Road Trip to STL: Days 4-5

We are a few states and a couple days closer to St. Louis. Here's a recap of what we've done the last 48 hours....

Day 4: We left New Mexico around 8am for our 9 hour drive to Denver. The first 4 hours were tough. There were little to no stops for gas or food-thank God for Las Vegas, New Mexico...the only sign of life until Colorado-and the desert was a tad repetitive. Once we reached Colorado, however, we were wide-eyed because we didn't want to miss one thing. Colorado might be the most beautiful state I've ever seen. I love it! The Rocky Mountains were on one side and rolling, green hills were on the other. We hit pockets of traffic in Colorado Springs and coming into Denver, but we got to the hotel just in time to leave for the Rockies vs. Red Sox game.

The craziest thing happened at the game. I was on a mission to find frozen yogurt and made a short stop at the ladies room. As I walked out, I recognized a familiar face....the husband of the older sister of one of my best buds I from Georgia. I know, it can get confusing. One of my best buds, Kathryn, has an older sister, Becky, who lives in Colorado Springs with her husband and adorable daughter. Patrick and I talked about Becky and Randy that day as we were stuck in traffic in Colorado Springs-little did we know that we would run into them that night in Denver. :)

The game was a blast. We were cheering for Boston, just because we think Boston is probably a cool city and my husband has always loved the Red Sox. If you saw the game on TV, you know what a great game it was. It went back and forth each inning, but the Sox took the victory. :)










Day 5: We slept in today. :) I know, you probably don't care about that detail, but it was long overdue and worth mentioning. After taking our time to eat breakfast and get ready, we drove into downtown Denver (aka Lodo-Lower Downtown) to visit the Tattered Cover Bookstore. It way outdoes Barnes and Noble. It is THE definition of what a bookstore should be. We met a lady on the way in who used to work there in the 1940s. They have old chairs, leather couches and desk, a coffee and sandwich shop, and an old library feel.

After sharing a muffin and coffee over some magazines, we went to a pub for lunch and walked around 16th Street mall to do a little shopping. We spent the afternoon at a park with Bailey and then went back to the hotel for movies in bed. :)

Road Trip to STL: Days 1-3

Welcome to the series of posts about our road trip to STL. The trip will last about a week and we are so excited to share it with you!

Day 1: We left L.A. on Monday morning for our one-week road trip to STL. We woke up early, paused to remember our favorite memories of our time in our little place in Glendora, made one last stop at Classic Coffee, then hit the road. We are driving separately, so I was a little nervous about the 13 hour drive to New Mexico, but it flew by. I can't believe how fast it went! Most of the drive was in the blazing desert (114 degrees) but as we made our way into New Mexico we got to see a crazy rain storm from a distance, huge rainbows and an amazing sunset. I will post some pictures I took from my cell as soon as I can figure out how to get them off of my phone. :) We arrived at Holloman Air Force Base around 10pm.

Day 2: We were so happy to get to spend a couple of days with the Fikes. Leslie was one of my college roommates and we have stayed in touch through all of our phases in life. It's great that our husbands get along and we were thrilled to get to meet little baby Chandler Fike. :) We spent most of the day in our pajamas watching Wimbledon and I had a ton of loose ends to tie up with switching banks and insurance. We went on a short afternoon hike, took a stroll around the little town and then made some home-made pizza for dinner. We ended the night playing Cranium. Leslie and I gave the boys a run, but they took the game.


This is the picture that cost us the game of Cranium. Leslie drew it, I had to guess what it was. Does this look like King Kong to you???!!!




I got to let little man sleep on me while I was on the phone most of the morning with the bank and insurance company.

Day 3: Today has looked a lot like yesterday. We spent the morning watching the U.S. in the World Cup and then went to White Sands National Park for a bit. The place is amazing! It was really hot and really bright, but it was insane to see. Remember that scene in Transformers where they are fighting in the desert?? Well, it was filmed in the White Sands. Fun fact, I know. Doug, Leslie's husband, took us to a runway on base so we could watch the jets take off. He flies the F22, which is a stealth fighter jet. It might be the coolest thing I've ever seen. We literally stood at the end of the runway and the jets flew right over us. After the ringing in my ears stopped we came back to the house for lunch and watched Isner's insanely long tennis match, which will have to conclude tomorrow (so far it has been over 9 hours long). We plan on spending the rest of the night eating ribs and playing more cards!










This is a picture of Doug flying an F22...A-Mazing.

Don't you feel protected now???

San Francisco

LIFE is taking over my life. I literally can't keep up with the blog because I've been doing way too much lately. We hit the road tomorrow morning for a one-week road trip to our new home in St. Louis, but I promise to update you as soon as I can. Before I go crazy I have to at least start to catch you up, so hang on....let me start at the beginning....our San Fran trip. Then, I will post pics of graduation, furniture we've been repainting and more in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to stick with less text and more pics because let's face it...pics are better.





China Town. Got some cheap jewelry and had an amazing lunch!








Alcatraz was great. Take the audio tour if you are ever in San Fran. Loved the history and the view was gorgeous.














Napa Valley=Awesomeness. Gourmet lunch on the train and tasty wines all morning! Ever seen "Bottle Shock"? Yes, that was the winery we visited. A-mazing.








Fisherman's Wharf, a huge crab pot and a Ghiradelli brownie sundae....what else could you need?







A drive around the city....








What better way to end a trip than a drive down the PCH and stop at Pebble Beach (aka Home of the U.S. Open)???!!!