San Diego for Dave's BD

We drove over to San Diego for a few days the week of Dave's birthday. We left on Wednesday night, August 19 and then came back on Saturday, August 22. Dave worked on Wednesday (and we both did a virtual AZ ethics CPE) so we didn't get on the road until about 5pm. We stopped in Yuma at In-N-Out for dinner and rolled into San Diego about 11pm.

Thursday morning we ate at a restaurant a couple of blocks from our called Cafe 21. It was ok - probably would not go back but our breakfast was pretty.

On Thursday afternoon I gave Dave a sailing lesson for his birthday. So we were out on a sailboat for 3 hours. We both enjoyed sailing and Dave wants to get his license so he can sail more often (I'm all for that!).

Captain Dave

This was John, our captain for the afternoon

We had a late lunch after sailing at Mitch's Seafood - a suggestion by captain John. This was our view from the patio of the restaurant.

We then stopped at Coronado Island and walked around for a while. I took a picture with my car - this was its first time back to California after I bought it over there in 2012. It was nice to drive with the top down.

Friday morning we had breakfast at Parakeet Cafe in La Jolla - this place was excellent (I thought so, Dave didn't give it a high vote) and I would definitely eat here again.

We walked around La Jolla Cove...

...and then went to Better Buzz for coffee/matcha. I wish this coffee shop was in Arizona.

Lunch Friday was at one of our favorite places, Puesto.

Then it was back to Coronado Island to hang out on the beach for a while and then late afternoon we went back to the hotel to relax (I took a nap) for a couple of hours before dinner. We stayed at the Kimpton and this was the view from our room. This Kimpton is the least favorite Kimpton we have stayed at, however, I don't know if we can give it a fair vote because there were no amenities due to COVID.

On Friday night I had reservations at Sea180 at Imperial Beach. It had a nice patio on the beach, but we were not at all impressed by the food. We decided we have found really good places in Phoenix/Scottsdale and now we are spoiled.

Saturday morning we slept in a little, grabbed breakfast and then made the drive back across the desert to the blazing heat.

Flagstaff Getaway to Escape 100 Degree Heat

As a result of COVID and the quarantine, we have not really traveled at all this year. I did a trip to NYC and to Disneyland at the beginning of the year, but nothing since then. Dave had not taken any days off work, so we decided just to get away for a couple of nights to Flagstaff and enjoy some 80-degree temps. We left on Thursday morning and came back this morning (Saturday).

I found a cute little bed and breakfast online called The England House. It was a quaint little place and the owners were very nice and friendly. We stayed in a room called The Pantry, and it was exactly as its name implies, the original pantry of the house. When I booked the room a week ago it was the only one available, but if we stay here again I would choose a different room. The Pantry was just super small and really only had enough room for the bed and a little space to walk around the bed.

It was near downtown so we walked to dinner both nights.

This was our breakfast table both mornings. It was in an enclosed patio, but the doors were open so it almost felt like you were outside.

When we arrived on Thursday we were walking around downtown and found Lux - we were surprised to see a location in Flagstaff.

Thursday night we ate dinner at Bandera Tacos. The food was excellent but we ordered way too much - prices were very reasonable. Most of downtown Flagstaff was closed due to Coronavirus.

On Friday morning we drove up to Arizona Nordic Village to do some hiking. I had read some reviews online that the cross country trails were good hiking trails in the summer. We hiked Babbitt Trail and it ended up being 4.6 miles. Not much elevation gain but it was nice to be in the trees and hike in high 70s/low 80s temps.

There were so many beautiful wildflowers.

At the end of the hike we saw these cows - they all had horns so they were bulls. When I first stopped to take a picture one started running and I thought he was charging at me, but he ran the opposite direction. I told Dave if the bull started charging us he needed to be my rodeo clown :)

After our hike we decided to drive to the Meteor Crater. A huge iron-nickel meteorite, estimated to have been about 150 feet across and weighing several thousand tons, struck the northern Arizona rocky plain with an explosive force greater than 20 million tons of TNT. The massive meteor is estimated to have been traveling at about 26,000 mph, or 7.2 miles per second, through the Earth's atmosphere. At that speed, the meteor could have passed over New York City 8 minutes after being sighted in Paris, and then impacted in Arizona about 5 minutes later! This picture below is the largest fragment that has been found of that meteorite.

In seconds, the result of the impact was the excavation of a giant bowl-shaped cavity (550 feet deep and 4,000 feet across). 

The Crater is large enough for 20 football games to be played simultaneously on its floor, while more than 2 million people watch from the sloping sides. Fun fact: I am an AZ native and did not know about this crater until yesterday. Guess I should brush up on some Arizona history.

NASA has provided extensive science training at Meteor Crater for the Apollo astronauts.

Once we got back into Flagstaff we stopped at Local Juicery for a smoothie. We have been to the Sedona location numerous times, but I had read an article earlier this year that a Flagstaff location had opened.

Dinner Friday night was at Brix. This is the current look for going to a restaurant in Arizona.

A great getaway but I will be happy when life gets back to normal.

Vancouver for 40th - Days 1 & 2

This year was a milestone birthday for me (40!?!?) and Dave was so nice to plan a surprise trip for me. He did such a good job on the honeymoon so I trusted him with this...and I would easily trust him again for any surprise trip he wanted to plan and organize :)

We were gone from November 9-13, and he told me where we were going on November 7th. I had never been to Vancouver before so was excited to see somewhere new.

On the plane - we took American Airlines and it was a direct flight.

We arrived around 8pm on Saturday night, and after we landed and picked up the rental car, Dave had dinner reservations at Tuc. I ordered the Chicken Kabob as my main, and I think it was my favorite meal of the trip.

On Sunday morning, we got up and went outside to walk around and get our bearings (it was dark when we arrived the night before). We walked out of our Airbnb and it was "fall" everywhere.

Dave's first stop of the morning was at Tim Horton's for a Boston-creme donut and coffee.

The fall colors were gorgeous - that is something to the Phoenix area does lack.

We then found Musette where I got a latte with oat milk.

They had this sign on the door - I think that is a great policy and more coffee shops should do this - actually make people talk to each other!

We went back to the Airbnb and got ready for the day, and then went to Forage where Dave had brunch reservations. It was rated the best brunch spot in Vancouver - and we both said if we lived there it would be on our brunch rotation.

After brunch we drove the Sea-to-Sky highway and spent the afternoon at Whistler. This is the Lion's Gate Bridge leaving Vancouver.

Stopped at a viewpoint turnoff.

Our rental car for the trip - Dave had rented a smaller car, but they didn't have it so we got this upgrade for free.

We tried to go to the Olympic Park but we were there during the off-season of tours so it was closed.

Whistler Village

The gondola's were not running - they were preparing for the winter season.

Whistler is beautiful - this is on our bucket list to go back when the slopes are open.

We stopped in the village at COWS for ice cream, and it was voted the best ice cream in the world by Tauck World Discovery (a company that offers tours in 63 countries). I had the Prince Edward Island blueberry, and it was excellent - even had fresh blueberries from the island.

The Olympic Rings

The view on our drive back to Vancouver.

Our dinner reservations Sunday night were at West - which was packed but we found out it was closing at the end of the year because the owners could not come to terms on rent with the landlord. So, we are glad we were able to go there before it closed.

This was the amuse-bouche between our salad and main course. I ordered salmon for my main, which wasn't my favorite, but we did have a burrata salad to start and it was some of the best burrata I have ever eaten.

Monday and Tuesday still to come...