California

Finally a free moment to blog to let you know how our trip went to Anaheim, California......
I had a cold so the flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago wasn't too well. And we were on a very small plane!!!

It was odd traveling without the children, but being sick made it nice. Didn't have extra stuff to think about. The kids had a blast while we were gone. Owen was very tired from all the commotion. I think finally this weekend we're getting back to normal.

Once we arrived in Anaheim we stayed at a Choice Hotel (we get a Farm Bureau discount) and ate dinner at Spoons. Spoons was a nice mexican type resturant. Very good meal! We were stuffed. I fell asleep this night at 730pm Cali time, but 1030pm PA time. This is when I realized this time change was going to be a little bit of a challenge. It doesn't seem like 3 hrs can make a difference, but it did. I was wide AWAKE at 330a.m.  We had a nice breakfast at the hotel before catching a taxi to The Marriott where our group was staying.

At the Marriott we were able to check in very early (11am) and spoke with the Concierge to find out what were our options. So we walked quite a bit this day. A few miles across a few streets and into Downtown Disney. It was nice. We went to the gates of the parks, just to see what the costs were. Then walked across another few streets to Garden Walk and ate a nice relaxing lunch at Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co. Then while playing on our smartphones we discovered there was a The Cheesecake Factory acround the corner. So we went there, got dessert to go and headed back to the hotel to rest before our next venture. All the spouses and everyone in our group had a nice short dinner Sunday evening. After changing we decided to have a quite drink in the hotel's bar (wow $$$$$).

Monday I was able to eat breakfast and lunch with Troy. While he was in meetings I sat in the lobby and watched people, played on my phone and read. In the afternoon I put my swim suit on and laid in the sun for an hour. It was nice to relax!!!!

The evening the Pennsylvania group was taken to dinner from our head person to McCormick and Schmick's. mmmmm it was tasty. I had (this was out of my comfort zone) salmon and a delicious large crab cake!!!! Also with iced tea, caseser salad and a flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce. I've since googled to see where there are other restuarnt locations....Pittsburgh area has 3, I blieve. I know where I want to go next year for my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Troy's dessert. Dark chocolate bag filled with blood orange mousse with berries.

Tuesday we ate breakfast together and while Troy was in a meeting I packed! We were ready to go very early and arrived at the airport in plenty of time. From Santa Ana we flew to Dallas Fort Worth. What a nice large airport! It was a quick free time. We got soft pretzels and by the time we made it to our next gate, the flight was boarding.

All the streets were lined with palm trees. The city was very very clean!

Once we arrived home to Pittsburgh, got in the car, paid for parking....it started to pour down rain!!! We made it in good time. Finally at 3a.m. we slipped into bed!

What a nice relaxing trip alone where I didn't really have to share my husband. But like all trips/vacations it's nice to go away but always nice to come home!!!