San Francisco

We went to San Fran last weekend and the trip was just too good not to blog.

We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Feb 20. Todd had to go to San Jose, CA for work the day after our anniversary so I convinced him that it would be cool if I joined at the end of the week when his meetings were all over. We used credit card points and it cost me a whooping $100 to fly to CA! We convinced my mother to take both kids for 4 nights, 5 days (which I feel sure she regrets now because Hunter got a terrible ear infection the day I left and Paisley cried non stop for 2 days!) It was the first time I have really left them. Paisley will stay at my mom's house no problem but never more than 2 nights and I've never been more than 30 miles away from them. I figured after 2.5 years it was time for all of us to get some space. I was excited to take off the mommy hat for a few days but I was also nervous about leaving my littles. The mommy guilt hit pretty hard when I found out Hunter got sick the day I left but I knew he was in good hands and tried not to worry about him and just focus on my husband & enjoying the time off.


We started our trip with lunch in China town.

After walking around for awhile, we jumped on a cable car and headed to Fisherman's Wharf & Pier 39.

Todd planned our entire trip. We had tours each day and dinner reservations each night. First day was a Segway tour. My sister went to San Fran for Christmas and told us how fun these were. I was a bit skeptical because I'm SO clumsy but I'm happy to report that I had NO accidents (even though I felt like that thing was going to throw me off a few times). The Segway tour was a great way to see a lot of the city without having to walk (you know I hate working out!) plus its awesome to ride them up those crazy hills so this thing was right up my alley.

The tour took us by the Palace of Fine Arts Museum. I wasn't expecting this thing to be so big or so gorgeous. It was truly spectacular and felt like I was seeing something in Europe.

We then headed to the water and thats were things got chilly. My sister told me dress warm and I brought all the apparel- fleece leggings, fleece socks, gloves and hat. But do you think I wore those on this tour? Huh NO. Do you think I regretted that decision? Huh YES! I froze my butt off. It had to be 15 degrees colder near the water & the wind picked up and it got C.O.L.D!!!!! Good thing the views were worth it. I took a hot bath when we got back to the hotel and defrosted.

That night we exchanged anniversary cards. I got us a little something as a reminder for our trip. I love to do "tradition" anniversary gifts and WOOD happened to be the gift for the 5th anniversary. So I got us a personalized wine box so we could bring home a bottle of wine from Napa (thats tomorrow's tour). I thought that was a pretty cool reminder of our trip.

Dinner that night was at the Fog Harbor Fish House. It was amazing. Todd got the famous seafood cioppino and I got salmon. Both delish! It was so nice to have a conversation at dinner, eat my food hot and not be embarrassed by the tantrums or mess on the floor. Its the little things these days!

Saturday was Napa valley! We got on the tour bus (a.k.a. party bus) at 9am that morning and headed north.

We stopped to take pictures of the bridge before actually heading up to Napa.

I was told we never really went to Napa, we went to Sonoma. I couldn't tell the difference I just know that it was a long ride in the back of a huge bus with a bunch of party animals. The views were incredible but I had to put my camera down because I got car sick and almost threw up before we ever got to the first winery.

The first winery was Jacuzzi and it was by far my favorite. The views were spectacular! I was so car sick that I didn't actually drink any wine so I just took pictures which was fine by me because this place was a gold mine of beauty.

Larson Family Vineyard was the next stop.

Madonna was the 3rd winery and it was quite a bit smaller but we got an actual lesson on wine making.

4th & last winery was Kieu Hoang. The wine wasn't great but the winery was new & modern and had great views.

I loved seeing that part of the country. We crossed over the Bay bridge right before sunset & I was able to get these two shots from the bus window. Can you believe it?

Sunday was our favorite day. Todd planned a tour to Muir Woods. In order to get there we took a ferry to the town of Sausalito.

We got to see Alcatraz up close.

It took about 1.5 hrs to get from San Fran to Sausalito. We made two stops along the way. The weather was gorgeous and the water & the mountains reminded me of vacationing in St John. I took tons of pictures & then just sat on the ferry and let the wind blow in my face. It was glorious!

Apparently Sausalito has one of the highest real estate markets in the country. I can now see why.

We ventured off Todd's itinerary and picked a place for lunch with a great view. The food was amazing & these Deviled Eggs with Lobster changed my life!

Our tour guide picked us up in the middle of town & headed north to Muir Woods.

Muir woods was Todd's favorite part of the trip. The trees were incredible. So tall & so big. The tour guide told us that they need 350 gallons of water each day to survive. CA has had a drought the last 2 years but the trees are ok because of the fog. The San Fran fog that comes in every morning settles on the trees and they drink up the moisture.

We took a path that was less traveled by all the other 5,000 people that were in the woods that day and it was nice & quiet. Todd had a little surprised planned and asked me to take my ring off. He got his phone out & read our vows that we made 5 years ago. It was very romantic and very appropriate for us to renew our vows in the "woods" on our 5th wedding anniversary. Of course I had to take a picture of our rings so we could always remember that moment.

On the way back from the woods our tour guide stopped at a few scenic places & we had some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen.

I can now mark San Fransisco off the bucket list! It was gorgeous. We had a great time & I really enjoyed my 5 days away with my husband. If you haven't been yet I hope all of these pictures will convince you that you have to make a trip out there soon!

Read more...