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!

Yosemite May 2010

Traveling during holiday weekends is usually not recommended, but we both had a 4 day weekend.  Why not go somewhere?  I had been looking into visiting Yosemite National Park for the past couple of years.  We had a trip planned for Labor Day weekend a couple years back, but cancelled it due to other plans and the fact that the waterfalls would have all been dried up.  Memorial Day weekend sounded like a good time to go as the waterfalls would be in full flow. 

Belize - April 2010

This trip was planned to attend a friend’s destination wedding.  They got married at a resort in Hopkins and we decided to go a few days early to go diving in the Cayes (keys).  We chose to stay on Caye Caulker instead of the popular tourist destination, Ambergis Caulker.  Caye Caulker is smaller and more laid back according to my travel guide.  I used Moon Handbooks Belize guide to help plan the trip along with the trusty TripAdvisor website. 

Anza Borrego March 2010

We went camping for a weekend in Anza Borrego State Park.  We decided to go in March to see some of the wildflowers.  Anza Borrego is known to be really pretty when a lot of flowers are in bloom.  We were able to see quite a few flowers during our hike on Saturday, but there were still a lot of buds.  I think we missed the full bloom by a week or two.

San Francisco - April 2009

San Francisco is one of our favorite cities to visit. We stayed with some friends in Laurel Heights and had some good food and lots of fun.

ATTRACTIONS

Fisherman’s Wharf

I love going to the Wharf even thought it's touristy and gets really crowded on the weekends.  We walked down there after taking the bus from Golden Gate Park.  We got off at the embarcadero and walked all the way to Ghirardelli Square to meet some friends.

Ghirardelli

Great stop for a chocolate fix.  I got hot chocolate and Mike had an ice cream sundae.

Chinatown

We went tea tasting, which we'd never done before. You go in and sit at the counter and they pour you several teas to taste and tell you what they are good for, like digestion or relaxation. Our lady kept telling us the tea wasn't for "yummy yummy" but for health benefits. We ended up buying some for their taste. However, I don't remember what the benefits are for "Blue People" and "Siberian Rose".

Afterwards, we ate at R&G Lounge.  Our friends recommended this place.

California Academy of Science.

This is a cool museum with a rainforest, aquarium, living reef, living roof, and a planetarium.

"The Academy's green rooftop will keep the building's interior an average of 10 degrees cooler than a standard roof would. The plants also transform carbon dioxide into oxygen, capture rainwater, and reduce energy needs for heating and cooling."

RESTAURANTS

Chin Sushi Bar 

Our friends took us here as it's one of their favorite sushi places in San Fran near their neighborhood.  The rolls were really good!

Q Restaurant 

A cool funky restaurant.  We sat at a table with a tree through the table.  The food was pretty good.  Our friends love the tater tots and we all shared a large order.

R&G Lounge

I wasn't really happy about eating here once I saw shark fin soup on the menu.  It's a very popular place to eat in Chinatown, but people don't realize the deal with the shark fin soup.  Please watch the movie Sharkwater.  (Yelp Review)  I started a Yelp account after eating at this restaurant.

Giorgio’s Pizza

We grabbed a quick bite here before heading to the airport to go back home on Sunday.  Good food and inexpensive.

Bernardo Mountain, Escondido - March 2008

Mike took me to this mountain, Bernardo Mountain, that he and a co-worker had hiked a couple of times. It's located about 20 minutes from our house, close to Escondido. We saw some great views from the top. There is still some damage seen from the wildfires, but the area seems to be making a comeback. Because of the rain we have gotten lately, a lot of things were blooming. http://www.sdrp.org/

Bernardo Mountain, 1150 feet

A tree that was damaged in the Witch Fire.

View of I-15 from the top, where we started.

View of Lake Hodges from the top

Some wildflowers growing on a hillside.

San Antonio Wknd - March 2008

Another George Strait related trip!  We went to San Antonio for a weekend getaway and to see the George Strait Team Roping Classic held at the San Antonio Rose Palace.  Mike's aunt and uncle were also at the event, which made it more enjoyable.  They got to the arena very early in the morning to secure good seats on the benches!

We flew in Fri afternoon and got to the arena by 4pm.  We went to the Riverwalk to explore Fri and Sat evenings as well as Sun for a few hours before flying back home.  We stayed at the KOA (TA Review) to have a camping experience on our "rodeo" type weekend.

Next time we go back, we definitely want to stay downtown.

Downtown San Antonio

Both the Riverwalk and The Alamo are downtown.  The Riverwalk is a beautiful walk area along the river with lots of restaurants, shops, and hotels.  The area is very green with plants and flowers, which is a nice break for the brown, desert, dry conditions of the rest of the city.

You can take a river tour on boats that are constantly going by filled with people.  You can eat dinner on these boats also by making reservations at participating restaurants, Cafe Ole, for example, offers these "floating dinners."  There are mariachi bands, especially at nighttime, that are going through the restaurants playing for guests.

We were in town over the weekend they were celebrating St. Patrick's Day.  There was a very small parade that went down the river with floats of bagpipe players and other locals dying the river green.

The Alamo is also downtown, very close to the Riverwalk.  We spent some time going through some of the museum areas.  It was lit up various colors at night, which may have been due to an art festival that was in town the same weekend.  I'm not sure if it looks like that at night all the time.

There was so much going on downtown and you can walk to everything.  We never paid more than $10 for parking while we were downtown.  There are tons of garages and lots.

The San Antonio Rose Palace

The George Strait Team Roping Classic (GSTRC) has been held at the Rose Palace annually for several years, but started somewhere else.  This year was the 26th year of the event.  I'm a huge fan and have always wanted to go to see George rope!

We were lucky to have family there that has been going to the event for at least the past 10 years.  They sort of explained things to us and saved us seats.  People get there as early as 5am to start lining up for seats!!  I'm so glad we didn't have to get there that early, but it was very nice of them to save us seats.

The event starts on Fri about 10am and goes ALL DAY LONG!  They have hundreds of teams and they have to narrow it down to the top 50 teams for the finals on Sat.  We heard they can go as long as 2am if necessary.  We got there in time to see George Strait (GS) and his son rope.  They didn't do so well, but it was pretty neat to watch for a GS fan!  After his run, GS comes back up the arena so all the fans can touch his hand and take pictures.  We left by 7pm, so we could go find our KOA.

Things also start at 10am on Sat and are usually finished by 1-2pm.  They had "cowboy church" Sat morning also before the event.  Before things start on Sat, GS comes out and talks a little to thank the sponsors, participants, and fans.  After the winner is announced, they set up the trucks and trailers that they win and take lots of pictures with GS.

There were a few options for food on site.  One place had sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers.  Another had BBQ brisket that was just okay.  There are also several vendors selling things like cowboy boots (I got a new pair!), clothing, jewelry and furniture!

We had a great weekend and I would like to visit San Antonio again!