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After living overseas for the past 3 ½ years….I now feel like I am rediscovering the States when I visit. Nothing is mundane or boring or the same, same, it is all new and exciting and different from everything that I am currently used to.
Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas
Vegas is an in your face and it don’t care type of city. It is extreme on all fronts, extreme gaudy, extreme flashy, extreme extravagance, extreme selfishness, extreme vanity, extreme. Walking the Strip in the early morning sun (due to jet lag) I was amazed at just how big and empty it can feel. Vegas can either make you feel part of a community or as alone as you let it. For me, Vegas was a walking playground…due to nice weather (low humidity, sunny and warm) I grabbed my camera and headed out on a self guided (sometimes misguided) tour for one. But even messing up in Vegas somehow just feels okay and works out in the end.
Paris Paris
Hotel: Our room at the Palazzo, screamed….welcome to Vegas! Come sit on your yellow velvet couch, watch one of your 4 flat screen TVs in your suite. Please take a bubble bath in the luxurious huge bathtub, while watching American TV and drinking wine…and I did this more than once! Welcome to Vegas…I will be helping along this fantasy for you…enjoy the ride. And it gives you a very comfy bed…so that when one does finally fall into it…they are sure to fall asleep.
Shopping: Shopping is out of control in Vegas…there is an endless supply of stores and malls to fit every budget and style. There is always a need for a new outfit to strut your stuff in on The Strip. And the best part about shopping in Vegas…it promotes and nurtures a guilt free conscience so you can spend freely…with no guilt or second guessing…after all…you are in Vegas baby! I was torn between $300 jeans and $25 suckers designed by Britney Spears….(Since I couldn’t decide, I went home with neither!) ;)
Old vs New: Tacky old Vegas…Gaudy new Vegas: Colorful clowns have been replaced by glass and steel, art deco splays have been overshadowed by modern luxury. They all live on the same street; however, they both tell a story of two different times, light years apart from each other, yet just next door. The contrast of this was just so interesting…to think one was hosting the likes of Elvis Presley and the other is hosting Britney Spears. I wonder what the “old timers” would think of the New Vegas? The neglected and disheveled remains of the hot spots of years past make it apparent what the new “In” crowd think of the Old Vegas.
MGM Grand
The Venetian
The Luxor
LA: LA-LA Land
I could get sucked into the LA lifestyle very easily. I am that kind of girl. I am not ashamed. The shopping, the beaches, the weather, the food, the beaches, the beaches! Need I say more? Yes…okay then I will. We revisited a few of the sites that we enjoyed on a trip to CA while we were dating a few years ago. And also tagged some new locations on…never a bit disappointed…LA is a wonderful city. Full of entertainment, excitement and food….some of the best salads a girl can dream up.
Manhattan Beach
Sitcoms: While we were in Hollywood, we felt it only right to see some of what Hollywood is famous for…TV! So Fint got us tickets to watch 2 new sitcoms being filmed…yes, when it says “Filmed in front of a live studio audience”…that was us! Our hearty laughs are now on film somewhere, helping a group of friends (maybe even you) know when to think a joke is funny on your favorite comedy on TV. It’s nothing big…I do what I can…You can thank me when you see me next…
Jay Leno: Guests, Chelsea Handler and OK Go: Fint also used his “Lucky Irish” powers and got us 2 tickets to the Jay Leno show! I was so excited…and it was as fun as I hoped it would be (after waiting in the hot sun in line for an hour).
Warner Bro’s VIP Tour:
Central Perk from FRIENDS
Sony Picture’s Backlot Tour: So for the celebrity lover…and there is a little bit of this in me…it is very exciting to see where some of my favorite movies and TV shows are filmed. And Sony being the “busiest studio in Hollywood”, I had my hawk eyes on, looking for some celebrity skin. I didn’t see any…but that didn’t damper my day at all. And up until the last second of the tour my hopes were still high…I mean, you never know when a celeb might be lost off set needing some directions!
Universal Studios Tour: By far the most extreme of all the tours. Not only do you get to take a tour of the amazing back lots and see the sound studios…they also have made some of the most famous sets into rides. We even got to see the plane crash wreckage from War of the Worlds, with Tom Cruise. The “rides” on this tour were in 4D….they were crazy good. Such a fun tour! Perfect one to save for last!
Universal Studios: Oh my goodness…Universal Studios brought out the kid in me! I ran from ride to ride and had such a blast! We even bought season tickets…in hopes that we will be back again, sometime this year! ;)
Chloe (from Beverly Hills Chihuahua) and me!
Water World Show
We found Fint's Stunt Double in Hollywood!
LA Photos:
Tree Pose on Pier
Venice Beach
Santa Monica Pier
Pink's Hot Dogs in Hollywood
Crazy Tasty!
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Fint and Aaron
Awesome French Dips at Philippe's
Manhattan Beach Bar
San Francisco: So My personality fit the San Fran way of living pretty smoothly…I could do this! I could live in a painted lady, work as a morning TV show host, eat lunch at the park with my 3 daughters…wait this is sounding a lot like Full House….yes guys, I visited the very location of the famous Tanner family picnic lunch at the start of the sitcom Full House. I could feel the ghosts of adorable catch phrases, fluffy side ponytails and bright neon clothing all around me..spooky.
The Painted Ladies
Food: Food in San Francisco is an entity all its own. The food here could bring even the most sophisticated foodie to their knees. We had deli sandwiches to dream about, and creamy seafood chowder in a sour dough bread bowl that could bring a tear to your eye, and crab cakes to make mmmmm sounds while eating, in fact, I do not believe we had one bad meal on our entire visit. Even the bagels in a little shop just outside of China Town were amazing. One evening we sat down in a dark little Italian restaurant and dined on the most delicious pasta dishes. (Yes we ate a lot of pasta and a lot, I mean a lot of cheese on our trip.)
Duck breast, figs, pickled onions sandwich....sooo yum!
Parma ham sandwich
We came back to this deli again and again!
Seafood Chowder in a Sourdough Bowl....so good!
Sea Lions on Peir 39
Bay Tour by Boat
Lombard Street
China Town
Sausalito: Our Last morning in San Fran was beautiful and sunny, so we decided to head over to Sausalito and see how the weather was fairing there. Our gamble paid off, it was a perfect day for this little boutique town. The sailboats were out, the tourists were snapping photos, and we were enjoying a huge, tasty, juicy burger, with sweet potato fries al fresco while watching the boats in the bay. Life doesn’t get better than moments like these.
Napa Valley
Ok…so I know earlier I said I could fall into the LA and the San Fran lifestyles very easily…but the truth is the Napa Valley lifestyle suites me much better. It is more my speed. And this may have been influenced by the tour of the boutique wineries by limo…or peacefully floating over the vineyards in a colorful hot air balloon…or by the cheese platters and glasses of wine…it was pure heaven. (Or the closest thing we have to it on earth).
My fav wine at the time. ;)
Hot Air Balloon: One of the more romantic and cool things we did in Napa, was taking a hot air balloon over the vineyards and wineries. This is something that Fint and I have wanted to do since our second date…when in CO the balloon we were supposed to take up got cancelled due to high winds. The feeling of being suspended in air it so hard to explain. It is like you are barely moving, yet moving along. It is very peaceful and surprisingly smooth. The view from the balloon was spectacular; we even got to see the geyser going off! This is something I would really recommend to anyone…if you get the opportunity to take a hot air balloon up into the air….do it! You will not regret it and will have a great time.
Waiting for our balloon.
The Old Faithful Geyser in Calistoga, CA (Info Here)
Hare in the vineyard.
(The Little) Old Faithful again...ground level!
Yoga break in Wine Country.
Happy Cat in Vineyard
Happy Shaun the Sheep
Grape Leaves.
Our Limo for the Day.
“….and I suppose that limo is yours….”, “why yes, yes it is.” “humph”.
This trip was full of all the goodness in life. Good food, good wine, the ocean, warm and sunny days, evenings full of laughter, comfy beds, and time with the man who is most dear in my heart. After this trip I felt like a new person, ready to take on my life overseas again….refreshed and rejuvenated. I know I said I could live in each city we visited, but the truth is, I could live anywhere in CA that is near the ocean or vineyards. It is a beautiful state.
More Photos Coming Soon!
