We've made full circle...

Back in San Fran, we've literally made full circle...no seriously, on our 1st day we sat in Union Square with our coffees thinking about the trip ahead of us. Today, as you can see from the pic of Michael, we went back to the same spot and looked back on the trip and how quickly it went by. But it was great :)

Today was definitely one of the high points of our time here in California. We drove along the coast, through the famous Big Sur. The pics above show the views we saw from our car and the spot we stopped at for lunch...it was like a giant mezzanine that hung over a cliff overlooking the water. The very last pic is of an entire area of a beach we drove by where seals lay in the sand and sun. They're huge! And they use their flippers to throw sand on themselves, I guess so they can cool off. We sat there and watched them slide in and out of the ocean with the waves crashing them against their giant shiny backs. The total time on the road was about 8 hours. We're a little tired and just looking for a place to have dinner tonight...flight back home tomorrow (which is probably today by the time any of you read this). Thanks again for being with us on our trip...not only did it save us tons in long distance charges cuz we didn't have to call home, it was fun to read your comments.

Tonia & Michael

Pete Sampras & Friends

We decided to skip the beach today to get some last minute touring and shopping done before we leave tomorrow. So we drove to Hollywood Blvd, walked around the Kodak Theatre again and stopped in a few shops. Then we headed to Beverly Hills for lunch at Urth Cafe. As we sat there having our organic vegetable sandwiches with fair trade coffee, Pete Sampras walks by! Now, for anyone who knows Michael, the only Italian kid on his block who played tennis instead of soccer (Vince, that was for you), you know this was probably the single most exciting thing that could happen to him. He must have gotten so starry-eyed that Pete even gave an embarrassed smile! LOL

Then we headed out to Warner Bros Studio for our 2.5 hour tour of various movie sets, stages, pretend cities and streets that we are led to believe are New York or Chicago in movies. Was quite interesting to see. As you can see in the pics above, we hung around the Friends set for a while. We also saw the Two and a Half Men and Ellen Show sets....they actually seem a lot smaller in real life. And, for you real Seinfeld fans (Elizabeth), you should recognize the street shot above...it's where the last episode was filmed and the gang was laughing at the fat guy being robbed. That's obviously just a facade, if you walk through the doors, you'll hit a wall. Oh and an insider tip from our tour guide: Hangover 2 is coming up ;)

So tomorrow, we head back to San Fran...long drive ahead so I'll probably post our last entry (with hopefully some great pics of the coast) late tomorrow night. Then, on the weekend, we'll be home if anyone wants to join us for dinner on our detox diet (cuz we've definitely picked up a little more junk in the trunk here).

Miss you.

The BIG Salad

We were looking for a "lighter" dinner tonight...mostly cuz we've been eating like pigs the past week and we ate a second lunch at 3:30 so we couldn't handle a huge meal. On Sab's suggestion, we looked into Little Door, a French restaurant. But, just next door, there's Little Next Door, which is basically the same chef, resto, concept but more intimate and bistro-ish. So we went next door. We ordered 2 giant salads and the whole time we went on and on about how good it feels to cleanse and not eat meat, pasta, pizza like we've been doing. Then we each ordered desserts and coffees so that went out the window. But the thing about this place is everything is made on the spot: sauces, preserves, marinades, etc. and all produce is local. Actually, most of the restos we've been to only use local produce or sustainable fish...makes you feel better about what you eat I guess :) Oh and we're pretty sure our waitress was just doing this till she gets her big break...she was gorgeous.

Some of you have mentioned how you love our car and how Michael looks in it. I just wanna say that, in this car, with long hair, it's impossible to look good. He looks like a stud (I haven't used that term since high school) and I actually found a tiny bud or twig-like object in my hair at dinner tonight and I don't know how long it's been there. So, I am posting a pic of us in the car, see for yourselves the diff.

Good night.

Tonia

Just keep looking...

Hi everyone, just a couple more days left in LA but we couldn't leave without seeing the famous HOLLYWOOD sign. Thing is, we really thought you could see it from anywhere, like it's the lighthouse to LA. Turns out, not so much. So I Googled the "best spot to see sign from" and it says up on Mulholland Drive, which also happens to be known for the beautiful homes. Anyway, long story short, it took us like an hour to find it and, when we did, we were just so far! I posted some pics (I don't have any way to crop it so look closely and maybe squint a little!)

But that wasn't our entire day! We started out again on the beach and then took a drive down Hollywood Blvd. Above is a pic of the famous Kodak Theatre. Tons of people around here, was chaotic. We stopped at a Script Bookstore, where they had all sorts of old books, movies, posters, etc. of movies and TV shows. I bought a coffee table book on the famous sitcom sets (like the one on Friends, which I think everyone knows and loves) The other pic I posted is of me and Michael at the beach but I had to post it cuz I find it funny that we look like we're naked in this pic :P Bad angle I guess cuz we're wearing bathing suits.

Last night, we ate at Pizza Mozza, was amazing! After that we went to Millions of Milkshakes. I had never heard of this place but Michael read it in an old People mag he found here in our room. Apparently, Kim Kardashian was recently there so I'll let you guess why we HAD to go. It was hilarious to see the look on Michael's face when we got there. It's on Sunset right in the heart of Beverly Hills. Now (and again, we're always learning), can anyone tell me is this the "village" cuz all we saw was bondage and s&m stores and men everywhere? So we finally get in line at M of M and it turns out they have a shake/sundae named after different celebrities....Miley Cyrus, Kardashians, Britney Spears, Heidi & Spencer....the guy at the counter called us "honey" and (this is where Michael turned white and almost dropped his sundae) the guy who handed us our sundae actually had press-on nails on his fingers. They actually looked good! Michael didn't agree with me....

Thanks again for the comments/posts guys, we love hearing from you. We hope you're enjoying our stories as much as we love to see your comments.

ttyl

Tonia

Santa Monica & Malibu...oh yeah and Melrose :)

Thanks for the posts/comments. G/Laura, I've been an avid Hills follower for 4 seasons now but unless it's Audrina herself making a resto recommendation, I need some backup! :)

We've been beach bumming it for the last 2 days and it's so funny how typical it is. I saw a guy surfer today with curly blond hair (a la Casey from American Idol) who yelled "bazooka" as he jumped into the water. LOL Anyway, the pic below is of a house in Malibu at the top of a hill...there were so many like this just scattered throughout the hills as we drove around.

Sorry my pics are mixed up. But this one just below is actually of the famous Santa Monica pier. Before the Hills I loved Three's Company and, for those that are with me on this, you'll recognize this amusement park from when Jack and the girls are in bumper cars in the opening credits. Actually, the true fans will recognize where I'm standing below too...it's the area where Jack falls off his bike to stare at a pretty girl.

This pic just below is the view from our spot on Malibu beach.

Michael's been singing show jingles since we got here. First (obviously) he sang the Three's Company song (Come and knock on my door....we've been waiting for you....) And since we hit Malibu he's been looking for Charlie Sheen (2 and a Half Men) and singing "Dum dum dum dee dum dee dum dum....meeeennnn..." Annoying to say the least. But he stopped long enough to drive me to Melorse avenue. Not as swanky as I expected but I still found a few cute shops and maybe snagged a dress for Laura and G's wedding (No offense to Michael but he says everything looks like it can be worn to a wedding!) I bought it anyway so we'll see... :P

Tonight we're going to a popular pizza place called Mozza. Last night we actually tried this place right in the hills (!!!) called Pace (Peace). It was great. BTW Sab/Fab, you were right (again!) about Cobras. We loved the food. Thanks again.

Miss you all.

Tonia

Pics of where we're staying...

Tonia says: Where do I begin?!

We had a great night in Monterey last night, ate at a great restaurant and woke up really early this morning to start driving to LA. But before we started the famous 17 mile drive (famous strip between Monterey and Carmel, where you'll see some really extravagant homes and Pebble Beach), we stopped at a famous spot in Monterey known as Lovers' Point (the pic of the water/cliff above shows the view) As you can see, it's gorgeous and it's full of people (and lots of couples) just strolling around. At 9am, by the water, you'd really think it's majestic. Apparently, this is a popular spot for couples to propose and some even get married...so guess what we did? We got married AGAIN:) Michael found a minister who married us right there by the water in our shorts and flip flops. Our only witness is the sleeping seal you see in the pic above (I went really close to it to make sure it was breathing)...but we'll have more pics of the "wedding" soon. Cheesy, I know, but hey it's Lovers' Point! So...on to LA! The views and rolling hills to LA are really something. Michael and I didn't speak for hours at a time sometimes just cuz we were enjoying the view and the sunshine coming down on us. (btw it has really warmed up as we head south). We're here in LA and we're staying at a great house (it really is someone's house). She rents out her guest house in the back (see pic above) and it's so quaint and in such a great area. In fact, we were just at Starbucks and saw an actor from the sitcom The Office (she plays Meredith)...she smiled at Michael, which made him stutter as he was trying to order his latte.

I just wanna say that a lot of the places we're seeing, b&b's we're staying at (even the resto we're going to tonight!) have all been amazing and it's thanks to Sab & Fab...I know you guys are reading this so I'm saying: You were so right! Thanks for all your suggestions!

ttyl

Tonia

Tonia says: Long day on the road...but so worth it!

Has anyone ever heard of Geyserville? (Fab, if you're reading this, you're probably the only one who has passed thru this small town!) Anyway, it's about population 500 and the "downtown core" is about the length of Ste Catherine between Drummond and Stanley. So, when we pulled up in front of the ONLY coffee house in town with our 'stang, it felt like everyone was staring at us. We grabbed a quick coffee (Michael got paranoid cuz he said they were watching us...)and hit the road for Sonoma. Yes, it was only 11am and we hit 2 more vineyards....pics above show Michael in front of the Kunde winery and the small house-type pic above that is Blackstone winery. Great wines and the fun part is they sell exclusive wines that are not on the market. The not-so-fun part is we got back to our car and inhaled a bad of Fritos to "absorb the alcohol"....good thing this was our last stop thru wine country. The skies cleared up just in time for us to start out trek along the beautiful coast where, every km or so, there's a small viewpoint or beach (pics above are just a sampling of the views and scenery along the drive). I got a little antsy cuz we had been in the car so long but in retrospect, it's probably the nicest drive I'll ever make. That - and when I started to complain, Michael got pissed off so I shut up :) The very 1st pic at the top is actually right by the inn we're staying at here in Monterey, which is where I'm writing this from. A very small town but still so California. I asked a girl (who looked like she was straight from an episode of the Hills) at a coffee shop if she had any dinner recommendations. She said, "we totally had to, like, try seafood so we like totally should go to Domenicos". I checked online reviews and it apparently sucks so we're driving to a nearby town called Pacific Grove tonight for seafood dinner.

btw we love all the comments and posts you guys have been leaving us. Means so much to be able to show you this as we go along. We hope you're enjoying it as much as we are.

Will write from LA tomorrow (we're there till Tuesday...longer if I meet a celebrity I can stalk)Miss you.

Tonia

PS. Joe C. I love your post. Michael is in denial but he looks so Italian in the 'stang.

Swirl, Smell, and Sip!

Ok, so it's late Wednesday night and I figured I'd update our afternoon events. After the Golden Gate Bridge ride we slowly made our way North to Napa Valley. This is the closest thing outside Italy we've seen that reminded us of Florence, it's really amazing what this area has to offer. We managed to squeeze in 3 different wine tastings, which is probably a good limit given how generous they are with their portions. Rutherford Hill, and the infamous Mondavi Estate (pictured below) were great choices, with the latter offering us the best options. The estates are large and complex, and they seem to spend as much time on their decor as they do on their wine making process. I tried acting like i knew everything about wine tasting, and i appreciated their attempts at seeming impressed at what I had to say! But in the end there was no way for me to tell the difference between the blackberry's, oak, or nutty fruitness that were supposedly in some of the wines! However, trying is a whole lot of fun!!! ;)

After we had sampled a couple of hours, we found a great place to buy some assortments of cheese. bread, and salads. We settled in at Rutherford Hill Estate, a great vineyard high atop a hill that offered us the best view of the day (see pic below). Things were going great for us, but things ended aburptly when I told Tonia that I was ready to go to our B&B so I could take a Nap-pa..........for some reason I got no laughs. Oh well, you win a few, you lose a few!!!

Enjoy the pics, tomorrow we start our treck South to Monterey. Th weather is expected to pick up soon....at least we're hoping!!!

On the road...

Today was our 1st day on the road and it was a great day to be out and about: a little cool but still sunny. So we picked up our convertible (as you can see in the pic above, Michael is extremely happy with the Mustang) and set out for Presidio Park, which is supposed to offer one of the best views of the famous Golden Gate Bridge. As you can see in the pics above, the fog was pretty thick and we were only able to see the tip of the bridge. But we drove "around" it and found a huge parking area that offered a better view (less fog), which is the pic of us both with the bridge in the background. btw the pic of Michael on the bench was taken at Presidio, which has long trails and an amazing view, not just of the bridge. All this by 11am! From there, we hopped on the bridge itself and set out for Napa...more to come (pics included) on that soon...

Tonia

Napa Valley......NOT Calistoga!

Little hiccup, ok possibly a large one! In our hustle of booking hotels earlier on inthe game we managed to book the most incredible B&B we could find.......the only problem is that instead of booking in Napa Valley, we got one in Calistoga. Calistoga is a great area within Wine Country, and it has it's own vineyards up and around, however, it's about 45 minutes north of Napa. So, we've got some extra driving to do this morning.

No biggie, we're heading out to get our car in a few minutes, then it's over tot he Golden Gate Bridge to see what the hype is all about, a short trek in Presidio Park adjacent to the bridge, and we're heading North for Napa.........er, I mean Calistoga!!!

We'll check in later today, and thanks everyone for the comments, we've read them all and they are always fun. And for a certain individual who left us a comment this morning, our meal was clam chowder, not shaving cream! ;)

Michael

The cold and rain didn't affect our day much, in fact, it probably added to the experience of being on The Rock. The pic of Michael above shows him standing at the wharf with The Rock in the background and the one of me is when we're actually on the island looking out at San Francisco. From both sides, it's a spectacular view (even in the rain). To get to the island, you get on a ferry for about 10 minutes. Alcatraz is huge, to say the least...we took a very interesting audio tour that walked us through the cells (the pics above are of Michael actually standing in the solitary confinement cells). You walk through a 1st door, then into the actual cell and it.'s complete darkness. The entire building is old, completely of concrete and metal and the cells are about the size of small walk in closet. I actually couldn't bring myself to stand in any of the cells (the way Michael did), I just found it very uneasy. The audio portion was done by several people who were actually in Alcatraz: a warden and 2-3 of his officers and 3 prisoners who all spoke about their experience. The inmates spoke of what it was like to never have visitors, never come out of their cell (some were only allowed to come out of their cell once a week!)There's actually more to The Rock than just the famous "escape" that most of us have heard of. It was once a military base. Also, it was - after its closure -overtaken by natives who were protesting against US government. And I didn't realize that most of the staff and their families actually lived on the island as well! The island is now considered a National Park and there are strict rules about itws conservation (don't bother the birds, vegetation, etc.)

The pics of us eating are to show what I think is the best clam chowder I have ever tried. Served right by Fishermans Wharf, in a sourdough bread bowl, it was the perfect thing on a cold rainy day.

We ended the day browsing a bookstore called Cityline. It's actually one of the 1st bookstores opened during the "beatnik" generation and it actually looks as though it hasn't changed one bit. It's old, small, there are actually signs everywhere saying, "feel free to sit down and read or browse through books"....you definitely don't see that at Chapters back home. We bought a book with different images of SF cafes and popular hotspots...we had to buy something!

Tonight, we're eating at Pazzia, an Italian resto someone recommended. Tomorrow, we hit the road towards wine country.

Tonia