Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Catching up!
Wow! It's been awhile, and A LOT has happened. I'll do my best to give updates without going on for too long...
June was a very busy month. I spent the first weekend down in Chatanooga, TN where Nat's best friend got married. It was really interesting to see so much of what was going on with their wedding in the days leading up to it...especially since Nat and I were going through the same thing in just two weeks! Needless to say, the wedding went off without a hitch and they are now the happy Fiddlers. :)
The next weekend was a wedding weekend too. This time one of Nat's fraternity brothers in Indianapolis. The only thing to note about this wedding was that the bride had the same dress as the wedding we went to the previous week. It was definitely a strange coincidence.
The following week was our wedding! I am happy to say that everything pretty much went as planned. I was very happy to see the people who were able to make it, but most importantly I am still very happy to finally be married. Our wedding pictures are online, and can be viewed here. The day was perfect, and even the weather held out...It had rained the entire week before and even early that morning, but we managed to have an outside ceremony with only soggy ground.
Then it was off on the honeymoon. We went to San Francisco, Napa Valley and Lake Tahoe. Excellent trip, and I highly recommend it. A brief synopsis follows.
Sunday: Our flight left Lexington EARLY on Sunday morning. Nat and I checked out of our hotel sometime around 5am. I kind of felt like a hobbit during the flight because we managed to eat breakfast 3 times! We had a bagel when we first got up, then we grabbed something during our layover in Houston, then on the way to San Fran they served breakfast on the plane. I ate my fruit from that part, but wasn't really hungry...so mostly I just drank A LOT of airplane coffee. YUCK! We made it into San Francisco around 12 noon (local time) and after checking into our hotel (the W in downtown San Francisco...very nice!) spent the majority of the day seeing some sights. We went to China Town, drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, drove through Saulsalito, and just kind of explored the downtown area.
Monday: We started the day off by visiting the Museum of Modern Art. It was very nice, but I am glad that Nat and I have the same idea about Museums...looking is great, but we don't have to read EVERY sign that we come across. Then we headed over to catch a cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf. After having lunch at a little restaraunt with a great view of the Wharf we went exploring. We actually ended up walking almost back to where we started trying to tour a little wine bar, but it was closed. We did some more touristy stuff and then went on a night cruise of Alcatraz. It was really neat, but really really cold! We got back to the shore just in time to catch a cable car back to our hotel. Unfortunately, most restaraunts close kind of early in San Fran, so we were a little stuck for dinner that night. We ended up finding a sports bar that was still open and had a quick bowl of chili before calling it a night.
Tuesday: We left San Fran Tuesday morning to head to Napa. It took just about 2 hours to get there. We got checked into our hotel...an old historic building in downtown Napa (once again extremely nice) and headed off to the wineries. We took a tour of Opus One, did a little tasting and bought a couple of bottles of wine. We found out we had a little bit of time to kill before our next tour, so we hit up Francis Ford Copola's winery for an unscheduled visit. There, we ended up joining a wine club...oops! And we bought a few things for the road too. :) Next we headed over to Robert Mondavi where we took a tour and then did what is called an Essence Tasting. Basically they take you through about 7 different wines and show you how to pick out the different scents and flavors in the wine. It was a lot of fun...I highly recommend it. That night we had dinner in a really good steak restaraunt. Mmmmm.
Wednesday: We took a tour with a tour group called the Bounty Hunter. It was me, Nat and one other couple. Fortunately, they were also young (late 20s/early 30s) so it was a lot of fun. We went to three different wineries through the day and did tastings...including barrel tastings which are really neat. During the course of the day we bought a TON of wine...most of which we are still waiting to receive. We were driven around by Oliver in an old Swiss Army six wheeler truck. It was really really fun. We also drank A LOT that day...mostly Cabernet. The owner of one of the wineries called us all Cab whores. It was fun. We made it back to our hotel (walking distance from the tour ending point) around 6:30 that night. Nat passed out immediately...I was pretty sure I was going to be sick and ended up passing out on the bathroom floor. I woke up around 8:30 and went to bed. Nat woke up around 11, took a shower and then came back to bed. Needless to say, the next morning was a little rough...the tour was definitely fun and worth it though. :)
Thursday-Saturday: We packed up and headed to South Lake Tahoe for a relaxing three days. We spent some time on the beach, did a little exploring, spent some time in the casinos (we came out ahead!) and basically just had fun. On Friday we rented a jet ski and spent some time exploring the lake a little bit. The water was gorgeous and crystal clear blue, but it definitely got cold out on the lake. The air temp was about 75, but the water was about 50. Brr!!! On Saturday we went parasailing. It was wonderful! I recommend it to anyone...it's so relaxing and peaceful. I'm ready to go back...I could definitely handle a summer house on the lake...it's a wonderful place! On Saturday we started the three-four hour drive back to San Fran.
Sunday: The honeymoon was over. :( We spent most of the day in the airport/on a plane heading back to Lexington. We had a great time and hopefully we'll have pictures up soon.
Since then I've been working on getting settled in here. I've spent a pretty significant amount of time working on getting my name changed. I've finally got a new social security card and a new license! Yay!!! I'm still looking for a job, but hopefully something will come of that in the near future. Keep in touch and Nat and I would love company!
~NMB
June was a very busy month. I spent the first weekend down in Chatanooga, TN where Nat's best friend got married. It was really interesting to see so much of what was going on with their wedding in the days leading up to it...especially since Nat and I were going through the same thing in just two weeks! Needless to say, the wedding went off without a hitch and they are now the happy Fiddlers. :)
The next weekend was a wedding weekend too. This time one of Nat's fraternity brothers in Indianapolis. The only thing to note about this wedding was that the bride had the same dress as the wedding we went to the previous week. It was definitely a strange coincidence.
The following week was our wedding! I am happy to say that everything pretty much went as planned. I was very happy to see the people who were able to make it, but most importantly I am still very happy to finally be married. Our wedding pictures are online, and can be viewed here. The day was perfect, and even the weather held out...It had rained the entire week before and even early that morning, but we managed to have an outside ceremony with only soggy ground.
Then it was off on the honeymoon. We went to San Francisco, Napa Valley and Lake Tahoe. Excellent trip, and I highly recommend it. A brief synopsis follows.
Sunday: Our flight left Lexington EARLY on Sunday morning. Nat and I checked out of our hotel sometime around 5am. I kind of felt like a hobbit during the flight because we managed to eat breakfast 3 times! We had a bagel when we first got up, then we grabbed something during our layover in Houston, then on the way to San Fran they served breakfast on the plane. I ate my fruit from that part, but wasn't really hungry...so mostly I just drank A LOT of airplane coffee. YUCK! We made it into San Francisco around 12 noon (local time) and after checking into our hotel (the W in downtown San Francisco...very nice!) spent the majority of the day seeing some sights. We went to China Town, drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, drove through Saulsalito, and just kind of explored the downtown area.
Monday: We started the day off by visiting the Museum of Modern Art. It was very nice, but I am glad that Nat and I have the same idea about Museums...looking is great, but we don't have to read EVERY sign that we come across. Then we headed over to catch a cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf. After having lunch at a little restaraunt with a great view of the Wharf we went exploring. We actually ended up walking almost back to where we started trying to tour a little wine bar, but it was closed. We did some more touristy stuff and then went on a night cruise of Alcatraz. It was really neat, but really really cold! We got back to the shore just in time to catch a cable car back to our hotel. Unfortunately, most restaraunts close kind of early in San Fran, so we were a little stuck for dinner that night. We ended up finding a sports bar that was still open and had a quick bowl of chili before calling it a night.
Tuesday: We left San Fran Tuesday morning to head to Napa. It took just about 2 hours to get there. We got checked into our hotel...an old historic building in downtown Napa (once again extremely nice) and headed off to the wineries. We took a tour of Opus One, did a little tasting and bought a couple of bottles of wine. We found out we had a little bit of time to kill before our next tour, so we hit up Francis Ford Copola's winery for an unscheduled visit. There, we ended up joining a wine club...oops! And we bought a few things for the road too. :) Next we headed over to Robert Mondavi where we took a tour and then did what is called an Essence Tasting. Basically they take you through about 7 different wines and show you how to pick out the different scents and flavors in the wine. It was a lot of fun...I highly recommend it. That night we had dinner in a really good steak restaraunt. Mmmmm.
Wednesday: We took a tour with a tour group called the Bounty Hunter. It was me, Nat and one other couple. Fortunately, they were also young (late 20s/early 30s) so it was a lot of fun. We went to three different wineries through the day and did tastings...including barrel tastings which are really neat. During the course of the day we bought a TON of wine...most of which we are still waiting to receive. We were driven around by Oliver in an old Swiss Army six wheeler truck. It was really really fun. We also drank A LOT that day...mostly Cabernet. The owner of one of the wineries called us all Cab whores. It was fun. We made it back to our hotel (walking distance from the tour ending point) around 6:30 that night. Nat passed out immediately...I was pretty sure I was going to be sick and ended up passing out on the bathroom floor. I woke up around 8:30 and went to bed. Nat woke up around 11, took a shower and then came back to bed. Needless to say, the next morning was a little rough...the tour was definitely fun and worth it though. :)
Thursday-Saturday: We packed up and headed to South Lake Tahoe for a relaxing three days. We spent some time on the beach, did a little exploring, spent some time in the casinos (we came out ahead!) and basically just had fun. On Friday we rented a jet ski and spent some time exploring the lake a little bit. The water was gorgeous and crystal clear blue, but it definitely got cold out on the lake. The air temp was about 75, but the water was about 50. Brr!!! On Saturday we went parasailing. It was wonderful! I recommend it to anyone...it's so relaxing and peaceful. I'm ready to go back...I could definitely handle a summer house on the lake...it's a wonderful place! On Saturday we started the three-four hour drive back to San Fran.
Sunday: The honeymoon was over. :( We spent most of the day in the airport/on a plane heading back to Lexington. We had a great time and hopefully we'll have pictures up soon.
Since then I've been working on getting settled in here. I've spent a pretty significant amount of time working on getting my name changed. I've finally got a new social security card and a new license! Yay!!! I'm still looking for a job, but hopefully something will come of that in the near future. Keep in touch and Nat and I would love company!
~NMB
