Friends and the Airstream!

New Brighton State Beach
September 27, 2013

This was our first time at New Brighton, still trying to hit up all the spots with hook-ups!  This is for sure not as nice as Seacliff.  You can only see the beach/water from the front spots, and they do not have hook-ups (a trade off!).

Friday Nights Dinner was a little lamb pasta!

Saturday morning we went down to Capitola, had some breakfast at Zelda's on the beach, then a little ice cream treat to enjoy on our walk down the beach to watch the surfers!

After Capitola we spent some time exploring the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot.  I always see people's bumper stickers from the Mystery Spot, but after having lived in the Bay Area for over 10 years I have never been (neither had Rob)!  It was interesting!

 

Rob being an audience participant!

Later on Saturday night our friends came out to the park to enjoy some pie iron pizzas and homemade smores! Fun times ensued! 

(last 3 photos courtesy of Mike!)

....shhhhh.... we found the best camping

Seacliff State Beach
September 13, 2013

I believe Seacliff is on par with Yosemite in trying to get reservations.  You have to make them right when they open, 6 months ahead of time, but BOY is it worth it.  The spots (with full hook ups) are right on the beach.  It does not get any better, specially since its about 30 minutes away from our house (we are so lucky!)   There are first come first serve spots with no hook ups, have not tried those yet. 

We visited the local fish market for some dinner to grill!

It was a great weekend and we can not wait to go back!

Viva Las Vegas!

Our last stop on our two week trip was Las Vegas.

And since we are never in Las Vegas with no agenda... all we did in Las Vegas was eat!

The next day we hit up a breakfast place off strip (in a bit of a sketchy area!)

Then we did a bit of whhheeeelll offfff forrrrtttunnneee

Later we got all dressed up and headed to Picasso!  This is real GLAMPING!

We did the Degustation Menu, and it was pretty good.  My favorite was the Foie Gras!  The restaurant was so so, we probably will not be returning.  Online it says that suit is requested, but people were wearing jeans!  The service was not that great either, pretty uninformed and snooty!  We are so lucky that we live in the bay area and can have amazing food without the attitude (except the foie gras!)  

It was a great way to end our amazing trip! Cant wait to get out and do another long trip. Also cant believe we survived excess heat, excess rain, and a wet bath for two weeks!

Hiking below the Rim!

We had a full day ahead of us.  Rob made us some very yummy breakfast....

We spotted some wildlife on our drive to our hike. 

We did the North Kaibab Trail, the part of the trail that we did was about 6 miles round trip.  This trail went down into the canyon.  As such, the hike down was pretty easy.  But the way out was HOT and long! 

Rob way way up the trail! 

Later that night we went to a country-western music and dinner show!  

On the train to take us to the show...

Surprisingly the show was over before the sun went down, so we rushed back to the lodge and got some amazing pictures...

We ended the night with cocktails on the Lodge porch.  It was the perfect ending to our Grand Canyon experience... next up Las Vegas!