Ashleigh and Scott's Newport Wedding

Wow - another post so soon. I know you are shocked! I figured I need to get all our weddings up on the blog (mainly for my looking back on them fondly purposes). In September, we traveled to Newport Beach, California for the wedding of one of my best friends. Ashleigh and I met in college and although have not lived in the same city since we graduated in 2005 (wow we are old), we have remained close and I am so glad to have her in my life.

He really did not want to pose for a beach pic.

Beach pic with the bride

The wedding was on a boat! Yes, we said a lot of "We're on a boat!"

Me, Ashleigh, and Brittany below deck helping the bride get ready (with champagne of course!)

I love watching brides get into their dresses. Such a fun moment!

Ashleigh did not have bridesmaids (just her sister as her maid of honor), so all the best girl friends wore black dresses so we could coordinate) Not the best pic of me, but its all I got. I am probably pointing at Eric and telling him to take more pictures!

Husband and Wife! They really are a couple who is meant to be.

Love you Ash!

I LOVE this picture! Aren't they such a pretty couple?! 

The boat went up and down in the bay between Newport and Balboa Island. It was pretty calm since

 we were not out in the open seas.

The bride's sister Rachel giving her MOH speech.

Friends :)

Love you Ash! I am so happy for you and Scott! You were a beautiful bride and had a perfect wedding. Much happiness to you and Scott (and Jakie!)

Cali Day 5 & 6: Cambria and SF Giants Game

Last California post, which it should be since we left for this trip a month ago yesterday! Plus I can start posting the other fun stuff we have been doing!

In case you missed the other California vacation posts:

Day 1: San Fran - Alcatraz

Day 2: San Fran - Chinatown, Dolores Park

Day 3 & 4: Monterey/Carmel

Day 5: Hearst Castle

After touring the Hearst Castle, we drove on to where we stayed for the night in Cambria. Cambria is a tiny seaside town that we decided is mostly a place for retired people! We stayed at a little mom and pop hotel called the Sea Otter Inn. It was nothing fancy, but clean and charming. It was located right across the street from the ocean.

 

We had our own little patio garden.

There were beautiful flowers all over the grounds.

It is fitting it is called the Sea Otter Inn because right across from it there were all these sea otters bathing on the rock.

Crazy squirrel! There was a board walk along the water that we walked along. There were tons of squirrels and they were quite friendly.

Pretty beach cottages

We walked along the water then decided to go into town and find somewhere to eat. We found a Mexican place called Las Cambritas.  It was pretty good.  We tried to find somewhere to get ice cream after dinner, but every where was closed by 6:00 pm! This is when we decided we were in the land of old people and there was not going to be much to do after dinner. We decided to drive to a nature reserve and walk a little more along the water before it got dark.

 

Self timer pic! This was a feat to accomplish!

We woke up early and drove back to San Francisco in the morning.  We stopped at an In-n-Out and Eric was very happy.  When we got into San Francisco, we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge.

We went to a place called the Marin Headlands where we had heard you could see great views of the bridge.  This was as close as we could get. The road was closed for construction. It was a great place to view the bridge and the city.

Eric relaxing in out hotel. We stayed at Kensington Park Hotel.  It was really nice and we enjoyed the hotel except for being woken up at 1:00 am by our neighbors in the room next door who would not go to sleep! I swear they stayed up all night. We had to call downstairs like three times.  It was horrible!

Giants game! We headed down to the stadium area early to walk around and have some beers at Public House.  

While we were at Public House, I "checked in" on facebook and Eric's coworker Jamie wrote me that I had to try this beer. She and her husband had just been there a couple of weeks before. I ordered it and am so glad I did! It is called Hell or High Watermelon and it was so good! Unfortunately they do not distribute in Texas. I am on a mission to get more of this beer!

It got pretty packed inside.

Inside the stadium with the Bay Bridge in the background

They had so many different food choices inside the stadium. Here is Eric's bratwurst.

It was a beautiful day! Not a cloud in the sky! We sat on the side overlooking the bay.

The Giants played the Minnesota Twins and got killed!

 Made a new friend! There was a group of students from Singapore who were studying at Stanford (smarties!). I chatted with him throughout the game. He was fun!

And that's it! We had a great time at the game, had a beer at a pub near the hotel, and went to bed (although we did not sleep - see above!). The next morning we had an awesome breakfast at Sears. Not the store! Sears Fine Food. So good! Then we were off to the airport. We had an awesome first anniversary trip! We really enjoyed our time in California (and the weather!) and will definitely be going back to explore more. My vote is for Napa!!  Thanks Eric for a great trip! Love you!

Cali Day 5: The Hearst Castle

I hope no one is getting tired of all of my California posts! I know.. I know.. it is a lot, but we did so much and took so many pictures, that there is no way I can condense these! Plus even if no one reads them, it is like a trip journal for us and we can look back and remember where we stayed, where we ate, what we did. Today's post is on the Hearst Castle. We woke up early after our day of wine tasting and continued down Highway 1 to an area called San Simeon, about three hours away. Eric has always wanted to visit the Hearst Castle and he finally got the opportunity to do it.  The Hearst Castle was the home of William Randolph Hearst, the magazine mogul. He built the home over a period of 28 years from 1919-1947 with architect Julia Morgan.  The home boasts 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, and 127 acres of gardens. It truly was a magnificent site.  Eric said that it rivaled some of the castles he has seen in Europe. (I will use this as opportunity to point out I have never been to Europe! We have to fix that!) The home (sounds weird to call it that, it is so massive) is now a California State Historic Park and is open to the public for tours. There are several tours to go on to see the entire property. We went on Tour 1 and saw just the basics of the house and grounds. I would love to go back and do the rest of the tours.  

These first couple of pictures are from our drive from Monterey to San Simeon. It was a beautiful drive. We passed through Big Sur, which was absolutely breathtaking. I have to admit that the drive was a little scary! It was really windy with lots tight turns. Eric loved it of course and was driving that Impala for all it was worth! I had to ask him to drive a little slower a couple of times. I know, I am a wuss!

Big Sur

It was really foggy.

We got some random man to take our picture. He tried to be "artistic" by taking it from the above angle.

Beautiful beaches!

Look at all the fog out on the sea! It was crazy!

The scenery kept changing. One mile it would be cliffs, then rolling hills, then forests.

 It would be awesome to come back and explore this area.

It was like being in an airplane, the fog was so thick like clouds.

That is the Hearst Castle at the top of the hill. HUGE!

So extravagant!

The Neptune Pool was my favorite thing there! It was so pretty and cool! I can just imagine the pool parties Hearst had with celebrities and writers while he lived here. The family and volunteers actually get to use it sometimes throughout the year. I am way jealous!

 

One of the guest houses

He imported ceilings from all over Europe.

One of the two bell towers.

Just some ancient Egyptian art... It was actually being restored at the time.

Inside the main living area where every one would gather before dinner for cocktails.

The grand dining room. Hearst would sit at the center of the table.

Hand painted ceiling from Europe

Tennis courts

This is the indoor pool. There is no shallow end except in the middle in the cut out. The whole pool is 10 feet deep. It was made of beautiful blue and gold tiles.

The Hearst Castle was amazing! If you ever are on the Central Coast of California, you should definitely try to check it out. We would love to go back and take more of the tours. What we saw is only the tip of the ice berg.  After our tour, we continued on to Cambria, CA for the night. More on that to come! Promise it will be the last California post!