our valenpres day weekend
i'd like to do this in pictures sorta. of course those will be behind a cut. i'm thinking i should also separate into days and categories. i am too much of a capricorn sometimes. summary in this entry, specifics next...
shelby graced me with 2 dozen red roses friday morning. edith brought them into my office gushing w/ jealousy. since shelbyg and i were going out of town friday nite, and there was no vase at work, i thought maybe edith would enjoy them more than i could. shelby agreed, and edith gladly accepted. she said they bloomed wonderful beautifully large over the weekend and smelled so good. i'm glad they brightened up her house.
shelby ended up going home b/c he got out of work early, so i picked him up and we decided not to fight the traffic but grab food @ norm's first. when we headed north, the traffic was light, and we made it to manteca in 5 hrs even w/ two pit stops.
saturday began the lodi wine and chocolate festival. we didn't eat breakfast before we hit jessie's grove first. that hit us hard halfway through the day where we had to grab pizza in woodbridge. we finished out the day @ vino piazza recovering from the exorbitant amount of alcohol consumed. great conversation made it all worth it. back in downtown lodi, we ate dinner at feed and fuel, lodi's "planet hollywood." the lobster tail was very tasty, but the rest of the food seemed a little diner-ish to me. back at the hotel, i took advantage of the whirlpool tub only to overheat and stick to the soak over the bubbles. shelby passed out hard from his day of wine loving while i had my first bath since christmas '08.
sunday we got up early to have breakfast w/ my aunt sue @ johnny's. we caught up for a couple of hours, tried to make plans for future visits, and before we left, she handed us a case of wine to bring home. shelby really wanted me to see the winchester house since i had never seen it, so we jumped on the highway and headed to san jose. we made it at just the right time b/c the line got longer and longer as we were there. who knew it was such a popular valentine's day site? we finished around 4p and wondered where to go next. we toyed w/ gilroy or santa cruz.
santa cruz won. we made it just in time to see the beach and boardwalk before it closed for the evening, then we were stuck in traffic trying to leave w/ everyone else (the exit was one way from the beach). at the winchester, we found a brochure for the steinbeck museum in salinas. wanting to get our geek on, we decided salinas should be the final stop of the evening. we took the back roads through the town of soquel where we had a lovely mexican dinner of shrimp and prawn crepes, red pepper enchiladas, flan, and chocolate coconut cheesecake @ tortilla flats. we passed through the artichoke capital of the world before finding a hojo in salinas a couple blocks from the museum.
we took advantage of the late checkout monday morning before expanding our knowledge of john steinbeck and the salinas valley. we celebrated our newfound education w/ a taste of monterey next door. the woman recommended the bar down the street for lunch, so we ate burgers, tri-tip salad, and an ice cream topped brownie and hit the road back to la.
we were making great time, tempted to stop in paso but kept on going, passed a 3 car pileup, and then santa barbara stopped us cold. we sat in traffic for an hour before escaping to montecito and the nugget. great fish & chips..and apple PIE. satisfied, we took the side roads until the 101 opened up again in carpenteria and made it home to discover the owner of next door finished off the wall just in time for the inspector today. thanks, a-hole.
at least my weekend was spectacular.
shelby graced me with 2 dozen red roses friday morning. edith brought them into my office gushing w/ jealousy. since shelbyg and i were going out of town friday nite, and there was no vase at work, i thought maybe edith would enjoy them more than i could. shelby agreed, and edith gladly accepted. she said they bloomed wonderful beautifully large over the weekend and smelled so good. i'm glad they brightened up her house.
shelby ended up going home b/c he got out of work early, so i picked him up and we decided not to fight the traffic but grab food @ norm's first. when we headed north, the traffic was light, and we made it to manteca in 5 hrs even w/ two pit stops.
saturday began the lodi wine and chocolate festival. we didn't eat breakfast before we hit jessie's grove first. that hit us hard halfway through the day where we had to grab pizza in woodbridge. we finished out the day @ vino piazza recovering from the exorbitant amount of alcohol consumed. great conversation made it all worth it. back in downtown lodi, we ate dinner at feed and fuel, lodi's "planet hollywood." the lobster tail was very tasty, but the rest of the food seemed a little diner-ish to me. back at the hotel, i took advantage of the whirlpool tub only to overheat and stick to the soak over the bubbles. shelby passed out hard from his day of wine loving while i had my first bath since christmas '08.
sunday we got up early to have breakfast w/ my aunt sue @ johnny's. we caught up for a couple of hours, tried to make plans for future visits, and before we left, she handed us a case of wine to bring home. shelby really wanted me to see the winchester house since i had never seen it, so we jumped on the highway and headed to san jose. we made it at just the right time b/c the line got longer and longer as we were there. who knew it was such a popular valentine's day site? we finished around 4p and wondered where to go next. we toyed w/ gilroy or santa cruz.
santa cruz won. we made it just in time to see the beach and boardwalk before it closed for the evening, then we were stuck in traffic trying to leave w/ everyone else (the exit was one way from the beach). at the winchester, we found a brochure for the steinbeck museum in salinas. wanting to get our geek on, we decided salinas should be the final stop of the evening. we took the back roads through the town of soquel where we had a lovely mexican dinner of shrimp and prawn crepes, red pepper enchiladas, flan, and chocolate coconut cheesecake @ tortilla flats. we passed through the artichoke capital of the world before finding a hojo in salinas a couple blocks from the museum.
we took advantage of the late checkout monday morning before expanding our knowledge of john steinbeck and the salinas valley. we celebrated our newfound education w/ a taste of monterey next door. the woman recommended the bar down the street for lunch, so we ate burgers, tri-tip salad, and an ice cream topped brownie and hit the road back to la.
we were making great time, tempted to stop in paso but kept on going, passed a 3 car pileup, and then santa barbara stopped us cold. we sat in traffic for an hour before escaping to montecito and the nugget. great fish & chips..and apple PIE. satisfied, we took the side roads until the 101 opened up again in carpenteria and made it home to discover the owner of next door finished off the wall just in time for the inspector today. thanks, a-hole.
at least my weekend was spectacular.