San Diego, Las Vegas and Boulder Vacation Highlights

Aloha Steemit friends,

Chad and I just returned from our first real vacation in over 2 years...and it was glorious!

We even left our laptops at home so we wouldn't be tempted to work.

We used our Southwest airline miles to book our flights to and from San Diego, and I think we paid $60 on top of that.

We stayed in an Air B n B a block from the beach in Ocean Beach. Btw, Here's $30 off your first stay with Air B n B.

We used Uber, Lyft and friends to get around. We lived in San Diego in 2014 so we have lots of friends there.

Ocean beach is pretty walkable. There are tons of shops, restaurants, beaches and surf spots. I probably walked 60 miles while we were there, from Friday to Tuesday.

My favorite thing about Ocean Beach is all the dogs. They even have a beach called Dog Beach, where hundreds of dogs frolic happily.

I'm a pet sitter so I am in love with dogs. I stopped by an adoption event to give extra love to the homeless pets. I was so tempted to take this guy home with me...

Chad got to go surfing with his friends. I preferred to stay on dry land where it is warm. The water is beautiful but super cold.

Here's Chad at sunset cliffs...

Me and Mandie preferred to stay on warm, dry land.

Chad also got to try out Damian's Boosted Skate Board...

Aside from catching up with friends and hanging out at gorgeous beaches, we ate tons of good food.

For breakfast we love Tiki Hut and Sunshine Smoothie, Daybreak (a Hawaiian themed restaurant). We ate tons of Mexican food for lunch (Mike's Taco Club).

On my 35th birthday, we at at Trilogy in La Jolla, a vegan place that does not taste vegan. I mean that in a good way!

For dinner we had Tender Greens, one of my favorite fast casual places. And this is definitely not vegan but we ate icecream sandwhiches at The Baked Bear...yum!

We also had a Bonfire on the beach. I took dozens of selfies with my friend's dog, Lew, while waiting for everyone to arrive.

Viva Las Vegas

We rented a car on Tuesday and drove to Las Vegas.

Or rather, Chad drove while I tried not to die. I had food poisoning...complete with the chills, shivering, nausea, and all that stuff you don't want to have when you are on a 5 hour drive.

Miraculously, every time I REALLY needed a bathroom we found one.

I prayed for a hotel room with a bath tub, because I also had a muscle spasm from sleeping weird.

The angels were on my side...the standard non-smoking room we booked due to my allergy to smoke was not available, so we got a free upgrade to the executive suite!

It had 2 bathrooms!

I slept for a few hours in our wonderful hotel. I could have stayed there for 2 days and been cool with that, except my friend was getting married and I didn't want to miss it.

I forced myself to eat rice and drink ginger ale. I willed myself to feel better. I'm pretty sure the luxury suite revived me.

We hung out with friends and gambled after they went to bed.

I lost 20 bucks and Chad won 10 bucks.

I didn't take any pics of Las Vegas itself (besides our room and our friends) because I was too overwhelmed by all the people, noise and smoke. It's basically an introvert's nightmare.

Did I mention I don't drink alcohol?

We did find a nice Kona Grill restaurant there and we loved Cirque Du Soliel.

On Thursday, we flew to Colorado.

Colorado was totally our cup of tea, specifically Boulder and Breckenridge.

We loved the mountains, which reminded us of where we live (Asheville, NC).

Did you There are YELLOW pine trees?! Check it out...

And since I got my appetite back, we ate at some really good places, including Breweries.

Honestly, my favorite place to eat was called Root Down. It was at the airport!

Since I was on vacation, we did partake in what Colorado is known for now ;)

I even let Chad drive us up a SUPER steep mountain with no guard rails and HUGE drops on each side. Not while high of course!

Check out the video:

Breckenridge is a cool town, with tons of shops and places to eat. Also there is skiing there.

It is not ski season, but it totally started to snow!

I took a video of the snow:

We were sooo not dressed for snow.

Luckily when we went back to Boulder it was a balmy 80 degrees.

Chad thinks he is so cool with a beard...

After 3 days of walking around and eating, we decided to visit Cinebarre, a dine-in movie theater.

I didn't really care for the Cesar salad I had (it tasted like Big Mac sauce), but Snowden is a wonderful movie. I was glued to my seat the whole time.

I had to let myself "acclimate" to West Coast time in order to drive the 4 hours home from the airport in Georgia that our direct flight required, according to Chad, who is never allowed to book our flights again.

We got home at 4 am Sunday.

So there you have it, our vacation in a nutshell. Hope you liked the photos and videos. Next vacation we are going back to Hawaii. :) <3