Honeymoon Diaries: Part Two (very long!)

When you are flying from the East Coast to the West Coast it is almost guaranteed that you will wake up at an early hour. We were both awake a little before five in the morning and decided to find a little local diner to have breakfast.

The only place open was Denny's.

I kid you not. We drove around until about 5:30 or so and decided to eat at Denny's. We're spoiled here in Portland with Becky's Diner being open so early.

After resting a little bit back at the room - we stocked up on groceries at the local store after fueling up with Jamba Juice - which we both loved!

Now it was time to do some sight seeing! Chris and I packed a lunch and some beers and headed for the Heavenly Gondola - which happened to be right outside our hotel. I was really nervous because it's a 2.5 mile ride to the top. Chris was moving around a bit, but he reassured me it was perfectly safe - so I relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the ride.



The gondola makes two stops - one at a viewing platform and then a little further up. What they don't tell you is that the viewing platform is where the views of the lake stop - when you go further up it is more of a recreational area.



Once we reached the top - we sat and cracked open our beers and enjoyed our lunch. They had music playing and a lot going on so it was good to people watch for a while. We then hiked around a bit - on the path and then we strayed a little.







When we had enough we took the ride back down. I shopped around Heavenly Village for a while and Chris rested before we headed on our sunset champagne cruise.

The cruise was on the Windjammer II which is a catamaran and included free champagne and beer for drinking. It was cool once you got out on the lake but they provide bean bags and blankets for you to use!








So being on boats before, I know I will get sick so I took a pill before getting on the boat. Chris also packed some green apples because he had read somewhere that it helps settle your stomach on boats. There was a fellow passenger who was feeling the waves....or the alcohol rather. So Chris offers her a green apple. She got sick after eating part of the apple. Time goes on and we're hanging out and we hear: "That asshole who gave me the green apple". Both of us start laughing and tell her it was Chris.

She of course was very apologetic and we chatted with them a while and then we took her photo to be published on this blog!



Our cruise ended and Chris and I headed for Harrah's to play some roulette - we actually did pretty well overall. I used to be a slot player, but after consistently losing have switched. Chris has his own method for betting roulette which usually is lucrative. What is not lucrative was the cost of drinks! $6.00 for a Corona...little did we know we could have gotten the drinks for free at the table. We were going to the bar!

For what it's worth - we both have only gambled when we go back to Indiana and there are no free drinks there!

So after a full day of events - we microwaved some burritos and headed to bed!

Honeymoon Diaries: Part One

I'm finally starting to chronicle our honeymoon trip out west. No time like the present and I really want to get it all down before I forget.

Our first day was a travel day starting off with a very early (6:00 am EST) flight out of Portland. After a bumpy first leg at which Chris and I were dreading our next six hour leg - we had some food and waited for our next flight at JFK. We flew Jet Blue which was great because they had the televisions in the back of the seat. For a long flight you cannot beat watching TV the whole time.

We landed in Oakland, CA around 1:45 pm their time (4:45 pm EST) and picked up our rental car and got on the road for the three hour drive to Lake Tahoe. And on the road we stayed - we hadn't factored in it was a Friday in California and that means a lot of traffic (which this picture does not show).



After about two hours in traffic and our stomachs growling. We stopped here:



For fast food, it really is a good burger - but I didn't know until this past week you could custom make your burger with sauce and onions. We hit the road again and Chris and I were confused, have we been on the road so long we've driven to Indiana???



This happened when we went to Montreal too. As soon as we hit the Canadian border, the hills flattened into farmland and it looks just like where I grew up. Finally, we hit the El Dorado National Forest which we got to drive through to get to South Lake Tahoe. The smell of the pine trees filled our car and we just took in all the lush forest and the land.



Finally, around 7:00pm (10:00EST) we were in Lake Tahoe. It took us a little while to get to our hotel and settled. The best part was the valet parking was free because we were owners of the time share! It's really the small things that make me happy.

Our villa was great - we had a full kitchen, fireplace, a jacuzzi in the bedroom, and a huge bathroom!





Once we got settled in, Chris and I headed downstairs where they have these huge fire pits set up. We relaxed with some Fat Tire and enjoyed the fire for a while and walked around before retiring to our room for the night! Let the honeymoon begin!

In the next installment: Why do I have this look on my face?

Butternut Squash Risotto

Since returning home on Saturday was also our introduction into fall, I have been trying to experiment with new recipes. Personally, I've never really been a fan of butternut squash - I always eat a little but it's never been something I have been crazy about - until this recipe! I got the recipe off of Simply Recipes (as well as the photo - but mine looked the same I promise).


Ingredients
6-8 cups chicken broth (use vegetable broth for vegetarian option)
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided into 4 Tbsp and 1 Tbsp
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cups butternut squash, peeled, and finely diced
2 cups arborio rice (can substitute medium grained white rice, but arborio is preferred)
1 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp chopped chives or garlic chives
Salt

Method
1 Heat broth in medium sized saucepan and keep warm over low heat. Melt 4 Tbsp of butter in a large saucepan; add onion and butternut squash. Cook over medium heat until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

2 Add rice to onion and squash. Cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine. Cook, stirring constantly until wine has been absorbed by the rice or evaporated. Add a few ladles of broth, just enough to barely cover rice. Cook over medium heat until broth has been absorbed. Continue cooking and stirring rice, adding a little bit of broth at a time, cooking and stirring until it is absorbed, until the rice is tender, but still firm to the bite, about 15 to 20 minutes.

3 During the last minutes of cooking, add remaining tablespoon of butter, 1/3 cup Parmesan, and chives. At this point the rice should have a creamy consistency. Add salt to taste. Serve with remaining grated Parmesan.

Serves 4 to 6.

Pictures!!!

Our professional pictures are up and ready to be viewed. We own the high resolution photos - but our wonderful photographer set up a great website to go through them with ease. I can't say enough about Cristina Hajosy. She was great to work with and helped us get through our shots and to the reception on time! So go here to view the photos. To log in use portland and wedding day as the password!

This week I plan on updating the blog with our adventures from the honeymoon - there is a lot to write about and some great photos!