Where in America are Lori and Brian?: March 2009

Sunday, March 22, 2009

San Diego Zoo!

So much fun! We headed to the zoo yesterday and it was a great day. Here are some of my favorite pics from the day!

Meerkats...who us? What did we do?

Love the momma! There were 2 2-year-old gorillas that we watched love on their moms for quite awhile.

Gao Gao, the male panda. He was very busy chomping away on some bamboo. They have 4 pandas. The 2 younger sister were hidden and the male and female were separated. Apparently the female is getting ready to go into heat again and they are preparing to mate the pandas again.

Feeding the giraffes! This was awesome b/c you got to get so close and pet them a little. The giraffe at the top of the largest they had and boy was he a pig...he kept trying to take the biscuit I was feeding the other giraffe, so here I am talking to him telling him to stay away and not be such a pig! Brian also fed the giraffes and got slobbered on big time....he-he!

BNP Paribas Open

We went to the semi-finals of this tournament Friday night...our first time watching tennis pros. We watched a men's doubles match with Andy Roddick and Marty Fish...they won.

Andy Roddick's behind. The best parts of the match were when he got more than a little angry with the umpire and was yelling and at one point threw his racket.

We then watched a women's match with Ana Ivanovic who won the tournament last year. She also won this match. We stayed for most of another men's doubles match with the Bryan brother playing.

Joshua Tree National Park

We hung out with Jenna in Joshua Tree National Park last weekend. Other than all the Joshua Trees there were rocks, rocks, and more rocks. It truly felt like we were the Flintstones living in Bedrock. These were all formations that were underwater thousands of years ago.

Arch rock...aptly named!

The Joshua Tree...they are everywhere and this is the only place they grow. Interesting tidbit...this is not a tree at all, but a plant. It branches each times it reproduces and when it gets too top heavy they just fall over b/c there is no wood to hold it up. Thanks for the info Jenna!

The mountain with the little bit of remaining snow in the background above is San Jacinto Mountain in Palm Springs. Even more interesting here is that the small range of hills you can see in the haze just under the mountains is the San Andreas Fault line.

Ahhh...relaxing after a very long hike! Brian thought the rock formations in the distance looked like fossilized dinosaur poop!

Palm Springs Tram Ride

This is from the Aerial Tram Ride in Palm Springs that take you to the top of San Jacinto Mountain on a rotating cable car. It's about 2.5mi up from it's base. Up, up and away!

This was really a crazy day. We layed out by the pool during the day, then hiked through the snow at the top of the mountain later in the afternoon/evening!

The moon was beautiful! After hiking around we had dinner in the restaurant at the top that overlooks Palm Springs.

Palm Springs Apartments

This was our apartment at Villa Alejo...it was like the Melrose Place gone back in time! Our aparement had decor from pretty much every era from the 60's to now...including a floor model TV (the kind in the wooden box) in the bedroom!

This is our courtyard with palms, pool, and jacuzzi...this is really what reminded me or Melrose Place. This building is quite historic though and was apparently the place to stay back in the day. The Kennedy's and Marilyn Monroe were on the list of those who stayed here.

This is the apartment we just moved into in Cathedral Canyon Country Club...we are now living in a very senior citizen version of Caddyshack! The apartment is nice though and much more updated than Villa Alejo.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Disneyland

We ventured over to Disneyland for my Happy Birthday celebration...I even got to wear an "It's My Birthday" button all day. And they really do wish you a Happy Birthday ALL DAY! Upon arriving, we walked around the front garden area and onto Main Street. This is when I stopped dead in my tracks and said, "That's it?!" I was referring to Sleeping Beauty's Castle. This was not a statement of excitement, but a very serious exclamation of disappointment. Sleeping Beauty's Castle is more than a little on the small side compared to Cinderella's Castle. I'm thinking Sleeping Beauty definitely got the shaft. If I would her I would be demanding a remodel...Extreme Makeover Princess Style!

Flying with Dumbo!

We got to meet Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore!

Mickey's new assistant!

Hanging out with Brian's new boss. This is Brian's dream job...order flowers for Minnie, take Pluto for a walk, stop at grocery store to stock up on cheese, then play the rest of the day at the Happiest Place on Earth!