4th of July Celebration

We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! A bit late getting these pictures posted, but guess better late than never :) We went to visit Stef's family in Wisconsin for the 4th of July weekend. Here were a few pictures we took of the festivities that weekend. Mostly we swam and enjoyed being outside. There was a cookout on the 4th and then a large fireworks display in the front yard. Friends Damon and Brenda from Atlanta were also there. It was wonderful to see everyone and catch up. We didn't take very many pictures, but here were a few.

Brenda, Damon and Todd

Todd and brother Bob... they have a constant battle between Bud Light and Miller Lite. Here Bob was delivering a new keg and had his Miller Lite "delivery" shirt on.

Stef and Todd enjoying a beautiful day

Brother Bob

Where the Journey Begins... San Diego!

Stef was sent to San Diego with her co-worker Leah to present a hospital program at a conference. We decided to extend the time there and see more of the state of California. We stayed at a nice hotel right on Harbour Island in San Diego. There was a lot to see, but here are some pictures of some of what we did. We would highly recommend visiting this city! It is beautiful.

Sunset we saw one evening at Ocean Beach where we met Todd's cousin Ken and his family for dinner.

Here's a picture of all of us at dinner.

We made some time to head out to some of the wineries in the Temecula Valley area. Wilson Creek was on the list because we gave their Almond Champagne as gifts at our wedding. The place was family owned and had Golden Retriever's running around.

Downtown San Diego in the background

The U.S.S Midway aircraft carrier is docked in San Diego and is now a museum. We toured it and here is Todd sitting in a pilot seat of a fighter plane.

Here's the flight deck. The entire ship was enormous!

Had to place this picture on here. These are the nets that caught the guys working on the deck when the carrier was in service. Now they have a chain link fence around the perimeter, but back then this was IT!

The above two phots were of us in Balboa Park. We found this really neat area that was full of these weird looking cacti.

Picture of the Harbor taken from our hotel room

Having dinner with Leah and Shaun in the Gaslamp District of San Diego

Behind us are barrels where red wine is kept and fermented. This was also in Temecula

Second Stop... San Francisco

From San Diego we flew to San Francisco where we spent two nights and three days. It was VERY cold there! It was the wind that was so cold. We were expecting cool, but not winter jacket weather which is what we had the first 2 days. We actually broke down and bought tourist fleece because we were so cold. We mainly enjoyed Fisherman's Wharf, toured the Haight & Ashbury area and of course went to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf

Todd at the bottom of Lombard Street, aka "The Crookedest Street"

Here we were at the park at the opposite end of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was really spectacular to see the views of San Francisco from the bridge. We even saw a helicopter tour fly underneath the bridge.

This picture shows how large the bridge is when you are on top of it.

Walking the bridge

Having dinner at Fisherman's Wharf with Alcatraz in the back ground

We took several cable car rides since that and taxi's are the best way to get around.

At the Pier w/Alcatraz in the back ground

Fisherman's Wharf was packed the day we arrived because it was Memorial Day weekend.

This is a pretty good shot of Alcatraz. We decided not to take the tour because it was so cold.

Muir Woods Monument

Driving from San Francisco to Napa we stopped at the famous Muir Woods Monument to see some real Redwoods. It was quite impressive. We hiked one of the trails and just enjoyed the weather. It was finally warming up! We have tons more pictures than this, but these give you and idea of what we saw.

As we climbed one of the mountains heading toward the park, we pulled over to get this shot. It was absolutely beautiful!

Todd being a daredevil

The Redwoods... this just shows the height some of the trees had.


This was us getting our picture standing inside one of the Redwood tree trunks.

This picture really shows the size of these trees. They are HUGE!

Todd looking at a map and navigating our way around.

Napa Valley, CA

We spent 3 days and 3 nights in Napa Valley, which was by far our FAVORITE stop! We stayed with Stef's 3rd cousin, Barbara and her husband Bill on their ranch. They took us to all kinds of really amazing wineries and also toured us around the area. For some reason the pictures weren't loading properly and we couldn't get them all on here, but these are a few to give you an idea of the beauty. We can't wait to go back one day.

View of Napa Valley and some of the vineyards

This is where we stayed, Barbara and Bill's home. Morgan Ranch. It was just charming.

Here we are in front of an art sculpture at Cliff Lede Winery. Barbara and Bill are with us here. They sell their Sauvignon Blanc grapes to this winery, which is what we bought several bottles of to bring home :)


Todd in the vineyards at Robert Mondavi's Winery

Napa Valley in the back, we took this shot at the Silverado Winery.

Last Stop... Los Angeles!

Our last stop before heading home was in LA. We only had a couple of days but we were able to see a lot. We went to the Warner Brother Studios and took their VIP back lot tour. Saw sets and background for films and tv shows such as: Without a Trace, Cold Case, ER, Two and a Half Men, The Chronicles of Sarah Conner, Million Dollar Baby, Friends and many more. We also walked Hollywood Blvd and Rodeo Drive. We didn't see any movie stars, but we were definitely watching faces to make sure we didn't miss anything!

These two pictures were taken outside of Warner Brother's Studios

Georgo Clooney's hand and foot prints outside of Graumann's Chinese Theater

The stars were really hard to capture clearly in pictures because of the sun but here is Todd knelt down by Motley Crue's star.

Graumann's Chinese Theater

Even though the show is not done, WB preserved the Central Perk set that was used in the show Friends. It was so neat to see! This is the actual couch they used to sit on. The said the only thing that wasn't original on the set now is Phoebe's guitar, because she took it with her when the show ended.

More of the Friends set...coffee anyone?

This was one of many cars used in the filming of the Dukes of Hazard

This was very cool. This is the outdoor set they use to film ER. It is very realistic and you can even walk into the door about 20 feet and then after that is when they cut the scenes and film in the indoor sets. There are ambulances, cop cars, even the Chicago El train tracks just beyond this picture. Very neat!

Viva Rodeo!

The two of us in Hollywood

Outside the Kokak Theatre where American Idol just finished taping and also where the Acadamey awards are presented each year.