the conleys.: October 2010

We embarked on a fabulous anniversary adventure in celebration of our first year of marriage. The initial plan was to go down to Zion National Park for a hiking & camping trip, but we couldn't get camping reservations anywhere, so, California was our next choice. Growing up, my family took many trips to the Newport Beach area, so I played tour guide and decided to take Jared to some of my favorite places there. It was a quick little trip, but well worth it.

We had such a blast!

First stop, Balboa Island. Of course we had to get a chocolate dipped banana with almonds. Of course...

Reyn Spooners, are seen EVERYWHERE in this area. They're a well known Hawaiian shirt with a vintage look to them, and, Jared loves them. So we did a little Spooner shopping on Balboa.

The Halloween decor on Balboa is pretty stellar.

(Jared, in his Spooner)

Favorite Newport Beach restaurant, hands down... The Crab Cooker. Please, please promise me you'll go there if you're ever in the area. Killer clam chowder. Killer everything.

King crab claws. To. Die. For.

He may or may not be feeding Einstein.

Next stop, DISNEYLAND! I love Disneyland... a lot a lot. And Jared couldn't even remember his one visit as a toddler, so this was pretty fun for him.

good effort, honey.

Jungle boat ride. Bird poop. My leg. (and chest and arm).

Here begins a series of self portraits we took. Every single one, in the exact same pose. So original...

Our Disneyland day started out very cloudy and was supposed to rain. So we arrived with ponchos ready to go! It never rained, but there was hardly anyone there! Awesome. We didn't have to wait more than 10-15 minutes for any ride.

One of our faves, The Haunted Mansion. Much more fun this time of year since it's decked out for Halloween. Everything in there is Nightmare Before Christmas style. So fun!!

Next favorite restaurant... Wahoo's. Anything fish. Fish enchilada, taquitos, tacos... So good. Made a couple trips here.

Gross, and so tired from Disneyland.

mmmmm.

darling shop's front window in Laguna Beach. loved this.

Next adventure, whale watching. We were STOKED for this. And... all we saw were sea lions. Pretty disappointing... but overall a nice ride on a beautiful day.

Post "whale" watching lunch on the Balboa Pier at Ruby's Diner.

shopping trip to South Coast Plaza.

feet. more shopping at Fashion Island.

Lily scarfing snail at the beautiful Newport Beach LDS Temple.

The Crab Cooker, again. Here's the thing... we were supposed to be back on the road headed home, but we had to stay and have one more meal. It was a late drive home.

Salmon wings. Tastey, but STINKY. Our fingers smelled like this stuff the whole drive home. No amount of hand sanitizer and lotion can mask salmon apparently.