BACK IN NJ

Hey Y'all, Here is a quick summary of my trip. Please excuse any repetition as if I were to skip around I would never get it right.

I'm back in NJ after 2 weeks, 9 states and over 3,000 miles. Mikey and I had a great time on our road trip. It all started in Denver where Mike picked me up. We then headed to Lake Tahoe, NV so we went through Wyoming and Utah stopping in Park City, UT for some dinner and in Wendover, UT (?) for a nights rest.

Poor Mikey was on a mission to find me Diet Raspberry Snapple. He looked all over Colorado while he was driving out to the airport and every place we stopped along the way. In Wendover we did find some diet lemon Snapple which was so old and undrinkable I had to toss it. The mission continues...

We stayed in a condo/timeshare in Tahoe in Zephyr Cove. We had 3 bedrooms and a Murphy bed all to out selves for two nights. We went Horseback riding, took a ride on a catamaran, had breakfast at Heidi's, twice and won a couple hundred bucks in the casino. Yeehaa!

Then it was off to Yountville, CA for some wine tasting. That is after we bought some good Snapple at Albertsons in Tahoe. Happy girl!

We stayed at the Railway Inn and it is what it sounds like. Converted railway cars into very nice hotel rooms. We immediately wanted to go for some wine when we rolled into town. Somehow we ended up at Opus One drinking a $30 glass of not worth $30 wine but the setting and weather were perfect. We then hit up Turnbull winery before checking in to our train car.
Dinner that night was excellent! We ate at Bistro Jeanty in Yountville across from our train.
Mike had roasted bone marrow and was in hog heaven! I had a beet salad and then the pork chop which also was very good and I finally had a taste of Coq au Vin that Mike had for an entree after the marrow. This was the first of many good meals on out trip. We also went to Ravenswood, B.R. Cohn, Saintsbury and grigch Hills wineries and dinner at Jole in Calistoga.

Next stop was the redwood forest where a very funny thing happened which I'll go into on a later date. It just won't be funny without pictures.

We stayed for a night at Mike's sister's house in Eugene before heading up to Seattle and Molly and Garrett's wedding. The whole reason behind this trip.

After declaring friday night party night at my father's house since they were on a cruise my brothers. Mike and I drank lots of beer and laughed the night away.

Saturday we went up to Seattle to meet up with some friends one of which I haven't seen since High School. Takami and I were pretty tight back in grade school and remained friendly through out high school but of course didn't stay in touch. So you can imagine how surprised I was to find out that she has been living across the street from one of my favorite restaurants in Seattle for 7 years. Small world isn't!

The wedding was really great. They were married in a park by no other than Tom Douglas himself. How funny is that? They had dim sum, a pho bar and a roast pig. Of course the food was fantastic as well were the bride and groom.

After another day bumming around Seattle we started the long drive to Bozeman, MT where we stayed at the luxurious C'mon Inn. Then it was off to Yellowstone where there is definitely not a shortage on bison pooh. Mike and I were playing "who ever steps in it first has to buy dinner".
After a very over priced night of mediocre food and wine we headed back to our cabin. There next to more pooh was our little shack where there was no phone, no Internet, no TV and no cell service. We didn't know what to do with ourselves so I wrote drunken postcards and Mike passed out.

After a quick look at the grand canyon of Yellowstone we headed out to the Grand Tetons. Mike had worked on a ranch for two summers out there so he knew where to go for some much needed lunch. We did not sleep well at all the night before either so we were spent. Thank god we were staying at the Snake River resort and spa that night. It was a well needed change from Yellowstone's finest. After I napped we headed into Jackson for some excellent sushi we pigged out on and drank some Saki. By the next morning we were too broke to spring for a massage at the spa so we headed on out for Fort Collins, Co and the New Belgium brewery! Needless to say I was very happy there.

Our last night of the road trip was spent at a pretty shady Best Western on College Ave and unfortunately we were back at the hotel by 9 that night. After a big Mexican meal and some cervesas we were too damn tired to do anything else. Getting old and fat really sucks, well the fat part for me not Mike. I think he may have tipped the scale at a buck and a quarter by the time he got done keeping up with me. He even took away my clean plate championship, but only for one night. I quickly redeemed myself the next morning at breakfast.

All in all an excellent trip that I spent way too much money on but would do it again in a heartbeat. Thanks Mikey!