Day trip

Last Saturday my husband and I got in the car and drove down south to Los Angeles where we would eat at a yummy vegan restaurant, hang out at a coffee shop, and head to The Greek Theatre to catch two pretty awesome bands. It was actually the kindness of a mutual friend that allowed our Saturday to be so awesome and I hope she knows how incredibly beautiful her gift to us was...

We headed straight for Sage Bistro, in Culver City to stuff our faces with some very delicious vegan food. They were serving from a brunch menu so I was unable to order the jackfruit street tacos (sad face), however, I tried an heirloom tomato and garlic pizza and it was almost as delicious and certainly didn't suck. My husband ordered the raw tacos, which are basically pickled cabbage, jicama, cranberry walnut filling, with additional veggies all wrapped in a romaine lettuce "taco shell." Other favorites from their menu are the fried avocado tacos, and the mole bowl. Everything tastes so darn good, I could probably eat there everyday for every meal and never get tired. The service has been 50-50. Half the time we have gone it has been great and the other half...well, you get the idea. Overall, I recommend it to anyone who is willing to try vegan food. I truly believe it could change a lot of minds about giving up meat.

After our delicious meal, we drove closer to the Greek theatre to a Coffee Bean. We don't have one where we live (another sad face), and I have been anti-Starbucks now for several months. I am not a huge coffee drinker these days, but if I crave a sweet yummy drink, I steer clear of the Bux and make it at home. While at The Coffee Bean, we sat and talked about life and our kids and probably anything on our minds at the time. It was a day we had been looking forward to for many months and just spending time with my husband was something I definitely needed.

We arrived at the venue with plenty of time to spare. We had very nice seats and the weather was just about perfect. The first group was Lucius and I absolutely LOVE them! They did not play long enough though! Only five or six songs really, but what they did play was wonderful and I am really looking forward to catching them at a headlining show sometime. Definitely check them out if you haven't yet!  The Decemberists were up next and they are a lot of fun to watch. The lead singer is pretty charming and I could have totally pegged his Oregonian decent even if I hadn't known. Their performance included some audience participation and a giant whale prop at the end. I would definitely see them again too.

Our night came to an end and we drove home to climb into our snuggly, warm bed. It was a great day that I got to spend with the love of my life and I can't wait until we do it again.

Filed under: Vacation Coma

We just arrived back in town yesterday afternoon after almost a week visiting Northern California and while I am happy to be back, I am now making it my mission to move to Chico, Redding or somewhere nearby...
Chico is a small college town with a big city feel. The downtown area has tons of very cool shops and eateries. One of our must visit places is a coffee shop called The Naked Lounge. Their mochas are made with Ibarra chocolate and it is one of my top coffee shops ever (I have been to many so I'm a good judge of these things). We stopped there to get our fix a few times during our visit but we also found another great coffee shop called Bidwell Perk. I picked up a heavenly chocolate chai there on our way to the actual Bidwell Park with the kids. They have an area called Caper Acres that is just for kids. We've been taking ours there since our first visit with Phoenix in the early 2000's. The park itself is huge and in addition to Caper Acres, there are trails for biking, hiking, jogging, etc... and watering holes to take a dip. I would move to Chico for this park alone. Okay, and maybe for the coffee and chai.

On our last full day of vacation we drove to Redding to visit the Turtle Bay Exploration Park. The museum portion had a cool Lego exhibit and information about early Native Americans who lived in the area, as well as info on the wildlife. We watched an aviary show, which featured a few different animals and many birds of the region. We saw turtles (of course) and tried to hike the botanical gardens but I was stubborn and hot and forgot my hat, so, it didn't happen. We did cross the sundial bridge over the Sacramento River and took in all of the beautiful scenery. I'm now checking out job opportunities for my husband in Redding because it is so close to the forest I am convinced we need to live there! Probably wishful thinking but oh well...

Other highlights of our trip were a tour of the public radio station in Sacramento where my husband's brother works. The kids got to wear headphones and talk into the mic. We hung out in old town Sacramento our first day and I took so many photos! We also visited the zoo in Sacramento and saw some amazing animals up close. One of my favorites was the zebras! I want to share a lot of the photos but I will do so in about 3-4 installments. I took too many to include here. Also, I forgot my Canon and only took pics with my iPhone. Still, from all of the photos I snapped it will be evident that we enjoyed every second of our time away. School (and work) starts back up in three weeks so I'll have to stare at these photos from time to time and try my best to get back into school/work mode. It won't be easy but if it means Fall is around the corner, I'll accept that my break from work is coming to an end.