Who went to San Fran ...

 

Hello everyone! 

I am soooo excited to write this blog post -- because it means I get to relive an AMAZING vacation!

Last year in December, one of my best friends decided to pack all her bags and leave the Midwest (sadly - probably forever....) and take an amazing job opportunity in California. I have not seen her since she moved ... therefore, my other best friend (from Indiana) and I decided it was time for a reunion and we ventured out to San Fran for a fun-filled girls weekend!

Emily (California) and I met on the cross country team at DePauw University, and Lizzy (Indiana) was in our sorority and we all lived together our senior year of college (epic!). Emily and Lizzy were both in my wedding and Emily and I were both in Lizzy's wedding. We are a threesome ... and I love it!

Back to the trip ...

Lizzy and I landed late on Wednesday evening (that 3 hour time change sucks...), but woke up for a day filled exploring San Fran on Thursday! 

We took a 3 hour walking tour of the Castro and Mission districts - which was so entertaining and fun!

I would recommend Wild San Fran Walking Tours to anyone - http://www.wildsftours.com/ 

They give you a lot of history and local information, and they kind of "force" you to get to know others on the tour - which made it very interactive and fun! We had people on our tour from all over the World.

Castro District was interesting!

Thursday evening we took a train to San Jose (which is where Emily lives and works), and we got to see Emily's town and house. It was a laid back evening, which was needed to catch up on sleep and recharge for the jam packed days ahead! 

On Friday we got to peek into Emily's life and tour around her work and around San Jose. Emily works at Specialized Bike Company - which means she has connections and was able to get us pedal assist bikes to ride around San Jose. 

What are pedal assist bikes you ask? Well ...when you pedal, the bike gives you an "extra" oomph - and you can go really fast and you do not really have to work hard at all! I got up to 30 mph! 

We rode the bikes around San Jose and then parked them to hike up a mountain! We went on the Toro hike, and got some great views of the Valley. When you vacation with my best friends ... you never stop moving, and are always active! The best way to explore a new place!

It was pretty steep! 

At the summit - you have to take a selfie!

 

After the amazing hike and bike riding, we headed into San Fran for the rest of the weekend (and took a pit stop in Palo Alto to drive through Stanford).

On Friday evening we went to a Giants baseball game. I LOVE live baseball - give me some nachos,  a cold beer, and my best friends ... I am a happy lady!

Saturday was my favorite day of the trip! So much time outside and such amazing weather and views! Since my body was still on East Coast time, I woke up nice and early and squeezed in a longer run ... best. run.ever! I got to run across the Golden Gate Bridge and all along the waterfront of San Fran. Let me just say - the Golden Gate Bridge never gets old!

After a filling breakfast, we packed into Emily's car and headed over the bridge to a State Park in Marin County for a 7.5 mile hike. We only had to drive about 20 minute, but I felt like I was hiking in Europe. It was incredible - I love cliffs meeting water!

One of the highlights of the hike was conquering a fear and climbing up this big rock .... this picture does not do it justice - it was big and scary to cross over a little make shift bridge =)

 To make this perfect hike even more perfect - we stopped halfway through the hike and had lunch at the cutest English pub (The Pelican Inn) that felt like a hidden gem. A cold cider was the most refreshing thing I have ever tasted! 

 

                                               

Saturday was such an active day, and I loved every second of it! We ended the evening with more activity ... dancing to Taylor Swift's "Shake it Off" =) 

You cannot got to San Fran without venturing to wine county, so on Sunday we drove to Sonoma and went to Chateau St. Jean. It was the perfect afternoon ... relaxing, filled with snacks, smiles, and photo shoots. 

I took the red eye flight home on Sunday evening ... which was not my brightest idea because I was a walking zombie on Monday at work and in class ... but it was totally worth it! 

The trip was amazing, and it was soooo good to catch up with my two best friends (and make new friends). We all decided it cannot be a year until our next reunion ... but this trip recharged us all. 

To summarize this post:

- Visit San Fran in September  (amazing weather)

- Text or Call your best friends ... they are so important! 

Have you ever had a girl's getaway? What is the best vacation you have been on recently?

Who vacationed to Northern Michigan ...

Imagine Tim Allen's voice inviting you to explore Pure Michigan!

Last week, B and I and his family took Tim Allen's advice and fully immersed ourselves into Northern Michigan.

The whole group - B's parents, sister and her boyfriend

We left Wednesday morning and arrived in the KOA RV Campground in Petoskey right around lunchtime (4 hour drive from Ann Arbor). B's parents have an amazing RV that was our home for the week. We were "camping" ... but the RV may be nicer than some parts of our condo!

We hopped on our bikes right away and took the Little Traverse Wheelway bike path to Harbor Springs. The Little Traverse Wheelway is such a cool resource and amazing way to explore the area because it connects Charlevoix to Petoskey to Harbor Springs. We biked a lot on the trip - the area was so bike friendly, so we had to take advantage... it was also a great way to stay active!

On Thursday we drove about 30 minutes north of Petoskey and hopped on a ferry to Mackinac Island. We took one of the slower ferries and it was about 40 minutes to the island, but you had gorgeous views of the Mackinac Bridge the whole time.

As you can see - it was a bit chilly with the wind, but we layered up!

Mackinac Island is a small island off the coast of Mackinaw City and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. There are no cars allowed on the island ... this blew my mind! There were bikes everywhere and horse carriages everywhere. UPS even delivered their packages with a horse! If you plan to go to Mackinac Island, either bring bikes (way cheaper!) or rent them, because biking is the best way to get to see the whole island. There is an amazing bike path that goes all around the island and is 8 miles long - it has impressive views the whole way!

Amazing clear, blue water!

While on Mackinac - you have to go see the Grand Hotel! It has the world's largest front porch at 660 feet. It is also the world's largest seasonal hotel. We did not go into the hotel, but even when you are walking the grounds you feel like you are stepping back in time. They even have a dress code - after 6pm men have to have a coat and women have to be in a skirt or dress! I would love to stay at least one night there in the future!

One of my favorite adventures of the trip (and something I recommend to anyone!) is biking the Tunnel of Trees  - which is Highway M119. I know, I know ... all I am talking about is biking ... but it is such a fun way to see such a gorgeous area and sneak in activity!
Just north of Harbor Springs, we jumped onto M119 and followed it along the coast of Lake Michigan to this fun restaurant called Legs Inn. I cannot begin to describe how beautiful this bike ride is ... a forest lined road with cliff top views of Lake Michigan on one side of you and fun, huge vacation homes on the other side.

We started our bike ride in Petoskey and it was 30 miles to Legs Inn (we had someone pick us up at Legs ... our legs were not feeling 60 miles). It was a hilly ride, but it was sooo worth it. We all felt very accomplished after the ride, and the beer at Legs Inn tasted especially good!
Also, I loved that the road was not very busy ... it did not seem very touristy (it probably gets busier in the Fall with the leaves changing).

If you bike the Tunnel of Trees, you have to stop at Pond Hill Farm! It is a store, brewery, winery, restaurant, working farm, and flower garden all in one place! We tried some of their beer and wine, and it was all pretty good. I loved their cider! 

Random side note - if you stop at Pond Hill Farm, you should try the squash rocket! They sell their old, inedible squash at "ammo" and you can launch it into this field ... sounds so silly ... but it was so much fun! 

On the food front ... We had most of our meals around the campfire, and things just taste better when you eat them outside! It was vacation, so I definitely splurged on ice cream, s'mores, and some drinks ... but overall we ate fairly healthy (and limiting your meals at restaurants is always healthier).

The rest of the trip was filled with campfires, exploring all of the little towns, card playing (B and I were double deck euchre champs!), and eating ice cream! 

It was a great trip and I enjoyed soaking in the time with family and being able to unplug and just "play" outdoors. As a newbie to Michigan, I was constantly blown away by the beauty of Lake Michigan.

If you get the chance to explore Northern Michigan - jump on it! I would love to pass along any other advice or details too if you have questions.

Do you have any summer vacation plans?

Who is hungover from the weekend ...

Happy Monday!

I feel like I always comment about Mondays ... but Mondays after vacations are rough ... full catch up week ahead of me - just keep swimming, just keep swimming!

First, I wanted to thank Watts for stepping in while I was on vacation and I can't wait for her next pop in post! She is a pretty motivational person and lives what I like to call "fake life" on the California coast, so she has tons to share!!

Second, I want to say I accomplished what Watts mentioned in her second post ... I am hungover (not literally)  from the week - we jammed a lot of activity into our short vacation up to Northern Michigan!
I am already working on a whole blog post about it for later in the week, and I am excited to share ways to sneak activity into your vacation!

When I start to dread the upcoming work week ... I always try to think of all of things I have to look forward to and as Watts likes to say sometimes ... "live for the weekends!"
Here are some of the things that I can look forward to coming up!

• My momma is coming up to Ann Arbor to do a 1.2 mile swim in Michigan (yes, my mom is a stud!)
• I am going to visit a good friend in Chicago and spend time with her kids!
• I am going to Indy for my nieces baptism and get to see a lot of family and friends!!
• My birthday month is coming up =) (I love birthdays!)
• I booked a trip to CALI to visit Watts with my other best friend Lizzy ... I should add a countdown on the blog! I am soooo excited! 
• B and I are going to the Michigan vs. Penn State NIGHT football game with my brother and his wife Carrie! 
• Detroit Marathon! 
• Homework ... wait? Nope ... not really looking forward to homework, but excited for classes to start! 

Basically I am one lucky girl and I have a lot of fun things to look forward to! 

What are you excited about??

I will leave you with a picture of Yosey girl because I missed her while I was gone!!!

Who is on vacation (almost)...

Howdy!
I hope everyone is waking up on the right side of the bed this Monday! How was your weekend?

Our weekend was filled with a lot of fun social events around Ann Arbor and a little relaxation. On Friday, B officially started a vacation week - residents are assigned or choose certain weeks through the year to be "vacation" weeks. Therefore, he is off the whole upcoming week and gets to sleep in and enjoy some down time!
Vacation weeks are definitely worth celebrating, so on Friday we went to a place in Ann Arbor called Dominick's that is famous for their sangria ... yumm!

B was a trooper on Sunday and woke up early to run a local 5 mile race with me. It was a very small race, but a fun course that cut through some woods and stayed on smaller paved trails. In the middle of the race I found my "happy pace," which means I felt like I was pushing myself but also really consistent and not dying. Overall I really enjoyed the race and was happy with how I ran.

The rest of the weekend was filled with packing and preparing for a short little vacation we are embarking on this week to Northern Michigan! I am excited to spend time with family and see some new areas of Michigan. We have plans for a lot of bike riding and a little running too - active vacations are the best (and vacations with a lot of ice cream and some wine too ... all about balance =) 

I have some surprise guest posts for the rest of the week while I unplug and soak in family time. 

I will leave you with a picture that summarizes vacation week ...

Sunday nap time with Yosey!