Moving and a Mini-Retirement

Ricky and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Utah, and wish you a happy holiday season!

We have been so behind on our blog posts for some reason. I guess there has been a lot going on lately! For those of you who don't know, we quit our jobs and went on a pretty big vacation/mini-retirement (Here's the announcement video we made to share the news with people). We had both been working really hard at under-staffed jobs and were just really burnt out. I loved my job at the beginning, but it was just time to move on. I was definitely taking work home with me. And Ricky was working like 70-hour work weeks!  Work was literally taking over our lives. So, we needed a vacation. Plus, we wanted to move to San Diego! So we did!

We moved to San Diego shortly after quitting our jobs, we got a little settled, and then headed off on a long vacation. We went to Miami, boarded a cruise ship for our first time, traveled with Norwegian Cruise Line to Key West, Florida and to Nassau, Bahamas. We were supposed to have two more ports but Hurricane Dorian caused our port in Freeport to be cancelled, and the port at Norwegian's private island Great Stirrup Cay was also cancelled. That cancellation was due to the inability to be tendered to the island from the ship because of the wind (Norwegian, you need a dock on your island!). That was REALLY disappointing! We even arrived at the island and saw it and noticed how fun and awesome it would be, and then they announced it was too windy to tender people to the island. We were so sad! But the "at sea days" were actually pretty fun! They had all sorts of activities going on all throughout the day. And yummy food! We loved the food! It was our favorite part! Being on a ship in the ocean and not seeing any land around you is a bit scary, but we were never toooo far out in the ocean (compared to some other cruises where you're at sea for days). It was a good first cruise experience, and we definitely want to go on another cruise again sometime! It is a great way to travel and actually more affordable than I ever thought before I actually looked into it.

Anyway, after the cruise, we flew over to Orlando to experience Disneyworld and Universal Studios Florida. Those were fun! We did a day at Epcot, a day in Animal Kingdom, and a day in Universal Studios. That was definitely enough for us for one trip, but we do want to come back and do the rest of Disneyworld one day!

After Florida, was a stop at my family's home in Utah for a little rest and family time. We also went with my family to Park City! It was so cold, but so fun! After 80-90 degree humid Florida weather, snow in Park City was a bit of a shock to our bodies. Ricky actually was sick with a cold for awhile (which I think he caught in Disneyworld), but luckily we could get a lot of rest in Utah.

From Utah, we flew back to San Diego for just a night, and then walked across the border using the bridge to the Tijuana airport early the next morning. We went with Ricky's friend Fernando and Fernando's brother. We could not have done this trip without them because we literally understood like less than 5% of what anyone said to us. Fernando translated EVERYTHING for us, and Fernando's brother rented a car and drove us all over which was awesome! But traffic was an actual nightmare!!! Traffic in Mexico City is the worst traffic any of us had ever been in!!! It was horrible! Other than that, it was a good trip and fun to see the sights. We saw the Pyramids of Teotihuacan, went to Six Flags Mexico with our Six Flags passes, went to the museum of anthropology, and did a canal ride in Xochimilco. It was fun, but we were all so excited to come back to the states. Our Airbnb didn't really have hot water, so we were excited for hot showers again. Plus, we were sick of the traffic.

Mexico City was the last leg of our big trip, and then we rested awhile and did some work and renovations on our house in San Diego. We haven't quite started new jobs yet, so we drove to Utah for Thanksgiving. Since Ricky was sick during our last time in Utah, we packed this Utah trip full! We caught up with so many friends and family! It was awesome! And it snowed a lot, so that was fun! It was a wonderful trip, but too short. We had to work our travel days around the weather, since we were driving.

We are getting our house festive for the holidays and just wanted to say hi to our followers on here (I did not expect to write this much! wow). We wish you happy holidays! What are your holiday traditions?  How was your Thanksgiving? We absolutely love to hear from you!

If you're interested, here are a few links!

Here is the link to our Youtube channel, where Ricky is slowly getting up our travel vlogs:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA0Q5lakuMY-Md-lXWZjjjA

Here is the link we use to send easy, custom postcards to our loved ones (if you use this referral link, you get a free 3 dollars, which is enough for your first postcard!):
https://www.mypostcard.com/en/invite/ANOTHERBORINGYOUTUBECHANNELXCRG

Here is a referral link that you can use to get some free money to use on Airbnb (I think it's like 40 free dollars towards a stay and 15 free dollars towards an Airbnb experience!):
https://www.airbnb.com/c/brookeh10857?currency=USD

And here is a link to Rakuten, which we always use when buying things online (especially this time of year) that gives out cash back for all the things you buy (on Amazon or other online retailers). It's a referral link, and you get 10 free dollars if you sign up using it!
https://www.rakuten.com/r/PANDAL593?eeid=28187
(They literally send you a check in the mail - it is awesome!!!)

That reminded me of one more link to share. You guys know about Ricky's podcast, right!? He talks about frugal living. It is legit!
anchor.fm/thefruglife

Love you all! Happy Holidays!

Mexico city has been an adventure

Mexico City has been an adventure. I'm writing this on my phone in the back of the rental car. Yesterday we went to the pyramids, which was a spectacular sight. I will include a related video once I make it.

There were vendors selling all sorts of souvenirs. Someone even tried to sell me an obsidian dagger. I don't think airport security would have liked that. We also saw some ocarinas for sale, mostly 5 hole pendants which I'm not a huge fan of. Those are mostly just a toy.

Driving back from the pyramids was a nightmare. It took over 3 hours. Google maps said it would take 1 hour and 20 minutes. The last 2 miles took 2 hours. There were police and road closures everywhere. It was the worst traffic I've ever been in. And I have lived in the Bay Area and driven in Los Angeles quite a bit, etc. Mexico City takes the cake.

On the way to the pyramids, we were stopped by the Mexican police. They wanted 6,000 pesos for some nonsense laws they made up on the spot. Brooke and I didn't have any pesos, so my friend and his brother paid 2,000 pesos of the fine and we got out ok. Still, it was pretty upsetting. We had to find a bank to get more pesos.

The place we are staying also lacks some of the comforts of the states. The hot water may or may not work. So far, I have taken one cold shower and one lukewarm shower.

The windows in the building have no screens, so you could just open up the window and jump or fall out if you were so inclined. The apartment is on the 4th floor and there is no elevator, which is the highest I've been without one. Some of the stairways are quite tight and require me to duck. It certainly is an interesting place.

Twin falls

It looks like my posts are a little backlogged. Here is a post about our vacation this summer.

On our way to vacation in Idaho, we stayed in a hotel in Twin Falls. It is a very interesting town, lots of shopping, then banks, cars, small businesses, and stuff. I don't know what people do for work outside of retail.

We went to a McAlister’s at about 8 pm, an hour before close. They were out of almost everything! I got a salad with spinach instead of lettuce. It had Bleu cheese and a shallot sherry dressing. It was pretty good. Pretty French haha. I had a reuben as well. The employee gave us some cookies to make up for all the missing items.

We went into the small town of Shoshone which was so small and quaint, I loved it. We looked through an antiques store. Brooke and I finished and sat on a bench by Ace Hardware. Suddenly, a cat appeared. I told Brooke and she was startled, the cat was already under the bench when she noticed. Brooke being startled startled the cat too. It wanted me to pet it, so I did. Its slightly mangled fur indicated it was a street cat. It was quite sweet though. Like a big Maple, just a lot more quiet (Maple was the name of our cat friend on the ranch). It went into the Ace Hardware. I followed. Inside the store, the cat kept looking back at me, expectantly. Eventually it proceeded through a side door where there was water and cat food.

Brooke and I walked across the street to the gas station to wash our hands. The gas station was super cute. It had little booths to sit, and a milkshake machine thing!

We also explored a little more, seeing a Mexican shop run out of an old school bus. I took a picture. The lady who owned it saw me, so I said hi.

We continued down and saw some active shops, but many were closed. We saw an apartment above a store for sale, imagine living in a town like that. Across the street, we saw a creepy mansion. Look at these pictures and see how big it is. It is kind of wild.

Yosemite

At the end of July, my mom, sister, and brother were in our neck of the woods. My sister had a friend's wedding in Oakland/reception in Sonora to attend. My mom drove Brittany and her friends here for the wedding (and for some sightseeing). Brian flew in just for the weekend. We all stayed in Sonora at a cute little hotel there. The day after the big wedding day, Brittany and her friends went to a fun little lake in Sonora for the day, while Brian, my mom, Ricky, and I went to Yosemite for the day. I had heard from a lot of people that Yosemite was awesome, but I didn't know what it would be like or what to expect. I was happy with what we fit into our one full day there. We saw many of the waterfalls. They were so pretty! We first saw Bridal Veil Falls. It was pretty and not much of a hike to get to it. Then we hiked lower Yosemite Falls. It was so nice to sit at the bottom and feel a little mist from it! Lastly, we hiked Vernal Falls. Vernal Falls was definitely the big hike of the day for us. It was so uphill and so hot! Then, we made it partway and saw this little view of the falls still so far away. It was kind of a disappointment after all that. But we could luckily fill up our water there and then continue onward. I'm so glad we did. We walked right up by the waterfall with the mist from the falls just soaking us! It really cooled us down and gave us the energy to keep going! Then, we got to the very top of the waterfall! It was so amazing to have made it to the top of it! We relaxed and ate some snacks before heading back down. It was a full and amazing Yosemite day! Here are a few pictures:

Right when we arrived in Yosemite, Ricky spotted a bear! We pulled over to see it. It was enjoying a snack from this tree.

so pretty!

On our way up Vernal Falls - you can see how soaked we got!

A happy squirrel relaxing at the top of Vernal Falls

Our big announcement

A day in Fresno

Before the Oakland temple was dedicated, Ricky and I made a trip to Fresno to go to the temple there. The drive there is unique and pretty, but also pretty long. We drove past fields of crops in Gilroy (tons of garlic - it smelled so strong!), stands of fresh produce, and then through the mountains and past a beautiful lake. I think the drive was about 2 hours 20 minutes.

Finally, we made it to the temple. It was the smallest temple either of us had ever been in! It was tiny! Everything was on one floor! It was beautiful though, and the grounds were really pretty.

After the temple, we went to Dog House Grill to eat. It was very popular, and for good reason! Ricky got the tri-tip sandwich, which was alright. I got the pork rib meal, which was amazing! We both loved the ribs, and there was a generous portion of them! The meal came with a salad and garlic bread. We were both stuffed!

We ended the day going to Woodward Park to play some disc golf. The park is huge, and it took us awhile to actually find the disc golf course. It was a huge course, definitely too advanced for me, but still fun. 

Oakland Trip

A few weeks ago, we went to Oakland to attend the Oakland temple open house. The temple has had some work done on it and will be rededicated soon, so it was open to the public for tours for a period of time. We hadn't been to Oakland in quite a while and had never really explored Oakland by ourselves before. I think we were both surprised by what a fun and cute place it is! It was super humid and very green, so it reminded me of the east coast a little, just with how green it was! It seemed so much greener than San Jose! San Jose is so dry like 11 months of the year. Even with all the rain this year, it's only been green and pretty for like a couple weeks in January or February. Anyways, we drove to Merritt College where we could park, then we got shuttled to the temple in a school bus.

In the school bus

On our way to the temple

The tour started in the stake center next to the temple, which is huge! It had a big auditorium where we sat and watched mormon ads while they took group by group out to head to the chapel where the tour would start with a video and an introduction from a tour guide.

Just watching the mormon ads in the mini conference center

The stake center was just so huge, it had this courtyard and two stories

Then, we followed our tour guide over to the temple. He showed us through each room and talked about what the various rooms are for. Afterwards, we admired the view and walked over to the visitor center.

The view from the temple is amazing!

The flowers outside the visitor center were so pretty!

The Christus in the visitor center

Here is a video of what renovations were done to the temple: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd0x3PP0zNM&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3zDaZ_ZA_vK6iz8lq9ssPqw0ZliQoP0_U-prIAIeTjEPvCumVrkNHYoHg

After the open house, we went to get food at this cute Mexican place. It was a really cute atmosphere, but Ricky thought the tacos were a little overpriced for their size.

Driving home in the rain

Overall, we decided that Oakland is a cool place and we think it would be really fun to live there!



A few unrelated updates and links for you:

-Ricky has started a podcast! I am so impressed with him and how legit it sounds. It is really fun to listen to, so give it a listen here: anchor.fm/thefruglife

-We love using mypostcard to send postcards to family and friends. Ricky came up with a link you can use to get $3 free, so you can send your first postcard free! Here's the link: https://www.mypostcard.com/en/invite/ANOTHERBORINGYOUTUBECHANNELXCRG

-Lastly, you might remember that we mentioned in a previous post (awhile ago) that we had some exciting news coming up. That news will finally be announced in September!!! (No, I'm not pregnant)