Happy Halloween!!!

Mountain valley ranch in Ramona...

Home Sweet Home

Sunday morning routine. Mozy's, Market, Surf Check. Aaaahh, good to be back!

Night of a Million Zillion Speedways

The now second annual San Diego Beer Week rolls into town Nov 5th-14th. Alesmith is doing "Night of a Million Zillion Speedways" over at O'Brien's Pub. Intrigued? I was. Especially because I missed it last year. Finally, I get to taste that shit (literally).

O'Brien's Pub will team up with AleSmith to present a great night of local beer to kick off San Diego Beer Week. The focus of this night will be the epic Speedway Stout which we will be serving SIX different versions of - draft, barrel aged draft and 4 different cask conditioned versions including the rare Kopi Luwak Speedway (aka weasal poo). There will be lots of other great AleSmith beer as well. Hopefully there are some old Tick comic book fans out there that get the reference for this night's name. If you love Speedway Stout this will be a one of kind experience.

http://sdbw.org/events/1614/

Pizza Port "Tap Cam"

See what beers are on tap at Pizza Port with their new tap cam:
http://www.pizzaport.com/locations/solana-beach/tap-cam/

When in Rome...

Arrived in Rome....completely different from Anacapri where we were the only Americans. Rome is filled with tourists...almost as if we were back in the states. But not quite!
Upon arrival our room was upgraded free of charge! We are right in the center of everything here!
We began savoring our meals, knowing nothing will compare in the days to come. It is now nearing bedtime...we have exactly 4 meals left. This evening in the piazza we saw flocks and flocks of birds, must have been hundreds maybe thousands...that all flew in sync, as if dancing, at sunset. Words can never describe the beauty but we will definitely be back tomorrow to try to capture and record it.
Below is Dana at the colosseo...more to come!

Hiking makes you hungry

Grilled veggies, homemade pasta, vino della casa, and the place was only a few steps from or hotel (our balcony is in the top corner of the photo).

Hiking in Capri

The island of Capri is pretty rugged and there is a huge backbone dividing Capri (the main town with the harbor and lots of tourists) from Anacapri (the quieter backside with mostly families where we are staying).

This morning we hiked to the top of that backbone, Monte Solaro, from which you can look down at Capri and the offshore rocks/arch, back towards the Amalfi Coast, and north to the island of Ischia and the bay of Naples.

The photos below were taken while hiking down the ridge and looking back to the top.

Isle of Capri

Taking time out for a little relaxation after our morning in Napoli :) Rad place, but definitely makes Newark look like heaven. Best pizza in the world though.

No photos please

After 5 incredible days in Chianti, we've made the hour drive north to our new home in Florence. The city is amazing, better than our expectations. Unlike any other city we've ever been to - especially at night, and photos don't capture it.

Speaking of photography - photos are not allowed at many (indoor) locations, but we managed to sneak a few. Below you'll see the David, followed by the 'street scene' chaos outside the David (Accademi).... After that we have a few photos of the Duomo.

We don't have any picture's from tonights dinner at Giostra, but I wish we did. It's easily one of the top 2 restaurants we've ever been to in our life. Dad (and other serious restaurantr's) you'll need to check it out... We're not saying top 1, only to leave room for something else before we die.

Frattoria Tregole

Photos from the grounds where we are staying at in Tuscany. We have had such an amazing time here...we are sad to leave tomorrow. Edith and Margarita have made our meals, our bed, our reservations, our maps, and done our laundry during our stay here. They are so hospitable!
And ps...tonight we had dinner with a woman who grew up in Middletown,NJ!

Lunchtime in Chianti

From what I've been told, european breakfast is a small meal of cereal and coffee. And although the spread each morning that our host has been putting out has been extensive (fruit, bread, cheese, salumi, cereal, juice, etc...) we've stuck with euro-style - so we can have lunch's like this...

In Italy, always get the Bruschetta. Notice my new favorite glass wine carafe in the background.

Dana going after my pesto gnocchi.

Outside the osteria

Southern Tuscany

We spent yesterday (Saturday) cruising around about an hour south of our home base of Castellina in Chianti. The roads are right out of a movie, winding through the countryside. Scenery here is different from Chianti region because they grow a lot of wheat, turning the hillsides gold in the summer months. Our first stop was Montalcino, a medieval walled city famous for their Brunello di Moltacino wine. As expected, the Brunello was hands down the best wine we've had so far. We sat and drank in a small piazza and also ate some fantastico bruschetta.

Our next stop was Montepulciano, another medieval walled city, slightly larger than Montalcino (at least it felt that way when we were trekking up and own its hilly cobblestone streets). Both towns sit on hilltops, and you can see one from the other. Like most visitors, we skipped the much of the impressive architecture, and focused on city's other creative accomplishment, the Vino Nobile di Montepultiano red wine. All of our photos that day were taken on our camera (not the iPhone) so we can't post them until we get home. We have a great one with Adamo, who we met in his wine cellar and tasted wines with that afternoon.

Our small rental car :)

Che una macchina picola...

Ben

Edith's dog...ben (benE)

In love with Tuscany already!

We spent yesterday in the town of Lucca where we had our first pizza! Yum! Everything is so so fresh!

We arrived in Tuscany (photo below is view from our villa) just in time to join Edith (owner) for her cooking class! We walk in to the cooking class and there were two other couples...from leucadia and solana beach!! For those who don't know...they are our neighboring towns in SD!! Small world?!! We cooked and had an amazing dinner with them.

We made 2 different sauces with pasta - and took notes the entire time. Before sitting down to dinner she treated us to a tour of the wine cellar and some of their estate Chianti Classico. Fantastico!

After a long day...

Today we hiked to monterosso, the 5th town in Cinque Terre. It was definitely more humidity than we are used to so the swim at the beach at the end felt amazing. I bought a bar of soap to wash with but the water was so salty it wouldn't lather! I guess I am being paranoid but I swear I heard someone on the trail say poison something in another language and well, it made me nervous since I am allergic and i wanted to wash it off, if it even existed! So far, so good :). We are enjoying an amazing meal of seafood risotto at the grotto across from our apartment. The food and wine are amazing thus far! Only to get better as we head on south! Tomorrow we leave here to get our car rental and tour Tuscany for 5 days!
Keep your fingers crossed for no poison ivy, oak, sumac...anything!!!

Ciao

1 plane, 1 bus, 2 trains, 15 hours later...the view from our apartment in Riomaggiore (Cinque Terre)

Rehearsal dinner...

We're on the plane, waiting to taxi so I thought I'd post a pic... Epic sunset that night.

On our way...

Boarding! PS - if anyone lost a pair of black sunglasses at the wedding, we might have them.

X-Country Road Trip Video

Here is a link to the X-Country Road Trip video that we played at our wedding yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpyQopbCYqc

Just married!

A total dream come true. A perfect day. A magical love.

Words cannot begin to express our happiness. We are so appreciative for all of our friends and family's support through this journey...We could not have made it here without each and every one of you.

All our love...
Dana and Casey

click here for a sneak peek of some photos

Researching Italy Trip...