Driving more than 1400 miles

When you get older, leave your ordinary life behind and hit the open road.

I’m trying to get used to the fact that I’m officially in my 30s: married, working, domesticated and totally reliable. We have a good life in Cow Town and we have stable jobs. After a few bumps in the road, I am happy to be working as a journalist.

So when May rolled around and we stared at the reality of turning a year older, we decided to celebrate with a couple of weekend getaways.

In fact, it took us two weekends and 1,000+ miles on my hubby’s Corolla to celebrate our birthdays in May.

At the beginning of the month, we took advantage of my 3-day weekend (a prelude to my 10-day work week in the newsroom) and drove to Lake Tahoe. We left the chains behind and looked forward to hiking on the cliffs next to the lake, all under sunny skies.

Instead, we ended up bundling up by the fireplace and staring at a snowstorm in May. Overall, it was a relaxing weekend, reading inside our favorite South shore cafe and finishing off a bottle of Boger wine. Since the crowds left for the end of the ski season, we also enjoyed a nearly-smoke free casino at Montbleu.

Good times.

When my 4-day weekend rolled around, we drove down I-5 to spend time with family and friends.

I savored all the palm trees, sunny skies and beautiful beaches in San Diego. I also made the mistake of challenging one of my cousins (who is twice my height and carried almost twice my weight) to shots. It was a bad idea.

As I nursed a hangover the next day, we crossed the border into Mexico.

After an hour of driving along Highway 1d, we enjoyed fresh fish with an ocean view in Ensenada.

I survived my 10-day work week with dreams of chilling on a beach and staring at the Pacific in Mexico. It’s was lovely that my hubby helped make this dream come true.

I can’t wait to visit Ensenada again.

Hey Facebook peeps: see more photoslide shows by checking out the blog entry!