Day 30: Los Angeles 7/30/15

Currently in: Glacier National Park, Montana

We knew we would be hanging out with Chris later on in the day, so we got up early to take the dogs on a hike.  Chris suggested Palo Verde so we headed there.  It was still a little over cast but MAN was there a hilly hike there.  Also, there was a CRAZY set of stairs that we of course HAD to run up to get the pups good and tired.  From there we made one of many pit stops to Randy's Donuts.

Later on, we met up with Chris and headed to Santa Monica to grab some Sugarfish sushi for lunch.  It was REALLY good.  We got the "Trust Me" and they bring out a bunch of courses that were delicious.  We walked down by the pier and the beach and then headed up to the shopping area.

  

We talked about going to Venice Beach after but there was too much traffic so we went back to Culver City with Chris to grab some happy hour drinks.  Then Chris' boyfriend Anthony called and we decided to meet him at the Grove for dinner.  

We were too busy catching up to take pictures - stolen from google.  We went to Umami Burger for dinner.  We got every side known to man.  We walked around for a bit and of course we got some ice cream!

Day 29 Los Angeles, CA 7/29/14

Currently in: Still Seattle!

We grabbed a quick breakfast and off we went to Los Angeles.  La Jolla was where our route began so we stopped there to walk the dogs around before we were in the car for a while.  We saw lots of sea lions sun bathing!

And some cool birds.  People were kayaking in and out of that cave while we were there.  We grabbed a yummy chocolate croissant and some lemonades and hit the road!  We hit a bit of LA traffic and then dropped everything at the hotel to meet my brother Chris in Beverly Hills.  

We walked around for a while and we are pretty sure we saw the Kardashians in La Perla while we were there.  There was a HUGE crowd of paparazzi waiting for them.  That would make Kardashian sighting #2 of ours lifetime, the first being Las Vegas!

Chris had plans to meet up with some friends from college so we went to find dinner.  We ended up at 3 Weavers Brewery.  They didn't have food there, so we stopped and grabbed a pizza and brought it with us.  We got a couple of flights and played a few epic games of Jenga.  We had a blast just hanging out. 

 We were full and exhausted from the driving so we went back to the hotel to sleep.  

Days 27&28: San Diego, CA 7/27-7/28

Currently in: Seattle, WA

Uncle Brian left early for work on Monday so we hung out with Jeffrey and Miriam for a bit and watched the movie "Max" about the dog who was a dog in Iraq.  It was a cute movie - pretty predictable - but cute.  

We headed to San Diego and of course our first stop was In & Out Burger, located conveniently across the street from our hotel.  Then we went to the beach!!  The dogs LOVED Ocean Beach!  All for different reasons.  

Cole and Callie loved running around the beach without their leashes.  They wanted to say hi to everyone!  Chester was really the mayor though.  He would run up to every dog to say hello AND he loved the water!  Cole and Callie were NOT fans of the water.  

Everyone was tired and happy after playing at the beach all day.  

We went there the next morning too!  We walked all along the beach and went on the pier.  

Later on that night we went to the Gaslamp District for dinner and drinks.  We found a place with a Groupon and ate there.  It was okay. We walked around a bunch and checked out the baseball stadium (of course)

The guard who was closing up happened to be from Roslindale also so he let Jeremy and I cut through so we could take pictures!  

On our way out we saw the Stone IPA tap room and stopped in there for a drink.  Wasn't our favorite but it was fun to check out.  

The next day we were back at the beach first thing!  Callie buried Chester in the sand!  

They all made friends with a cute puppy bulldog. Jeremy said he loved San Diego the most of anywhere at that point.

Next we headed to Balboa Park with the pups to check it out.  We decided not to go to the Zoo because it was PACKED.  

It was such a huge and gorgeous park.  The dogs had a lot of fun walking around. 

 There were some awesome theaters in the park - we were thinking of seeing a show but it was all sold out!

The dogs were EXHAUSTED and HOT so we dropped them off and went to get lunch down in Coronado.  

I told Jeremy I want to come back and stay here!  It was beautiful to walk around.  We check out the shops and grabbed a really good lunch.  

We went back to the hotel and decided we wanted to relax and watch a movie.  Jeremy had been DYING to see Ant Man so we grabbed a quick dinner of Chipotle and went to see that.  It was really funny!  

We went to bed early because we knew we wanted to take the Pacific Coast Highway up to LA and weren't sure how long it would take.  Next stop: LA! 

Day 25 & 26: Bloomington, CA 7/25-7/26

Currently in: Portland, OR

We left Flagstaff that morning and hit the road for Bloomington, CA to see Jeremy's aunt and uncle and cousins.  Along the way we hit a bit of a problem... we ran out of gas in the middle of the desert! 

I guess Jeremy anticipated better milage but in the heat, with the A/C blasting, we weren't getting as many miles to the gallon.  Also, we kept waiting for gas stations to appear on the highway but I guess it isn't like that here!  We ended up running out of gas 5 miles away from the gas station!  

Luckily, I have AAA (courtesy of Aunt Kathie... thank you!) so we called and they sent someone out.  An hour and a half later we were back on the road.  We celebrated with gas station blizzards.  

We got to Bloomington around 3:00 and were excited to see everyone.  Actually, these were the first people we got to hang out with besides each other in almost 4 weeks so we were REALLY excited to see them!  Christopher LOVED all the dogs!  

I love this picture of all the dogs hanging out!  Kyrie (Jeffrey's dog) was obsessed with little Chester! The day we got there we hung out and then went to the mall with Jeffrey and his cousin Gem.  We just walked around and checked out some stores.  Later on we bbqed with the family and caught up.   

The next day was Sunday which = softball day!  We went to the Swap Meet/Flea Market right by their house and wandered around.  Jeffrey got us some Mexican candy and I picked up some sweet aviator sunglasses for 5.00.  We went back to the house and picked up Martha and Christopher to grab some Denny's for breakfast.  

The guys went to a baseball game for Jeffrey to try out pitching and I hung back with Christopher and Martha.  Martha showed me how to make delicious strawberry juice.  So yummy and refreshing.  Then it was time for softball.  Brian, Jeffrey and Jeremy played while I hung out with Martha, Jeffrey's girlfriend Miriam and some other cousins.  

We just hung out with the dogs, ate pizza and hung out for the night.  It was really nice just hanging around for a few days rather than running around sightseeing all day like we had been doing.   We had such a nice time!  We can't wait to come out there again! 

Day 24: Flagstaff, AZ 7/24/15

We hit the road to Flagstaff around 11:30 and got there for a late lunch.  BUT of course I had to break my phone screen first!  I was standing in line at the La Quinta waiting to check in and it slipped from my fingers while I was getting my ID out.  CRACK.  No chance of survival.  Luckily, Jeremy thought quick on his feet and found a repair shop in downtown Flagstaff and we headed straight there.  The place was called Tec Rehab and they were so nice and fast!  We dropped off the phone and went to get lunch while they worked on it.



We ended up going to Altitudes Bar and Grill.  The food was okay but it was a pretty cool place because they had skis all over the place and cool decorations.  We went to pick up my phone after and it was good as new!  I think we were pretty exhausted from hiking, driving and the heat so we went to hang at the hotel after.  I wanted to work on the blog so I headed to Starbucks to enjoy LITERALLY the first time in 3.5 weeks I was away from Jeremy!




I worked on the blog for a couple of hours (it takes a long time to put these together!) and then went back to get ready for dinner.  We went to Picazzo's

Organic Pizza Kitchen.  It was SO GOOD!  We got a veggie pizza and shared a pear salad to start.  It was still pretty early and it was a Friday night so we decided to hit up a local billiards place called Beaver St. Brewery to play some pool.

We headed back to the hotel and got ready to go to Bloomington, CA to visit Jeremy's uncle Brian and family!

Days 22-24: Grand Canyon 7/22-7/24

 We woke up early and hit the road for the Grand Canyon.  It was supposed to be about a 5-6 hour drive to the South Rim where we had reservations at the campground there for 4 nights.  We ended up stopping in Kingman, AZ for a bit to grab lunch at In N Out Burger (shock) and to get food for us and the dogs at Walmart.  In N Out took FOREVER, but finally we were on the road.  Finally we got the to campground around 3 and set up and made a snack.  Then we hit the Grand Canyon!  

Yeah, it's pretty amazing.  

We walked around the rim a little with the dogs and stopped to check out the gift shop.  It was really hot in the sun so the dogs were wiped.  We went back to the campground, made dinner, read and hung out in the hammock looking at the stars.  They were pretty amazing... and by that I mean they were insanely incredible!





The next day we headed out super early because the crowds were NO JOKE and neither was the sun!  The entire rim trail is dog friendly so we got to bring our furry family with us!  We hiked from the Mather Visitor's Center to Bright Angel Trail and back.  

There was a great sign that said "Going down is optional, coming back up is not..."  

Unfortunately dogs are not allowed below the rim.  I get why though... it is hot above rim and it's only hotter the farther down you go!

We hiked until about noon and then went back to the campground to hang out.  It's strange to say but we were SO BORED by like 4:00.  The dogs were melting, we were melting and there was no town to go check out and look around really. 

 Finally we drove down to what little town there was, picked up a few beers and ciders and decided to play some blackjack!  We saw an elk along the way!

We had so much fun hanging out! That really changed our day around.  But, we decided we didn't need another night at the GC, so we thought we would check out Flagstaff the next day after our hike. 

The next day we hiked Bright Angel to Hopi Point and back. 

 Chester gets tired sometime so he hired Jeremy as his assistant.  

There was a TON of information about the formation of the Canyon along the way.  

We went back to the campground after our hike and packed up to head out!  Flagstaff here we come!