MidMal Reviews: Aruba

And we're back from Aruba. Eight days of this. (Seriously, every picture I took was from a beach chair).
Even the one I posted on the Facebook to wish everyone a happy halloween.

My thoughts? The weather is perfect. Its nearly always around 80 degrees with a constant breeze. And I'm not at all surprised that Eagle Beach (where our hotel was) consistently makes the list of top 10 beaches. White sand like sugar, clear turquoise water that's refreshing but not too cold, and seemingly never crowded. The occasional beefy boy in board shorts doesn't hurt either.

We liked the island. We didn't really do much with our days other than enjoy the beach, and that was fine (and super relaxing). Take sunscreen, the rays are strong. In the evenings we headed down to the high rise resort area. The local bus is easy and cheap, and if you don't want to do that cabs are everywhere. The casinos at the resorts are small but the blackjack tables were generally good to us. And while we're a bit old for it, there are lots of clubs for all the drinking and dancing you can stand.

We did take an excursion to an all-inclusive recreational island one day but it was pretty bad, so I won't even bother to tell you about it. The only other issue we had was the food. Expensive across the board and generally not very good. We had a kitchenette in our room and every intention of stopping at the grocery store for breakfast and lunch supplies, but it was easier to stay in our loungers and let Lucy bring us burgers and beers from the beach bar. We'll do it differently next time.

Very much geared toward Americans, English is spoken everywhere and your dollars are just fine, although part of your change may include Aruban coins. All in all a very easy trip to take, and I'd totally go back.

We're out

The next couple of days will be super busy, and then we're gone for a bit. When we get back I'm hoping to get on some furniture projects so posting should pick up. See you soon.

California Dreaming

Ok, here are some vacation pics! They're all out of order because I'm lazy and Blogger tends to throw things up in reverse order. (Is it just me or does it do that to everyone?) Here we go.


Vineyards in the Valley, we hit about 8 over the three days so I don't exactly remember which this one was.
Same here, unidentified grapevines.

Union Square in San Francisco, at the end of the block from our hotel. True story: we'd gone back to the room for a nap Tuesday after the de Young museum. We could year noise and a loudspeaker from all the way up on the 8th floor. Thinking it could be something fun we ran down to check it out. It was a worker's rights protest group picketing our hotel. They had vuvuzelas.

Robert Sinskey Vineyards, the best tasting room, without a doubt. The reservation only "Farm to Table" tour starts with some company history, continues through the kitchen garden, hits the actual winemaking area (with a taste of just-pressed-moments-ago juice), through the caves, and finally to a pergola-covered table on the terrace. Six wines paired with delicious things cooked in the vineyard kitchen all enjoyed with a view of the vines. Seriously, call ahead and make the reservation, this one was fun.

It wouldn't be a trip to San Francisco without a visit to the gay high holy ground that is the Castro. You get off the Muni train and exit Harvey Milk station at Castro and Market, and come up right smack in front of the Diesel store. Somebody knows their target market.

And we rode a cable car. I never realized the cable was underground, I always thought it was the electrical wires overhead. Do not tease, I'm a Kansas boy, we have horrible public transportation here. Different mode, now I know.

Alcatraz island. I thought it would be kind of touristy but the 45 minute audio walking tour was quite interesting. The whole thing is smaller than you'd think. The main cell house is the sort of big, blocky industrial architecture you'd expect. This shot shows the ruin of the warden's house, which surprisingly was spanish colonial revival. I never expected it, but then again it's California so it's not at all out of character.

View of San Francisco from the water.

And the California Academy of Science (which looked really interesting), taken from in front of the de Young Museum. Devoting more time to the de Young next trip as the collection is amazing. We'll also be sure to hit the Legion of Honor as well.

So there you go, a few highlights. Brett will be sorting and making galleries this coming weekend I'm sure, so if I see that I've forgotten any stand-outs I'll be sure to post.

It was a really fun trip, but its good to be home and sleep in my bed (with Alex Schnauzer!)

Home from California

And we're back. The weather in California, both San Francisco and the Napa Valley, was beautiful. More wine and food than I thought was possible, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I have tons of pictures on the camera and will try to post a few soon.

Town & Country

We've had a little trip planned for a while now. Its next month, but the excitement just kicked in over the last few days. We start with a couple of days in the gay holy ground that is San Francisco, just Brett and I. We're staying at the Hotel Frank which looks very cool. If you've stayed there let me know what you thought.

And then Chris and Rachel and Cece join us for a few more in Napa.

This photo is from the Calistoga Ranch website. We're not staying here this time because we're saving it for our honeymoon when Prop 8 is finally overturned. Instead, and because its the middle of harvest and hotel rooms are nonexistant, we've rented a house at one of the vineyards. Theres a pool and views of the vines, so it should be a lot of fun and very relaxing. And very boozy. The end of the month can't get here soon enough.