My oldest BFF Nicole is getting married in August, and she chose Nashville as her bachelorette destination. I was there in October for a nutrition convention and adored the city (the warmth, the Southern hospitality, the slower pace of life,  the cheaper Ubers and drinks, the live music in nearly every bar). Thanks to my hands-on experience, much-needed suggestions from others who had been to bachelorette parties there, tips from locals, my friend Google, and an all-star conglomeration of  ladies,  the 14-girl weekend went off without a hitch. I'll recap the trip from start to finish, and you may find this useful as a resource if you're planning a trip there!

Here's a quick list of where we went (just in case you don't want to read the whole lengthy post!):
Hotel: DoubleTree Nashville Downtown
Activities: Music City Pub Crawl
Bars: ACME Feed & Seed, The Stage on Broadway, Tootsie's, The Red Door Saloon (in Midtown), The George at The George Jones Museum, The Wild Beaver Saloon
Restaurants: Cabana (in Hillsboro Village), Choices at The George Jones Museum, Saint Anejo (in the Gulch)

​Friday
A few of the girls kicked off the weekend early on Thursday, but most of us flew out on Friday. Nicole and I and a few other eager ladies took an early-morning flight. Even with security lines being horrifically long right now, I got through security at Midway Airport in 25 minutes (I was randomly put in the TSA Pre-Check line!). The flight was great, except for when I realized at the baggage claim that my Kindle was still in the seat-back pocket on the plane. Luckily, they found it and kept it safe until I picked it up on the way back home. That was my first time leaving something expensive on a plane, and I hope I never do it again!

Once the Kindle Incident was settled, we split off into separate Ubers (I went with my other BFF Jess who took a 1 AM flight from Los Angeles!) to our hotel. I booked the DoubleTree Nashville Downtown, and it turned out to be a great place to stay. It's centrally-located for tourists (near all of the fun bars on Broadway), and I had a very positive experience with the customer service. I originally booked five rooms (we thought there would be 20 of us at one point), and they had no problem with me cancelling rooms. Three girls stayed in their own Airbnb, so we ended up doing two rooms of four and one room of three. The rooms were spacious enough for all of us and had super comfortable beds. The lobby was also really nice and had a Starbucks in the lobby, which was handy. Since it was a DoubleTree, we also had access to free cookies! COOKIES!!

Our room wasn't ready until about 2:30, so we had a frenzied girl-changing party in the lobby bathroom, put our suitcases in storage, and then walked to ACME Feed and Seed for lunch. This restaurant/bar is located across the street from the river on Broadway and has a lovely rooftop. The staff was also delightful; they allowed our group to move two sets of tables and chairs from the covered, shaded area into the sunny part overlooking the water. We were lucky to get there early, because the restaurant and rooftop filled up quickly. The first thing on the agenda was drinks. Cheers!

We had lunch there and had a fun afternoon with cocktails in the sun. We all forgot sunscreen, so I bought some at the gift shop on the first level. 

Below: The ladies and the Cumberland River

After the hotel called to alert me that our rooms were ready, a few people split off to settle in/take naps. The rest of us walked up Broadway in search of live music. We settled on The Stage on Broadway, which had an awesome country band and a dance floor. It felt like we were at a mini country concert. 

We went to the Tootsie's rooftop after that to meet up with more friends, which was already so crowded that it was hard to move. I decided to go walk back to the hotel, check into our room, and start unpacking. I went to Costco a week before to get snacks for the hotel rooms. I ended up bringing an entire carry-on full of Skinny Pop. Oh my gosh. 

Jess, awake from her nap, and Nicole's sister Sasha helped me put the guest bags together (including Skinny Pop, Annie's fruit snacks, trail mix, mini Altoid mints, and Nicole tattoos[which I will get to later]). We then got ready for dinner while Nicole napped, and then most people went off to dinner while I labored to wake up Nicole and get her ready for the first Nashville night. 

We went to Cabana, which is a haven for bachelorettes visiting Nashville. Although it was a cab ride away (about 10 minutes, closer to the Vanderbilt campus), it was ideal for us. Cabana has intimate seating areas that are perfect for large parties. We had our own TV, music, and attentive server. For extra money, they decorated our cabana with balloons, streamers, fun "scratch-a- dare" bachelorette games, beaded necklaces, and a tiara and sash for Nicole. 

Doesn't she look pretty?

One of Nicole's bridesmaids who couldn't make it to Nashville generously ordered and paid for a few bottles of champagne for the table, so we were pretty much set for drinks for the night!

The food was also great, and our server had no problem with doing separate checks for our group. Talk about good service!

We went to The Red Door Saloon for drinks after dinner (it's really cute- it looks like a big house), but I hit a massive wall during dinner and I called it a night soon after we got there. 

Saturday
We didn't have plans until after 1 the next day, so we slept in until around 8:30/9. Nicole and I decided to go for a three-mile run around the Nashville streets. It kicked my ass. Nicole motivated me to run faster, and there were a whole bunch of hills that were tough. 

I showed off my Team PAWS pride. 

After the run, we prettied up in our hotel room and got ready for the next event: the Music City Pub Crawl. 

For $15 per lady, we got ourselves a private tour that included five different bars with drink specials, a fun tour guide, and trivia. Nicole also got her own personalized cowgirl hat. Fun, yes?

We went to the following bars: Buffalo's (where we ate a quick lunch), Benchmark, Doc Holliday's Saloon, the rooftop bar of the George Jones Museum, and the Wild Beaver Saloon (with karaoke!). The bar crawl was well worth it for the drink specials and our fun tour guide. 

Below, you can sort of see the Nicole tattoos. My sister-in-law had these at her bachelorette party and I had to copy the idea!

After our pub crawl, we all gathered in our hotel room to play bachelorette games. We then headed back to the George Jones Museum for dinner at Choices. We had views of the river, decent bar food,and we once again got separate checks. Most of us called it a night after dinner, because we were exhausted!

Sunday
The next morning, we packed up our things, checked out of our rooms, and took Ubers to Saint Anejo in the Gulch, a neighborhood just south of where we were staying. Although Jess had to take an early-morning flight back to Chicago for her brother's college graduation, she booked us a semi-private room in this restaurant. Our brunch menu included 2-for-1 libations and lots of Mexican-themed brunch fare. I got a blood-orange mimosa (or two) and a breakfast burrito. 

Most of us took evening flights out of Nashville, so we soaked up the hours by sitting in the sunshine and enjoying each others' company. 

All in all, it was a perfect weekend that was fun without hangovers and allowed me to take joy in the simplest things like getting ready with my best friends and dancing around to country music. I wish we could do it all over again! Oh, and I got to go through the TSA Pre-Check line on the way home. What a win!

Finally, here is the last recap!

The picture above is nearly impossible to see, but it says "Minnesota welcomes you" on it. 

On our final day, we started in South Dakota and ended in Chicago. We made it through four states. 

In Minnesota, we saw a lot of windmills and farmland. 

Our two favorite parts of the state was a rest stop in Dakota, Mn called Kwik Trip Stop  (very clean, had lots of good healthy food, etc) and the cannon on the trailer. It was almost Independence Day. 

Along I-90, Minnesota was very flat until we were close to Wisconsin. Then, it didn't feel like we were in the flat Midwest anymore. 

Hello, Mississippi River!

Hello, Wisconsin! It's my favorite welcome sign of the trip. 

From La Crosse, we drove towards Madison. 

We weren't in a hurry, so we detoured onto a more quiet country road so that we could enjoy more green scenery before settling into our urban concrete jungle just one state away from us. 

We stopped in Madison to stretch our legs and eat dinner. We drove around the college campus and then parked near the Capitol Building. We took some pictures, walked around a bit, and ate a quick dinner. 

We easily could have spent a whole day walking around Madison. I haven't been there since my college days. It's a fun, clean, fit city. It's only a few hours away, so I'm hoping that we can go back sometime soon. 

From Madison, we drove east to Milwaukee and then south to the Illinois border. We saw a pretty rainbow on our way. 

In Kenosha, I got super excited as we passed Mars Cheese Castle. It's a tourist trap just north of the Wisconsin border that sells cheese and bakery goods. My oldest brother went to tennis camp in Kenosha way back in the day, and we used to stop there when we visited him. I remember eating the cheesiest grilled cheese sandwiches ever. I also recall that there were knight statues, and there were treasure trolls for sale. I'd usually get an elephant ear for the car ride home. I wonder if Mars is just like I remember it. 

Before I knew it, the sun set on our final day. We were home. 

It was an epic road trip. With Al's car here and everything moved in, I no longer have to share him with another city (or country). It's pretty awesome. 

If you haven't heard already, the weather in Chicago and in many other parts of the US has been whack! We're used to freezing cold temperatures and lots of snow (depending on the year), but it's been snowing almost nonstop since New Years Eve. It stops tonight, and then the temperatures are dropping to 15 below zero (and even lower in the suburbs). Ouch! I've never experienced weather like this, so I plan to stay indoors unless I have to take my friend's dog outside. We've been watching him for a week while she's in Mexico. She's supposed to get back tonight, but flights are getting delayed and canceled left and right. 

Charlie is quite the looker, isn't he? He is absolutely head-over-heels in love with my husband. (I also talked about Charlie here.) 

Back to the January insanity, we have a beautiful deck on the 7th floor of our building. In the summer, residents are out here grilling, drinking, and sunbathing. In the winter, you can look at it from the gym and take pictures of the snow accumulating on it. 

It's beautiful, isn't it?

Now I'll focus on the main topic of this post: the South Dakota recap. If I can't be in warmer weather, I can vicariously live through myself in my memories. 
Here are earlier road trip recaps:
Part I
Part II
Part III

We entered South Dakota in the late morning of our third day. Soon, we were within sight of the Black Hills that is home to two tourist attractions: the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore. I was excited to see them, even though I heard bad reviews from people who had been there before us. 

Custer is the oldest town in the Black Hills and located near the attractions. As soon as we saw the sign, we knew we were close. 

We saw Crazy Horse just as we left Custer. We could have driven right by it if we didn't know to look for the shape of a man's head in the side of a mountain. 

The mountain carving began in 1948 and, if it's ever completed, will resemble a famous Native American warrior riding a horse that will be much taller than Mt. Rushmore. Even mid-completion, it looks awesome.  

If you look closely at the photo below, you can make out the sketching on the rock where the horse's head is supposed to be. 

We paid $20 to park at the museum and get a better look of the enormous structure, but we both agreed that we would have gotten just as much out of pulling over to the side of the road and taking pictures for free. For our $20, we were able to go into a stuffy museum with bathrooms, a video to watch if we wanted to go into the theater, and a giant glass window where we could get a closer picture of Crazy Horse (posted above). We also could have taken a bus to the bottom of the mountain for an additional fee, but we already felt like we paid enough. I feel a little bad that we didn't take the time to learn about Crazy Horse and the memorial, but we had a lot of driving to do. 

We got back in the car and navigated the hills to find Mt. Rushmore. Luckily, it wasn't hard with the signs. 

After our Crazy Horse experience and hearing over and over again that Mt. Rushmore was "overrated', we didn't feel like paying to park the car and dodge other tourists to get a few photos. We probably could have parked on the side of the road further down the hill and walked up too (although it could have been dangerous with all of the cars driving quickly around the bends), but we decided against it. Instead of leaving our car, I snapped a bunch of photos from the passenger's seat while Al drove by and turned back around a few times. We got some decent photos, too. 

Mt. Rushmore was pretty neat to see in the flesh, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it unless I was doing a road trip. I always imagined it being gigantic, but it's much smaller than Al and I expected. I'm glad to say that I have seen it, though. 

On our way out of the park, we went through some crazy Western touristy town that was packed with tacky-looking restaurants. It  looked like a blast, but we had to keep going. 

We ate lunch at McDonald's somewhere near Rapid City (hey, if you get your stuff grilled, ask for light sauce, skip the fountain drink, and split the side of fries with your road trip companion, McDonald's isn't so terrible for ya) and then drove east to the Badlands. We were stoked to see this place. 

The Badlands is a national park in rural South Dakota. I only heard of it last year when a family member mentioned it to me. It's surrounded by flat grassy farmland, which explains why we were so shocked when we set our eyes on these rock formations. 

In parts of the park, I felt like we were visiting a mini Grand Canyon. 

(I didn't pack enough daytime comfy clothes, in case you noticed that I've worn this outfit before.)

We took our time driving around the Badlands Loop, which is just a small paved part of the park that allows you to see the sights in just a few hours. We got out of the car at almost every stopping point and snapped pictures. 

These rock formations are unbelievable. I'm not a geology buff by any means, but it would be fascinating to learn in depth about how these came to be. 

With the panorama feature on my iPhone camera, I was able to get some pretty sweet pictures. 

After the Badlands, we made our last stop for the night in Oacoma, South Dakota. 

Oacoma sits right on the Missouri River. After we checked into our hotel, we drove over the bridge into Chamberlain to grab a bite to eat. 

We didn't see anywhere we wanted to eat in Chamberlain, so we crossed back over the bridge and went to Al's Oasis next to our hotel. It has the same name as Al, and it looked inviting (and tacky). 

It was a cute little place to shop for touristy things and pick up some groceries, but the restaurant wasn't very exciting. It was one of those eateries where, by the look of it, you only want to order "safe" things on the menu. I think I got a turkey sandwich or something. We were in and out of there, and then we went to bed. 

We didn't have far to go the next day before we got to the South Dakota/Minnesota border. We started by crossing over the river for our last time.

We passed some random but interesting statue on the highway. I have no clue what its purpose is. 

Our last stop of South Dakota was also a pleasant surprise. I was looking for attractions in Sioux Falls while browsing on my phone, and I learned that there's a waterfall that goes through the center of town. It had great reviews on tripadvisor.com, so we checked it out. 

We were pleasantly surprised! After paying to see all of these natural attractions, it was nice to see a big rocky waterfall going through the middle of a green park in a Midwestern town for free. 

The reviews warned us that it might smell bad, and they were right. From what I remember, there's a meat plant near the park that makes the air reek if the wind is blowing a certain way. Although it smelled like a rancid dead animal, Falls Park was very enjoyable. 

We just breathed through our mouths. 

That's all for South Dakota. I have one more recap to do!

Let the adventures continue! If you're just tuning in, I'm recapping an epic road trip that Al and I did over the summer. I had a draft of a post saved from July or August, and then school happened. Whoops. Recapping this may be the most fun I've had in months (besides the trip that Al and I took to the Shedd Aquarium on Sunday), so I'm just going with the flow and seeing where these posts will take me. 

Wyoming con't
We left Yellowstone National Park and drove east to a town called Cody. We originally hoped to see Montana too, but we realized that we'd probably need to add another day to our trip to do it. I have a feeling that we'll get there sooner than later. 

Our drive to Cody provided us with continuous views of jagged mountains, rushing rivers, log cabins to rent, and some awesome cloud formations. We passed Buffalo Bill State Park just six miles away from our stopping point, and we paused to take pictures. The rain had just stopped, and the sun was starting to peek behind the clouds.  

Then, we drove to Cody. 

We didn't know much about Cody other than the fact that it was in a convenient location to stop for the night and that the town has the same name as my parents' awesome dog Cody. If you've read my blog in the past, then you have seen lots of photos of him. For that reason alone, I was excited to go there.  

It turns out that Cody, Wyoming is named after Buffalo Bill (his full name was William Frederick Cody), who founded the town. Since it's located at the gateway of Yellowstone, many tourists stay there or pass through on their way to or from the park. If you stand in the middle of the town, you might imagine a wild west shoot-out that you see in old western movies. You could imagine cowboys on their horses passing through, in their boots with spurs. In fact, they do a re-enactment of a shoot-out every summer! We also learned quickly that Cody loves the rodeo. We passed the stadium, called Stampede Park,  just as we entered the town. It was packed with people.  

We checked into our hotel and walked into the main part of town to explore and eat dinner. 

We ate dinner at Adriano's Italian Restaurant, which had Italian food with a western flare. There were cowboy decorations all over the walls. We sat in a little nook by the window, and I got a glass of wine for $3. I'm lucky to find a glass of wine in Chicago that costs as low as $6, so I was pretty pumped (I have yet to develop a sophisticated wine palate). When we were done eating, we wandered into a souvenir shop  and bought a few T-shirts, a hoodie, and a mug. We then walked back to our hotel and crawled into bed. We were exhausted. By the way, the bear that you see in the picture above was outside of our hotel, and it scared the crap out of some dog walking past it (our hotel was dog-friendly, so there were lots of them around the property). The dog kept barking at it. Cody obviously likes bears, too. 

With our alarm off at 6 the next morning, we once again hit the road early and drove straight east. We weren't sure what to expect on our way to South Dakota, but we did get some surprises. Like our drive into the foothills of the Rockies, we came across some more tiny towns. 

Then, the green grassy mountains turned into this: 

We were suddenly driving through a rocky canyon that reminded me of somewhere in Arizona. We were entering Bighorn National Forest. It was another unplanned, unexpected treat. 

Shell Falls reminded of me of McKenzie Falls in the Grampians in Victoria, Australia. It was definitely worth it to drive through this forest and to get these pictures. 

Wyoming is a gorgeous state. 

Although I knew that the land would inevitably flatten out, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach as we approached the eastern border of the state. When I could no longer see the mountains in the rear- view or side mirrors, I had to angle my body and press my left cheek against the window so that I could catch the last glimpses of the majestic Rocky Mountains behind us. Rockies, we will be back.  

That's all for Wyoming! South Dakota is coming up next. 

Wyoming
As we made our way into northwest Wyoming, I thought of two things. First, I never wanted to leave this place. The world around me looked too beautiful to be real. It was like we were in an enchanted wonderland that you read about in fantasy novels. The peaks of the mountains. The piercing blue sky. The rushing river below us. I didn't even want to blink, because even closing my eyes for a second dampened this sensory experience for me.

That brings me to the second thought: I was happy that I wasn't driving. Al was kind enough to drive for the entirety of the road trip. My eyes were still very dry from my LASIK surgery, and I worried that the air blowing in my face from the air conditioner  would make me blink constantly. I ended up being fine in the car, but Al seemed content with driving even when I offered to do it. I was a great passenger though; I navigated (using both our GPS and "old-school" maps when all signals failed), fed Al chips, took about 800 photos from start to finish, and changed the radio station when it sounded fuzzy. Not surprisingly, this trip made us really like country music. There was lots of that on the radio. But back to the whole not driving thing, I was glad that I could focus all of my attention on staring at things and taking the occasional photo that could never give justice to seeing everything with my own two LASIK-enhanced eyes. 

We did Wyoming in two days. It was the highlight of my trip, and it pained me to leave the state. On the first day, we wove along the Snake River and stopped in Jackson for lunch. The town was clean, smelled of fresh mountain air, and I wanted to move there. Or maybe I just wanted to stay there for a night so that we could walk around and experience the nightlife of this adorable little touristy town that heavily appealed to me. The downtown was full of buildings that had a sophisticated, classy Old Western look that I always associate with Colorado. 

We had little sneak peeks of the Rockies on our way into Jackson, but we were far away. We mostly saw lots of big, grassy mountains. After lunch at Quizno's, we drove through the main street in town en route to Grand Teton National Park. We were glamoured by the quaint appeal of the town and were probably obsessing over it so much that we both gasped out loud when we turned a corner and saw this:

The Rocky Mountains. They are pretty damn big, so we were surprised that they came out of nowhere. Very slick, Mountains. Very slick. 

We drove a bit longer until we made it to the gate of Grand Teton National Park. We decided to go to the park last-minute, and I was trying to use every bit of my dwindling cell phone signal that I had to tell my parents that we were going there. They've been there so many times and absolutely love it, and I wanted them to be proud of me for making the decision to go (they were proud). 

This photo that I took at the gate is hands-down one of my favorite photos from our trip. I don't have much to say about it, other than the fact that it makes me feel proud to be an American. It just has that effect on me. I see the flag, the motorcycles, the mountains, the blue sky, and I hear Bob Seger playing in my head. It just happens. 

We paid our admission fee (I can't remember how much it cost, but it was for both Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone and I think was valid for a few days) and made it through with my amazing navigation skills. 

I made sure that we stopped at Jenny Lake, because it was a place that I had always wanted to see since the day that my parents brought me back a postcard with a picture of the lake on it. Of course, I liked the name of it. I still had no clue how magnificent this lake was until I saw it. It was much bigger than I imagined, and it was very quiet and peaceful despite all of the tourists taking pictures around it. It was just....stunning. 

After Jenny Lake, we got back into the car and drove north into Yellowstone National Park. Conveniently, one park flows right into the other. We still went through a checkpoint and got a new map, but that was about it. 

Al made sure that I knew how creepy I was for taking a picture of a family I didn't know. I just wanted to get the sign. 

We didn't see much of Yellowstone. I actually never realized the enormity of the park. It spreads out over three states (Wyoming, Idaho, Montana), although 96% of it is in Wyoming. We cut along the Yellowstone Lake and exited on the east end of the park. Even though we saw a small portion of the park, it still took us a while to get through it. The roads seemed more narrow and heavily wooded than Grand Teton National Park. 

We spotted a moose and a buffalo. They're clearly used to human presence, because they didn't seem fazed by us. 

Buffalo head/buffalo butt:

After what seemed like a long time of driving through forest, we saw open mountain views again. Then, we reached the Yellowstone gate. 

I was sad to leave. 

I was planning to do all of Wyoming in one sitting, but I underestimated the details of my trip that I wanted to share. I'll pick up next time where I left off!

I just found this draft that I never finished from over the summer! This is way old!

I flew to Napa at the end of June (on my birthday, actually), and Alastair and I drove his car to Chicago a few days later for his big move across the country. He was working for the same company he worked for in Australia in Napa (remember how we lived separately for a long time?), and he moved to Chicago for good in July to live with me. 

The road trip took about 4 days, and it was one of the coolest things we've ever done. We made sure to take our time and see the country. Instead of just trekking east on I-80, we wove north after we reached Salt Lake City and then went east again. It was seriously an amazing trip, and I'm so glad that I took A MILLION  photos from the car. Here's a state-by-state recap. 

California
We spent a few days wining and dining in Napa before packing up the car and leaving. It was great to relax and take the time to explore the town while Al was at work, and I got to meet some of his work friends before he said goodbye to them.  

We left Napa on the first day of our road trip and headed east to Lake Tahoe. 

Nevada
Soon after we crossed the border in Lake Tahoe, we witnessed a drastic change in vegetation. The world around us changed from pine trees and mountains, that are undoubtedly snow-peaked in the winter, to the desert. Trees became more scarce, and the lands of green grass and lakes turned into parched redness.
We immediately went through Carson City,  and then we drove straight across the state in a day. There wasn't much to see, but we were amused by the abundance of casinos and lack of sales tax. 

Idaho
On Day 2, we made our way north from Salt Lake City to the Idaho border. We could have stayed on I-80 and taken that all the way to Chicago, but we also wanted to see Yellowstone National Park and thought that we might as well visit Mt. Rushmore. We weren't sure what would ever bring us to South Dakota again. Plus, I had never been to Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, or Minnesota (or Utah) before. Al was more than happy to tick those states off with me. I've already driven through Nebraska and Iowa before on the way back from Colorado, so it was wonderful to tread on new territory. 

Unlike Nevada, the land going north was green. The highway passed through some suburbs as we left Salt Lake City, and then we were in Farm Country. Much of our drive was like that through northern Utah and Idaho. We turned east at Idaho Falls and snaked our way towards the Rocky Mountains. We went through tiny towns in the foothills, and although we were delayed by construction on the country roads (the workers stopped us for up to 20 minutes to let oncoming traffic pass through since the roads were single lanes in some places) and there was a complete lack of cell service, it was well worth it to see these places. We could tell that some of these teeny towns were dirt poor, but we could not believe the natural beauty that we saw around us. Soon, we found the Snake River. Wide-eyed and ears popping, we drove along it into the steadily increasing elevation until we reached Wyoming. 

More recaps to come!

Today was my first day back at school. While it's nice to be back and see friendly faces, I know that this is going to be some of the busiest 4 to 5-ish months of my life. I know that the week of Valentine's Day, for example, that I have at least four exams. It's to be expected when you're taking 21 hours, but I am already looking forward to the end of my first week of May.

I got back from California on Wednesday. It was a very relaxing week. I read 2.5 books, watched the first season of Downton Abbey, and spent some quality time with Al. We drove around Napa Valley on Saturday (I only half-jokingly told Alastair to keep his job in Napa while I stay in school so that I can move there after I graduate, because the scenery is so exquisitely beautiful), and then we ventured to San Francisco on Sunday. Our first stop (and the only place I really took pictures) was Alcatraz (I almost just wrote "Azkaban"- the Wizard prison from Harry Potter. Seriously.). Alcatraz was a maximum-security prison from the 1930's until the middle of the 60's. It's located on an island, and the only way to get there is by boat. As you can imagine, it can make for quite an eerie setting. I went there when I was 9, and I couldn't wait to see it again as an adult. 

For an especially scenic drive, we entered the city via the Golden Gate Bridge. 

We parked over by Fisherman's Wharf, grabbed an early lunch at Pier 39, and then we waited in line for the ferry to take us over to Alcatraz. The quick ferry ride was very visually-appealing, including views of the harbor, the city skyline, and some bridges and little islands that I can't name. I wondered if I would enjoy a commute like this every day. I don't mean that I would want to go to a prison every day, but just a ferry commute in general. It seems so much more relaxing than a train, a car, or a bus. 

Before long, we were free to explore the island. 

Just like the last time I went, we did the audio tour of the prison house. The tour was exactly the same, and it was great. It's very informative, and it doesn't supply you with superfluous information that results in boredom. The headphones and cassette player are also free. The only Alcatraz fare that we paid was for the ferry.

As to be expected, we saw a lot of tiny jail cells. 

The inmates had a somewhat large recreation area. They could complain about their jail cells until the cows come home, but they couldn't complain about their views from the recreation yard. I'm sure the outdoor time was the best time of the day for many of the inmates. 

Once we finished the tour, we got the next ferry back to the city. 

We got back in the car and drove around Golden Gate Park, which is located on the northwest side of the city. When we got through to the other side, we saw the ocean. We parked the car and walked north to a lookout point at the Cliff House, which is a famous restaurant with uninterrupted ocean views. We could not believe how pretty it was. San Francisco is a stunning city. 

We then went to my cousin's apartment and grabbed dinner with him and his fiance. They are getting married in June in Mexico, and I am already ready to go there!

The rest of my trip revolved around being lazy while Al was at work. Now that I'm back, I'm glad that I lounged around and took some time for myself. I needed some calm before the chaos. 

Even if I can't do long posts, I am going to try my best to post some short recipes. I won't have much time to cook, so my weekly meals will be easy and healthy. I'm not going to resort to microwave and take-out meals. Otherwise, I have no right to lecture busy people on healthy eating!