Huntington Library

In June, Bingo's parents came out from Utah. Since his mom is a florist/gardener we thought she would enjoy the Huntington Library in Pasadena. Although there is a library on the premises, it is more accurately described as a huge botanical garden with several different gardens mimicking the flora from all of the world.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day we drove out to Palm Springs to see my mama. Like any typical weekend in May, it was hot and I was grateful to have a pool near by. We celebrated Mother's Day with dinner at Birba, which is an amazing boutique restaurant attached to the hotel that we were staying in, The Alcazar. Delicious!

Trying to stay cool at The Alcazar.

Birthday!

Costa Rica

In Costa Rica we rented an apartment in Playa Grande that came with a stray cat...

And was close to the beach...

With great waves for surfing...

Rode in a tuk tuk...

Took a ferry over to Tamarindo to get the rental car and visit the one ATM in the area...

Estuary between Tamarindo and Playa Grande

Took a volcanic mud bath while visiting Volcan Rincon de la Veija ...

 

Chilled by a mountain stream...

Hiked down to a beautiful waterfall...

Las Chorreras Waterfall

Went zip lining through a canyon...

 

Painted on a mud masque and relaxed in the mountain hot springs after zip lining all morning...

Rio Negro Hotsprings

Relaxed in hammocks...

Bingo chillin' in a hammock at Playa Grande Inn

 Saw some monkeys...

Watched beautiful sunsets...

Checked out some neighboring beaches...

Playa Flamingo

Bahia de los Piratas

Did more surfing...

 Ate a fancy dinner...

Mar y Sol in Playa Flamingo

And had a great time!

Playa Negra

Ventura

On our way to Ventura for a little get away....

Our hotel was right on the beach off of C street... which was perfect for surfing...

And watching the sunset...

We were on the 11th floor, facing the beach where we watched the waves rolling in...

 On Saturday we went thrifting at one of the many thrift stores in downtown Ventura and picked up a used Othello game. Neither of us felt like being cooped up in the hotel room anymore, so we took the game to a Starbucks and drank lattes while playing a board game.

We woke up early Sunday morning so Bingo could get a surf session in at Rincon before heading back home.

Surf City Half Marathon

I finished my first half marathon! Finished it in 2 hours and 41 minutes, so not too bad, but I definitely have room for improvement on the next...

San Francisco

For our January mini vacation, we drove up to San Francisco for a quick visit which mainly involved copious amounts of food. I'm still recovering.

We drove up in the pouring rain on Friday night and stayed with a couple of my friends in their beautiful apartment in North Beach. We ate the BEST Italian food and then stopped at  La Trappe for some Belgian beer before coming home for a night cap.

Me being classy in an Eames chair.

On Saturday we woke up at a decent hour and waited in line at Mama's for brunch. The line was a bit intimidating at first, but we were committed so  we soaked up the sun and held out. Luckily it was worth the wait. After we stuffed our faces we stomped by Swensen's for some ice cream (which I am still dreaming about) and then made our way around the city for some touristy sight seeing. Our first stop was at the Presidio for a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and watched the surfers for a while.  

Our hosts also took us up to the top of the DeYoung museum in the middle of Golden Gate Park which offers panoramic views of the city.

And then one final look out from atop of Twin Peaks.

With all that driving we were pretty thirsty so we stopped for a few beers at Toronado before heading over to the Shanghai Dumpling King for some heavy duty dumping!