Twin Peaks

The Twin Peaks form the second highest point in San Francisco.

They also provide a great view of the city. Luckily we were there while the sky was clear and the view was amazing.

We could kind of point out where we live and work.

We took lots of pictures to make sure we got some good ones.

Some parts of the city and so hilly and the homes seem to mimic the hillsides.

Then there are some parts of the city that are flat and the houses seem to go on forever.

From 2000 to 2011

In 2000 my family took a trip to Santa Cruz and I remember taking a picture on the boardwalk. I dug up the picture before our trip this past weekend. Joe and I decided to recreate it in 2011 and felt like detectives trying to find the spot.

How close did we get? Don't mind my awkward stage in 2000... I was only 13!

Bonus points if you spotted Scott in the background of the first picture!

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Another weekend and another item checked off our list. We drove south along highway one all the way to Santa Cruz. Along the way, though, we stopped at the Pigeon Point light house. Joe's shirt was a little present from my trip in Provo.

When we got to the boardwalk there was some sort of a cheer competition going on. We avoided the crowds as much as possible and walked around to check out the rides. Neither of us necessarily cared to go on any of the rides (I actually hate rollercoasters and pretty much any rides found at carnivals) so we ate and observed. Instead of "people watching" we decided it was perfect "people laughing". It was just a different mix of people... very interesting people.

Then we made our way down to the beach to dip our feet in the ocean. If the weather was nice I could see how this beach would fill up. See the cheerleaders?

We kicked off our shoes and I rolled up my jeans. Unfortunately I was not paying attention to the waves and got hit... I was soaked from my knees down.

Of course we had to ask someone to take a picture of the two of us.

Before we left we got a funnel cake to make it feel like a true carnival experience. I forgot how good these taste! We ate it in record timing because the rain was starting.

Of course the weather was cold, wet and windy. There was a 20% chance of rain and rain it did. Luckily it only sprinkled while we were in Santa Cruz. It was perfect timing and started to really rain once we drove away.

Temple Square

Historic Temple Square is very close to the Salt Lake City hotel I stayed at towards the end of my trip. It's the biggest tourist attraction in the state of Utah. This was probably the one thing I was most excited to check out during my whole trip. Joe and I enjoy history and this was right up our alley. I wish Joe was there to experience it with me!

I walked around and took lots of pictures. I'll do my best to explain each of them.

First of all this is the view from the hotel's 14th floor. Don't mind the ropes, they were painting the outside of the hotel. You can see the very top of the temple between the buildings.

One initial observance (and ok, I did read a little about this beforehand so maybe I was looking for it) was all of the flowers. I was amazed by the colors so I took some pictures.

One of the buildings I saw was the official LDS office building. This place was definite evidence of how big the LDS religion has gotten. This place was huge.

The gothic style Assembly Hall. It was historically used for musical/artistic performances and religious meetings. Now it holds free concerts on weekends.

The Salt Lake Temple is iconic to the LDS religion. The pioneers that built the temple saw it as a symbold of the legacy of faith that they sought to leave behind when making their journey to Utah.

The Tabernacle is where the choir practices and performs. It is known for it's amazing acoustics. The Choir actually stayed at the Marriott in Des Moines when I worked there. 

I took a tour of the Beehive House. The two missionaries showed me around the house where the church first housed it's office and where Brigham Young lived after moving to Utah. Some of the items were original items belonging to Brigham, others were just period pieces.

Just another reason why I love Utah!

Park City, UT

I have been driving back and forth between Provo and Salt Lake City a lot this week. One night I was told to take the scenic route back to Provo and stop in Park City. This map might help get an idea where each city is located. Park City is definitely nestled between the mountains and the roads in and out are pretty windy.

Some history about Park City: it is the main location for the Sundance Film Festival. Remember earlier this week I wrote about Sundance Resort and Robert Redford? This is where the independent films are showcased. Also, there are 3 major ski resorts in the town (Park City Mountain Resort, Deer Valley Resort and Canyons Resort).

I was able to follow a co worker who lives in Park City and we had dinner together. I actually met this co worker a couple weeks ago when she made a trip to San Francisco. We ate at a nice restaurant called Easy Street. I got a good sense of the town by walking down main street where there are lots of outdoor restaurants and small shops.

I tried a local beer called Wasatch White Lable Belgian Style White Ale. It was very similar to Blue Moon and with the orange slice, looked a lot like it too.

Afterwards I took a quick drive around and noticed the ski lifts going straight through town.

I fell in love with Park City after just spending an evening there. I really want to visit again during ski season and show Joe the town. Sometime soon we're going to need to take a vacation to Utah!

Famous Pieshakes!

If you are ever in Provo, you MUST visit a little hole in the wall called Sammy's. I can't speak for the food (burgers, fries, etc.), but the shakes... I mean pieshakes, are awesome!

I ordered a pumpkin pie shake and they literally cut a piece of pumpkin pie, added ice cream and blended. It was great!

It even looks like a hole in the wall!

Sundance, UT

I have been in Utah this week for work. This is my first time in Utah and it's gorgeous. I've spent the first part of the week in Provo which is about 50 minutes south of Salt Lake City. It's known for Brigham Young University which is a pretty good sized school. I hope to get better pictures or at least visit the campus sometime on my trip. This was taken out my hotel window. The Y in the mountain represents BYU.

Since I had rented a car when I got to Salt Lake City, I decided to make use of it and drove to Sundance for dinner. Some people had suggested this to me since it is only about 15 miles away from the hotel and driving through the canyon is very scenic.

Sundance is a four season resort in the mountains that offers skiing, mountain biking, theater and fine dining. It is owned by Robert Redford who also started the Sundance Institute, which includes the Sundance Film Festival. I walked around the grounds after dinner and tried to imagine the area during ski season and all the snow. Maybe someday Joe and I will come and ski here.

I ate at the Foundry Grill and had some amazing salmon. I don't know why, but I always gravitate towards fish on the menu even when I'm nowhere near water. I suppose salmon isn't a salt water fish, but still. Bottom line, it was good.

All around the resort there was rushing water and beautiful mountains with leave starting to change color. Like I said earlier, Utah is gorgerous. I wish these pictures did the view justice.

Maybe I take my comment back about skiing up here... after seeing these signs I will have to reconsider this. Just kidding!

Denver, CO

First of all, thanks to Joe for helping me out and writing yesterday's post!

Since I have been on a work trip for over a week, Joe decided to join me in Denver over the weekend. It was great because I had been in the city for a while and I could show him around as if I actually lived there.

As you read yesterday, we watched the Iowa football game and the outcome put us in a good mood for the rest of the day. After the game was over we took the light rail from the Tech Center area to downtown. It's a great way to get around town when you don't have a car. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great and we could see the dark clouds moving in while we waited for the train.

The rain held off long enough for us to eat at an Irish Pub in the LoDo (Lower Downtown) area. This part of town has some great roof top bars and restaurants. The Colorado vs. Colorado State game was just getting over (played at Invesco... I mean Sports Authority Field) and the streets were filled with Buffalo and Ram fans. It was great, though, to run into multiple Iowa Hawkeye fans!

We walked down to the baseball stadium (the Rockies were playing the Giants). Because the weather was looking even worse we never bought tickets, but we considered it.

Next I wanted to see the state capitol and the famously marked step that is one mile above sea level.

Then the clouds looked like they were finally going to open up and pour so we hustled to the free shuttle bus that took us back to the light rail and we were back in the Tech Center without getting rained on (well, at least not poured on). You can't really tell in this picture, but this is the view from the capitol steps with the clouds rolling in!

Now I've moved on to my next stop in Utah. Hopefully I'll have more (and better) pictures for you to see this week!