Arizona

This March, I had a work conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.  As is our tradition, we used the opportunity for a vacation!  Matt accrued enough points for a flight on Southwest, so we both got to fly for free.  

Our friends, Emily and Drew, moved out to Tucson for Drew's residency last year.  Since we'd be in the area, we spent the weekend visiting with them.  Drew and Emily have a cute little Southwest style home with a garage turned guest house in the back.  We had a great time hanging out with them for a couple of days!  One of the highlights of our visit was a hike in Saguaro National Park.

After our long day of hiking, we were tired and ready to relax.  Emily picked out a fabulous Spanish restaurant for dinner.  We shared sangria and many plates of tapas, and we enjoyed the authentic Flamenco group perform.  Emily and I both spent time studying in Madrid, Spain (at separate times) so it was fun letting the food and music bring back shared memories.

After the weekend was over, Matt and I headed to Sedona for a couple of days before my conference began.  The drive to Sedona was incredible, but it was nothing compared to the sights we encountered when we got there.  We stopped at the visitor's center on the way in, and a friendly old man at the counter highlighted all of the best lookouts and hikes that we wouldn't want to miss.  He was so helpful!

We hiked Cathedral Rock on our first day in Sedona.  This was a bit more challenging than we anticipated.  At several points, we were rock climbing as opposed to hiking.  I am not normally afraid of heights, but when we got to the top and looked down - it literally took my breath away.

That evening, we checked in to our motel, the SugarLoaf Lodge.  This place was such a great find (thanks, TripAdvisor.)  It was cheap, clean, quiet, simple, and it even offered a free breakfast of granola bars, muffins, and orange juice.  After we showered, we ran out to catch the sunset at the local airport (another tip from the old man at the visitor's center.)

By this point, we were beyond tired.  We stopped at a local diner for a quick dinner before we crashed.  Unfortunately, the diner was not such a great choice.  Our server thought it would be funny to play a joke on us by rigging a squeezable ketchup bottle to explode when we opened it.  We never would have known that he was responsible, had he not proceeded to brag about it (in Spanish) to his fellow waiters just a few feet from our table.  Of course, I understood every word and I was livid.  Instead of making a big scene, I just waited for him to come back to our table.  When he asked how our food was, I responded in fluent Spanish.  You should have seen the look on his face!  He was so shocked that I spoke Spanish, and you could tell he knew he was caught.  It was priceless.

We had a much better experience for breakfast the next morning.  We stopped at a restaurant called The Coffee Pot for delicious omelets before heading out for our second day of hiking.

At the beginning of our hike, Matt started complaining that his stomach hurt.  I assumed it was the big breakfast, but a few miles into our hike he had to stop.  Matt has never thrown up in all the time I have known him (8 years.)  Well, let's just say he made up for lost time.  We turned around and slowly hiked our way back to the car.

We had already checked out of our motel, so we had no choice but to make the long and windy drive back to Scottsdale.  Matt spent the next day in the bathroom and in bed.  Then it was time for him to go home to Nashville while I stayed to attend my conference and give my talk.  Shortly after Matt left, I started feeling sick to my stomach.  Unfortunately, Iwas stuck in my room for most of my conference.  It wasn't the best end to a fun vacation, but we still had a good time overall.  

San Francisco

In February, Matt was invited to give a talk at a private industry conference in San Francisco. Although I really wanted to, I wasn't planning to join him because we had another trip already planned for the spring.  But then we received a free flight from American Airlines as an apology from a recent travel disaster during a friend's wedding, so we used that voucher and booked my flight!  

Later we found out that Matt's brother, Mike, and his girlfriend, Maggie, would also be in San Francisco the same weekend while Mike interviewed for medical fellowships.  Mike let us in on a little secret - he was planning to propose to Maggie on Friday night!  We were so excited that we could be there to celebrate with them.

Matt gave his talk on Thursday, and I arrived late that night.  That gave us all day Friday and Saturday to enjoy the city before we had to head home on Sunday.  We stayed at the Palace Hotel on Market Street.  This hotel was beautiful and full of character.  It was also in a great location near Union Square and right next to the Muni.  And surprisingly, it wasn't that expensive.

On Friday, we walked all over the city, stopping to see most of the major sights.  As much as I love Nashville, it was so refreshing to be in a city that was walkable and diverse!  There were so many different kinds of people on the sidewalks and so many different languages being spoken around us.  While it was a fast-paced city, it didn't seem quite as frenetic as New York or even Chicago.  I would move there in a heartbeat if ever given the opportunity. 

Coit Tower:

We walked along Fisherman's Wharf and stopped to see the sea lions.  I was not a fan of Fisherman's Wharf.  It reminded me of Navy Pier in Chicago - way too touristy and not that exciting.  But it was fun seeing the sea lions!

We had heard rave reviews about the night tour of Alcatraz Island, so we booked tickets ahead of time.  We were not disappointed.  The views alone were worth the price of admission!  The actual tour was very interesting and the ferry ride there and back was fun.

The next day, we decided to rent bikes to tour Golden Gate Park and cross the bridge into Sausalito.  The bikes were worth every penny - there is no way we could have seen as much on foot.  We started out after breakfast around 10:00 AM and stopped at the Palace of Fine Arts before heading toward the Golden Gate Park.  The road to the park was hilly and windy, but once we arrived in the park it was flat and easy.  

By this time we were getting hungry, but aside from the museum restaurant (which we assumed would be over-priced and not very good), there weren't any restaurants in the park.  We kept riding, hoping to find a little sandwich shop along the way, but there was nothing.  Fortunately, we brought granola bars with us, otherwise we never would have made it!  

The maps the bike company provided were not very detailed, so we ended up on the wrong path for a while.  This little detour caused us to extend the ride longer than we anticipated.  By the time we got to the Golden Gate Bridge, we were famished.  But still, there was no food in sight. 

We decided to go ahead and ride into Sausalito and get food there.  There was some construction just after the bridge so we had yet another detour.  By the time we got to Sausalito, it was after 4:00PM and all we'd had to eat since breakfast was a couple of granola bars.  We stopped at the first restaurant we came to and literally stuffed our faces with sandwiches.  By this point, we had about an hour to wander the town before we had to get back on the ferry and head back to our hotel.  So, unfortunately, we really didn't get to enjoy Sausalito as much as we hoped, but we definitely got to see a lot of the city!

After we got back to our hotels and had an hour or so to rest, we met up with Mike and Maggie to celebrate their brand-new engagement!  We went to a tiny little restaurant in Noe Valley and then out to an Irish pub for drinks.  It was a great way to end the weekend.