Griffith Park Hiking, Dec 12, 2010

So I'm (pathetically) obsessed with my little apartment.  Fun corner of Silverlake, right on the Echo Park border, with two covered parking spaces - two, people...TWO!  

But the view off the deck, aptly dubbed by my Dad 'the million dollar view', is by far the best part.  You can see past Hollywood and Beverly Hills all the way to the coast.  We spent quite a bit of time on the deck this mid December, during a little heat wave of back to back 80 degree days. Not too terrible for winter, I'd say.

We can see the park, the Hollywood sign and the observatory from our place too so after staring at it all day on a super clear day, we decided to do a little late afternoon Griffith Park hike.  What we ended up getting was one of the clearest days I've ever hiked with views across the water to islands far past Catalina that I didn't even know where out there.  Totally crazy. 

                                                                          

We also hiked past a commercial shoot.  I'm not sure what for and I don't think I've seen it on TV yet but I kept wondering.... They had a couple of kids dressed in 50's gear in an old Chevy looking out at the sunset.  The director couldn't have picked a more perfect day to film.

I may get homesick for the East Coast around the holidays, and Lord knows I always miss the snow but when the sun finally set and the city lit up I didn't feel quite sooo bad :)

(Sunset off the deck, back at home)

Thanksgiving Wine Country, 2010

It was a big fun messy Thanksgiving with all the local California members of the family coming up to the Hamaoui's for dinner. 

Ryan and I kicked the Thanksgiving / Christmas season off the night prior with some Almond champagne and chill time at home on the new couch, and then I started on the cheddar grits.  Mmmm buttery, cheesy, egg-baked cheddar grits.  Thanksgiving was certainly not lacking in calories...or butter for that matter.  Just ask my mashed potatoes.

 

The following day Ryan and toured through Santa Inez Wine country.  As always the fall colors were strikingly vivid so the drive was incredible, even along the freeway before we got there. 

We also visited the original Hitching Post, of Sideways fame, and it's no joke there. THE BEST steak I've ever had, hands down (sorry Dad!).  I don't know what they do that makes them so delicious but I hope they never stop. 

I've only ever been to wine country in the fall so maybe of of these days I'll have to hit it up in peak season and see what those hills look like covered in green.

And even when it's time to go it's not so bad because the coastal drive is so spectacular.  In this case we were rushing back to see what we didn't know was going to be a terrible last minute USC loss to Notre Dame in the POURING rain but I prefer to think of the drive and not sitting in a puddle, dejected with a garbage bag over my head.  Good times!



'Sprinkle' in Del Mar, Oct 22-24, 2010: Updated!

Just a quick one here since this particular weekend was mostly couch-ridden with movies and snacks (hooray!).  Katie's 2nd little baby girl is due on Christmas Day so we kept up with a new Kloecker sister family tradition: The Sprinkle.  Since a baby shower is typically only ever held for your first born, we've started having sprinkles for all the kids thereafter.  Roughly meaning, the ladies get to leave the kids at home and go away for a weekend of relaxing.  This year for Katie, we all piled on the train and headed down to Tricia's home in Del Mar for some serious chill mode action, and a little bit of beach walking for good measure.

Baby Apice #2 - coming this Christmas!

Almost forgot!  Although we managed to not take a single picture of the two of us all night (??), Ryan and I went as skeletons this Halloween to the KCRW Masquerade Ball.  He went more Kobra Kai on his but since I painted my costume at home, I was a little more traditonal in my skelton-ing. That said, please enjoy this one lonely little cell phone camera picture of me looking totally insane... 

Happy haunting!

Hilton Head Island, Oct 8-11, 2010

One thing that's recently become a new tradition is our annual trip down to Hilton Head to meet up and golf with Ryan's folks.  This time we mixed up the golfing days with a little more exploring of the island.  Ryan's parents booked a fantastic kayaking trip through the estuaries and the wildlife was so beautiful. 

And of course, there was golfing!  I'd like to think I've improved since last year but it's possible I'm being a little generous on that one...

(me, "golfing" above; below, the famed 18th hole from the Hilton head Lighthouse)

There was no shortage of eating and just hanging around either, which is definitely one of my favorite parts of this trip every year as opposed to some of the crazier one - actually relaxing!   I could eat seafood and Southern cooking until I can't move.

(View from the world's most relaxing dinner; dockside watching fresh shrimp coming off the boats as dolphins swam by. I mean seriously. Come on.) 

(Another dinner view looking out over Broad Creek at low tide)

As is also tradition, we did plenty of biking on the beach but one thing that we sadly don't have many pictures of was the last day where we rented a couple jet skis.  We were just planning to jet around the channels for bit and were pleasantly surprised when the afternoon turned into a dolphin spotting trip.  I didn't understand why so many agencies advertised "Dolphins Guaranteed" until that afternoon.  We were literally surrounded by dolphins and instantly hooked on tracking them down...

I can tell you what I won't miss about the Island; the Alligator surprises.  As in, you're about to tee off when you notice a 7 foot alligator behind you. 

Surprise!  

SoCal Football Season, 2010

Not a whole lot to say here in terms of description other than that football season pretty much puts travel out of the picture for a couple months.  I like to think of it a my two month book on the couch break :)  Both Penn State and USC had pretty lackluster seasons this year, although I can happily say PSU gets to head to the Outback Bowl come January.    But what I miss out in PSU tailgating, we certainly try to make up for at USC...

(View of Downtown over the top of the stadium)

It's no Penn State, and I certainly get some interesting looks in my PSU gear but a girl's gotta represent.  One tradition I'll never get on board with - Bloody Mary's, especially not the maple bacon variety seen below.  Mimosa's all the way!

(Clearly Ryan can hardly contain his excitement)

We also had a party for Ryan's Birthday at the end of September and he chose to go with an old-timey cocktail theme, mixing drins for everyone all night long.  Sadly, my cake didn't get the memo.  At least it tasted good!

San Francisco, Labor Day 2010

Labor Day brought with it this year the Dixon/Barber wedding, and quite a few of the Kloecker clan heading up North to enjoy the festivities. Unlike last year's San Francisco trip, There was no biking across the Golden Gate Bridge, although if there had been, at least this time I would have known NOT TO WEAR A DRESS. Suffice it to say, I'm the only person in the wrold who wouldn't assocciate biking thorugh a fog cloud on the bridge with high winds. Who knew! Luckily Ryan was able to get a few decent shots when my skirt wasn't up over my head...

And I can confidently say that you will never feel like you've taken enough pictures of the bridge. Everywhere you go there's always a different angle...

This trip was a perfect balance of classic foggy San francisco days and sunny skies to get the full effect of the city, and we took advantage packing in the tourist-style outings where we could. We ate in chinatown, ferried across the bay, hiked the streets and then climed to the top of Coit Tower, checked out Alcatraz, biked through Golden Gate Park and all it's gorgeous gardens and of course, wedding-partied it up.

(pops checkin out Alcatraz :)

(Golden Gate Park's Japanese Garden)
We even had time to squeeze in some excellent local bars we'd found online. If you're ever in the neighborhood, I'd reccommend hitting up Rickhouse and ordering a Ramos Gin Fizz. Ohsogood.