During a little walking tour of Whistler, Canada...isn't he cute?

She said: 

It is summer vacation 2012- or at least Part 1.  Travis and I left on Saturday for a little rest and relaxation in beautiful Whistler, Canada.  Saturday night we stayed in Mt. Vernon, WA and took a tour through La Conner.  La Conner is such a cute little town with lots of local shops and dining.  I'm glad we were able to pass through, and I look forward to heading back there sometime.   Mt. Vernon is pretty close and offered a bit more reasonable accomodations.  We stayed at the Best Western and were given access to the neighboring health club for the day.  We were able to get our workout on :)  For me, this basically just means making more room for my impending splurge on dinner.  I did not disappoint.  We drove around looking for a local place to eat in Mt. Vernon, but ended up succuming to the allure of Olive Garden, where I fully replaced the calories lost earlier in the day. 

On Sunday we headed toward Cananda.  Now I'm not projecting difficulty here, but you all need to know that I come into Canada with a little reservation...you see, for those of you who know me well, I have had a few last names in my lifetime.  I, currently, am legally named Lisa McDonald.   However, my passport, which I got many years ago, has my first married name- Lisa Calcagno.  Last week Travis mentioned that we may need to look into what to do about this.  I did a little research and waited an endless amount of time to find out that, yes, your passport is required to reflect your legal name if you have been married over 1 year.  Well, happily celebrating year 3 next week, this put me in a little pickle.  I did all the right things...called, made the appointment in Seattle to expedite getting a new passport..and then I really thought about it.  Seriously?  I was going to drive to Seattle on Wed. turn around and come home since I needed to be home Friday and head up North again Sat.  There was only one answer to that- no.  So, I know you are all wondering...did I make it in?  I did. I am in Canada, but from what research tells me, it's the getting out that could cause some trouble.  I'm going to try playing it cool and saying nothing, hoping they won't ask for a second ID.  But just in case, I am fully equipped with all paperwork starting at my birth.  I will make sure and let you know how that goes.  If I need an outcry of "Release Lisa Simpson, Calcagno, McDonald" You've got my back, right?          

Ok, so we are in Canada and Whistler has not disappointed.  We are staying in a great studio that has a kitchenette.  This is part of our VI membership- a story for another time.  But alas, we are in the heart of town and already having a great time.  Apparently, yesterday was Canada Day, which comes with lots of loud fireworks and drinking.  Just as we were ready to head back out to the loud booms and festivities at 10:30 pm, it got quiet and people started retreating to their respective hotels, apparently, in Canada, they speed party.  That's alright, I was a little tired and was kind of happy to call it a night. 

This morning I am headed to a massage at the Westin...Ah, this is the life!  

 Here is a shot of Travis hanging out in our studio :)

Vacation comes to a close

Our last night in Vegas...sad. We have had an amazing vacation! I fly home tomorrow while Travis presses on to his residency in Phoenix, AZ and then off to ride the continental divide from Mexico to Canada. If you want to follow his adventure you can at continentaldivide2010.blogspot.com

I will miss him desperatly, but have a few things to look forward to at home as well. I will meet the newest addition to the Simpson clan, my brother's new daughter, Harper, and I get to see the entire Kaopuiki clan!

Who knows, I might just start planning Vacation 2011 in my spare time!!!

Just Us

Las Vegas, 2009

Las Vegas, 2010

Man shirt

Who could resist a man in this shirt? That's why I love him!

We drove into Yosemite before landing in Bishop- the most terrifying and extraordinary ride yet!

1 yr Anniversary

Yesterday we celebrated our first full year of marriage. We went to see the show "O" and had dinner at Brand- the same restaurant we ate at last year. It was a whole day of celebrating the best year of life yet! I love Travis. It is a beautiful life.

To Tahoe and beyond...

She said:

Sadly, you will mostly be hearing from me this trip. For those of you who don't already know, Travis is juggling his doctoral program on-line, teaching on-line and attempting a relaxing vacation. Needless to say, he is spending most of his computer time tackling papers and corresponding with students. I am very proud of how he is handling it all. We all know I would be a wreck. Luckily he is an early riser and gets most of it done before the sun is up. Amazing!

We went for a ride around Lake Tahoe before heading to Reno for the night.

We stopped at Emerald Bay to take a few photos:

Reno showed us a good time. They were having some sort of BBQ cook-off leaving the main street closed off to traffic- super for walking around town and drinking fresh lemonade. We ended up going to see the movie Grown-ups to get away from the blazing sun. It served it's purpose- a mixture of laughter and air conditioning.

Did you know the Truckee River goes directly through the heart of downtown Reno? It is swift and has several rapids- makes for amazing people watching. I stopped counting the flip flops and shorts that came floating by. You just can't look away from people being tossed off their tubes. We didn't have our camera or I would have more than a few pics to post.

After the movie we had a yummy dinner at Brew Brothers and tried our hand at the 1 cent slot machines. Travis won 8,240.......pennies. It took the machine over 30 minutes to count by ones and "ching" for each cent. I hate to be ungrateful, but that was a long wait. In hindsight it was not very kind of me to share my complaints with the lady (losing) next to me. I was missing Bachelorette. There, justified.

Our Latest

She said:

We are at it again...vacation via the moto. This respite of relaxation finds us in the best of California and Nevada. We left last Wednesday, June 30th in anticipation of getting to Lake Tahoe on July 1st. All went as planned. We even had time to meet up with a few of our favorite people for lunch- Ruth, Kora, and Hudson in Bend.

Side note: my hair looks way better than this in person. I am not sure what has gotten into our camera lens, yuck!

We always try to take our "couples shots" when we have a photographer, thanks Ruth.

This is for those of you who picture me sitting pretty on a Goldwing, wrong...no coffee holder or arm rests for me. I am tough...and jealous.

We stayed the night in Susanville, which was uneventful. Except for our walk to Taco Bell just to find out the dining room was closed and it was drive thru only. That's ok, I like McDonald's just fine- take that!

The ride from Reno to Tahoe is most stunning.

The next day we arrived in Tahoe to this spectacular view- a beautiful private beach right outside our front door. Yes, please! We had plenty of time to relax and enjoy the beach. Unfortunately after day one of enjoying sun (a.k.a falling asleep in the lounger mouth gaping) I was left with a less than flattering sunburn. Looked like I was wearing white hot pants and a tube top, but in reality I was naked. No picture to follow, stop asking ;)

We stayed in beautiful Lake Tahoe through the night of the 4th. We were able to see fireworks at our place from the south lake and the nearby town, Tahoe City

I could jump to the next leg of the trip now and start telling you witty anecdotes from the road, but no, then, my friend, you would be missing out on the big event. What event, you ask? The Captain Jon's event that is. I only managed one picture the whole evening of the beautiful setting of Captain Jon's restaurant- a restaurant that seats you on a dock floating in the water. The setting- perfect. The players (us)- stunning. The guy sitting behind us yelling at his son Alex through an alfredo sauce soaked beard- real jerk. Picture this HUGE guy who looks like he is in his 80's. Got it? With a big unkept beard- picture grungy Santa. He has a 4 year old with him. We assume...grandson..great-grandson...great-great-grandson...but no, this kid ( Alex- as I heard his name stated no less than 100 times in the 30 minutes we dined in close proximity) called him DADDY :( They were there celebrating Alex's 4th birthday. Except instead of celebrating it was like- the list of 100 things you do that annoy me: "Alex, I told you not to do that. Alex, don't go by the edge. Alex, stop looking at the ducks. (my favorite) Alex, you are ruining the meal." Not in a whine mind you, but said in a loud terrible roar. The "Alex situation," plus the mumbling waiter, the aggressive cold breeze in the air, and the chicken picatte (I will let Trav explore that one) made the dinner an entertaining mess. Where is Taco Bell when you need fine dining?

Luckily, our dining the night of the 4th more than made-up for Captain Jon's. We dined at a lovely place with yummy prime rib. I am just gonna let the fact that I ate my entire piece of cowgirl cut prime rib + potatoes+ fries+ 2 rum and cokes, and the lovely people next to us shared the same meal and had left0vers, just roll right off my back. I am also gonna let go of the anger they caused when mentioning it over, and over, and over, and over again. People this is not the circus!!! It's just that I was obviously lacking some sort of rich nutrient found in this cut of beef. So there!