Monday was so action-packed that it simply couldn’t fit in one post, so consider yourself lucky to be getting another one.  Bonus!

After the zoo, Kat rinsed out her mouth (hopefully with some industrial-strength antibiotics) and we decided to check out some nearby petroglyphs we had read about.  It was a short drive from the restaurant where we had lunch.  I had proposed walking, but that wasn’t well received.  As usual, not following my suggestion was a really good idea- my ideas are not very well thought out, and we ended up doing a lot more walking then intended (also my fault).

To see the petroglyphs, you basically drive to the end of a dirt road and walk up to somebody’s front yard and tell them that you want to see the rocks.  We’d been told that it’s often local kids who act as guides, but we were greeted (or rather grunted at) by a pudgy, middle-aged man wearing flip flops.  I tried to communicate what we wanted to see using my mad Spanish skills, but like a lot of the people we met in Panama, I was having some major issues understanding what he was saying.  Evidently the Panamanian dialect did not come very naturally to me.

But even with the communication issues, he successfully guided us on the short walk to the petroglyphs we’d heard so much about.

At this point our guide started asking me if we wanted to see the rest.  Again, I was having trouble understanding him, but I did know he was saying something about waterfalls, and I freaking love waterfalls.  So I asked who else wanted to see a waterfall- Scott and Priscilla agreed to go, but Mary and Kat decided to stay behind and keep an eye on the car.  So we set off.

We continued along the mostly straight path for a few minutes, chatting amongst ourselves and trying to make conversation with our guide, when suddenly the clear path disappeared and our guide started sprinting up the rocky trail.  Seriously, for the next 25 minutes, Scott, Priscilla and I huffed and dripped sweat trying to keep up with our pudgy guide.  It was a a much-needed, but heavily unanticipated uphill sprint.

See my flimsy blue flip-flops?  I told you I was unprepared.  But it was really pretty!

Once we made an equally speedy trip down, we found Kat and Mary sitting in an air-conditioned car happily chatting without a single drop of sweat on them- bitches.  Once they finished laughing at us, we piled back in the car and went back to the hotel to relax and get ready for dinner.

After such an exhausting day, we decided it was time to treat ourselves and headed out to the fanciest restaurant in El Valle, La Casa de Lourdes.  Located in the only fancy resort in the area, we had been warned that it was way more expensive than anything else we’d find nearby, but came highly recommended.  Considering that it came out to about $30/person including generous pours of sangria and champagne, it was definitely worth it.

Sangria goodness!

Mary and Scott!

america's next top models

mary and i had grilled corvina- pretty much the national fish of panama. sooo yummy.

scott had steak. wrapped in bacon, of course. and he marco-ed the shit out of it.

there are few things in the world more entertaining the mistakes that come from using the self-timer on a camera. mary thought the picture had already been taken. AWESOME!

It was a fantastic last dinner in El Valle!  It was hard to imagine leaving this cute little town, but the next morning we packed everything up and made our way back to civilization.  The drive was a total bitch, and may have included certain individuals having to pee on the side of the road while we were stuck in traffic, but we successfully made it to the airport and catch the flight to our next destination- Bocas del Toro!

Ugh.  I really really really hate small planes.

We started our third day in Panama the way you should really start every day in a tropical climate- with a fruit plate.

Watermelon, pineapple, oranges, bananas, and papaya that actually tastes good because it’s picked when it’s RIPE- all surrounding an “exquisite” cheese sauce.  Heaven.  We went through 2 fruit plates at every breakfast in El Valle.

Also heaven?  Fresh eggs that come from chickens that actually walk around and eat bugs.  See how orange those yolks are?

After a super delicious breakfast, we set out for our first real adventure in Panama- ziplining!

El Valle is so small that you can pretty much walk everywhere.  So that’s what we did.

Scott.  Macho.  Obvi.

We passed several houses with chickens happily wandering around.

We saw campsites!  And we were really happy we were staying at our awesome hotel.

We saw plants growing in trees.

And a church.

And naked babies.

After a one-mile walk we finally made it to the zipline.  We met our guides and suited up.

(stolen from Scott)

Butt shot!

(stolen from Scott)

Scott didn’t want to be left out.

Properly outfitted, we hiked to the first zipline, where our guide demonstrated proper form.

(stolen from Scott)

Since I was the resident zipline expert (I’d gone once before in Tulum), I went first.  And I didn’t die!

(stolen from Scott)

(stolen from scott. actually, from here on out, if it's a good picture, i probably stole it from scott.)

Mary!

Kat!

Priscilla!

After we made the zipline rounds, we posed some more.

So.  Sexy.

After ziplining, we had a 3-hour lunch.  Some lunches last that long because the food is incredible or the service is impeccable or the conversation is amazing.  This particular lunch lasted 3 hours because a) the “slower pace of life” you hear about in Panama is most clearly reflected in the restaurant service and b) we ate at a restaurant that was filled with aggressive pheasants who literally stormed our table while we were waiting for our food and amorous ducks who expressed their desire for one another about 6 inches from our table.  (Here we learned just how violent duck love can be.  Isabella Rosselini gives a good description of it here.)

Post lunch, we decided to check out the Nispero Zoo, aka the best $3 zoo in the whole wide world.  Seriously, it was the best $3 we spent on the entire trip.

Racoons!

Giant rodent-things!

Golden frogs!  (The signature animal of El Valle.)

Pheasants!  I think it was wearing a bread tie on it’s nose.

Albino peacocks!  No matter what my hair color may be at the moment, I’ll always feel a special kinship with albinos.

Emu!

Rooster!  Seriously, there were so many freaking chickens here it was insane.  I am pretty sure that we were eating zoo-chicken eggs the whole time we were in El Valle.

The mule.  Kat really liked the mule.  Like, a little too much.  Like, she kissed it good-bye.  But you know, whatever floats your boat.

So there isn’t an animal in this picture, but it will be PERFECT for Priscilla’s Sri-Lankan online dating profile pic!  So lovely.

There were a ton of other animals- ocelots, jaguars, parrots and taipers to name a few.  Unfortunately, it’s midnight and I’m exhausted.  So that’s what you get.

Next- fancy food, more fruit plates, Panamanian Sasquatch and Bocas del Toro!

What did you do on Sunday?  I went for a walk.  You know, a nice 13.1 mile jaunt.  No biggie.

Okay, so kind of a biggie.  Once again, Barrie convinced me that walking the Mercer Island Half Marathon would be a good idea.  If you remember, we did this last year too.  Of course, last year I was too lazy to actually do the recommended training walks beforehand and ended up with so much pain in my left hip that I proceeded to self-diagnosis myself with bursitis.  (When I was fine two days later I proceeded to self-diagnose myself with wussiness.)

But this year I did the training walks.  Most of them.  And low and behold, no faux-bursitis.  In fact, with considerably less pain, it was much more enjoyable.  Even registering was enjoyable- the weather was gorgeous and Seattle-warm (aka about 60 degrees)- we even walked over the the nearby lake to sit in the sun and skip stones:

lapping water, check.

stones a-skippin’, check.

decidedly cheery messaging on city vehicles, check.

The weather wasn’t quite as nice during the actual race- instead of warm and sunny, we got cold and wet, but not as cold or wet as last year.  So it was good.  Also good- crazy people and entertaining sights along the way:

like the crazy lady who hula-hooped.  the entire time.  she reminded me of my mom.

or the two awesome ladies who set up an rogue water station along the way, cheering on racers while they guzzled bloody marys and mimosas.  I love them and want to be their friend.

At the finish line, most people with cameras were eagerly taking pictures of themselves after completing a grueling physical endeavor.  I chose to take a picture of the fact that a variety of apple (the fruit, not the computer) had it’s own marketing booth:

Aw, sweet sweet Seattle.

Post really long walk, we went to Spring Hill for brunch, where we ate quinoa waffles, duck egg croque madames and juicy burgers with fries cooked in beef fat.  (No fries for me, obvi, but everything I did try was deeeelicious.)  Our friend Ben had gotten into town the night before, so he joined us as well- yay for old friends meeting new friends and everybody holding hands and singing!  (Again, that didn’t actually happen, but everybody got along and laughed a lot, which is almost as good.)

And then I came home and took a 3 hour nap.  The End.

Meanwhile, today is Mike’s birthday.  We’re celebrating with hot dogs and good friends.  I’ll post pictures tomorrow!

After six months of talk, Mary, Scott and I finally booked our tickets for another super fabulous bff vacation extravaganza last week!  I know we had talked about going to Iceland, but we kind of ended up doing a complete 180 and deciding to skip cold weather in any form (because honestly, I’m done being cold) and now, in just 34 short days, we’ll be sweating (at last) it out in Panama!  Even better, we picked up two stragglers to join us- Mary’s college suitemate Priscilla (who also tagged along to my bachelorette weekend 2 years ago- she is my favorite straggler in the whole wide world) and Kat, who is our friend Patrick’s girlfriend.  (This seems a bit random, but I think it really is a good life lesson- if you’re dating somebody and your friends start inviting your beau on intercontinental travel shortly after you introduce them, you are probably dating a really cool person.  It’s a good litmus test.  Do not mess up that relationship.)

So yeah, we’re heading to Panama.  We haven’t worked out many details, short of Scott hooking us up with hotel reservations and ugrades to first class (thank GOD he racked up all those hotel and frequent flier points during his hellish assignment in Cowtown, Chicago or wherever he was working).  So whatever ends up happening, we know we’ll be in a good mood when we get there.  And seriously, what can go wrong?  We’re going somewhere where it’s always warm and they serve fried bananas with every meal- in my book, that’s pretty much perfection.  (If anybody has any tips though, please share!)

Oh, and there are only 3 days left until 2 commenters win $25 gift certificates to Red Lobster.  It’s free cheddar biscuits people- swallow your pride and spill your guts!

Our actual trip home was a far cry from what I had imagined- instead of leisurely exploring the coast, we ended up almost making a straight shot home.  We did make one teensy detour in San Francisco, a city which offered two major draws.

Attraction #1: This lovely lady:

I met Jenny last year when she joined Mary, Scott and I on our trip to the Bahamas.  It was pretty much love at first sight- Mary and I  agreed that we liked her even better than Scott.  And not only is she a total blast to party with on a tropical island, she was also able to immediately engage MIKE in conversation once we arrived at her place.  Yeah, Jenny is pretty much a rockstar.

The next morning, we showered and re-packed our stuff, ready to hit the road again- with one last scheduled stop.

Attraction #2: The California Academy of Sciences

If you haven’t noticed before, Mike’s go-to activity when we go pretty much anywhere is to head to the nearest science museum.  It’s kind of ironic, considering that he boycotted field trips as a child (he thought 6th grade science camp was dumb so he never gave his mom the permission slip to sign- what kind of kid does that?), but now that he’s almost 30, we go to a lot of museums that elementary schoolers would totally be jealous of.

So when we woke up Saturday morning, knowing full well that we had about 13 hours of driving ahead of us, we still decided that it would be a good idea to make a pit stop at the California Academy of Sciences.  Mike had been talking about this place since we first decided to make this drive, so I didn’t have the heart to argue with him.  This turned out to be a good decision, because this place was freaking amazing.

As soon as we walked in and I saw this, I knew that Mike was in love.  He immediately started taking pictures to archive under “future house/aquarium integration project.”

There is an entire aquarium INSIDE the museum.

There are few things that make my husband happier than fish tanks.  When he was 11, he found an octopus at the beach and kept it alive for 3 years in a tank he maintained by himself.  Our first apartment was 800 square feet and the only furniture we had was a mattress on the floor, a 4th-hand futon, a computer desk and a 200 gallon coral reef tank.  The first bit of renovation we did on our house in Anaheim was to knock a hole in a wall in preparation for a fish tank.  (We moved before the fish tank could actually get set up, but the wall still has a sweet hole in it.

The aquarium featured fresh water creatures too, like these adorable wax frogs!

Love.

But what was my very favorite animal?  If you know me, you can probably guess it was an albino.

Albino anythings hold a special place in my heart.

The museum had sections dedicated to all kinds of cool places.

There was even an entire rainforest!

So dope.

And just when we thought we were done, there was the roof.  Yeah, the freaking ROOF was an exhibit.

It’s called a living roof.  It regulates temperature, makes the most of solar energy, and does all kinds of other cool hippie earth-friendly stuff.

Also, it makes you feel like you’re a hobbit.  I want one.

We spent more than 4 hours at the museum.  And this wasn’t like our day-long trek through the Museum of Flight- this was super engaging and totally devoid of planes.  I was super happy that we had taken the time to explore.

However, once I realized that we weren’t going to make it back home until about 2 am, I was less happy.

See, I don’t even have to put on theatrical make-up to look like a zombie.  I just have to go on a road trip.

It’s actually a really good thing that so much crap happened over the holidays, because ever since we got back we’ve both been so slammed at work that we haven’t had much to write about happen and I haven’t had much time to write about it.  So that’s a good thing, I guess.

But anyhow, the fact that I’m here in Seattle writing about our time in California means that we did in fact successfully get home somehow.  As of Sunday, Jan 3rd, at 3:30 pm, I had no idea how or when that was going to happen.  12 hours later, we were on the road.

How does that happen when the car we drove down is still minus one wheel and hasn’t even begun to be worked on?

Easy.  You get another car.

My beloved old Mini had been starting to show it’s age and we’d been talking about retiring it eventually, and thanks to the craptastic economy and a promotional APR, we got a pretty sweet deal (even my dad was impressed, which is hard to do, as he’s a master car negotiator- as a child I watched as he made a car salesman cry over the deal he secured on our first minivan).

I know that it sounds a bit weird to buy a car while you’re on vacation.  In fact, I only know of one other person who’s ever done it (again, that would be my dad, who bought the afore-mentioned minivan while we were on a camping trip).  But, as my dear friend Scott said, “Only you and Mike would buy a new car for a drive up the West coast.  And rationalize it as sane.  I think that’s why I love you guys.”  (This coming from the guy who flew to Munich for 3 hours so he could retain Executive Platinum status with American Airlines.  We really are soulmates.)

So anyways, we picked up the car Monday at noon and packed it up.  Few things are more entertaining in life than an overstuffed Mini:

And we were off to San Francisco!

With one last stop at In n Out on the way.

(Don’t be alarmed- that’s an iced tea in my cup.  Not that I ever closed my eyes and WISHED it was a Diet Coke.  ::le sigh::)

Time: 4:05 pm
Location: brea, ca
Listening to: old Dave Matthews
Temperature: 72 degrees
Number of giant glowing orbs in the sky: 1. And that’s all we need.

Time: 1:46 pm
Location: the last road stop before the grapevine
I don’t have any really good numeical values to put here. We stopped because mike was starving and sick of my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This was out table after he finished eating:

Time: 12:01 pm
Location: somewhere in the middle of California where cows outnumber people (no, not chino hills)
Listening to: malcom mcdowell’s TED talk
Hours we’ve spent actually driving so far: 15 hours
Hours til we arrive in orange county: 4 (hopefully) (mike says 3)
Miles we’ve driven so far: 1,000 (mikes trip odometer resets at 1000)

Time: 7:00 am
Location: leaving redding, ca
Listening to: hey lover by ll cool j w/ boyz II men (circa 1997)
Drinking: starbucks triple americano black, 1 stevia (I already miss Seattle coffee) (me); mango naked juice (mike)
How awesome is my dad for letting us use his wealth of hotel points and get a free, non-grody hotel room last night: immeasurable
Miles driven so far: 680
Miles to go: 500