Travel

Our first day in San Francisco was filled with some action packed day dates.  Lacey and I hadn’t ever explored San Francisco prior to last weekend, so we were really excited to see what all of the fuss was about.  San Francisco is also a particularly special place for Lacey and I because it is the city where we first met (9 years ago).

First stop – Muir National Park

This wasn’t originally on my list of places to go, but after 3 of our friends labeled it a “must see” when visiting SF, we were convinced.  It took us about an hour to get to Muir from the city.  When we arrived, parking was a shit show.  People were parking as far as 2 miles away from the entrance to the park.  When we realized this was our fate, I looked at Lacey and said “I’m not spending my whole f***ing day driving in circles for a spot, so lets just head back to the city.”  As soon as I started driving away from the park, we noticed an empty parking area 2 blocks distance above the park entrance.  We couldn’t spot any No Parking signs around so that’s where we left our tiny crap box rental car for a couple hours.  Scored big time with that parking spot.

For the park itself, don’t get me wrong, it was absolutely beautiful and amazing.  The trees were enormous (some 40ft wide) and the surrounding nature complimented the trees perfectly.  That being said, I think the fact that Lacey and I grew up in Idaho and around scenery similar to this our whole lives, we were a little less amazed than some of the “city-folk” that were visiting the park that day.  Still a great park, but I don’t think I’d label it as a “must see” when visiting SF.

Side note, we accidentally visited Muir National Park on National Park day…which explains the insane crowd and crazy parking situation.  But!…we got in for free in honor of the holiday 🙂

Second Stop – The Cliff House (for lunch)

I found this place while Google searching “best views in SF” before our trip.  We were not disappointed.  The restaurant/bistro is located on the cliffs (obviously), overlooking Ocean Beach on the northwestern corner of the city.  I would highly recommend checking this place out during your next visit.  Most of the tables are located next to the windows where you’ll have prime views of the ocean, pedestrians, and surfers.  Lacey and I enjoyed some delicious coffee drinks served by a woman who had been working at The Cliff House for over 50 years.  Tons of cool history linked with this place.

The Cliff House is the white building in the top right

Third Stop – The Golden Gate Bridge

Ah, yes. The Grand Finale for Day 1 in San Francisco.  After lunch, we headed straight to the bridge.  We found some free parking about 3 blocks south of the bridge which also linked to a cool trail that led us down to the bridge.  While I was excited to visit the bridge, I didn’t expect it to be as cool as it ended up being.  First off, the bridge is beautiful in person.  Pictures don’t do it justice.  Secondly, you can walk or ride your bike across it where you’ll find amazing views of downtown, Alcatraz, and the rolling hills of the neighborhoods around the city.  The walk across the bridge is even more exciting because it is usually windy and there is a ton of traffic buzzing by you the entire time.  Gives it a little element of danger.  If you’re afraid of heights, this walk will test your will a little bit too.  Lacey ended up getting a little dizzy when we went.  I would definitely list walking/riding across the Golden Gate bridge as a “must see”.  If you go to SF, you need to go to the bridge.

Day 1 in San Francisco was awesome.  Stay tuned to find out how Day 2 went.  It involves arguably even better views than our first day.

Have you been to SF? Did you check out the same spots we did? Let us know what you thought!

Lacey and I visited Rome during tourist season.  Eek! That being said, it was still awesome.  When we hopped off our train the first day at the Roma Termani station, we were immediately faced with the challenge of busting our way through tens of thousands of people in an attempt to get over to another metro station.  When we finally made it outside the Roma Termani, there were even more people flooding the streets.  There had to have been close to a million people out there.  This couldn’t just be the normal tourist crowd could it?  Turns out the Pope was about to do a service at St. Peter’s and the whole world was going to check it out.

Lacey and I grabbed a quick slice of margherita pizza and started making our way toward the coliseum.  We figured it would be a good day to do that being that it was in the opposite direction of St. Peter’s (where the millions of people were).

the sky is so beautiful there!

Lesson learned #1 in Rome.  If you can pre-purchase tickets to a tourist attraction….do it.  Do it now!  We stood in line for nearly 2hrs at the Coliseum.  If the attraction you are buying tickets online for offers an “express pass”, I would highly recommend dropping a few extra bones on that too.  When you’re traveling to an international location like Italy, your time is worth more that the extra $10 to skip the lines.

Roman Forum

From the Coliseum, we made our way to the Trevi Fountain through the Roman Forum.  It too, was packed full of people.  For a site like the Trevi Fountain that is kinda romantic, you won’t really get the full experience when there are 15k people smashing in to you and your spouse (another reason to dodge tourist season).  I’m not even 100% sure we dropped a coin in the fountain.  We more or less got there, snapped some pics and GTF outta there as fast as we could.  The main reason for leaving wasn’t the crowd though.  It was because I promised Lacey we could get some gelato at our next stop… the Spanish Steps.

Lesson learned #2 in Rome:  Lines don’t mean shit!  If you have a polite bone in your body, you’ll never get anything in a big city like Rome.  After being cut in front of a dozen or so times while trying to order some gelato, I finally started putting my grown-ass American man frame to good use.  Pushing my way to the front with a pissed off look on my face ended up getting the job done.  At one point some lady started yelling at me in Italian.  I was actually kind of excited about this because I wanted to put my newly acquired Rosetta-Stone language skills to use.  She kept saying I wasn’t in the right line.  I turned toward her and yelled “no lo sai! no lo sai!”  She immediately backed down.  The funny thing about this is that I thought I was saying “I don’t know! I don’t know!” kind of apologetically, but what I was actually saying was “YOU don’t know!!”  …I’ll keep practicing.  Nevertheless, the gelato was delicious, and I was Lacey’s hero.

Still annoyed from the gelato shop interaction

see all of the people in the street behind her?

Lacey and I had a nice dinner on a patio later that night and then passed the eff out after such an overwhelming first day.

post dinner, pre pass out

elevating the swollen ankles

long awaited shower!

Day 2 got off to a much calmer start.  We woke up and ate the food that the B&B provided us (which was delicious and awesome).  Our original plan for day 2 was to check out St. Peter’s Basilica and then pop over to the Sistine Chapel.  Well, following the trend of the previous day, there was a 4hr line to get into St. Peter’s and a 3hr line to get into the Chapel.  Eff!  We agreed that neither of us wanted to spend 5-7hrs in line that day so we decided to pick 1 of the 2 places to visit. I had already been to both sites on a previous trip, so I left it up to Lacey to decide.  She picked the Sistine Chapel.  They don’t let you take pics of the famous Michelangelo painting on the ceiling of the chapel, so the best I could do was a selfie in the hallway.

my “overwhelmed by the crowds of people” face

All and all, the 2 days in Rome were amazing.  We did as much as we could with the time that we had.  Public transportation in Rome is incredibly easy, the food is delicious, the sites are amazing, and the sky is beautiful.  For all of these reasons, I have come to the 3rd and final lesson from the trip to Rome.
Lesson learned #3: Spend at least a week in Rome.  …and keep brushing up on your Rosetta-Stone.

yeah, I took this pic. No big deal.

Riomaggiore, Italy (Cinque Terre)

We stayed in the pink building on the far left on the 2nd floor.

Lacey and I spent a brief, yet wonderful 2 days in the Cinque Terre as a layover stop between Rome and Milan during our trip to Italy.  The 5 towns of the Cinque Terre (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore) were once regarded as a few of the best kept secrets in Italy.  It seems like the world has caught on as it was pretty much flooded with tourists while we were there.  The 5 towns are very unique in that they are all self sustaining farming and fishing communities.  Cars are not allowed in the towns themselves, except for the occasional delivery truck or two.  There is a walkway/trail connecting each of the towns if you’re looking for some exercise.  If walking isn’t your thing (you shouldn’t go to Europe) you can hop on a train along the coastline that stops in each of the 5 towns.

If you’re a foodie, you’ll find world class seafood dishes from nearly every restaurant in these towns.  Lacey and I were pleased to find some amazing pizza and gelato shops as well.

The best part of this brief trip for us was (besides getting engaged of course) the hike through the Cinque Terre National Park from Monterosso to Vernazza.  The scenery was seriously like being in a real life fairy tale.  Check out the pics below for proof.

Travel Tips:

Spend a few extra bucks and get a room with a view of the Mediterranean

Wear running shoes if you’re going to hike through the National Park.  There is some fairly technical terrain in spots

Stop by “Edi’s” laundromat in Riomaggiore.  Edi himself frequents this location and has many hook-ups through out the town from hotel rooms to restaurants.  He’s also happy to share his homemade limoncello with travelers 🙂

Downtown Riomaggiore

Walkable coastline

Monterosso Beach

Beautiful girl with some not so bad flowers behind her

Lacey was excited to “burn some calories.”

Vernazza

Behind Riomaggiore

Captain America pose

Men husk: Ansvaret for dit helbred ligger hos dig og din læge. Vi skriver klik ikke recepter, vi kommer med anbefalinger. Stol på vores mening eller ej – det er op til dig.

Chicago, IL

View from the top of the Willis Tower in downtown Chicago, IL.

While Lacey was busy in Wisconsin performing matron-of-honor- duties last week, I decided to check out Chicago, IL for a day.  Being that I only had 1 day to burn, I needed to come up with a plan to make sure I experienced as much as I could.  If Chicago were water, I was going to drink it through a fire hose.  If Chicago were a beer, I was about to shotgun it.

Step 1: See the entire city

I only had an hour or 2 to complete this step, so I went to the tallest building in the city for help. The Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower).

The Skydeck “Ledge” was an experience I’ll never forget. 103 stories down.

Step 2: Eat Chicago Style Pizza – Gino’s East

Being from Idaho, I’ve only had rip-off versions of Chicago Style pizza.  It was time to experience the real thing.  I left the Willis Tower and hopped a bus to the legendary Gino’s East pizza joint.  Not only was it the best pizza I’ve had in my life, it was one of the cooler restaurant atmospheres I’ve ever seen.  You didn’t need to hear any of the stories to know that there was a ton of history behind this place.  My only regret is that I didn’t take a white-out pen to write my name on the wall.  …you’ll see what I mean in the images below.  Side note, did anyone else know Chicago Style pizza puts the sauce on top of the cheese? How’s your mind? Blown? Mine too.

Men husk: Ansvaret for dit helbred ligger hos klik dig og din læge. Vi skriver ikke recepter, vi kommer med anbefalinger. Stol på vores mening eller ej – det er op til dig.

Line outside of Gino’s East in Chicago.

I would have written “Mat 8-7-15, Lacey M.I.A.”

I can usually finish half a pizza by myself. At Gino’s East, I was done after 2 slices.

Row of celebrity pictures/autographs upstairs near the bathrooms.

Step 3: Experience Wrigley Field

Even if you’re not a baseball fan, go see the Cubs play at Wrigley Field.  This is one of the most beautiful and historic parks left standing.  Take someone you care about, because you’re going to want to reminisce about this day with them down the road.  Eat a hot dog, grab a beer, interact with some inspired locals.  Once you see the Cubs play (and hopefully win) at Wrigley Field, you can head home from your vacation with a strong understanding of what this city and its people are all about.  The 7th inning stretch “take me out to the ballgame” performance from the 35k+ fans on hand was one of the coolest things I think I’ll ever witness.

I felt proud of my ex-teammate Jon Lester as I saw his image covering the stadium

6 rows behind the Cubs dugout.

Madison Bumgarner and Tim Hudson shagging batting practice.

A guy in front of me got DRILLED by a foul ball.

Conclusion:

Chicago is a beautiful city.  Public transportation is easy to use (even for me).  The next time I go, I want to hit up the Field Museum to see the T-Rex fossil.  I also hear there is a world famous cup-cake joint somewhere in the city.  The only thing I wish were different about the above mentioned trip was that I didn’t have my partner in crime with me.  Lacey would love this city.

One of my final views of the city as I waited for my train to Milwaukee.