Is it really July 8th already??

Wow, where has the time gone? I guess I'll write about the amazing and the boring since I last posted. So... warning, long entry.

I landed back in St. Louis around the end of April after driving back across the country with my bestie Ali. We drove the northern route this time and wow, it was so worth it. We drove through Nevada/Lake Tahoe, Utah/Salt Lake City, Wyoming, Colorado, with our final destination at Ali's house in KC. Unfortunately I did not get to see the beauty of Colorado as we drove the western half to Denver at night and then the Eastern half the next morning was so foggy. However, we did get to see famous Wheat Jesus. These pictures are in order as we snapped them from the car because we really wanted to get home without any extra stops, we were exhausted. Oh and that day I drove 20 hours, which I do not recommend.




It was pretty crazy to go from nice, spring weather to snow to complete desolation in the desert.

Backtracking a little - San Francisco was a lot of fun. Comparable to last time (see me losing my contract while on Haight/Ashbury all the way from home on my last dime). Ali and I stayed in the HI-hostel in downtown San Francisco which was well worth the $30/night. We went to Boom Boom Room and watched the Jugtown Pirates and Melvin Seals. I was PLEASANTLY surprised with both of them considering I only heard them on MySpace before judging if I wanted to see them live ($15 cover totally worth it). Ali and I got the last two seats at the bar and some guy, impressed that two girls from the midwest were at the Boom Boom Room in San Francisco rather than Fisherman's Wharf or other tourist traps, bought us beer all night long.

Wine Country was even more fun. I think I spent the bulk of my money there and am officially a wine snob. I was a little iffy purchasing a tour from the internet but we went on the Super Sightseer Deluxe Wine Country tour and it was worth EVERY penny. I did some research on Yelp! before going (apparently everyone in California uses Yelp!) and that one had the best ratings. Our tour guide was entertaining/knowledgable and took us to some great wineries. The second stop - Madonna Estates, had THE best Cab I have ever tasted in my life. The last winery we visited was the V. Sattui winery and the Muscat still makes me drool. We found out how to properly taste wine and I think that was the biggest point we took home, aside from our 6 bottles of wine we purchased a piece. I did not know this but you could order these wines from online but, typically (minus Robert Mondavi and Francis Coppola) most Napa Valley wineries do not sell to stores or restaurants. You can be part of a wine club but those are kind of expensive (note, I did not say not worth it because I am contemplating joining one).

(FYI, for those who would like to know the knowledge I brought home, the picture of Ali with the wine glass - what she is doing right there is volatilizing her esters while releasing the aromatic bouquet. While Ali is "swirling" correctly her hand placement is not correct, in order to not transfer body heat from person to wine you are supposed to hold the stem... that is all) :)


(side note on Yelp! - if you are to go to the West Coast and do as the locals do, eat as the locals eat instead of getting tourist trapped, check it out, I used it the entire time out in Cali and had great success with it).

Monterey/Big Sur

Monterey and Big Sur kept up appearances as usual. Ali and I stayed in another HI-Hostel in Monterey that was walking distance from the beach and Cannery Row. They had TEMPURPEDIC beds. TEMPURPEDIC, oh my god that was one of the best parts of the whole trip, those beds were amazing. We ate fresh sushi and hung out at the local watering holes at night and got our tan on during the day. Oh yeah, Ali got a tattoo after a little bit of boozing but don't worry it was something she always wanted and why not get it in Monterey by Maxamillian who has a monocle in his license picture:).

It was a great, mellow end to our trip before having to head home.

Much Love
L