Aloha! “You never come out and visit us,” said Uncle Robert at my cousin Victoria’s wedding. Little did he know! We sure showed him. When the opportunity came up to visit friends in Hawaii, those words found their way from the dark recess of my brain to the forefront. Fine, let’s do it. We booked a flight on Hawaiian Airlines to visit Honolulu and Maui. Thank God we booked our flight when we did because soon after gas prices skyrocketed and our affordable flight became ridiculous!
Hollywood of the East and Miniature Golf - Wilmington, NC
For Christmas, I got Grant a trip to the one place he has been dying to go, but that I always said “no” to. Wilmington, North Carolina. Or as Grant likes to call it, “Tree Hill, NC.” With the entire world to be able to see you may be wondering— why in the world Grant would want to go there? It is home to Screen Gems, which has produced some of his favorite TV shows including One Tree Hill and Dawson’s Creek as well as the latest Scream movies and many others.
Grant’s 36th Birthday Bash in Denver
What happens when you put friends of Grant on a plane, ship them to Denver for a three-day weekend, and Grant helps plan the weekend? The answer a really great time, full of laughter, food, and a lot of single dollar bills. On January 7th, Grant turned 36. Just for record-keeping purposes—I (Luke) am only 34 so this makes Grant 2 years older than me. He is now in his late 30’s and I am still pathetically clutching on to the fact that I am still able to consider myself in my early 30s. Grant wanted me to clarify that it will only be for two more months then I am officially old like him.
Wedding in Morgan City. Where is Morgan City?
Christmas bells were not the only bells ringing the week before the 25th. My cousin, Victoria, the only girl in our cousin pool, promised Conner she would marry him. Where is Morgan City, Louisiana? Good question that I had to google myself. It’s about halfway between New Orleans and Lafayette. Which means—it is in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by swamps. This is where the groom was born and raised so it makes sense as a destination for the wedding.
Eat…Show…Eat…Show…Sleep….Show… Show…Eat… Sleep…Show…Airport
Having a low attention span— Grant and I have to constantly be stimulated with something new and exciting. New, Now, Next. That is the reason why we love to go to New York City. Even when we have nothing officially planned— we can somehow do a little bit of research and map out an entire trip—during the trip.
Don’t Ask Me For Directions in Chicago
This is how we choose our travel destinations. Grant randomly searches GoogleFlights and finds a spontaneous sale on a nonstop weekend flight to Chicago in November. He turns to Emily and me at dinner in Cafe Coyote (San Diego) and goes “want to go to Chicago? He waited a few seconds to make sure no one objected and the response was pretty quiet. Which was his queue to proceed with “I am going to book three flights.” Once again no major objections. And just like that…we are on an adventure to Chicago.
The Horrors of Our October 2021
This post is way past due, but I figured…why not! Life has been crazy and we had a very up and down October. But it is still worth memorializing what happened as there were some really fun moments that we will want to remember.
Celebrating Erica’s BIG 50 in Alaska
Alaska was originally owned by Russia in the late 1800s as a fur trading colony. When the fur-trading dried up, Russia was saddled with a liability rather than an asset. Looking to dispose of this territory, Russia reached out to the US a fledgling country to acquire the land. At the time, Canada was not its own country and the territory was owned by Great Britain. Russia and Great Britain were at odds with one and other and there was no chance they would allow their greatest rival to gain more land. After acquiring Alaska, it sat dormant for quite a while until finally in 1959 it became a state.
Continuing The Tradition With A Few New Faces in San Antonio
Like clockwork, every year we find ourselves in New Braunfels, Texas to go to our favorite waterpark – Schlitterbahn. This is not like a traditional waterpark as it is a mega-park where the whole experience is divided into 3 sections that you can only connect to by bus. There seemed to have been more water in this area than in all of California!
Return To Normal (Events With Friends) in San Diego
COVID is still here, and while it was looking like things were turning around the Delta Varient is causing a bit of an uproar. Most of our friends have been vaccinated and feel comfortable being in social gatherings. Events are beginning to transpire again including our annual tradition of Best of San Diego and Cinespia’s Slumber Party.
Incline Jail, Paintball Gun, and Getting Soaked Under a Waterfall at Niagara Falls
Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? The answer in our case is Yes, Yes, Yes, and let's add a few more stops just to make sure we hit everything possible. This elongated weekend had us departing on Friday night to Pittsburgh and making our way up to Buffalo to depart back home. Our style of hitting the highlights of the city and moving quickly to another proved valuable in a trip that had us visit— Pittsburgh, PA, Sandusky, OH, Cleveland, OH, Niagara Falls, NY, Buffalo, NY, and somehow as I type this stuck in Chicago, IL with a layover that seems to never want to end.
Back to Basics in Vegas
Some people have been sheltering in place for a year and are just now coming out of hibernation. For us, it has only been a month, but like standard Grant and Luke shenanigans we definitely packed in quite a bit. At this time, we have decided to pause the adoption process and have been riding that emotional roller coaster. We are looking at different options to pursue, but giving ourselves a break for a bit to figure out what we want to do.
The Answer is Six— Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine
A delayed birthday trip to New England sounded like an amazing way to ring in the huge milestone of turning 34 years old. You only turn that random age once so why not do something equally as random like visit Boston during a pandemic. After a 5.5 hour direct flight from San Diego to Boston, we were there to embrace whatever we could.
With the World Closed the Republic of Florida Remains Open
The United States is closed, but Florida has decided to secede from that idea. Upon landing in Florida we were greeted with hundreds if not thousands of happy travelers ready to enjoy the Disney World or the Conservative Political Action Committee Conference with keynote speaker Donald Trump. However, we were not in town for either of those events, but rather our friend’s (Debbie and Andrew) wedding.
Gold Medal In Running Late to the Silver State
If there was a gold medal for running late and finding a way to still make that event on time— we would be awarded the gold medal. While this is incredibly stressful, it does make an ordinary trip a lot more interesting, but maybe not for the right reasons.
One Hour There and 7 Hours Back
What do you do when you are in a pandemic and have a three-day weekend? How about joining a family who is already on a road trip? Sounds reasonable.
Grant and I climbed on a flight Sunday morning for Phoenix where we met up with Erica and Ashley. They had rented an SUV and have been driving from San Diego to Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. With a car full of gear and a cat named Molly— they went cruising the highways in search of the notable and obscure sites.
One Day In Denver; In Search of Snow
With a light dusting of the white stuff falling on our faces last week in Dallas, Grant booked us a flight to Denver to get the heavier stuff. With Ripley’s health (dog) still a concern I didn’t want to be away to long. The 2-hour direct flight left San Diego at 6:15am and was set to return that same night at 11:30pm. The problem—after a tumultuous night of jockeying for position in bed with Ripley (he decided to play dirty and bark as well as kick me)...I didn’t want snow, I wanted sleep.
Should I Continue to Denver Since I Want Snow?
Having traveled enough we have learned a few tricks to get steals on flights. Grant’s favorite trick is to use Skiplagged- an app that looks at layovers rather than final destinations to see if there may be a discounted rate. A trip from San Diego to Dallas direct was $200, however, a trip from San Diego to Dallas to Denver was only $100. We grabbed the cheaper one and we’re off to Dallas to celebrate Grant’s 35th birthday. This is not our usual birthday celebration for him, but since Vegas or Palm Springs is out— this works! Plus, I have been told that we are doing a mid-year birthday celebration to make up for missed time celebrating with friends. Everyone save the date in July!
First of all, Happy New Year. Second of all,...
To begin 2020, we were climbing the Great Wall of China. To begin 2021, we were throwing beads at people off a rooftop deck in New Orleans. Not quite the same, but this does exemplify the attitude Grant and I have shared throughout 2020– live life and have fun no matter what. With 2021 being rung in and the world still a mess— we couldn’t be more sure we made the right choice to continue living our best lives in 2020 and enjoy each day to the fullest.
Completing Christmas in Parts
Generally, this is the time of the year when we are blasting our photos of some foreign destination that we landed on when we spun a globe. With COVID-19, we have had to post-pone our normal trip for some domestic travel. So why not visit our domestic family? The first part of our Christmas vacation was our quick visit to Houston with my family. The second part of our Christmas vacation was in San Diego with our local family. The final leg of our Christmas was in San Antonio with Grant’s family.
With all that was happening in the world, it was nice to be able to focus on Christmas. My favorite part of Christmas is by far the presents, so I focused on that this year. Our Christmas tree and presents filled our entire dining room with presents for family and friends. It gave me something to do since there is not much going on right now in California being under “lock-down.”
Christmas Eve found us working. Grant was running around with a COVID outbreak at some of his properties, while I was calmly finishing up some grading for the end of the year. Finally, at 5:30 pm-- I left to go pick up Fogo De Chao for dinner. Note: Don’t buy here again. I arrived early and they were running late, but I was excited to have filet and chicken for dinner. Upon arriving home, Erica and Ashley were already there and helped us set up.
For some reason, the meat was fully cooked, but the sides were cold. So, we just started eating chunks of meat right out of the tin, while the sides were heating. As things were heating, we began part 1 of the present opening. The sides got pulled out a bit early, but warm enough to enjoy the meal. We paused the present opening to eat and then finished opening the rest of the presents. By the end of the evening the whole house was turn up, there was wrapping paper everywhere, and everyone was playing with their new toys.
Part 1 of cleaning commenced, but we didn’t make very much progress as we had to leave for the Del Mar Lights. This year the Del Mar Racetrack went all out and put on a larger-than-ever light show that you drove through. With this being the only event of its kind in San Diego—it took forever. But, to the objection of Erica and I, we listened to Grant and Ashley’s rap music to get in the mood. It was a blast looking at all of the lights and seeing everyone excited for the holidays.
After the lights, we came home, and we initiated part 2 of cleaning. As I am writing this and looking at the boxes of wrapping paper and plastic, we need to begin part 3, but we have 4 trash bins full so it will have to wait until trash comes tomorrow.
On Christmas day we got up slowly. We got up a bit too slow as we had to rush and finish packing, get the dogs set up, run last-minute errands, and not miss our flight. Last-minute I switched the bag that Grant was going to carry his family’s presents in for one that was bigger and fit things better. It of course broke going through security at the airport so we had to rush and figure out a Plan B. With most places closed, I was able to sweet-talk a nice bartender who gave me a trash bag. It ended up working out great because Grant looked like Santa Clause with his bag of presents.
After a quick layover in Phoenix, we made our way to San Antonio. Grant’s brother Jake was there ready to pick us up and we headed to the hotel on the Riverwalk. It was quite adorable as Grant’s mom and dad (Carol and Jack) had checked us in early and decorated the room with lights, pajamas, cookies, and presents. It was a nice warm welcome to start our visit. We exchanged presents and then went out to eat at the Republic of Texas.
Following dinner, we walked back to look at Carol and Jack’s room and then parted ways. Grant and I wanted to do the nighttime riverboat cruise, but we had just missed it. Instead, we walked around the river and even stopped at the Alamo for a quick photo. The night would not have been completed without some form of desert and even on Christmas—Grant was able to get his favorite Blue Bell Ice Cream and we turned in.
The next morning, Grant missed the memo that Christmas was yesterday because as soon as I woke up, he was bouncing on the bed ready to get the day started. We quickly got ready, packed, and were out the door wandering around downtown San Diego. We ended up wandering around a bit and went to El Mercado. A Mexican market downtown that has shops, restaurants, lots of souvenirs, and birds. To my absolute amusement, as we were walking around a bird pooped on Grant. Lucky him!
A quick clean up commenced and we hopped on some scooters to get to the allusive Riverboat cruise. The tour guide was a hoot, and we got some great photos of the area. Grant was very proud of himself as he knew most of the facts that the guide was sharing including the bridge that Selena was proposed to on and where Sandra Bullock stood for Miss. Congeniality. The tour wrapped up and we met up with Grant’s family for lunch.
We had a nice meal at La Fonda and then drove up to Austin to meet Grant’s niece Vivienne. There was quite a bit of traffic, but we made it. Clint and Jillian have been very disciplined with COVID and being able to see was a real treat. Parenting seems to come naturally for these two and I am glad to see that they are doing so well. They also gave us a handmade version of RuPaul’s Guess Who to play, which Grant was excited about. “…Yeah…Thanks…” said Luke who will have to play this with Grant.
Before I departed, we stopped for some chocolate at Central Market and some BBQ from Rudy’s. The South Terminal in Austin was a challenge to get to as it was so far away from the main airport. Eventually, we made it and I began part 1 of my return flight to Denver. The flight attendant was super nice and gave me an upgrade to Frontier’s version of first class for free. Once in Denver, I talked to the attendant who gave me a free upgrade to the exit row for part 2, Denver to San Diego.
Each part of our Christmas this year was special and collectively made a wonderful holiday. We had a great time seeing and spending time with everyone, and look forward to seeing what future Christmas’ will look like.