm and Chandon. Both are sparkling wine vineyards. At Mumm they had sparkling red wines...they were good and different, so that is what we brought home!

Jelly Belly Factory Tour...Well, we were both glad it was free...lol. Not something we would recommend to adults, but if you have kids in the area...maybe. The big thing at Jelly Belly is that you can buy Belly Flops...Jelly Belly's that don't make the final product. Way cheaper than the perfect Jelly Belly's, but just a good.

One of the Best Burgers in American lives in Napa. Number 11 on the GQ list, Grilled Bistro Burger @ Bistro Don Giovanni. This burger was AMAZING!! The burger was by far one of the best burgers I have ever had in my life. They had pickled veggies and placed them on top of the burger. Normally the burger is served with Onion Rings, so Ron and I decided he would get Onion Rings and I would get fried so we could try them both! I would recommend this to EVERYONE! Just a friendly note they do not have this burger listed on the menu and do not serve it on Friday or Saturday nights.

Red Sparkling Win @ Mumm Winery

Grilled Bistro Burger

Pink Mansion

March 10: We left Napa and continued South to Monterey and Big Sur...We are closing in on the end of the trip! On our way to Monterey, we decided at the last minute to stop at the San Francisco Creamery...which is really in Silicone Valley - outside of the city San Francisco. Adam Richmond from Man vs. Food went here and ate the entire kitchen sink by himself. Ron and I knew we couldn't eat that together and went ahead and got smaller sundae's. We still didn't eat them...lol. It was great and I would recommend to anyone in the area. The ice cream is home made and so thick and wonderful. There food looked pretty good too.

Once we got into Monterey we went to Fish Hopper for lunch. It is located on Monterey Bay famous Cannery Row, right next to the Aquarium. Ron had crap and shrimp for lunch and I had their award winning clam chowder. During lunch, a bird decided to land on our table and try to steal some butter. He got the butter, but hit the glass on the way out, go stuck and dropped the butter! The waiter had to help the big bird out! The bird was making all kinds of noise and his friends came from all around...it was like that movie, The Birds! It was crazy! The rest of lunch...she just sat on the ledge looking at the butter on the ground. I wanted to kick it to him, but Ron said no!

After our fun lunch, we went into Monterey Bay Aquarium to look at the fish! It was smaller than I thought, but just as fun!

We drove South to Treebones Resort to spend the night in a Yurt. This was by far our favorite place to stay! It is an Eco-Friendly resort...they make their own power, veggies, fruits, etc...There are 16 Yurts you can stay in...We stayed in Yurk 5. In the future, I might want to stay in Yurk 16. It is the most private Yurt of them all. The most amazing thing about this resort was the stars....you could see them for miles! We highly recommend this resort to anyone!! Also, the restaurant on property is amazing.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Yurt #5

March 11: Last day of the trip!! We headed South to Hearst Castle for Tour #1. You will not believe how big this place is until you are actually there. Took them 15 years to build and it is still not complete. The entire property is still decorated as it was when it was built between 1919-1940's something. I can't wait to go back and do other tours of the property!

Okay, so in CA they have these commerical's called, California Happy Cows....You can catch them on YouTube if you like outside CA. Anyway, the whole trip I was telling Ron, "Look CA Happy Cows!" At Hearst Castle, they not only had CA Happy Cows, but CA Happy Zebra's!! These Zebra's are descents of the original Zebra's purchased by Mr. Hearst in the 1940's.

Main House of Hearst Castle

CA Happy Cows and Happy Zebra's.

LA Cupcake Challenge 2010

This past weekend, Nancy and I attended LA's Cupcake Challenge 2010.

40 Cupcakes - 20 Bakers - Only 1 Winner!!

Our Goal: To sample all 40 Cupcakes!

Since this is not our first go around at this event...We had an idea of how to make sure we did a great job at scoring all the cupcakes. The key is to take small bites of the mini cupcakes!

There was all kinds of cupcakes this year; Key Lime, Lavender Vanilla, Rose Pedal, Car Boom, Pig on Top (Bacon cupcake), Pretty Women, etc...

We went around and collected about 10-12 cupcakes at a time. Our plan was to take home one full set of cupcakes and only sample one set at the venue. So, we would both collect the same cupcakes...Pack one in a bag and test the other. We cut the mini in half and then just took a bite of that piece. After 38 cupcakes - we were good!

Note: The reason we didn't try the other 2 was because they were BIG size cupcakes and we just didn't have it in us to try the BIG cupcakes.

Nancy and I with Naught and Nice Cupcakes...Nancy said they were given out correct! I had Naught and she had Nice. I let her believe that...lol.

Us with the Bunny!

Our Pick for Best Traditional: Big Man Bakes - Red Velvet.

Big Man Bakes was by far the BEST of the traditional cakes...and we tasted a lot! The cakes was moist and the frosting complimented the cake, it never over powered the cake.

Big Man himself!!

Our Pick for Best Original: Fairy Cakes - Pumpkin White Chocolate

Fairy Cakes really did a GREAT job with this one. I love pumpkin - not a big fan of white chocolate, but it wasn't anything that took away from the pumpkin...It was great together.

Our pick for Best Overall: Polkatots - Lucky Charm

Once again Polkatots is my favorite! I still remember last years Dulce de Latch and was excited to see them on the list again this year. When I first saw "Lucky Charm" I thought...Hmmm...What did they do with cereal? It wasn't until I tasted this cupcake that I realized it was pistachio! It was amazing! There was a few that were close to touching it, but in the end...Nothing compared to Lucky Charm!

Little Penguin was good too!!



Here is our left overs - PLUS we took home 4 dozen to share!

The new thing this year must be Bacon Cupcakes! Three companies put in Bacon cupcakes...here they are below. I was not impressed with the Bacon cupcakes, but Ron said the one with the flag was alright. It was actually a pancake flavor cupcake, maple frosting and bacon...Kinda like breakfast!

I can't wait until next year to see what will they come up with next!!

NBA All Star Game - 2010

For Christmas, I gave Ron a Trip to Dallas, TX to go and see the NBA All-Star Game. We were suppose to leave out on Feb 11 for a fun filled NBA weekend. On Feb 11 - I got a call from American Airlines that my flight was cancelled because DFW was getting to much snow. They couldn't get us on a flight to DFW until SATURDAY morning! Thank goodness all the events I paid for were on Saturday - Sunday! So, we took the first flight we could take and spend the weekend among THOUSANDS of NBA fans.

Saturday - We went to the NBA Jam Session @ the Dallas Convention Center. It was CRAZY! There was tons of people. We walked around for about 5 hours and got some really good autographs and photos.

I was the more "aggressive" autograph getter...lol. I would follow the players around and jump in front of them to get the autographs. All those trips to Disneyland were I would stock Mikey Mouse worked in my favor this weekend...lol.

Nate Robinson - Slam Dunk Winner!! Got his autograph!

Sunday - We went to the NBA All Star Game @ the Dallas Cowboy Stadium. Now...Anyone who knows me, knows I am not a big fan of Basketball, but I do love me some football...Especially Dallas Cowboys and especially Miles Austin. I have been a fan of Miles Austin since I first met him in 2008 here at Point Mugu when the Cowboys stopped for autographs. I have been watching his career even before game 5 of this season! I have been waiting for the day his Jersey hit the sleeves...Which I got this past Christmas....Thanks Mom.

So, you know I was more excited to be in the stadium that Miles plays in every week....So, to my surprise he was there! Not only was he in the stadium when I was, but he was RIGHT in front of me. I hit Ron on the arm and froze! It was Miles...Right in front of me!! I have hugged this man in the past, but that was a couple of years ago. Miles went into a room and we walked away.

As we took our GREAT seats for the game, I looked to my top left and it was the Cowboys suite! J. Jones, Emmet Smith, Dion Sanders and Miles Austin all in the same room! I went and took photos of them.

Miles Austin - #19 on the Dallas Cowboys.

Doesn't the guy next to him kinda look like Mr. Belding from Save By the Bell?

Once my excitement was over from Miles Austin, it was time for me to enjoy Ron's favorite sport...Basketball. The pre-show was of Usher and it was pretty good. I loved the way the plays entered into the stadium! The game went on and it was fun to watch. Ron said it was by far the best Christmas present I have ever given him!

Game from our seats.

East Team going to court.
Ron's Favorite player - D. Wade!!

Ron and I going into Stadium

Snow Days

In January ( I know I have been slacking on the updates!!) Ron and I took the girls to Frazier Park for a Snow Day!! We had about 10-12 inches of rain in our area and the mountain towns had more in SNOW! In some parts we were walking in knee deep snow...It was so much fun!

Kehau LOVES the snow and the look on her face once we got to the small town (about 1 hour away) was like, "Oh...I like that white stuff!" She was built for this type of weather!

Izzy was okay in the snow and LOVED to play in it, but she little legs would shack and she would get into the street or sidewalk that was clear of snow when she had the chance.

Mountain Side Road

Kehau running in fresh snow!

The girls trying to decided which way they wanted to go.

My little family!!

LA Clippers vs. Miami Heat

Ron finally got to go to a NBA Miami Heat game! We went to see Miami Heat play the LA Clippers and the Clippers won...Bummer, I know! Anyway, it was a great time..except they didn't allow Ron to take his camera into the Staples Center...So, we only have a few pictures from our great seat neighbors and from our cell phone camera.

I won a silent auction - Michael Beasley autographed Jersey.

D. Wade doing his normal before game warm up.

Snow Days!!

Took the girls to Big Bear Lake for their first ever SNOW DAY!! There was not that much snow on the ground, so we are going to take them back when it snows this weekend or so. Kehau LOVED it!! She was running around all happy and excited! Izzy was running in circles, but when she stopped her little leg was shacking, but she didn't seem to mind the cold!

Ron with Kehau in a headlock...lol. Izzy is like, I will just pose for the stupid picture.

View from midway down the mountain.

Izzy found something and figured she didn't need to look at the camera.

Christmas

Ron and I spend Christmas together in California. It was the first time in a few years that we didn't spend the holiday with family, but that was okay...It turned out to be a great Christmas.

Ron got tickets to NBA All Star Game in DFW

I got a Beach Cruiser!!

Disney - Christmas Time

Ron and I did our tradition weekend at Disneyland during the Holiday season. It was crowded, but we were able to enjoy going to different restaurants, riding a few rides and watching the fireworks!

The Williams family did not renew their 2010 Disneyland Annual pass, so you will not see so much Disney this year!!

New Orleans Cafe - YUMMY!

New Orleans Cafe

Walt Disney Studio - The Princess and the Frog

Walt Disney Studio's in Burbank opened their doors for the first time in a long time to premier the movie, The Princess and the Frog. It was so cool to walk around the lot and see all the different things and to see the new movie! We even got a chance to meet all the Disney Princess...It was a great fun!

Ron in front of the famous water tower. It can hold 150,000 gallons of water.

Princess Tiana and I!

Outside of the Theater. It was old school theater...BIG seats, curtains, etc...It was nice to see that kinda of theater still is around.