Too Much Food; Not Enough Sleep

We're back! And we're totally exhausted. But the exhaustion is 100% worth it.

A quick recap:

• Karen and Mike's wedding was amazing. I have never seen a more stunning bride than my sister - she was the epitome of beauty.
• We saw the Blue Man Group after the wedding; what an awesome show that was. I've heard their shows are an acquired taste - it's not for everyone. But it's definitely for me. I'm pretty sure Lee liked them, too
• We ate some of the most amazing food we've ever tasted
• We saw some of the craziest people we've ever seen
• It took about, oh, 3 seconds before being bombarded with call-girl business cards got old
• Lee and I took an afternoon to see the Hoover Dam. And this is where it became apparent to me that I married someone who likes to read every single one of those informative signs. Seriously - every single one. And wants to take pictures of every single one.
• The drive up to San Francisco is absolutely gorgeous. In fact, it's gorgeous enough to keep us from paying attention to speed limits. Thankfully the CHP was nice enough to inform us of this. Ouch.
• Napa is breathtaking. The whole landscape looks fake - like we took a picture in front of a green screen and someone came in after the fact to add some gorgeous mountains
• San Francisco is awesome. The hills are absolutely insane. It gets up to a 45 degree angle in some places. It's actually like a really slow roller-coaster.

Here are some pictures - I know there are a lot; feel free to skip though them!

Vegas, baby!!

Mike and Karen's Wedding

The hilarious shirt Mike wore the morning before the wedding.

Karen, right after getting her hair and make up done.
She's so pretty.


Lee and me after Karen and Mike's wedding


Mike doing his toast. I love Karen's expression in this picture.

Blue Man Group

We tried to get him to smile ... no such luck

Lee posing with the background band members for the Blue Man Group

Casino shots

The view from the top of the Stratosphere


Lee on the ride that's off the top of the Stratosphere.

The Luxor, home of a delicious Sunday Brunch

The roller coaster in front of the NY NY ...

Yep, still don't like roller coasters

The water show in front of the Bellagio

Paris

Hoover Dam trip

View from one of the lookout points they have along the Dam

Hoover Dam big-horned sheep!

The white section on the rocks is where the water line used to be.

It's dropped 80 ft; they expect it to drop another 15 ft by September.

Lee pointing to the American Society of Civil Engineers sign.
He's such a nerd.



The Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay

Jellyfish are so pretty behind a glass barrier

Cute fish

Freemont Street Experience

It was NASCAR week, so they did a car theme for their light show.



California

Ouch.

The worlds tallest thermometer.

It's hard not to be jealous, I know.

Really cool windmills along the Interstate

Wine Tasting in Napa Valley

All the vines are dormant right now, so we didn't see any grapes, but even dormant vines are amazingly pretty. Hopefully we'll be able to go back when the grapes are out.

Nickel & Nickel Winery

Inside their cellar

Pride Mountain Winery

Lee playing King of Pride Mountain's Rock

The view from the picnic area at the top of Spring Mountain

Domaine Carneros Winery

Doesn't this look like a fake background?!

Me, Lee, and Christi ... I think you could buy a bottle that big (I think it holds a case of wine), but it's mainly for picture-taking purposes.

San Francisco

We just happened to make a turnoff from the main road,

and it led us to this little lookout point. What an amazing view.

There are gorgeous flowers like this all over Fisherman's Wharf

Sunbathing sealions! I had no idea how noisy these fellas are -

we could hear them inside the restaurant where we were for lunch.

A crayon portrait I made of us during lunch at the Sealion Cafe.

Pretty impressive, huh?

I didn't realize just how many pictures I took of the Golden Gate Bridge!

The famous cable cars. I LOVED riding them.

With all the big hills, it's like a roller coaster ...

but with them going at about 3 MPH, it was like a

really, really slow roller coaster - just my speed.

It sort of became a tradition throughout this trip to

take pictures of Lee "interacting" with different things.

It made us laugh the entire trip :)

Lee tickling Lance Burton's nose

Holding up the Port of San Francisco sign

Poking a sealion on the nose

Holding up the US Department of the Interior sign

Tickling Big Boy's arm on the World's Tallest Thermometer

I commend anyone who made it to the end of these pictures! Bravo!