#196 SEMA Day 1

Tuesday 2016 November 1
We woke up this morning to the sounds of cows mooing, to find that the area below our hotel room windows is the pasture for the bull riding show next door at the casino. Great. Although really does make you feel like you're out in the country right?

We woke up early to go and exchange our vehicles for a Jeep Cherokee--Stephen is convinced we will go off roading in it. We'll see.

After riding around the block desperately trying to find a parking space that wasn't $20 parking and within reasonable walking distance to the Convention Center, we decided I'd drop of Stephen so he wouldn't miss anything, and I'd figure out what the best place was. I finally decided the monorail was going to be my best friend. I'd drive Stephen to the Convention Center every morning, go park at Harrah's free parking garage, and then take the monorail to the Center.

Needless to say, finding my way around this city is proving to be difficult at times, but after another time or two I'm going to be a Vegas expert driver. Future cabby here I come!

We saw lots of cool cars, more than I probably care to see at one time, but Stephen had a great day taking everything in.

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on

We tried to find somewhere to eat that had great reviews, so we found ourselves chomping on barbeque at Ellis Island Casino. It's off the strip, and to say this place is small and janky is an understatement, but the barbeque. Well it was incredible. And we were both incredibly stuffed.

#195 Last day in LA

Monday 2016 October 31
Unfortunately today marks our last day in LA. We got to sleep in a little bit this morning, but quickly gathered all of our items to clear out our little LA AirBNB and also to return the Camero. We're playing car tag this week, as we have a Turo rental here in LA, an Enterprise rental to get us from LA to Las Vegas, and then a Turo rental in Vegas.

Before we made the exchange we found the giant donut in the sky, and had to stop in to try them out. I was super impressed, as my real love for doughnuts is expressed only through Krispy Kreme doughnut, but these did not disappoint!

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on


Our transition between cars was pretty smooth. Stephen had one last request before we headed out of LA--The Petersen Car Museum. Which was actually really interesting. Plus we got to see lots of cool cars.


We had one last groupon to use, and so we bought our food and headed up to a beautiful overlook to enjoy one last glance at LA.

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on

Into the night we drive now, as we venture across desert for 4 hours to get to our bed tonight. I'm ready.

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on


#194 Santa Barbara and the Pacific Hwy

Sunday 2016 October 30
A few months ago I read one of my favorite blogs, and Erin and Ben's travels up the California coast to Santa Barbara. Knowing we'd be headed to CA this fall, I've been slightly dreaming of experiencing her quint essential California vacation, experiencing the smells, sounds, and sights she did, because she romanticizes them in such a way that you feel compelled to do the same.

Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate, and Stephen has been in a slight haze since the beginning of our trip. We've been living on a lack of sleep for a few days now, trying to get up early to catch flights or whale watching tours.

Nonetheless, we had a great time. The rainy day feeding our sleepy feeling, and forcing us up the coast to Santa Barbara.

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on

We found the end of the Muholland Hwy, which we kept hitting Muholland Drive, but none of the roads were quite what Stephen expected to find. It's an infamous road, and the Drive portion never really delivered. But the Hwy, oh it did not disappoint.

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on


We stopped at a Starbucks on the way in this funky little shopping center. I was hoping for some good shopping in there, but unfortunately it wasn't anything more than real estate businesses, a grocery store, and the glorious Starbucks. I've had a serious Starbucks addiction this trip.

A photo posted by Stephen Prahl (@slp950) on

We finally arrived in Santa Barbara. We really hoped to be able to see some of the locations of Psych--but that didn't work out as most of that is actually filmed in Canada. Bummer.

But we visited a VERY large fig tree.

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on

And then we ventured to the pier that is kind of a central spot in town. This pier is so large, you drive on it, and can shop on it, and eat there, and even go to an aquarium. It's huge.
A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on

 The foggy, dreary, rainy day gave me all the feels of a hardened fisherman on a dewy morning. I kept seeing guys fishing, and they all looked like this to me...
It's a hard life.
After fully exploring and driving around Santa Barbara, we began heading back to LA. So much for using that beautiful drop top we have on the Camero today. Pretty sure we had on the heat!

Instead of seeing The Living Room group, because we got back into town so late, we headed into downtown LA to find the Ice Cream Lab. We had to walk through little Korea which was super fun. We turned in our Groupons for our icecream, and got to see the magic happen.


We headed back to our room, and ended up beginning to doze off. So I finished my Pizza Rev leftovers as I watched Dawson's Creek. 

#193 Surprises

Saturday 2016 October 29
This morning y'all. This.

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on 

Well if that doesn't given you enough reasons to check out AirBnB, I don't know what does.

We woke up early this morning and headed out to try and see some whales. A whale we did find!

A video posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on 

We made our way back towards LA driving up the coast, doing a little Hotwheels shopping and feeding my Starbucks addiction.

Around 5 or so, we headed to Vonetta's to pick her up for dinner. It's been years since I've seen her, actually I think it was about 3 or 4 years ago at her military graduation from basic training at Fort Jackson.

We caught up over pizza at Pizza Rev, and I found out a lot more details about her leaving NY and her new life in LA. Miss that girl more than she knows.

We then headed to The Living Room's Saturday night church service. I've never experienced such a welcoming church. Everyone spoke to us, hugged us, loved on us, and made us feel included beyond measure.

A photo posted by Stephen Prahl (@slp950) on 

We said goodnight to everyone, and really hope we see them tomorrow at their 7 year anniversary pot luck dinner.

#192 We're Here!

Friday 2016 October 28
We tend to try and take a couple vacations a year, and specifically try to take a week off locally and then a week off a little farther away.

Back in May we did a coastal tour in South Carolina. I realized then I felt like we had a ton of minivactions in a week, and while it was fun, it was a little tiring. But looking back, it seems like we were gone for so much longer. And regardless of exhaustion, it's the memories that linger and keep me holding on until each new vacation.

Stephen is in love with cars. I don't know if that has been properly conveyed here. He has loved anything with wheels since he was a kid. Used to get in trouble for drawing cars, and still has books filled with his sketches (he was really good too). He worked hard at a young age, saving up enough money to buy his first car at the age of 14, before he could even legally drive. Over the years he has bought and sold probably more than 35 vehicles, and currently we have about 6 cars in our yard for sale.

Couple of years ago we went out to Vegas for the SEMA show, and this year we're back at it! So this morning, way earlier than I cared to, we headed to the airport with my parents. They were kind enough to drop us off so we wouldn't have to pay parking for a week, especially since the airport is 15 minutes from the house.

Our flight left at 5:20 am, and we arrived safely and relatively rested at 10 am PST in Los Angeles, California!

A video posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on

It took a while to get our car rental. Unfortunately we were a tad late to pick it up, and then the guy who was picking us up was a tad later. But we did go through Turo.com which let us rent a Camero convertible for almost the same price as a regular rental, just ignore the fact there was a bullet hole through the door.

Please ignore my awkward angle here.
We had most of the day to just wander around and site see. So we did just that. We headed on down to the coast. Dipped our toes in the sand at Long Beach, which was completely barren and weird-->I'm used to Myrtle Beach, y'all.

We found an In-and-Out to eat at, a must when you're out west. We then tried to find some famous sites. Saw the old Fantasy Factory (now a mattress warehouse), Fast and Furious's Terreto's house, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air house, The Dunphy's house on Modern Family, and more. None quite feeling or seeming like they do in real life, the Bel-Air house was surrounded by a giant fence and you could barely see it, not to mention it was itty bitty. But what did make me happy was to see the family who lives in the Dunphy's house, decorating for Halloween, in true Claire form...


We ventured to our AirBnB to find a sweet fluffy cat there to greet us. I can't wait to wake up to the view tomorrow, all of their photos looked amazing.


#191 Giving Up

Thursday 2016 October 27
Well it would just be easier to give up on this thing, but I don't want to because I look back at entries and realize the good in them. Things I'd frequently overlook, but now can look back with fine detail.

So we'll play catch up again, but I'm going to try and give you some nitty gritty details of at least one thing-->our trip to LA and Vegas!

Hold on to your seats as we zoom through the past few weeks. Okay just scroll. Scrolling is good.