Las Vegas & Red Rock Canyon 2016

When Gaby asked me a few weeks back if I wanted to go to Las Vegas for the weekend to escape real life and hike red rock canyon and have a generally non-Vegas-y Vegas trip I impulsively said yes and booked the trip. I flew out Friday after work and when I landed in Las Vegas it was still hot as balls. I searched the airport for Gaby, we eventually realized that we were in different terminals, and then when I tried to take the shuttle someone left their purse onboard so police had to be called, everyone had to "step back from the shuttle!!!" and eventually we just decided to catch our own Ubers and meet at the hotel. After checking in and finally finding our room (the MGM is hugeeee) we headed out for a bite to eat. We went to Shake Shack (my first time). By the time we got our food I was so hungry and tired that I only ended up finishing half my beer which might be one of the most shameful things I've ever done. It was my first night in Vegas and it was before midnight. Epic Rebeka Fail. After dinner and after stocking up on SPF80 sun screen for my ginger skin, we called it an early night because we had to get up early for a magical day on Saturday!

^^Vegas night one with my giant beer that I didn't finish/first time at Shake Shack! Also, v obvious screen shot of Gaby's snap b/c I am a narcissist^^

On Saturday morning we woke up early, got a rental car with Oregon plates (!!!) from inside the hotel (so convenient!) and drove out to Red Rock canyon, with a quick stop for iced coffees and breakfast sandwiches along the way.

^^First stop: visitor center^^

Red Rock Canyon is seriously magical. The landscape is so stunning and it's really fun to explore there. You pay $7 to get into the park and there is a 13 mile loop you can drive around and stop at various points to hike the rocks. We stopped three times and ended up hiking around, exploring and climbing up rocks.

^^Here comes a bunch of red rock canyon shots. Are you ready?^^ 

^^Can you spot Gaby and I down there on the rock? Thanks stranger for taking our picture candidly then texting me later!^^ 

Unlike hikes in the PNW, these weren't necessarily long hikes, but instead we would go short distances and explore around and climb up on huge rocks and it was really fun and gorgeous!

 ^^A Gaby sized hole^^

^^Gaby and I^^ 

^^Dancer's pose in the desert^^ 

^^obsessed with the cacti^^ 

^^Stopped at one last viewpoint after all of our hiking^^ 

^^On a giant rock^^ 

^^We did it!^^

On stop two of our hiking tour, we found a hole. It was so magical. It was cool in the hole and the hole had a great lookout and we decided if the world ended we'd like to hide in the hole. It was one of our favorite parts of the trip, being in the hole, rehydrating, hiding from the heat and laughing. I can't explain its magic, but it was real.

 ^^The hole^^

^^Gaby in the hole^^

When we left Red Rock Canyon Gaby told me she had a surprise for me! It was very exciting! She remembered that ice cream sandwiches are one of my favorite things and she took me to this shop where you can choose your cookie flavor(s) and your ice cream flavor and your topping flavor and make your own ice cream sandwich. It was super clever and I loved it - it was sooo delicious. I want to go there always. Thank you Gaby for the awesome surprise! You're the best!!!

^^Can't contain my excitement^^

^^Two double chocolate cookies with peanut butter ice cream and rainbow sprinkles for the win^^

After eating our ice cream and popping into Lululemon we drove a little further to grab some sushi off the strip. The sushi place we wanted to go to was closed for a private event, so we went to another place nearby with good Yelp! reviews called Sushi Fever. It was super tasty and when we sat down and I realized that we'd been in Vegas for a million hours and I'd only had 1/2 a beer, I ordered some Sake with lunch, which is a huge DUH. It was a great decision, I was feeling pretty good after hiking, ice cream, sushi and then some Sake!! Fat kid status!

After sushi we headed back to the hotel to return the rental car, hit the pool for a little bit and then took a nap. Eventually we made our way across the street to Diablo's Cantina (where Gaby knew the bartenders) to eat some Mexican food, share a 48oz margarita, make up fake life stories for the restaurant staff and then call it an early night, part two. This quickly became a theme for us. We were totally good with early bedtimes and plenty of sleep (minus being woken up by drunk girls screaming at their friend Marsha who apparently wouldn't let them into their room. I hate those girls. Where are you, Marsha?!).

 ^^Can't go wrong with margarita and guacamole^^

A majority of the day on Sunday was spent at the pool. It was so nice and relaxing. We paid for fancy, cushioned chairs in the adult only pool (not the party pool, the Revive pool) and ordered drinks and laid in the sun and then under an umbrella and aggressively reapplied sunscreen and got in the water and it was so great. After the pool we went to In-N-Out Burger where we both had burgers and I got animal fries and it was OMGSOGOOD. Gotta keep on top of those bikini bods with a strict diet of delicious fried shit!

 ^^Beer by the pool = living the dream^^

^^Gaby killing it at poolside chillin'^^

We then headed over to another part of the strip, stopped to see the Flamingos at the Flamingo, drank dranks, discussed whether or not this old guy named Gary was gay or just a complete psycho, then took a shuttle to the Flamingo for some Roulette where we won a hundred and some odd dollars. Yes!

After gambling we headed back to the hotel to change into dresses before heading out to dinner at this great place off the strip called Carson Kitchen which was intimate, had lots of gorgeous wood, a magical server named Dakota and there was a deck upstairs that looked like it would be low key fun to grab a drink on during a warm, Las Vegas evening.

^^Gin martini and gin cocktail for me and Gaby, respectively^^

After dinner we took a quick walk up Freemont street before deciding we were exhausted and just wanted to go to bed, so we got in an Uber with a man who told us about how he used to sleep on the sidewalk. He has a bed now. We called it another early night because why end the loser streak on our last night, am I right? The next morning I had an earlier flight than Gaby so I woke up and headed to the airport where I grabbed Coffee Bean (fav) and then flew home (less fav). Gaby had another pool day before catching her delayed (boo) flight that evening.

Best not-too-Vegasy Vegas trip ever! I can't wait until my next vacay with Gaby!!  Cheers!

San Diego Trip 2016

This past week I took Fri-yay! off work and hopped on a plane to San Diego for the weekend. I've been desperately needing some sunshine and Gaby was down there for a work conference and wanted to stay a few extra days, so win-win! I was even able to get on an earlier flight (thanks Alaska! and was able to enjoy 5 extra hours of sunshine on Friday!). Upon arriving I dropped my bags in our room and then headed straight down to the pool to drink a margarita in a lounge chair (while waiting for Gaby to be done with work). It was the most magical.

^^Just off the plane, SO EXCITED IT'S SUNNY OUT (and borderline too warm for the flannel I'm sporting)!^^

^^First stop: margarita by the pool (still in flannel, no time to change, must get into sunshine)^^

^^Drink with Gaby before dinner^^

When Gaby was done with the trade show we headed out for a drink with a few of her coworkers, and then followed that up with some Mexican food at Don Chido (at my insistence -- you can't go to Southern California and not eat Mexican food, am I right?). We ended dinner with a round of Patron shots (you're welcome 50something year old male coworkers!) and then most of her coworkers headed to the airport. Three of us who were left met another coworker at Bang Bang for a bowl of alcohol and two trips to the Ryan Gosling themed bathroom for Gaby and I (which was very silly and ridiculous but also maybe one of my favorite parts of the trip)!!!

^^THE bathroom, in all of its glory^^

^^We took ALL the pictures^^

 

^^No shame^^ 

^^IDK why my face is so serious, but this made me LOL^^

After Bang Bang we bar hopped around the Gaslamp Quarter. We went to the Altitude Bar (on a misunderstood tip from a friend, but the view was awesome anyway) and at one point asked an Uber Driver to take us to his favorite bar in the area. We slept until like 10:30am the next day. Killing it.

Saturday, after transferring hotels and grabbing some iced coffee, we headed to the beach! It was so warm and sunny and generally magical outside. We grabbed a beer (for me) and a Bloody Mary (for Gaby) and shared some nachos for lunch. We purchased ridiculous Spring Break tank tops which were on sale, Gaby stepped on and got stung by a bee on the beach, and we found her some new flip flops since hers were killing her (not a good day for her feet, but a good day overall because it was SO NICE OUT, IN FEBRUARY!). We walked along the boardwalk for a long time and ultimately grabbed one more beer at a beachfront bar before heading back to the hotel to switch to a clean room (switch = get upgraded to a suite complete with a complementary bottle of delicious wine b/c of some pube looking hairs and general dirt (ew), score! Seriously though, the service at and the location of the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter Hotel was amazing, we would totally stay there again.

^^Mission Beach boardwalk area^^

 ^^The beach, SO GOOD^^

^^Gaby on the beach, pre bee sting^^

^^Beach bar beer. When in Rome!^^

After relaxing in our room for a few minutes and discovering there was no hot tub at our hotel (only a pool) we started to get hungry and so we ventured across the street to Fleming's for some Sweet Chili Calamari, which as Gaby explained beforehand, was amazing. We then made our way to a nearby Sushi place for a light dinner. Later that night we went to the Whiskey House and then got some hummus at a Greek place, then we somehow were persuaded via text message to go to this V TERRIBLE club by Gaby's coworker. Guys, it was the worst. We walk up and there is this crazy long line, we go to the VIP guy and tell him our friend has a table and he's like I can't find his name, who is he with? And we're like, we don't know. He lives here, we don't, also it's really NBD b/c this place sounds REALLY loud and terrible and we're wearing jeans and flip flops so like, we'll definitely go elsewhere b/c not our scene and we don't want to try and persuade you to let us in, like, at all. And the bouncer was like, ummm well you can just go in through this VIP door, it's whatever. So we walk into this packed, terrible, dark, crowded night club playing house music and the DJ kept shouting "I'M A GRAMMY AWARD WINNING ARTIST" #no. We found Gaby's coworker, had part of one drink, and got the fuck out of that disaster in favor of bed.

^^Gaby blissing out in our suite's bedroom^^

^^READY TO GOOOOO^^

Sunday we rented a car and drove to LA to eat Thai Food at Gaby's most favorite Thai place in Hollywood and fly out of LAX. First though, we ate In-N-Out Burger for late breakfast in San Diego (Cheeseburger, Animal Fries & Iced Tea for me!) and we got Coffee Bean (I loveeee Coffee Beannnnn) along the way. We also listened to a lot of Tove Lo on our very sunny drive, so I was pretty content, albeit tired on Sunday. We also stopped by The Grove after Thai Food, which was so fancy, before returning our rental car and barely making it out of town that evening.

 ^^The only burger I'll eat. Period. It was OMGSOGOODICANTEVEN^^

^^Thai Food FTW^^

^^All up in LA^^

I'm convinced after Disneyland last February and San Diego this February, I need to go to SoCal every February in order to survive rainy Seattle winters. I'm already plotting my trip back to San Diego next year! I feel like I have so much left to explore still!

Alsooooooo here are some things about San Diego I did/liked/still want to do/want to tell you about/whatever: (1) all the people there are SO beautiful; (2) they're also all the nicest ever (what do you have to be mad about when it's sunny and beautiful all the time, right? Right. They get it.); (3) I still need to eat Carne Asada Fries(!!); (4) the manager of the Hilton gave us his card and told us if we ever want to come back he'll hook it up; (5) Ryan Gosling Bathroom!!!; (6) palm trees; (7) WARM SUNSHINE IN FEBRUARY?!?! You guys, c'mon. The best!; (8) if you have nasty back hair take care of it or you'll never have a shot w/ Gaby and we'll definitely make fun of you ALL WEEKEND AND FOREVER; and (9) I loveeeee Girls' Trips with Gaby so much. #takemeback

Beth and Sarah’s Seattle Visit

This weekend two of my best friends, Beth and Sarah, rode the train up (from the homeland) to come visit me in Seattle. I rarely have visitors in Seattle so it was an extra fun weekend for me. We ate Indian food at Taste of India, had two nights of girlfirend sleepovers in my tiny apartment, ate too much at brunch, went shopping in the sunshine, swooped up my friend Amy and met up with Dustin and his friend, my coworker Dave and his 2 friends at the EMP where we visited the Scream Booth in the horror exhibit and we paid extra to go into the really cool Star Wars room (I’m not even a big fan and I still thought it was neat). After that we had lunch with Amy, somehow managed to be freezing cold despite the sunshine, got FroYo despite our chills and then collapsed at my apartment for a few hours. Saturday night we met my friends Brittan and Natalie for a drink and it was one of the happiest moments for me. 4 of my besties, all together at once! In Seattle! We ended up at a shitty dive bar in Ballard that was also a Chinese restaurant and Beth miiiight have got sick and we miiiiight have went home early. But not after we discovered that Sarah (AKA Grandma) can drink like. a. boss. It was my favorite moment. Then Sarah and I drunk reheated our Indian food leftovers and baked frozen mac and cheese bites and ate it all standing up in my kitchen while Beth laid on my bathroom floor and yelled at us for making noises and smells. None of that has happened in one night since like, law school and it was so fun (minus Beth feeling terrible). They left too early on Sunday and I laid around for a while before meeting up with Dustin for open house-ing and sunshine beer drinking and Oscar watching. Legit weekend in Seattle. #isitfridayyet?

^^Me, Sarah, Beth and Amy actually screaming really loud in a booth at the EMP^^
  ^^Amy, Beth, me and Sarah, still at the EMP (PS at 5’4” how am I the tallest one in the group?!)^^

San Francisco 2013

Last week I celebrated turning 27 by eating nachos after work, going to bed really early, waking up the next day and flying to San Francisco (California is the 14th state I've been to this month, if you're keeping track - that number is bigger than the number of states I'd ever visited before combined).

We discovered on this trip that Brittan and I like to take a very laid back approach to traveling which really stresses Natalie and Danielle out. We may have barely made our flight, but we did make it (during last call). When we got to San Francisco we were starving and after dropping our things at our Air BnB on Nob Hill we walked to Little Italy for a late lunch of pizza, Caesar salad and beer. After lunch we walked to the really curvy part of Lombard St., took pictures, admired the best sunset ever and then walked back to our Air BnB where our hostess's husband was waiting outside for us. His name was Nick. He creeped Brittan and I out a lot and we may have slept with knives beside our round bed out of fear that he was coming for us in the night. But that's another story for another day.

 ^^View from the top of Lombard St.^^

 ^^Me, Danielle, Brittan and Natalie at the bottom of Lombard St, looking the wrong way^^

 

After resting for a bit at our apartment (there are a lot of really steep hills in San Francisco, OMG), and discovering the amazing view from our roof, we walked downtown to Zara and then back to our apartment to call an Uber and head down to the Marina district to grab a  drink at the Tipsy Pig (which was soo cute) before our 10pm dinner reservation - how hip are we, am I right? Ha! For dinner we had margaritas and arguably the best Mexican food of our lives at Mamacia before calling it an early night and making endless hashtag jokes on the ride home.

 ^^discovering the roof top view from our apartment, most amazing thing ever, right?^^

 

^^Brittan, Danielle, Natalie and I at the Tipsy Pig^^ 

Saturday morning we woke up early, grabbed coffee and bagel sandwiches and headed down to catch our ferry to Alcatraz. None of us had ever been to Alcatraz and it was such a neat experience. I would recommend it to anyone visiting, but make sure you book in advance as apparently you can't just walk on a ferry. We took an audio tour of the prison which was really cool and the views from the island were stunning. It probably helped that it was gorgeous all weekend (suck it, Seattle rain!). I just wish we would have been able to see more of the island and also I wish I knew more about all of the "Indains" graffiti all over (see: Indian Occupation).

^^The welcome sign at Alcatraz "Indians Welcome"^^

^^3 floors of jail cells in the prison at Alcatraz^^

^^Natalie in solitary confinement^^

^^Danielle and I and SF from Alcatraz^^

 

^^The Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz^^ 

After Alcatraz we hopped in an Uber driven by Dan, the best ever Uber driver, and headed to Alamo Square to see the Painted Ladies, or as I refer to it, the Full House Houses! It was a little anticlimactic but I had never seen them before and I was glad to cross it off my bucket list.

^^The Painted Ladies from Alamo Square with downtown SF in the background^^

We grabbed lunch nearby then Danielle and I decided that it was necessary that we walk through the neighborhood in search of ice cream. We ended up at Smitten which was so good! You guys have to go if ever you're in San Francisco. They make small batches of ice cream using liquid nitrogen and the ice cream is so smooth and delicious. Danielle and I split a giant sundae which we were so excited about (obviously)!

 ^^Smitten is inside an old shipping container and it was the cutest^^

 

^^Danielle and I with our sundae that consisted of salted caramel ice cream, dark chocolate sauce, cookie crumbles and whipped cream^^

 

 ^^the liquid nitrogen doing it's thing^^

That night Danielle's friend Ashley and my friend Courtney who I love and who I worked with at Ground in Hood River (and her boyfriend Danny, yay Danny) met us for some delicious Sushi a few blocks from our apartment. Side note: I'm convinced that all of the food in San Francisco is delicious. Seriously. After sushi we headed down to the Mission district to meet up with some more friends and have some drinks. My friend Micah and his wife Alexis even came from Okland to meet up with us and I had a blast catching up with them. It had been too long! We ended the night by eating Mission style burritos in the Mission district (I mean, c'mon!).

^^Micah, me and Alexis^^

The next day we woke up, got ready, said goodbye to our roof and headed to the airport. We were all feeling ok until the Uber ride made us all want to vomit and die. But we made it home safe, sans vomit. It was a really amazing weekend getaway.

^^Waiting for our Uber, the last time we all felt decent for the rest of the day^^

Also, random things about San Francisco/our trip: it is sunny and 65degrees there in mid-November; all of the buildings in San Francisco are connected and it's so confusing and amazing and beautiful, it feels so much more romantic than modern Seattle; Uber in San Francisco is the best thing ever (ok they have it in Seattle too and really it's good everywhere); staying in an Air BnB is awesome and I would definitely recommend it, just be ready to maybe sleep with a knife by your round bed if your host creeps you out; AND finally, Brittan and I need to purchase round beds immediately because round beds are amazing, no joke. San Francisco, thank you for being so good to us, we heart you #itsofficial.

^^Brittan is going to kill me for this one - round bed 4eva!^^

 

^^best. rooftop. view. ever.^^