From Swimsuits to Snow,... Here We Come Lake Tahoe!

Well, the last leg of our California trip was to Lake Tahoe. There was seriously 10 feet of snow on the side of the road. Like we were driving through a tunnel! It was in the 50-60's so it wasn't too cold but I guess they just get so much snow that it probably doesn't melt until June! We stayed in South Lake Tahoe in one of the casino hotels because they had an amazing deal and one beautiful view!! I took a picture of the view from our bedroom from the 8th floor of the hotel! It was magnificent!
We were right next to Heavenly Ski Resort so on our walks we took during the day down into the ski village, everyone was in their matching cute ski outfits and mostly European too! AJ doesn't know how to ski and I figured Lake Tahoe, one of the most popular places in the world to ski,... was probably not the best place to teach him. Instead, we looked into hiking with snow shoes on! We wanted to do snow tubing like we did in Massanutten last year but they only had one little wimpy hill with two tracks to snow tube... even my 7 year old nephew would have been disappointed. So we rented snow shoes and got some poles to go with it and headed for the trail!
It was so beautiful and the sun was shining and with white snow and the dark evergreen trees on the mountain side... well, you just felt God's presence there... no question. In all of His majesty, you could feel that God moved those mountains just for us to be on that day! I have to admit I was so embarrassed when all the skiers and snow boarders rushed past us to get on the ski lift which of course we had to walk past to get to our trail. We were definitely the ONLY people who got snow shoes at a ski resort! Sigh... but it was a great hike and it only took about two hours which was perfect because the sun went in just as we were getting off the trail. It definitely was windy in the mountains, notice we have our new winter coats on (we bought those in Monterey at the Fishman's Warf)!

Our casino hotel was actually really nice and had a great location we could walk all around if we wanted to! It had 3 restaurants in the hotel that were all very good and reasonably priced. We did go on the casino floor and watch all the crazy people gamble away lifesavings, mortgages, cars, and then there was us... who tried out the penny slots to say we tried it! We lost a total of $9 the whole two days! It was great fun! My impression of gambling is,... it only depends how long you're playing is dependant of how much money you waste... either way, "the house always wins." Whether you play 1 hour or 8 hours... in the end, you lost your money. Some penny slots I was doing really well and got up to $1.40 (I only put in $1) and I kept going thinking I could win more... and like my rule... it only took me a little longer to loose it all. It's amazing what greed and addiction takes over when even playing $1 of your money on a completely randomized game. No wonder God said He had better things in life for us to enjoy! God guarantees our happiness and success, rather then a machine who teases you with false hope and short lived, empty joy.
Either way, we got in our smiles and laughs and took in one of the most beautiful places on earth! The last night we were there we decided to enjoy the amazing sushi buffet (AJ's very into the non-raw sushi lately). They had all kinds of food served and we sampled everything! The last story of our trip I will TRY and be brief about. AJ and I got standby airplane tickets for a steal! It was great getting out there and we had no trouble getting on a flight but coming home...

We thought flying on a Thursday would be best and then AJ had a feeling we should leave the hotel the night before so we were the first people in line at the airport when it opened at 5:30am. So we checked out early (saved a night of hotel expense) and hit a snow storm while leaving the Lake... it was actually kind of scary on a white out! It's a good thing we left when we did instead of trying to leave at 3am and being stuck in a blizzard! We got to the Reno/Tahoe airport at 11:50pm and all the airlines had closed. So we couldn't get past the gates so we bundled up on the cement floor next to the baggage claim and tried to sleep until 4:30am. We couldn't really sleep, when I woke up at 3:30am, AJ was sitting straight up and all ready to tell me how we did on our budget for the trip (we decided not to worry about spending on vacation but we saved receipts to see in the end for future reference). So he was very happy with our expenditure for the trip and my original estimate was right on! Which is rare... We sat by the airline until 6am (2.5 hours) when they finally opened and let us past the gates.

To make a very long story short... we flew to Vegas,... got taken off the plane... thankfully, got put back on to fly to Chicago... then from 11am on Thursday to 6:30am on Friday we ran around all of Chicago trying to get on every flight (at least 2 an hour) to get to the east coast! We just wanted to get to even Tennessee! We couldn't get on anything!!! I was crying, AJ looked into rental cars to drive home. We were so scared we would miss Easter (that Sunday!). So tired from no sleep the night before and aching from running around to gates and standing in lines and yelling at flight attendants... we curled up in two chairs until someone told us about some cots that the airport puts out by the food court area. So we dragged ourselves over there and got a coat which had a pillow and a blanket and we slept like we were in a homeless hostel! But it felt so good to lay flat and the woman on the loud speaker announcing every flight number and warning every 15 minutes finally put us to sleep.
The worst part about this was my birthday was on Friday and we had plans at home and we couldn't get there! 4:30am rolls around and AJ wakes me up and kisses me and says, "Happy Birthday my beautiful wife. Now, you take gates C3 and C7 and I'll take B4 and B12, the first one out is at 6:15am so let's go now." I was so tired and sad from running to 30 different flights the day before not being able to get on any of them! We prayed together so long before we fell asleep and God obviously had a plan for us! We couldn't get on the flight to Baltimore but we got one to Philadelphia!!! I called AJ on the phone and was almost crying when I heard the flight women call "Bachmann, 2" to hand me two printed tickets! We actually were holding tickets!!! We hugged and cried and ran onto the plane and didn't even care that we didn't sit together and we slept the whole flight from Chicago to Philly.

I had called my Dad, who had our car, right before we left Chicago to tell him that we finally got on a flight and we'll figure out how to get home to Baltimore when we get there. Sure enough, when we got off the plane in Philly and I checked my voicemail... my Dad had hopped in his car to come pick us up in Philly and was only 30 minutes away when we landed! I couldn't believe it! God answered our prayers before we even said them! I just had to cry out of pure joy! If any of you have a father... the sacrifices they make for you,... even when you think you've grown up and don't need them... never forget, you will always need your Daddy! Thank you Dad, we love you so much!!!
The reason we couldn't buy real tickets and we couldn't rent a car and couldn't get on stand by out of Chicago was because not only was it Easter weekend, it was spring break for colleges! People who actually bought real tickets (not stand by) were being turned away! So we're a little scared to get on a plane again in fear that we won't get home but it was a terrible ending to one amazing trip to see all of California!!!

Wine County, Wooohooo!

So we drove up the coastal highway that took us like an hour and a half to go 20 miles. AJ and I were so sick by the time we were got to our bed and breakfast on point Reyes state park which is on the west coast in Marin county just about San Francisco. It was beautiful! We stayed on a farm and it was on the hillside and we had a big room with a beautiful view which had a fire place and a king size bed and a very large bathroom! It had a beautiful country style living room in the main area of the big house and we were on the second floor. There was a kitchen where the inn keeper made breakfast and a large dining table where we ate it as well! The gardens in the back were beautiful and you could see the pond and the cows from the back yard gardens too! There was a hot tub enclosed on 3 sides and the 4th side was open to small breezes and kept the cold winds out even in the winter. The hot tub was perfect and AJ and I took a bottle of wine we had bought in San Diego and jumped right in! Apparently, some of the other guests didn't know there was a hot tub and that is one of the main things I picked about this bed and breakfast!
After an amazing dinner at one of the local restaurants which actually served pop-overs as their bread (everyone in the Wise family knows what they are)! I ate AJ's too they were so good and he was mad they were empty inside! HA! We went back and fell asleep in our big bed to the warmth of the crackling fire and to the sound of frogs at the pond and cows mooing in the field! It was SO peaceful! AJ loved it!

The next morning we got dressed and breakfast was served promptly at 8:30am in the dining room. AJ was kind of nervous of eating breakfast with two other couples but it was really nice having company and talking about everyone’s travels and how they ended up there! The food the inn keeper made was really extravagant and we had fresh fruit, apple strudel, home-made, an omelet and Danishes. Of course milk and OJ too!

After saying good-bye and packing up, we got back on the road again and headed to Sonoma County where we went to this perfect Italian style Vineyard. It was so beautiful outside! We had the perfect day! Almost no breeze and in the 70's! We got a private tour and we sampled all their dips and marinades with bread that they had out to try in their market place. We also got to learn about how to grow, make and taste wine! We loved it but it was a private vineyard and their wine wasn't publicly distributed and you can't ship wine to MD so we bought a bottle to go with our lunch we had and then went on our way. We got to eat lunch from the top of the hill over looking their 90 acres of wet lands and even more of vineyards in little bistro furniture! It was so much fun!

Sorry about the picture quality but it was the only one we got of us together in Sonoma. After all that, we got back in the car and drove about 2.5 hours east to Lake Tahoe… where there was 10 feet of snow!

Every Step You Take,....San Francisco!

Does anyone remember Full House with the Olsen twins and Uncle Jessie? Well, AJ and I grew up to watching that fun loving family show and as soon as we got on the ferry in San Francisco to go under the Golden Gate Bridge, AJ started singing that theme song,... loudly! It was so funny because he only sang one line (he's not great at hearing lyrics to any song, actually). "Every where you go, every where you look, there's a heart where somebody needs you..." I'm not even sure if those are the right words but that's what he sang, over and over, and over... again!

The thing we were looking forward to most was going on Alcatraz island (AJ's favorite movie is THE ROCK with Sean Connery on the island Alcatraz). But the tickets were completely sold out until 4 days away! So we took the second best tour of the bay on a boat cruise that went under the golden gate bridge and around Alcatraz island. It was really neat! The weather was AMAZING and perfect! AJ was in shorts and it was breezy on the water but still beautiful!

Yes, again, we saw sea lions basking in the sun! AJ took a ton of pictures of them too. We didn't ride any cable cars but we saw them and even took our picture with them! The roads are steep and it's so strange to see houses built on an angled slope! We didn't stay in the city but it was perfect to spend the day there and move on through! After our day there, we drove up to our bed and breakfast in Marin county, right on the west coast line about 20 miles north of San Francisco and next to Sonoma County. We stayed right in Point Reyes National Seashore Park and we took coastal highway to get there... only 20 miles took like 1.5 hours because of all the switch backs (twisty roads). But that's for the next post!

Up the Pacific Coast!

So up we went through the entire state of California (6 hours)! We saw so many mountains and oil fields and orchards and of course vineyards! We spent a whole saturday driving through the state. By the way, have I mentioned how awesome our GPS is?!



We finally made it to Monterey, CA where we had plans to stay for two nights. We how a nice hotel on the hill and had dinner at Fisherman's Warf that night! We went out on the Pier at sunset and it was so beautiful and COLD! We both bought new 5-1 (ask AJ all the 5 different styles you can make with them) jackets! They were a life saver in Cannary Row and Lake Tahoe! We walked out on the peir and every resturant had a man out front serving little samples of the resturants soup! It was so cold, AJ kept going to each one for a sample and found out he loves clam chowder! Probably because it was nice a hot on a cold night. Actually, once we got to the end of the peir we picked that resturant and AJ ordered a HUGE bowl of clam chowder for an appitizer and he didn't finish it because of the rubbery things in it! HA! I told him those were clams and he made me finish it. He's so wonderful! He, he!We also went bike riding on the bike path that goes along the Big Sur! It's called the 17-mile drive and it goes around Pebble Beach as well (a famous golf course). We saw Sea lions again, and saw amazing coast line! When we actually drove down the Big Sur, we got out every 100 feet to take a picture! Everything was so beautiful and looked completely amazing! Bright blue water, the surf crashing against the rocky coastline, it was just like the movies!!

It was so windy as you can tell in some of these pictures, but still amazing! We also saw the little town of Carmel. Tons of little stores and shops, mostly designer. In other words, we didn't go shopping at all, knowing me/us. We even went down to the steep beach of Carmel on the Sea and saw the pacific ocean at sunset! Just blue water as far as the eye can see!

The pictures of AJ and I close up and taken at an angle are for my brother who enjoys those types of candid shots the most! ;o)

The next leg of the trip was to San Francisco! It is about a 1.5 hour trip north from Monterey. That next post is on it's way! Stay tuned!! (Sorry, no spell check on this post either, Melissa, I can't break my trend now!)

California Love...

So we have 600+ pictures from our 8 day vacation to Cali! It was amazing! For those of you who don't know, AJ and my birthday's are 3 days apart in March and it always falls on spring break so we usually go away for it every year to celebrate! Here is a brief, very brief itinerary of our trip: First we arrive in Las Vegas airport for a transfer out to San Diego, here I am, pretending to enjoy slots!

We arrive in sunny San Diego with an amzing view from our bed & breakfast! Right on the top of Point Loma! Everything was blue and green and sunny! We even enjoyed the very classy night life of the Gaslamp district downtown!

Then we just had to visit La Jolla and saw tons of see lions! Those rock looking things on the beach behinds us in that one picture are real sea lions only 30 feet from us! Also, we just had to go to the San Diego Zoo. AJ kept laughing at me because I was like pushing kids out of the way to get my picture taken with all the animal monuments in the park! Look, in one, I'm hiding in bamboo!

Second leg of the trip we just had to go to where all the famous people live! We didn't have ANY interest (despite my little sister Melissa's encouragement to go to Hollywood row..) we drove through LA but right before, we went to Laguna Beach! Yes, that's the beach where they had that popular teeny-popper show! It was cold and the waves were big but it was beautiful and a ritzy, but small town! I even took a picture of the road sign to say we've been there!

Driving through LA, I looked everywhere for the big "Hollywood" sign on the hill like you always see in movies... I couldn't find it anywhere! I was kind of mad but we got over it because we still had "Karen" our GPS (that's the name of the austrailian women voice that prompts us to our next destination). Here we are in the car because it really was a road trip within the vacation!

Ok, enough for now. Can you believe it that was only 2 days?!?! Day 3 we drove up the coast through all the mountains (not the 12 hour switch-back road of coastal highway). It was great and beautiful! We took pictures of everything,... there were cows all over the mountain and it looked like pepper sprinkled everywhere! It's amazing to see such beauty in God's creation! How could anyone ever not believe there is some master creator of this planet!?

I'll post more later!

Happy February Birthdays!

We had a huge party for my Dad on Saturday the 16th! Mom rented him a saxophone to play and pop pop even played the accordion to go with him! Dad hasn't played since his high school band back in the 60's! AJ and I got him the coolest MP3 player too for his birthday! I actually think I'm going to ask him for the same one for my birthday!

Dad turned 65 on February 13th, 2008. A Valentine's Boy!

Then the day before, February 12th, 2008, our little neice, Elle Caroline, turned 3!! (She's the one on the right)

AJ and I sent her a package since we couldn't celebrate with her in person! No matter how old she gets, she still looks cute holding her "woofie(s)"!

Happy Birthday to anyone else out there that I missed!

Also, I hope everyone had a Valentine's Day full of God's love for us and sharing with each other!

Lots of things TO DO!

Now that our big yearly Super Bowl party is over, (lots of food leftovers... next time I won't make so much, or I'll convince AJ not to get the wings this time), Valentine's Day has passed (a traditional crab cake meal in, compliments of G&M's famous lump crab cakes with french fries, of course), and we had a semi-formal dinner to attend for all the MBA students at Smith Business School for UMD. (Pictures to come)

Now back into the swing of things, AJ is back for his second semester at Maryland getting his MBA. Which means some late nights again for classes. He also took a new rotation at work to try out the business sector at Northrop to see if his MBA could be put to good use with an Engineering background. It's too early to tell if he likes the work but they certainly are social on the business side. He gets happy hours, bowling trips, lunch meetings all the time over there! Not the engineers.... so I do miss him now that he's in a different building. No more morning walks down to the caferteria together.

I started BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) after much coersing by my mother. The homework is pretty instense but it's a great non-biased look at nothing but the bible, purely God's word. It's been really nice to get facts and look in depth to each verse instead of getting opinions or just talking to other women about what they "think" about everything. It's wonderful and structured (perfect for me!) and no one talks about their denomination either. It's actually against the rules. We're studying Matthew right now and we're up to Jesus's transfiguration. It's really been great to get me into God's word of truth and not reading a lot of Godly books to dance around the real truth. I frequently catch myself singing "The B-I-B-L-E, yes, that's the book for me...!"

I also took some initiative and started a women's christian book club at church all by myself! I had quite a few turn outs too for our first monthly meeting. I actually put a twist on this book club, it's recipe exchange as well! Every month at our meetings we try out a different recipe and someone brings ni the dish and hands out recipe cards. All the women like it and I get some new ideas to try at home too! We're starting off with "When Heaven Weeps," by Ted Dekker. A Love story thriller! So please pray for me that I can lead these women and encourage them and have this be an outreach into the community to bring other women readers to faith.

It's now been the 4th month without my puppy... I desperately want another one, but God has other plans for me. I couldn't be doing the bible study or the book club if I had a lovable bundle of fur to great me when I get home at lunch and then again after work. I think we've decided we'll get another one when I get pregnant (2 years). It still really hurts to see pictures, but I miss the walks and the snuggle time in the evenings. We're enjoying our fire pit instead for now as an outside substitue place to talk about things on the weekends.

I hope all is well out there! I'll up date you more on the status of our week birthday trip in March to California coast! I'm too excited for words right now!