The Cyclist's Wife: The Resort at Pelican Hill {Newport Beach, CA}

Ahh vacation. I love it, don't you? Since I don't have one scheduled until June, I am daydreaming of vacations past. Why don't you join me?

In October my ridiculously awesome job took us on our yearly firm outing. You'll remember we previously went to Solage in Calistoga. This trip was to The Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach.

Now, if this trip wasn't amazing enough, something even more amazing occurred: the resort called and bumped all of our "regular" hotel rooms to villas.

I say "regular" because their hotel rooms are not regular by any standard. But a villa? We're talking about 3,000+ square feet, 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, full kitchen awesomeness. No bigs.

No bigs?! That's funny. It was more like "Wait. We actually get to stay here? Like, by ourselves?". Less cool was the ~~cheap as they come~~ economically friendly rental car we were driving. Driving that car revealed our true identity of those-who-do-not-belong. Thankfully we had a two car garage with our villa to hide our car in. Yes a garage!

Oh yeah, did I mention we also had a butler? I am so not kidding. We secretly wondered to what lengths could we request items. Hello this is Mrs. Oliver in Villa 32. I would like a bowl of green M&M's please. I kind of wish I would have tried this.

The patio and views were amazing. I could have sat out there all day.

But why do that when you have a pool that is like 3 football fields wide?

I took the opportunity to make us a nice breakfast to enjoy on the patio one day while we watched golfers and read the paper.

I wish the saying, "Let me make us a nice breakfast to enjoy on the patio while we watch golfers and read the paper" was something out of my normal life. Real talk: It is more like Did you feed the dog?What do you want for dinner? The car needs an oil change.

Of course being in Newport we had to spot at least one celebrity right? We did. He was in fact, our villa neighbor, just down the road.
The Lamborghini and Range Rover in his driveway was kind of a giveaway. Not to mention the hundreds of boxes of Nike's stacked 4 high in his garage. I will give you three clues: (1) He is a Laker, (2) He is tall, (3) His name starts with a K.

The grounds of the resort are really fabulous. It's hard to believe the place is fairly new; whoever did the planning and landscaping did a wonderful job. No matter where you go it doesn't really feel overcrowded or resort-y. Just relaxing and comfortable.

But oh, those views. I think the patio and the views were my favorite part of the trip. Other than spending 4 wonderful days with The Cyclist, that is.