To celebrate our 5-year anniversary, Mikey doing awesome his first semester of nursing school and Mikey's 29th birthday, we decided to take a long trip. Our original plan was to go to Nicaragua where his old boss has a beach house. That didn't pan out, so our next thought was a scuba diving trip in Mexico. That didn't end up happening either, so our third and final plan was to road trip to California with Mikey's brother Matt and his girlfriend (and my good friend) Jaimee. Jaimee has employee benefits through Hilton to get amazing hotel deals, so we took full advantage of that!
Day 1: SLC to Reno, April 27th 2011, Mikey's 29th Birthday!
We packed up into Jaimee's new-to-her 4Runner with the Snail Shell cartop carrier on top to help fit the boys' paragliders. The boys had to take a birthday shot before we got on the road. Don't worry, Jaimee took the first driving shift.
I had never driven very far west, so I hadn't seen the salt flats or The Tree of Utah. I loved the look of the salt flats. I've seen a lot of people who've had photo shoots out there and always though it looked cool, but it was beautiful in person. We took a pee break and checked out the Tree of Utah up close, well as close as we could through the chain link fence...
Our next stop: Locklock, Nevada. Outside the courthouse of this small town there are big chains full of locks, symbolizing people "locking their love." Matt and Jaimee already did this last year, so it was our turn.
Mikey and I bought a lock imprinted on one side with Lovelock and 2 intertwined hearts. Our lock came with a paper to document our locking. We each signed our names and even had Matt and Jaimee sign as our "witnesses." Silly as it was, this was as close as we've come to a marriage or any kind of ceremony and it was really fun and exciting to "lock our love."
To share our excitement we text our parents and siblings the following:
"Day 1 of our roadtrip: After 5 years, Mikey and I spontaneously just locked our love in Nevada! Sorry you couldn't be here for it!" We immediately both turned off our phones to keep our families wondering.
The text responses:
My Dad, "Did you at least get Elvis to be a witness?"
My Mom, "You're kidding, right?"
My sister, Jill, "You are lying"
Mikey's Mom, "What are you saying?????"
Mikey's sister, Annie, "Wait are you serious??? Please respond......"
Mikey's Dad left a message of frustration saying nobody was answering their phones and that they were freaking out.
We thought we were funny...
That night, we stopped in Reno for drinks, casino and celebrating Mikey's 29th Birthday! I nudged my way into a craps table and with some expert advice from an older gentleman, I won $85! The 2 a.m. breakfast was my treat.
Mat and I deciding whether to wear our own shirts...
Or each others! I thought he looked good in my shirt, but he wanted to trade back for some reason...
Birthday German Chocolate Cake Shots!
And real chocolate cake for Mikey.
Day 2: A long (somewhat hungover) drive from Reno to Crescent City, California.
The drive took about 8 hours so we filled time with music, podcasts, sleeping and taking pictures out the window. There were some crazy, winding mountainous roads that made us all carsick, (or more carsick depending on how hungover we were).
Some lake...
Our first sight of the Pacific Ocean just as the sun was setting.
We stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites in a suite with 2 queen beds, a deck with an ocean view, a microwave and mini-fridge that usually runs $250 per night. Thanks to Jaimee, we paid $30/night. That's $7.50 per person, per night. Amazing.
Day 3 was our day of checking out the city, restaurants, beach, lighthouse and whatever else we could find.
View from the back of the hotel
Mikey playing with a kelp "whip."
I've been trying to figure out how to take good close-up photos with my digital camera. I like that blurry background look, but have never taken a photography class to figure out what I'm doing. After a brief read of my camera manual, I'm slowly figuring it out by trial and error:
My rock collection
Battery Point Lighthouse was just outside our hotel window, across a small bay. It was so close that we had to shut our curtains at night to avoid being blinded by the light. It is a gorgeous lighthouse and we walked to it for a closer view.
Mikey and I hanging out on the rocks outside the hotel, watching the waves crash under our feet as the sun set.
We all played baseball with driftwood and rocks, seeing who could hit the furthest. As you can see, Matt and Mikey kept playing long after Jaimee and I were done.
Day 4: Hiking the Redwoods, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. We hiked the Boy Scout Tree Trail, which was 5.3 miles roundtrip. It was awesome to see such giant trees. Some of them are 300 feet tall or the height of a 35-story building. It was a quiet, though muddy trail and we passed only a few other groups.
Our awe at seeing the trees at the beginning of the trail, zoomed in...
Tall panoramas don't even do the height of the trees justice.
The Boy Scout Tree, so named because of it's discovery by a local troop leader
Mikey and Matt climbing on a fallen tree stump. Where it had fallen, it looked like a tree bomb had gone off leaving sheared branches and shattered log all along it's path. 
Day 5: Apparently, I didn't take any pictures on this day. I think this was a rest, relax, hot tub, beach fire, eat, drink and be merry day.
Day 6: Ocean World to see some fish, sharks, sea lion, seals, and starfish. They had a touch and feel pool for the starfish and other small life plus a petting tank with two sharks in it. There was a clear bottom boat that was transformed into an aquarium. Our guide was awesome and our 20 minute tour turned into an hour long tour. The pool for the sea lion and seals was being filled, but luckily they still did a shortened show with Cora the Sea Lion. It was pretty cute.
A really amazing egg laid by a horn shark. The shape helps it to burrow in the sand and keep the growing sharklet safe.
Leopard Shark
Jaimee was too busy listening to the guide talk about this horn shark that she didn't realize Jaws was about to eat her!
We bought 9 1/2 pounds of crab which only cost $50. With Bill's encouragement, we went to the grocery store for wine, bread, garlic and butter while our crab was cooking. We sat at the dock and listened to Bill's stories while we gorged ourselves with crab. Matt, Mikey and I each ate a whole crab and (lightweight) Jaimee ate half of hers.
After the crab, all we wanted to do was lay around on the beach, so we drove to a nearby beach to fly a kite, rock hunt, have a fire and read. It was a really nice, relaxing evening. We found a boulder at the waters edge covered in attached clams, and if we listened closely we could hear little chirping sounds coming from them. Apparently clams chirp...?
Day 8: We rented a Dory in Hiouchi and floated down the Smith River. The water was so clear it almost looked Caribbean-green. There were houses overlooking the river and I found my dream house/cabin. We stopped at a beach for lunch, relaxing, reading and exploring. It was crazy to walk 20 feet up the beach and be in the middle of a Redwood forest - so different from our usual river trips in the desert of Southern Utah.
Day 9: We said goodbye to Crescent City and started our drive home. We decided to make a small detour to Napa Valley on way. We arrived around 4 and had enough time for 2 wine tastings before the wineries closed. We decided to go out and celebrate the trip and Mikey's birthday at a nice, dressy restaurant. We asked around and decided on Restaurant Allegria. It was fantastic! Jaimee was able to get another Hilton deal and we paid only $40 for our very nice room!
Day 10: The last real day of our trip, we were tired and had enough to drink, so we bypassed more wine tastings. We decided to check out the shops in downtown Napa. Jaimee and I went "boutiquing" while the boys wandered. We found a park and relaxed while we waited for traffic to calm down, then drove to Reno. Matt was driving like a race car driver and was pulled over by the nicest policeman I've ever encountered. He had an Australian accent and reminded me of the Aussie on 'House.' Fortunately, we were able to get off with just a warning! I think it's because we told him we were not planning on partying - just stopping in Reno on our way home to Utah. I think he must've thought we were Mormon.
Day 11: Our last leg of the trip. We got up, were able to track down Matt's lost ammo can (that he left in the room on our 1st night of the trip), and got on the road. We had an awesome trip, but we were all ready to be home and have our own, separate rooms!!! Thanks Matt, Jaimee and Mikey for a fantastic road trip!
What a FUN trip! Totally jealous of your hotel price (I'd get out more if I only had to pay $7.50/night). I love the Lock your Love idea. What amazing scenery you captured! Glad you had so much fun and congrats on 5 years!
ReplyDeleteSo fun! And beautiful pictures, too. I've always wanted to head to Northern California, and now i think you've convinced me. I think my favorite picture is the one with all of you by the tree trunk. You look like itsy bitsy fairies. And congrats on the 5 years. And you better give us all a little warning when the real wedding ceremony is.
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