5 trips in 3 weeks

We made it into another year. I just don’t know what to think of that. Last month…last year (yeesh), a lot of little things happened, so instead of drawing it out as I’ve done…only to stop midway and never finish, I’ll condense it today.

G-man was on deployment for a lot of the year, and I never really shared that, only because, well, why dwell. But he returned at the beginning of December and we got to head off to Napa for a long weekend. It was pretty nice. We stayed at the Westin and the service and atmosphere was great.


We did a wine tour with Flex Winery, and though it was nice, it wasn’t as great of an experience as I expected it to be. The driver kept cutting G off while he was talking and all around a bit abrupt, but one thing he did do, was take photos of us…though I admit, my OCD amateur photog self wished I had just done it. There were too many things I wanted to capture that he didn’t.

We got to do some fine dining, relaxed dining, clothes shopping and pretty much whatever we wanted, and it was so nice. The day after Napa, we hopped on a plane for Las Vegas to grab a rental car and drive to my brother’s in Southern Utah to stay for the week.

We had grand plans to drive into the mountains, play in the snow and whatever else, and instead, we stayed on their couch in their warm cozy home…because who wants to go outside in the cold?? It was an odd trip for me. I had my camera and barely touched it. The scenery was breathtaking and yet, I have nothing to show for it. Thankfully I was able to get a couple on my phone of my nieces and brother. My brother who is against his picture being taken and who is passing his loathing of it onto his oldest daughter. I got this after mild begging to both of them.

This little adorable one turned 10 yesterday. Officially double digits is such a big deal! She texts me every single day and something about texting my nieces and nephews just gives me the warm fuzzies. I love they want to talk to me.

After Utah, we drove back to Vegas for a weekend there, and stayed at the Red Rock Hotel and Casino. If you ever want to stay off the strip, stay there. Top notch service, beautiful facility, rooms are gorgeous and the views are breathtaking.

I think we both forgot…multiple times, that it was the weekend before Christmas because we would drive toward the mall and be stuck in traffic for 15-20 minutes just to get away from it. Beyond the ‘blowing way too much money on gambling’, we did get to see The Pawn Shop that’s on tv and let me tell you…it’s a pawn shop. Seedy, messy, jam packed with people and kinda not worth the trip, but at least we can say we did it.

We finally got back to my parents and spent Christmas with them, where my mom made impeccable food and we stayed in our jammies all day every day.

We ended the big long trip in San Francisco. Staying at the Westin there as well, and though it was insanely ridiculously crowded, the guy upgraded us to a double view room that was remarkable. This was in one of the windows. The other window had a completely different view.

After driving through Little Italy and amazingly not kill anyone, we agreed it was impossible to find a parking spot, drove all the way back to the hotel, and got a cab. No wonder people don’t like to drive there. I hadn’t been that stressed and frazzled driving in a very long time. We had some of the best Italian I’ve ever had at North Beach Restaurant, and called it a night before I had to take him to the airport.

I stuck around at a park to watch his plane take off before heading home myself. It was a good time together. One I’ll look back fondly on. One thing that was fun was I didn’t tell him I had cut my hair. He was surprised to say the least, and pushed my bangs off my face as often as he could. He’s not a bangs man, I learned, but thankfully, after seeing a 3rd stylist while in Utah, he (and myself) liked it a thousand times more.

What a relief!

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