Romantic Getaway . . . To Cedars Sinai

So a little while ago Scott and I came up with a great idea to go on our first ever little vacation together without the kids. My Mom and Dad would be coming to Utah to pick up my sister Krista from college anyway, so we asked them if they would stay a few extra days with our kiddos. They were happy to do it. Our plan was to wait for the Delta Weekend Web Deals that they email out on Thursday, choose a place and leave Friday. Fun plan.

The plan was made, but then on the Friday before my Dad was admitted into a hospital in Bakersfield for his heart. They kept him until Tuesday when they transferred him by ambulance to Cedars Sinai Hospital in Beverly Hills to await a heart transplant. So, on Tuesday we decided to make our exciting, romantic getaway to see my Dad in L.A. It worked out absolutely perfectly! I didn't want to be anywhere else. I was excited and anxious to go see my Dad and L.A. was a great and WARM getaway spot. We booked tickets that day.
We pricelined a hotel resort right on Redondo Beach where both of my parents grew up. It was a beautiful hotel and beautiful spot on the beach (all for $55 a night! Woo Hoo!) Pricelined a car (and then got an upgrade when Scott shmoozed the guy). And took off on Friday night . . . . . all by ourselves. Glorious!

Saturday we woke up and went right over to the hospital. It was quite the party. We got to hang out with Dad, the Starkeys, the Jolleys and Russ and Nancy. It was fun to see everyone and especially good to see Dad. He looked good (yet skinny) and acted like he felt great. He laughed so hard when we delivered Brielle's book of drawings that she made for him entitled "The Adventures of Brielle and Grandpa". We drove by the Los Angeles temple, where we were married, on our way back.We left Dad to check into our hotel, stroll along the boardwalk and the Redondo Pier. We ate dinner at Tony's (where Mom had her 16th birthday dinner) and had THE BEST smoked salmon chowder with salads. Wow. We sat in the hot tub to watch the sunset and then I think we were asleep in that dreamy bed by 10pm. Heaven.The next morning was so nice. Scott and I rented beach cruiser bikes from the hotel and took off riding along "The Strand" (the sidewalk that winds along the beach). We had a delish breakfast at "Scotty's on the Strand". You can see our bikes parked right outside the window.Stopping to watch the crazy amounts of surfers out in the water.
We rode 10 miles to Marina Del Ray where we relaxed with some gelato.
Then we had to ride the 10 miles back. I haven't been on a bike in a long time. I was tired and sore and my bum was killing me . . . . oh and I found out later just how sunburned my face was getting.
We made it though!
We spent some more luxurious time in the pool and hot tub before heading to the hospital again - this time to find Mom and Laura there also. Guess what Scott found for us for the next day . . . . Groupons for hour long massages. That is right. We drove along the Pacific Coast Highway from our hotel up to Malibu. We each had an hour full body massage and I can't imagine anything better happening to me. Mmmmmm. We were so tired/relaxed afterward that we went to this park with a beautiful view of the ocean for a little nap. It was delightful.It ended up that we were right by Pepperdine University. That is the most beautiful setting for a college campus I have ever seen. Amazing. We gave it a little visit and Scott came away as a "Waves" fan with a new sweatshirt and all.
We also passed the very same Chart House Malibu where we had our wedding dinner after our temple ceremony. We just had to stop and have dinner.
Same place we took a picture in our wedding dress and tux.
After another visit with Dad at the hospital we ended our night at Pink's hot dog stand in Hollywood. It's one of the places we've seen on the Food Network. It lived up to the hype (it was 10pm and look at the line), but hot dogs are just not my type of food. Scott enjoyed it.
Ok. Something that I did enjoy. A. Lot. . . . Sleeping. I'm sure I haven't had that many nights of continuous sleep in 5 1/2 years. I enjoyed every minute of it. I got to sleep all night and then even sleep in in the morning (8am). It really was heavenly. Our last morning Scott took this picture because he woke up and found he had no pillows or blankets. Yes, I enjoyed that sleep.
When I finally left that cozy bed, Scott and I put on our running clothes and shoes and went on a 5 mile run along the beach. It felt so good and was so nice to run along the waves (collecting seashells for the girls) and have the breeze blowing against you. Good run. That run deserved another swim in the pool and sit in the hot tub. Awwwww yeah!

This is Scott on the other side of our balcony headed to the pool. I was in the room.
Beyond the palm trees is the ocean.
After the swim and packing up we went to Captain Kidd's for seafood. The shrimp was delish, the soft shell crabs we will not do again. Scott had a big bite of crab poop.
And then onto our whale watching boat trip. We were out on the boat for about 3 hours. We watched for whales, but saw none. We saw birds, some sea lions and a lot of water. The boat rocked Scott to sleep most of the time. I really liked being out on the water. It was a gorgeous day and I knew it was snowing at home. We made our last stop at Dad's hospital room before going to the airport to fly home to our kids. We talked for awhile and then had to say good bye. It felt good to leave him seeing that he feels good and has so much faith, but it makes me sad to leave him there in that room knowing he could be there for awhile. I just hope it isn't too long of a while. We pray every day that a new heart will come to him quickly and all will be well. I know it will.We arrived back home to a clean house and our children happily sound asleep in their beds. I am so grateful to Tawna and Krista (and Kory) for taking such good care of things at home. I am so happy for the time that we got to spend with my Dad. And I absolutely loved getting to spend a few fun and relaxing days with just Scott. Just perfect.