San Diego

We headed down to San Diego last weekend for a wedding in La Jolla. I feel like I took living in Southern California for granted when I lived there in 2008-2009--holy cow, it was gorgeous. 

We stayed at a beach house in Pacific Beach, which was a chill spot for our home base (complete with a lemon tree for our fresh squeezed lemonade). Cal and I beach hopped, hung out with friends old and new, enjoyed burgers at Rocky's and cupcakes at Sprinkles, and of course, went on many walks along the beach. 

For the record, Coronado is still my favorite beach.

Hanging out near our beach house, reveling in the fact that it was snowing in Utah

Kelly and I met up for a few minutes in Coronado--I swear it was a coincidence that we were both wearing blue and white striped shirts with colorful pants.

La Jolla

Frisbee on the beach

Cal and his buddies at the wedding at the La Jolla Women's Club

A few minutes before heading back to the airport

And of course, Sprinkles, my favorite tasty San Diego dessert (even though I like the aesthetics of Extraordinary Desserts better)

Chicago/Milwaukee

Cal and I made a quick long weekend trip to Wisconsin and Chicago in April for Cal's friend Andy's wedding. 

Highlights: a Brewers game at Miller Park (the retractable roof is awesome--baseball even when it's chilly!), brunch at Yolk, a fun wedding in Naperville, the Shedd Aquarium (and trust me, I am not a zoo/aquarium fan in general, but this was still an awesome experience), and Cal's mom's homemade chocolate chips cookies.

Lowlights:  I've been to Chicago five times, but still haven't seen the Bean.

In front of Cal's parents' house at Lac LaBelle

The Brewers might not ever make it to the playoffs, but at least they have an awesome stadium!

Shedd Aquarium Jellyfish Exhibit

My kind of town--

Sun Valley

I was lucky enough to visit Sun Valley twice in 2012--once in July solo for the bar convention, once in September with Bets for Tatyana's wedding. Sun Valley is a special place. It's just easier to breathe up there. 

And then there's the hiking and the biking and the epic run along a perfectly maintained trail and lots of delicious places to eat brunch and concerts at Whiskey Jacques. Tatyana's wedding was in Stanley, Idaho, in the shadow of the Sawtooth Mountains, which are also pretty great. I stayed at the Sun Valley Resort in July, and would definitely recommend that over our September accommodations at the Best Western, which were nothing short of creepy (although the rooms themselves weren't that bad).

Every road trip to Idaho has to start with chicken basket from Maddox

Chairlift to Bald Mountain on a perfect July afternoon

Creepy Best Western. This photo is unfiltered. It really did look like something from The Shining.

I hope to make it back to the Sawtooths and Stanley to hike one of these days

Congrats to Tatyana! And another caught bouquet for me . . .

Post-long run brunch at The Kneadery

Hiking a random trail in Sun Valley

Las Vegas

Cal and I made a quick weekend trip to Vegas (Cal had a bachelor party, and I wanted to see Michelle) in the middle of February. Vegas is generally not my favorite place, but I had a great time. Instead of spending our whole time on the strip, Michelle, Bertrand, Oliver and I headed to the Valley of Fire, which is about 30 minutes north of Vegas. We had so much fun climbing all over the red rocks, picnicking, basking in the warm weather, and hiking through slot canyons. We hit up the strip for about 20 minutes--long enough to eat some Pinkberry and check out the flowers and fountains at the Bellagio. 

 Valley of Fire

World's largest chocolate fountain

Bellagio

Snowbird

A couple weeks ago we had an epic weekend in Utah. Tons of new powder, a gorgeous sunny day, a bit too cold (for me) to ski, but entirely too beautiful not to head up to the mountains. Solution: a trip to the Cliff Spa at Snowbird. For $25, you get access to the Cliff Spa's workout room, steam room, sauna, solarium (the best place to read a book), and awesome hot tub at the top of the hotel--complete with heated tiles so that it's not freezing. Top that off with a little lunch at the Atrium, and you have the perfect indoor/outdoor mountain afternoon in winter. Sometimes/most of the time, I feel like Utah is the best place in the whole world.

Prague

Oh beautiful Prague. I spent a mighty 2 hours here on a layover a couple years ago with Liz, and I was so excited to have a few days to explore the city on my last stop for this Europe trip. Chad and I traded in our beloved BMW for a Chevy that looked like a hearse (Guido), and cruised from Munich to Prague. The drive itself was a gorgeous ride through the Bavarian forest. Navigating the maze that is Prague was a little bit less fun--even with GPS, I still got us lost. We arrived in Prague just as the city was setting up its Christmas decor. Old Town Square was crazy crowded the night the town turned on the Christmas lights, but it was fun to participate in the festivities. 

Prague highlights for me: the walk to Prague castle, dinner on the riverfront on the Mala Strana side (two thumbs up for Hergetova Cihelna), a darling cafe called Cukrkavalimonda (which apparently translates to "sugar, coffee, lemonade") that we went to 2 or 3 times and ordered food for an army each time, an incredible concert by the Czech Philharmonic, checking out the views from the Astrological Tower, and generally basking in the beauty of Prague. The downside of our trip: it was so so so so so cold. A known risk you take when you visit Prague in December, and worth it to spend some time in this awesome city, particularly when it is decked out in its Christmas best. We stayed at the Intercontinental--fantastic location, great service, and a safe choice for a great stay in Prague.

The view from a rest stop on our drive from Germany to the Czech Republic

The Astrological Tower

 View from the top of the Astrological Tower--a fun place to spend an hour or two

 Old Town Square bedecked in Christmas lights. Also, those tredelnik things referenced in the sign below are yummy.

The walk to Mala Strana

After much searching, we finally found our riverfront restaurant

The first sunlight of the day casts all of Prague in the most beautiful light

So excited to be on the Charles Bridge. Remarkable because it was 18 degrees that morning--

Best cafe

On the walk to Prague Castle

Last night in Prague