Weekend adventures

The beauty of online dating is an entire new set of fish. The downside? Those fish might live in lakes and oceans far away. Thus was my catch. Luckily we share the same state abbreviation but our zip codes are about 6.5 hours apart.

What does this mean?

A lot of weekend travel. So let's try and do a little catch up on my adventures shall we?

Weekend 1: April 17-20

Location: Los Angeles 

After talking on the phone for a week straight and hours of conversation each day, and I mean it when I say HOURS, we knew it was time to meet. Knowing that I was leaving to Paris Sunday morning at 3:30am Rick decided to come down to me. We talked for a lot of his drive down and he called as he was getting ready to exit. I asked him to meet me on the corner. As I gave him directions it was a bit crazy because I didn't have the nerves I usually do. I was anxious and excited to meet him and just barely nervous because he was so close. He pulled up and we met and hugged and it was surreal. And he is so handsome, and manly and adorable!

We spent the next days going to ventura, visiting the Santa Barbara Zoo, eating at Taj Cafe- his first Indian food encounter, playing arcade games at the Santa Monica Pier and buying matching super hero tattoos with out tickets, and just getting to know each other. Constantly holding hands, arms around each other. And he brought me a present! So cute! He knew my two favorite things ever were flavor red starburst and milk dove and guess what when we were talking on the phone he had those two things in his cupboard! So the present was those and this super cute Easter card. So thoughtful and so cute! And so much better than flowers. 

Funny moment: we stopped to get yogurt for breakfast and we were in the car eating. I was driving and rick had just opened the little pack on nuts to pour on the yogurt when bam the yogurt and nuts went EVERYWHERE! Of course I died of laughter.

Favorite moment: watching him look at me and his true genuine grin. That grin right there folks next to the monkey. Well that's more of a laugh but it's close enough. That laugh though... That smile... Melt my heart right now!

Weekend two: April 26-27

Location: Fresno

I had just arrived from Paris the night before. Woke up and drove to Fresno to meet Rick. We went to the Fresno Zoo. 

Funny moment: Rick had never been  in a petting zoo so of course I had to take him. This goat kept feeling him up and acting so weird. Then we found it's true motive. It got up behind Rick, grabbed his zoo map from his pocket and ran away eating it! The zoo lady came up and said "bad goat" this zoo was amazing because they had baby tigers and baby chimpanzees that were sooooo cute!

Sunday we went to the park and sat and looked at baby ducks. We laid in the grass and looked at cloud shapes. It's weird beacuse when we are together time goes so fast. We are always amazed when we see that two hours has past bad it felt like ten minutes. I'm also amazed that I can sit and do nothing with him and be so incredibly content and happy. Usually I am so fidgety and have to be multitasking but I can literally do nothing but sit by him and it could last forever.

Weekend three: May 3-6

Location: SF and Lincoln

Saturday morning I flew into SF and Rick came to get me. We went to Coit Tower, the palace of fine arts, Sausalito and Fort Barry. The palace of fine arts was gorgeous. In Sausalito we went to a little deli and got sandwiches which we then ate right next to the water. Fort Barry was so much fun to explore but everywhere was so windy! Rick took us down this little secret path to some bunkers that were grown over and graffiti. There was this tunnel that was dark and at the end was a window into the old bunker. I was creeping down the bunker and right as I was peering Into the window rick slammed the wall and scared me half to death. 

We then met up with his best friends forever: Shay and Brandy. We went to Cheesecake Factory and had fried Mac and cheese and lemon cake yum! It was nerve wracking meeting his friends of so long, so soon. Finally we made it to his cute house! I loved seeing it and getting to know him on a more personal level. Sunday we went to church, met the neighbors, walked the dog and made dinner. Monday we explored the creek by his house with his giant dog Chassis. It was so much fun to play in the creek and the sun bathe in the sand.  We went to Old Auburn and saw Captain America. It was raining on our way out and we had to run to the car giggling. 

Tuesday we went to old town Sacramento which is so cute! We also walked around the rose garden, a swung on the swings and watched the ducks.

----Insert a weekend trip here to visit Michelle in UT----

Weekend 4: May 16-18

Location: Lake Millerton

Drive up to the lake after work Friday night to meet Rick for a weekend of Camping. Picked out an amazing camping site and set everything up. We spent the weekend doing typical camping things. The water was so low were were able to swim to this little exposed island and roll in the sand to make human sugar donuts. I got one funky sun burn from that! We roasted marshmellows and starburst. We fed this squirrel Cheetos! And raccoons came I to our camp at night!

Weekend five: May 24-27

Location: Sacramento 

I flew Into Sacramento Saturday morning.    I was lucky to make it because Friday I got crazy food poisoning. Arrives in Sacramento and went to ikea. Ate ice cream, talked about design and kitchen decor. We went to dinner with his neighbors Glen and Karen. This weekend we just hung out and relaxed. I had a cold and he was dealing with some family emotional sadness. We watched movies, baked cookies, had a BBQ, washed the dog, went shopping for drapes and artwork, headed to the grocery store, did laundry and dishes but it was really fun! Ricks grandpa is very sick so he had to book a flight on Tuesday to go to MN. We got to go to the airport together and sit to wait for our planes. 

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Paris, Day 5

Paris, Day 5

I would almost suggest that if you have never been first class and you will not be able to travel first class for the rest of your life that you do not do it. 

Let us continue.

Wake up. Get ready. Sister is missing. 8am supposed to leave. Sister comes back and starts to get ready. 8:40 leave. Plane leaves at 11:00. It is raining,  a lot. Walk to metro in rain. Get on. Get off. Get on again. Get off. Get on a train. Get off. Get on another train. Sister does not get on that train. Begin to panic. Panic. Panic. Sister appears. RUN. Run to check your bag. Nice lady helps. Calls gate tells them we are coming. Upgrades us to first class. Phew. Seriously though. 

Run. Run. Run. Tired. Run. Go through security. Need special search. Bounce up and down, sweating, looking even more suspicious. Names being called over the intercom. Run. Get on plane. 

First Class.

Nuff said.

Beverages, goodie bags, and the five course meal again. Hot nuts anyone? How about a sundae bar? New movies. Sleep. 

Off plane. 
Call Rick.
Text friends.
Update pictures.

Second plane.

No first class.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Longest 5.5 hours of my life.

Middle seat.

No sleep.

Home.

Get car.

Drive hour.

Sleep.

Sleep. 
Best bed ever.

 

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Paris, Day 4

Paris, Day 4

Versaille

Our last day in Paris, we left Paris and went to Versaille. It started by finding a pastry shop, duh. Another stick of butter. Delicious. Then we headed to the metro and had to use the machines this time. Thank goodness for English options. Took 2 metros and 1 bus. Bought tickets. And began, yes, more walking ;)

But this place was SO beautiful! I just wish I had a segway.

As we walked there were tree lined fields of little flowers so we decided we needed a Twilight moment. Well, that and we were just really tired. 

Then we got up again and started to walk to Marie Antoinette's House. There were a lot of chairs. Our favorite part was the stables and old farm land. It was so stunning.

After this stroll we raced back to the Palace so we could see the King's bed, which the lady informed Kayla that she could not lay in, and the Hall of Mirrors.

By the time we got back to the hostel we were so tired. I headed to the grocery store to look for more Speculoos but could not find any :( Then pack and bed. 

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Paris, Day 3

Paris, Day 3

I wanted to go to the Catacombs so bad. Kayla was freaked out. Seeing as how the line was 3+ hours the day before we decided to get there before they opened. Took the metro and got there at 9:20… there was already a line! Opened at 10:00. Did not get inside until 11:15. So worth it. We started down the stairs, deeper, and deeper under Paris we went. At first it was just normal underground tunnels. Ha, that's funny I don't think underground tunnels under a major city are necessarily normal but whatev. As we walked it was slightly creepy and slightly fascinating. Then the bones came. Walls and walls of bones. 6 millions people are under this city. The skulls were creepy. They even had some arranged in patterns. Guess they got bored with millions of bones and found some way to entertain themselves. It was so surreal to see and experience. 

Then we headed to the bridge of locks. There were sooooo many locks on this bride! It was incredible! We loved just walking and looking at the locks and engravings on them. The Aussies had left a lock in the hostel so we used that hahaha. Our Aussie lock will forever be on the bridge in Paris, until they cut it off to make room for more locks. 

Then we went to the Louvre. Kayla did not want to go inside but I made her. I mean come on we are there and the Mona Lisa was inside. We walked in and there were so many people around the Mona Lisa but I did see her and take her picture. The problem was by this time we were tired and dehydrated and the museum was SO hot and stuffy and smelled of chemicals. I think we almost died in there. We had to get out. Sad that we didn't get to see much but our bodies could barely function. The jet lag and no water was a bad idea. The outside of the museum was gorgeous and it is so big!

On our way back to the Hostel we had to stop at La Duree. BEST MACAROON EVER. Hands down. Worth 5 Euro. It was incredible. I will have dreams about that macaroon for years to come. 

Well we walked back to the hostel and at this point were dead tired. But we had to move hostels! So we got our luggage from the lockers, again wishing it had wheels. Took 2 metros and some walking to a new neighborhood. This neighborhood was full of families and children and fruit! Thank goodness there were little stores with fresh fruit. So we finally get to the new hostel and then decided to cook our own food. We went to the grocery store, one of my favorite things to do in another country, and got some pasta and vegetables. Oh how I missed my vegetables. They were the only ones we had all week. It was fun to cook food for ourselves. Then we talked to a guy who only spoke Spanish and it was neat to use our Spanish skills.

Then bed. Finally.

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