JULY: INDEPENDENCE DAY - COBB ISLAND

For July 4th weekend, we were fortunate to be able to rent a cottage at the last minute on Cobb Island, Maryland. Cobb Island is located in Southern Maryland, about 45 miles south of Washington DC, in Charles County, Maryland. The island is on the Potomac River and is connected to the "mainland" by a bridge on the Neale Sound. On the Wicomico River side of the island, you can see St. Mary's County and St. Clement's Island. We were able to rent "Waverly Cottage" which is a waterfront home with a private dock and great views!


Welcome to Cobb Island


Waverly Cottage

After about a two hour drive, we arrived at our new home for the weekend. The weather was great, so Darren decided to take the kayak out. Our friends Karen and Kraig have a house on the Northern Neck, so they brought their boat over and hung out with us for a while. It was only about an hour ride by boat for them, so it worked out perfectly! We took a walk around the island to check it out and then decided to have lunch at one of the local establishments, The Scuttlebutt Restaurant. It was definitely a fun place, but we were surprised that there were not more seafood options on the menu, considering where it was located.


Our private dock


Darren kayaking around the island

After Karen and Kraig headed home, we hung out and enjoyed the view from our dock. Until a storm started rolling in and we decided to watch the storm from our sunroom while playing a good game of Trivial Pursuit. As the thunder and lightning began to get worse, we started hearing sirens going off which we thought were for a tornado warning. We were a little freaked out and started looking for the safest place in the house to be for a tornado. Fortunately there was nothing on the television or radio about a tornado touching down, so we assumed the sirens were to warn the boaters to get off the water. That sure would have put a damper on our vacation!


Watching the sunset after the storm

The storm died down with plenty of time left to prepare for fireworks. So, we headed to Cobb Island Market to get a Hunt Brother's Pizza. Then, we got comfortable on our dock and watched the fireworks while listening to music. It turned out to be a great location, because we were able to see the firework displays from all around the island. It was a great holiday!

Saturday morning, we enjoyed our morning coffee outside where it was so peaceful. Darren decided to take the kayak out again and explored the whole island. I stayed behind enjoying the view and having fun taking pictures of all of the cute little duck families on the island.


Relaxing and enjoying our morning coffee


An adorable family of ducks on the island

Saturday afternoon, we decided to take a drive and explore the area. We drove to Colton's Point, Maryland to check out St. Clement's Island. St. Clement's Island is the place where Maryland's first settlers landed in 1634. It is also the site where the first Catholic mass was celebrated in the new colonies. The island was named in honor of Pope Saint Clement I, patron of mariners.

Information on St. Clement's Island

Great view of St. Clement's Island

We were also able to get some great views of Cobb Island while we were driving around. Then after a relaxing afternoon at our cottage, we decided to check out another one of the local restaurants, Shymansky's. And after that, it was back to our dock to watch another great night of fireworks, and of course we finished the day with a Trivial Pursuit rematch. Darren won again!

Sunday morning, we enjoyed the peace and quiet again. Then on our way out, we had to stop by Cobb Island Gallery for some coffee and breakfast. Our hosts Vince and Betty, who were so great, recommended it to us. We had such a wonderful relaxing weekend, it was the perfect getaway for July 4th! We have been thinking about fun places to get a vacation home someday, and Cobb Island is definitely at the top of the list now!

MAY: MEMORIAL DAY - LOS ANGELES

Well, April went by too quickly and we never planned a weekend away, so we planned a fun getaway for May. We decided to go to Los Angeles to visit Michele's brother and sister-in-law for the long holiday weekend. We flew out early Thursday morning and arrived in L.A. around 9:00 am, which meant we had the whole day to explore. After picking up our rental car (a Mustang convertible), we drove out to the beaches. First, we headed to Santa Monica, which was beautiful and looked just like we had seen in pictures. Then, we walked to Venice Beach. We did not get any pictures there, because we were too busy people watching! We found a great place to eat on the boardwalk, Figtree's Cafe, and just sat there for about an hour watching everyone walk by, it was truly entertaining! And we knew we were in California, when we noticed that they had a Tofu Reuben on the menu. Sounds yummy, huh?


Darren getting ready to check out Santa Monica Pier


The Classic Santa Monica Pier Picture

Friday morning, we woke up early (thanks to the time change), and decided to do our own Hollywood sightseeing tour. Unfortunately, the weather was cold and rainy outside. Who says it never rains in Southern California? First, we drove to Beverly Hills and checked out Rodeo Drive and the Beverly Hills Hotel.


The Beverly Hills Hotel

Then, we headed to historic Hollywood Boulevard. Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame were of course full of tourists, but they were fun to see, especially Brad Pitt and Matt Damon's hand- and foot-prints!


Grauman's Chinese Theatre


Brad Pitt and Matt Damon's prints

Our friend Tina had recommended that we do the Kodak Theatre tour, which turned out to be a great idea for the rainy day. The Kodak Theatre opened in November 2001 and was built to be the first permanent home of the Academy Awards®. It was definitely fun to see inside the theatre and the VIP areas. Unfortunately, they were doing work on the stage, so we did not get to see any of the backstage area.


Getting ready to do the Kodak Theatre Tour


The staircase outside the theatre

After our tour, it appeared that the rain had stopped for a while, so we decided to drive to Robertson Boulevard and check out all of the hot celebrity spots. We walked by The Ivy and saw Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband, Prince von Anhalt, being interviewed by the paparazzi. Then, we checked out the shops that young Hollywood is always shopping in, Kitson and Lisa Kline. Darren was quite happy that Michele could find nothing to buy at either place, because it surely would have put a dent in our travel budget!


The Ivy on Robertson Boulevard

Saturday, our hosts Kevin and Joanne were excited to show us around their city. We decided to try to find some of the houses used in famous television shows. The first one we went searching for was the "Brady Bunch" house. We spotted it right away. There is now a fence in front of the house, but it still looks exactly the same!


The "Brady Bunch" House

Next, we searched out the apartment complex from "Melrose Place". We went inside but did not see the famous pool from the show, so I don't think they shot any of the inside scenes here.


The "Melrose Place" Complex

We then took a break from house searching and went to check out Griffith Park. Griffith Park is a 4,000 acre park which includes the Griffith Observatory, the Greek Theatre (an outdoor concert venue), and numerous trails and recreation areas. We got some great views of the city, including the Hollywood sign. Then afterwards, we headed over to Beechwood Drive, where we could get some great pictures of the famous sign.


Views from Griffith Observatory


Hollywood Sign as seen from Beechwood Drive

To complete our sight-seeing for the day, we then found the house from "Happy Days". Again, it looks exactly the same! And our final stop of the day was the Little Brown Church of the Valley. This is the church where Ronald and Nancy Reagan were married. It is open 24 hours a day to the public. Recently, you may have seen paparazzi photos of Britney Spears there.


The "Happy Days" House


The Little Brown Church of the Valley

Sunday was all about Dodgers baseball. We had strategically planned our trip to Los Angeles so that we could see both the Dodgers and the Angels while we were there. On Sunday, the Dodgers were playing the Cardinals. The weather was gloomy in the morning but fortunately started clearing up for the game. It was very cool to see Dodger Stadium which was opened in 1962. Our seats were in the outfield in the "all you can eat" section, so we were able to have as many of the famous Dodger Dogs as we wanted. It was well worth it! The game was incredible and ended up going into extra innings. The "Boys in Blue" did not let us down and ended up winning the game in the tenth inning!


Dodger Stadium est. 1962


View from our seats in the outfield

Monday was Memorial Day and our last day in L.A. Fortunately the weather was finally nice! We were able to put the top down on the Mustang, and then we decided to check out Malibu. We drove to Kevin and Joanne's favorite area near Pepperdine University and did a nice little hike around the area.


Enjoying the beautiful day in Malibu


The amazing houses on the beach in Malibu

At lunchtime, we decided to check out Neptune's Net, which is a famous seafood restaurant and bikers bar on the beach. The food was pretty good and we had a nice view of the beach, plus it was fun hanging out with all of the bikers and surfers!


Neptune's Net in Malibu


The beautiful Malibu beaches

Our final stop of the trip was Angel Stadium in Anaheim. This is a much newer stadium than Dodger Stadium, and it is really nice! The Angels were playing the Tigers on Monday, and we had club seats this time. We had great views of the stadium, especially of the bullpens, plus we got to have some good food delivered to us. It was a much slower game than the one on Sunday, although there was some good defense to watch. At the end of the ninth inning, the game was tied at 0-0. So, once again we got to see extra innings. This time, the Angels won the game in the 12th inning. And since it was a holiday, we got to watch the fireworks next door at Disneyland as we drove home.


Outside Angel Stadium in Anaheim


View of the bullpens from our seats

We had a great trip to Los Angeles. Next time, we hope to have more time to do some hiking, because there are some great trails in the area. And hopefully we will have better weather too! To view more pictures from our trip, check out our album on Kodak Gallery:http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d7zvi5.ahecf2hx&x=0&y=-kqvihm&localeid=en_US. To see more on the baseball games, check out Michele's blog at http://natsgirl.mlblogs.com/. Now it is off to plan something fun for June!