Dodgers game was insane!!! They lost and didn't score a single run... But what a wicked pissa experience!!! Mikes friend Jill hooked us up with awesome seats! We were at the 1st base line... 3 rows up... A whole box to ourselves... Room to screech... A table for food... Just about right on the field!! It was crazy!!

Michael had 6 tickets, but there was only 3 of us, so he gave the other three to a dad and two young boys... The guys face lit up!!! It turned out he was with one other guy... But they managed to get all 4 down into their own box... The kids had a blast! Their original tickets were way up... It was awesome:)

Thank you, Mike!!

Did the touristy thing today in LA... In the rain... Yes, 2 of 2 days of morning rain... But we had a nice time. We had been very excited about the tour, as it was the same company we used in San Fran... But in LA, they don't have real tour guides... It's all a recording, and not personalized. Kind of a bumber, cause its fun to see the city through the eyes of a local.

Anyhow, we were able to see where OJ once lived, and where he murdered Nicole... We saw the LA Federal building, where Men In Black was filmed... Drove down Rodeo, Melrose, Sunset & Santa Monica Blvds... Saw Paramont studios, the Chinese & Kodak theaters... The hotel Richard Gere and Julia Roberts stayed in the movie Pretty Woman... The cemetery Marylene Monroe was burried in... Saw the HollyWood sign... It was cool!

Lunch was at Urth Caffe... Very earthy crunchy and very delicious. Now we're off to the Dodgers game :)

Today was our first day in LA!! Michael took us out to this chic cafe called Huckleberries... Ranks #1 tasting meal I've had yet on this honeymoon... (and if you've been following, you know we' e had some really great things!!) both Jocko and mike got a fried egg sandwich and banana muffin... But my green eggs and ham was the absolute BOMB!!!! homemade and amazingly delicious English muffin... With prociutto and a fried egg, topped with arugula and drizzles with the most amazing pesto I have ever had....!!!!! Yes... Pesto on eggs!! It was fantastic!!! You HAVE to try this one ar home!

After breakfast, we dropped Mike off at work... And were sooooo very lucky to take his beautiful BMW out on the road for a little drive around Malibu (I tried finding Giadas house... But no luck). We ended up at the Getty Center... An amazing and free art museum, atop a Bevery Hill, overlooking the city and the ocean... Just the views along were worth the trip... But we also go to see some really great exhibits... One on Giome... A late 19th century painter... As well as a whole exibit on photography... Kind of a journalistic take.. Very powerful and very sad... But phenomenal..!!!

For lunch, we picked Mike up again and he took us down to Houstons... Awesome!!! From the spinach dip... To the filet Thai salad I got and roatissierie chicken Jocko had... It was fantastic!!!

After lunch, Jocko and I made our way the the Prominade down to the Santa Monica Pier... Where we got a free ride on the ferris wheel (solar powered, by the way). We got some really great pics from the top... Check them out on flickr! Then Jocko won me a stuffed animal bull dog... He played the "guess my weight" game.. And rhe guesser was wrong... So Jocko picked me out a little bull dog (we're mission our little doggies so much!)

After the pier, we strolled around the waterfront street and made our way back to the prominade for a drink before Mike got out of work.

Dinner was what Jocko had waited this whole trip for... Baby Blues... An all BBQ joint he had gone to the last couple times he'd been out here. Mike ordered for us... And everything was excellent!!! You name it... We had it! My favorite, however, was th dessert! Banana pudding and butter cream pie... Both out of this world!!! The food was VERY good... I don't normally like BBQ at restaurants... But I do have to say, Jocko makes better ribs!! Theirs were good... But Jockos are better! Overall, though, really great BBQ place, and really great people that run it... Seems like they'll be coming to a city near you soon... If they do... Check them out!!

So, after leaving SLO early Monday morning, Jocko and I headed south with our sights set on Santa Barbara... Our one little detour along the way was a small Scandanavian town called Slovang... It was a quaint little village just off 101 (we took the highway foe this part of the ride... As recommended by all the locals)... With little Scandanavian fasades and Danish bakes shops, we had a lovely time! One of the best parts was that one of the stores had a whole isle dedicated to dachshund memorabilia!!! It was hilarious!!

Just south of Slovang, we pulled into Santa Barbara just in time for lunch. I was able to redeem myself after choosing the place the night before (I chose Nova, the first night in SLO, which was amazing... So Jocko wanted me to choose again... But the night of the 4th, we had a B- dinner... So this was my chance to redeem my restraint choosing abilities). My choice was the runner up for Best of Santa Barbaras American cuisine. It was a STELLAR choice!! A relatively new place, named after the womans mother... And daughter... I had a serloin sandwich on ciabatta... Roasted reds and a marvelously cool sauce. Jocko got a great spicy burger with avocados and the best bun he's ever had!

As we finished our meal, and asked the owner what we needed to see while we were in town, and she responded "Our coconut cake".. When we explained that we were full and that Jocko doesn't like coconut... She felt challenged... And pushed and pushed... But we asked for the check... And with it came (yet another wonderfully generous) free piece of her famous coconut cake... She said she wanted to win Jocko over, cause she know she could convert him... AND SHE DID!!!! We both LOVED it!! But Jocko especially :) She was so proud to tell us that Oprah had come in and liked it so much that she bought a whole cake!! In addition, it had won some local awards for best dessert! It really was!!



After lunch, we strolled around, and stopped by the city courthouse... Which is the pride and joy of Santa Barbara. Built in 1929, it is one of the oldest buildings in the city and has lot of beautiful latino artwork... However, while on the tour, we realizes that our hous is about 80 years older than the oldest building in their town... Kind of crazy, huh? Adfter a short tour of the building, went down to the pier and found our way into a snooty wine tasting room... Where we met two nice guys who recommended another wine tasting room around the corner... This next place was called Municipal Wine Makers... Where the owner had a masters degree in wine... And was the quintacential Californian Dude.. Wicked Good!!! We spent a lot of time there... Had a lot of wine... And bought even more (even though NO ONE will ship to Mass due to tax-a-chusetts laws... Figures... We learned about each wine we tasted by following along on iPads... Very cool... And the owner gave us an idea for for a business plan to make it work back home.. (I'm really ready to quit selling drugs and move onto wine... Loving the idea!!! Just not sure it'll pay the same... And I know the cars not included..)

After Municipal... We staggered our way back up the hill to State St... and found one more nice tasting room and stopped by... Needless to say, we were pretty well lit!! We had a lot of fun and met some pretty great people... One of our most fun evenings in Cali!

Dinner was short and a bit rushed... But also our cheapest since we've been here... The Palace specializes in creol food and we had a couple different appetizers... Jocko had a knock your sox off turkey gumbo... And I had a great coconut shrimp plate... All under $30!!

Bubble Gum Alley

One of the coolest and grossest things I've ever seen!! Downtown San Luis Obispo has this alleyway that every one sticks there bubble bum to the walls. It started as a competetion between Caly Poly and San Luis High school. It actually looks pretty till you get close up. The city steam cleans it once a week.

Another day in paradise... Literally! We visited Hearst Castle today... Wow! To have been a guest there in the 30's and 40's... Must have unreal!!! One of many homes for William Randolf Hearst... Media tycoon... It tool 15 years to build... And is home to numerous priceless pieces of art as well as relic European church memorabilia... Absolutly incredible! Though born into wealth (his father found silver ore during the gold rush) WR Hearst made his fortune off a bet, which won him a sing newspaper publication, which he turned around almost overnight... And began buying up other local publications. His monopoly grew an soon included magazines, films, and radio in addition to newspapers. He used all these forms of media to his promote his personal political and moral views. He realized that there newsed to be a forum for women and created some of the largest wonens magazines of all times...One of his most famous and highest grossing magazine (outselling even Times & Newsweek.. Even TODAY) is Cosmo Magazine!! But Good Housekeeping and Womans Day were also his creation!


Anyhow, back to the castle... It took 15 years to build... Beginning in 1920... On his parents ranch, which is today the land stretching from Santa Cruz downto Santa Barbara... Holy Land!!! His father purchased it for $0.68 an acre... When his parents died, he wanted to build a place of dreams... Build off the images he saw as anchold touring Europe... And it really is a dream come true.!!!

On our way to the castle, we saw a bunch of people pulled off by the side if the road... So we stopped ourselves... And saw zebras!!! Yes, Zebras!!! We were baffled that there would be zebras just chilling in the pastures with the cows... And come to find out, they were Hearst's Zebras! He actually had the largest price zoo in the world at one time... Including not only those zebras, that still roam the pastures freely, but also POLAR BEARS!! Giraffes, African goats... Lions & tigers... You name it!!! He was an avid animal lover... And actually had dachshunds and Boston terriers as his dogs!! I know!!! Awesome!!


Beyond just the animals... The castle is dream like... There is a 2000 year old bust of Zeus... A statue of Venus di Milo, ceilings and pews brought in from early European churches... You name it... No matter how extravagant! His Neptune pool he had created... Then re-created 3 times before it suit his liking! (remember, this was 1920s) he was among the first to gave electricity all the way out in the middle of the big sur, too... Remarkable!!

His indoor pool is lines with gold leaf, and is in the theme of a Roman Bath House... And every detail of the home is just as outrageous! I wish wirds could really detail what we saw today... But they really cannot... Just take all of European history via art... Add rediculous amounts of wrath and opulence... And you have the Hearst Castle!

So, as Jocko mentioned... We stayed Thursday night at the Big Sur Lodge... Which was our "splurge" hotel... Certainly didn't live up to the idea of splurge... But quaint and lovely (aside from Creepy Craig... Who was totally hoping jocko would join him in the natural hot tubs... "you never know what youll find up there... A fun, jovial atmoshere... Spiritual Meditation... Or an orgy". He was so creepy!!!)

Anyhow, we had a big, open cabin... And were able to wake up and start our morning with a beautiful hike, just outside our door, up to the Julia Pfiffer Falls. "i dont know what it is about waterfalls that draws people to them... the ionization or the naturaly beauty... Most likely the ionization..." (Craig quote) It was an AWESOME hike!!! As Craig had warned us, the hikers conundrum is that your hiking uphill on the way up to the falls... And uphill on the way back too!!! It was true... And we're certainly feeling it in our legs today!!

The falls was our first of many hikes of the day... Next up was the Pfiffer state beach... Completely unmarked, but we read about it one of the tour books... One car in... One out... But we didn't have to wait long... We had no idea what to expect... And were in sheer amazement at the power, beauty and magnitude of nature. There were massive rocks... With caves through which the ocean pounded violent waves. It's funny how something so powerful, fierce and full of rage could be so spectacularly soothing, beautiful and mesmerizing... Jocko was completely mesmerized by the strength and magnitude of the ocean and climbed out onto the rocks and got some great pictures... Though as beauitful as they are, it can't compare to being there... Hearing the thunderous pounding of the waves, feeling the spray, and seeing it live! (maybe it was those ions that made it so alluring!!)

Second to those amazing caves... The sand at this beach had purple patches of sand and supposedly, if you dug down, you could find jade rocks... We didn't dig... Left that to the kids. The beach was beyond what we ever could have imagined a beach to be!

Following our beach excursion, we had lunch at the most commonly recommended place in Big Sur... Nepenthe... Pretty much every person we met in the last 2 days told us to stop there for lunch and get the ambrosia burger... So we did! The resturaunt was atop a cliff, overlooking the ocean below... But that's on a clear day... While we were there, we couldn't see 20 feet into the thick fog!! The wait for a table overlooking NOTHING was 1hour, 20 min... But there was no wait at the bar!!! So we sat down and ordered ourselves the famous burger! It was fantastic!!! Fresh, clean flavors! Very, very good!!

After lunch we drove along curvy cliffside Rt 1 in the dense fog till we arrive at a hairpin turnoff, unmarked with a small dirt path leading down the creek... Pattingtons Ridge. Pulling off, we hiked down a long zigzag path, crossed a beautiful old bridge, went thru a very cool old tunnel, to arrive at a spectacular cove!! This was another place mother nature got out her frustrations! The cliff we were on jetted out into a narrow rock peninsula, with coves on each side... Waves crashing and splashing us with the surf!! This cove was once a port for rum runners during the prohibition... Which is crazy to think... As you could easily imagine ANY wooden boat coming near this cove would be shattered to pieces against the rocks! But they liked their liquor I guess... Again, awe inspiring and completely mesmerizing! We sat on the rocks for a while took it all in.. Check out flickr!

Our next stop was McWay Falls... Once owned by a wealthy hieress to a big Boston Bank fortune, the propery has Californias only waterfall to fall strait into the pacific ocean! Stunning views from a cliff walk take you the perfect place for photos, and the original spot of the owners home. When the Boston Bank heiress died, she willed that her magnificent home be taken down and donated the property to the state for preservation... So tha no one person could ever own it, and the views could be enjoyed by all! Thank god for philanthropists!

Leaving the Big Sur was bitter sweet... We're very excited for the rest of our trip... But this land was just so majestic... So awe inspiring... We didn't want to leave! And our disappoint continued on the drive out, as the fog was too thick to see the depths of the falls beneath us... Or the great rocks metric out of the surf below... :(

However... Just as we got out of the forest, some a**hole was riding us so closely, Jocko barely ably to pull over... But when we did... We stumbled upon ElEPHANT SEALS!!! Hahaha!! Please check out the pics on Flickr!! I thought the era lions were awesome... But they didn't hold a candle to these massive mammals!! They werejust chillin' on the beach... Flippin sand onto their backs, wiggling over to the another to snuggle!! What a relaxed place Clalifornia is... If this happened in MA, the beach would be closed off, not trusting people to enjoy without interfering... You'd never catch a glimpse of them... In Cali, they build a boardwalk the length of the beach so you can see ALL of them, not just the ones closest to the parking lot. I love this laid back state!

Finally, for dinner (as this trip was decided upon based on food), we made our way down to San Luis Obispo (aka SLO) where we had sinner at an AMAZING tapas bar on the creek, Novo. I think Jocoko was a bit skeptical, never having tapas, (neither had I), but as we were guided thru the impeccably clean kitchen, back to the heart of the restaurant, on the creek... He got excited too! The ambiance alone was sureal! Lit by candles and novelty string lights... With propane heaters for each table... We got morrocan lamb satay for an app... Ten split the pork carnitas sopas and duck mole... WOW!! It was a first on the mole for both of us... Absolutly delish!! And the carnitas had the most amazing balance of textures... Onions feta cheese, cremy pulled pork... Wonderful!! I had a remarkably smooth malbec, Jocko had a pear margarita and locally brewed root beer... To finish off the evening, our waitress surprised us with a desert on the house... We got a great coffee & vanilla bean Sunday with chocolate ganache... The perfect ending to a perfect day!

(sorry for any spelling mistakes... Not only am I terrible at spelling... But I'm doing this on the phone... No spell check). Miss you all!! MUAH!!!

A little catching up on the last couple of days.. We have been traveling through big sur which has no cell phone or Internet access.

So on Friday we woke up early and went back to Pebble beach for a 50% off sale they were having for the US open stuff. We then had breakfast in downtown Carmel, which is a tiny little downtown area with tons of shops and resturants all around. Very wealthy area and very dog friendly- seemed everyone had a dog, and they are even aloud in resturants. So at breakfast I had a fried French toast which was really tasty @ Em Lee's. Natalie had a special eggs benidect- too much food to finish.

When then took the 17 mike drive again because we wanted to get more pictures of the beautiful pebble beach area. We had lunch at a small downtown cafe- nothing noteworthy in my book. From there we went hiking in the Point Lobos state reserve. The first trail lead us to a small sandy beach that we had to hike down a cliff to get to, it was in a small cove that had an arch way built into te cliff- looked like something out of a movie. The small vibes and beaches were really cool. We took tons of pictures, which should be updating onto flickr now. We hiked all around PLSR and saw some more sea lions and other wildlife. Natalie was fascinated by the rock formations and how they got there.

Then we started the best drive ever in the Big Sur. Every turn was the mist beautiful view, and the most scary. The cliffs dropped 100ft to the ocean. Awesome bridges went over coves and the mountains seemed to grow out if the pacific. Gotta check out te pictures of Bixby Bridge on my flickr page.

Finally we got to the Big Sur lodge, tired and hungry and got to meet Craig (the creepy and weird check in guy) who took a half hour to tell us the history and attractions of the Big Sur. He told us all the hiking trails and even mentioned about the natural hot tubs on the ocean that host midnight orgies- sweet!

We finished with dinner at the lodge- we was great. Check out the pictures on flickr- and we love seeing your comments here too.

Yesterday we started our trip down CA rt. 1- kinda a slow start getting through SF but once we got near the coast the views were breathtaking, we were stopping every mike or so to take pictures because each spot was better than the next. The mountains to the east and the pacific to the west, best of both worlds. Our first stop along the way for lunch was in Santa Cruz, an ececltic town with a beautiful beach and pier. Lots of people surfing and playing volleyball. The beach had a amusement park on it, but the coolest part was off the pier was steps that lead down to a dock that had sunning sea lions on it. We had lunch at a local hot spot called "Tacos Morenos", just a small Mexican place that looked very unassuming, but shortly after we ordered a line was out the door literally. Nat and I both got tasty burritos and some chips and salsa to go. Of course Natalie spilled the salsa all over the car.

Our next stop was Monterey CA, a cool ocean front town which has a beat downtown area known as Cannery Row- a former sardine canning town- and the basis for John Stienback's cannery row. The coolest thing was the aquarium in Monterey. The best and most hands on aquarium I have ever seen. I wish I lived closer because it needs a couple days to see it all. It was inside and outside and even had a place for kids to snorkel in the ocean. Very cool place. Tons of pictures on flickr.

After we drove down ocean view drive and into the famed 17 mike drive around pebble beach. Unbelievable views and beaches, and golf courses right on top. Tons of great photos.. And I got to go to the pebble beach golf course, I was going to pay the $595 green fee but it didn't look as nice as Squirell run. ;)

For dinner we went to a upscale place just south of Carmel called the Pacific's Edge. It was up on a cliff with the best view you could imagine. Every tabke faced the window. We were eating right at sunset- perfect. I chose the place so I looked like I planned out the most romantic dinner ever...but I just fit lucky. Anyway Natalie had dungeness crab for app and Turbout for dinner with truffle filled Gnouchis, and I had a fancy salad and a T- bone steak- the food was top notch but te service was unreal- the even gave Natalie a black napkin cause she had a black dress on, and me a white napkin cause I had on a white shirt. They also gave us a copy of the menu signed by the chef with a little message thanking us for choosing them on our honeymoon. The right before we left the sommelier brought over some special port dessert wine to celebrate our honeymoon-

Great way to end the night! Pics on my flickr page.
I'm sure Natalie will add her comments to this- sorry for spelling mistakes, I wrote this from the iPhone at breakfast!

Last morning in San Francisco.... Kind of sad... Not gonna lie.. We really, really enjoyed this beautiful city! From the kind people, to the lovely gardens and stunning vegitation, to the colorful and eclectic architecture. But we're very excited to begin the road trip part of our honeymoon! We're having breakfast once again at the Warerfront Bakery... These croissants are awesome! We were hoping to pick up a couple souvenir shirts, but of course... In true Natalie and Jocko fashion... We waited till last minute, and everything is