Birthday vacation full of Shenanigans and Sodaselfies - post 1

Recently my best friend and I took a road trip to celebrate my 40th birthday.  The next few posts will be an accounting of that adventure.  It'll take a few posts, we did quite a bit.  Stay tuned in!
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You only turn 40 once and you gotta make the best of it.

It helps when you have a best friend who makes sure it's the best possible birthday.

For my 40th birthday we took a road trip, just her and me.  No husbands, no schedule, no rules.  Ok, maybe we had one rule: we weren't allowed to get arrested.  On the other hand, we were given full permission for shenanigans.  So do those two things cancel each other out? 

This adventure began Thursday evening, with an overnight at the state border.  Early Friday morning we were off!

Just a quick selfie before breakfast.

The beginning of #sodaselfies.


No road trip is complete without at least one potty stop.  Considering that we both drink a minimum of 72 ounces of water (Yes, water.  Maybe with a squeeze of lemon, but that total does not include water filtered through coffee beans or added to caramel coloured syrup and carbonation), a potty stop was inevitable.  The restroom we hit before we left town was our first shenanigan.  The ladies' room was being cleaned so we used the men's room.  We did have permission of the cleaning crew.  They even made sure the room was empty and then blocked so no one else could enter.  Business complete and hands washed.  One question we have is are all hand dryers in men's restrooms under powered?  It didn't push out enough air to blow out a candle, let alone dry someone's hands!

It was clean!  We checked. 

The drive was very uneventful.  Had some awesome road tunes playing and we even sang off key a few times.  A few hours down the road, and two potty stops, this was our first view of our weekend getaway.


I could almost taste it!  In fact, I did...many times.

I don't know how many of you have ever tried to find parking along the California beach area.  It is next to impossible!  Trust me.  We drove around for about 15 minutes, passing the same locations multiple times, looking for a place to park.  We finally found this little lot that wasn't too expensive.  It worked!  Turned out we got a bonus as it was literally right next to where we were staying.  So we talked with Vinnie Valet, handed over the keys, paid him, and to the beach we went.

We lost this slip until we got home.

Check in wasn't until 4pm, yoga class started at 6pm, and it was only 1pm.  We had three hours to relax.  So we grabbed our towels, sunscreen, and #sodaselfies and hit the beach.

Pure Paradise

Can't you just see the stress drifting away?

No best friend road trip is complete without shenanigans, especially since we were given permission.  There also has to be at least one dare.  While we were laying there, catching some rays and people watching, we noticed that a little ways away there was a guy working out.  No big deal, it's the beach, that's what people do, right?  Jenna said, "I wonder what he would do if we went over and joined him."  to which my reply was "I dare you.".  Simple.  Direct.  To the point.

Dare fulfilled.

We did some swimming and some jumping in the waves.  We lost one pair of sunglasses and one headband.  Thankfully all robotic parts stayed attached.  Shortly after 4 we headed to our place to get checked in and unpacked.  Our room was gorgeous!  We were at the end of the hallway on the fifth floor.  That meant two windows...and a lot of stairs.  There was no air conditioning in the room but with two windows we did get a nice cross breeze.  I don't think we ever closed the windows.  With a view like this would you have?

We couldn't hear it, but we sure could see it.

It was time for yoga.  I usually go to yoga for an hour once a week.  That is the only time I've been able to carve out of my schedule to be able to attend an actual yoga class.  I find that I am more disciplined if I get out of my living room.  I stay focused and don't wander off to do a load of laundry.  So when Jenna had informed me that she found a yoga class on the beach, we agreed we had to check it out.  (We did keep track of all our exercise and mileage.  Even though we were on vacation, our exercise competition was going strong.) We changed and headed back to the beach.  Beach yoga was all that it sounds like it would be, and then some.  True, you end up with sand in everything, but it's worth it for the peacefulness of the ocean sights and sounds.  Not only can you breathe deeper with the fresh ocean air, the sand is a lot more forgiving on the knees that a concrete floor is.  If you are ever at Venice Beach at sunset I HIGHLY recommend you join beach yoga with Brad.  You won't regret it.  I promise.  It was such a good experience, we went back for Sunday morning's class.

Talk about a peaceful and beautiful yoga studio.

Ahhhhhh.

A little workout called for a little dinner.  There was a cute little place right up the beach.  I'm sure there was more calories in this burrito than what we burned off at yoga, but oh man it was tasty!

Totally and completely bolus worthy.

That wrapped up our first night.  We said goodbye to the 30's.  We thanked them for the memories and adventures they brought.  We toasted the beginning of the 40's and for all the memories and adventures yet to come.  Then sleep called our names.

Cheers!  

Saturday was to be a big day and we needed our rest.  After all, shenanigans can be tiring.