Summertime Traveler

This summer is flying by, as usual.  At the beginning of every summer I always have this great big list of things I want to get done and projects to do that I've been putting off for months.  Honestly, most of the time most of them never get done.  That is the rate I'm going at this summer as well.  I've been busy!  Chris and I have been making up for lost time and have been going on lots of little vacations.  

We started off the summer the first weekend school got out by going to a San Francisco Giants game.  

After the game the hubbies went home and Diane and I stayed in Walnut Creek for a couple days to do some shopping.  Walnut Creek is by far my favorite place to shop.  They have all the stores I like (or at least close by) and it's so incredibly beautiful, safe and relaxing.  If you haven't been you've got to check it out.  We stayed at the Lafayette Park Hotel and Spa in Lafayette.  Neither one of us had stayed there before but I can tell you we'll be staying there again!

The location was perfect...5 minutes from Walnut Creek but on Highway 24 so it's a quick trip into Berkeley or even the city.  It's super close to BART stations but feels like you're a million miles away tucked up into the green hills on the east bay.  They had a gorgeous pool complete with poolside service...ahhhhh. :)

A couple of weeks later Chris and I drove to Las Vegas.  We hadn't been there in about six years, which is a lifetime in Vegas time.  A lot had changed since we'd been there.

We had never seen Encore, Wynn or City Center.  I LOVED Encore.  I loved everything about it.

 We did a lot of walking around and hit most of the casinos on the strip.  We did a tiny bit of shopping but mostly just window shopping :)

One night we went to see Ka at the MGM and went to Thomas Keller's Bouchon at the Venetian.  Thomas Keller is the chef at the French Laundry in Napa and Chris has always wanted to try his food. It didn't disappoint.

A couple weeks after Vegas we went to Yosemite.  Honestly, I was not too thrilled to be going.  I'd never been camping and had never been to a national park.  Chris really wanted to go because of the big snow pack we had this year, he thought the waterfalls would be fantastic.  We got lucky and Curry Village had one cancellation on July 7th so we packed our bug spray and left.  

After hiking up to Yosemite Falls.  This hike was a piece of cake, they'll all be like this, right?!?! Not so much...

Our awesome view of Half Dome from Glacier Point.

Our tent cabin in Curry Village.  It was more fun than I thought it would be.  Minus the communal showers.  Next time I will be prepared if we stay more than one night.

This is Vernal Falls.  The hike up to this was not my idea of good time.  Last night on the news I saw that three people died here a couple days ago.  They climbed over the fence and stood in the middle of the rapids to get a good picture and then got rushed over the edge of the waterfall.  I gotta say that after the hike I understand wanting that perfect picture moment, you gotta make it worth it!

In the end it was a fun trip.  An annual occurrence?  Not for me.  I went, I saw, I conquered.  I can check it off my list.  Until the next time Chris talks me into going...

I also just got back from Seattle with my two best friends.  I have lots of pictures and will do a separate post on Seattle.  I'm warning you that I got a little carried away taking pictures of food at Pike's Place Market. I couldn't help it...the colors were so pretty!  :)