a week on the west coast

so, san francisco is incredible. like hands down, one of my favorite cities i've ever been to. back in september, the husband had to travel to california for about a week for work so i decided to tag along with him since i'd never been there. best idea ever ;)
because i grew up in albuquerque, i'm used to mountains. not just used to, but i love a constant view of mountains in the distance. but here, in SFO, there's not only mountains but there's also the water. and the bridges. when you combine the three, it makes for an amazing sunset. :)

 

apart from the amazing views, the city in general has so much personality. the cable cars are such a fun concept and the way the houses are stacked one on top of the other is so different than i've ever seen before. and the streets in downtown are crazy steep but when you go to the very top and look down, the view is to die for.

 

one of my favorites was lombard street which is said to be the world's most crooked street. i think we spent a good chunk of our time driving down this street then circling back around and doing it again and again. :)

 

driving down lombard street^^^

 

hanging out at the piers ^^^

 

street artist^^^

 

we found this awesome viewing spot where we spent a while just relaxing and taking some neat pictures :)^^^

full house!^^^

 

 

at google headquarters, the employees would ride around on these bikes and randomly leave them on sidewalks and outside buildings for others to use if needed.^^^

 

die hard niners fan ;)^^^

 

and last but not least, treasure island. where i could happily sit forever and just never get bored.^^^

 

destin, florida

on labor day weekend, the husband and i made a trip to this pretty white sand beach in destin, florida. the drive was about seven hours and we hit this huge rain storm which slowed us down a bit but it was an adventure, nontheless. :) and when we reached, it was definitely worth it. this beach was nothing like tybee island. the sand was so white and so pretty and soft :) and the water was so much more clear. they also had these standard chairs and umbrellas lined up for anyone to use which was so convient for amateur beach people like us ;)

the boardwalk in destin was one of my favorite parts. we hung out there a lot just window shopping in the random little stores and i got ice cream, of course ;) on saturday night they had a live country artist who performed originals and covers of some songs. for those who know me, i'm a huge country music fan so i was so excited! here's a couple videos i made. enjoy, and check out my next post about our trip to san francisco! thanks for reading :)

4th of july weekend

because i grew up in a desert town (sorry albuquerque, lol), i've always dreamed of going to a beach. i've always wanted to do the whole cliche of reading a book by the water then watching the sunset while walking along the shore. yes, i read way too many romance novels ;) so when 4th of july weekend was coming up, the husband and i planned a trip for tybee island, georgia(the last song was filmed here so yes, that was one of many reasons i wanted to go). this was my first real beach experience in the twenty-something years of my life so i was super excited.

our hotel was in savannah, georgia, which was about twenty minutes from the beach. the whole experience was everything i had hoped for. :) we hung out in the water and ate at local beach front restaurants. we spent hours in the sand then go back to our hotel to freshen up just to go back after dinner to look for seashells in the sand. we also got to watch the fireworks over this pretty lake in savannah. there was a huge crowd of people and we all sang "proud to be an american" while watching the light show. :) best moment ever.

^^^what a stud ;)



 

 

 although tybee island is not very commercialized or touristy, we enjoyed the laid back atmosphere of the beach and had fun seeing all the locals and how they live in such a different little town than us. we were sad to leave this pretty place but were already planning a second beach vacation which is what my next post will be about. stay tuned :)

honeymooners :)

before getting married, the husband and i discussed our honeymoon a lot. i wanted to do the whole cliche of going to some beach resort and "relaxing." but he had a completely different idea. because he loves being on the road and driving, the husband came up with the idea of flying to Baltimore and driving up north from there to canada.

so this was our plan:
fly to baltimore.
hang out in washington dc.
drive up through philidalphia (and eat philly cheasesteaks, of course).
stay in new york for a couple of days.
then one last drive up to see niagara falls (from the canadian side).
and then it was back home to atl from there.

our honeymoon was about 9-10 days long and it was no where near relaxing because we were on the go the entire time. but i can honestly say that i had more fun than i would have sitting on some beach for a week doing nothing. it was our first adventure, of many, and i'm so happy we decided to do it together. :)

^^^ keeping busy on our flight to baltimore

 

^^^ the baltimore inner habor was so pretty :) we went paddle boating which was fun but we got a pretty good leg work out with that one ;)

 

 

^^^ a few of my favorite things from dc.

 

 

^^^ a little pit stop in philidalphia to try these famous philly cheese steaks. they were yummy indeed. ;)

^^^ we saw this pretty stretch of water and had to stop to take pictures and enjoy the view with our coffees.

 

^^^husband was SO excited about this parking space we found so close to time square.

^^^fell in love with this city. <3

^^^the halal guys provided 90% of our meals while in the city. ;)

^^^cake boss!

 

^^^ niagara falls was beautiful. the coolest thing about this place was the boat ride that took you so close to the falls, you were soaked afterwards. :) this was a nice, relaxing end to our crazy, adventerous honeymoon.

thanks husband, for this unforgettable experience. <3