Valeria Out Loud

Hey everyone, I am back!

Man, two weeks away. Hope you all missed me as much as I missed you. 😊

Let’s talk vacation!

Well, first let me share our original itinerary. Anything with an asterisk is an item we had to change last minute.

• Fly to NYC then to Reno, NV*.
• Drive Reno* to Yosemite National Park (California).
• Visit Glacier Point* then start drive to (make stops) San Francisco.
• Sleep in. Alcatraz reservations. Dinner w friends.
• Drive to (make stops) Monterey. Monterey Bay Aquarium reservations.
• Drive to Big Sur (make stops) to Solvang.
• Solvang. Wine tastings.
• Drive south to (make stops) Anaheim.
• Anaheim (go to beach).
• Anaheim (go to beach)*.
• Disneyland.
• Disney California Adventure.
• Disneyland.
• Disney California Adventure.
• Fly home.

Day 1 Departure. Or at least trying to depart..ure.

We started off our trip full of hope and having fun. We got to sleep in that Saturday morning, which is a bonus, and we got to Logan Airport quickly, another bonus. We got through TSA like lightning… Things were going our way!

The flight to JFK was actually my first flight ever to NYC. I have always driven to NY, because I grew up driving there and part of the fun for me is the stops along the way. Our plan was to arrive to JFK airport, eat dinner and jump on our flight to Reno happy and full. Our reality, however, yeah when we got to NY we ate, which was a lot of fun. Once we got to our gate we saw the plane we were taking, it was the Jet Blue Boston Bruins ‘Bear Force One’.

Kismet right??

But we never made that plane.

Within minutes of our flight’s boarding time, the flight got delayed an hour; ok no big deal. We waited around.  Went window shopping.  Walked around. 

Then within a half hour to our new boarding time, the flight got delayed another hour; alright, let’s get donuts. 

Then around 9:30PM, our flight got officially cancelled. There was a plane, a cool one, but no flight crew to go with that plane.

We had to cancel our plans for that night and the following morning. My husband worked his magic, and we got into a hotel locally and booked on a flight the next day. Instead of us going to Reno, we got on a flight to San Francisco. We rearranged our plans to drive up to Yosemite from SF, to try to catch up on our itinerary where we could.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Day 2 California driving. Charging our way to Yosemite National Park.

We got to San Francisco by the mid afternoon the next day. It was warm and sunny, it felt so good to be there. We got our rental car, a super hot 2021 Dodge Charger. Let me just mention how hot my husband looked in this car. Super smoking, guys. Yowza.

Sorry. Ahem. Where was I?

Oh right, so I love California, like love California. It goes my children, my husband my parents, then California. Seriously, I have always had an affinity for it and always have wanted to live there; and even though the state is completely bonkers nowadays, I’d still live there!! Waking up to sunny skies, rolling beaches, and going to bed with warm breezes. Gah, that is what I want!

I digress. So we got in our super cool car and made our way to Yosemite! FINALLY!!

Along the way, we stopped at the Iron Door Saloon, which is the oldest running saloon in California. The place was legit stuck in time, so cool. My favorite part was how they had a bunch of vintage pictures on the walls of the way the saloon used to look, back a hundred years ago. It kept its integrity, which made it an even cooler place in my opinion. We grabbed a great lunch, then continued our trek.

The drive to Yosemite from San Fran is spectacular to say the least. The winding roads, the different colors and landscapes. All of the cool nature and wildlife along the way, just gorgeous.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We got to the Yosemite lodge just as it was getting dark. The lodge is a hidden treasure in Yosemite. Every angle surrounding the grounds was postcard perfect. I have never been in a place like it in my life. Larger than life silvery mountains and perfectly lined evergreen trees. There were sounds of crickets and frogs, there were threats of bears and foxes. It was just beautiful.

The girls were pretty excited because they got their own room this night, on account that they hate hearing me snore. (I like snoring so.)

After we settled there, we tried to take a hike to see the stars, but, and I am embarrassed to even admit this but I got spooked out. 😂. We walked maybe a two hundred feet on this path, the surroundings were so dark, like I couldn’t see anything-even with our flashlights. So I just screamed a big old. ‘nooooooo wayyyyy am I going further’. Being that I had never seen the path before and hearing people say there are bears, it felt scarier. 😆

Imma chicken 🐓.

Thankfully, my family was fine with heading back to the rooms to hang out. My husband and I ended up enjoying the warm night and wine as our girls ended up confessing that they were scared on that path, too. Hah ‘just like Mommy’.

Ok so there’s our first two days! We basically travelled a lot through these days so not much to actually talk about. But. Even with this bumpy start, this vacation is a great one.

---

Thanks for stopping by to catch up! I will try to make these vacation posts fun and short.. I am not sure how, BUT I will try! 😉

Wait‼️ Just a quick hearing update before I sign off!! I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. It should be the appointment where we talk surgery for sure. The doctor wanted me to make this appointment for another check up before surgery talk. So wish me luck!!

As always, guys, I appreciate your time and support reading along. It really means a lot to me. Till next post! xo