The Honeymoon

Our honeymoon was fantastic. We really were on vacation for two weeks (on account of visiting both of our families). We put 2,000 miles on my car, stayed at 5 different places, and ate out more than anyone should in a year. Here's a brief recap of what went down.

Sunday: Woke up and drove to Vegas. We stayed at the Paris hotel which was amazing, but we both realized that we don't really like Vegas. It's crowded, dirty, hot, and you have to walk through about a billion clouds of smoke just to get anywhere. We did ride up to the top of the Eifel Tower (at the hotel) which was fun. We ate a delicious meal at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. Needless to say the next morning we were kinda looking forward to saying goodbye to Sin City.

The top of the Eiffel Tower

Monday: We drove to Costa Mesa, California where we stayed for 3 days. We stayed at the Marriott, which is always a good choice. Upon learning that it was our honeymoon they brought us sparkling cider and strawberries. That night we drove down to Laguna Beach, walked around the beach, ate some dinner, and just enjoyed being together and being on vacation.

The first thing we did when we got to California: Laundry!

Laguna Beach

Tuesday: We went to a waterpark, which looked promising in the ad's, but turned out to be pretty mediocre. We only stayed a few hours after our backs took a pounding on one of the rides. Not to mention it was windy and not the warmest day. The warming pool was our best friend, until the lifeguard told us we couldn't sit "face to face". What? After that we went to the Irvine Spectrum, a huge outdoor mall. I discovered my love for Pinkberry frozen yogurt, and I insisted I have it the next day too. Then Taylor's parent's friends, Orin and Melinda, took us out to a delcious mexican dinner. It was great to meet them and hear stories. Orin reminded me of Taylor because at the resturant he had to sit where he could see the TV with sports on. Oh, and Orin has inpsired Tay's "Man-Cave/Sports room" which he has been working on at the new apartment (more to come). After dinner we went to a movie, The Proposal. It was pretty good, but Taylor fell asleep.

The Pier in Huntington Beach

Wednesday: We drove up to Newport Beach and Huntington and looked at houses. We spent the day at Balboa beach and just relaxed. Taylor got FRIED. We rented beach cruiser bike and rode up and down the board walk. We ate more great food. Hung out, and nursed Taylor's near 2nd degree burns.

Balboa: Laying on the beach and riding beach cruisers on the boardwalk

Thursday: We woke up early and drove to L.A. It was in the wake of Michael Jackson's death so downtown L.A. was pure craziness. We bought a Star Map and attempted to look at the homes, but we just saw alot of security gates, and got carsick driving through Beverly Hills. 8 hours later we finally made it to Santa Barbara. We relaxed, ate at one of Taylor's favorite little Italian places, and reminisced about his time in Santa Barbara.

L.A.: Trying to avoid the Michael Jackson craziness, finding star's homes, and paying $12.50 for an hour of parking.

Friday: We drove around Santa Barabara, walked around the UCSB campus (well everything was closed for the 4th). Then we started the long drive up to Taylor's parent's house. It was a fun week, and we were excited because we still had a week of vacation left!

Our honeymoon may have been a lot of driving, but it was fun because we were together. We are used to driving an hour each way to see each other, so the fact that we got to actually drive together was fun. It was also fun to have Tay show me around his old stomping grounds. We really needed another week just to explore everything. I'm sure we will be back in California before we know it.