Craig's and Stephen's visit...

Craig and Stephen arrived in Moss Beach on July 11th.  Lee, Bryan and Peter picked them up in San Francisco where they had spent the night.  We had a fun day with our four Kiwi friends!  After some time on the deck we all walked up to the Distillery for a welcome drink - that's kind of become a tradition.

We took Peter and Bryan to the airport that evening for their long flight home.

The next day we drove south down Hwy 35 with the intention of visiting the Henry Cowel State park and the redwoods but we took a wrong turn somewhere and eventually ended up in Santa Cruz!  That was our final destination anyway, so aside from spending many hours in the car and NOT seeing redwoods, all was well.  We spent time on the boardwalk,  had fish and chips on the pier and then worked our way north up Hwy 1.  It was beautiful and sunny in Santa Cruz but as we came north the inevitable fog appeared.  We made a quick and very chilly stop at the Pigeon Point Light house for some photos and then headed home.

We were leaving for Salt Lake City the next morning so we made it an early night.

Craig and Stephen had planned a tour of the southwest National parks and monuments and Salt Lake was our "jumping off" point.  We rented a car there and after a visit to the amazing Mormon Square and temple, we left for Moab, UT, and the Arches National Park.

We celebrated Lee's actual birthday in Moab with dinner at the Blue Pig restaurant, next to our motel.  The staff came and sang happy birthday to him, and let him play with the restaurant mascot - an actual blue rubber pig!  Stephen made it squeak the happy birthday song.  However we weren't allowed to take him home.  Just as well!

The next day we toured the Arches National Park - the rock formations were just amazing!  Lots of arches and spires and red, red rock!  There is a circular road through the park with lots of places to stop and hike in to see the sights.  We took 1.2 million pictures!

When we finished with the park we drove to Mexican Hat, Utah, where we spent the night.  As you might expect, Mexican Hat has a population of about 80, but they do have a nice motel right on the San Juan river and a restaurant on site.  We had rain there as thunderstorms rolled through and we watched the river become very muddy and rising.

By the next morning the rain had ended and we drove to Monument Valley where we had scheduled a tour of the area.  Our guide, Charlene, is Navajo and was born and raised in the valley.  She was totally knowledgeable and we saw so much and learned a lot about the Navajo culture as well.  The rain had created lots of little "lakes" around the valley but Charlene was very good at navigating around them.  Our 2.5 hour tour turned into almost 4 hours, but it was all amazing and another 1.2 million pictures were taken.

Then it was on to the Grand Canyon!  It was my first visit there and the beauty and grandeur take your breath away.  We came in on the east side of the canyon.  It was getting late in the day at that point, so after a hour or so we drove to Williams, AZ where we spent the night.

The next morning we got an early start and went back to the canyon.  We hiked around the rim for quite awhile, took lots of pictures and just drank in the amazing sights!  And then it was back on the road - next stop:  Las Vegas!

On the way to Las Vegas we stopped at Hoover Dam.  It's pretty amazing in it's vastness!  We drove over the new bridge and walked along the top of the dam.  It was starting to get dark so we weren't able to walk the new bridge for pictures from that perspective - tomorrow!

We found our hotel in Las Vegas (1 block off the strip) and were quite impressed with it!  We had found the deal on Travelzoo and we had two suites with fully equipped kitchens and HUGE bathrooms - for $69 a night!  Oh, yes, and a $25 resort fee, which gave us use of all of their pools, the pools at the MGM Grand and free parking.  Not a bad deal for Las Vegas.

We had a late dinner that night at New York, where Craig and Stephen made plans to ride the roller coaster.  The next day, after breakfast, we went to the "half-price" ticket booth to see if we could get tickets for a show that night.  We got tickets to see "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", which was FABULOUS!!

After securing our tickets we went back to our hotel.  At that point Lee, Craig and Stephen decided they needed to drive back out to the dam and walk across the bridge for pictures.  I decided that was a "guy" thing and stayed at our air conditioned suite!

That evening we went to the play which we all totally enjoyed.  After the show we watched two of the Bellagio's fountain shows which were set to music - absolutely amazing!  We wandered our way down the strip, Craig picked up a bottle of champagne and we finished the night at Craig and Stephen's suite with champagne!  An amazing trip, amazing two days in Las Vegas - tomorrow - flying home!

On Saturday we drove up to Sonoma County to do some wine-tasting and picnicking.  The weather was beautiful - warm and sunny.  We stopped first at Cornerstone, a neat area with shops, wine tasting, furniture and garden items.  It's really quirky and fun there.

We wine-tasted at a couple of places and ended up at Sebastiani's tasting room.  As they were closing early for a wedding, they gave us all of our tastes in a "flight".  We decided to end the day with dinner at Catelli's in Geyserville - a wonderful restaurant that Jim had discovered a few years ago.  Yummy Italian food.  Then back across the Golden Gate Bridge to Moss Beach.

Sunday ended Craig and Stephen's visit and they flew back to New Zealand.  What a great trip you guys!  Thanks for coming to celebrate Lee's birthday and for arranging such a great tour of the southwest!

 Craig and Stephen arrive in Moss Beach - their first visit here

Enjoying the deck

 

 Walking back from the Distillery

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

 

Pigeon Point Light House - in the fog!

 

Salt Lake City and the Mormon Temple

 

 The temple - an incredibly beautiful building on a beautiful day

 The angel Moroni atop the spire

The Tabernacle Dome

 

 Stephen and Craig in the Tabernacle with the pipe organ in the background

 The pipe organ in the conference center - we would have loved to hear someone play this!

On the way to Moab!

 

 At a look-out spot along the way

 Betty and John Brown sent this birthday card to Lee!  it's huge and it opens up to form a birthday cake!  We'll use it for all birthdays from now on.  Thanks you guys!

 The Blue Pig Blues and Brew Restaurant

 Happy birthday, Lee!  July 14, 2013

At Arches National Park

 

 Lots of natural limestone arches

We were able to walk in quite aways between these huge boulders

 

A view of the park

 

And another one.  The clouds brought us rain later in the day

 

Craig and Stephen holding up the rock!

 

Another natural arch

 

 Red, red rock - everywhere!

 Amazing rock sculptures

The muddy San Juan River in Mexican Hat, UT.  We crossed that bridge the next day on the way to Monument Valley

Relaxing with chips and a cold beer along the river - before the rain arrived!

 

Another long road - as far as the eye can see!

 

 The right and left "mittens" in Monument Valley

Charlene, our guide, showing us one of the hogans used for a sauna

 

Inside the women's hogan

 

Pretty amazing architecture!

 

And off into the valley!

 

Charlene took this shot for us, in front of the "mittens"

 

 Amazing rock formations

 One of the many red "lakes" that resulted from the heavy rain the night before

 The "eye" - you can see "lashes" above the eye

Charlene played some very haunting flute music for us

 

And her colleague played the drum.  It was an amazing experience there under the "eye"

 

 Another arch carved into the rock.  You can see Stephen just below the arch

More Monument Valley pictures

 

 We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of Monument Valley and we highly recommend Charlene as a guide

The Grand Canyon from the east

 This group of elk brought traffic to a halt!

 Lots of pictures of the Grand Canyon follow but none of them do the beauty and grandeur of the place justice - you must see it for yourself!

 Smoky and Craig in Williams, AZ

 Stephen on "Route 66" in Williams, AZ

Hoover Dam across the Colorado River

 At the dam where it was hot and breezy!

 Craig and Stephen's suite in Las Vegas - ours mirrored it

 The Statue of Liberty at New York

 Excalibur at night

The Venetian

 

 The painted ceiling inside the Venetian

 The fountain show at the Bellagio - they are absolutely amazing!  And they are FREE

The Eiffel Tower at Paris

 

In the car at Hoover Dam - note the temperature!

 

 The bridge from the dam

 and the dam from the bridge

 Three HOT guys - literally!!

Fun for theater-goers!

 

 One of the many casinos along the strip

Back in Moss Beach - dinner at Cafe Gibraltar

 

 Foggy San Francisco with part of the Golden Gate Bridge showing

 Craig and Stephen having a "time out" in the giant chair at Cornerstone

 Picnicking in wine country!

 Our wine tasting flight at Sebastiani

Stephen and Craig at Catellis, with two of the biggest beers I've ever seen!

 

 At the airport with our farewell drink before Craig and Stephen went through security.  They had seats in business class - lucky guys!!

 Good bye, guys!!  Thanks for coming and we'll see you in February!!