Bay Area 4th of July Reunion

Even though we haven't made it home yet since the move, we have managed to see lots of people we love! 4th of July was another fabulous time. Our friends Jimmy & Kelly are from the Livermore area, outside of San Francisco, and group of 6 planned a trip down for the 4th of July so we drove up to meet them. We managed to make a 4 day weekend out of it, which made the 5.5 hour drive long but totally worth it. Jimmy's parents hosted (like teenagers, on the living room floor again!) and cooked fabulous meals for us pretty much non-stop. We spent a lot of time in the pool, reading and relaxing, had an awesome 4th celebration at Kelly's mom's place in the vineyard, did some wine tasting out in the valley, and made a day trip into SF for a good bit of beer tasting, food, and such. It was totally amazing to get to spend 4 days with good friends again and see a fun new area.

SF outing:

4th in the vineyard

spikeball. the new thing..

Matt, Kenz, David, Cat, Kelly, Jimmy, Emily, Brad

Las Vegas Visit

 Matt had never been to Vegas, I had only been as a teenager (don't ask ) and we now live a 4 hour drive away so it was sort of on our list, but not really all that high, especially not during summer. But when our buddy from Germany sent us a message saying that he would be there, we were all in. Those of you that have followed the blog for a long time know that back in 2009 we met two German guys while backpacking in Patagonia, befriended them, and have since managed to meet up with them many times, all the around the world, during our travels and theirs.

We weren't able to leave town until late afternoon Saturday, and had to make it back for work at 10am on Monday so it was a quick trip but wonderful to catch up with Chris and see a new town together.

Saturday night, we made a quick tour of some of the big spots on the Strip, and spent time just catching up with Chris.

Sunday morning, we drove out to Red Rocks and hiked up to Turtlehead Peak, which was hot, but very beautiful.

Sunday afternoon, we went to Encore Beach Club. Which felt the Miami Spring Break I had grown up watching on TV. It was certainly something I never, ever, would have gone to of my own accord, but Chris really wanted to go, so we tagged a long. A once in a lifetime experience, I'll say that.

Sunday evening we went to 'downtown' Las Vegas, which is not the strip, its the old Vegas of the 20's. It's a pretty cool area with a great walking street/light show/music. If you're ever in Vegas, I would definitely recommend taking an evening to check it out.

And that was a wrap.