New Orleans Day 1

Michael and I visited New Orleans a few years back and decided it would be a great place to visit again with our kids. There are places I definitely wouldn't take my kids to, but on the whole, the city has a lot to offer.

We flew into Louis Armstrong Airport around 11:50 pm on Friday night. We took a shuttle to our hotel and there we met up with Grandma Janis who had flown in earlier. About an hour after we arrived, Aunt Suzie made it to the hotel. 

We all went to bed hoping to wake up refreshed and ready to explore. We got up as early as we could, which, considering the time change, was no easy feat. Ask the teenager...

Anyway, we all had a little free hotel breakfast, packed up and headed downtown via taxi. There were lots of cool things to see just on the drive in. I managed to grab a picture of this awesome church. 

We made it downtown around 11am to our new hotel, a Marriott. Our rooms weren't quite ready, so we left all of our baggage in the capable hands of the valet. Not 5 minutes after we headed out, the hotel called to let us know that our rooms were in fact ready. We quickly headed back,  took everything up to our rooms and headed out again. 

We made our way to Mother's, a NOLA icon known for its po'boy sandwiches. Unfortunately, it's so well known that it's often packed with a 30-45 line out the door. We were there at noon and the line seemed to stretch forever. We decided we didn't want to waste our time waiting and headed toward the French quarter. 

We ended up at a two story restaurant on Decatur Street called "The Original Oyster House". We sat upstairs near the balcony (there were too many if us to sit at a table outside) and ordered a ton of southern food. 

We ordered a sampler platter with catfish, boudin balls, and alligator bites. It was all delicious, but the catfish was the best I've ever had. 

After the appetizer, Syd and Grandma split a bacon burger, Sam had a "rajun Cajun" burger (which was spicy with a strong red pepper flavor), Suzie had gumbo, and Michael and I split at BBQ shrimp "one-handed po'boy". Michael had a Tin Roof Voodoo Beer. Several of our meals came with garlic butter fries. The were out-of this-world good. We could not stop eating them. They were dripping with butter and chunks of garlic. 

You can see a pool of butter to the far left in this picture. I'm drooling just thinking about them. 

After lunch, we headed back outside. Suzie and Michael both ordered "Moscow Mules" from the restaurant's  sidewalk bar. 

We wandered into the French Quarter towards Jackson Square. The entire town was hopping! Huge crowds surrounded all the street performers. There were people painted gold from head to toe, a guy dressed up as an all silver robot, kids who tap dance with pop can tabs attached to their shoes, musicians, comedians, and dancers.  One could never be bored in this town. We all checked out the local art that covers most of the fence around Jackson Square. Michael, Sam and Suzie veered off to watch a break-dancing performance while Sydney, Grandma and I headed around the square towards the Cathedral, taking in as much art as we could find along the way. 

The Cathedral is one of my favorite things about New Orleans. It's such a shock to walk into a cool and quiet place after being in the chaos and heat of the French Quarter. The interior paintings and stained glass are awe-inspiring. 

The exterior of the cathedral is pretty cool too...

We continued to walk into the French quarter for a while ...

We planned on having Cafe au Lait and Beignets at Cafe du Monde (another New Orleans landmark, but again the line was 45 minutes to an hour. We took a little break (because it was hot!), checked out some canons, some more street performers and a great view of the square and cathedral. 

We walked down to the riverfront to check out the mighty Mississippi River. 

We walked along the river for a bit and got to see the steamboat Natchez depart for a day trip. 

Next time maybe we will go for a ride!

We continued walking along the river, did some bird-watching, and had some fun with the statues along the way.

It was only mid afternoon by this point, but we were all tired. We decided it would be a great time to catch a street car and take a ride to the garden district. After moving from car-stop to car-stop in the attempt to find a car with enough room for all of us, we finally caught one and we were on our way! 

It was nice to sit down for a bit and feel the breeze on our faces. Oh, and to realize we were sun burned!

The street car was under construction, so we had to get off somewhere in the middle of the garden district.

Once were located ourselves (so thankful my phone knows where I am even when I don't), we found that we were quite close to Lafayette Cemetary No. 1. We stopped at a convenience store, bought some water and snacks, and set off to explore again. 

We all enjoyed walking through the garden district. All of the houses are amazing. Each one is unique. The plants and trees are incredible too. 

The ornate metal work is widespread. This is the fence at General Short's villa, in the style of cornstalks entertwined with morning glory flowers. 

Here is an intricate attempt at supplying everyone with power. 

We made it to the Cemetary and were disappointed to find out that it was closed?!? Too weird. We got a glimpse through the gates at each opening. It would have been interesting to go inside, but we all got a little taste of the eeriness it offers.

Cemetary wall. 

We walked on for a while, got out fill of garden district sight-seeing, hopped a street car back in to town and then headed back to our hotel to rest our tired and sore feet. What a day! 

Sea World

San Diego - Arrival and Beach Day

Every year our kids get a full week off from school for Thanksgiving, right about the time the weather starts to turn, so it's the perfect time for a family vacation. 

This year we decided to check out San Diego. The weather is great year round, the ocean is beautiful there, and there's tons to do. We planned to have a rather large group of family join us, so we  found a large house close to the beach to rent for the week and booked our plane tickets. 

Our flight to San Diego, had a layover in Salt Lake City. This trip, I was lucky enough to get a window seat, and I saw a side of the Great Salt Lake that I have never seen before (my prior visit to antelope island in the early summer of 2013 was less than awe inspiring...). 

It turns out, I like it a lot more from the air. 

These patches with varying shades of green and teal are very intriguing to me. I will have to do a little research to find out what they are all about. 

We had a couple of hours to spend in the SLC airport, so we grabbed some lunch and teched out for a bit. 

Even Great Grandma Verba joined in, making quick use of her new Kindle. 

After a quick flight from SLC to San Diego, we ran into Grandma Janis at the airport (imagine that!) and then we picked up our rental car (a dodge caravan) and headed to our house. We arrived just in time to catch the sunset. 

Grandma Sanna, Grandpa Max and Great Grandma Win arrived about an hour after we did. We went and picked up a few groceries and then went out for dinner at Shades restaurant in Ocean Beach. 

The next morning, we hit the beach. Some of us walked to the beach, taking the "Sea Wall Adventure" route suggested by the owner of the beach house. We walked a few blocks straight down to the ocean, where the road dead-ends at a small cliff. 

We took a set of cement stairs down to the sea wall path and started to make our way to the distant pier. 

The path was sometimes cement sidewalk, sometimes slippery rock, and sometimes hard pack sand/sandstone. There were lots of tiny coves and rock formations. About 300 feet out in the water, we could see several dolphins swimming along the same direction we were walking. 

Then, we came across an anomaly. My name written in the sandstone! 

It was a nice walk.  Not too adventurous, but there were a few spots we thought would be tough for GG Win. Of course, she disagreed and trucked right through!

We finally made it to the pier and meet up with the rest our group there. 

This particular pier, in Ocean Beach, is supposed to be the longest pier in the state of California. 

We walked all the way to the end and back. We enjoyed watching all the fishermen, the pelicans, and a couple of harbor seals along the way. 

After we finished at the pier, we hopped in the car and headed to Coronado. We stopped near the Hotel Del Coronado and walked the beach for a while. 

The sand at this beach is full of mica, so each wave looked like it was carrying a load of gold. It was enchanting! We also found lots of sand dollars and shells here. It was a beautiful and well maintained beach. 

After a quick bite to eat at a cute street cafe, we jumped back in the car and headed to La Jolla for the sunset. 

La Jolla cove was teaming with seals, cormorants, and pelicans! We could hear the seals barking as we drove up. Then, when we got out of the car we were hit with the stench! Fishy!!!

The black dots are cormorants mixed in with seals.  There were hundreds of both. 

We made our way into the cove and found a small cave at one end of the cove that was fun to walk through. 

We climbed out of the cove just in time to catch the sunset. 

Going, going, going, gone!

A perfect end to a spectacular day at the beach. 

Homecoming

This year, Sam's birthday fell on homecoming, so instead of party planning, we did a bit of dance planning instead.

We spent the day shopping for clothes (pants, shirt, tie). The. We picked up a corsage for Sam's date Tehya. 

When the time came for Sam to get ready, he needed a little help with his tie. Fortunately, his dad is a tie Jedi master. 

Sam went and picked up Tehya and brought her back for a few pictures before heading off for dinner (at IHOP) and dancing (Capitol High Homecoming at Revolution Event Center). 

Cute couple!

Syd's 10th Birthday

This year, Sydney had two birthday parties!! One with a couple of friends (and family) at Big Al's Bowling Alley and Arcade.

A couple of days later, we had a second small family party at our house. 

Birthdays are fun!

Magen's Bay, St. Thomas, USVI

After an early flight in from Puerto Rico, a group taxi ride across St. Thomas, an invigorating (and slightly frightening) dinghy ride across open water, a tour of "R Cabin" and a few minutes of unpacking, we set out in the tender toward Magen's Bay.

The ride over was gorgeous and it was fun to see all the different types of housing on St. Thomas, from shacks to multi-story mansions, dotting the hillside.

The view as we entered the mouth of the bay was picture perfect. The deep perfect blue of the ocean slowly gave way to turquoise waters rimmed by white sand beach and palm trees. 

Once we got close to shore, we all grabbed beach gear of one kind or another, jumped into the shallow water and waded in to dry land. 

We set up a day camp and then went for a swim. The water was perfectly warm and clear as a belle!!

Later, while we were enjoying our picnic lunch, we spotted several Iguanas coming right up near us. I'm sure they were hoping we packed a little extra lunch for them. 

Los Angeles

Have you ever been to Boise in January? Normally, the weather is very tolerable. A little snow here and there, gloomy days intermixed with gorgeous sunny days, and the occasional below zero temperature. January of 2013 was a completely different story. Temperatures had hovered at or below zero for weeks, snow that had fallen in late December was steadfast and gaining, and an inversion (which held a thin layer of cloud compounded by a thick layer of pollution) was holding the sun hostage and wreaking havoc on the air quality. It was time for an escape!

Friday, January 18th, we found ourselves with an open three day weekend in front of us and decided to book tickets to Los Angeles on the spur of the moment. We flew into LAX via Oakland and rented a car. We hopped on the freeway and headed south, no real plan in hand. We decided to head toward Huntington Beach and seek out a place to stay for the night. We ended up at the Shorebreak Hotel right across from the Huntington Beach Pier.

The next morning, we awoke to find the sun shining and blue skies calling our names. Pure bliss! It was a balmy 45 (in comparison to the -2 we had just left) when we headed out to breakfast. We walked to a restaurant called the Sugar Shack (yelp guaranteed it would be great) and ate our breakfast at an outside table. All the locals were wearing scarfs, gloves and hats. We got a kick out of that.

After breakfast, we walked through the Huntington Beach shops and then down the Pier. We watched all the surfers and a knee board competition. Sydney got a chocolate malt at Ruby’s at the end of the Pier. We saw giant pelicans, a sea snake (?), and three dolphins out for their morning swim.

Finally, we left the pier and walked out to the water and stuck our feet in. The water was cold, but not freezing (it was similar to the Oregon Coast in mid summer). We picked up some shells (including a whole sand dollar) and enjoyed the beach for a while. Eventually, we made our way back to hotel. We packed up, checked out and headed south to Laguna Beach.  While there, we had lunch at Ruby’s with my best high school friend, Anne, and her beautiful family. I thought it was pretty funny that we live 5 hours apart, but ending up meeting each other’s families in the middle of California.

Saw several cool cars that Sam really liked. Stopped at a Maclaren Dealership in Newport Beach. Drove north and visited Crystal Cove State Park. Walked the beach and soaked up the sun. 70+ degrees…

Hopped back in the car and headed north up the 101 past Huntington Beach and Long Beach to Hermosa Beach. Checked into the Holiday Inn Express. Went out to Paisano’s Pizza near the pier and ate delicious NY pizza by the slice. Kids had cheese. Michael and I had BBQ Chicken pizza and then split a piece of pastrami (mustard, cheese and pastrami). Then we shared a piece if NY style cheesecake. Yum! Back to the hotel for swimming and hot tub then off to bed for the night.

11/20/13
Woke up relatively early and ate breakfast at the hotel. Headed to Hollywood. Walked around and saw the walk of stars and the Graumans Chinese Theatre. Saw the stars hand prints and names. Syd and Sam got drawings of themselves done by a street artist. Sydney bought neon green sunglasses from a street vendor. Poked around in a few stores and then caught a hop on hop off bus tour through LA. Saw Korea Town, China Town, Disney Music Center, lots of cool old theatres. Ride on the freeway at 55+ on the top of a double decker!!! Drove around Beverly Hills and bought Meyer lemons and cookies from a kids lemonade stand. Went to an estate sale high up in the hills and bought a Limoges tea cup for $5. What a view from that house!! Drove down out of the hills toward Santa Monica Pier to LAX. Dropped Michael and Sam at the airport.  Headed to the Renaissance Hotel and got settled in. John and his wife picked us up and we drove to the Santa Monica Pier. We went on several rides (sea dragon, bumper cars, roller coaster), Syd had ice cream and then we went and had dinner at Marasol, a Mexican restaurant at the end of the pier. After nice conversation and dinner, we walked back down the pier and Syd got cotton candy. Then we went back to our hotel. Sydney and I went swimming in the hotel pool (it was heated to close to 100 degrees!) and then ordered cookies and milk from room service. Then off to bed so we could get up early to head to the airport in the morning.
1/21/13
Woke up, returned the rental car, shuttle to airport, Home!