Iceland Day Two

Feb 2, 2017

You know those mornings when you wake up feeling like you only got fifteen minutes of sleep? Well, our day was packed so we got our bloodshot eyes up and checked out of the Ion hotel. We didn’t have a set schedule but I wanted to see as much as we could in the area before driving to our house rental in Reykjavik by 4pm.

Before we checked out I took a quick stroll outside for as long as my frozen fingers could bear the wind. I was planning to take a quick dip in the outdoor spa but hells no, I am not crazy. But how lovely is that pool and all the gorgeous moss?

Since we were beat from the night before I didn’t get to the Northern Lights bar so we popped in to take a few photos of the space. I sat in silence and daydreamed that I was watching the Northern lights.

Be lucky you don’t have smell-o-vision because Strokkur geyser smells like rotten eggs. However, it erupts every eight minutes and is quite majestic.

I dig this chicks braids! We arrived at Gullfoss, one of Iceland’s largest waterfalls. Also the most touristy spot so our visit was quick.

On our drive to Thingvellir national park I felt compelled to stop on the side of the road to say hello to these gorgeous horses. They were like, “Uh, we are camera ready lady, get shooting.” Iceland’s scenery feels like a movie set. I was so happy to have the rented wide angle lens, my regular lens would not have captured such beauty.

Yep, unfriendliest animals in the world. That sky is totally unfiltered. We may have missed the Northern lights but those moody, blue skies almost made up for it.

I am a great actress because I look relaxed and happy here but the reality was I was foolishly taking a sitting photo in the middle of the famous Ring Road which was terrifying. We were at the bottom of a hill so we had a three second window between cars and trucks hitting us. I tested my agility to get up from a sitting position in less than three seconds many times before we go these shots. I was literally jumping for joy when I got the last shot. So here’s my tip future travelers: Don’t get out of your car and stand in the middle of the busiest road in Iceland because it’s illegal and dangerous. But then again, YOLO!

Thingvellir is massive. We drove in from the back side of the park which was great because we missed most of the tourists and busses. There is so much to see and do you don’t have to visit the same spots that the travel companies go to. You do have to purchase a day pass which you buy from a kiosk and place it in your car. Bring cash for the day pass because the credit card option wasn’t working when we bought ours. We walked to Öxarárfoss and it was magnificent. Hardly anyone there and an easy hike. I found it funny that we would stop on the side of the road to explore empty spaces and several cars were following us to take the same photos we took. Like the horses, no one was there when we decided to stop but when we walked back to the car, there were about six cars pulling over as well as a bus full of people. Copycats!

I wish we had more time to spend in the park (where Game of Thrones is filmed!) but I wanted to get to the rental so we could shower and go to dinner. It is about an hour and a half drive to Reykjavik.

Liv was stoked to have her choice of two bedrooms and I was elated to have wifi and two bathrooms. We usually have to wait in line to get ready in the mornings so it was heaven to simultaneously get ready. Most Icelandic bathrooms have heated floors!

Our first stop was Kex Hostel which I heard about on Instagram. We had a cocktail and it was a cool place but we decided it was too noisy for dinner.

Off to find some grub!

On the drive to downtown Reykjavik, we passed the lovely Harpa concert hall. My dream is to see Björk perform there one day.

This is the Sun Voyager sculpture. It’s a sun dial that is commonly mistaken as a Viking ship that represents Iceland’s lengthy history. Close to the harbor we came across a restaurant that had a quote from Anthony Bourdain painted on it so that was a good enough reason to give it a try.

I had lobster, of course, prepared four ways. I even tried a lobster shot!!

Our waiter recommended we try the chef’s special dessert which was incredible. I wish waiters in LA were as friendly and helpful (but I understand, most Americans are assholes).

Iceland Day One

Jan 25, 2017

I spent hours researching our trip to the land of fire and ice, one of my highest priorities was taking phenomenal photos. I signed up for a photography class and educated myself about my Nikon camera settings and lenses. I bought a new zoom lens but I needed something that would allow me a wider angle for close up shots. The problem was a $2,500 lens was not in my budget. I was so stoked to find out that Samy’s Camera rents Nikon lenses! I was able to try out different lenses for $25 bucks a day. I fell in love with a wide angle lens and bought a tripod because every person who has traveled to Iceland assured me I would need it to take photos of the Northern Lights. However the lens was large and heavy and along with two other lenses, the tripod, extra batteries, accessories and an external flash (that we never used) there was no way everything would fit into our camera bag. Antz somehow squeezed everything into his suitcase. I had to repack like ten times because my heavy boots didn’t fit and I kept going over the 44 lb weight maximum.

This was just one of the ten outfits I packed. I bought thermal leggings from Amazon and wore layers everyday because even on windy rainy days, I was sweating from all the hiking. I had the hardest time finding the right coat to wear in Iceland. I did not want a puffy coat because they don’t look so great on me and they only come in boring colors. I ended up finding a fantastic white wool coat from Asos on sale for like $73! It was so warm and I was the brightest person in Reykjavik.

Making it rain in Icelandic Kronas! I found the best currency exchange place located in our new bank in Glendale.

The first day of our trip went surprisingly seamless. I may sound like a broken record but I strongly recommend flying with Wow Airlines. I will say, their gate at LAX was kinda lame and it felt like we walked for miles to get there. However they are a fairly new airline to LAX, so they don’t have a lounge area to wait in yet. Since we arrived so early and didn’t want to stand or sit on the floor for an hour, we waited in the nearby Virgin Atlantic area. Luckily, we saw the Wow crew walking by so we knew it was almost time to board. Other than that, everything was great. We had the sweetest flight attendants (ours looked like Margot Robbie) and the pilots invited Liv into the cockpit when we landed. The plane was clean and the seats had more room in coach than other airlines I’ve flown. There are only two seats for the window row so Antz had to sit across from us in the middle. All flights from Los Angeles arrive in Reykjavik at 4 am so that is something you need to plan for if you are checking into a hotel. We had a full day planned so it worked to our advantage.

Our Uber driver was a little crazy, he followed the weirdest route to LAX which took us on a journey through the back alleys of downtown but we made it on time! LAX is one of my favorite places in Los Angeles. The TSA line is always miserable but there has been improvements on the design of the international terminal.

Once we made it through the lines of agony, we did some pre-flight shopping at Fred Segal. Then we picked up a light breakfast of pastries.

Can someone please buy these for my next trip??!!

Most folks seem to have a problem when it comes to traveling with young kids but honestly, Liv has been our lucky rabbits foot. We get to board the plane first, the flight attendants absolutely love her which gets us perks and she’s a pleasure to travel with. It’s true, the earlier you travel with your kids, the more open-minded and exposed they become.

Fortunately no one sat next to Antz so he had plenty of room to spread out.

I love that we can give our daughter the gift of travel and a proclivity for adventure. As we were flying over Canada, I felt so grateful that we could afford to take this trip instead of putting it off for “one day“.

Liv ate an entire box of rice crispy treats and a bag of trail mix. Don’t forget to pack plenty of snacks and water, nothing on this flight is free!

I waited my whole life to see the incredible Northern Lights. The week before we arrived in Iceland, they had the most vivid and clear Northern Lights in recent history. The government shut down all the lights in Reykjavik so people could view them better. I tracked the weather and the nightly skies on this website everyday until our trip. I slept during most of the flight but I did wake up and happened to look out the window. That sad green smear you see above is the Northern Lights. I tried and failed to take a photo with my rented lens because it was impossible to take a shot while we were moving and the glass from the window wasn’t allowing my camera to auto focus. When I took the photography class I specifically asked about taking photos at night and the key is to use a slow shutter speed, which means using a tripod. Every shot I have seen of the northern lights look like this…

That early morning was the only Northern Lights we were able to see because clouds came in with our flight and obscured the sky for the whole week. The Liz curse strikes again!

You wanna hear another great story? I booked our car rental back in July. I went ahead and splurged on an SUV with a snow package and all the extra insurance I could buy just in case. My friend Christina recommended getting a portable WiFi box so we will have coverage. I also got a navigation system even though the last time I rented a car in London, it didn’t work. So, I was pretty covered for our rental which totaled close to $800 for the week. I was promised to get a BMW X3 SUV or similar. This is what I got and believe me when I say, I acted like a disgusting, entitled American and threw a tantrum when I saw this Opal whatever it is. The chick at the rental place was like, “Bitch…you can walk.” So, here’s my Icelandic $800 pimped out ride. Well, at least it had a heated steering wheel.

The only place to eat that was open at 6am was disappointing Subway. Yet, after a long flight, we were starving so it was good to have something familiar. I got the “Cool American” flavor Doritos. It was insane that the sun doesn’t rise until 9 am. It was pitch black at 8 in the morning.

Guess those snow tires I paid for came in handy. They chilled in the trunk for the whole week. I think I could have been happier with the car if it was white. What color is this, depressing beige?

It was freezing by the time we arrived at the Blue Lagoon. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the visit because of how cold it was outside.

The Blue Lagoon was breath-taking. It was cold but once you’re in the water, it’s lovely. Now I was glad I paid for all of our extra luggage because I brought our aqua sock water shoes. Bare feet in public spaces is my phobia! There is an indoor entrance in the water so you don’t have to walk outside in the cold. Kids under 8 are required to wear floaties but the water level was shallow enough for Liv to stand on her tippy toes.

Really, best day ever!! You must bring a GoPro to the lagoon. iPhones won’t cut it.

So surreal, it was so warm and beautiful. And we only had been in Iceland for five hours.

After a quick shower, we were back on the road, headed to our hotel for the first night. I booked the iconic Ion Luxury Hotel for our first night in Iceland because it is located in the middle of nowhere. Like, so much so that they don’t even have an traditional address. Of course, our rental’s navigation system took us an hour out of the way to get there. We were the only car driving on an endless stretch of road so I was pretty nervous we would get lost. Luckily, Iceland has awesome maps on the side of the roads for us clueless tourists. They are so thoughtful. I first read about the impressive hotel when it was featured in Afar magazine. It is known for being one of the best hotels for viewing the Northern Lights. Since it has the word luxury in the name, you know it’s expensive and also sold out even six months in advance. I must have called to make reservations every damn day until finally three weeks before our trip, they found a room for me. I was elated because this meant we could go to their beautiful Northern Lights bar and sit by the floor to ceiling windows to see the Northern Lights. It never occurred to me there would be a week of cloudy skies but we enjoyed our night at the hotel anyway.

This river was boiling hot. Iceland, you so crazy! There is steam coming from power plants all over Iceland. People who live there never have to pay to heat their water. Energy is also dirt cheap because they power mostly everything from steam.

Let me say, this hotel is unique and off the beaten track. It definitely had a James Bond sexy vibe to it. We were told that helicopter belonged to one of the guests, fancy! The Silfra restaurant is so reknown that tourists are bussed in from Reykjavik. We didn’t think to make a reservation since we were staying at the hotel and they almost couldn’t accommodate us.

A cool thing about the water in Iceland, it’s 100% from the natural springs. Iceland has the purest water on the planet so you can actually drink from the shower, the faucets or even the ground. We went to a store and tried to buy bottled water and the woman was like “No, you go to the hotel and fill up your water bottle from the tap!” Honestly, the best water I have ever tasted. It felt nice to take a long hot shower and not feel guilty about a drought.

We arrived at the hotel about noon but our room wasn’t ready yet so we hung out in the lobby. Our jet lag set in and we ended up falling asleep. I know I was snoring! When our room was ready, we had just enough time to change our clothes for our horseback riding tour. We booked a private tour through the hotel so a nice girl named Hannah picked us up and drove us to her family’s farm.

The two hours was over in an instant. It rained lightly but the sun peeked out. The horses were incredible, I was Snapchatting and taking photos most of the time so my horse was like “Ok, lady I guess I’ll control myself.”

When we got back to the hotel, we were starving. Silfra restaurant was packed. The hotel only has 24 rooms but they were fully booked for dinner. Iceland’s specialty is seafood and lamb but we had amazing sushi too. I used my charm to get us a table even though they require reservations. This was our most expensive meal during the trip.

OMG! This langoustine was heaven. Antz loved his seafood soup. Liv’s burger was meh.

After a quick FaceTime with my BFF, Aimee we went straight to bed. I’m actually relieved the Northern Lights weren’t out that night because it felt like we were awake for 24 hours straight so off to bed we went. It was incredibly hard to wake up early for our next long day.

Wow! Our Trip to Iceland

Jan 18, 2017

I still can’t believe we went to the most beautiful country in the world. Last spring I heard of an airline called Wow Airlines. They were starting nonstop service from LAX to Reykjavik and there was a special sale in October for $99 one way fares. The dates happen to synch with Olivia’s school October break so it sounded too good to be true. At first I was skeptical. I read some horror stories on Facebook about Wow having issues with flights leaving on time but then again, at that low rate, it wouldn’t bother me. To be fair, those delays were due to weather and no airline can control bad flying conditions. Let me disclose, our fare was $99 per person flying to Reykjavik, but our return fare was $189. This didn’t include meals and if we wanted to bring additional luggage, it cost $58.99 per bag, per flight. I knew there was no way I could go anywhere with just a carry on with a maximum weight of 22 pounds so I would definitely have to pay for our luggage. If we wanted to pre-select our seats in advance, that cost $12.99 per person, per flight. So when I priced the entire fare with all those extras the cost for the three of us came to $1,300. That is still less than ONE plane ticket we paid for our trip to Europe back in 2014. This was a deal I couldn’t resist.

They don’t have any in-flight entertainment (TV Screens) but that helps keep costs low and there are plugs for your devices. They also rent out iPads with movies and games loaded on them. We bought a few sandwiches and of course we brought candy for our sweet flight attendants so we got unlimited free drinks! The flight was a short eight hours and I was surprised at how roomy the seats were. When I bought the tickets, it felt like a just say yes and figure out the rest later moment. I wasn’t even sure about our itinerary and was concerned with our lack of a warm wardrobe but I booked the flight nonetheless!

I knew we didn’t have any warm clothes for the trip so I took advantage of the spring clearance sales and bought heavy coats and hiking boots for all three of us. Nordstrom Rack was the perfect source to find 70% off North Face boots and jackets. I also recommend picking up some Hot Hands from Amazon. I was so happy I had these during our long hikes in the rain.

Here’s the best part…I didn’t have to pay for our accommodations. Last year I joined a house swap website called Love Home Swap. At first I wasn’t sure about having strangers stay in our house but after a few people stayed in our house while we were out of town for a weekend, I realized it wasn’t an issue. Since I listed our house, we have had over 50 requests to swap with people from all over the world. It’s such an easy process, you search for the city you want to swap in, then you can filter by neighborhood, the size of house and you look through who is available to swap on your dates. There are three different ways to swap. You can do a direct swap, which means you go to the person’s house and they come to yours. Or you can swap for points, which means you can go to the person’s house but you use your points so they don’t have to stay at your house. They can then use those points to stay in your house at a another time or use their points for another house. The last option is a traditional cash rental which is similar to Airbnb. We ended up using our points because the person who we swapped with owns a house in Reykjavik, but she lives in Portland, Oregon. I became friends with her on Facebook so we could get to know each other first. I wanted a more authentic Icelandic experience so it was helpful to find a house. We saved so much money and stayed in a lovely three bedroom house in Reykjavik for a week!

I would say it’s definitely better to stay in a house than a hotel in Iceland. Let me also say that I didn’t find a diverse selection of rentals in Reykjavik on Airbnb. A majority of the rentals were small, Ikea furnished and looked like a typical Los Angeles boring apartment. Due to the surge in tourism (thanks to the cheap airfare) most hotels are booked up to a year in advance. Personally I don’t enjoy being around hordes of American tourists while I’m on vacation. I found it more pleasant to have a house with our own kitchen to cook in, we were able to wash our clothes and it was heaven sleeping in our own beds and having two bathrooms. Most Icelandic hotels are small and expensive but if you are looking for a hotel in Iceland, I do have an excellent recommendation but I’ll get into that later.

So once I covered where we were staying, next I needed to figure out what to do. Lucky for me I have a few friends who have traveled to Iceland so it was easy to put together an itinerary. I also follow When in Iceland on Instagram so their photos were a huge source of inspiration. I must say “Takk” (thank you in Icelandic) to my sweet friend Christina, who sent me her itinerary so I had an inside source of great places to stay, see and eat. Her photos are mesmerizing! I really crammed a lot of places into our six day trip.

Here is a list of my Must See & Do:

The Blue Lagoon

Admittedly this is Iceland’s biggest tourist attraction but a must see wonder. You must book tickets well in advance and I recommend going early or late due to the heavy crowds. We booked the Comfort Package for 9 am when they open. It wasn’t terribly crowded but the women’s changing room was packed. The best thing about the lagoon, once you get used to the smell of sulfur, the space is huge so you can swim away and have a whole section to yourself. Don’t worry about the weather. We went in October and even though it was forty degrees outside the water is set at 100 degrees year round.

The shipwreck museum/Hopsnes Lighthouse in Grindavik

Our flight arrived at 4 am and if you are flying into Reykjavik on Wow airlines, so will yours. However, I was happy for the early start because by the time we took the shuttle to pick up our rental car and stopped for an early morning meal, it was already 7 am. We had some time to kill before the Blue Lagoon opened so we drove into the town of Grindavik. It is so surreal seeing the sheep everywhere you look. We were in awe watching the strong waves of the Atlantic ocean crash into the rocky beaches. There is a cute lighthouse that we stopped at for some photos and I gotta say it was worth the brutally cold winds to get the shots.

Icelandic horseback riding

There is an interesting fact about Icelandic horses, they are the only breed of horse in the entire country. There is a law saying that if an Icelandic horse leaves the country it is not permitted to return. They are committed to keeping the Icelandic horse breed pure. We booked a private two hour tour and it was the highlight of our trip. I cannot emphasize enough that you have to ride an Icelandic horse during your stay.

Þingvellir National Park

Thingvellir is an absolute must-see! The park is enormous so anywhere you choose to go, you will find waterfalls and endless nature hikes. The park is about five times the size of Griffith Park in Los Angles so it would take days to see everything. The most popular attractions are listed here. Most of the filming of Game of Thrones is located here. We would drive around and pull over every time we saw a picturesque spot. You can purchase day passes at the entrance.

Southern Iceland/Vik

Iceland has an unique and diverse landscape. On the southern side of Iceland is a small town called Vik. It is home to the black sandy beach and a cliff called Reynisfjara/Reynisdrangar rock formations. This is the best viewing point during Puffin season. We just missed the puffins but it was still worth a visit because during low tide you can climb the incredible basalt columns. Be sure to hurry and book your trip because the town of Vik is endangered by local volcano Katla that is over due to erupt by ninety nine years!

Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon

Not too far away from Vik is the magical glacier lagoon Jökulsárlón. Depending on the time of year you visit you will find the bluest icebergs you have ever seen. Be careful when driving on the Ring Road, there are one lane bridges that gave us a heart attack playing chicken with the on-coming traffic.

Friðheimar Tomato Farm

It should be mandatory that if you are in Iceland you must dine at the Fridheimar tomato farm. You guys, I don’t even like tomatoes but it is sooooo good! Christina highly recommended it so I called to make a reservation. Turns out the day I wanted to go was the only day they closed the farm for annual maintenance. How is this my luck? Fortunately I was able to shift our schedule around so we could get a reservation (the last one of the day!) We devoured the endless tomato soup bar. Everything had tomatoes in it, even the water. Be sure to make reservations, it’s always booked!

We met the owner of the farm, Knútur. He was kind enough to explain how the farm operates and gave us a mini tour. We loved everything on the menu. I even brought home a jar of green tomato jam!

Downtown Reykjavik

The city of Reykjavik is similar to Los Angeles but more colorful. There are trendy restaurants, bars and coffeeshops. Alcohol is terribly expensive. Parking can be tricky but not as bad as a Saturday night in West Hollywood. A good place to begin a city tour is at Hallgrimskirkja Church which is in walking distance to Laugavegur street. There you will find gift shops, restaurants and the infamous (random) Chuck Norris Grill. It’s the Icelandic equivalent to the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. You keep walking and soon you will end up at the harbor where you will find the iconic Sólfar (Sun Voyager sculpture).

So there you have it, my top must see locations in Iceland. Now, I have barely scratched the surface of this vast and unbelievable place. Thus I say, do your own research. There are some things we couldn’t do with the kid in tow that I would love to do on our next trip. For instance, scuba diving at the continental divide and riding a snowmobile. I suggest going during the fall. Prices are lower and you have a better chance of booking a cool rental in September or October. The summer months means 24 hours of sunlight and music festivals but also means you won’t have a true Iceland experience due to the crowds. The weather was cold enough to wear a coat but not miserably cold. I hope to catch some snow on our next trip.

Book your flight today before prices…gain altitude!!!

Photos of Paris

Feb 2, 2016

I was going through my photos yesterday and realized there are so many photos I took during my trip to visit Aimee last March that I never uploaded. For example, Aimee and I spent an afternoon in the Latin Quarter and Ile de la cité which is the island that houses Notre-Dame Cathedral. Back on our first trip to Paris, we climbed over 250 steps in a narrow spiral to the top so we could see the bell tower. We aren’t as limber as we were in our 20s so I took photos of the exterior of the cathedral to see it from a different angle.

I can’t believe I never blogged about our favorite place to eat! Aimee’s apartment was right around the corner from the best restaurant in le Marais, Cafe Charlot.

We ate there so often we became regulars and I am kicking myself for forgetting our sweet waiter’s name.

I felt contractually obligated to take my Bestie on a tour of Pere Lachaise cemetery. It was still crowded even though the weather was much colder than our visit in June.

I plan to be cremated when I go but if I could, I would love to be buried here in such a magical place.

I was able to get a better shot of Jim Morrison’s grave.

I took this gorgeous shot at sunrise on my last day in Paris. It was so bittersweet. I was so sad to be leaving my absolute favorite place on Earth but I missed my Antz and Liv terribly. They really were the only reason I came back to LA!

On my way back home, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of Charles de Gaulle airport. This trip really allowed me the freedom to open my eyes and take in every little detail without having to tend to a five year old or a grumpy, luggage toting hubby. I first traveled to Charles de Gaulle airport back in 1997 when Antz and I took our first trip together to Venice, Italy, that I won on the Price is Right. I remember not being too impressed back then but we were only there for a layover. I had just enough time to buy some postcards but I did get a killer view of the Eiffel Tower from our plane. I’ll never forget during our flight from Paris to Italy we had a delay due to wild rabbits on the runway!

I love how many European airports are old in age, yet have been modernized in a beautiful way. Hint, hurry up with that upgrade LAX!

I spent two hours in the airport wandering around before my flight and was excited to see Ladurée! Every time I have visited Paris I have wanted to go to the shop on Champs Elysées. I’m not a huge macaron fan but they are so pretty and it’s such a Parisian delicacy that I want to buy some just for the pretty package. I didn’t have any Euros on me so I just window shopped this time but the store reminds of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette.

I can’t put into words how eager I am to take our next trip. This slide at a park in Gothenburg, Sweden has our names written all over it!

Day trip to Astoria, Oregon

Sep 14, 2015

Our kid is really into my dvd collection from the eighties. The original Annie, Beetlejuice, Legend and The Goonies are her favorites. I must say, The Goonies is the perfect kid’s flick, a treasure hunt, pirates and Cyndi Lauper! Liv has inherited my good taste in cinema. I told her about the city where the Goonies was filmed and all about the awesome child actors. We knew we had to make a day trip to Astoria on the northern coast of Oregon to see the film locations.

We had to grab some donuts for the road since I missed out on Voodoo the day before. Blue Star Donuts is Portland’s best kept secret, well maybe not so secret. Lucky for us there was no stupid, long line or crazy expensive parking since it was in walking distance from Chris & Story’s house.

Olivia was always looking for her pal Blueberry the cat

Umm, are Toni & Candace working in there?

We will definitely try this place on our next visit

Antz attempted to eat my donut

I love phone booths!

We stopped by the kid’s shoe store Clogs N’ More. I could’ve stayed there for
hours but we had to hit the road.

Can you believe that after what happened in Santa Cruz Olivia asked if we could ride this guy?!

We took a crazy beautiful scenic highway with only one lane to get there but the view was
worth the two hours of curves and slow trucks.

We have arrived!!

This building is from the opening scene of the Goonies. We followed this film location tour

Yep, I have no shame in my cheesy tourist antics

Goonies never say die!

This goregous Queen Anne Victorian was owned by sea Captain George Flavel. It’s right across the street from the Jailhouse.

We walked around town, everything looked like a movie set

This creepy house belonged to George Conrad Flavel (those Flavel’s owned most of Astoria!)

I am all about abandoned houses with a spooky story behind them. I didn’t tell Liv the gruesome details about this house but she said it looked haunted! Someone has now bought it and plans to restore it to it’s original beauty.

Veda was like, it doesn’t scare me!

The town of Astoria is extremely charming but also has a creepy element I love.

This store wins at common sense!

Astoria-Megler Bridge connects Oregon to Washington state.

We had lunch at this restaurant on the pier over looking the harbor.

We could see Washington state from our table.

So the big attraction of Astoria is of course, the Goondocks, the house filmed in the movie. For thirty years this house has been a welcome attraction for tourists to come and take photos. Well, my bad luck curse struck and just a few days before our arrival, the homeowners decided they had enough of disrespectful folks intruding on their neighborhood. So when we drove past the house we found this…

It’s hard to feel sympathy for these guys since they knowingly bought a famous house. However, I do understand that people suck and are incredibly rude and ruin the experience for others!

I guess they got sick of people doing the truffle shuffle

Even with the tarp and signs, there were still a lot of people visiting the house.

We were bummed but we still had one more stop before we headed back to Portland, the Astoria Column. A beautiful 125 foot tower with the history of Astoria drawn into a spiral column with an observation deck. However as we approached, the tower looked different. As soon as we made it to the top of the mountain I knew it, the tower was closed for renovations! D’oh!!

We were grateful for the stunning views

Oregon is the land of millions of trees and bridges

We drove around downtown Portland looking for the famous Portland neon sign

Antz and Chris had a bro-date at a soccer game downtown. Story and I drank wine while the girls watched the Spongebob movie. It was a long but epic day.

Away we Go!

May 31, 2014

We arrived in London after a wonderful, fun flight with Virgin Atlantic.

Smell ya later USA!

Ready to fly Antz?

Wait, shouldn’t this say first class?

Liv was so happy to wear her Michael Jackson top *an early birthday gift from her Ninos*

No one would suspect these happy shoes to be naughty

Yay! Time for $5 airport bottled water

That is quite the nose on you airplane

Where are you guys headed?

Is it time to go yet??

Elsa declares it was Princess boarding time

Here’s an important travel tip for your next flight. ALWAYS bring a gift for the flight attendants. I gave ours some fancy chocolates and they were stoked! Guess who was showered with extra in-flight goodies and given special treatment?

These guys!

And Olivia was incredible during the whole flight. She happily chewed her bubble gum *from her Godmommy Aimee* and she wasn’t scared during take off at all. Meanwhile, I had a tad bit of airline anxiety.

Nothing drinks won’t fix, Thanks Johanna!!

Goodbye Malibu!

Liv really enjoyed reading her new Frozen book. She kept herself occupied for most of the flight

Harry & Wills chose the beef stew for dinner

When you order lemonade in the UK, you’re getting a Sprite in disguise

I normally loathe airplane food but Virgin really steps up their service

Time for a Plane Pony Party!

Who’s ready for Europe??!! HELL YEAH!

Sleepy Panda

Woke up just in time to say Hello to Björk’s hometown!

Wow! Glasgow

All the flight attendants loved this kid

Thanks for getting us there safe and sound!

We took the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station. I highly recommend spending the extra $10 for a less stressful and faster option for getting into London.

The train wasn’t crowded at all and we were able to put our luggage on a rack. We zipped into Central London in fifteen minutes.

This was my first time in a London train station, so I was in awe of everything

Paddington Station was so charming, I wanted to stay there for hours taking more photos but we had to rush to pick up our car rental. Holy shit, driving on the left in London was CRAZY!! It really takes some getting used to driving on the left side of the street and I only drove on the wrong side of the street once. A lovely group of guys outside of a pub yelled “WRONG WAY!” just before traffic killed us.

Sunkissis

California born family of three living joie de vie in Paris, France

Tag Archives: travel