The day of the wedding went OK. Tracie went to help with wedding decorations and I headed to a place called Pipes Cafe in Cardiff to meet my college friends Ben and Kelley. The place was a cool surf shack joint with a really good espresso bar outside.
It was great to hang out with Ben and Kelley and meet their kids. We had a fun time catching up over Pipes' ridiculously huge burritos. After lunch, I wanted to hang out with them until later in the day, but the wedding decorating had been pretty busy and I needed to bring lunch to some relatives.
Three hours before the wedding, I was asked to shoot video of the ceremony and reception speeches, since there was no videographer. Being the cool relative I am, I agreed. Tracie and I got ourselves ready and headed over to the wedding site, which was outdoors on a nice overlook in La Jolla.
The wedding went well and wasn't too hot, despite the full afternoon sun. The ceremony was done by Tracie's Uncle Dan, who is a Baptist minister. After the wedding, we headed to the reception at the bride's parent's house. It was a great party and the catered food was pretty good too. Everyone had a lot of fun, as far as I could tell. Tracie and I didn't stay that late, since we had to drive back the next day.
Our drive home was fairly uneventful. Only six hours, including stops in Yuma and Gila Bend! It's good to be home, but damn, it is hot in Phoenix.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Huevos rancheros and coffee
We had a fun day today, mostly hanging out with family. We started the day by finding Old Town Mexican Cafe in old town San Diego. Tracie's mom and uncle swore it was a great place and we needed to have breakfast there. We all headed out and found the restaurant without much trouble.
The huevos rancheros were pretty damn good and so was the coffee. An odd combo, I know, but I really wanted some coffee. After breakfast, I went on a fun adventure with Tracie's uncle and cousin to stock up on alcohol for the reception. We hit Costco and they filled up two carts (not flatbeds, regular carts) with liquor, beer and soda. After that, we headed for the bride's family's house, where the reception will be held. We dropped off the drinks and headed back to the hotel.
Since Tracie and I and her mom didn't have much to in the afternoon, we headed off to check out a coffeehouse on the Coast Highway called Pannikin Coffee & Tea. It was in a building which used to be the Encinitas train depot and it looked authentic. Much of the floors and other wooden parts seemed like they were original.
Pannikin roasts their own coffee and they make a mean latte. My milk was steamed to perfection. We had a fun afternoon playing cards, enjoying the great weather and watching the birds fly into the building through the open doors.
After coffee, we changed for the rehearsal dinner. The dinner was at Leucadia Pizzeria, so we had a good time hanging out there while the wedding party rehearsed at the beach. I enjoyed a local Yellowtail Pale Ale and a Stone IPA. Both were tasty, but I really liked the Yellowtail. It was a pale ale, but it wasn't too hoppy. It had a nice malty smoothness to it and it was quite drinkable.
Tomorrow, I'm meeting Ben and Kelley (friends from college) for breakfast and in the evening, the wedding will finally happen!
The huevos rancheros were pretty damn good and so was the coffee. An odd combo, I know, but I really wanted some coffee. After breakfast, I went on a fun adventure with Tracie's uncle and cousin to stock up on alcohol for the reception. We hit Costco and they filled up two carts (not flatbeds, regular carts) with liquor, beer and soda. After that, we headed for the bride's family's house, where the reception will be held. We dropped off the drinks and headed back to the hotel.
Since Tracie and I and her mom didn't have much to in the afternoon, we headed off to check out a coffeehouse on the Coast Highway called Pannikin Coffee & Tea. It was in a building which used to be the Encinitas train depot and it looked authentic. Much of the floors and other wooden parts seemed like they were original.
Pannikin roasts their own coffee and they make a mean latte. My milk was steamed to perfection. We had a fun afternoon playing cards, enjoying the great weather and watching the birds fly into the building through the open doors.
After coffee, we changed for the rehearsal dinner. The dinner was at Leucadia Pizzeria, so we had a good time hanging out there while the wedding party rehearsed at the beach. I enjoyed a local Yellowtail Pale Ale and a Stone IPA. Both were tasty, but I really liked the Yellowtail. It was a pale ale, but it wasn't too hoppy. It had a nice malty smoothness to it and it was quite drinkable.
Tomorrow, I'm meeting Ben and Kelley (friends from college) for breakfast and in the evening, the wedding will finally happen!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Sea World and sunburn
Today we went to Sea World! Tracie and I went with Casey and the three Fros, and Aunt Deb to the park for a day of fun and excitement. We also met up with Casey's friend Lisa, her husband Chad and their three kids. So we wound up with a herd of six kids and six adults to watch them all.
It's really quite amazing how much activity six kids under the age of seven can generate. With all of them running around and playing with each other, it seemed like a swarm of bumblebees going in every direction. They were however very well behaved and everyone got along well.
We had a lot of fun and we covered a lot of the attractions at the park, but we could have easily spent another day there and not repeated anything. We saw the sea lion show, the dolphin show, the dog, cat and other pets show, the Cirque show and my favorite, the Sesame Street 3D show. I love Grover and Bert & Ernie!
All of the animal shows were quite entertaining and I was impressed with the skills the animals can be trained to perform, and with the way the trainers all interacted with the animals. You really can tell that the trainers love their jobs and the animals they work with.
By the end of the day, we were happy and tired, and more than a little sunburnt. We'd put on sunscreen earlier in the day, but reapplication never happened, so we all wound up a little bit fried. Despite the sunburn, it was a wonderful day. I really enjoyed it because I took charge of nothing. Casey and Lisa made all of the decisions about what to see and when. I didn't even look at a map...I just followed the ladies around and made sure all six kids were accounted for. Not having any responsibility for making decisions made the visit incredibly relaxing!
Once we got back to the hotel, Tracie and I decided we wanted breakfast for dinner. So, we consulted Yelp and found a good local diner called The Encinitas Cafe which served breakfast. We headed over there, had a tasty breakfast/dinner and came back to the hotel.
Tomorrow, breakfast with the family and rehearsal dinner!
It's really quite amazing how much activity six kids under the age of seven can generate. With all of them running around and playing with each other, it seemed like a swarm of bumblebees going in every direction. They were however very well behaved and everyone got along well.
We had a lot of fun and we covered a lot of the attractions at the park, but we could have easily spent another day there and not repeated anything. We saw the sea lion show, the dolphin show, the dog, cat and other pets show, the Cirque show and my favorite, the Sesame Street 3D show. I love Grover and Bert & Ernie!
All of the animal shows were quite entertaining and I was impressed with the skills the animals can be trained to perform, and with the way the trainers all interacted with the animals. You really can tell that the trainers love their jobs and the animals they work with.
By the end of the day, we were happy and tired, and more than a little sunburnt. We'd put on sunscreen earlier in the day, but reapplication never happened, so we all wound up a little bit fried. Despite the sunburn, it was a wonderful day. I really enjoyed it because I took charge of nothing. Casey and Lisa made all of the decisions about what to see and when. I didn't even look at a map...I just followed the ladies around and made sure all six kids were accounted for. Not having any responsibility for making decisions made the visit incredibly relaxing!
Once we got back to the hotel, Tracie and I decided we wanted breakfast for dinner. So, we consulted Yelp and found a good local diner called The Encinitas Cafe which served breakfast. We headed over there, had a tasty breakfast/dinner and came back to the hotel.
Tomorrow, breakfast with the family and rehearsal dinner!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Going to California
No, not the Led Zeppelin song, cool though it may be. We headed to San Diego for Tracie's cousin's wedding this weekend. Since we'll be there for four nights, we decided that renting a car would be more expensive than driving our own, so we hit the road in our RAV4 at lunchtime today. We stopped at Costco for gas and a cheap hot dog lunch, then headed out of town. It was a fairly uneventful drive, with stops for restrooms and refreshments in Gila Bend and Yuma.
We listened to an audio book most of the way, which really made the 7 hour drive fly by. We made it to the hotel at about 7:00 and quickly left again in search of dinner. By random chance, we came to a Mexican restaurant called La Especial Norte on the Coast Highway. It was a fairly hole-in-the-wall place, but the food was fantastic! It was definitely one of the best Mexican dinners we've had in a while.
Tomorrow, Sea World with the Fromily!
We listened to an audio book most of the way, which really made the 7 hour drive fly by. We made it to the hotel at about 7:00 and quickly left again in search of dinner. By random chance, we came to a Mexican restaurant called La Especial Norte on the Coast Highway. It was a fairly hole-in-the-wall place, but the food was fantastic! It was definitely one of the best Mexican dinners we've had in a while.
Tomorrow, Sea World with the Fromily!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Random thoughts on our trip
- It's better to keep 1 euro and 2 euro coins in a separate pocket than coins worth less than 1 euro. It's a lot easier to pay for stuff that costs between 1 euro and 5 euro if you don't have to sort through a gigantic pile of coins in your pocket to find a 1 or 2 euro coin. I think that as an American, I'm used to just throwing all of my change in my pocket. But that doesn't work as well when you have 1 and 2 euro coins, instead of bills.
- The French aren't really rude, but they don't cater to non-French speakers, either.
- The Germans really keep their country looking good. In large towns and small, Germany feels clean. There's not a lot of rubbish in the streets, and not as much graffiti as you see other places. Although it's a very cool city, Paris definitely had a lot of graffiti and just had a little bit of a dirtier feel.
Vacation wrap-up
We have successfully returned from Europe! Our travel home on Saturday was happily uneventful. We got up early and after a mildly tearful farewell to Casey and the three Fros, Rick drove us in to the the airport in Frankfurt. After we checked our bags, we made our way to the gate, which took a little bit of searching. The airport is currently undergoing major modifications which has some gates in temporary spaces, making the maps very unhelpful in finding them.
We finally made it to the gate with time to spare and we found that changing our plans and flying to Charlotte instead of Philadelphia paid off. As boarding started, we were assigned seats next to each other in first class! Elated, we headed to the plane. Due to the temporary gate, the plane could only be reached by taking a shuttle bus from the gate area to the location where the plane was parked out on the tarmac, so we boarded the bus and got a great view of some Boeing 747s and Airbus A330 and A340s as we drove past. It was fun to board the plane via stairs, as you really got a sense of the huge size of plane.
After finding our seats, Tracie and I quickly found that first class is THE way to go. The cabin was only half filled as well, so there was plenty of overhead bin space. As soon as we took off, the flight attendants started bringing drinks, followed by a fruit and cheese plate, appetizer, lunch, dessert and all with as much wine as you wanted. The seats reclined almost all the way, so after lunch we watched movies on the in-flight entertainment and napped for most of the remained of the flight.
After we arrived in Charlotte, we went through one of the fastest customs process ever and grabbed a bite to eat before boarding our flight to Phoenix. Unfortunately, this flight was full and we had to return to the riff-raff in coach. Despite the hardship of being crammed into seats barely big enough for an adult ass, we made it to Phoenix, took a SuperShuttle van to get home and finally arrived home at 10:00pm, almost exactly 24 hours after leaving Pickliessem.
We finally made it to the gate with time to spare and we found that changing our plans and flying to Charlotte instead of Philadelphia paid off. As boarding started, we were assigned seats next to each other in first class! Elated, we headed to the plane. Due to the temporary gate, the plane could only be reached by taking a shuttle bus from the gate area to the location where the plane was parked out on the tarmac, so we boarded the bus and got a great view of some Boeing 747s and Airbus A330 and A340s as we drove past. It was fun to board the plane via stairs, as you really got a sense of the huge size of plane.
After finding our seats, Tracie and I quickly found that first class is THE way to go. The cabin was only half filled as well, so there was plenty of overhead bin space. As soon as we took off, the flight attendants started bringing drinks, followed by a fruit and cheese plate, appetizer, lunch, dessert and all with as much wine as you wanted. The seats reclined almost all the way, so after lunch we watched movies on the in-flight entertainment and napped for most of the remained of the flight.
After we arrived in Charlotte, we went through one of the fastest customs process ever and grabbed a bite to eat before boarding our flight to Phoenix. Unfortunately, this flight was full and we had to return to the riff-raff in coach. Despite the hardship of being crammed into seats barely big enough for an adult ass, we made it to Phoenix, took a SuperShuttle van to get home and finally arrived home at 10:00pm, almost exactly 24 hours after leaving Pickliessem.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Once again, hoping for first class
We're headed home tomorrow and we've changed our flight plans so that we're taking a flight from Frankfurt to Charlotte, instead of going to Philadelphia. There's more open first class seats on the Charlotte flight, and more open in coach too, so we're hoping this increases our chances of getting first class, or at least an open coach seat between us. We'll see how it goes!
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