Dublin, Ireland - March 2011

This was our first trip to Ireland and we decided why not go for St. Patrick’s Day.  We knew that it was mostly a tourist deal in Ireland to celebrate, but why not.  We flew in and out of Dublin and rented a car to drive clockwise around the coast back to Dublin. We were there 16 days, Mar 16 - Apr 1.  We packed one oversized backpack each with 8 days of clothes.  We dropped our laundry off half way through our trip to be washed.  We were really lucky with the weather and of our 16 days had mostly sunshine.  It rained one evening and drizzled a couple of mornings.

Our itinerary included: 3 nights in Dublin, 2 nights outside Kilkenny, 1 night in Kenmare, 2 nights in Dingle, 1 night in Doolin, 2 nights in Galway, 1 night in Westport, 2 nights in Portrush, 1 night in Belfast and 1 night in Trim.  The trip reports will be broken down by the places we stayed, otherwise it would be one long blog!

Park City Skiing - Feb 2011

A friend of ours was doing her residency in Salt Lake City, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to go skiing there.  We decided on a weekend trip to ski in Park City.  We skied at Park City Mountain Resort Friday night and Canyons Resort on Saturday.  We flew into SLC and drove to Park City and stayed at the Marriott for one night.

Las Vegas - February 2011

I almost thought George Strait was going to skip his Super Bowl weekend show in Vegas this year.  They didn’t announce the ticket sales until later than usual.  I guess he had too much fun touring with Reba McIntyre and LeAnn Womack that he decided to keep touring with them.  This year we would have slightly better seats and would get there in time to see LeAnn.  There was a miscommunication on the start time of the concert last year that we missed most of LeAnn’s performance.

Lake Tahoe Ski Trip - January 2011

When we go skiing in Tahoe, we usually stay at a friend's family condo.  We flew into Reno one weekend on a Friday and drove to South Lake Tahoe to the condo at Lake Village Resort.  It was snowing and foggy when we landed.  We usually take the quick route through Carson City, but decided to take the scenic route along the lakeside.  We drove from the 395 to 431 to 28 to 50.  It's about the same distance, but the roads are more windy.

Romantic Napa Valley - December 2010

There is so much wine country in California to explore.  I’ve been to Napa Valley twice, both times basing ourselves in the town of Napa.  I like Napa, but I want to stay in other places to see more of the valley.  I decided to plan a trip staying in Calistoga, the northern end of Napa Valley.  I wanted it to be a romantic weekend for the husband and me, sort of a late anniversary trip.  It was different seeing the vines in the winter with no grapes.

Anza Borrego - October 2010

We decided to get away from the cool, wet weather we were having in San Diego and wanted to go camping.  We contemplated between the beach spots at Dana Point or the desert in Anza Borrego.  The weather called for mild, dry temps in the desert, so we booked a weekend at Tamarisk Grove Campground.  We camped there the last time we went to the park in April 2010.  When we got to the campground, there was only 1 other site being used and only 1 other couple came later, so the campground was pretty quiet.

Girls Weekend in Napa Valley - October 2010

I had never been on a girls' trip and always thought it would be fun.  Some friends that I’ve known since high school invited me to Napa for a long weekend.  Good friends and good wine, I could hardly wait.  We all flew into San Francisco and had our flights timed within 20 minutes of each other.  We all ended up being delayed due to the fog in the bay area, but still managed to all get there about the same time.  We rented a car with Fox Rental and got a Chrysler 300 and it looks like a Bentley, so we kept referring to it as “The Bentley” the whole weekend.  We got some really strange looks when we called it that in public around other people.