My Vacation...From Stacy's view

I'm too lazy and sick right now to write my own blog...so I just copied and pasted Stacy's:

it's been a while since i've written a dbq, so here goes...this is my second day back to work after a whirlwind tour of northern california with j. we took our "annual" vacation to visit maryanne, only she moved from warm sunny west palm beach to warm sunny sometimes rocklin, california. i'm up for any adventure involving vacation and my friends though! i needed vacation. i hate my job so any excuse to get away, mentally or physically, is GREAT! and i love planning. so plan i did for this little weekend.

wednesday morning we left for our getaway. matt and lauren took j and i to the airport...lol, j and i were trying to manifest some first class tickets, but the second we saw the crabby "i hate my job" guy at the desk, we didn't even ask...we knew better! oh well, who needs first class for a 4.5 hour flight from chicago to sacramento?! our first flight was pretty uneventful, minus the wind delays in chicago, but it was only 15 minutes. that's nothing in o'hare time! we had lunch at chilis in the airport, complete with chicken for my glutten free vegetarian friend jessica. oh did she struggle to find stuff to eat, she even had to resort to chicken! POOOR jessica. anywho. so we looked and looked for justin (timberlake) or patrick (dempsey) but we couldn't find them for the life of us. we decided to make it a goal of ours to find these two hot men. we even got some pepsi to lure justin to us. more on that to follow.

we got to sacramento uneventfully...minus the bathroom trip on the airplane. we were in the last row (we think these are skinnier than the other rows, avoid if possible) and both had to use the bathroom. so the guy on the aisle moved so we could get out. ok, no problem. then on the way back into our seats, i stepped onto j's seat since the floor was covered with all of our carry-on stuff, an d the floatation device seat slipped off...then i did the same to my own seat! ahhh...drama. my fav. so we fixed our seats and that was the end of that. maryanne met us at the airport and we put the top down on the convertible...for about 2 minutes! then it was too windy for j in the back seat so we put the top back up. it was so nice outside. we went to eat garlic bread hamburgers (and baked potato for veggie girl) and then we went to the awesome yogurt shop where you make your own mixture...fun! I didn't get much yogurt though...because maryanne had ordered a snickers cake she had been eyeing up for us for about, oh six months! it was delish.

we headed out to their complex hot tub and it was the best. seriously. it was like all the stress just melted away. i love hot tubs. thursday was lake tahoe day. i had an agenda and a schedule to help us do everything we wanted to do, minus snack time...j needs lots of snacks! maryanne sent us off with a great breakfast and prenatal vitamins for everyone. oh, did i mention jack the jack russell terrier fell in love with j, who hates him? good times. so we headed off towards truckee california and the dragonfly restaurant. you could see the mountains in the horizon and it wasn't too scary driving, and then we stopped for a justin calling with some pepsi. he didn't answer, but i thought maybe he was in europe or something, so we tried to be patient. we stopped at a beautiful lookout point along the way and the view was breathtaking. i love the mountains. it was so peaceful. seriously wonderful. truckee and the dragonfly restaurant were so comfortable, like an old friend. i found my sister the perfect present and then we were off to squaw valley...mission...to visit the 'life is good' store there.

squaw valley was the host to th e 1960's olympics and it too was beautiful. the mountains were SO steep and the skiers must be crazy! i would be so scared. but i imagine they feel so in tune with nature and themselves. so...the life is good store was CLOSED! can you believe it? it's like it was meant to be and then SLAM...just kidding. closed the day before and the day of our visit. that was the saddest moment of the trip. literally. we did a little retail therapy to cheer ourselves up. then, the schedule called for 'the most beautiful drive in america'...along the eastern side of lake tahoe...and j needed another snack. it was amazing. the view and experience, not the snack! amazing seems like an understatement, but i can't even find words to describe the beauty of the mountains and this pure lake and the trees. it was like the best day up north and adding the mountains and pureness. we got to south lake tahoe and heavenly village just on time to ride the gondola ride 9300 feet up the mountainside for a truly fantastic view. scary shoooker, that ride was! the gondola was swaying in the wind, just swaying in the wind...what a scary feeling to be swaying in the wind...singing this song and calling justin with our pepsi didn't detract us from our fear! all in all, it was worth the fear and the $28 for that 12 minute ride up the mountain...and then longer on the way back down!

we stopped at the lakeside for some fun times writing messages to our loved ones in the sand, tested the water (freezing) and let the paparazzi follow us around. there was snow on the beach...isn't that weird jess?! then...it was time for emerald bay, the seventh most photographed place. we drove up the western side of lake tahoe to get there. SCARY! the roads are skinny and just carved in the mountain...no guardrails, no nothing to keep you from falling off t he road. and the curves were intense...10 mph 169 degree curves. then we saw a sign for 2 miles to vista point. ok, i can handle this, i thought to myself. i was so focused on my driving, i didn't notice we passed it until after we passed an "avalanche risk ahead, no stopping, peds, parking." great. i turned the corner and there was just a massive wall of granite staring back at me. super intense. never before have i felt so intense! i made it about 1.5 miles down this crazy stretch of mario kart rainbow world style driving. you know the one i'm talking about, where the little cloud man has to pick you up and return you to the road because you fell off? yeah. so i turned around in this little cove and that's when j told me she thought she saw the vista point before we got onto the crazy avalanche road! ahhh...turns out we could have avoided the whole thing. but then what would i have lea rned?! we had some dinner at chevy's fresh mex and then it was dark, just in time for the 2 hour drive back to rocklin. over echo summit. fabulous. so we head home...down, down, down the mountain. i can't even count the number of vehicles i pulled over to let pass me. it was scary. then we were on low gas. did you know it's a bad idea to drive down a mountain with less than 1/4 tank of gas? it is. i was freaking out, on the inside anyway...but then we got to silver fork gas station with bars on it and chains for just $39.95, so we got some gas for a bargain price of...$3.95/gallon. not too bad...gas was only $3.74 in rocklin. so we descended our 7300 feet down echo summit and yay! we survived the mountain roads!

friday we went to look for some life is good paraphenalia in some random sporting goods stores. j found a water bottle. exciting, i know. all that excitement...for a water bottle?! we went to the roseville mall (saw the brighton store, the brand of purse i won!) and patrick dempsey! well...it was an advertisement, but lifesize, so i got my picture taken with him and he is hot, i know. i had the best lunch ever...pesto pasta and a grilled chicken ceasar panini...the best. and the guy at the counter liked my coach purse. good thing i brought my real one. :) then we laid out and got tan for a while...i jumped into the freezing water for paparazzi's sake and some kids jumped the fence to smoke by the pool. hoodlums i tell you. we met maryanne at her school to check it out, they had outdoor hallways, that was pretty cool. then we went to old sacramento, had some seafood (well, not preggo maryanne) and got ready for san francisco on saturday.

we had another fabulous cheesy egg breakfast...and we drove through the hills for a couple of hours. isn't it weird how the animals are hanging out on the hills?! we went over the golden gate bridge and went to fort point...a GREAT place for pictures! yay! then we took a wrong turn...and went over the golden gate bridge...and then over it again! don't forget that's $5 each time you enter the city through the golden gate bridge! it was so windy and cold! we went to the crookedest street at lombard and something...leavenworth maybe? maryanne was such a good sport to drive us down it. Then we parked! we went to bubba gumps shrimp for lunch. expensive.

then we went to pier 39 to see the sea lions hanging out and stinking up the place. we saw tommy lee promoting lightbulbs and just generally being "green" for earth day. i'm crazy so i made us a path right behind him during an interview...maybe we'll be on tv. maybe not! we got some matching pink fleeces and alactraz swim team knit hats. yes, it was THAT cold! we hung out for a while, then went to the pier for our tickets. oh..lol. did i forget to mention that we bought our tickets ahead of time? and you could either print them or get them at the window. well, i printed mine and maryanne's and j said she'd pick hers up at the window. i forgot our tickets! lol. and i gave her such a hard time about responsibility and she should have printed the ticket. i didn't live that one down!

alacatraz was pretty cool. the cells were so small. there is so much history there. i can imagine the prisoners pretty much hated it. the rules were so strict too. there really wasn't much shooooking either, unless you could me shoooking the people away from the no drinking sign when j was trying to call justin with her pepsi. he really is stubborn. so we decided to nix the cable car ride; a, because it was getting late, and b, it was freaking cold and w indy! so i got dropped off at ghiradelli square to pick up some presents and that was the end of our san francisco experience. we stopped to eat dinner on the way back to maryannes, packed and the end, it was 4am and time to go to the airport for home already!

talk about whirlwind vacations. maryanne was such a sport for being 34 weeks preggo. i can't imagine. and jack is probably in withdrawal from j. but at the end of the day, i'm happy we got to spend some time with maryanne, and i hope this annual trip carries on for a while. who knows where we'll end up next? maybe oregon to visit j at school. maybe back to northern cali...there's still some stuff left to do there! i just love vacation. i like having something to look forward to and plan on. and j lets me do all my planning and loves it too! i missed my little family though. i'm basically in the same spot in life as i was a year ag o, only i'm planning all of these life changes, like moving my life, you know, no biggie. j...well, she's not in the same spot and i'm glad for her, so much growing for her in one year! it's nice that no matter what is going on in our lives and what we are experiencing, we can still share this.