Monterey CA

After having worked an average of 55 hour weeks for almost three months, it was time to take a vacation. Even if just a short one. The great thing about the Bay Area is the cool places there are to visit within such a short distance. So we decided to take an overnight trip to Monterey, CA, which is about 1.5 hours away. We were very disappointed from our Utah trip that the pool wasn't working at the hotel. Most places in Monterey had seasonal outdoor pools that were closed, but we were able to find one that was around the same price as the others and had an indoor pool! So we got to take Jackson swimming for the first time!

Usually he splashes all over the place in the bathtub. But I think he was a little bit overwhelmed by all the noise (lots of kids in an indoor pool) because he was really chill. He had fun though, and so did we.

That evening we went to Pier 49 to try and find a good place to eat and check it out. It was very windy and thus, pretty chilly.

I use Yelp a lot and found a place that had really good ratings. It was called Old Fisherman's Grotto. Unfortunately, when we got there it said no strollers allowed and we had brought Jackson's stroller. So we walked around a bit more. All the restaurants offer a taste of clam chowder to try and get you to come in. The person at Old Fisherman's Grotto said they only don't allow strollers because waiters were tripping over some, but he'd keep an eye on it if we left it outside. So we decided to eat there. Yelp said this place was $$ (out of a total of $$$$). So usually I would expect meals to be between $13-20ish each. Well, we were definitely surprised to see the menu. Much more than we had expected. I went with one of the cheapest items, a clam chowder bread bowl, and it was super tasty. Christina was going to do the same, but I told her to get whatever she wanted. So she got a macadamia encrusted halibut with sweet potatoes. They were both really good! Jackson was pretty good the whole time in his car seat.

Here's Jackson and me at the hotel the next day.

We went for on the scenic 17-mile drive. There were a lot of places to get out. At Spanish Bay we got out to walk around. Jackson got to use his sunglasses.

 We also borrowed a baby carrier from friends.

The last place we visited was Cannery Row in downtown Monterey. No pictures from there, but it was fun to walk around. Overall, a fun and relaxing get-a-way.

Capitola and Santa Cruz

I was lucky and got the Friday before Memorial Day off in addition to Monday. This is because at work we don't get holidays off like President's Day or MLK Jr. Day (busy season), so they give it to us as an extra long weekend on Memorial Day, July 4th, and even Labor Day. Christina still had to nanny in the afternoon, so we decided to take a little trip to the beach in the morning.

It's really nice because we have several beaches within 1.5 hours of us. The water's not very warm, but the beach was very pleasant. We drove down to an area called Capitola, about an hour away. While there we walked along the beach, went to the wharf, and walked around the shops (not many were open yet).

Afterwards we drove about 15 minutes over to Santa Cruz, a more well-known neighboring city. I had heard about a Brazilian restaurant there called Café Brasil. It's not the rodízio de carne (all you can eat meat) that most people have heard about or experienced somewhere. It's just authentic Brazilian food. Christina and I got an extra plate of rice, farofa, spinach, and orange slices and shared a bowl of feijoada.

Feijoada is a yummy mixture of black beans and different meats.

We then got some açaí na tigela.

 This was one of Christina's favorite things when we went to Brazil. It's made from açaí (ah-sigh-EE), a fruit that grows in the Amazon rainforest. Açaí na tigela has a sorbet-like texture. It comes topped with granola, bananas, (and in this case) strawberries. É uma delícia!

We couldn't believe how much fun we crammed into a few hours!

Oakland Temple and the creamery from Up

Last week Christina and I took a trip up to the Oakland Temple. It is about an hour away from us.

We could just imagine Jeff and Lisa's wedding a few weeks earlier. We couldn't attend because we were in Brazil, but I heard it was great.

Afterwards we went to a diner called Fentons Creamery. My friend told me about it. It's the place where Carl Fredrickson and Russell, from the movie Up, get ice cream at the end of the movie. Pixar is located in the Bay Area so it makes sense. We actually only got burgers and fries and were too full for ice cream. It was a little pricey for a diner, but the ice cream looked really good, so we'll have to go back sometime.

Oh, and Up was the movie Christina and I went to see in a group when we both decided we liked each other and started dating right after. That's why this is so cool. And I really like Pixar.

Anniversary!

Christina and I celebrated our 1-year anniversary yesterday. True, we've only been married for six months. But with Christina's birthday on December 19th, the anniversary on the 22nd, and Christmas on the 25th, we decided to do the celebrating halfway in between. (How am I supposed to think of so many good presents in such a short time period!)

I worked in the morning instead of the afternoon so that Christina and I could go for a bike ride. She borrowed a friend's bike and we rode along the Provo River Trail out to Utah Lake. It was a beautiful ride. For dinner we went to the Art City Trolley in Springville. Not very fancy, but it was still fun. Kind of like a Red Robin.

We also watched our wonderful wedding video (made by Bwood) and Christina made a cake (since her family ate the top of ours while we were on our honeymoon). Christina did a great job.

If anyone wants a cake made for their wedding we can cut a deal. Love you Christina!