2009, Apr 27 - May 5: Road trip to AZ & UT

Vacation at last!
D & I finally took our road trip to Arizona & Utah. Why did we pick these two states? Well, we wanted to take our toaster oven to a different destination other than to northern calif. plus we wanted to bring the Stand Up Paddleboards (SUP).

We left on Friday, April 24th heading east on US 50, what is known as the loneliest road in Nevada. We drove about 3 hours and stopped at a desolate natural hot springs outside of Austin, NV. The weather was not on our side that evening - snow flurries and cold wind blew all through the night. But it was perfect to be in the hot springs. I thought it was amazing to see goldfish living in the natural hot spring water!

Then we drove all day and stayed at Zion Campgrounds, Utah. What beautiful rock formations! We took the shuttle into Zion National Park and hiked up a paved trail. While everyone was dressed warmly, D & I froze during our hike on the trail. The weather the entire time was unpredictable: rain, snow, lots of wind, and hot days.

When D & I were planning our road trip, he suggested Lake Powell, the only thought that came to mind was party town & houseboats on the lake. We stayed at the Wahweap Campsite in Lake Powell for about 4-5 days. We paddled across Lake Powell, ventured into shallow caves, took a short hike up to the Horseshoe Bend which overlooks the Colorado River. D brought along some of his friends for the trip. One his business partner's friend is a videographer and helped promote Tahoe Stand Up Paddleboards (SUP), Doug's new business venture.

We hired a boat guide to take our boards & equipment to the start of the Colorado River close to the Glen Canyon Dam. We were about 7-8 miles away from land, we paddled, paddled again, paddles some more, paddled for 4-5 hours! Tiresome but all worth it! We ventured through Antelope Canyon and many more canyons! check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGO-Jy6UE_4


After Lake Powell, we drove through Monument Valley, AZ/UT border.... another beautiful site! Then D & I drove to Moab, UT, the mecca for mountain biking except we didn't go there to go biking.. we went there to try to paddle. Unfortunately, the river was muddy and no one was on the river.

So we decided to drive through the Arches National Park. We stayed in Moab for 2 nights then decided to drive home. 12 hour drive and 1 night stay in Elko... we were finally home!

2009, Apr 8 - 11: Vegas visit

I wanted to visit my family in Vegas before it got really hot. I took 2 days off from work and stayed with my mom. I had the chance to spend time with my mom and my niece, Lauren. Lauren & I made betty crocker choco cake & choco brownies and my mom & I just chilled out at home. It was great seeing family.

2009, Mar 14: In the company of more family

I've been slacking on my postings - sorry. Doug's step sister, Alison & her bf, Ron came to Reno from SF for a weekend visit. We read the newspaper and found out that Virginia City was hosting it's annual Rocky Mt. Oysters festival which also coincided with St. Patty's weekend. Where is VC and what are Rocky Mt. Oysters? Short version: VC was the largest finding of silver in Comstock, now an old mining town. Rocky Mt. Oysters are sheep testis. Yes, cooked sheep testis. Unfortunately, we showed up at the tail end of it and they were sold out (but D & I tried them years ago.. they taste like chicken.. YUM!). The day was cold and windy but that didn't stop us from saloon hopping. We eventually finished up the afternoon with a brisk walk to the old cementery. I've never seen an old tombstone with a date of someone who died in the 1800s. Have you? craziness! What a great experience overall.

2009, Feb 20-21: In the company of family

So we had two family visits in one weekend. Ron & Diane are D's stepparents and they stopped in Reno before they headed up to Royal Gorge for some cross country skiing. Homecooked meals by Diane were delicious.

My next family visit was in Sonoma. D's mom, Jenny invited the three daughter-in-laws to stay in Sonoma for the night. We had a great time going window shopping, eating, and drinking some wine!

My way home on Sunday was a bit eventful. I had to stop near Soda Springs and had to pay someone $30 to put on snow chains. For about 10 miles, I had to drive 25 mph - bogus! Luckily, I was heading home to Reno with no traffic while everyone heading home to the Bay area were stuck in traffic b/c of the snow. A two hour wait in I-80 was bogus for them.

2008, Feb 14: Delicious Dinner by Delightful Doug

We both agree that Valentine's day is overrated. We don't buy into doing anything on this day. D knew from the beginning that he was dating someone who was not into romantic things; that can be a good & bad thing for him. Good thing is I don't expect him to buy me materialistic things. But the downside for him is that I'm not too romantic. To me, I think it's more important to emotionally appreciate one another's qualities instead of buying things that are meaningless (ok, unless it's an engagement ring). Telling someone how much you appreciate them goes a long way than a dozen roses. So here is my appreciation for my man on this day:

I am blessed with a man who enjoys cooking and whipping up new meal ideas. This time, I couldn't resist sharing one of his wonderful concotions.

Pan seared NY steak w/light seasoning. Seared to medium/ rare. More rare than medium (we like steaks that are juicy!) Side dish # 1 consisted of warm mushroom & onion polenta w/infused white truffle oil, sprinkled with oven roasted poricini mushrooms. Side dish # 2 consisted of oven roasted asparagus wrapped in proscuitto brushed with olive oil, and crusted honey wheat buttered bread. And to complete the dinner was a decanted bottle of 2002 Ledson Cabernet Savignon - YUM!

Shall we look at the $ figures?
Jewelry: $100+
Dinner at a fancy restaurant plus wine: $100-$200+
Massages: $100-$150
Roses: $50-$100
Movie w/ popcorn: $30
Chocolate: $10
Total: $$$$$$
vs.
A homecooked meal with my Delightful Doug: PRICELESS :)

2008, Feb 13: Tea Leaf Green & Mother Hips Concert at Crystal Bay Club

ok, i'm going to make this short since this was D's event. so the concert was at the Crystal Bay Club in North Tahoe w/ a reserved booth. It was nice to have a booth so we can sit & put our drinks. I took a photo of the keyboardist & vocals, Trevor. It's one of his favorite bands, the music was ok, not my favorite but it was fun seeing friends.

2008, Feb 6: Night out with the ladies!

My coworkers were giving me grief that every time they went out, I always had an excuse for not going out with them. Not that I didn't want to hang out with them, it was probably b/c I was never in town or I had already made plans. Nevertheless, I finally coordinated a date with them and we decided to go out.

The main goals that evening were to get them to the local divey bar called Shooters and to dance on top of the bar. Yep, that's right, on top of the bar. If you know me well enough, you know: 1) I love to dance, 2) I love making a fool out of myself while dancing. Jennifer deposited coins into the jukebox and Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" came on. A few of us climbed onto the bar to dance. The bouncer came by and passed a hula hoop over to me! Hula hoop on top of the bar? seriously? no thank you! The Hula Hoop was passed over to Stacey & Christina. As you can see Christina was successful in her hip action!

At 3 am, we closed out our night to a visit to the Little Nugget on Virginia St. That's right a yummy, greasy Awful Awful. No need for any explaining. If you know it - great! If you don't - too bad!

2008, Jan 31: Limo ride to Amador Wine Valley

Doug's buddy, Phil & his wife Tanya invited us over to their house in Folsom for the weekend. Phil invited his sister, Slyvia and her husband Jacob (they live in San Diego). Phil just celebrated his bday and as a bday gift from Tanya, we had a limo take us to Amador Wine County which was about half hour away from Folsom. What a beautiful day! We took a tour around Amador/ Shenandoah Valley sipping wines here and there. Oh what a tough life! We stopped at Villa Toscano for lunch and stopped at Renwood for some fun cowboy hat action! I couldn't help myself at our last stop.. I had to stick my head in the wine tank! I love wine!

2009, Jan 23: Chinese New Years at B&D's house

Happy Chinese New Years! It's the Year of the Ox.
It was our 3rd annual hot pot party at our house - check out our past 2 years blog stories.
We invited 5 couples to join us in a delicious & fun-filled night. We wished we could invite a lot more people but we have one square table and one portable stovetop. D & I bought all the chinese food, we provided the sake & asian beer, and we gave away some great chinese gifts (thanks to my mom who brought them back from China).
Next year we'll have to see if we can expand our hot pot party so that more people are invited.

2009, Jan. 10: Moonlight snowshoeing in Truckee, CA

Have you ever snowshoed at night? Call us crazy, call us loopy but we had a lot of fun doing it! Our friends, Matt & Maria convinced us to go out for a moonlight night of snowshoeing. At first, I was hesitant to say yes b/c of the fact that I get cold real easily but going on a hike at night in the snow and getting a workout sounded ok to me. Maria's cousin, Lindsey was in town for the week and all of us carpooled and headed to Coldstream Valley in Truckee, Calif.

Our mission was to snowshoe up the Valley so we can get a good view of Donner Lake. We hiked as much we could and stopped at a clearing. The moon shining above us w/no wind and not a cloud in the sky made the night perfect. We uncorked a bottle of red wine and just laughed away.

2009, Jan. 3: Sole family - Alpine Meadows

My cousin Anya who just got married in Cabo with her new hubby, Jason came up to Tahoe for the weekend. Jason's family rented a house in Tahoe City and invited us to meet up with them at Alpine Meadows Ski Resort. We stayed the night with them; we sat in the hot tub, grilled some steaks, and played some games. What a fun time with the Sole Family! We hope that the Sole Family can make it to Tahoe often, you'll always have a place to stay in Reno.